Suspicious Newcomer

Chapter 10

AN: Might actually finish this over the weekend. Here's hoping! If you read this, please leave a comment.

Ordering the necessary potion ingredients for the Veritaserum turned out to be surprisingly easy. He had sent Hedwig out with a list of all the ingredients that weren't in the student store cupboard, and she had headed out to the nearest shop that held them in Diagon Alley. He got some suspicion from Flitwick, but there was nothing wrong with ordering extra potion ingredients so he eventually conceded the package.

It was a while before Harry found the time to brew the potion, but after beating Ravenclaw in their next Quidditch game, the cup had never looked so close and Harry knew he had to act. He had decided to let it sit in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, for old times sake. By this point, Hermione, Ron, Mello, and Ginny were all in on the plan to force Yagami into confessing. Ginny had happened to stop by when Ron and Mihael were discussing the plan, and had demanded to be included. It was surprising how many enemies Yagami had made, on and off the Quidditch pitch for how polite he was.

A few days before the full moon, Harry called another meeting with the aforementioned people, besides Hermione, who wanted to be left out of Harry's schemes as much as possible.

"I've gathered you all here today to brainstorm." Harry exclaimed, standing in front of the Gryffindor common room fireplace with his hands folded in front of him. "We need to decide how we're going to get Yagami to drink the potion."

Everyone exchanged glances.

"I thought we would force him to take it," Ron said. "Thought that was the whole point."

"If we force him to take it, it'll be obvious what we've done and we'll get in as much trouble, if not more." Mello pointed out, with slightly less rudeness than ordinary. It seemed as though his friendship with Ron was improving his aggressive impulses. Then he scowled. "Not that I'd not love to shove it down his perfect throat."

"I...actually may have a plan." Harry said. "I was thinking about everything we know about Yagami."

"What do we know about Yagami?" asked Ginny, raising an eyebrow. Her eyebrows were the same stunning red as the rest of her hair. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she spoke, then gestured for him to continue.

Harry quickly looked away, feeling himself go red. This would be awkward enough to say, even disregarding his...feelings for Ginny. God, he wished Ron wasn't looking at him so intently. Focus, Harry.

"Well, I had a conversation with Matsuda a while back. He said something about Light being too clever to be tricked into drinking love potion-"

"Hold up!" Ginny interrupted. She raised her hand into the air. "Why were you talking about giving Light Yagami a love potion, Harry?!"

"It wasn't like that! Just forget it. The point is, it'll be hard to trick him into taking it. Then I thought; what are his weaknesses?"

"Get to the point!" Mello snapped.

"Right. Er, sorry. I think his weakness may be... pretty girls." Harry finished lamely. Ron raised his eyebrows, as did Ginny. "Look at who his girlfriend is! I was wondering why they were together, when their personalities don't exactly seem...compatible."

Ginny tilted her head. "You do have a point there. So how do you think we can exploit this weakness?" Harry stared at her. So did Mello. Ron looked between them, confused. Ginny reddened and leapt to her feet. "Oh, hell no."

"We're not asking you to do anything weird-" Harry said quickly.

"Really? Because I'm thinking about hexing you already," Ginny threatened, taking out her wand. Harry eyed it warily.

"Look," Mello jumped in. "He has a point, you said it yourself. You just have to give him, I dunno, some food or something and say that you made it yourself or whatever, as a romantic present. Wrap it up pretty with a bow. He'll probably eat it if it's from you."

Ginny bit her lip. Harry sucked in a breath, hoping she didn't hate him. Or hex him. Finally, she sat down. "Fine." she conceded. "But if he's a creep, I will personally make sure none of you go a moment of your lives without bat wings on your face."

Harry nodded. "Fair enough."

"Maybe not even on your face. I can get very creative."

"I said okay!"

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Harry and Ron sat together at the Gryffindor table during lunch. They were watching Ginny's slow walk over to the Slytherin table, where Light Yagami was sitting, cluelessly eating his onsen tamago. Mello sat a few chairs away from him, ready to intervene if anything went wrong. Harry hoped he wouldn't get excited and attack Yagami before Ginny even delivered her "gift".

They had decided to disguise the Veritaserum as butterbeer, and it was easy enough to pour it in and magically reseal the bottles. Ron had chosen a scarlet bow to tie around them, and Ginny had sacrificed her Easter basket to carry them in. Altogether, the ensemble had a cute and cheerful aesthetic. Ginny, on the other hand, was anything but. She walked as if she was going to her own execution, and she ground her teeth so hard they could hear it from yards away. As she tapped on Yagami's shoulder, however, her posture changed. She straightened, lowered her shoulders, and schooled her features into a perky smile. Harry blinked. He had never realized she was such a good actor. Even Ron muttered, "Freaky," from beside him.

"Hey Light," she chirped as Yagami turned around. He smiled in response, then noticed the basket in her arms. "What's that?"

"I... had some extra butterbeer lying around. My friends got it for me a while ago, but I was wondering if you'd like some."

"Oh, thank you. That's very nice of you to think of me." Light responded. He took the basket from her and sat it beside him, without even glancing at the bottles.

Ginny's smile faltered. "You...do like butterbeer, don't you?"

"Of course! Who doesn't?" Light responded easily.

"Hm." Ginny said. She smiled again. "You can have some now, if you like."

Now Yagami did glance at the bottle. He looked back at Ginny, then scanned the Gryffindor table until he saw Harry and Ron very conspiciously staring back at him. He scowled.

"Shit." Harry whispered, quickly turning around and pretending to be engrossed in the sandwich on his plate. Ron copied him, reaching for his goblet and knocking it over with a loud clang. Harry flinched.

He finally risked a glance back at the Slytherin table half a minute later, but at that point, Ginny was already walking back, scowling.

"Well, he was definitely suspicious." she said. "But, he took the bottles, so... maybe?"

Harry shook his head. "He needs to drink it in front of us. Not that it'll matter, since he'll probably never drink it now." He slumped down onto the table. "Oh, well. It was a bit of a stupid plan anyways."

"Course it was, it was Lawliet's idea." Ron pointed out. "Probably screwed us up on purpose."

Harry and Ginny sighed.