What Would Mum Think : chapter 1.

 

I. Stinky Slytherin.

"Inattentive, my foot," Ginny grumbled to herself as she stalked out of the Potions room. "Slimy git can't even think to give a valid reason for a detention-"

"Geez, Ginny," her friend Beth caught up to her, clutching the clasp of the bag at her side to hold in the overflowing mess of parchments and quills and books all jammed there. "You walk much too fast. I don't have long enough legs, you know." The pretty brunette was a mere five foot tall- but her shapely body, sparkling brown eyes and rosy cheeks more than made up for any deficit in height department- or so was the opinion of many admiring wizards at Hogwarts.

Ginny threw her friend an irritated glance as she continued to take long strides down the corridor. "Did you see that? Did you catch how fast he shot a detention at me- because I coughed?" She let out a little huff of angry air.

Beth raised her eyebrows, after waggling her fingers and sending a smile to a grinning sixth-year, saying, "Well, you were talking to Eddie-"

"Oh, I was just answering a question he had." Ginny interrupted a bit impatiently. "Honestly, this day can't get any worse- Will you move out of my way!" She snapped at a scared-looking first year who had made the mistake of stepping in her path.

"S-sorry," The boy stuttered, quickly getting out of the way and joining a group of friends, with one, last fearful look behind him.

Beth watched the boy with a sympathetic smile on her face. "Calm down, Gin," she told her friend.

"Yeah- you aren't the one who has to run over to that lousy bast-"

"Gin-" said warningly.

"-ard's dungeon right after dinner for some stupid detention-"

"Ginny, think of all the little kids running around here, and speaking that way of a teacher.."

"Oh, come off it," Ginny said as she shouldered her way past a group of giggling girls- "it's not like all the little kids don't know the word already-"

Her words were lost in the loud gossiping tones of the girls that Beth pushed past- and she hurried to catch up with her friend again, who was oblivious to the fact she seemed to be talking to herself.

Ginny continued- "and really, only the worst words could be used to describe Snape, if you think about it- hullo? Beth?" She swung around in the middle of the hallway, her long red hair flying out behind her- and causing many a witch and wizard to skid to a stop to avoid smashing into her- Ginny didn't notice this either- but she did notice Beth cry out a distressed "Oh no!" and saw her friend's bag slip to the ground,

Books and quills and all things slipped out of the bag and right onto the floor- spilling and rolling under people's feet- the students mostly cleared a way around poor Beth, some bent down to pick up a stray paper- Ginny hurried to help.

"Honestly, Beth, how many things do you need to keep in you bag-" she picked up Beth's heavy Divination book- "We don't even have Divination until after lunch! Why-"

"It saves time every morning to pack my bag beforehand!" Beth cried out, brown curls bouncing around everywhere but never settling on her head as the young witch pounced on parchment after parchment, "Oh- excuse me, that paper's mine, you see-"

”Yeah, who was the git that made you drop it in the first place?" Ginny pushed her hair back and bent down on her knees as she pushed some more stuff into her friend's bag-

"Me. Here-" A low drawl sounded almost out of nowhere, but in reality came from right behind her, and startled her so that she turned quickly around- only to look up at Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin sixth year that she had never liked- standing there smirking at her, messy blonde hair falling into light gray eyes. He held out one of Beth's purple quills in his hand.

Ginny realized how strange this must have looked to others- she on her knees, Draco Malfoy right in front of her with that infernal smirk on his face- she stood up quickly, mouth curving into a frown, as Draco's smirk only deepened, and the arrogance seemed to spread to his eyes, which had lighted up strangely.

”Here yourself," Ginny said rather rudely, holding out Beth's bag. "You should at least have the decency, you know, to say you're sorry after you make someone drop all of their things-"

He dropped the quill into the bag and narrowed his eyes at her. "Yeah?" Was all he said, but in such an infuriating tone to her ears that her cheeks reddened with anger.

"Yes! Of course, we'd have to expect this kind of behavior from a Malfoy-" his eyes darkened at the sound of the name- "and a Slytherin at that. You all are annoying little rats, aren't you?" She leaned closer, eyes flashing.

Draco's smirk disappeared, only to be replaced by a fierce scowl, but before he could open his mouth, Ginny felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Beth now standing behind her, the rest of her papers and books clutched in her arms- "Gin- he didn't do anything. It was me, I pushed into him by accident."

Ginny stared at her as she gently pried the bag from her hands. "You?"

