TITLE: Dark Lord's Little Helper, Chapter Eleven
RATING: PG-13
PAIRING: Draco/Ginny
DISCLAIMER: Belongs to J.K. Rowling, etc.
BETAS: Gemsbok, ShadowPhoenix
SUMMARY: Ginny and Draco rush to save Harry. Unfortunately, this means Ginny will have to make a huge leap of faith, trusting Draco and Snape by putting Harry's life on the line.
THANKS TO: eX Driver Liz; I'm glad you caught that! Sharp eyes! MoonlightPrincess; Aw, shucks. I'm glad you like it! TropicalTreat101; OMG, the Time Turner is soooo hard to write! I'm never doing time travel again! I was so confused, and had to read it over and over again. I thought it'd be easy! Pamie884; Thanks! Those are some of my favorite lines. I cackled like a mad scientist while writing this, I swear. Cyranothe2nd; g Did you pinch that from Browning? You haven't read my slashy stuff, have you? In any case, I'm so glad you like it!

How to be a Hero with Just a Vial of Poison and a Young Redhead

Ginny entered the Hall first, nervously biting her thumbnail. The poison was practically burning a hole in her pocket. She was all right with Draco carrying the plan out, but it rattled her to think of being the one to do it. What if Harry hated her forever? Get a grip, Weasley, she instructed herself. At least he'll be alive a good long while to hate you, or longer than he would have been, at any rate. You're doing the right thing. The right thing isn't supposed to be easy, or they'd call it the easy thing.

Realizing the twins had left Harry alone for the moment, she hurried back to her seat. "Hey there," she said with a fake smile, and he turned to look at her.

"Hey," he responded, yawning. "Where'd you go?"

"Oh…just to stretch my legs," she replied nervously. Under the table, she worked the vial out of her pocket. "Um. The food looks pretty good, doesn't it?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm not very hungry, to be honest," he told her.

Ginny silently cursed. Of course he wasn't. Poor Harry was always so stressed out these days that he was almost never hungry. That made things more difficult. She'd hoped she'd just be able to pour the potion into his food, since he was practically asleep sitting up and likely wouldn't even notice. Now she'd have to think of something else. Sitting up as tall as she could, Ginny peered into Harry's cup, which was just about empty.

Harry rubbed his eyes. "Sorry I'm not such great company tonight," he said.

"Oh, no worries," she told him in a chipper voice. "You know, some more punch might help that. The secret ingredient really does make things more fun." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Draco slinking back to his seat and trying to wave Parkinson off. He kept shooting anxious looks at her.

Harry gave another apathetic shrug. "Maybe. I'm not all that thirsty, either. Just tired."

"Yes? Well…um. Wait here, and I'll get us both some punch," she said. "And I'll try to keep you awake a bit longer, so you don't miss out on the Christmas fun." Sliding back her chair, she hurried over to Fred and George with Harry's nearly empty cup. Ron had moved to sit next to them, and they were talking avidly about a new prank product. "Hey, guys," she said breathlessly. "Do you have any more punch? I need a couple of cups."

George handed her a cup, grinning. "One for Harry?" Ginny nodded distractedly.

"Here, you can have mine, too," Ron offered. "It was my third cup, so I'm good." He gave her a wide grin. "And good luck with Harry!"

"Oh…you just want him as a brother-in-law," she fumed, snatching the drink out of his surprised hand. "Well, it's not going to happen. I'm going to marry whoever makes me happy, not whoever makes you happy, got it? And if you don't like it, you can damn well marry him yourself!" She flounced off crossly.

"I—what? You—" Ron was spluttering behind her. "Who said anything about marriage? She's…of all the crazy—!"

Hurrying away, she uncapped the vial with one hand and surreptitiously poured it all in. She was careful to keep her back to her brothers and the poisoned cup in her right hand.

Ginny dropped into the seat beside Harry, who was resting his face in his palm, his elbow dangerously close to his neighbour's drink. "Here," she said breathlessly. "I got us some punch. Drink up!"

