Chapter 12: The 10 Challenges

The winter holidays flew by for Ginny. She forced herself to forget about Draco, and the thought of Derek really liking her started to stick. He's a really nice guy she told herself daily. There was no reason she shouldn't end up with him.

Draco's holidays on the other hand weren't as pleasant. He couldn't keep his mind off Ginny no matter what he did. Every day, he waited for a letter to arrive, hoping Ginny would figure out that he sent her the gift and, more importantly, that she felt the same way he did.

Ginny walked into the common room to find Dani, Rose, and Derek all waiting for her.

"Hi guys!" Ginny said happily. She looked at Derek and gave him a small smile; he, in turn, smiled back.

"Oh, hey Gin!" Dani greeted warmly. "I missed you so much!"

Ginny just smiled.

"I know," Ginny told her. "You wrote me every day!"

Dani slightly pouted until Ginny told her she missed her too. They all started talking furiously about their vacations and what they received for Christmas. At the mention of this topic, Dani cleared her throat loudly and pulled Rose away so Ginny and Derek could be alone together.

Derek smiled hesitantly.

"So did you like it?" He asked quietly. Ginny grinned and nodded quickly.

"It's beautiful!" She answered truthfully.

They sat there awkwardly for a bit until Derek got the nerve to tell her what was really on his mind.

"Look," he began slowly, "I really like you, Ginny." He looked down at his feet, shuffling them around. His shyness only made Ginny smile more. He's so sweet she thought.

He looked up into her eyes, and reached out his hand tentatively. Ginny's breath caught as he touched her cheek ever so delicately.

"Would you want to be my girlfriend?" he asked softly.

The words couldn't escape Ginny's mouth, so she only nodded and smiled.

"Great," Derek replied, as he stood up. "I'm just going to get changed quickly, but then we can head down to the welcome back feast together."

"Okay," Ginny managed to squeak out. She watched Derek retreat to his dormitory, looking back once to give her a small smile.

Ginny jumped up to get dressed, smiling to herself the entire time. When she got back, Derek was waiting for her. They linked arms and went to the Great Hall.

Ginny was elated, but the whole trip down, she had to force herself to ignore the little feeling she felt in her stomach that told her things were all wrong.

Draco watched in horror as Ginny walked into the Great Hall with her arm linked with some guy. He tried to get her attention, but she was either ignoring him or completely oblivious.

Jealousy and anger flooded through him, but it was quickly replaced with sadness. He had thought and hoped that Ginny would come back to him ready and willing to make things work. I'm such an idiot he thought sadly.

Dani saw Derek and Ginny approaching, and she jumped up with glee. She noticed the hooked arms and smiles each one had on their faces.

"Aw! You two are the cutest couple ever!" She squealed. Derek smiled wider, and Ginny blushed.

"So when did this happen?" Dani asked as they sat down.

"Just a little bit ago," Derek answered, turning to smile at Ginny.

"Aw! I'm just so happy for the both of you!" Dani looked at Ginny specifically at this point, wondering what was going through her head.

"Aren't you happy?" Dani asked Ginny eagerly. Ginny turned to look at Derek and replied.

"Yes. Yes, I am."

Ginny glanced to the Slytherin table out of habit, and noticed immediately that someone was already watching her.

Draco turned away quickly, trying to control his emotions and his urge to punch something…or someone Draco thought, thinking about Derek. Who is this kid anyway?

Blaise glanced over at Draco, noticing how his face was scrunched up in frustration.

"You alright, Draco?" Blaise asked quietly. Draco looked up at Blaise, who sat across from him and quickly made his face devoid of emotion, but it was too late. Blaise already noticed something wasn't right.

"Holidays not go as planned?" Blaise asked, not giving up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Draco answered harshly. "What's it to you?"

Blaise looked at Draco seriously. Even though Draco was known for his cold demeanor and harsh words, Blaise was one of the few who never received any of his remarks. The tone in Draco's voice alone was something completely different. Blaise knew something was terribly wrong, but he also knew better than to keep questioning Draco, especially around other people.