Beth nodded, the corner of her mouth lifting into somewhat of a smile as she stuffed her things into the bag and looked from Ginny to Draco, then said to him, "Sorry about that, Draco."

He nodded, and, with a dark look at Ginny, left. Ginny made a face at his retreating back and turned to her friend.

"Draco? Since when do you call him Draco?" They started to move again through the hallway- though the after-class crowd had disappeared. "Why not Malfoy? Lousy Bummer? Stinky Slytherin? Ferret Boy?" She named one that her brother Ron liked to use- in reference to some incident in his fourth year- and giggled.

Beth shrugged, eyes bright. "I know him, I guess. My sister went with him for a while last year."

"Helga?" Ginny looked at her incredulously. "But she's a year older than him. And she's clever. Why would she.."

"I don't know.. she said afterwards she must have been crazy- And oh, Ginny, don't you know- Draco's been out with half the older witches in the school. And it doesn't matter that they're a year older- they don't seem to care either. Wouldn't you go with someone who looked like that, even if they were a year younger?"

Ginny snorted. "With Draco Malfoy? Hell no."

"And he's smart too." Beth added, ignoring Ginny's remark.

"Smart? Yeah, he's smart. Smart as beanbag, that boy." She rolled her eyes.

"Ginny! He's at the head of his class- after Hermione Granger."

Ginny suddenly turned to look curiously at her friend, hearing the admiring tone in her voice- "Beth?"

Beth looked away as if she knew what her friend was going to say, her cheeks flushing a bit, and ducking her head.

Ginny gasped. "You do like him! Elizabeth! Honestly- Draco Malfoy!"

"No. He's just.. nice to look at, that's all."

"Nice to look at. Right, Beth. You can't fool your best bud." Ginny changed her voice to a high, sweet falsetto, imitating Beth from before- "Oh, Sorry about that, Draco." She fluttered her eyelashes prettily.

Beth smacked her friend upside the head, flushing. "I did not sound like that."

"Sure you did." Ginny rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you. Draco Malfoy." She shook her head.

"Quiet. Hey- what was Eddie asking you in class anyway?" Beth asked casually, but Ginny caught the more-than-just-casual look in her friend's tone again.

"Beth! Eddie too?!"

Beth turned an even deeper shade of red, saying, "Maybe."

She nodded slowly. "But I approve of Eddie- very sweet boy."

Beth rolled her eyes- "Yeah, then. I'm glad you approve. But what did he say to you? I'm afraid he likes you.."

Surprise flashed across her face. "Eddie? Me? Nah.. he was just asking me what the homework was. And he did tell me a couple days ago that he thought you were pretty," she added as an afterthought.

Beth gasped. "No! Really?"

Ginny laughed. "No."

"Oh! You're so cruel!" Beth pushed her grinning friend into the wall. "Really, Gin."

"I like to tease."

"I've noticed."

***

Ginny walked down to the potion room in a hurry- Snape always gave out extra detentions if you came in late, she knew from experience. She turned a corner, threw open a door and stalked in the room- only to find the room empty of any greasy-haired, slimy gits of teachers, and yet not so empty of blonde-haired, gray-eyed wizards that went by the particular name of Draco Malfoy.

He sat atop a table, legs propped up on a chair, elbows on his thighs- as if he was posing as some kind of a deep thinker, she thought cynically, which could never happen- and looked over at her as soon as she stepped in.

"Where's Snape?" She asked shortly, stepping further into the room, suddenly strangely conscious of her mussed-up hair. But how could she not be conscious of herself when Draco was taking his leisurely time letting his eyes roam her body from head to toe- his own mussed-up hair looking strangely perfect?

Ginny glared. "Stop that."

"Stop what?" He sounded highly amused.

"Looking. And I asked you a question."

"Looking at what?" He seemed to be enjoying this, and ignored her other statement, gray eyes gleaming with something she couldn't recognize- mirth?

"Me!"

He half-chuckled, turning away maddeningly. "I wasn't. Don't flatter yourself."

She narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing here anyway?"

He shrugged. "Detention."

Ginny stared at him dismally- a detention with Malfoy? Snape would surely make them do their detentions together..

***

 

II. In The Scrubbin’ Mood.

Harry spooned some more pudding into his bowl and watched Hermione fight with Ron rather listlessly, only dimly aware of the conversation. He swept his gaze across the room, for the third time. His eyes lingering unnecessarily on the pretty, laughing form of Ginny Weasley, sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table, and then turned back to his friends.

