Ginny was on her way to the shared first-year bathroom when she heard a soft sniffle from inside. Pushing the door open cautiously, she saw Daisy Bennett leaning over the sink, her face blotchy from tears. The Muggle-born girl quickly tried to hide her face when Ginny entered, but it was too late.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked, softening her tone. Daisy hesitated, then turned slightly, revealing the smudged remains of foundation and a constellation of angry red pimples on her cheeks.
"I… I thought I could cover them," Daisy mumbled, rubbing her sleeve across her face. "But the makeup made it worse. Now everyone will see."
Ginny frowned. "Muggle concealer doesn't work as well as magical means," she said, grabbing a clean cloth and dampening it. She handed it to Daisy, who dabbed at her face hesitantly. "What you need is something like Tolipan Blemish Blitzer. It's a potion - works wonders on pimples."
Daisy's eyes widened. "There's a potion for that?"
"Of course," Ginny said with a small smile. "It's widely used by witches… and wizards I suppose. Mira or Emily might even have some - we can ask when we get back to the dorm. If they don't, we'll find an older girl who does."
"Really?" Daisy asked, her voice small. "But… won't they think I'm ridiculous?"
Ginny shook her head. "Not at all. Everyone has to deal with this at some point. Even Mira - though she'd never admit it, of course. That's what friends are for, right?"
Daisy managed a weak smile. "Thanks, Ginny."
"No problem," Ginny said, steering her towards the door.
As they walked back, Ginny couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction. Daisy's gratitude was genuine and while Ginny might not have the means to buy fancy potions herself, she could still offer advice.
Back in the dormitory, Ginny and Daisy found Emily sitting cross-legged on her bed, flipping through a worn spell book. At the sight of Daisy's blotchy face, Emily's eyes widened. "What happened?" she asked, setting the book aside.
"She tried Muggle concealer," Ginny explained with a wry smile. "It didn't exactly cooperate."
Daisy flushed and glanced down, but Ginny quickly added, "Do you have any Tolipan Blemish Blitzer, by any chance?"
Emily perked up. "Actually, I do!" She hopped off the bed and rummaged through her trunk, eventually pulling out a small, neatly labelled vial. "Mum packed it, just in case. Here." She handed it to Daisy. "A drop on each spot should do it."
Daisy hesitated before taking the potion, her expression shifting from embarrassment to tentative gratitude. "Thanks, Emily. This is… amazing."
"Wait till you see what else there is," Emily said, sitting back down with a grin.
By the time Daisy had carefully applied the potion and returned to join the group, her initial awkwardness had melted into wide-eyed curiosity. "What else do witches use?" she asked, settling beside Emily.
Emily didn't need much encouragement. "Well, there's Madam Primpernelle's in Diagon Alley - they've got all sorts of potions. Bundimun Pomade for dandruff, Hair-Dyeing Potion, Sleekeazy's Hair Potion to tame frizz…"
"And Beautification Potion," Mira added from her desk, where she was carefully organizing her notes. "It's more of a short-term solution, though."
Daisy's eyes widened. "Beautification Potion?"
Mira smirked. "Oh, yes. It's been around for centuries. Take Zygmunt Budge, for example. He brewed it so often that his artificially good looks ended up attracting Muggle women. They circled his desert island in little boats, hoping to catch a glimpse of him."
Daisy laughed, her earlier embarrassment completely forgotten. "That's ridiculous!"
"Ridiculous, but true," Mira said, her smirk deepening. "Let that be a warning about overdoing it."
"There are spells, too," Ginny chimed in, warming to the topic. "Crinus Muto can change your hairstyle or colour, there's a Hair-Thickening Charm and even a teeth-straightening spell. It's not all potions."
As the chatter about potions and spells kept going, Ginny remained seated on the edge of her bed, her mind drifting.
She remembered that when Tom Riddle was fifteen, he invented a potion to achieve permanent beauty. It was a modified version of the Beautification Potion. His creation had been designed to work slowly during puberty, enhancing facial symmetry and physical allure.
It would have been more effective if he brewed it at thirteen, but you needed beyond NEWT-level brewing skills and skin from a basilisk - and in his first year, he'd had neither.
