Chapter 5
” Weasley, what are you doing on that broom, you look like a flobberworm! Straighten up, will ya? White, the Bludgers are the ones to avoid, you look like you are afraid of the Quaffle! Samuels, again – keep yourself between the chasers and hoops. If you let in a pathetic throw like White’s last goal again, I’m going to have you to run laps until you can’t walk! And Weasley, what in Merlin’s pants was that – you play like a little-“
“Do it better yourself then!” Ginny cried out. It wasn’t like they became any better by him insulting them every time they touched, or failed to touch the Quaffle. And if he called her a little girl again, she was going to explode…
“Told you not to let the little girls in, Marcus,” Montague sneered as he whizzed past them, the Quaffle in hand.
“Five laps Weasley, meet me after practice. Everyone split up in new groups, two attacking chasers, one defending chaser and a keeper – we are going to have a go with the Huckabee’s.” With that Flint took off towards the goal hoops on the other side.
“Just close your ears when it gets too much Ginny,” Alex advised her and added with her trademark smirk: “Though, it have happened that he actually squeezes in some good counsel there! Now, come on – let’s pair up for the Huckabee’s.”
With the rest of the team gone, Ginny glared at Flint but to her chagrin he seemed unruffled by her open animosity. Even though she logically understood that the Howler the other week was all on Ron and her mother she still felt some averseness towards the team-captain. If he hadn’t kept her after practice the other Sunday Ron wouldn’t have seen them together and written home… Or if he just hadn’t come from an old wizarding family that had members who had dabbled in dark magic…
“I got something for you,” he led her into the lockers that was used by Slytherin during the games. “Here,” with an unreadable expression he held out a pair of quidditch-shoes. And not any kind, Ginny had seen those in Quality Quidditch Supplies during the summer. They were exclusively made for chasers giving the perfect airflow for flying, the grip would be perfect for aerial tricks, the form was charmed to adapt to her feet, the shoelaces were charmed not to go up, it was the most perfect ones she could imagined… Though she couldn’t. She could never pay him back. Shaking her head, Ginny backed away “thank you, but I can’t…”
“Don’t be stupid Weasley, you need equipment to be able to deliver as a chaser and I get that you can’t afford it. And judging by that Howler you won’t get any from your-“
“Weasley’s don’t do charity.”
“Well maybe you should, it looks like you need it” Flint scoffed.
“NO!” She knew it was unreasonable, but she just saw red.
Hurrying out from the lockers, Ginny heard the door slam behind her.
“Ey, Weasley, stop,” Merlin’s beard, couldn’t he just let her leave, she hated the humiliation that came every time anyone mentioned her family’s lack of money. “Firstly, learn to control that temperament – I’m sick of it. Secondly, it isn’t charity. I wouldn’t offer if it hadn’t anything for me in it. See it as an investment.”
“Investment? What’s in it for you?”
“Make sure you succeed in going pro. Then I get season tickets to the league your first season. The cheapest season tickets ever.” Once again, the captain extended his hand holding the shoes.
Ginny hesitated, what was the hatch? This sounded too good to be true.
“Come on Weasley, stop overthinking everything, just take them.”
She did.
“You can test them out by doing those laps. Add five more for yelling at me. Make them fast, I want to make it back to dinner.”
----
In the DADA class just before Halloween they went from basic protective spells to studying Dark Artifacts. This year’s teacher, Professor Lupin, was casually sitting on his desk looking way to excited for a Friday morning class. If it was up to Ginny, there would be no getting up this early on a weekday for anything else then morning Quidditch practice. Weirdly enough she didn’t have a problem to get up early on Saturdays, maybe it was the restfulness of the common room before everyone woke up and before that the Burrow’s peacefulness before her brothers got up.
“So, who can tell me the difference between a Dark Magic artifact and a Magic artifact? Mr Jones?”
Ginny raised her eyebrow to her desk-mate Ava, Georg Jones was an idiot.
“Well, one is evil and the other one is not?” The Gryffindor in question looked way to self-confident for such an insipid answer in Ginny’s opinion.
“That is one way to look at it, Miss Carrow do you have any thoughts on the difference?”
“Who is to say there is a difference? An artifact is just an artifact. It is what it is. The epithet ‘Dark’ or as Jones say it ‘Evil’ is just simpleminded peoples’ way of evading complex reasoning they don’t understand.” Trust Hestia to have an argument ready, in a way Ginny agreed with her but in another not. The allure, that she knew Dark Magic and Dark artifacts could have, was giving her the shivers just thinking of it.
“Who are you calling simpleminded you slimy Slytherin?!”
“Quiet.” Professor Lupin had this ability to without ever raising his voice get a class to do as he said. Even a mixed Slytherin-Gryffindor class. “A point from Gryffindor Mr Jones and a point from Slytherin as well Miss Carrow, you bring an excellent point but attacking your dissenters only weakens your argument.”
“But Professor, how could something like a Blood Quill not be dark? It is made to harm the user,” Ava wondered.
“Interesting Question, Miss Carrow do you want to elaborate on your theory?”
“Lestrange actually answered her own question” Hestia answered. When it was clear she wasn’t going to continue Flora took over.
