The staff that knew of the situation was in an uproar about the news. Personally, Horace didn’t see why. Faerie magic was binding. If it was Fate, then something was at play that was larger than any of them. He knew he’d been right to take an interest in Ginny Weasley, and this just further proved his point. But had he been remiss in overlooking Draco Malfoy? He had been so scared to nurture another Slytherin after Tom Riddle had basically broken his poor heart.
Minerva was having a hell of a time keeping this quiet. Everyone had to sign non-disclosure agreements—apparently they’d been Ms. Granger’s idea, and if anyone talked they were cursed—and keep their mouths shut. The school was abuzz about the fact that Ginny was going with Draco to Hogsmeade. Apparently Ms. Weasley had told someone. Crafty, that young woman. Leave a trail, make everyone think her and Draco became something, and no one need ever know the truth of what had happened.
Horace sipped his scotch, wondering. It had been so long since the Faeries had gotten involved in anything to do with wizards. They tended to stick to the Muggle world, helping out with world peace leaders and such. So what was so important about Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Weasley’s relationship that they would become involved?
Horace didn’t know, but he was certainly interested to find out.
~~~
For the most part, nothing happened between Draco and Ginny. Except she did like to throw bits of parchment at him in Charms class, and then look completely innocent when he would turn around. But he knew it was her. Who else would it be? Dean Thomas? Seamus Finnigan? Although they did laugh when it happened, Draco very much doubted Ginny would have let them get away with that. She was rather mysterious.
So when she sat down next to him in the Great Hall Friday morning and everyone began craning their necks, Draco wasn’t sure what to say besides ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’ which were both lame and both ignored by the redhead.
“Where are we meeting tomorrow morning for our date?” she asked.
“It’s right after breakfast, so since you obviously have no qualms about sitting at my table, you could just come and have breakfast with me, and then we could go to Hogsmeade together,” Draco answered.
Ginny nodded. “Okay, that works for me. By the way, how are you in Potions?”
Draco arched a brow. “Why not ask Granger?”
Ginny sighed dramatically before responding. “Because she acts as though I should already understand it, and she isn’t good at explaining anything. She just repeats what the textbook says back at me in different inflections hoping one sticks with me and hits the right way. I love Hermione. She is wonderful. But she is not meant to be a teacher.”
Draco chuckled, imagining only too well how Granger probably sounded when she tried to tutor Ginny.
“I’m second best in the class. Do you need help?”
Ginny nodded. “I’m terrible at mixing antidotes. I just don’t get it. Like at all. And I’m sure that will be part of our N.E.W.T.s, and even though I’m going to be a Quidditch player, Mum wants to brag that I did better than any of the boys.”
“When do you have a free period?” Draco asked, and Ginny dug in her bag, pulling out her schedule as though she couldn’t remember.
She handed it to him, and he glanced over it, realizing it would be easier to just meet in the evening in the library, which he said as much. Ginny nodded and thanked him, telling him she owed him for this.
“I mean think of it as a wedding gift,” Draco joked, freezing as he said it, but no one was listening.
Ginny laughed. “No way you prat. I want something grand for that. I’ll see you in the library at six thirty.”
And with that Ginny was gone, her wild and untamable hair leaving behind a floral scent that made him think of jasmine in the summertime. She was an interesting one, that Weasley girl, Draco found himself thinking. He wasn’t sure he liked her, but he definitely didn’t mind her so far. They might never love each other as his mother and father did, but Draco wondered if they couldn’t one day end up being the best of friends.
~~~
Draco was about to get up and leave when Weasley slid into the sit across from him looking out of breath. Draco was scowling at her, and she began fanning herself with some parchment.
“Sorry, last minute Quidditch practice and Gwenog Jones showed up. It was unavoidable. I ran all the way here. I have my stuff though,” she said, and began pulling her potions textbook out of her bag.
Draco was entranced by her hair. Or maybe he was mesmerized. It almost seemed to be it’s own living, breathing, crackling thing. As though if he touched it, it might burn him. Or never let him go. It was obvious she had braided it back for Quidditch, but the force of her flying had brought a lot of it out of the braid, and it was glowing in the library light as though taunting Draco.
“So, Golpalott’s Third Law…” Ginny began, looking up at Draco.
He took her book and shut it, pushing it away, and she looked at him as though he were crazy.
“The textbook definition isn’t a good one. Let me break it down. So for an antidote to be an antidote, you need more than just the antidote to each ingredient in the poison. You need the final component that will make the antidote it’s own new, functioning entity,” Draco explained.
“But how the hell am I supposed to know, out of all the ingredients out there, what will work best to make the antidote it’s own thing?”