He blinked tiredly at her. "Nah, that's okay. You go ahead, though."

Ginny looked over at Draco, flummoxed. She gave him a pleading look, glancing back at Harry, who'd shut his eyes again. Draco plastered a grin on his face, grabbed up his glass, and turned to Parkinson, saying loudly, "A toast to your beauty!"

For a moment, Ginny was affronted, but recovered quickly. She shook Harry's shoulder. "Come on, Harry! Have a drink with me, please? I wanted to do a Christmas toast. Everyone else is doing it!"

Harry sighed and straightened up, stretching his arms a bit. "All right, all right. We'll have a toast, already. What are we drinking to?"

Ginny stared. "To—to…to friendship." Harry nodded and clinked his glass against hers, sipping his punch. "To a really great friendship," Ginny continued sadly, "Because I care such an awful lot about you, and I'd do just about anything to protect you."

Harry blinked at her a bit more, now looking a little lost. "Okay…" he said uncertainly, tapping their cups together and drinking again.

"Even if it was something really bad. Because you saved my life once, and I'll never forget it, and I'll always be there to try to save yours, if I can. Any way possible."

Now Harry was turning a bit red. "Um. Yeah." He drank again. "It wasn't any big deal; you don't have to get all…um. You don't owe me anything, you know."

Ginny smiled a watery smile. "I know." She raised her glass. "And because I'm really trying to be as good a friend to you as you are to me, even if it doesn't always seem like it," she said.

Harry frowned. "Look, how long is this toast going to go on? I thought it was only supposed to be a couple of words, not a two-hour dissertation about our friendship."

"Right," she said, clinking cups. "I'm finished." She sipped her punch, and watched him finish his off. She set the cup down rather hard on the table, letting it slip from suddenly shaking hands. She looked up at Harry, blinking back tears. She hoped to God Snape knew what he was doing, or she'd have just killed one of her best friends. She threw her arms around his neck, swallowing a sob. "I'm sorry, Harry," she muttered. "I—I really have to use the bathroom."

"For crying out loud!" Harry exclaimed, untangling himself. "You didn't have to tell me that. Why are you sorry for that, anyhow?" He watched with bafflement as she stood up and gave him a stoic smile, before turning and running from the room. "Girls," he muttered, before getting up to join the other Weasleys. "Ron, I reckon your sister is crazy."

"Tell me about it," said Ron vehemently.

Only Hermione and Pansy Parkinson noticed Draco steal out of the room after Ginny, and one was too offended to mention it to anyone else, and the other was far too discreet.

By the time Draco caught up with her, Ginny pretty much had herself under control. "Sorry about that," she snuffled, wiping her cheek with the back of her palm. "That was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."

"You did a good job," Draco told her quietly. "It's not like you choked or anything. You're a real trooper." He patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.

Ginny took a couple of deep breaths. "It's just…when I was down in the Chamber of Secrets, he came after me…he saved me from the snake, and from Voldemort, and he—"she hiccupped a little, interrupting herself—"he even tried to lie about it afterwards, so that I wouldn't get in trouble. I don't have a lot of friends that would do something like that for me." She scowled at her shoes until she was breathing normally again.

"Yeah," Draco told her softly, "I think I understand. I don't have any friends like that, so I know it must be pretty special. Don't worry; he'll be okay. I promise. Are you going to be all right?" he asked gently, rubbing her back.

She nodded. "I'm fine now." She looked up at him. "And you do too have a friend like that."

Draco looked annoyed. "I had rather hoped we'd moved beyond the realm of mere 'friendship.'"

She wrapped her arms around him and leaned on his shoulder. "We can be friends, too," she informed him. "There's no law that says we can't."

Slowly, he brought his arms up around her as well. "Ah. In that case, I suppose it's all right." They stood this way a while, wondering what to do next. "We could always get a cup of tea," Draco suggested. "It would probably make you feel better. Plus, it would be good if we could get something to eat. I still haven't had anything since that soup and it's been…well, the time table is rather convoluted at this point, but my stomach says it's been far too long."