“Hestia is indicating that Ava herself said that the Quill is created to harm the user. Meaning that it isn’t the Quill that is having ill intentions just that the person creating it or using it that makes it act that way. Though, there is no saying that the persons intentions must evil.”
“Not evil? What could be good about a Blood Quill?” Robert Leroy, one of Tyler’s roommates asked.
“The world isn’t split into good and evil Mr Leroy,” Professor Lupin took over again. “I can see several uses of a Blood Quill that isn’t necessary evil. For example, if I used a Blood Quill to sign a contract with the intent to force the participants to uphold it, that might not be considered good but would it be evil?”
“So how do you know if something is evil?” Robert inquired.
“Does it matter?” Demelza Robins questioned. Professor Lupin signed at her to continue her thought. “I’m the witch of my actions, what is the difference if I used a Blood Quill or put a Biting Jinx on a normal quill? In the end I’m the reason the person got hurt by the quill?”
“There could be evil artifacts though, Professor,” Alex spoke up, it was really not like her to speak up in public. She usually let Ginny and the Carrows do most of the talking in class. But for some reason she seemed to be relaxed in Professor Lupin’s class and when Ginny thought about it, she had even stayed after class a few times to talk to him. Apparently he had been prefects with her dad when they went to Hogwarts. “There are objects that think and act on their own.”
“Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain.” Ginny thought to herself. That lesson had she learnt the hard way.
“Yes Miss White, Miss Weasley,” damn, she must have said that out loud.
“So, we shouldn’t trust you at all then Weasel – I can’t see you where you got any brain?”
“Five points from Gryffindor, Mr Jones, please don’t talk if you don’t have anything nice to say.”
Feeling her temper rise again Ginny opened her mouth to answer when she felt someone nudging her chair from behind. Turning around she faced Hestia and Alex both looking at her, the later raised her eyebrow reminding her about her promise to try and get the temperament under control. The former just mimed what Ginny guessed was ‘retaliation not impetuous’, her last catchphrase. Hestia was right Ginny thought; it would be stupid to get revenge in front of a teacher.
“Does anyone know what is the most dangerous thing you can do if you find a Dark artifact? Or as we have established, any magical artifact?”
“Touch it?” A Gryffindor Ginny didn’t remember the name of asked.
“Not just get close to it physically,” Ginny spoke up, “but give it your thoughts and feelings.” Ginny heard Sophia and Harper sniggering a couple of rows behind her, so much for Slytherin loyalty.
“Excellent Miss Weasley, a point to Slytherin.” The lunch bell chimed. Professor Lupin turned to Ginny, “Miss Weasley, please stay after class.”
When the class had milled out, Professor Lupin looked kindly at Ginny “I’m sorry if I’m too pushing now, but I’ve never liked to beat around the bush. I heard about the attack you were exposed for last year from You-Know-Who.”
Surprised Ginny looked at him “You know about that?” She thought Professor Dumbledore had wanted to keep it quiet. And the way Professor Snape used to glare at Professor Lupin at mealtimes didn’t suggest that they were prone to gossip over tea. “And, I’m pretty sure I did most of the attacking in that debacle.” She added with a forced smile.
Lupin ignored her failed attempt at humour. “I have known Professor Dumbledore a long time, I think one of the reasons he asked me to come this year was that he was unsettled that You-Know-Who was able to get to one of his students. I do have some experience with Dark Magic.”
“Sir?” Ginny still wasn’t sure what the point of the conversation was.
“I must really object to your view of being the one doing any attacking. You said it yourself, Dark Artifact’s most dangerous way of attacking is to get into your inner thoughts and feelings. I stand by the notion that you were under attack.”
“But I was the danger! I could have hurt my friends or family and I wouldn’t even have realised. By letting Tom in I put the whole school in danger. I could have killed someone!” Ginny surprised herself, she hadn’t talked about that month since that day in the Hospital Wing when her parents berated her for being so stupid.
“It’s not a nice feeling, to realise the scariest monster is the one inside.” It was nice that he didn’t try to gloss over the danger that had been all too real. “A long time ago, I also put my trust in the wrong person and my friends paid the price. But one can’t undo the past. We can just handle it and do better the next time.” Lupin looked like the words hurt him, but to Ginny they were oddly comforting – she had trusted Tom, more than anyone else.
“I trusted You-Know-Who. How could I not see the evil when it was right in front of me? How do you know who to trust after that?”
“That is a question I spent the last twelve years wondering over. I guess you sometimes just have to have faith and hope for the best.” His words were followed by an easy silence before Ginny broke it.
“Professor, Flora have mentioned a way to protect your mind. Do you know it?”
“Occlumency? Yes, I know the basics, Professor Dumbledore thought me during the war, it was needed for a mission.”
“Can you teach me?” Ginny felt her voice go pleading. She never pleaded… but all of this last year, she had been so scared of anyone getting into her head again. She knew Professor Snape only had dug into her head because she asked him, but it didn’t make it easier to bear.
“You would be getting a more knowledgeable teacher if you asked Professor Snape, I really only know the basics. But if you want to, I can give it a try to teach you.”
“Thanks!” It felt safer than going to Professor Snape, even though he had helped save her last Halloween and the fact that he was her Head of House. She would never let him back into her head.
“Let’s get to lunch, shall we? We can set up a first lecture after Halloween.” Professor Lupin smiled gently at her and held up the door.