Draco steep-led his fingers. “That is where intuition comes in. You have to look at all the ingredients. What do they have in common? Waty don’t they have in common? What could tie them together? What could—if added—make them explosive? It’s very tricky business, which is why antidotes are so expensive. But if you can look at a poison and see the ingredients, and see what all the ingredients have in common, what they don’t have in common, and what the ingredients in the antidote itself have in common, you will have the answer.”
Ginny groaned, putting her head down on the table as though she were done. Draco opened a first year Potion’s book he had brought with.
“I am going to teach you on a very easy skill level. Once you understand it, you will be able to easily apply the principle to any and all potions regardless of the complexity,” Draco said.
And they sat there for a good hour, Ginny writing down everything an ingredient in a cheering draught had in common.
“So… these all are about being happy, obviously, but they also share the property of luck.”
“Exactly,” Draco said. “It’s nowhere near Felix Felicis, but it does indeed have that in common. So if you wanted to undo it, how would you?”
Ginny sat there for a moment before saying “I’d use ingredients to take down the luck, once I’d taken down the cheerfulness.”
Draco clapped his hands together, getting a rude look from a nearby study group.
“Exactly. That works on the next level to undo the last of the binds of the potion. You got it, Ginny,” he said, proud of her suddenly, her tardiness completely forgotten.
Ginny let out a sigh of relief as she wrote down the last ingredient, and Draco said that yes, she was right.
“That was hard,” Ginny groaned.
Draco arched a brow. “But you learned how to do it. So if you’re ever in a situation where you need it, you know you can do it.”
“What if time is of the essence?” Ginny asked, resting her head in her hands.
“Well this year we do a lot of antidote work, so you’ll get a lot better at doing it fast. It’ll become second nature. But if you want, we can meet weekly to go over potion ingredients’ properties so you can be on top of your game for it,” Draco offered.
Ginny lifted her head up and nodded. “That is a wonderful idea, Draco. You know you’d make a decent teacher. I couldn’t understand that book definition at all. It just went right over my head.”
Draco felt his mouth tug into a smile at the compliment. “Thanks, Ginny. You know, you don’t make a bad Quidditch player yourself.”
At this Ginny grinned.
“Just think, Draco, two weeks from now we will be playing against each other. You better bring your A game.”
Draco laughed, getting shushed by the study group, the snotty bunch of Ravenclaws.
“I always bring my A game, Ginevra.”
And at that she beamed.
Minerva was having a hell of a time keeping this quiet. Everyone had to sign non-disclosure agreements—apparently they’d been Ms. Granger’s idea, and if anyone talked they were cursed—and keep their mouths shut. The school was abuzz about the fact that Ginny was going with Draco to Hogsmeade. Apparently Ms. Weasley had told someone. Crafty, that young woman. Leave a trail, make everyone think her and Draco became something, and no one need ever know the truth of what had happened.
Horace sipped his scotch, wondering. It had been so long since the Faeries had gotten involved in anything to do with wizards. They tended to stick to the Muggle world, helping out with world peace leaders and such. So what was so important about Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Weasley’s relationship that they would become involved?
Horace didn’t know, but he was certainly interested to find out.
~~~
For the most part, nothing happened between Draco and Ginny. Except she did like to throw bits of parchment at him in Charms class, and then look completely innocent when he would turn around. But he knew it was her. Who else would it be? Dean Thomas? Seamus Finnigan? Although they did laugh when it happened, Draco very much doubted Ginny would have let them get away with that. She was rather mysterious.
So when she sat down next to him in the Great Hall Friday morning and everyone began craning their necks, Draco wasn’t sure what to say besides ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’ which were both lame and both ignored by the redhead.
“Where are we meeting tomorrow morning for our date?” she asked.
“It’s right after breakfast, so since you obviously have no qualms about sitting at my table, you could just come and have breakfast with me, and then we could go to Hogsmeade together,” Draco answered.
Ginny nodded. “Okay, that works for me. By the way, how are you in Potions?”
Draco arched a brow. “Why not ask Granger?”
Ginny sighed dramatically before responding. “Because she acts as though I should already understand it, and she isn’t good at explaining anything. She just repeats what the textbook says back at me in different inflections hoping one sticks with me and hits the right way. I love Hermione. She is wonderful. But she is not meant to be a teacher.”
Draco chuckled, imagining only too well how Granger probably sounded when she tried to tutor Ginny.
“I’m second best in the class. Do you need help?”
