Hallowe’en passed by uneventfully, Ms. Norris was as healthy as ever, and everything was peaceful. No Heir of Slyherin running around, no overgrown snakes with the insta-death doujutsus using Hogwarts’ plumbing system as their VIP route, just a very normal year with the occasional rogue house-elf trying to ‘save’ The-Boy-Who-Lived and a pompous ferret that was made to vomit slugs because Ron’s wand was in working condition. All-in-all a perfectly normal year for Hogwarts and the magical world in general.
On the other side, McGonagall seemed to have finally forgiven her and gave her the points she deserved for the extra work that she did, which she happily accepted, as it was the capital she would use to make Snape’s life miserable every time he tried to make her own life difficult. While she herself didn’t care for the House Cup, most of the other students did; at the very least she would not drag her house down with herself. She would make sure to have enough points to balance out whatever Snape docked.
After the Hair-Raising fiasco, she had played a few more pranks on him, but there was no conclusive evidence that it was her doing. But both of them knew who the culprit was. She had purposefully made it obvious that she was the culprit who had caused the vial to blow up in his face; so that every time she pranked him after, he would know it was her, but would be unable to do anything about it. Oh, he could dock points as he wished, but there was little else he could do.
What was surprising to her was that despite their sour relationship, Snape still gave her Exceeds Expectation or the occasional Outstanding for her homework and classwork. His pride as a Master of Potions would not allow him to grade a perfect potion the likes of which she made anything lower than what it deserved. He was very critical, of course, but he still graded her more or less fairly.
She had also made a new friend: Luna, who occasionally started to hang out with her. It was just that her teasing, which worked so well on Gwen, Aileen and even Hermione, seemed to have zero effect on Luna, causing her a lot of frustration, which she took out on her roommates by teasing them even more.
It was only on Tuesday the 10th after Transfiguration class that her normal routine was broken.
-x-x-x-
“That is the end of the class, students. You are required to submit an essay at least a foot and a half long detailing your experience and the problems you encountered during the transformation of mice into snuff boxes and viable solutions for said problems. You have until Friday.”
The entire class groaned, while McGonagall looked unbothered at their pitiful looks.
Ginny, along with her roommates, followed after the students as they shuffled out of the classroom, when she suddenly heard McGonagall calling out to her, “Ah Ms. Weasley please stay back for a few minutes, I need to have a word with you. Meet me in my office.”
“Yes, professor.” turning to her companions she spoke, “You guys go on, I’ll catch up with you later.”
Gwen nodded and was about to bid her a temporary goodbye when Aileen suddenly spoke up, her tone somewhat off, “It isn’t about the time you petted her, is it?”
Ginny, who was mostly unbothered, suddenly froze, before mechanically turning to her Aileen. Her face slowly paling, she uneasily probed, “N-no way, right? It’s been so long! She would not hold onto a grudge for so long, right?” she looked at them hopefully.
Gwen was about to speak up to say something when she stopped and looked at Aileen in confusion, who just shook her head, “It might be a long time for us, but for the prof., it might not be so long.
“Besides, cats can hold grudges, you know? I still remember how my aunt’s cat had held a grudge against mum for nearly 4 years before finally getting its revenge. Mum had gone to visit Aunt after my cousin was born, and they decided to have tea after putting my baby cousin to sleep. They’d gone away leaving their tea for a while because my cousin had suddenly started to cry. When they were gone, the cat had pooped in my mum’s tea. I saw the whole thing happen with my own eyes.”
Before, Ginny could reply, however, they realised that they were the only ones left. Aileen reached out and patted her shoulder, “We’ll pray for you, Ginny.” and scampered away, dragging Gwen with her.
-x-x-x-
Aileen dragged Gwen half the way to the Charm’s classroom before Gwen managed to stop her.
“Stop, Aileen, let me… catch my… breath!” Gwen was huffing and puffing, trying to catch her breath. Aileen, too, was panting but she still had a huge smile of accomplishment on her face.
After catching her breath, Gwen stared at Aileen strangely, “Why did you do that? Why did you scare her?”
“Hehe~! It was always her teasing the both of us, scaring me and you! She never allowed herself to be teased, she’s too smart for that. So, once I saw the chance, I took it!” she exclaimed triumphantly, her little chipmunk face full of pride.
“But, but, that’s not nice!” Gwen blurted out.
“Don’t always defend her, Gwen! Don’t you remember how much you get teased by her?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“But that’s-”
“Harmless? So was this! Besides, we, as her friends, should remind her that actions have consequences! We must band together to form the Resistance! Otherwise we will be swept away under the relentless tides of her teasing!” Aileen in that moment exuded such charisma that poor Gwen was swept away by her confidence. Aileen extended her hand. “Will you join me in my efforts to defend against our opponent?”
Gwen was silent for a while before she nodded hesitantly, taking the extended hand.
At that moment, the Resistance was born.
-x-x-x-
On the other side, Ginny made up her mind and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Nervously, she walked in. The last time she was here, it was for a lecture that was nearly two hours long which ended in several week’s worth of detentions being forced upon her. So she was justifiably very apprehensive in this room. Aileen’s speculation did not help either.
“Take a seat, Ms. Weasley.” McGonagall gestured towards a straight-backed chair.
McGonagall peered at her from across the desk, causing her guest to squirm somewhat uncomfortably in her seat.
“What do you think of this First-years’ syllabus, Ms. Weasley?”
Ginny was caught off guard for a bit when asked such a normal question, before quickly regaining her wits. “Er… easy, I would say?”
