A/N: Whoo hoo! 4 reviews! Thanks guys. This is kinda just whipped off the top of my head at midnight. My older stuff is much better I think. Oh well, this is all about having fun anyway. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Don't own, yada yada. Tara Costigan is not mine, either, I borrowed her from a friend from an RPG. I'm sure she won't mind…

Fated?

Escape from the Norm

As the week went on, the temperature dropped until finally it was at its chilly, September norm. Fall was in the air and Ginny was unhappy. First off, she loved the sun. With the right suntan charm, she got to a very nice light tan during the summer; definitely an upgrade from the paleness of before. It also hid some of her freckles which she would forever loath until she could get rid of them. Her mom thought they were endearing but after graduation they would be gone.

It was a Friday and while most people hated Mondays, Ginny hated Fridays. It was so close to the weekend that she never felt like going to classes and she tended to have a problem getting up on time and getting motivated. Pulling her shoulder-length hair back into a sloppy pony tail she glanced around her dorm room. All the other girls were gone, probably at breakfast, which Ginny had by far missed. She was grateful for the silence, however, and took her time getting ready.

Ginny was beginning to think life was pretty boring. Day in and day out, all she did was go to classes and gossip with her friends. She was becoming more and more distant with Ron and Hermione and defiantly with Harry. She had had the courage to ask him out in the middle of her 5th year, after he had come to terms, at least to a degree, with what happened to Sirius. He had been acting fairly normal and Ginny decided to take the risk and make the first move.

The relationship started off well, as relationships went. Until the first kiss. After that, Harry avoided her like the plague. Ginny got the hint that he was uncomfortable with the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing so after 3 days of no Harry she was ready to admit it was a mistake and call it quits. Of course, finding Harry to let him know proved to be a challenge but eventually she did and ended things amicably. Yet still, to this day, he avoided her as much as possible. The boy had some serious issues he needed to work through.

So now it was gossip, learn, gossip, learn, day in and day out. It was boring and besides, she really didn't like doing either of those things. She thought having a boy in it might spice things up. It would definitely complicate things. But which boy? That was the question.

Draco Malfoy. The thought popped into her head from no where. Spinning around, she swore someone must have said it in her ear. Nope, no one in the dorm but her. Damn that Andrea Parks, she planted those words in her head. That conversation from the beach the other day had been on Ginny's mind a lot lately, though for the life of her she couldn't figure out why.

Taking the steps two at a time, she flung her bag over her head so the strap crossed over her and jet through the empty common room. She was going to be early for class but it was okay because she needed to talk to Professor McGonagall about her courses for the next term anyway. She passed by a lot of students headed in the other direction, some calling hellos to her which she returned with a half hearted smile. Her mind was still on other matters.

Heading down the transfiguration hallway, she thought she was alone until she heard quick footsteps heading toward her. Stopping, she started to turn around when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty classroom. "Oof!" Ginny grunted ungracefully as the person yanked her aside to close the door quietly. Long blond hair and green Slytherin robes. Tara Costigan, Draco's girlfriend, had Ginny Weasley cornered.

"Shh!" Tara waved a hand at Ginny to keep it down, though Ginny had made no other noise than her initial grunt. Frowning, the redhead watched as Tara peeked through the tiny crack she made by opening the door slightly. Just as quickly, she shut the door quietly and put her back to it, facing the room with an upset look.

Footsteps could be heard on the other side of the door; heavy footsteps. They grew louder then started to fade, never pausing in their stride. Tara had apparently been holding her breath because she let it out all at once in a long, slow breath. Gathering herself, she looked over toward Ginny. "Thank you for keeping quiet." She smiled, standing straight and smoothing her robes. "That was close."

Ginny's curiosity by this point was getting the best of her. Shifting her weight she returned Tara's smile with half of one. "So what was that all about?" She asked, figuring she had a right to know since she'd been pulled into the mess.

"Oh, that was Pansy Parkinson." Tara wrinkled her nose at the name. "She's been on my case for most of the year. I try to avoid her whenever possible." Lowering her voice to a whisper, though no once else was around to hear her, Tara added, "I don't like her much."

Ginny had to giggle, at least a bit. "Join the club." She agreed.

"I'm sorry I grabbed you, I just didn't want you giving away that I was here by accident. Pansy, well, she kinda scares me. She's been threatening me about this whole Draco thing-"

"Draco?" Ginny cut in, mildly surprising herself. She knew Tara and Draco were dating and it really shouldn't be something that Ginny even cared about but the name left her mouth before she could stop it. "Er, Draco thing? What Draco thing?"