Ginny nodded. “I’m terrible at mixing antidotes. I just don’t get it. Like at all. And I’m sure that will be part of our N.E.W.T.s, and even though I’m going to be a Quidditch player, Mum wants to brag that I did better than any of the boys.”
“When do you have a free period?” Draco asked, and Ginny dug in her bag, pulling out her schedule as though she couldn’t remember.
She handed it to him, and he glanced over it, realizing it would be easier to just meet in the evening in the library, which he said as much. Ginny nodded and thanked him, telling him she owed him for this.
“I mean think of it as a wedding gift,” Draco joked, freezing as he said it, but no one was listening.
Ginny laughed. “No way you prat. I want something grand for that. I’ll see you in the library at six thirty.”
And with that Ginny was gone, her wild and untamable hair leaving behind a floral scent that made him think of jasmine in the summertime. She was an interesting one, that Weasley girl, Draco found himself thinking. He wasn’t sure he liked her, but he definitely didn’t mind her so far. They might never love each other as his mother and father did, but Draco wondered if they couldn’t one day end up being the best of friends.
~~~
Draco was about to get up and leave when Weasley slid into the sit across from him looking out of breath. Draco was scowling at her, and she began fanning herself with some parchment.
“Sorry, last minute Quidditch practice and Gwenog Jones showed up. It was unavoidable. I ran all the way here. I have my stuff though,” she said, and began pulling her potions textbook out of her bag.
Draco was entranced by her hair. Or maybe he was mesmerized. It almost seemed to be it’s own living, breathing, crackling thing. As though if he touched it, it might burn him. Or never let him go. It was obvious she had braided it back for Quidditch, but the force of her flying had brought a lot of it out of the braid, and it was glowing in the library light as though taunting Draco.
“So, Golpalott’s Third Law…” Ginny began, looking up at Draco.
He took her book and shut it, pushing it away, and she looked at him as though he were crazy.
“The textbook definition isn’t a good one. Let me break it down. So for an antidote to be an antidote, you need more than just the antidote to each ingredient in the poison. You need the final component that will make the antidote it’s own new, functioning entity,” Draco explained.
“But how the hell am I supposed to know, out of all the ingredients out there, what will work best to make the antidote it’s own thing?”
Draco steep-led his fingers. “That is where intuition comes in. You have to look at all the ingredients. What do they have in common? Waty don’t they have in common? What could tie them together? What could—if added—make them explosive? It’s very tricky business, which is why antidotes are so expensive. But if you can look at a poison and see the ingredients, and see what all the ingredients have in common, what they don’t have in common, and what the ingredients in the antidote itself have in common, you will have the answer.”
Ginny groaned, putting her head down on the table as though she were done. Draco opened a first year Potion’s book he had brought with.
“I am going to teach you on a very easy skill level. Once you understand it, you will be able to easily apply the principle to any and all potions regardless of the complexity,” Draco said.
And they sat there for a good hour, Ginny writing down everything an ingredient in a cheering draught had in common.
“So… these all are about being happy, obviously, but they also share the property of luck.”
“Exactly,” Draco said. “It’s nowhere near Felix Felicis, but it does indeed have that in common. So if you wanted to undo it, how would you?”
Ginny sat there for a moment before saying “I’d use ingredients to take down the luck, once I’d taken down the cheerfulness.”
Draco clapped his hands together, getting a rude look from a nearby study group.
“Exactly. That works on the next level to undo the last of the binds of the potion. You got it, Ginny,” he said, proud of her suddenly, her tardiness completely forgotten.
Ginny let out a sigh of relief as she wrote down the last ingredient, and Draco said that yes, she was right.
“That was hard,” Ginny groaned.
Draco arched a brow. “But you learned how to do it. So if you’re ever in a situation where you need it, you know you can do it.”
“What if time is of the essence?” Ginny asked, resting her head in her hands.
“Well this year we do a lot of antidote work, so you’ll get a lot better at doing it fast. It’ll become second nature. But if you want, we can meet weekly to go over potion ingredients’ properties so you can be on top of your game for it,” Draco offered.
Ginny lifted her head up and nodded. “That is a wonderful idea, Draco. You know you’d make a decent teacher. I couldn’t understand that book definition at all. It just went right over my head.”
Draco felt his mouth tug into a smile at the compliment. “Thanks, Ginny. You know, you don’t make a bad Quidditch player yourself.”
At this Ginny grinned.
“Just think, Draco, two weeks from now we will be playing against each other. You better bring your A game.”
Draco laughed, getting shushed by the study group, the snotty bunch of Ravenclaws.
“I always bring my A game, Ginevra.”
And at that she beamed.
Author notes: Please leave a comment if you liked it! I need to know people are still reading this.
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