"I agree," Ginny said with a sigh. "It's really not good to drink the twins' punch on an empty stomach. Let's head down to the kitchens and get a snack before I go down there and run into myself."

Draco frowned. "I dislike time travel," he said finally. "It's terribly circuitous, and it's giving me a headache."

Once they reached the kitchens, Ginny walked heedlessly in, looking about, while Draco stopped and stared, aghast.

"Well, I don't see Dobby, but it looks like his little friend is here," Ginny was saying, "So we'll just—"

"Dixie?" Draco gasped. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

The elf threw herself at his feet and burst into sobs—of happiness or misery, Ginny couldn't tell. "You know this elf?" she said, shocked.

"Of course I know this elf! This is my elf!" Draco said angrily. "Stop it, Dixie! You tell me what you're doing here right this instant!"

"Dobby said she'd been set free," Ginny told him.

"Ha! As if father would ever set a house elf free," Draco replied scornfully. "Something is afoot, and I have a pretty shrewd guess as to what it's all about. Dixie," he said in a warning tone, "Why are you here?"

"Master says—Master says—" she wailed tearfully. "Master says I is to come to Hogwarts and tell them I is freed! Master gives me a sock, but it is only to borrows. Master says I is to come here and give Harry Potter a Christmas present, Master Draco, sir!"

Draco humphed. "I see. And did this Christmas present happen to be some sort of potion, Dixie?"

Dixie nodded, crying loudly. "I is not wanting to, but Master is saying I must! Master is saying to make Harry Potter a drink for Christmas, and I is to pour the whole bottle in! I must! I must! I is having to!" She looked truly miserable, and Ginny felt rather sorry for her.

"Can't we just tell her not to?" she asked Draco unhappily.

He shook his head bitterly. "Not as long as she hasn't been freed. Until her master frees her, she has to do exactly as he says. She isn't really a house elf of Hogwarts, you see. And even if we stop her, she'll have to go back and tell my father she failed."

Ginny looked at him uncertainly. "Can't you…can't you free her?"

Draco looked from Dixie to Ginny and back again. "That's a thought…Dixie, has my father disowned me yet?"

She shook her ugly head. "No! He is waiting—he is waiting—he is saying—not until Harry Potter is dead, because then maybe Master Draco is seeing what a terrible mistake he is making, and then he is coming home and is learning his lesson!"

"Fat chance," Draco muttered, dropping to sit cross-legged on the floor and yank a shoe off. "But if he hasn't disowned me, maybe I'll be able to convince him he's the one being an idiot, so it's still a good thing." He tugged off a sock and made to hand it to Dixie. "Whoa—wait. First, I order you to give me the poison."

"Yes, Master Draco!" she squeaked, pulling out a stoppered bottle filled with bubbling black liquid. "I is giving it to you right now!" It was obvious that she hadn't been happy about having to handle the deadly substance in the first place.

"Good," he said, then placed the sock in her hand. "There. You're free."

"But—but what is I going to do?" she asked, sounding frightened. "Where is Dixie going now?"

"You'll stay here, of course," Draco said, as if surprised she'd even asked. "You came to Hogwarts to get a job, and you can damn well stay here. Maybe Dumbledore will let you work as my personal house elf. I could use one, that's for sure."

"Oh! Master Draco! Dixie is so happy!" She threw herself at him again, now sobbing with joy.

"Ah, yes," he said, rolling his eyes. "I forgot how wet it was, having a house elf. Well, never mind. Listen, Dixie, can you get us a snack?"

"I think we'd better get out of here," Ginny said after they'd finished a couple of sandwiches and cups of tea. "I'm bound to come down here soon, and so is Harry. It should be any time now, actually."

"All right," said Draco agreeably, feeling much better now that he'd finally had a bite of something. "Dixie, I need you to act normally. Just stay down here and pretend nothing's changed. Pretend you're here to poison Potter, and I'll let you know when it's safe to stop pretending. All right?" He turned to Ginny. "I think we should take this poison straight to Snape. He's the only one who would know how to safely dispose of it."