For Riddle, beauty was only ever a means of manipulation. His body was merely a vessel for his eternal soul - nothing valuable. Beauty was just another tool to wield, a way to charm and deceive, to make others easier to control. It was no wonder he eventually turned into a serpentine monstrosity. The truly strong, he believed, had no need to persuade or enchant others - they simply forced them to bow.
Ginny understood that beauty shaped how others perceived you, of course. A beautiful person always had an easier time in any social interaction - only a fool would deny it. And Ginny wasn't above using her new feminine charm to get what she wanted.
But what Riddle never understood was that achieving a perfect body was a worthwhile goal in itself. Ginny wanted to become the perfect version of herself - to outshine the version of Ginny Weasley she had once read about. It didn't matter whether she ended up as Britain's saviour or its new dark lady.
Deep inside Ginny was this desire...
What were Galadriel's words again?
'And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! All shall love me and despair!'
A part of her wanted that.
Maybe it was illogical. Maybe it was vain. But Ginny desired the beauty of a Veela - and the strength to reject anyone who desired her in vain.
That was why she decided to brew the same potion Riddle once had - for herself.
She made that decision while her roommates were still chatting about Madam Primpernelle's products.
Tom Riddle's potion had been designed to work slowly, reshaping the body throughout puberty. Sudden beauty would only invite suspicion - everyone would know magic was behind it. It had to look natural.
Permanent potions were always tricky anyway. Most lost their power when their stored magic ran dry. So why did Skele-Gro create lasting bones? That was a trick NEWT question - because the potion didn't create bones. It made the drinker's own body grow them.
Riddle's beauty potion functioned the same way. It used the natural changes during puberty, guiding each small change in a more symmetrical, more alluring direction. The earlier it was taken, the greater the cumulative effect. That was why Ginny didn't want to wait.
This potion was unique in that the brewer had to be the drinker. You couldn't brew it for someone else, since it was keyed to the potioneer's magic. So the recipe was almost useless for most people since it was beyond NEWT-level difficult and only useful if you took it early during puberty.
She was still thirteen - with Alexander's adult mind and Tom Riddle's genius memories. This potion was perfect for her, aside from one little flaw: It was designed for male beauty.
"Ginny?"
The Beautification Potion's foundation - fairy wings, morning dew, rose petals, lady's mantle, unicorn hair and ginger root - was indispensable. Riddle had used the same base, altering only what mattered. His true genius lay in the substitutions.
He had replaced boomslang skin with basilisk skin, amplifying the potion's potency and binding it to the serpentine power he so adored. Ginny had no intention of abandoning that improvement. However, Riddle's addition of rose thorns for sharp, masculine features didn't suit her.
Instead, she considered an ingredient far more suitable for her purpose: Veela hair.
Its inherent magical allure would perfectly enhance the potion's effectiveness. Ideally, the hair would be from Veela wands that had been infused with magic over years, but where would she find such rare materials? The Room of Requirement, perhaps…
"Ginny!"
She blinked, suddenly aware of three pairs of eyes fixed on her.
"Oh… sorry," she said, feigning embarrassment. "Just lost in thought about potions."
"Of course you were," Daisy said with fond exasperation, rolling her eyes.
"Sorry, I have to go!" she said suddenly, springing to her feet and summoning her bag. "There's something I need to research real quick."
If she acted a little whimsical now and then - like a quirky genius lost in her own thoughts - people tended to question her less. It also meant she didn't have to bother with tedious explanations. Her roommates were, to some degree, already accustomed to this particular quirk of hers.
Moments later, she slipped out of the girls' dormitory and made her way toward the Chamber of Secrets. The Arithmancy for her modifications to Riddle's recipe would take days to perfect, but fortunately, she had a Time-Turner hidden down there. She could work as long as she wished, and no one would ever know.
Soon after, she was seated in the vast, echoing main chamber, parchment spread before her, while the basilisk watched her lazily from its coil.
"What is the hatchling doing now?" it asked.
"I'm creating a permanent beauty potion," Ginny answered without looking up from the intricate Arithmancy circles and pages of calculations spread across a desk she'd taken from the Room of Requirement.
For hours now, she had been absorbed in the precision of her work - calculating how many stirs should be clockwise, how many counterclockwise. What was the exact amount of Veela hair needed to achieve the desired effect? The answer, she discovered, was surprisingly large. Veela hair was potent, yes, but the key lay in balance - too little and the entire brew would destabilize.
