Title: A Matter of Identity
Author: ragdollangel
Disclaimer: They aren't mine (I wish they were). All hail JKR.
Prologue
"It's terrible," Ginny Weasley complained to her friend Ally. " I simply can't seem to remember anything. The term exams are coming up, and I don't remember a word from the History of Magic classes."
"That's probably cause you weren't really listening," grinned Ally, stretching out lazily.
Ginny sighed. "That's easy for you to say, you just have to read something once and -wham- you never forget it."
She looked out of the window longingly, then reluctantly turned back to her books. It was an absolutely wonderful evening, and she felt miserable being stuck inside like this.
Ten minutes later she was near tears.
"Isn't there any other way?" she asked Ally, dejectedly. "I'm just not good with dates or names, and I can't risk a low grade. Mother will be so upset."
"Well, you could try a memory retention spell or something," said Ally absently. "I'm not very sure how it's done, but if you dug around in one of Hermione's books, you might find it there."
Ginny brightened immediately, "That's a great idea. C'mon lets go."
She grabbed Ally by her arm and bounded out of the room.
Heading top speed towards the Common Room, and mentally bashing herself up, Ally tried to convince Ginny that maybe that wasn't really such a smart thing to do.
"If they find out, you could get into more trouble than you would if you just did badly in the exam. C'mon girl, you don't have to do this... please. And those are advanced spells- we haven't reached that far yet... please Gin, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Oh, don't worry," said Ginny. "Remember when Harry and Hermione did all that complex magic the other year? They weren't all that qualified either, were they?"
Ally tried to explain the difference between saving the wizarding world and passing an exam, but Ginny was too far gone to care. She headed for a pile of books Hermione had left on the table, and began to dig through them noisily.
Ally looked around nervously, hoping they wouldn't get caught, and wishing that she had never, ever put this ridiculous idea into her best friend's head.
"Okay, here it is," said Ginny happily scanning a page. "Correct me if I'm wrong."