"Never mind," Blaise said quickly, returning to his dinner.

Dumbledore stood up in the front of the Great Hall and cleared his throat loudly. The talking and laughter died down quickly; Dumbledore had that affect on people.

"I hope you all had a wonderful holiday," he said. The Great Hall was completely silent because the students knew there was more. "I also hope that this new year brings many good things to all of you," he continued, "and to help with that, the ministry has agreed to an idea that the staff and myself have proposed."

If the Great Hall was quiet before, then it was nothing compared to how it was now. It seemed like everyone was holding their breath, waiting for more.

"We decided that the older students here deserve something special for the effort they've been putting in throughout their years at Hogwarts. We have thought of an idea to reward out sixth and seventh year students."

At the mention of this, several of the younger students groaned, but silence soon fell over the Great Hall again. The older students were on the edge of their seats, waiting to hear more about this reward. Even Draco momentarily forgot about his dilemma concerning Ginny.

"We've created a sort of contest called The 10 Challenges, hoping to promote inter-house relationship. The competition would be a series of events where different teams will compete to earn points in hopes of winning the grand prize."

Dumbledore paused, a smile playing at his lips. The students were dying to hear what he was about to say, and he couldn't help but drag it out a little more.

"The grand prize," he continued, "would be an all expense paid trip to Italy to—" Dumbledore didn't even finish before the hall erupted with squeals of delight and whoops of happiness. The headmaster waited patiently for the students to calm down.

In his seat, Draco rolled his eyes. He owned a private summer house in Italy; he didn't need to win a free trip there.

"Specifics about the competition will be explained later this week, and on Friday, you all will find out who is on your team."

Murmurs passed through the student body, as people questioned their neighbors about the teams. Weren't they at least allowed to pick their own teams?

"As for now," Dumbledore said loudly, quieting the whispers, "I hope you all enjoy the rest of the feast and have a nice, long sleep because classes begin straight away tomorrow!"

He sat back down, and the Great Hall came to life again as people turned to their friends and hurriedly talked about The 10 Challenges.

"A free trip to Italy!" Dani squealed delightedly. "Can you imagine how amazing that would be?"

Derek squeezed Ginny's hand and turned to talk to her.

"Going to Italy for free would be amazing, wouldn't it?" he asked her.

"It would be incredibly amazing," Ginny agreed. She hadn't had a real vacation in a long time, knowing that her family couldn't afford it. It would be so awesome if she won this competition thing.

The 10 Challenges dominated all the conversations of the students for the rest of the night…even the Slytherins were excited.

"A free trip to Italy!" A sixth year Slytherin squealed in delight.

"I bet the Italian women are b-u-t-ful," a seventh year Slytherin commented.

Draco snorted loudly and the table turned to him; he just rolled his eyes.

"Italy," Draco said dramatically. "Whoop-de-do."

Blaise gave Draco a look.

"Hey man, just because you own a summer house in Italy doesn't mean that the rest of us do. To us, this grand prize is still cool."

Draco just rolled his eyes again and stood up to leave. The rest of the table watched him leave the Great Hall but continued talk about The 10 Challenges despite his harsh words.

Ginny and her table were talking excitedly and imagining what it would be like to go to Italy. She looked up just in time to see Draco storm out of the Great Hall. The smile on her face vanished, and she had the urge to follow him. Ginny shook her head, trying to forget about him, but she couldn't help but wonder what was wrong.

The first couple of days went by rather quickly for Ginny. Excitement mixed with happiness (somewhat forced) made the week fly by. The one thing about her friends that Ginny didn't like was the fact that she always had to be happy around them. Being upset or sad just didn't cut it.

Ginny was doing well in all her classes again, and she knew that her newly made friends had definitely helped her. However, there was one class of Ginny's that couldn't go by any slower: advanced charms.

Ginny dreaded this class. She didn't want to see Draco, wishing only to forget about him and her feelings towards him. It felt like forever ago that Draco was saving her from the evil Christian, and she missed that feeling of being cared for.

