Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
A/n: Sorry for taking extremely long with this story. I love you folks so much for your tremendous support but anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter of HADCOT! WHOO!!! >(^_^)< Thank you so much for reading! ENJOY! Oh, and join this site!
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~*~
The Gryffindor HADCOT team walked out of the room and looked at each other strangely. Some looked triumphant, some looked saddened and some looked betrayed. For some reason, the vote did not exactly go according to plan. Ron Weasley remained in the game while Ash Turner was voted out. It was only the first voting session and already, distrusts had started.
Ginny looked at her team mates and began to analyze the strength and weaknesses of her team mates. She started off with Sidney Eversfield, her own friend. Sidney was no doubt one of the most the friendliest people in her team but he was also one of the most cunning people in the team. He knew where he stood and he knew who to talk to. Anthony Copperfield was extremely well in transfiguration as he was one of the registered Animagus students in Hogwarts.
Ash Turner, who was voted out was by far one of the fittest person in the whole Gryffindor team and that was probably one of the reasons why he was voted out first. Harry, Hermione and Ron were no doubt the 'Dream Team'. They have had experiences that not many have had especially when those 3 were the top people who were face to face with Voldemort. Still, Ginny knew for fact that ones one of them is brought down, the other two will fail. She has seen it happen and without any doubt at all, Ron will be the next to go.
Before Sidney could join the others at the Gryffindor tower, Ginny pulled him aside. He silently joined Ginny on their walk. Seeing the path she was taking, he knew that they were going to the Kitchens, his favourite place in the whole of Hogwarts. They walked cautiously looking out for either Mrs. Norris or Filch. They cut through a couple of pathways and got to the portrait of a pear. Sidney tickled it and it led to the kitchens where several house elves were running around, busy preparing the food for breakfast even though it was not even anywhere near morning. It was barely midnight. Several house elves saw both Ginny and Sidney and came to serve them. Ginny asked for a small helping of Cheesecake and a cup of Caramel Macchiato while Sidney asked for a plate of double chocolate chip cookies.
"So tell me, why was I pulled here without a single word whatsoever?" Sidney asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, Sidney dearest, I wanted to talk about HADCOT and who voted Ash Turner off between us?" Ginny said.
The house elves gave them their food and the two found themselves a seat on one of the tables.
"You think I voted Ash off?" Sidney asked.
"No, I think Anthony double crossed us", Ginny said.
"That bugger, useless piece of funk", Sidney mumbled, taking a bit of his cookie.
Ginny gave Sidney a strange look and sipped on her own cup of Macchiato.
"Nice choice of word, Sidney. How do I know that you didn't vote for Ash?" Ginny asked.
"Well Gin, I suppose I could ask you the same question. How do I know that you're not the one who voted for Ash?" Sid said.
Sidney grinned and Ginny replied the same expression. They continued consuming that late night snack and talking about their strategy on the game. Ginny was certain that Sidney wanted to win as much as she did. She knew that his competitive side will be his up and his down in the game. She looked at her best friend and began analyzing him all over.
"I want to know why Anthony double crossed us", Sidney said.
"Isn't it obvious, Sid? Anthony had no likings for Ash. It was written all over his face despite his little façade", Gin said.
"So, what do we do next? If it continues on to be like this, one of us will be eliminated as well", Sidney mentioned.
"Well, think of it in this sense, if one of us wins immunity. We can still string Anthony along and tell him that we won't vote him but have an alliance with the Dream Team and vote him off first hand", Ginny said.
"What if we fail to get immunity?" Sidney asked.
"Then, we'll just have to stick on our terms", Ginny.
"Which is?" Sidney asked, hesitantly.
"Take him down anyway. I'm sure the Dream Team would love to have that little bastard out of the game", Ginny said.
"Why are you so confident?"
