A.N This story is thanks to Dark Yellow Dino for requesting another Pansy and Ginny Fic, so here is the beginning.

Also I've been thinking about making a Twitter account that I can update daily with what I'll be working on and if I can work on anything on a given day so if you would like that please, let me know.

But above all, please enjoy this Fic.

Ginny

Sitting in the Great Hall, I was pretending to listen to Harry as he rambled about the Ministry of Magic's newest attempt at creating a way to get the schools of the world interacting. They had chosen Hogwarts, as well as a handful of other schools, to participate in the testing phase of a Competition that Ludo had been working on. He claimed that the Competition was going to bring in a new era of friendly competition and a new level of fun to the school system. It was a claim I was ready to ignore as they had tried again and again to bring something like this to the schools, but it never worked out the way they wanted.

But the worst part of the Competition was that it didn't matter if you wanted to join in or not, as it had been made a compulsory event and every single student had to join a team and take part in the whole charade. Naturally, I was roped in by Ron and Harry and forced to join their team along with Hermione and Neville. Neither of which were too thrilled that they had to participate in the Competition's testing phase.

"Hey Gin, are you listening to me?" Harry asked frustratedly as he waved a hand in front of my expressionless face.

I focused back on Harry, "No I'm not, is this really important?" I asked, my own frustration shining through, "I mean, you and Ron have both been blathering on about this thing ever since the announcement last year and quite frankly I'm getting rather annoyed at the both of you."

Harry shook his head at me, evidently angry that I didn't really care about any of it, "Come on, can't you get excited? We're going to be the first Witches and Wizards that get to participate in this competition."

"Yeah, and based on History we'll be the last, if you actually knew anything then you'd know that these experiments always fail. The Ministry never regulates these things properly, and someone always gets seriously injured, or the whole thing is too overly safe, and no one ends up caring because it's so boring."

Harry huffed in annoyance, "That was before Ludo became the Head of the Department of Games and Sports last year. Ever since he was appointed he's been working tirelessly to create this competition for us," Harry defended the Competition, using a snippet from the latest article to be released in the Daily Prophet.

"And how much did that article cost I wonder, the Daily Prophet only post articles that will gather more readers for their paper. And with the Article being written by Rita Skeeter herself, they must have paid a large sum to make sure it was a full-blown puff piece."

"No way," Harry sputtered, eager to defend his opinion on the Competition, "Rita Skeeter wouldn't care about the money, all she wants is for her articles to be read, so the only reason it was a glowing article is that there is nothing to fault with the Competition."

I nodded my head slowly, "Sure, sure," I said, not very willing to continue fighting a pointless battle, "We'll just have to see, won't we." Harry nodded his head, apparently satisfied with waiting until the evidence is right in front of us before rendering judgment on the upcoming Game.

"Hey guy's what're you talking about?" Ron asked as he, Neville and Hermione approached our spot at the Gryffindor table.

"Do you even need to ask?" I asked exasperatedly eliciting a soft laugh from Hermione and Neville, they both felt much like I did, although they each had their own reasons for doing so.

Neville actually thought the Competition was a good idea and was mildly excited, but had earlier confided in me that he was scared and wished that he didn't need to take part. Neville had always preferred to watch from the sidelines. Never really one to seek out fame or notoriety, but he did like the idea of being able to interact with Witches and Wizards from other schools while watching his classmates battle for a trophy.

Hermione on the other hand just saw the Competition as a distraction, preferring to focus on studying the theory of magic rather than the practical. I always wished that she would focus more on the practical side of magic, theory was all well and good, but if Hermione were less of a bookworm, then she could quickly become the best Witch of her age, not just the brightest.

I smiled as the trio sat down with us, Ron and Harry immediately started gushing over the upcoming announcement about the competition while Neville turned to me. Hermione immediately pulled out the book she had most recently found in the Library and quickly started reading.

"Did you hear what happened to Draco recently?" Neville asked excitedly causing Hermione to sigh before tuning us out.

"No, what happened?" I asked the boy, glad for the topic change and excited to find out if Malfoy had finally gotten what he deserved.

"Well as you know he'd recently turned against one of his own for some reason, as it turns out that person was actually Pansy."

I tilted my head to the side in confusion, "Really? Weren't they dating?"

Neville shook his head happily, "No, that was a false rumor started by Draco himself. Pansy found out and confronted him, which was when he apparently asked her out, and she understandably said no." Neville explained, "But anyway, she got fed up with his jabs and jibes for turning him down. So she cast the Slug-Vomiting Charm on him, he spent all night in the Hospital Wing."

I smiled in delight at the news, "No way, that's awesome. It's too bad he didn't get her at the same time, she needs to be taken down a ped too," Neville laughed along with me.