You have Derek now! She told herself fiercely, shaking away thoughts of Draco. She now sat at a table with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who still treated her like a friend even though Ginny originally feared that they would just forget about her like before.

"Hiya Gin," Hermione said enthusiastically as she sat down next to Ginny.

"Hi Hermione," Ginny replied. They didn't have time to talk because Flitwick walked into the room at that exact moment. He walked to the front of the class, and as Ginny turned to look at him, she saw a pair of silver-gray eyes staring at her. She completely ignored Draco and kept her eyes glued on her professor. Why she thought after two straight months of ignoring me, is he now acknowledging that I exist?

"Alright class," Flitwick began, "are you all ready to begin something new?"

Everyone nodded their heads glad to be done with illusions. They were fun, yes, but practicing them for nearly a month was tedious.

"We will still be practicing nonverbal magic every Friday," Professor Flitwick continued. A few people moaned, but he just ignored them. "I don't care if you can already perform a nonverbal spell. Instead, I want you to be able to perform nonverbal magic better than you can by saying the incantation aloud."

This quieted the class down. No one Ginny thought can perform nonverbal magic better than verbal, except maybe Dr—. She stopped. It wasn't right to think about him.

"We will cover the first unit in the next two weeks," Flitwick informed them. "This is the traditional Healing section taught to all seventh years, but I'm reworking it to make it more difficult for you lot."

Again, the class groaned.

"Hey," their professor said defensively, "if you get in a situation where someone has a broken bone or is bleeding uncontrollably and no one's around, you're going to want to know this stuff."

Again, everyone shut up. Professor Flitwick just smiled as he turned to look for something behind his desk.

The class passed slowly, and Ginny couldn't stop thinking about Draco. She could feel his eyes staring at the back of her head, but she refused to turn around to look at him. Ginny was determined to forget Draco, and outright ignoring his new attention towards her was the first place to start.

When class ended, Ginny packed up her things slowly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione told her they had something to do and rushed off. This might've bugged Ginny a couple months ago, but she was fine with it now. She now understood that sometimes the trio wanted to do things just the three of them.

"Hey," someone said behind her.

Ginny whipped around, finding herself face to face with Draco Malfoy. Her breath caught in her throat, and for a moment, she couldn't think of anything to say. The moment passed, and she recovered quickly, turning back to pack her things up faster than before.

"How was your holiday vacation?" he asked quietly.

Ginny gave him a strange look, but didn't say anything; she didn't want to get mixed up with Draco ever again…even if it did seem like he still cared. She grabbed her bag and left the classroom without looking back.

Friday arrived soon enough, and after breakfast, the sixth and seventh years were asked to remain in the Great Hall to wait for more instructions about The 10 Challenges. The room was full of eager chatting and discussions. At the Gryffindor table, Ginny listened as all her friends talked about what kind of events would be included in The 10 Challenges.

As soon as Dumbledore stepped into the Great Hall, the kids went silent. The Headmaster took his time as he took his place at the front.

"Alright," he began, "first things first. I bet you're all eager to know more about The 10 Challenges."

A few people nodded their heads, but almost everyone sat still, listening and waiting.

"The 10 Challenges is one competition where, as you know, the winning team will earn the grand prize of a free week in Italy. But now, I know you all wish to know the specifics. Ten different competitions will be spread out throughout the rest of the year where teams will earn points depending on how well they do. Okay, Professor McGonagall will now tell you what teams you are all on," Dumbledore finished.

He sat down, and McGonagall walked to the front.

"You will be split up into ten teams," she informed the students. "Team number one…" McGonagall read off the names on a list, sometimes getting reactions from students who heard their names.

Ginny listened eagerly for her name, hoping she would end up with Dani or Derek.

"Team number three," McGonagall began, "is Harry Potter, Pansy Parkinson—" Ginny heard Harry groan. "Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger…" The trio didn't listen to the rest of the names and were already talking excitedly on how they were definitely going to win now.

Ginny's heart quickened at the end of team three. If they had all been put together, then shouldn't she wind up with friends too?

