Disclaimer: I do not own and did not create Harry Potter and/or any of the characters from the books/the books themselves. Everything legally belongs to J.K. Rowling. That being said, read on fellow lose- I mean…. Fellow Harry Potter reader…. Yup, that's what I meant. :)

When he grinned down at me, I couldn't tell whether I should be glad or worried. Draco Malfoy had a glint in his eye. It was mischievous and demonic. Oddly, it was something I identified with. It made no sense.

And yet, there he was. Why in the hell was Draco Malfoy looking down at me as if I were his friend, that stupid grin on his face? It made me want to punch him.

I sighed. On the bright side of things, my mind wasn't wandering once again.

"What the hell do you want?" I snapped. The wind picked up and my fierce red hair blew into my face. I reached up and brushed it away, finding Malfoy with an odd expression on his face. It was strangely distorted, as if he was trying to hide something – or perhaps he was trying to show something?

"Tell me, Red, why are you lying out here, in the gardens?" Malfoy asked. "Did they get tired of you up in the house?"

Red? Now I'm Red? It was a step up from his usual taunts, but I wasn't quite sure exactly how much.

How odd, I thought, that he's even bothering with me…

"None of your business." I replied simply. That familiar sneer I had seen so often since coming to Hogwarts graced his facial features.

"Now, see… that's where you're wrong.

Contention
By Riley Murphy

Part 3
Surreal

"What are you talking about?" Ginny snapped. "Why in the hell would I even conside-"

"It's a lot better of an offer than you'll get from dear Pothead, I can assure you." Draco interrupted, glaring. "Do you honestly think that they even know, or care? The bloody 'golden trio' is far too busy saving the world."

"And I suppose you do?" she replied. His words stung and her heart sank. It wasn't meant to be this way. Ginny knew that in her heart. She wasn't meant to become what she was – but then, she wasn't entirely sure what she had become either. So how could she have felt so strongly towards something she couldn't define, let alone explain?

"Better than they do."

"What exactly could you know?" she screeched. Her anger was rising. Draco Malfoy grinned. His pale blond hair was unkempt, and falling out of place, Ginny noticed. He's been contemplating this.

But how could she know that?

"More than you think. I know, for example, that you were the one to open the chamber of secrets. I know that for a weasel, well…" he trailed off, looking her up and down. Ginny got the distinct impression that if she knew in great depth exactly what the expression 'undressing with the eyes' meant, it would be what he was doing at that exact moment. "You don't exactly fit with the rest of them."

She struggled to keep her anger under control. Granted, some of what he was saying was true, but it wasn't right. How could he know such things, when she knew so little about everything that was happening? It felt wrong.

"I'm failing to see whatever point you're attempting to make." she replied. His grin grew.

"My point, Miss Weasley, is that you're a holding onto something that's actually beneath you." he told her. She glared at him. "You could be great. Greater than the golden trio could ever be, or even imagine."

"Such pretty words." Ginny practically sang. "It's too bad your words mean nothing."

"Do they?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow. He took a step nearer to her, brushing back that one piece of bright red hair that fell into her face, obscuring his view of her eyes, behind her ear.

"Talk is cheap." Ginny replied curtly. Draco's grin grew wider, if that was possible. He leaned down; his face next to hers and his lips less than an inch from her ear.

"But talk is all you are."

Ginny gasped as she heard his words, trying to hide her reactions to feeling his breath brush her skin and send shivers down her spine. His words cut deeply inside of her. She felt the familiar sting of tears coming to her eyes. He moved away and stared down at her.

"Or maybe that's what you want, to be overshadowed and underappreciated. To never be noticed by your dear Harry. To never be noticed by anyone? Do they even know they you exist? Or that day after day you suffer?" Draco asked. He was circling her as he spoke.

"They have other things." Ginny replied.

"Heh, you mean that little drama from the summer, when Harry and Ron both fell for that mudblood filth you envy?" Draco asked. Ginny's glare turned murderous as he mentioned Hermione.

"You bastard."

"He's right though."

Ginny swirled around to find herself staring at Blaise Zabini, lounging against the stone wall at the edge of the garden.

"Where the hell did you come from?" she asked.

"I've been here the whole time."

"We're offering you a chance to be a part of something you could never imagine. So much power… we can teach you things even Dumbledore's in no position to stop or control." Draco whispered against her hair. Ginny looked uncertainly between the two.

"You two are just trying to confuse me." she accused. Draco and Blaise looked wounded for a moment. It was all mocking of course. They recovered too quickly for it to be anything else.

Right?

"Think what you want. But by this time tomorrow, your mind will be made up – and we'll be seeing you in this garden once more." Blaise replied. He and Draco wandered off to skip some class. Probably to nick some breakfast off the house elves, even.

Classes began over an hour ago, yet Ginny was standing in a garden, staring at the stone wall Blaise so recently occupied, words reverberating in her skull.

