Chapter 8

The Task At Hand

Okay everyone! Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them, the good or bad! I know that the last chapter was pretty short and I'm sorry! I shall try to make longer installments next time!!

Christabel~

Hope you enjoy!!

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Everyone was 5th year or above was scrambling to find dates for the first dance that was to take place in one week.

Clothes needed to be bought; dates needed to be asked. Dumbledore made an announcement at the end of supper that night that the older students would be allowed to skip classes on the Friday of the dance to go to Hogsmeade. In addition to all of that; nearly everyone wanted to be one of the honored eight left at the formal ball. Ginny was among them.

She went to McGonagall to ask for the information on the "competition" as soon as dinner was over. Ginny read through everything that was given to her to discover that this would be maybe the most humiliating things she had ever done but in the end, it could prove to be worth it. There was to be a talent show. Students and teachers both would judge for the best performances. You could sing or act or dance, or juggle or do just about anything to begin with. Later, though there would be only be four categories to compete in. One guy and one girl would win from each; giving them the eight final students that were needed.

The worst part of that whole ordeal was that each stage of this talent show was to be performed at the three dances proceeding the ball, then there would be one final performance at the ball for the eight that made it. This may make tough and stressful competition but it would be worth it in the end.

Ginny knew right away what she would do to win her a spot. She would sing, and sing well. With only a week to prepare, she wasn't sure what she could pull off, but she'd do it.

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Draco was also determined to be one of the eight students honored at the ball.

When he took note of the talent show and the whole process; he decided that he should sing. He wasn't a very good juggler or dancer. Actually he sucked at dancing, he had what people called two left feet. It was awful. But he did have a pretty good voice when he tried. But how to find and prepare a song in a week, he wasn't sure.

Draco knew that he'd probably have to spend all of his free time looking for a song and then practicing it. Not only did he have to worry about the talent show but then there was Ginny, and detention with Ginny. Heck, maybe she'd inspire him.

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During lunch Ginny was thinking of songs that she could sing. She decided that it should definitely reflect what she was feeling at the moment. Maybe if she did this, it would sound passionate and real.

Normally, that would have been easy but with Draco in her life now, it was going to be a lot more difficult to express her feelings. Everything was so messed up, especially after that kiss.

She was sure that she liked him but how much? She had so many doubts, she just wanted to be back in detention (A/N: Never thought I'd ever hear of that) with Draco kissing her again, that's when everything was right. Would he kiss her again or would she have to initiate it? She really didn't want to start something if it wasn't really for him either.

Suddenly she knew exactly what she was going to sing. It reflected her feelings (for the most part anyways). Now all she had to do was ask Hermione for one of her CD's. It would be perfect. It would let Draco know how she felt about the kiss. Not only could she win the first round but maybe even Draco's heart.

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"What am I going to do?" Draco asked Blaise. "I don't know any good songs to sing!"

"Well, let's see, you're going to want to sing a song that reflects how you're feeling. Then you'll seem really alive to the judges." Blaise said.

"Yeah, I guess so." Draco agreed.

"Well, I think that I can help you. I know some really great Muggle songs that will express however you're feeling right then. Just give me a few days." She said as she stood up to go.

"Thanks, Blaise. I owe ya one." Draco said as he watched her go.

"More than you'll ever know, Malfoy." Blaise smiled over her shoulder.

Draco chuckled as he, too, stood up to leave. He just wanted to go up to the common room and relax alone for a while. He drudged down the stairs towards the dungeons, looking at all of the paintings that decorated the cold walls. They were mostly of Salazar Slytherin or students who had brought him great pride in their years at Hogwarts. Draco recognized some of them as the Death Eaters that his father had spoken of time and time again. Draco also noticed a very small picture that hung down lower than most; he recognized him as Tom Riddle. He ignored it and continued to walk until he reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room. He muttered the password (Parselmouth) and then entered.

Draco looked around the green and sliver clad room to find that it was for once fairly full. He figured that this was due in large part to the weather, which was storming quite violently. Nearly every student and teacher at the castle was indoors today, even the people who loved stormy days. Draco saw a group of older boys sitting in some of the armchairs by the fire. He knew all of them and saw that it included Crabbe and Goyle. He decided that it might be fun to eavesdrop on his friends.

Draco leaned closer to Crabbe and Goyle and all of the other boys. They appeared to be talking about a girl. But what else was new?

"She's amazing!" Goyle said.

"Yeah, you could just melt into those gorgeous eyes of hers." A fifth year named Peter said. In Draco's opinion this boy did not belong in Slytherin if he could speak in such a corny manner out loud for the whole common room to here.

