Disclaimer: I don't own any of this but the plot and Tessa. And maybe a few other characters.
"…I think you need a hug."
Ginny yawned and opened her eyes blearily. "What was that?" She looked around and realized she wasn't alone any longer.
She had found an empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express, and due to her lack of sleep the night before; she'd lied down for a quick catnap. It seemed it wasn't going to happen.
"I was just saying, Ginny, that you look like you could use a hug. You were sleeping a bit fitfully." A soft voice replied.
Tessa Reeve had a slight, lilting French accent, one that didn't go unnoticed by the male population. Her whole mother's side of the family was French, and as her mother and her mother's family were Muggles, she spent her summer in Muggle France.
Her father was English, and came from a line of Pureblood wizards. He had almost broken off contact with his family through the marriage; Tessa's relationship with her father's side of the family was very strained.
"Tessa!" Ginny cried, instantly awake, and gave her a hug. Tessa pulled her hair back and surveyed her friend's face.
"You've grown." She said finally, and Ginny blushed.
"Not much. If anything, you're the one who's grown, and beautifully too." Tessa gave her a reprimanding look.
"What did I tell you before we left Hogwarts last year?"
Ginny sighed, but a small smile made its way across her face anyway. "I think, therefore I'm kick-ass."
Tessa smiled. "You bet you are."
"Have you seen Colin yet?" Ginny stretched and stood. Tessa shook her head.
"Maybe he's late?" But it was a question, not a statement, and so Ginny walked over to the compartment door and opened it.
…And came face to face with the last person she wanted to see at the moment.
"Malfoy." She said flatly.
Draco was, to say the least, surprised. The littlest Weasel had opened the door, with her clothes and hair disheveled. She had caught him by surprise, and he couldn't help but admire how much she'd changed over the summer.
He came back to reality when he realized she was staring at him, and he offered her a cold reply.
"Weaselette. Were you leaving?" The hidden meaning behind the statement was obvious, and just for spite, she shook her head.
"No." And so saying, she immediately moved backwards and sat down next to Tessa, who was scrutinizing Draco with a wary look.
Draco made a small, miniscule movement with his fingers, and stepped inside. Behind him followed a black-haired boy, with strangely blue-green eyes.
"You aren't leaving?" Ginny asked, with an arched brow, visibly mocking Draco.
The two sat across from them, and Draco snorted. "The other compartments are full, and besides, I don't see anyone of any importance sitting here."
Ginny's face turned a brilliant red, as did her vision, until she felt Tessa stilling her with a hand on her shoulder. Determined to ignore Malfoy, she turned to Tessa and forced a smile to her face.
"Are you the Potions class too? Mum's making me take it, she says I've got to if I want to be an Auror. And she ignored me when I pointed out I was in my sixth year, and I had much longer before I ever had to train."
"I'm in it, alright." Tessa nodded. "But I didn't want to go either. My Mum didn't say much, but my dad was adamant. He says I've got to impress Grandmamma, you know how she is about everything. I've got to be the best to make up for Mum."
"I feel for you." Ginny said absently, and at the same time rummaged around in the knapsack she had left sitting next to her. "I'm going to find Colin, and maybe see if I can find out which compartment Hermione and the others are in. I kind of lost them."
"Or did they lose you?"
Ginny had to was on her feet this time before Tessa stood and pulled her down. Draco only looked at her with mild surprise, before he turned back to his friend.
"You can't let them indulge in your anger like that, Ginny. Trust me, it's not a good thing."
Ginny rolled her eyes, but sat down anyway. A piece of parchment and a black quill were lying amongst her spilled possessions, and she picked them up.
Last year, on a trip to Hogsmeade, she, Colin and Tessa had found them. You wrote whatever you wanted on the parchment, and it would send it to whoever's name was written at the bottom. Ginny had been jittery at first, when the words appeared without notice, but she had learned not to show it.
She wrote a few sentences down with the quill, which apparently needed no ink, before she set it down and settled back, eyeing Draco contemptuously. He sneered back at her.
