Harry skipped through the many pages of the borrowed spell book from the library, thinking that it was about time he returned it. It had been hidden in the deep darkness of his trunk for several days. Harry had been meaning to take it back but just hadn’t had the time. Not with everything that had been going on lately. Now that he had some time to spare on not doing homework, he decided to take a last peek at its contents. Just in case there was something interesting inside. Not that he would use it or anything...
There was a sudden knock on the door and as quick as lightning the book was slammed and stashed away under Harry’s four-poster bed.
‘Come in.’ He managed to call after a brief moment of panic. Why was he so jumpy anyway? It wasn’t as though any of his unassuming roommates would take any interest in what he was doing with an old, dusty book. Even if it did have a certain creepy appearance to it that made you feel uneasy in it’s presence.
This thought calmed his nerves until he saw who entered. ‘Hermione! Uh, what are you doing in the boy’s dormitory?’ He said whimsically.
Hermione surveyed the large bedroom with unsuspicious eyes before approaching Harry. ‘I did it,’ she said simply, a pleasant smile alighting her features.
‘Did what?’ Said Harry, attempting to reassure himself that there was nothing to be worried about. Hermione wasn’t going to find the book and it would hardly affect him if she did.
‘Made Malfoy listen to the recorder,’ she gazed at Harry’s blank expression expectantly. ‘That had his confessions on it.’ She helped.
‘Oh right!’ Said Harry. ‘That recorder.’
Hermione lifted an eyebrow. ‘How many different recorders are there?’
‘None at all,’ Harry replied, shifting his body closer to the bed to try and push the book further under.
‘What’s that under the bed?’ Hermione asked curiously.
‘Oh nothing!’ Replied Harry a little too loudly.
It was too late. Hermione reached out her hand and snatched the book. Her expression changed in a flat second and Harry felt his stomach fall.
Here we go He thought.
‘Exactly when were you planning to return this book?’ Hermione asked crossly.
‘Just before you came as a matter of fact,’ replied Harry. ‘But don’t worry Hermione I wasn’t going to use any more spells.’
‘Spells?’ Hermione echoed with confusion. ‘What do you mean-’ Her voice trailed off as she read the table of contents.
‘Harry, this is the book from the forbidden section!’ She said with exasperation.
‘Well what did you think it was?’ Harry replied, completely baffled.
‘I was only looking at the return date, which was February 1986. That was six years ago.’ She said.
Harry could have slapped himself for his stupidity. ‘Well don’t get cross at me. I just haven’t had the opportunity to take it back. I’ll go tonight if you insist.’
Hermione waved her hand swiftly in front of her face to dismiss his words. ‘Listen, I don’t care about it. Do what you want. I have already lectured you enough about irresponsibility.’
Harry couldn’t believe his luck.
‘So anyway,’ she continued. ‘If all goes well, Malfoy will be a changed wizard.’
Harry snorted. ‘I don’t believe he’ll last a day being civil.’
Hermione shrugged. ‘We’ll see soon enough.’
‘And if he does change for good?’
‘Then life will be so much better and I’ll be able to say, “I told you so” to you and Ron,’ she smiled cheekily.
‘What do you mean?’ Asked Harry, not liking the sound of this.
‘Well my plan will probably work better that using a charm like you two did.’ Then her eyes widened. ‘And did you know he accused ME of coercing him? You’re lucky I didn’t tell him who really did it.’
‘Thankyou Hermione, I own you one.’ He said appreciatively.
‘Sure,’ she said. ‘How many times have I heard that before.’
A thought quickly popped into Harry’s head and he immediately used it to change the subject. ‘Did you hear about Ron?’
‘Of course. Everyone knows about him and Louise.’
‘I’m just glad they sorted things out between them,’ then his eyes drooped. ‘I hope he doesn’t forget his friends though.’
‘Don’t worry Harry, he won’t forget us. At least, not after the first few days of following her around like a dog on a leash.’ She said sardonically.
‘Hermione, you can be so snotty sometimes.’ Said Harry light-heartedly. It was true though, Ron had been worshiping the very ground Louise walked on ever since he found out she had feelings for him.