“How easy?” McGonagall inquired further.
“Very easy.” the redhead replied.
“Have you tried learning ahead?”
“Yes, I have. I have completely covered the theoretical aspects in all the subjects for first-year. I have also finished learning the practical portions for Charms and Defence.” she recounted the ‘progress’ she’d cooked up to feed everyone. She couldn’t really go around saying that she finished Hogwarts syllabus and more in less than half a year now, could she? She had broken her head over this issue for many days, trying to figure out how much ‘progress’ to show that would establish her image as an extraordinary genius while also not being labelled a monster.
McGonagall raised her left eyebrow, “You have not tried Transfiguration?”
“No professor. You had warned us of the dangers at the start.”
Eyebrows raised even higher, she scrutinised Ginny for any sign of falsehood. And she was not actually lying as she really had not cast a single spell that was beyond what she said she had. “I did not expect you to be a cautious one Ms. Weasley, especially given your previous… exploits.” she emphasised ‘exploits’.
“I’m petty, professor, not reckless.” she responded to the professor. Once again, she was not lying.
McGonagall’s mouth twitched, but chose not to comment.
“You can cast a Reverse Spell on my wand if you want to, professor” she continued as she reached for her wand.
“That won’t be necessary, Ms.Weasley, I believe you.”
And after a few moments of pondering she gazed at Ginny, and stated, “I have a proposal for you, Ms.Weasley: I have spoken to the other professors about your remarkable performance in class and they have nothing but praise for you. After a discussion with the headmaster, we made a decision: you will be allowed to study the second years’ syllabus; under the guidance of your professors in the free periods after classes. At the end of the academic year - if you have made satisfactory progress - you will also take second year’s exams and if you have outstanding results, you will be allowed to skip a year.”
Ginny’s eyes widened and she could not help but be stunned.
Then she joyfully exclaimed, “I agree! Of course, I agree!” she nodded vigorously. She’d always wanted to skip a few years and was still thinking of ways to broach the subject to McGonagall. Who knew the latter would be the one to suggest it? Thus, Ginny was ecstatic!
McGonagall’s stern face softened significantly at her joy, and she gave a small smile, “Ms. Weasley, you don’t have to answer now. You may give your answer a week later. Talk to your family, ask for their opinions. Then think some more.”
The mention of her family caused Ginny to suddenly deflate, “Oh, I would need the textbooks too wouldn’t I?” The Weasley’s financial situation wasn’t exactly optimistic and the burden of another year’s worth of school supplies, especially this year's, thanks to a certain fraud, wasn't exactly light and might just cause them to go bankrupt.
“Oh don’t worry about that, I’m sure the professors will have a copy lying around.” McGonagall assuaged her concerns.
“What about Defence? Who will teach Defense?”
Then a terrifying realisation struck her. In horror, she held the sides of her head and tearfully looked at McGonagall. Her voice came out as a whisper, “A-And Potions? Who will teach Potions?”
At that moment, Ginny swore she saw the smuggest look appear on the stern Scottish Witch’s face.
Giving Ginny the widest smile, “You should have thought of that before, shouldn’t you? It’s high time you learnt that actions have consequences, Ms. Weasley.”
Her eyes screamed, ‘REVENGE IS SERVED!’
“And oh yes, Defence. Professor Flitwick will be very happy to guide you. He is a Master Duelist, after all. Just refrain from letting Professor Lockhart know. It will save all of us a lot of trouble.” the professor had already returned to her normal stern self.
“Also, Professor Snape asked me to tell you that he was looking forward to teaching such a bright student.” She did not forget to kick her when she was down.
“Scurry along, now. You still have a Charms class to attend.”
“Yes, professor.” Ginny replied mechanically as she looked at the witch’s stern face that was no different from normal. But Ginny knew very well that this woman was very different from what everyone thought. Under that stern face was a witch that was not only just as petty as herself but also far more patient.
For the rest of the day, she was mostly out of it, trying and failing to figure out a way to somehow avoid having to meet Snape and still learn Potions from him.
‘Ah, I miss modern tech so much! A simple video call would have solved this!’ She lamented the absence of the awesome convenience of modern times.
‘Sigh, actions have consequences. It’s high time I learnt that.’
As soon as classes were over, she briskly made her way to the owlery with the other two following after her. On the way, she briefly explained McGonagall's proposal.
“Eh? Skip a year? Doesn’t that mean you won’t be with us anymore?” Gwen looked saddened. Aileen was also a little miffed. Despite knowing each other only for a little more than 2 months the three had become great friends.
“No, silly. We’ll still stay in the same dorms, even next year if I meet the requirements. Why would they pointlessly complicate things? So we’ll still stay in the same dorms.” Ginny reassured the two. She also did not want to separate from the two, as they’d grown on her. Despite her initial assumption that she would not fit in with children, she still found herself becoming fond of their company and did not want their friendship to end.
She comforted the two until they reached the owlery and then some more after having sent the letter detailing McGonagall’s proposal. She was sure that McGonagall had already informed Molly and Arthur as the Head of the House. She also tried to hint that they should ask McGonagall to do something about the Snape situation.
Two days later she received a reply from the poor Errol who was half-dead from the trip.
Molly and Arthur expressed their immense joy at her extraordinary achievements and that they would do their best to support her no matter what decision she made. They also mentioned in no uncertain terms that they would not ask McGonagall to change their arrangements as the staff were already going out of their way for her benefit and they would not add to their troubles. ‘Actions have consequences’ they said.
Ginny cried herself to sleep that day.
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