Tara was giving her a weird look but smiled nonetheless. "Well, Draco and I are kind of dating. I mean, as much dating as one can do at Hogwarts." She shrugged, looking to the door again before back at Ginny. "Pansy is a little jealous. I think she wanted Draco all to herself."

"Oh," was all Ginny could come up with. What Tara was saying made sense; Pansy and Draco had always seemed to be close until Tara showed up last year. Of course anyone would be mad if they thought someone was encroaching on their territory and Draco had always been Pansy's territory. At least, on the outside, that's how it always looked.

"So, anyway, thanks again for being quiet. Are you headed to Transfig?" Tara asked while peeking out the door to make sure the coast was clear.

"Yeah." Ginny nodded, following the blond into the hallway.

"Well, I'll walk with you, since I'm headed that way too." Tara offered, falling into step next to Ginny.

Again, the Gryffindor wondered how Tara could have ever been placed into Slytherin. Ginny kept her guard up, despite how nice the girl seemed. "Alright."

Before they could walk more than five steps their way was blocked by someone. "Excuse you," Ginny said automatically before looking up into the very beautiful, very cold eyes of Draco Malfoy. "Oh, er-" Wow, Gin, very articulate lately, aren't we? She thought to herself with a mental kick to her own head.

"Draco!" Tara seemed just as surprised as Ginny to see him in the hallway. "What are you doing down here?" She took a step toward him so she was closer to him than Ginny.

"I saw Pansy follow you out of the common room. I was," Draco flipped his gaze from Tara to Ginny momentarily before looking back to his girlfriend. "Concerned."

"Aw, thanks for looking out for me." Tara grinned, linking her arm in his. "Though I can take care of myself, thank you very much." The blond threw Ginny a wink as a goodbye before steering Draco away, toward class. Draco frowned but allowed himself to be escorted without a backward glance.

Ginny was still standing in the middle of the hallway, staring. What in the hell just happened? The past ten minutes or so were a complete blur, ending with those searing gray eyes scorched into her memory. And despite herself, she found herself liking Tara but being insanely jealous of her at the same time. Jealous? Jealous? Because of Malfoy? Maybe a quick detour to the hospital wing was in order; Ginny was suddenly not feeling so well.

"Amusing, aren't they?" A voice in her ear startled her, bringing her back to the reality that the hallway was quickly filling and she was going to be late, rather than early, to class. She turned to see who the unfamiliar voice belonged to.

Sighing, she rolled her eyes to the ceiling, wondering just what she had done to surround herself with so many Slytherins on this dreadful day.

"You know what I mean, don't you? They are so different, yet they get along so well." Shrugging, Blaise Zabini looked from the direction that Draco and Tara headed back to Ginny. "I think she's good for him."

"Why are you talking to me?" Ginny asked, shoving her fists on her hips and turning to face him, wondering what the catch was.

"Because I want to," Blaise responded as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. His smile had some sort of flirtatious undertone that was making Ginny very squirmy. How could he look at her like that when he hardly even knew her?

"Well," Ginny started but before she could finish Abigail showed up, smiling at both of them.

"Just who I was looking for! Ginny, we're going to be late."

"Ladies," Blaise nodded politely at them as a goodbye and disappeared into the growing crowd.

"Just in time, Abby." Ginny breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yea, he cornered me once too. He's very charming and very dangerous." Abigail giggled, linking her arm in Ginny's. They headed toward McGonagall's classroom and by the time they slid into their seats, Ginny's morning seemed like a far off dream.

Later on, before lights out, Ginny sat in the dorm room on her bed, reflecting on her day. She was so used to the same old boring routine that she was actually glad for the little bit of excitement today, however small it had been. The most surprising part, she concluded, was when she saw the concern in Draco's eyes for someone other than himself. He'd always seemed too selfish and uncaring but it was obvious he cared for Tara.

Maybe even more surprising, was Ginny's gut reaction to that knowledge. She was more than just jealous; she wanted to be in Tara's place. No, she wasn't suddenly homicidal, but she did want that feeling that Tara had to be having. And she couldn't get Draco out of her mind. It was maddening, really.

Heaving a huge sigh she leaned over to flip off the light, crawled under her covers and wished for sleep; sleep and dreams that didn't involve one silver haired Slytherin boy who wouldn't get off her mind.

A/N: I dunno, is this boring?