"I'm telling you, Ron, pickles are actually cucumbers that are-" Hermione was scowling as she said this, and Harry rolled his eyes as Ron answered in a tone even more irritated than hers,

"Pickles are pickles, Hermione. Cucumbers and pickles are two very differen-"

"Oh, will you ever listen to anyone but yourself? You are such an insufferable-"

"You don't have to act like you know everything all the time," Ron shot back just as hotly, and Harry figured that now would be a good time to interject.

"Come on, you two. How did we even get from Quidditch to pickles anyway?" He said quickly, hoping they would just forget it. Six years, six years of this bickering between them; obviously there were some kind of feelings behind their arguments, and the only ones who weren't aware of it were Ron and Hermione.

"Because I changed the subject," Hermione turned her glare on him. "Because maybe I don't want to talk about Quidditch all the time. Maybe-"

"Quit your whining," muttered Ron, shoving his plate away.

Hermione let out something of a frustrated growl and pushed away from the table, grabbing her bag and stomping off, all the while muttering to herself under her breath; the only words Harry could catch were, "...Quidditch... unbearable... redheads..", and then, "Fighting over pickles- Pickles!"

"Can you believe her?" Ron asked in an incredulous tone, twisting around to face Harry.

"First she tells me that I spooned too much rice onto my plate, and that I would never finish, then she starts nagging me about my homework, and then, then, she starts going on about pickles and cucumbers!"

"Uhm," Harry grinned at his friend's general clueless state and agreed, "Women. Can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em."

***

Ginny furrowed her brow and stared at him. "What? *You* can't have a detention!" She stepped a bit further into the room and dropped her bag on a nearby table.

Draco turned his head to look at her again, a smirk forming at his lips. "Why not?" His eyes gleamed, and he said in a low tone. "I can be a very bad boy, you know..."

Ginny snorted and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Malfoy. No- you're too busy kissing Snape's dirty behind. He would never give you a detention. Tell me-" she leaned in closer to him, a lock of straight red hair falling in the way of her mischievous gaze. "-Why are you really here? Come to have a romantic interlude with your Potions teacher? I've heard the rumors, you know-"

"What the hell are you going on about?" Draco growled, swiveling around completely, so that he was facing her. "Have you gone mad? What rumors?"

Ginny rocked back on her heels and arched an eyebrow. "Hmm."

"What? Has Potter been filling your head with garbage about me?" The smirk reappeared. "He has been paying quite a bit of attention to you these days, no?"

Her expression turned sour at the mention of Harry and she rolled her eyes again, shifting so that her back was to him. She fumbled with her bag, pulling open the top flap.

"How would you know?" Ginny mumbled, pulling out a quill for no reason. She flipped over in her hands, then tossed it up in the air and caught it.

Draco's voice was completely filled with amusement, and she could hear him moving off the table and walking closer up behind her. "I've seen him hanging around you, like a lost dog- He has become infatuated with you, hasn't he?"

"And what were you doing watching us?" asked Ginny dryly, tossing the quill up in the air again. Draco stepped up next to her and caught the quill midair with a quick flash of his hand.

"Laughing at Puppy Dog Potter," he intoned smoothly. She glared at him and reached up to snatch the quill out of his hand.

"He does not act like a puppy dog." Ginny knew that however Harry felt about her, he had never "hung around" her like Malfoy was saying. Not to mention that after crushing on the boy for four years, and knowing almost everything about him, she couldn't help but automatically defend him. "Don't call him that."

"Yeah? How are you going to stop me from it?" Gray eyes glinted as he folded his arms across his chest and watched her.

"I-" She stared him, her mind for some reason hazing over a bit under his sharp gaze. "I'm not going to bother with you, Malfoy. You stink," she said. "And smell."

"I believe they're the same thing." The corner of his mouth turned up.

Ginny glowered at him some more- and he scowled back, though his eyes were light.

They were interrupted by the loud creak of the door opening, and the Potions Professor stepping in.

Severus Snape stalked into the room, a deeply unpleasant expression on his face as he slammed a parchment on his desk and surveyed them. He was clothed in his traditional black robes, robes that matched both his dark, disheveled hair with his somber demeanor.

"What do you want?" He snarled at the pair, flopping down heavily in his seat.

Ginny footed her way around Draco and replied, "I'm here for my detention, Professor." She emphasized the last word in a tone of utmost disrespect.

Snape looked unaffected, and simply grunted, paying attention to Draco instead. "What is it, Draco?"

"McGonagall sent me here," he said lazily, flicking his eyes in the direction of the frowning teacher. "Gave me a detention and told me to serve it with you."