Draco knew more than anyone should have, that much was certain. And his words… they voiced exactly the way she had been feeling for so long, she had to admit. But there was no way she would ever join Malfoy and Zabini in their sick rituals. She still wasn't entirely sure what they had offered her, but she knew it was something she was better off not being a part of. Wasn't it?

Could they really teach her things? Things even Albus Dumbledore couldn't put a stop to? How was that even possible? Better yet, why did they choose her? She wasn't special, and she didn't have any extraordinary power. Sure, her mother had told her tales of when she was little, and had caused many catastrophes as a child, but that didn't mean that…

Who was he to tell her she was cheap? She wasn't cheap. She was smart, and she worked hard, and was pre-

She was smart, and she was determined. And Harry, Hermione, and her family did care for her, and what happened to her.

They just didn't always have the time to show it.

Okay, that just made it sound worse. Family should've made time, dammit! This wasn't supposed to be happening! Draco's words were not supposed to be confusing her and making her rethink everything the way that they were.

Damn Draco and damn Blaise too. They were twisting everything around, and she wasn't going to let them. She was going to get through this, no matter where it led her.

Though Ginny was uncertain about how it would end, she knew one thing. She would not be returning to the garden. Ever.

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"Hey guys." Ginny greeted Harry, Ron, and Hermione as she sat down at the lunch table. Harry gave her a polite nod, Hermione gave her a smile, and Ron said hello.

Ginny's eyes caught a familiar head of annoying dark hair across the room, and found herself looking at Blaise, who was grinning at her. She glared at him and went about to getting her food.

"So… how were classes?" Ginny asked. She chewed lightly on the piece of bread she had spread butter on.

"They're not over yet." Ron said.

"We still have potions." Harry groaned. Ginny opened her mouth to say something, but Hermione beat her to that act, saying something about Snape being a source of intelligence and wisdom. Albeit, misguided, but a source none the less.

Through out lunch, as she listened to them talk, she found herself sneaking glances across the tables at the two boys who'd appeared out of nowhere to severely piss her off earlier.

They promised power, they promised knowledge. It was nothing. She had power, and she had knowledge.

…didn't she?

She did. It was knowledge. For some strange reason, she didn't seem to need knowledge though. She didn't need to think. It had been that way for a while. From the subtle feeling of something not ending well, to which turn to take and what not to say. It wasn't knowledge, exactly. A feeling or an instinct… a sense…

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A feeling of complete happiness washed over Ginny. It was something she hadn't known for a while. Suddenly, it was there. It was in the two arms, wrapping themselves around her. It was in the warmth against her back. It was in the feeling of skin against bare skin.

"How do you feel?" asked a husky voice belonging to the person holding her. She nearly melted at the sound.

"Terrible." Ginny replied, her lips curving into a smile. The person chuckled. "I've never felt so alive."

She turned to see blond hair brushing her shoulder and into the dark eyes staring back at her, the person's head leaning down against her shoulder.

"And what about you-know-who?" Draco asked. Ginny's eyes flashed crimson before she regained control once more. Her grin grew wide, giving her a look of pure evil.

"Tomorrow, it will all be taken care of." Ginny told him.

"Excellent. And the others?" Draco replied. She giggled lightly.

"We have a special surprise for them."

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Ginny's eyes opened. Not in shock, as she expected. She was not surprised, or even disgusted at the images swirling around, tracing the depths of her mind. She wasn't entirely sure as to why she woke; only that she had.

It made very little sense, and as Ginny thought it over, she could only come to the conclusion that she was dreaming of Draco because of the events when she had woken in the garden.

Of course, the more she thought of it, the more it seemed less and less like it a dream. It was something different, yet equally profound. Wait… profound? Had she really used that word?

Well, apparently she had. She sat up in her bed, hearing the small snores and the breathing of the other girls whom she shared the room with. She grabbed a ponytail holder from off her bedside table and pulled her hair back, seeing small strands which had begun to lighten from the sun and form highlights fall randomly.

She leaned against the headboard and stared at the ceiling in thought for a few moments.

Draco Malfoy had made her a deal. He'd offered to teach her the dark arts, after which he had called her names and tore her to pieces.

It was a manipulating tactic, she knew that much. It was used in the muggle military. Tear people to shreds, until there's nothing left, and rebuild them the way you want. That's exactly what it was. Of course, being able to recognize it didn't exactly enable her to put a stop to it. She could see it for what it was, but it hadn't stopped her from feeling like any of it was true.

Because that was how she felt sometimes, and that ferret knew exactly the right buttons to push to make her angry. The right buttons to push to make her question everything – and that wasn't good.

Or was it? Granted, she didn't like that Draco knew exactly how to manipulate her, but was it possible that something good could come out of it in the end?

Her mind told her no. It was that same kind of knowledge that she couldn't describe. But her heart told her a different story, and her gut instincts seemed to burn like a wildfire. There was more to what they were doing. They wanted something from her. She could tell that.