"Because I just am"
Sidney watched as Ginny scooped her last bite of cheesecake into her mouth. He admired the girl very much. Here she was confident and absolutely unbreakable. Just a couple of years ago, she was the same girl who was absolutely smitten by Harry Potter. Then, somehow, she changed completely after Cedric Diggory's death a couple of years ago. Somehow, something in her snapped and turned her into who she was today. She changed in some ways that he couldn't explain but somehow, she still remained the same loyal and adoring friend that she was back then. It was quite strange. Just when he was about to say something, a pair of footsteps was heard from the portrait. Both Sidney and Ginny couldn't be stuffed finding out who the person is. They just continued on finishing their food in peace.
"Master Malfoy! What can we do for you?"
At the name, Ginny turned around to see Draco in all of his pride and perfection standing and demanding for food from the house elf. Sidney looked too and began to impersonate Draco's Smirk. Draco saw both Ginny and Sidney. He had his eyebrow raised in curiosity at Ginny. Ginny noticed it and told Sidney that they should leave. Sidney followed her cue as they left, noticing the little exchange of expressions between the two. Just when they were to exit, Malfoy cleared his throat.
"Virginia Weasley, a word", Draco said in an uncaring tone.
Ginny stopped. Sidney looked at her questioningly. Ginny smiled to assure him that nothing was going to happen and Sidney left. Ginny turned back and walked slowly towards Malfoy who had just gotten his cup of Café Valencia. She was quite annoyed with him at some extent. She hated his perfection as well as his demanding superiority that he throws around.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked.
"A word?" he answered, eyes glimmering with amusement.
"Speak now then. I want to leave as soon as possible. I'm tired", she demanded.
"No need for anger. No need for pre-menstrual syndromes as well. All will be told in time", he said, sipping his drink.
Ginny was getting impatient as she watched him slowly sipping his drink.
"Look Malfoy, if you want to talk, you can talk later. I'm just going to leave now", Ginny said, turning her heels.
Ginny walked towards the portrait and out of it. She made her way to her own room. She was quite ticked by that blasted Slytherin who had demanded a word with her and then, not say anything.
The nerve of that blasted git.
~*~
Ginny made her way to the Gryffindor table for breakfast. She had been woken up that morning by an owl that brought a dark red rose and a message from Malfoy. She was angry and quite amused at the same time with the fact that she was awakened by a bloody bird at such an early time of the day and still be amused with the rose and the message that she had gotten from Malfoy.
Wake up, Red.
Time to rise and shine by the tapping of the window.
You left in such a fury; I was left shocked and appalled by your anger.
Never thought you had it in you, Red.
Must be the PMS. Females.
-Malfoy
She smiled as she remembered his taunting humor. She found her friends at the table and began to chat with them while eating her breakfast that consisted of bacon, eggs and toast. While eating, she caught Malfoy trying to catch her eye, she caught his and they ended up in a staring competition. She ate as she looked at him, he did the same. Sidney was talking to her but then, he caught her staring and Malfoy. He waved his hand in front of Ginny and still, she did not blink. Malfoy on the other was distracted by Pansy Parkinson who had nudged him. That was when Ginny looked away and looked at Sidney who was grinning at her.
"What was with that?" Sidney asked.
"Nothing, nothing at all", Ginny answered.
Colin and Kathleen were now in tuned with Sidney's question.
"Gin, you were just having a staring competition with Malfoy. How is that nothing at all? You hate that git", Sidney said.
"Ooh Ginny! Draco Malfoy?! Your brother is going to throw a hiss at you", Kathleen taunted.
"Naughty girl!" Colin said, winking.
Ginny raised an eyebrow at her three friends and rolled her eyes.
"Would you three stop acting like 13 year olds?" Ginny said, annoyed.
"Oh come on, Gin. You know it's a joke. Come on, tell us, what's with you and him?" Kathleen asked.
"None of your concern. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go to class", Ginny snapped.
Then, Ginny left the table in a huff. Colin, Kathleen and Sidney were now intrigued by their friend's actions.
"What's up with her ass?" Colin asked.
"Probably her g-string", Sidney joked.