Teams started and began, but Ginny was still waiting for her name to be read. Her friend Rose was on a team with Padma and Parvati Patil, Colin Creevey, Nevil Longbottom, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle. Ginny felt bad for Rose, but her friend didn't seem to mind. Rose was really laid back like that. Whatever happened simply happened; she went with the flow. Two teams were left and Ginny hadn't heard her name yet. Derek nudged her with a smile.

"Maybe we'll be on the same team," he whispered to her. Ginny smiled in return, but her mind was traveling to someone else who also hadn't been mentioned. She tried not to think about Draco, but the events of earlier that week were meddling with her thoughts. Why did he try to talk to me? She wondered. Ginny felt a pang of guilt as she remembered how cold she had acted towards him. It's for the better. Ginny convinced herself that week that she needed to make Draco forget her.

It almost killed her to make that decision, but she knew he deserved better. Ginny felt awful when she remembered the whole Christian ordeal, and the worst part about this entire thing was that Ginny had been with Draco; she'd had the chance to be with him, and she completely ruined it.

But that was her reasoning: no matter how much she cared about him, no matter how much he seemed to care for her, she couldn't let anything happen between them again. Things would just end badly, and Ginny knew she'd end up hurting him again. She couldn't stand the idea of hurting Draco the way she had before.

An image of Draco, eyes full of confusion and pain, flooded into Ginny's mind, and she shook her head; he would never know how awful she felt about hurting him.

"Team number eight," McGonagall began, pulling Ginny away from her thoughts, "is Draco Malfoy, Derek Wydell, Lavender Brown, Lisa Turpin, Blaise Zabini, and…" Ginny's heart was racing. She would either be with both Draco and Derek or with other people she hardly knew; in that moment, Ginny wasn't sure which one she'd prefer.

It didn't matter though.

"…and Ginevra Weasley," McGonagall finished. Ginny's heart sank, but Derek turned to her, overjoyed at the set-up.

"That's awesome!" Derek exclaimed, hugging her tight.

"Right," Ginny replied, placing a fake smile on her face. "Great."

Derek was oblivious, only hugging her tighter. Dani looked on sadly, knowing that Ginny must be having a hard time. She sighed and cursed whoever chose the teams; they were about to ruin all her hard work! Dani was trying to keep Draco away from Ginny, and this competition wasn't helping.

McGonagall finished the last team, and Dumbledore, once again, stepped to the front of the Great Hall. This time he had to wait a little while before the students were quiet; they were all talking excitedly, looking over at other tables to wave at fellow teammates.

Draco stole a glance at the Gryffindor table. Ginny had her head slightly down, and she wasn't looking happy though the kid next to her was smiling brilliantly. Does she not want to be with me? When Draco heard Ginny's name called, his heart leapt. He thought that this would give him a chance to win her back.

"You all have your teams now," Dumbledore explained, "and your first assignment is to get together to create a team name, team colors, and a team captain."

Ginny was hardly listening. She was hoping that Dumbledore would allow her to switch teams, even if that meant ditching Derek to be away from Draco.

"And I wanted to remind you that in no case will someone be allowed to switch teams." At this point Ginny could've sworn that Dumbledore looked specifically at her.

"You can either get together right now since lunch will be served shortly," Dumbledore said, "or you may do it sometime this weekend. Either way, you must have all of that sorted out by Monday." He looked around the Great Hall into the faces off the students, seeing a majority of expressions. Some students were happy and others were mad; he noticed specifically that Ginny seemed to be sad, but he wouldn't let her switch. Nope, she'd have to deal with her problems finally instead of just hiding and forgetting about them.

"That is all," Professor Dumbledore concluded.

Everyone got up and moved around excitedly, forming their teams right away.

"Hey Ginny!" someone said enthusiastically. Ginny turned around to see Lavender Brown before her, and she vaguely remembered that Lavender was on her team too.

"Hi," Ginny answered.

"So what do you think about our team?" she asked eagerly. "Personally, I wouldn't choose to freely be on a team with Malfoy or Zabini, but I bet they'll help our team out a lot!"