They hurried out of the kitchens and made their way to the Potions Master's room, where he greeted them with cool wariness. "Has someone set your bed alight again, Draco?" he inquired as Draco shifted nervously before him.

"No, sir, and I know it wasn't you now. I'm glad of that, otherwise that remark would be kind of creepy."

The man arched an amused brow. "I wasn't aware I was a suspect in the arson of your bedroom," he replied standing back easily to let them in. He certainly seemed more relaxed than the first time around, at any rate.

"We thought we'd better bring this to you, sir; it's the Incurable Cocktail that almost got Potter," Draco explained, handing him the vial. Snape's eyebrows both rose up high at this, and he looked at his student in astonishment.

"What?"

"Oh, that's right; we haven't come yet, so he doesn't know what's going on," Ginny pointed out. "Someone tried to poison Harry, sir. So you sent us back in time to save him. You gave us a different potion that wouldn't be as bad, so you'd still be able to cure him. I think we're just about to bring his body back here, actually, so you can save him."

Snape's dark eyes flashed from Ginny to Draco. "What poisons did I give you, Draco? Hurry now." He strode quickly from the front room back into what was obviously a private lab, and began pulling things out. "Ergot, obviously…and—"

"Oh! No, sir," Draco corrected quickly. "You told me it was black locust. And there was also privet, foxglove, and yellow jasmine. We wouldn't want to screw that up. I mean, you have to know what it was so you can cure him, right?"

Snape froze, his lean dark figure absolutely motionless. "Damn and blast." He whirled on them. "Draco, you already know the ingredients, so you prepare the poison. I'll have to start on the cure. You didn't leave me much time," he complained bitterly.

"We're sorry," Ginny told him sincerely. "We didn't consider that you didn't have it all ready. Can I help?"

"Peel the bark from these roots," he ordered brusquely. "Don't dawdle, Draco," he warned. "Yours will have to be ready first, and mine is too complicated to give you a chance at."

"Yes, sir," Draco said, happily mixing his ingredients together. Snape's fingers flew as he added one item after another to his brew. "This is fun, sir. I get to make a poison to nearly kill Potter. Happy Christmas, Draco."

Ginny frowned, but one corner of Snape's mouth curled up in something resembling a smile. "It is satisfying, isn't it?" he responded. "It's annoying that I'll have to revive him, but we can't have everything."

Changing the topic, Ginny remarked, "You accepted this all awfully quickly, Professor. I thought we'd have to explain ourselves a lot more than we did before you believed us."

The Potions Master shrugged. "The Headmaster told me he suspected something would happen tonight, and warned me to be alert. Omniscient old coot," he added nearly under his breath. Glancing up at his students, he asked, "How did you realize what happened?" as he stirred his cauldron counter clockwise.

Draco exchanged a look with Ginny. "It's kind of a long story. It's all thanks to the cards you gave me years ago; the poison flashcards? You see, when Ginny explained to me that Harry's mother's name was Lily, it jogged my memory of death camas." He quickly outlined what had happened that evening, ladling his finished poison into a vial off the shelf as Ginny looked on, amazed. She had that exact vial in her pocket, and couldn't get over how odd time was.

After Draco explained what Snape had told them earlier, Ginny looked questioningly up at the man. "How does that work? He tells you what the poison is and how to cure it, and then you go out and tell him what the poison is and how to cure it, and it just goes around in a big circle."

Snape didn't look up. "Many philosophers believe time goes in a great cycle. Personally, I hate time travel. Better not to think too much about it. Trust me; you'll only go mad from the effort."

Suddenly, Ginny realized a noise she'd been hearing in the background was, in fact, someone knocking on the chamber door. "Oh! That's us!" she exclaimed.

Snape snatched Draco's vial from him and put it in his robes. "Keep stirring that, and add the fire ants when it begins to boil. Then take it off the heat," he ordered, pointing at his own cauldron.

