The inevitable

Ginnys Comeuppance

The next morning after the ball, Ginny skipped down to the Great Hall. Harry had escorted her to the ball last night, but she had left with a sixth year Hufflepuff. 'He was great, if you know what I mean.' Ginny thought, grinning wickedly.

She took her usual seat next to Harry and kissed him on the lips quickly. "Good morning." She sang.

"Good morning, Gin. How did you sleep?" Harry asked, smiling sweetly at his girlfriend.

Ginny smirked inwardly. Poor, unsuspecting Harry. She only wanted him for his fame and money. But he was hers, no-one else was going to touch him.

"I slept well thank you. So, I heard Hermione is in the Hospital Wing." She replied.

"Yeah. We heard that too." Ron piped up.

Ginny put a look of hurt on her face. "I hope she gets what she deserves for hurting me." She fake sobbed.

The boys, her boys, looked at her sadly. "Oh, Gin, don't cry." Harry pleaded, playing the doting boyfriend.

"Here, have some pumpkin juice. It'll cheer you right up." He coaxed, pouring her a goblet.

Internally Ginny was grumbling about how Pumpkin juice wouldn't make her happy, but she accepted the goblet anyway. She smiled at Harry before taking a long gulp of the sweet liquid.

Draco trudged down to the Great Hall with Blaise, Luna and Pansy. They had dragged him out of him room and was now forcing him down to the breakfast to see the show that Harry had promised them.

Luna was sitting with Blaise that morning, needing the comfort of her boyfriend as the prospect of losing her best friend was staring her squarely in the face.

Draco slumped into his seat and stared numbly at the table in front of him.

"Draco, you have to eat something." Pansy coaxed, placing bacon and egg onto his plate.

"I'm not hungry." Draco replied in a monotone.

"Please, for Hermione."
"What's the point. I'll feel ill and probably be sick. Besides, we shouldn't be wasting time here. Hermione needs us."
"We'll go up there right after this show Potter promised." Blaise told his friend, smiling encouragingly at him.

Draco didn't return it, just stared at him with lifeless eyes. Suddenly a shrill shout from the other side of the hall caught their attention. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!"

Ginny had just swallowed the juice when she felt her mind become foggy and clouded. "What did you do?"

Harry just stared at her coldly, as did Ron.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!" Ginny yelled, her eyes widening in panic.

Harry pulled an empty vial out of his pocket. "A while ago, our class was brewing Veritaserum. Professor Snape said that if it was brewed correctly we got to keep a bit. I was paired with Hermione and our potion ended up perfect."

Ginny stared at him in horror. "It's time, Ginny Weasley, that you tell us exactly what you have been doing."
Ginny's eyes clouded over and she fell into the trance like state that the Veritaserum induced.

"Is your name Ginny Weasley?" Harry asked, checking to see if the potion worked correctly.

"Yes." Ginny replied in a monotone.

Harry waved his wand. "Sonorus." He whispered, the spell aimed at Ginny. Now her voice was raised so that everyone could hear her, it was time to begin the questioning.

"Did Hermione Granger ever hurt you?"

"No."

"How did you get the bruises?" Ron asked this time.

"I used magic to recreate the bruising."

"Why?"

"To turn you away from her. Hermione had everything I wanted. She had her own fame as the Brightest witch of our generation, being your best friend and having dated Victor Krum."

"I also saw her as a threat to my future relationship with Harry James Potter."

Harry regained the questioning. "Did you do anything to us?"
"Yes."
"What was it?"
"I got one of my boyfriends to brew a love potion and a devotion potion. I gave the love potion to Harry and the devotion potion to my family so they would believe me over Hermione."

Everyone in the Great Hall gasped. The Devotion potion was a very dark and illegal potion. It was said it was last used by Grindewald when he rose to power to gain followers. It earned anyone who used or brewed it a one way ticket to Azkaban.

"One of your boyfriends?" Harry asked, his voice faint.

"Yes, I have numerous boyfriends in many different houses. The one who brewed the potion is Theodore Nott."

Filch dragged said boy back into the hall as he tried to sneak out. The boy cursed and glared at everyone.

"Why did you do it, Nott?" Severus snarled from the teachers table. This brat had had a hand in losing Hermione her friends.

"She was going to pay me."
"How so?"
"She was going to marry Potter, but date me on the side. She was going to buy me a manor and give me anything I wanted." Nott replied, his eyes dark. His family had lost everything after the war.

"When will the potions wear off?" Harry asked.

"Just say the password."

"Which is?"
"Mudblood."
Harry's nose scrunched up in disgust at the girl he once fancied himself in love with due to a potion. "How long have we been on this potion?" He requested.

"Over a year."

Harry glared at Ginny as the potion wore off. Ginny soon glared right back. "Bastard." She spat.

The Professors headed towards her, planning to hand her over to the Aurors. Ginny backed up, towards the doors.

Seizing her chance, she turned and ran. She was gone before any of the Professors could even get close.

"Call the Aurors. Tell them to be on the look out for Miss Weasley." Dumbledore told his staff.

Harry pointed his wand at himself. "Mudblood." He murmured. A tingling feeling ran through him, and the effects of the potion was finally lifted.

Harry grinned and ran to the Slytherin table. He tapped Pansy on her shoulder and she turned round. He pulled her to her feet and grinned cheekily at her.

"This is something I have wanted to do ever since fifth year." He told her, before kissing her.

Pansy melted against him and kissed back. Cheers and wolf whistles echoed around the great hall.

"Now the shows over, Potter, Can we go see Hermione?" Draco demanded. Harry nodded and the seven friends of Hermione rushed to the Hospital Wing.