"Gross! Nah, I would think Malfoy's up her ass", Kathleen joked.
"And you said I was gross?!" Sidney joked.
"Ooh, kinky", Colin said.
~*~
Dear HADCOT contestant,
Another challenged has been called upon. It is another group challenge and it is another opportunity to gain more points for your team. You will meet at the Defence against Dark Arts practice room on the 4th floor at 6.30pm. Further instructions will be given once you arrive. Also, please remember to wear your hooded cloaks. Good luck.
Yours truly,
Dumbledore.
~*~
"Great, another round of stupidity", Sidney said, sarcasm filled his voice.
Ginny laughed as she heard Sidney's tone of voice. They were both walking towards the venue. On their way, they also noticed other HADCOT contestants who had their hoods up. If a random student would have walked past on the same floor, they would have thought that some sort of a dark cult is being formed.
"What do you think they have in store for us this time?" Ginny asked.
"Probably something to do with Defence against the Dark Arts?" Sidney said.
"Ha-ha, very funny", Ginny snapped.
"I was not joking in the first place", Sidney said, sticking his tongue out.
They walked into the room where all the contestants had taken their hoods down. Both Ginny and Sidney stood behind the Dream Team who was chatting away merrily about the latest Quidditch match. Ginny soon noticed that the room was completely empty besides the random placed books on the ground. It was hard to believe that just an hour ago, a class was in here practicing their spells and defense tactics with the mannequins, boggarts and other mystical creatures that usually inhibited this room. Just when Ginny was about to say something to Sidney, the facilitators walked in. Professor Lupin and Professor Black were not wearing robes; instead they were wearing some sort of a weird outfit that had dark green patches all over it. They also had this really strange looking cap on their heads.
"Welcome HADCOT contestants to your second team play. Professor Lupin and I will guide you through this challenge. Now, in front of your line, you will see a book. I want each team to gather round it and wait for my signal before you touch it", Professor Black said.
All four teams did as they were told and when Professor Black signaled them, they touched the books. Once they did, a swirling feeling came upon all of them and in an instant blink of an eye; they were all at a different place. Most of them remembered the place. The ground was damp and the place was an open field where planks and different obstacle courses were placed at specific areas. 4 high walls were the first thing they saw. The walls were about 15 feet high. The students knew where they were.
"As many of your might recall, this is the Order of the Phoenix's Training Grounds. None of you have gone through this before as these were set for the aurors who were sent to the Dark War before you were sent. These obstacles will test your wit, strength, agility and team work. If you fail, your whole team will fail with you. In your teams, you will elect a leader for this challenge. Choose in 10 seconds from now", Professor Lupin said, in a strict tone.
The Ravenclaws had Adeline Zhen as their leader. The Hufflepuffs selected Corey Enders while the Slytherins selected Blaise Zabini and the Gryffindors selected Harry Potter. When they had decided, all the team leaders stood in front of the line, waiting for further instructions. The facilitators seemed to have more up their sleeve because they were talking amongst themselves and grinning at the contestants.
"In this challenge, you are not to use any magic whatsoever. Your wands will be given to Professor Lupin. The obstacles that you will go through will include everything you see on this course. The first one will be this wall. As you can see, there are no ropes to guide you up, there is only the wall. You must get everyone over the wall. Then, you will run to the 2nd course which is beam. Your whole team must walk on the beam and get to the other side without falling to the water below. If one falls, the whole team will start all over again. The third 3rd course is climbing the bars. Your body must not touch the water. If one of your team members does, your whole team starts all over again. The 4th obstacle is swinging rope. As you can tell, the water is extremely muddy and it is also at freezing level. If you fall into it, your whole team will have to go fall with you and you must repeat the task again. The 5th obstacle is swimming. Now, as you can see its ice. You will swim beneath the ice to get to the other side and in the water; there are your house flags. Each and every member must retrieve the flag. There are 6 flags to retrieve for each team. After you have the flags, you will come to your 6th obstacle. Each and every member of your team will climb up this tree and go up to the stop up there. You will use the harnesses and crabs to slide down from the tree. You must have the correct gear and proper way of doing it, or your whole team will start all over again. After that, you will come to your last obstacle. As a team, you will all be placed in a dark maze. One of you team members will guide you out of it. The team leader will be carrying a rope and dragging it around until he or she comes out. Once all the members are out, the one that guide you through will follow the rope out of the maze. Once you are done with that, you will all run to the flag pole and raise your own house flag. The first team to have their flags up wins 300 points. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th will gain 250, 150 and 50 respectively", Professor Black explained.