"Idiot," she said, ignoring Tessa's little disapproving noise.
"Brainless chit."
"Ah, so the Amazing Bouncing Ferret speaks?" Ginny said scornfully. Draco's eyes clouded over, and changed from a silver-blue to a dark gray.
"You shouldn't say things you don't mean, Weasley. You may come to regret it later." He said softly.
Ginny snorted, just as the door slid open and Colin entered. His looked at Draco and his friend, screwed up his face, thought better of it, and made his way to Ginny and Tessa instead.
"Nice summer?" He asked as he sat next to Ginny.
"It was ok," she admitted, as she and Tessa hugged him. "But Gred and Forge were there, and they made my life hell." She repeated the incident from last night, and soon all three of them were laughing.
"Where're the others?" she said after a moment.
"Avoiding you," Draco muttered under his breath. She decided to ignore this comment and awaited Colin's answer. He looked very worried.
"Ginny…I don't know how to say this, but they are avoiding you." Seeing her face, he tried to amend. "I mean, Ron is. He says you've gone mad, and he also said something about the hexing incident. Right now, he and Hermione are doing their prefect patrols. Harry's…well, I don't really know where he's gone."
Ginny turned her attention to the window and shrugged. The answer didn't bother her at all; it was the way the Ferret had smirked at her when Colin answered.
"New robes?" Colin was saying.
Tessa nodded. "Oh, and Ginny, I have the robes I owed you for your birthday; it's a whole set!"
"Perfect." Ginny said, eyes still glued to the window. "I'll see them when we get to Hogwarts, Tess."
At that moment, the door slid open yet once more. Hermione smiled brightly at Ginny and stepped inside.
"We've got some papers to hand out to you. I doubt you'll like them, Ginny." She produced from her robes several different colored papers, and gave them to the three. She didn't notice Draco summoning one from the bottom of her stack.
Ginny read hers quickly.
Hogwarts Is Changing!
By Headmaster Albus Dumbledore's decree, several new traditions have been instilled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
New events will take the places of normal feasts, and out of school trips will take place also. Parents and students will be informed at least two weeks prior to all events. Some classes will also be changed, and the curriculum will be altered.
These proceedings will be available only to sixth and seventh years.
Our first affair of the year is one that normally takes place, although it will begin earlier than it usually does. We are to have our first Quidditch Match of the year two weeks after arrival. It will be Slytherin vs. Gryffindor.
The winners of the match will be awarded three hundred House Points along with the scores from their match.
At the end of the year, a special surprise will be laid out for the winner and runner up of the House Cup.
"Dumbledore's gone mad." Ginny said in disbelief. "There can't be a runner-up for the House Cup! And what the hell does he mean, new events in the places of normal feasts? Can't we just eat and have it be over with?"
Hermione nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, I know. Ron's been ranting about it. We've heard from McGonagall that there will be dances and the field trips will be outrageous."
Her eyes fell on Draco, who was mumbling something to his friend. "You! You're supposed to be with the other prefects, you're Head Boy!"
Draco rolled his eyes. " And so I realize, Granger, but do you honestly believe that I would stand in a room that's been graced with your filthy presence?"
Hermione turned a bright red, and marched out of the door, stopping only to smile at Ginny and say: "I'm sure it'll be fine."
"You're an insufferable prat, really!" Ginny said after she left. Draco arched an eyebrow.
"So I've heard." He stood, and motioned to his friend. "Come on, Blaise, we'd better find out what all this is about."
Blaise followed him out, but not before shooting what seemed to be a considerate look towards Ginny and her friends.
He grabbed Draco's shoulder, and stared into his friend's eyes. "You are an insufferable prat, you know that? No wonder Granger punched you."
"How long have I known you, Zabini?" Draco asked.
Blaise shrugged. "Since we were in diapers, mate. But what's that got to do with anything?"
"I don't know the Weasley girl at all. She's just another obstacle on my way to fortune. And I hate obstacles." His eyes flashed severely, and Blaise shook his head.