The professor went to get the door, and Draco mouthed, "Draught of Living Death,"at Ginny. Her eyes widened, and she leaned out and whispered it loudly at the back of the professor. He stopped a moment before saying, "Top shelf of the closet in the back. Bring it out to me, and hurry."

Ginny rushed to do as she was told. When she came back, Snape had his head out the door, but kept it mostly closed, and his arm was behind his back, motioning frantically to give him the bottle. She hurried up to him and placed it in his palm, scurrying back to the lab to whisper, "You're clear!" before shutting the door.

As Draco tended the cure, they listened to themselves explain what was going on to Snape, and Snape's instructions in response. "So…who thought it up?" Ginny murmured to Draco. "You got the idea from him, and he got the idea from you. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

Draco could only shake his head, carefully adding the fire ants one at a time. "Who knows? The whole thing makes my head spin."

A knock sounded on the door, and it swung open to reveal Snape. "You've just left. Is the cure ready?"

Draco calmly took it off the fire. "Just needs to cool," he explained.

Snape looked fretfully back at Potter's limp body, leg dangling off the couch. "Once he's this badly off, it's critical that he receive prompt treatment," the man said, waving his wand to produce a Cooling Charm on the cure. "That will make the potion less strong, but we have plenty of it, so we can always give him additional doses," he continued, scooping up a spoonful and heading back to Harry.

They all leaned in closely as Snape spoon-fed the stricken student. He deftly reached out a long hand and rubbed Harry's throat, forcing him to swallow. Harry coughed a couple of times. "Bring me another spoonful," he commanded, giving the utensil to Ginny. "Don't spill any." After several rounds of this, Harry was beginning to wake up, though he was still quite pale.

He swallowed hard once or twice, blinking up at them with eyes full of pain. "What happened?" Harry asked in a hoarse voice.

"Someone attempted to poison you," Snape said shortly. He glanced at Draco. "Get me a vial full. Now that he's awake, he can take a proper dose."

The door to his room opened, and he looked up in surprise until the Headmaster's merry face was in sight. "Ah, Severus. Good job saving the boy," the man said. "And congratulations to the both of you as well, Mister Malfoy and Miss Weasley. A job well done. Now, if you'd like to have a seat, I will assist Severus with Harry, and then we can get him up to the hospital ward."

After he was well enough, Dumbledore conjured a stretcher and floated Harry up to the hospital ward while Draco and Ginny trailed behind.

"Will he really be all right, sir?" Ginny couldn't help asking.

"Oh, yes," he assured her. "And I believe Tom spent quite a bit of time and effort on this particular plot, so I think we'll have a bit of a break as he tries to think up another."

"Harry!"

"What happened?"

The Great Hall was emptying as the feast ended, and Hermione and the Weasleys came running over to see their ill friend.

"Harry will be just fine," Dumbledore announced. "There was a clever plot to kill him, but Miss Weasley and Mister Malfoy were sharp enough to unravel it and save him from death. He needs nothing more than rest, now."

"You just disappeared," Ron was saying accusingly, "You should've mentioned where you were going—"

"I was poisoned," Harry protested. "I just thought I wasn't feeling well, and—"

"Oh, I'm so glad you're all right!" Hermione said, clutching his arm through the sheets.

"Ginny and Malfoy saved Harry?" Fred repeated in consternation. "I don't believe it. Malfoy was probably the one who poisoned him in the first place!"

"Actually, he wasn't," Ginny told him evenly.

"Well, he can't have been of much help," George noted. "Considering his first response to danger is to scream like a girl and mince off as fast as his legs can carry him."

"I resent that," Draco said petulantly. "It only happened that one time, and for your information, Malfoys do not mince!"

"…and you can both shut the hell up, because I really like him, and we're—I'm—he's my…boyfriend," Ginny announced to everyone.

"What?" the twins and Ron replied in unison.

"Oh, no, he's not," Ron began, but Hermione elbowed him roughly in the ribs. "What was that for?" he demanded, outraged.