The question remained, what?

Then there was the matter that it wasn't only Draco – which she kept forgetting. Whatever it was, Blaise was in on it too. Somehow, that didn't exactly uplift Ginny. Oh wait, had anything they said uplifted her? That was an easy question to answer. NO!

And now, there she was, arguing with herself. Accept their offer, or turn them down? Accept, or decline?

Didn't she already decide this? Earlier, after Draco had ambushed her? Hadn't she already said that she wasn't going back? It simply wasn't logical.

Of course, that's what magic was, wasn't it? That which defies all logic? It's not there's a logical explanation for taking out one's wand, whispering a few words, and having the world twist it to your whims?

With these thoughts in mind, Ginny did come to one decision – logic seriously sucked.

She sighed and pulled her legs out from under the blankets, stood up, and crept out of the room, being careful so that she didn't wake anyone. That was the last thing she needed, someone to disturb her thoughts. That really wouldn't be very good. She could barely figure out exactly what her thoughts were and what they meant at the moment. It could only make matters worse if someone else tried to figure them out for her, which they would surely do as she crept down the stairs to the common room.

As she got down the stairs however, she found that she was not the only one awake at the moment. Sitting on the couch by the fire in the common room was none other than Harry Potter – the boy who lived and her ex-crush.

She was about to turn around and go back up the stairs to her bed again, if only she her step hadn't squeaked and Harry's head turned to find her trying to get back up.

"Ginny? What are you doing awake?" Harry asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." she stated, turning around sharply. Harry grinned.

"Couldn't sleep." he replied.

"Me neither." Ginny said. She took one more look at the door to her room and walked down the steps, taking up a seat on the couch opposite the one Harry was sitting on.

"So why can't you sleep?" Harry asked after a few moments of awkward silence.

Ginny shrugged, not sure exactly how to reply to that.

"Just… thinking." Ginny replied. "You?"

Harry looked hesitant for a moment, before sighing.

"I'm going to ask Hermione to marry me." Harry told her. Ginny's jaw literally dropped. "Hey, don't look at me like that!" Harry protested. "I'm serious."

"Sorry, it's just… that's big. I mean, you guys still have another year of school left." Ginny said. Harry nodded.

"I know, but… I just… she's the one." Harry told her. Ginny nodded, feeling slightly uncomfortable. Here she was, talking to the boy she used to follow around like a lost puppy about him asking one of her best friends to marry him… it all seemed more than slightly surreal. "Do you think I'm crazy?"

"What are you, crazy?"

"Maybe…"

Ginny ignored the sudden thoughts that came to mind and shook her head no.

"I think you're perfectly sane."

Harry smiled.

"Can I ask you for some advice?" Ginny asked. Harry nodded.

"Sure, what?" he asked. Ginny twitched uncomfortably.

"Well… suppose there's this boy..." Ginny began, seeing Harry grin when she mentioned a boy.

"Do you like him?" Harry asked. Ginny thought about how to answer that for a moment.

"Not exactly… not many people like him that much, to be honest." Ginny replied. Harry frowned.

"Okay, there's a boy?" Harry prompted. Ginny sighed.

"Well, suppose he makes you this really big offer, and you don't know what to say. How do you decide?" Ginny asked. Harry laughed.

"A boy asked you out, didn't he?" Harry asked. Ginny, thinking that this was less harmful than the truth, didn't agree or disagree.

"Maybe." she replied.

"So, you're not sure about him?" Harry asked. Ginny nodded. "Well, what does your heart tell you?"

"My heart?"

"Yeah." Harry replied, watching her carefully. Ginny closed her eyes and thought about it for a moment. Her mind told her no, but Ginny wasn't entirely sure what her heart told her to do. Yep, logic seriously sucked. She sighed.

"I dunno… I guess, give it a chance." she told him. Harry smiled.

"There ya go." Harry said. "Well, thanks." he yawned slightly. "Well, I'm off to bed. You should probably do the same, there's a few more hours until school starts."

Ginny watched as Harry wandered off to sleep.

Now, Harry knew exactly what he had wanted… to marry Hermione. Why couldn't she make such decisions so easily? The only thing she was sure of was that she was not going to be able to sleep.

She went up the stairs and grabbed her cloak from her room, ran down the steps and out of the portrait hole. She followed the same route she had forgotten from the previous night and made her way to the garden to wait.

She was surprised to find, however, that Draco and Blaise were already there, waiting for her.

"Hello pet." Blaise greeted, grinning. Draco nodded.

"Teach me."

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A/N: W00T! YAYS! Chapter three is done. I meant to have this up a while ago, so sorry about that. It's been nutty since I got back from my Uncle's. I've been cramming for school because I've got to finish these courses by June.

Anyway, I won my first award for my graphic skillz that other day. I placed third! YES! In honor of this, I made banner-image things to go with the fanfic. I would post the url in here, but it never comes out right. Whatever. Review and leave me your email if you wanna see!