"To rig-"

I raised an eyebrow as Neville abruptly stopped speaking, he was staring behind me, a terrified look on his face. Slowly I turned around and came face to face with the black-haired, pale girl that we were just talking about. She held a satisfied grin on her face as she looked between mine and Neville's scared faces.

"And who's going to do that?" She asked, "You little boy? Are you going to take me down a peg?" She stared sharply into Neville's scared eyes, and with a sudden jerk of her arm, sent Neville scurrying to the other end of the table. I realized as I watched him go that the entire Great Hall had gone silent and were now staring at Pansy and me. I looked around desperately for a Professor but was quickly disappointed as not one was in sight. I sighed in frustration over the teachers never being around when they were really needed before turning back to the girl that was bullying me.

Pansy's hand disappeared inside her cloak as I turned towards her and she brandished her wand, holding it loosely between two fingers. I sat in my seat resolutely, I wasn't going to let the girl scare me off, not again, I was going to hold my ground for once, I was a Gryffindor, and it was about time I acted like one… Be brave, I chanted over and over again inside my head.

"How about you little mouse? Are you going to 'Take me down a peg'?" She asked, her wand spinning casually in her fingers, "Or are you going to run away along with your little boyfriend?"

I cocked my head to one side, as I fought the urge to laugh at that statement, mostly because I knew Neville was still in earshot and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. I just shook my head at the taller girl before slowly getting to my feet with a smile on my face. Pansy looked irritated, she stopped twirling her wand around and instead gripped it firmly, undoubtedly ready to strike at a moment's notice.

I looked hard into Pansy's eyes, keeping my voice level as I started to speak "I'm not going to run," I told her, "I'm not scared," But despite my words and calm voice I could feel myself shaking ever so slightly under the girl's cold gaze.

The irritated look slipped from Pansy's face as it was replaced with her trademark grin, she had seen right through me and knew that I was lying to her, "Then let's duel," a menacing smile spread across the girls face as I visibly shivered. "Of course, we don't really need to," Pansy spoke, mocking me with every word that left her mouth, "All you have to do is admit in front of all these people, that yes, you actually are afraid."

I looked around at the students, all with varying degrees of annoyance, anger or jubilation as they either cheered Pansy on or stood silently, not doing anything to help. I fought back against humiliation, but it was a battle that I ultimately lost. My shoulders sagged in defeat as tears filled my eyes, but I refused to let them fall, couldn't allow them fall in front of everyone and especially not in front of her.

"I am afraid," I whispered, hoping that Pansy would accept it and just leave me alone.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" The pale girl asked as she held a hand up to her ear, "I'm not sure I heard you, maybe you should speak up a little, what do you guy's think? Should she speak up so all of you can hear her?" Pansy asked the crowd, the few that weren't cheering and agreeing with the girl simply remained silent.

I gritted my teeth and glared at the older girl, "I am afraid," I said more loudly, "I. Am. Afraid!" I yelled as my anger overtook my fear and humiliation.

But just as quickly as my had anger risen, it once again slipped back behind the fear, and I curled my emotions into a tight ball. Now the only noise in the Great Hall was coming from those laughing at the situation that had just played out before them as they returned to their seats.

Pansy leaned in close to me, placing a hand on my shoulder softly, much softer than I had ever thought that she was capable of, and whispered into my ear "And don't you forget it." The dark-haired girl walked away, her head held high as she took pride in her domination over me.

Slumping down on the chair next to me I breathed a sigh of relief that I had been left mostly unscathed, but something kept rattling around in my head, something that confused the hell out of me. The tone that Pansy had whispered to me in was… She sounded hurt like something was wrong. I glanced in the girl's direction and watched as she laughed with her friends, no doubt mocking Neville and I and I realized that I must have been imagining things.

I turned back to Ron and Harry who had decided to ignore what happened and continued talking to each other about their strategy for the Competition. Neville quickly joined them once he had gathered enough courage to return to our little group. Hermione, on the other hand, grabbed me by the sleeve of my robes and led me out of the Great Hall and out to the Cobblestone Courtyard.

The Courtyard was practically devoid of life as most of the students had either already gathered in the Great Hall or were on their way so they could hear the latest announcement regarding the Competition. Only a few stragglers sat in the Courtyard, each one was far out of earshot which, by the look on Hermione's face, was a good thing.

"Are you okay?" She asked before merely extending her arms to me.

I felt the pain as it bubbled up from the pit of my stomach and I threw myself into Hermione's arms as tears slipped from my eyes. I wasn't okay, I was only kidding myself earlier, but with Hermione's warm embrace and comforting words, I was able to let my emotions out.