"Wonder how much it'd cost to get her into bed." Crabbe said animatedly.

'Always talking about some slut. Probably not even the slightest bit pretty. Trashy I'll bet.' Draco thought to himself. Sure he liked girls and he loved participating in the Slytherin boys' game of trying to get as many girls as they could, love em then leave them but he didn't much care for trashy girls. They needed class to be with him.

"Bet she's never been with anyone before." Peter said, getting a mumble of excited agreement.

Each girl that you had was worth points. Average girls were worth five, the "easy" girls were worth two and the virgins were worth ten. It was every Slytherin's dream to get a virgin, they were more fun to leave in the morning.

"So who wants to try to get her first?" Goyle asked dumbly.

"First Slytherin guy to get her into bed will receive a Butterbeer from each of the losers on the next Hogsmeade trip." Peter haggled.

"Not so fast. We need to be careful that no one finds out about this little bet. I mean, she *is* a Weasley."

At this comment Draco's jaw dropped nearly to the floor. They were talking about Ginny? 'Like she would ever get with any of them! They'd be lucky to get a girl like her.' Draco thought to himself. He decided to take action.

"Now, now boys, play nice - you wouldn't want your fathers to find out about this, would you?" Draco asked.

Each of the boys' eyes got rather large. None of these boys would want to tarnish their families respectable reputation by sleeping with someone so "low class".

"No of course not, Draco. We were just messing around." Peter said.

"I didn't think so." Draco said as he walked off to go and find Blaise. They knew that that had meant that they shouldn't carry through with their bet.

No one wanted to mess with Draco, he really was the mean old tattle tale.

Draco ran down the empty corridors toward the large occupied library where he knew he could find Blaise sitting in the back corner, as usual. Sure enough, he found her in deep and concentrated thought.

"Malfoy! I have thought of a perfect song for you!" Blaise started before she was cut off by Draco's incoherent gasping.

"They made a bet on her! That she would sleep with them. Winner gets Butterbeer!" Draco gasped, out of breath.

"Who made a bet on who?" Blaise started. "Ohhhh, lover girl!"

"Virginia, the Slytherin boys thought that she would sleep with them. Whoever got to her first gets a Butterbeer." He explained, ignoring her comment.

"Thinking of entering, then!?" Blaise asked. It *would* be perfect after all. She grinned evilly.

"No! Of course not! You've got it all wrong! Isn't that disgusting?" Draco screamed, expecting her to agree.

"Now, now Malfoy I've heard you get in on a few of these little bets before! Tell me, what's so wrong this time?" Blaise asked innocently.

"Blaise I don't have time for this bull crap! I just thought that you would be interested in knowing!" Draco said. "Now, have you got a song for me or what?"

"Temper, temper Malfoy. Anyways, after that little escapade, I think that there should be a change in songs. And I know just the song for you!!" She shrieked in a sudden frenzy. I've got to go and find the lyrics somewhere! I'll catch up to you later! I'll come to your Prefect's dorm and knock on the door. Four times then two light ones. See ya then!' Blaise said all this very quickly before running off. She left Draco sitting there dumbfounded, thinking about the redhead that he'd grown to like, perhaps even love.

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There you all are! My update! It is longer than last time!! I hope that you liked it. It's sort of fluffy but none-the-less mushy and romantic so I'll leave you to it! I have some thank-you's to hand out! First to everyone for reading and reviewing and secondly:

~!~MelissaAdams~!~ You are the first! Good job! Thanks for reviewing! No one walked in and this is longer! Thanks for the advice!!

~!~ally~!~ Thanks very much! I really appreciate you're offer and I'll keep it in mind! I hope that you continue to read and enjoy!!

~!~Angelic Vampire~!~ I love cookies!! Yay! Thanks so much!!!

~!~kellyanne~!~ Some people are just so stupid to overlook what is so obviously there! Malfoy does have a yucky family, but man oh man is he hott! (Well Tom Felton is anyway!) Thanks for telling me what you think!

~!~Sita~!~ I must do that to you yes! It leaves you all in suspence, we need some of that here! Anyways! Thank you very much for reading and for reviewing!

~!~ee~!~ Thanks! I will continue!!

I do believe that is everyone who reviewed this time! Please continue! I really love them! Also, I don't know if any of you agree with me but I CAN'T BELIVE THAT ROY WILLIAMS LEFT!!! I love my KU team (well, not really mine but still!) Anyways, that's my ranting of the day! Please review and tell me what you like and what you don't like from this story of mine!!!

Christabel(