Riddle had been a genius at Potions, as in everything else. Yet Ginny, armed with his memories, felt confident. What she envisioned was far beyond NEWT level - a true masterpiece of potion-making.
"What is beauty?" the serpent asked, puzzled.
"Mmh… don't basilisks have that concept? How do you choose your mate, then?"
"You let the males fight for you and mate with the winner, of course, silly hatchling," the basilisk replied, stating the obvious.
Ginny smiled faintly. She rather enjoyed these absurd conversations. Snake logic was… entertaining.
"Then how do you get as many males as possible to fight for you?" she asked, half-curious. A battle between several basilisks would certainly be devastating to the surroundings.
"By smelling good, I suppose."
"Well, being beautiful is the human equivalent of that," Ginny said patiently, her quill still gliding across parchment. Sometimes, when one was stuck, it helped to think about something else.
"Ah, I see… humans are strange," the basilisk concluded.
Ginny couldn't really disagree.
Ginny planned the timing of her preparations with care. With Dumbledore away attending Hagrid's trial, the opportunity was ideal.
First, she made her way to the Room of Requirement. She paced three times, focusing on her need for discarded wands with Veela hair cores. When the door appeared, she entered and breathed a sigh of relief – at least for this she hadn't to search the Room of Hidden Things. Inside, she found exactly what she needed: a small collection of abandoned wands, their cores infused with magic over years of use. One by one, Ginny cracked them open with care, extracting the strands of Veela hair.
Next, she headed to Snape's potion cabinet in the dungeons. Consulting the Marauder's Map to confirm Snape's absence, she approached under a Disillusionment Charm. The dungeon's heavy silence amplified her nerves, but she deftly countered the cabinet's protective wards, her hands steady despite her racing pulse. In the faint glow, she took only what she needed, leaving no trace to avoid suspicion.
Finally, she descended into the Chamber of Secrets, her steps echoing off ancient stone. Carrying her cauldron and tools, she prepared to brew here.
A familiar hiss greeted her as the basilisk slithered from the shadows, its massive form looming. "Mistress," it intoned, voice reverent yet pleased. "You return."
"I need a few of your shed scales," Ginny said calmly.
The basilisk tilted its head, amused.
"My discarded skin, hatchling? Take what you wish - it is nothing to me."
"Thank you," Ginny replied. She collected several translucent scales, glimmering faintly in the dim light - the final piece for her potion.
"Can I go hunt the tasty spiders now?" the basilisk asked, its tone bordering on petulant. "You said it was too dangerous before… that mere humans could be a danger to the Queen of Serpents is ridiculous."
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "The Acromantulas? The Aurors culled them," she said, her voice carrying a note of mild amusement.
"The humans in red robes took them away?" the basilisk hissed in dismay. "Such a waste."
"They were too dangerous to leave alive," Ginny replied. "But the Forbidden Forest should be safe for you again, if you wish to hunt."
The serpent's massive tail thumped against the stone floor - a sound that could almost be called delighted. "At last," it hissed. "I will feast well tonight."
As the creature slipped back into the shadows, the echo of its scales against stone fading into silence, Ginny turned back to her work.
Once the space was cleansed, Ginny set up her brewing station near the ancient altar.
She arranged her ingredients meticulously - fairy wings, morning dew, rose petals, lady's mantle, unicorn hair, ginger root, Veela hair, and basilisk scales - and began the precise preparation. Soon, the cauldron's gentle bubbling filled the vast chamber, carrying a faint fragrance of herbs and alchemy that mingled with the damp scent of old stone.
Stirring methodically, Ginny found calm in the work.
The basilisk skin, tough and unyielding, had to be cut into precise strips first - an arduous task that tested Ginny's patience and strength. Once prepared, she could start the brewing process.
To balance the potency of the basilisk skin, seven fairies were required, their shimmering remains carefully measured and added to the cauldron. This was a notable deviation from the Beautification Potion, which used only three. As Ginny worked, she channelled her magic steadily into the mixture, a continuous stream that infused the potion with her intent. Each drop of morning dew was added with painstaking precision, creating a gradual infusion.
When the base was ready, she stirred the cauldron with deliberate care, following the exact number of clockwise and counterclockwise motions she had calculated days before. It was a delicate balance, each motion contributing to the potion's complex magic. Once the mixture reached a perfectly homogenous state, she gently introduced the basilisk skin strips, letting them settle into the potion.