"Really?" Snape's intonation was one of supposed, vague interest. He picked up his parchment and surveyed it once more. "Why couldn't she punish you herself?"

Draco shrugged indifferently. "She and the other professors were at some meeting."

Snape's expression darkened a considerable amount, and he scowled, muttering something to himself under his breath.

Ginny huffed at how they were both ignoring her and said once more, "Professor...?"

"What is it?" snapped Severus.

Ginny scowled right back at him and grabbed her bag off the table. "Fine. If you don't want me to serve my detention, there are other places I'd rather be," she said flippantly, heading for the door.

"Just a minute, Weasley," Snape snarled after her. "I never said you could go."

She swung around to see the Professor stand up and fling open the supplies closet behind him, then pull out a sponge and a bucket. Ginny watched with dread as he set it on a table; both of them ignored Draco's snickers.

"You will clean the floor. It's been a while since someone has nicely scrubbed it."

He wanted her to scrub the floor? Floors were supposed to be cleaned with magic! She gripped her bag tightly, trying to control the anger welling up inside her. "That isn't fair. I didn't even do anything to deserve this detention, and-"

"Quiet!!" thundered Snape, knitting thick eyebrows together furiously so that it looked like he had a single, hairy, black line going straight across his forehead. "You will do as I say, or then maybe-" his voice became dangerously quiet. "- I can find something else for you to do, Weasley?"

Ginny took a step back, surprise etched in her expression, though Draco didn't look startled in the least at this outburst. She didn't want to be stuck cleaning out deadpans from the hospital wing, or whatever else nasty thing Snape could find for her to do. "No," she finally found her voice. "That won't be necessary."

"Fine. Get to work." Snape grabbed the parchment he had come in with from desk.

"When I come back, you should be done." He headed for the doorway, robes flowing behind him in quite a sinister fashion. Draco stopped him, a bit reluctantly.

"Do I have to do anything?"

Snape paused, turning around briefly. "Yes… If Professor McGonagall," he accentuated the name, "-has sent you here, she'll expect to hear what you have done. There is a book concerning Potions on my desk. Read a chapter." He swept out the door.

Ginny gaped after him, astonished, then wheeled around to stare at her unlikely companion. "I have to scrub the floor," she stated incredulously, "and you have to read a book?"

Draco grinned; it was probably the first time she had seen him do so. "Yeah."

She growled low in her throat and flung her bag down, striding towards the sponge and bucket. Draco smirked and settled himself on the table again, making absolutely no move for the book on Snape's desk, and instead occupying himself by keeping his gaze on her.

Ginny seized the sponge with a vengeance and carried the bucket to the sink in the corner of the room, turning on the tap. Water spilled out noisily into the steel container, and she watched it fill with a despondent look in her eyes.

***

Hermione tried to concentrate on the open Arithmancy book on her lap, but her eyes were glazed over and she could just barely make out that the blurry black bugs crawling over the pages were words. She yawned; what time was it anyway?

Hardly nine, a quick glance at her Muggle wristwatch told her. Nine 'o clock and she was falling asleep on herself. She could hardly even keep her eyes open. The past few days had been horrible. She had had two major exams in her classes and had stayed up for the majority of the nights just studying- maybe that was why she felt so cranky nowadays. "Going off about nothing," as Ron had so ungently put it.

However, at the moment, school was more important than sleep; a couple of hours in bed were definitely not as valuable as staying at the top of her class, though it did seem horribly appealing.

Bed… bed meant warm covers, and soft pillows, and peace of mind. Hermione yawned again, a hopeless, openmouthed, giant of a yawn that she couldn't help but looked embarrassed about a second later, glancing around the common room to see who had witnessed it.

"Tired much?" Ron asked a bit carelessly from where he was lounging in an overstuffed, scarlet chair next to her, contemplating a chessboard with his hand clenched tightly around a misbehaving white bishop, though there was no one playing opposite him.

Hermione switched her gaze back to the text in her Arithmancy book, missing the sweeping look of concern that Ron gave her.

"Maybe you should go to sleep," he said shortly, his tone a bit lighter.

"I have to study," she replied just as shortly, biting her lip and flipping a page in the book.

"Hermione, you aren't studying. You're staring at your book and thinking about sleep, and bed."

Hermione lifted her head to stare at him. "How did you know?"

Ron attempted a grin, saying, "I could tell by your expression."