"It'll be okay Ginny," Hermione spoke softly into my ear as I cried silently on her shoulder, "Someday this will all be just a memory. And when that day comes, I'll be by your side, and we'll be laughing about that old Witch that used to bully you."

I nodded my head as my tears slowly stopped, "But why can't that time be now? Why does she need to mistreat everyone?" I asked, hoping my smart best-friend had the answers, she knew everything after all.

"I'm sorry Ginny, I don't know," Hermione said simply before pulling me back towards the school, "Come on, the announcement will be happening soon, we don't want to miss that lest we face the wrath of Ron and Harry."

I nodded with a small smile on my face, "Yeah, neither Ron nor Harry would forgive us if we missed it."

"That's my girl," The brunette said as she wiped away the tear tracks that were running down my face before putting an arm around my shoulders.

We walked through the Halls of the castle towards the Great Hall quickly, all the while I stayed in Hermione's arm, drawing as much comfort as I could from her. I knew she was glad that she could be of help to me, she wasn't the best with people but had been able to feel comfortable around me. I wasn't a hundred percent sure why but I had a feeling she saw me as something of a younger sister, as she was an only child I was happy to oblige.

Pansy

I watched Angrily as Hermione and Ginny walked into the Great Hall, they had looked terribly cozy as they walked towards the Great Hall. I clenched my fists beneath the sleaves of my robes, cursing the brunette as she disappeared through the massive double doors of the Great Hall.

"Oh, hello Ms Parkinson," I was startled out of my anger by the sudden appearance of the ghost Nearly-Headless Nick.

"Hello Nick," I said with a slight nod before walking into the Great Hall myself.

I scanned the Gryffindor table, sneering as I watched Ginny laughing with her friends, a hot ball of jealousy filling my stomach as I ached to be the one sitting next to the red-head. Shaking away the thought I walked over to the girls I had surrounded myself with, mentally groaning as they gossiped about which boy in our year they thought was the cutest. The girls were easy to use to pass the time, just as Draco had been before he tried to get too close to me. I just hoped that these girls would keep their distance, I had done what I could to find the most superficial girls in Slytherin, but I wasn't sure it was enough.

For now, they were just happy to be on a higher level than the rest of their fellow Slytherins by being in the inner circle of the Heir of one of the so-called 'Sacred Twenty-Eight.' But I knew that eventually they would try to get closer, try to become an actual friend to me and I knew that I would have to cut the cord. But right now, I was able to live my life the same way I have since I was a little girl, except for that red-headed annoyance. I glared in her direction as I thought of her, something about the girl just set me on edge.

"What's wrong Pansy?" One of my 'friends' asked as she looked in the direction I was staring in.

"It's nothing," I shrugged off the question and focused back on the girls around me, but their conversation was still about boring romance, and I just couldn't listen to that crap, so instead I sat and waited for Dumbledore's announcement.

"Students of Hogwarts," A voice sounded from Dumbledore's podium, I looked up, and a man I'd never seen before was standing there, his wand pressed against his throat to amplify his voice. "My name is Ludovic Bagman, but you can all just call me Ludo." A large number of the students cheered the man, and I couldn't understand why, the man was only the Head of Games and Sports, what was the big deal?

"As you all know I have been working on a Competition for about a year now that is designed to bring the various Magical Schools together in competition. You will all be taking part in it this year as it needs to be tested before we bring it to the rest of the Schools around the world. The first few preliminary 'Challenges' as I have taken to calling them, will be held amongst the students of each individual school so we can find the top three teams of each school. Those teams will then be pitted against one another, but I will explain that in more detail when we get to it.

However, unlike in the other two schools that have been selected to test this Competition we have decided to do something different for this school." A wave of chatter broke out amongst the students that had been hanging on the mans every word. Ludovic raised his hands, "Hush now Boys and Girls, no need to speculate as I will explain right now. As is well known, this school has four different houses, and each House tends to mix, for the most part, amongst themselves. As has been heavily shown with the various teams that you have decided on amongst yourselves. But this competition was made to get everyone mixing and having fun with people they usually wouldn't think to pick.

Which is why I along with your Headmaster and Professor McGonagall have decided that your teams will only consist of four pupils each and each pupil must be from a different house." The murmurs returned once again, the decision had not gone over well with the majority of other students, but I couldn't bring myself to really care. Now that I wasn't able to be with the people I know and had hand-picked, it didn't really matter who I was paired with, I would be the leader either way. No one would be brave enough to tell me what to do anyway, whether I chose them or not.

"SILENCE!" Professor Dumbledore's voice rang out above the students as they refused to quiet down at Ludovic's request.