These strips would simmer and dissolve slowly over the next seven days, their properties and inherent magic blending into the potion. Satisfied with her progress, Ginny cast protective wards over the cauldron and the surrounding area to ensure no one - especially a certain basilisk - would interfere with the delicate process. For now, her work was done, and she left the Chamber of Secrets, her thoughts already on the steps to come.
When Ginny returned to the common room, her roommates were nowhere to be seen. Instead, her eyes landed on Harry, sitting by himself. An idea began to form in her mind - an opportunity to craft a diversion that would address several concerns at once: Implicating Lockhart and explaining her knowledge of Occlumency. If Dumbledore or Snape ever attempted Legilimency on her, as she suspected they might, she would need a convincing excuse for her mental shields.
Feigning slight distress, she approached Harry and sat beside him. "I need to tell you something," she murmured, her tone serious enough to catch his attention. Alarm flickered across his face and he nodded. They left for a nearby empty classroom, just steps away from the Gryffindor common room. Once inside, Ginny cast privacy wards.
Taking a steadying breath, she began. "I've been learning Occlumency," she admitted, catching Harry's blank look. "It's a type of magic that protects your mind - like a shield against people trying to read your thoughts."
Harry blinked, startled. "People can read thoughts?"
Ginny nodded gravely. "It's called Legilimency. I thought it might be useful to learn, just in case."
Harry nodded slowly, still processing. "Alright. But what does that have to do with…?"
She cut him off, letting her voice tremble just slightly. "While practicing, I noticed something... strange. The day Hermione died, there's an hour I can't remember. I think I was obliviated."
"Obliviated?" he repeated, frowning. "What's that?"
"It's a spell," she explained patiently. "It erases memories. Whoever did it was skilled - there's no rough edge, no trace of the gap unless you're looking closely."
Harry's concern deepened, his voice firm. "Then we should go to McGonagall. She'll know what to do."
"No," Ginny said quickly, shaking her head. "It's almost impossible to prove I didn't just forget something. And if we bring it up, we might warn whoever did it."
Harry hesitated, clearly torn, before eventually nodding. "Alright. But we'll keep an eye out. Together."
Ginny offered him a small, grateful smile, inwardly pleased at how seamlessly her plan was unfolding. Harry's trust in her remained unwavering, exactly as she needed it to be. Just to be certain, she lightly scanned his surface thoughts with Legilimency to confirm he had no intention of telling anyone.
In truth, her real goal was ensuring no one - especially the professors or Aurors - intervened with Lockhart until she was ready. From the books she had read in her past life, she knew Lockhart's default spell when cornered was the Memory Charm. This knowledge made it easy to craft a scenario where he'd panic and try to silence her with the spell, only to have it reflected back at him using Protego Mentis, a variation of the Shield Charm designed to repel mind magic. The result would destroy all evidence of her tampering with his memories beforehand and leave her free of suspicion. All she had to do was wait for the right moment.
Seven days later, Ginny returned to the Chamber of Secrets to resume her potion-making. Over the past week, she had balanced her time between attending classes, maintaining her connection with her roommates and collaborating with Harry on their 'investigation' into who might have obliviated her and how it could connect to Hermione's death. It was a useful distraction for him and an essential part of her larger plans.
Now, standing before the cauldron, she examined the potion with satisfaction. The shimmering liquid was rich with magical energy, a crucial component for the potion's intended longevity. Most potions only lasted a short time, but this one needed to affect her body for years to come. The combination of basilisk skin's potency, her carefully infused magic and the subtle design of the formula would ensure the extended efficacy she sought.
With the base completed, she began the next stage. First, she added seven fresh rose petals. She followed this with chopped, dried Lady's Mantle, each pinch stirred in slowly and deliberately. Three locks of unicorn hair were added one by one, their ethereal gleam dissolving into the mix, followed by powdered ginger root.
Lastly, she reached for the seven hairs from Veela wand cores, each strand carefully selected and prepared over the last week. She dropped them in one by one, watching as the potion shifted hues with each addition.
Each ingredient required precise steps - carefully timed stirring, meticulous adjustments to the flame beneath the cauldron or specific intervals of waiting to allow the potion to stabilize. The process demanded unwavering concentration over the five hours it took to complete this stage. Without Occlumency, Ginny doubted she could have maintained such focus for so long. The connection between mental discipline and potion-making became clear to her. Perhaps this was one reason Snape himself had pursued Occlumency as a student.