"Oh." Hermione was quiet, then she shut her book and stood up, stepping behind Ron's chair and stretching her arms over her head. "Maybe I will go up to bed."

Ron nodded. "G'night."

"Good night, Ron. And tell Harry good night for me too, will you? Whenever he comes in."

"I will."

Hermione couldn't help but stand there staring at the back of Ron's head, feeling compelled to say something more-- but then, not being able to find the words for what she was feeling. She simply turned on her heel and headed for her dormitory.

***

Ginny Weasley was not happy. One hour ago, she had pushed the sleeves of her robes up to her elbows, and tied her hair back in a low bun, then had proceeded to get on her knees and scrub. Now, after having relentlessly scoured half the cold stone floor with soap and water, her hair was falling into her eyes, greasy from where she had touched it with soapy hands to push it back. Her pretty blue robes were dirty beyond belief from dragging on the ground, and she was furious at Snape for have given her such an awful punishment- the man had no right to treat her this way, and she would be damned if he did it again.

What only made the situation worse was that Draco Malfoy sat atop one of the smooth black tables, leaning back on his elbows, his gray eyes following her every movement, but not saying a word.

Ginny gritted her teeth and gripped her sponge harder, trying to ignore him, but she couldn't help but become more and more vexed with his penetrating gaze, the way he was watching her- he wasn't even doing his detention, and that was maddening.

Snape wouldn't even bother to ask him if he had- he would get away with it scot-free, while the floor she was scrubbing would be inspected inch by inch.

She could just imagine Snape smiling coldly, and saying, "You missed a spot."

'If he does,' she thought maliciously with a particularly violent stroke at the floor, 'I am going to lunge straight for his throat-'

Her thoughts were interrupted by an icy, amused chuckle from Malfoy.

"What?" Ginny snapped, fed up with him, her Potions Professor, with everybody at the moment. "What is it that you find so damned *funny*, Malfoy?"

"I was just imagining Potter's expression if he saw you now," Draco replied without missing a beat. "Would he still find you so... attractive?"

Ginny glared up at him, and returned coldly, "At least someone does find me attractive, Malfoy. Someone besides my Potions Professor," she added nastily.

Draco's expression darkened again, and he slowly slid off the table he had been resting on. "I don't like people talking about me behind my back, Weasley. Who's been spreading lies?"

She rolled her eyes and turned back to a scuff of dirt that was so stubbornly set in the stone she was scrubbing. "Yeah, like I'm really going to tell you when you so obviously want to know. I think I'll let you suffer."

Draco snorted. "This is hardly suffering." The words were said lightly enough, but something in his tone made Ginny look up at him once again and remember just who he was.

"You know a lot about suffering, Malfoy?" She asked, keeping her voice rough.

He looked back at her unblinkingly, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Maybe you should put a little more spirit into your job, Weasley. Or I might be inclined to tell Snape how… half-heartedly you've done your work."

Ginny narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't."

Draco shrugged, smirking. "There isn't a lot that I wouldn't do."

"Well, sorry," Ginny returned sarcastically, scraping at the floor harder than she had before. "-If I'm not in the scrubbing mood. Sorry if I seem to be doing such a lousy job," she gestured towards the clean floor behind her, the stone looking as if it were about to burst into sparkle and shine. "Please forgive me."

"Yeah, good that you're sorry. Now kiss my feet, and maybe we can work on the forgiveness part of it."

She snorted. "Like hell."

"'Like hell' is right. How else could I describe an evening with you?"

She closed her eyes briefly, making an attempt to refrain the irritation that was welling up inside of her. "You know what, Malfoy?" She finally stood up, ignoring the ache in her knees from being bent for so long, and the fact that her left foot was asleep. "I am sick of your comments, I am sick of your attitude, and I am sick of you in general. If you don't shut up at this moment, I will-"

"Oooh, what are you going to do?" He smirked, as if he knew she wouldn't dare do anything to him.

"Aaargh!" Ginny kicked the bucket aside, not caring that the soapy water spilled all over the floor, and took two steps toward Malfoy before chucking her wet sponge at his head, then swiftly swung around to stalk out of the room.

She missed the look of total surprise etched in his expression as the sponge flew wildly in the air towards him, then hit him smack dab in the face. She also missed the way her shoe slipped on the water as she headed angrily for the door; her feet stole out from underneath her, and suddenly Ginny had no legs to hold her up, and she was falling towards the floor--

The last thing she felt was a loud *thud* as her head came in heavy contact with the hard stone, and the world faded quickly into darkness.

***

 

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