"Thank you, Headmaster," The brunette nodded slightly in the Headmasters direction before continuing his speech. "Furthermore, to circumvent anyone just choosing people they already know we are also going to be adding a fun little way for the teams to be decided. It's sort of an experiment, but then again that's what this whole experience is going to be. Instead of you all choosing your own teams, the teams will be randomly selected by using a relic from a past failed attempt."

A massive wooden chalice appeared in front of Ludovic, it was adorned with intricate carvings that covered it from the base to the top. A blue flame was burning inside the middle of the cup, magics working to keep the chalice from catching alight. The chalice sat on a large piece of stone that looked to be an old piece of a column.

"Some of you may have heard about this particular gem, it was used in the Triwizard Tournament after all." The old man raised his hand, pre-emptively quietening any chatter from erupting amongst the students at the mention of the Ministries most dangerous attempt at a Competition meant for students. "All of your names have already been entered into the Goblet of Fire, and in a few days it will choose the teams, those team decisions are final, you may not switch out of those teams under any circumstances."

With that the man descended from the podium and sat at the teacher's table, allowing Dumbledore to stand so he could announce the start of the dinner feast. I had always found it strange that the old man insisted on religiously declaring the beginning of each dinner feast, but it was something I had come to accept over the years.

I quickly grabbed a serving of roast potatoes with a side of a garden salad and boiled vegetables, before watching as my friends grabbed the exact same. They immediately started to converse with each other, while I wondered just why they all decided on eating the same thing as me, or even when.

A flash of red caught my attention, and my eyes were once again drawn to the Gryffindor table and the girl that would not leave my mind filled my vision. Only this time it was different, something seemed off, I could have sworn my eyes had connected with Ginny's for a second. But just as I thought that all I could see was the back of the girl's head, her fiery hair the only part of her that I could see. So our eyes couldn't have connected, but something at the back of my mind told me that it had happened.

Quickly shutting the quiet voice up, I turned to the girl sitting next to me, a young Irish girl with blond hair. I had found her wondering the school grounds alone one day and took pity on her, bringing her under my wing. She was the one girl that I could see myself keeping as a friend because she didn't gossip, didn't gush over anyone and was practically silent unless someone spoke to her.

"How's class been, Adelaide?" I asked with a smile.

The girl shrugged her shoulders, "Okay I guess," Was the girl's vague answer.

"Come on, I thought we were past this Adelaide, we're friends now, remember?" I brightened my smile as much as I could in the hopes of getting the girl to talk. My hopes were dashed however as the girl just shrugged once more, playing with the food that she had grabbed. "You know you could have grabbed something else, you don't need to eat what I eat."

Once again, the young blond just shrugged her shoulders, causing me to sigh in defeat and just eat my food. I could wait for Adelaide to speak to me, she was never able to not answer my questions properly, even if that meant she ended up waking me in the middle of the night because she couldn't sleep. Which, much to my surprise, didn't actually bother me in the slightest, I always caught myself pondering why but had never been able to come up with an answer.

I felt as a something was pressed into the palm of my left hand, and I quickly realized it was a small piece of parchment. I looked over at the blond girl that had passed it to me with a confused look, but she continued to play with her food instead of looking up at me. I turned back to the note, opening it under the table I quickly read the contents.

I'm scared, Pansy,

They're going to pair me with some people I don't know…

I don't know if I can do it.

My heart went out to the young girl, she really wasn't cut out for the upcoming competition, she was far too shy, too polite, too courteous. I still wondered why the Sorting Hat had placed her in Slytherin, but it was never wrong, or so our Professor's would have us believe.

I rested a hand on the girl's shoulder and pulled her towards me, allowing her to take what little comfort she could in my arm. The action garnered several confused looks, but no one dared say a thing, especially as a tear slipped from the blond girl's eye.

"It'll all be okay," I whispered to her, "Just you wait and see, you'll be placed with some lovely people, and they'll help you through the whole thing okay?" Adelaide nodded but was clearly unconvinced by my words.

For the rest of the feast, the blond girl was tucked under my arm, slowly eating away at her plate before it was time for us to head back to the Common Room. I walked her back, and up to the Dormitories before we were separated from each other by the different rooms, we had been allocated.

"Good night," I whispered to the girl as she slipped from under my arm, and into the Third-Year Dorms.

Slinking towards the Fifth-Year dorms I sighed, I didn't know why I was so protective of this girl, she just seemed to have slipped past my defenses so easily. I quickly changed from my uniform into a pair of pajamas and laid down in my bed, my mind a whirl with everything that had happened today. But as had been for the last few weeks, the last face I saw before sleep overcame me, was the smiling face of Ginny Weasley.