Ginny just nodded along feeling odd when Derek put his arm around her waist. She was about to shake his hand away when she saw Draco and Blaise walking towards them out of the corner of her eye. Her heart quickened, and she suddenly had the urge to throw up.

"Alright," Blaise said casually, "let's get this thing done and over with."

"Um…"Ginny began hesitantly, "I've got to go."

She didn't look at Draco though she could feel his eyes on her. She tried to get up, but Derek just held on tighter.

"Where are you going, Gin?" he asked. "We're just about to start."

"Yeah!" Lavender chimed in.

"I've just got something I need to do…" Ginny trailed off.

"Don't be silly," Lisa Turpin said. She was the last member of their team, and Ginny only knew that she was a seventh year Ravenclaw. Thinking back, she also remembered that Lisa was in their advanced charms class. "We need everyone here if we want to get everything settled," she finished.

Ginny realized she was fighting a losing battle, so she sat still and quiet the whole time they were discussing. There was exactly thirty minutes before lunch time, and Lisa decided that they'd spend ten minutes on each part of the assignment. Everyone could already see that Lisa wanted to be in charge.

First, they needed a captain.

"Well," Lisa began, "considering that I'm the most organized person here, I think that I should be captain. I can also handle all the stress."

Ginny saw Lavender roll her eyes, while Blaise snorted.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Lisa asked Blaise icily.

"Yes," he replied just as coldly.

"How about," Lavender started, "we just go around the circle voting for whom we think should be captain."

Lisa crossed her arms against her chest angrily but didn't argue.

"Fine," she said, "I'll go first. I vote for me."

She turned to Derek.

"I vote for Ginny," Derek answered. Ginny turned slightly in shock, but he only shrugged.

"Alright," Lisa continued, "who do you vote for Ginny?"

"Um…" she stammered, "I don't know."

"Fine, we'll come back to you," Lisa said quickly.

"I vote Draco," Blaise said.

"Oh! I vote for Draco too," Lavender agreed. Everyone turned to look at Draco. One more vote and he was automatically captain. Ginny could feel his eyes on her, but she refused to look. Instead, she leaned into Derek and took his hand in hers.

Jealousy flooded through Draco as he watched Ginny. He was planning on voting for her, but his sudden anger changed his mind.

"I vote me," he stated.

"Yay!" Lavender cheered. "Okay, we have our captain, so can we pick our team colors next?"

More discussing occurred, but Ginny took no part in it. They eventually decided on black and red, two colors that everyone was happy with except Lisa. Surprise, surprise. The team name was a little harder. People kept throwing names around, mainly Lavender, but no one seemed to agree.

Draco and Blaise joked around with names like "Superior Slytherins" and "Pureblood Pride," but Derek argued that they weren't all Slytherins or purebloods. Lisa threw in the name "Muggle Love," but Draco and Blaise flatly refused to compete under that name.

Ginny was hardly paying attention when a name of her own popped into her head.

"Vincitori," Ginny muttered before she realized it.

"Huh?" Lisa asked, turning to face Ginny. Everyone was staring at Ginny, and she suddenly regretted opening her mouth. They all waited for her to continue, but she didn't say a word.

"She said 'Vincitori,'" Draco answered for her. Everyone's heads swiveled towards him, and this time, Ginny did look at Draco. "It means 'winners' in Italian," he continued, eyes still locked with Ginny's.

"I love it!" Lavender shouted. "It's perfect."

Everyone agreed and started getting their things ready to leave. Ginny and Draco were still staring at each other, but a nudge from Derek broke their eye contact.

"You ready?" he asked her sweetly. Ginny beamed at him and nodded.

"Let's go," Ginny said while grabbing his hand and walking straight passed Draco without another word.

After the days events both Ginny and Draco came to two different conclusions.

Ginny was going to try her hardest to ignore Draco, forcing him to forget about her.

Draco was going to piss Ginny off as much as he could for completely ignoring him the entire week.

It really is for the best Ginny thought to herself.

If that's how she's going to act, Draco decided, then fine.

Things were about to get ugly.

A/N: I'm dooooone! I hope you all like this chapter! Read and review please!