Professor Lupin went round gathering the wands and he also passed a piece of black cloth to the team leaders. All four teams were excited and a little nervous because the obstacles seemed very hard especially if all team mates must work together and not fail any of them or else, they will have to repeat the task all over again. The team leaders just looked at the piece of cloth they were holding, curious with it.
"To make the challenge even more interesting, your team leaders will be blindfolded and you must make sure that they get through all the challenges. If you are all ready, stand in a straight line behind the white line on the grass", Professor Black said.
All the team leaders were blindfolded by Professor Lupin and they all prepared as they stood behind the blue line. Then, Professor Black blew the whistle and all the teams were racing towards the walls. All the teams had someone dragging the team leader by hand as they ran towards the wall. Then, one person will be on the ground on all fours as the others climb onto the person and over the wall. The blindfolded team leader was always the middle person to get over, because they needed people to support him if he or she falls. The Slytherins, Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors were doing very well but the Ravenclaws had a bit of a problem getting the last person over the wall.
Then, they ran to the next course where they must walk on the beam and not fall on the water or else, the whole team has to start over. Gryffindor and Slytherin were leading with this one as they did the smart thing of walking sideways instead of a straight line like the Hufflepuffs did. The Ravenclaws managed to catch up the moment Andrew Mallard from Hufflepuff fell into the water. The team leaders were guided through it carefully while holding onto someone's hand. As soon as they got through the 2nd task, the teams raced to the 3rd task which did not seem like a problem at all. What the teams did not know was that the beam rotates with every movement the person climbing makes. All the teams made an error when they all started climbing on the beam together. The Ravenclaws managed to spot the mistakes from the other teams and managed to do it correctly, giving them a lead to the 4th course.
"Hermione, what's going on now? Where are we heading off to?" Harry asked.
"We're onto the 4th obstacle. We are currently in 3rd place. The Slytherins and Ravenclaws are in front of us", Hermione answered.
"Come on, Harry. We have got no time to lose", Ron said.
One by one, the teams swung to the other side. The Slytherins and Ravenclaws had to do go down in the freezing muddy water because one of their members fell into the puddle. That gave the Gryffindors a lead. The girls were screaming torture the moment they hit the water. Pansy Parkinson and Sherynn Flint were screaming like banshees. The Hufflepuffs managed to get through without any hassles.
"Would you two stop screaming and swing already?! You're out of the freaking water!" Deadlyn Byass shouted.
The facilitators were having fun observing the contestants as they got through each obstacle. It was rather fascinating to watch clean students who would never get dirty getting down into the mud and screaming at each other. The teams were now getting into the ice where they will swim to get the flags. The Gryffindors were first to go in. Gasps were heard from the team members as they went into the water. Sidney and Ginny went in first as they guided Harry to get the flag along with the rest of the team. The moment all 6 of them got out, they ran towards the tree where they had to climb it.
The Gryffindors were leading with the Hufflepuffs behind them and Slytherin and Ravenclaws behind the Hufflepuffs. Sidney and Ginny climbed up the tree first. Sidney held on to Harry's hand as Ginny and him pulled Harry up. Ron, Hermione and Anthony climbed up without a problem. On the stop, they all put on their harnesses and the crabs to lock it properly. They attached themselves to the line and one by one, they slid down. The Slytherins managed to catch up while the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were having a hard time getting their blindfolded leader. The only team who had to do it all over again was Ravenclaw as they got the gear on and tried going all at one time.