"It's her own life," Hermione lectured him, pulling him aside, where Ginny could still hear the occasional, 'understand that you feel protective,' and 'she's old enough to make her own decisions,' as Hermione ground him down.

"Weasleys do not go out with Malfoys," George stated, and Fred nodded firmly. "We don't mix with those uptight, pureblooded bastards. They're Death Eaters, all of them."

"Draco's not," Ginny insisted. "And you're acting just as bigoted as they are. The only way we'll ever have peace is if both sides give a little. And I'm going to be with him, whether you like it or not. He may be a Malfoy, but he's my Malfoy, and you all had better just get used to it." She turned and pressed a chaste kiss to Draco's lips.

"…I'm having a really bad day," Harry moaned as he was floated away, and Hermione dragged Ron after him, still arguing ferociously. It would take him a while to come around, but at least Hermione could probably keep him in line.

She turned to the twins, who were staring at her with a mixture of disapproval and resignation. "This is going to bite you in the arse someday, mark my words," Fred prophesied.

"This from the same guy who once turned my rubber ducky into a barracuda while I was in the bathtub," she said sourly.

"You were hogging all the hot water," he shot back.

The twins exchanged a look, before each took hold of Draco's shirt and pulled him up to their height. "You ever hurt our little sister—" Ginny tried to get them to let go, but they pushed her away.

"—and we'll devote our entire lives—"

"—to testing our products on you—"

"—right, and playing all of our pranks on you, and you alone—"

"—and generally making your life a complete misery."

"Do you understand?"

Draco sighed, nodding. "Yes, thank you so much. Terribly kind of both of you. Have you ever thought of going into the goon business? I have a couple of them I need to replace, and I think you'd be just about perfect."

Fred looked calculatingly at Draco. "You know, we're looking at this the wrong way. This could be fun."

"You're right about that, mate," George said enthusiastically. "After all, Ronnie's getting a bit paranoid in his old age. He's no fun to play with any more."

"Right. Seems like years since he was incautious enough to climb into bed without jabbing at it with a long stick first."

"And you're staying with us again next summer, aren't you, Draco?"

Ginny stepped between her brothers and pulled Draco away, putting an arm around his waist, and scowled at the twins defiantly. "I'm keeping him, and if you break him, I'll tell Mum every single thing I've ever found out you've done," she said.

"Not about the time with that French girl and the floo powder," George said apprehensively.

"Yes, about the time with the French girl and the floo powder," she shot back.

"Not about the incident at Gringotts involving the soap carving," Fred insisted.

"Especially about the incident at Gringotts involving the soap carving."

"I promise I'll never hurt her," Draco swore.

"Oh, good. We knew you'd see things our way. I'm sure we'll all have a lot of fun together." Each twin grabbed one of his hands and shook it, leaving them oozing with some unknown substance. "Welcome to the family," they said, and grinned.

Draco looked wretchedly at the green goop covering his hands, not daring to wipe them on his only clean robes. He glanced at Ginny, who gave him a small, wry smile, and he couldn't help but smile back. "Thanks," he told them. "I'm glad to be here. And I promise I'll stick around for a long time. And if one of you doesn't get me a towel or something to clean my hands off, I'll explain to dear Mrs. Weasley how traumatic the experience was for me."

Fred glared. George frowned. "She isn't going to do anything for you. You aren't even her own flesh and blood."

"No," Draco agreed. "I'm a poor, defenceless waif at the mercy of fate, whose own parents tried to sell to him a madman."

The twins exchanged a look, before one reluctantly handed over a handkerchief. "She does kind of have a soft spot for blokes like that."

Draco whistled merrily as he cleaned his hands and led Ginny away. "She always liked me best," he said over his shoulder.

"We'll get you back, and soon," George promised. "Spoiled brat."

Draco looked down at Ginny and gave her a warm smile. "You know something? I think I really am."

The End.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it! My next fic will be slash; the sequel to The Master Plan. I've loved hearing from you, and thanks so much for your support!