"That's still no reason to act that way! Gods…"
Draco smirked. "I still don't understand why you were put in Slytherin. You're too…kind."
Blaise shrugged. "I was a lot more headstrong, as I remember it. I've changed since then. I think it's Carina's fault."
"Your little sister?" Draco laughed. "Please. I thank the Gods I'm an only child. No influential powers." He began to move again, but Blaise stopped him and frowned.
"Why do you pick her, though? You don't agitate the Weasley boy nearly as much as you do her."
Draco took a moment before answering. "She has a spark in her, and I like to light it, is all. Now come on, we're arriving in a moment and I at least want to make like I've tried to get to the Prefect's Compartment."
A smile quirked at Blaise's features, before he followed his friend down the train.
Ginny glanced up and down her schedule.
Then did so again.
…And again…
"Tessa, Colin," she said, her face ashen. "Tell me your schedules are identical to mine!"
"What's wrong?" Colin peered over her shoulder and couldn't repress the gasp that left his mouth. Tessa snatched up the roll of parchment and scanned it.
"Ginny, this looks as if you've gotten bumped up to Seventh year classes! You only have two with the sixth years…"
"I know!" Ginny moaned. She rolled over on the settee, then groaned. Her stomach was still full from the feast they'd just had. Thankfully, that had stayed the same.
"D'you think it's a mistake?" Colin asked hopefully. Tessa shook her head, a wry smile lighting her features.
"This is no mistake. Our friend here is a genius!"
Ginny pulled sat up huffily and stared into the fireplace. "Did you guys get bumped up a class?"
Colin shrugged. "Sorry, Gin, but I didn't make it into the Advanced Potions class, so there's no way I'm making it into any seventh year ones."
Tessa looked briefly over her own schedule and nodded an affirmative. "Muggle Studies and Charms. But that's about it."
"You know what the worst part of it is?" Ginny sulked. "Ron and the others are in all of those classes! Which means Malfoy's in it too!"
"Ginny, give him a chance." Tessa rolled her eyes. Ginny scuttled backwards.
"You traitor! How could you speak about a Malfoy that way!" Tessa rolled her eyes, but as Colin was eyeing her strangely too, she elaborated.
"Look, I believe that there's good in anyone and everyone. So Malfoy—just has a few issues letting that good out."
"Yeah?" Ginny snorted. "I bet you he can't do three decent things for me before Christmas."
"You're on." Tessa smiled. "And if he does, you have to get him a Christmas present, and ask him to go to Hogsmeade with you…on Valentines Day."
"You guys…come on, bets aren't exactly on the list of things people do on their first night back." Colin protested, but Ginny smirked.
"He's Malfoy! He's not going to do anything. So fine, but if he doesn't, then you have to do the same thing, with that friend of his we saw." Ginny had noted the look Blaise had given them, but she had shrugged it off. He was probably just toying with them, anyway.
"Deal. But just to make sure…" Tessa picked up her wand, a slim, almost white one reminiscent of a thinner unicorn's horn.
Colin looked mildly surprised. He'd know these girls for a long time, but they still managed to do the most shocking things. "Magically-sealed bets are illegal."
Ginny picked up her wand and held it out. "And that, Colin, is why it's all the more fun to use them."
She and Tessa touched tips, then made a flicking motion, as if throwing away something on the end of their wands.
"Swarupa," They murmured, and their wand tips sparked, before a glittery, half-clear essence leaked out and formed around their wrists before disappearing, binding them to their promise.
Ginny yawned sleepily, and noted the almost empty common room. "I think we'd better go to sleep. Tomorrow it's Seventh Year classes…and Harry's made it clear we have Quidditch practice later on."
As Ginny shuffled up the stairs, Tessa looked to Colin. "I wouldn't want to be in her shoes. She seems busy."
Colin agreed. "D'you think she'll lose the bet?"
Tessa shrugged. "Who am I to say? But Malfoy…he's a strange one. We'll see what comes of it." She glanced down at her wand and smiled. "Besides, that boy next to him was cute. It may not be a bad bet after all."
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