Finally, she extinguished the flame and stepped back to admire her work. The potion glowed faintly, an indication of its growing power. Now, all that remained was the final waiting period - three more days for the potion to mature. Ginny felt a surge of excitement. Her ambition and planning were about to yield their first significant result.
During the three days Ginny waited for her potion to mature, an intriguing development captured the wizarding world's attention. The Daily Prophet headline announced a high-profile raid on Malfoy Manor, sparked by an anonymous tip sent to Arthur Weasley. According to the article, Aurors uncovered two significant discoveries during their search: A hidden chamber beneath the drawing-room floor and a secret vault concealed within the Malfoy family library.
The hidden chamber housed a collection of illegal dark artifacts, their nature described as highly dangerous and unmistakably tied to dark magic. In contrast, the secret vault in the library contained a trove of incriminating documents that implicated numerous prominent pureblood families associated with the dark faction of the Wizengamot. The Prophet speculated that Lucius Malfoy had been using this cache as leverage to secure his influence and control over wizarding politics.
Malfoy was promptly arrested and placed in custody, awaiting trial for his possession of the dark artifacts. The article hinted that more charges could follow based on the documents' contents and raised the possibility of Malfoy testifying against others to secure a plea deal.
Ginny read the report with feigned surprise, outwardly sharing her housemates' shock while inwardly savouring the outcome. Of course, she wasn't truly surprised - after all, she sent the tip to her farther. Still, the discovery of blackmail material was unexpected. When she'd asked Dobby about incriminating evidence, she had assumed it pertained to Lucius's personal crimes, not leverage against others. Yet, in hindsight, this development felt perfectly aligned with the cunning and manipulative tendencies of Slytherin politics.
Glancing over at the Slytherin table, Ginny spotted Draco Malfoy, pale and visibly shaken, clutching a copy of the paper. Around him, many of his housemates shot calculating or outright hostile looks his way. Ginny found the sight faintly amusing.
Meanwhile, Harry seemed quite pleased by the news and Ron was downright ecstatic, practically bursting with pride over their father's role in such a monumental event. Ginny managed a polite nod at Ron's enthusiasm, though her thoughts were elsewhere.
After the potion had matured over three painstaking days, Ginny returned to the Chamber of Secrets, her anticipation building with each step echoing against the stone walls. The cauldron before her seemed to shimmer with potential, the brew within exuding faint, magical energy. She poured the portion into a goblet, her hands steady despite her excitement.
Taking a deep breath, she drank.
The potion was warm, almost comforting, as it travelled down her throat and suffused her body. Ginny could feel it immediately - not in a tangible, visible way, but deep within her magic.
Eager to see if the changes were already underway, she conjured a full-length mirror in the centre of the Chamber. She stepped in front of it and began to strip down to her underwear, the cold air brushing her skin as she examined herself with a critical eye. But no matter how closely she looked, no visible difference met her gaze. Her reflection was just as it had been the day before.
She ran her hands over her arms, her face, her waist, searching for anything - the smallest indication that the potion had begun its work. But she found nothing. Yet, deep in her core, she knew it was working. She could feel it in the quiet hum of her magic, in the subtle shifts within her body as the potion's influence began its imperceptible transformation.
'Patience,' she reminded herself, a small smile forming on her lips. 'These things take time.'
The potion was designed to work slowly, moulding her during the natural course of puberty and into adulthood, making its effects indistinguishable from natural growth. Over the coming years, she knew her appearance would shift, subtly but profoundly.
No more blemishes. Her skin would be perfect - flawless. Every freckle smoothed, every imperfection erased. She could almost feel her face changing already, her bones aligning into a more harmonious symmetry. Her jawline, her cheekbones… they would be perfect. Proportions so balanced they would seem effortless.
Her gaze flicked to her hair, fingers brushing through the strands. It would grow stronger, fuller. Richer. 'Like Veela silk,' she thought with glee.
The potion's influence would extend even to her posture, her body's proportions, her very presence. She would stand taller, move with grace and when people look at her - they wouldn't be able to look away. Perfect symmetry. Perfect beauty.
The anticipation was almost overwhelming. Ginny dressed again, the mirror vanishing with a flick of her wand.
She was looking forward to her perfect future body.