The Gryffindors and Slytherins were on to it at the same time. The two teams reached the maze and elected one person to guide them through it. Ginny was elected for the Gryffindors and Draco was elected for the Slytherins. There was a board that had the maze's structure and the ways out for the person to lead them out. Ginny shouted as loud as she can and as fast as she could. Draco did the same but he cursed his team the moment the Gryffindors made it out first. Ginny had run into the maze following the rope and taking it with her as she ran out. The moment she got out, Draco had also managed to run out. That was when both teams started running towards the flagpole as fast they can and they raised their flags. Professor Lupin blew the whistle.
"The game is over. Congratulations Gryffindor!" Professor Black said.
The Slytherins were scowling at the Gryffindors. Hermione hugged both Harry and Ron. Ginny jumped on Sidney and Anthony. They were cheering for themselves. Ginny caught Draco's eye and smirked at him. He replied the smirk and winked at her. Sidney noticed this and nudged Ginny.
"We won the challenge! WHOO! GO GRYFFINDOR!!!!!" Sidney shouted.
The whole Gryffindor team laughed as Sidney started doing the muggles' cheerleading moves.
"Go Gryffindor! Go Gryffindor!" The others chanted as they laughed at Sidney.
Ginny also joined Sidney as they did a little 'victory' routine. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were amused but the Slytherins just scowled at them. The Slytherin girls rolled their eyes and shot their iciest glares.
~*~
By the time they port keyed back to Hogwarts, it was already 9pm. Ginny went straight to her room and took a shower to rub off the dirt and got herself into some warm clothes. When she got out of the bathroom, she was surprised to see Draco Malfoy sitting on her bed, looking extremely clean and perfect as ever. His hair was wet though and it was messy but he still looked fine. She muttered a spell to dry her hair instantly. Then, she cleared her throat.
"What are you doing in my room, Malfoy?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Came to say 'hello' to my favourite red Weaslette ", Draco answered.
"Since when did I become your favourite red Weaslette?" Ginny asked.
Draco pulled her to his lap and kissed her shoulders, giving her little nibbles. Ginny rolled her eyes as she grinned. In her thoughts, she laughed at the scenario. Here she was, being nibbled by Malfoy, the one person that she had never liked in her entire life. She admitted that he had gotten hotter throughout the years but the feeling of him nibbling her neck was just funny.
"So tell me, who got voted off from your team? I was too busy to notice anything during the game", Ginny asked.
"Hmm... You were to busy? Doing what? Gawking at me?" Draco said.
"You keep dreaming, Malfoy. Now, tell me", Ginny demanded.
"No, I will not. Not until I get what I want first", Draco answered, a hint of cheekiness in his voice.
"And what is that, may I ask?" Ginny asked, pretending to be dumb.
Draco claimed her lips the moment she stopped talking. Ginny felt his lips on hers and she replied every kiss he had placed on hers. Somehow, she sat facing him, with her legs wrapped around his waist. His hands rubbing her back in circular motions. The moment his tongue touched her lips, asking for permission to reach hers, she tasted the ecstasy that he was giving to her. It had not occurred to her why Malfoy was doing what he did. All she knew was that he was with her now and heck; she wouldn't have cared if anyone else happens to be involved with him. It was not like she had wanted him to be his boyfriend. She just wanted him to be there, physically. His lips left her lips and began trailing down to her jaw line and her neck. Ginny had to bite her own lips to keep herself from moaning.
Knock! Knock!
"Ginny? Its Harry", the voice outside said.
~*~ to be continued ~*~
A/n: Don't forget to review! Ooh people! I know, I'm asking a lot but would you mind joining this random forum that I just created. It's actually based around my other story, Souls of the Locket but there will be a little section about this story. Well, when I get to it, it should be done! Thank you so much for reading! The link to the site is down here. >(^_^)<