‘Getting back to the subject,’ Hermione continued. ‘Do you happen to have a sneakoscope handy with you?’
‘Yeh," said Harry inquisitively. ‘What do you want it for?’
‘Well,’ Hermione began to explain. ‘I was hoping to track down my secret rival and thought a sneakoscope would help since it detects untrustworthy people.’
‘Good idea!’ Harry approved. He was also quite curious as to who had been attempting to humiliate Hermione. Fortunately nothing else had happened since and Neville was beginning to recover from the ordeal. Harry began a brief search for the object and soon found it.
‘I haven’t really used this for a while,’ He said, handing it over to Hermione.
‘It’ll work fine,’ she said, observing it with satisfaction. ‘Hopefully it will help in my cause.’
Friday morning turned into afternoon as the day wore on and apart from one incident with Pansy Parkinson, the sneakoscope had not given any hint of who might have caused the attacks. However, Hermione was not letting her suspicions circle around a Slytherin because something told her it wasn’t one of them. Her last chance to find out that day was Transfiguration because dinner would be too crowded and then she had Head Girl duties until midnight. But who in her class could possibly have anything against her? It was a true mystery.
Hermione entered Transfiguration cautiously, followed by Harry and a constantly grinning Ron. Inside the pocket of her robe, she changed the sneakoscope to silent so if it happened to go off, she would feel it vibrate.
When all thirty-six students were seated, Professor McGonagall began the class commenting on how well the trees and plants had been growing. Even Neville’s tropical Pawpaw tree was coping well, causing Gryffindor to collect five house points. This praise seemed to lift his confidence and suddenly his back was a whole lot straighter and he now also seemed taller than usual.
‘But of course, Miss Granger’s rose bush has outdone the others and is blossoming large flowers of many different colours. It takes a true witch to create such beauty.’ Said McGonagall proudly, clapping her hands.
The rest of the class applauded unenthusiastically, accustomed to doing so after six and a half years of Hermione topping the class at everything. When this was over, the class was set some work involving measurements and stone goblets. The equipment was to be collected out the front, on the Professor’s desk. Hermione moved to stand but was abruptly pushed back down.
‘Oh, so sorry Hermione,’ came Estelle Edward’s voice, a bittersweet smile playing on her lips. ‘And by the way, congratulations.’
Hermione gasped as Estelle moved away. At the bottom of her pocket was the distinct vibration of the sneakoscope, revealing the perpetrator.
‘No way.’ She whispered to herself.
Seeing her expression, Harry asked what was wrong.
She looked up and quickly recomposed herself. ‘Nothing, I was just day dreaming.’
That convinced Harry and he set about his work. Hermione sat distractedly through the rest of the class, paying little attention to her work. Fortunately, Professor McGonagall did not ask her to do any demonstrations that lesson because she wouldn’t have known what to do.
That night it began raining for the first time in a month. It wasn’t heavy rain but everyone welcomed it. Dinner was especially noisy with cheerful chatter about the upcoming Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor and both Harry and Ron’s spirits were running very high. Yet Hermione was still distracted with her own thoughts. What was she going to do about Estelle? She had no way of revealing her crimes and she certainly didn’t want to confront the girl.
Hermione still could not understand why Estelle was so jealous of her achievements. Many people were a little jealous but that had never caused them to dislike her. Except for Malfoy. Come to think of it, she hadn’t noticed Malfoy all day.
I wonder what he has been up to today. Hermione wondered, turning her head to look at the Slytherin table.
Nothing unusual or suspicious was taking place so she was satisfied for the time being. She was about to turn away when Malfoy’s head turned, as though sensing her gaze, and their eyes met half way across the room. Hermione was perplexed because for a few seconds she could not unfasten her eyes from Malfoy’s. All her will would not allow it until finally he returned to his meal.
A roar of laughter interrupted her thoughts. Looking up she saw Seamus’ face dripping with pumpkin soup and Ginny across from him, giggling and with a shield charm protecting her.
‘That was a classic!’ Cackled Neville next to him. He soon regretted the outburst however, when he too received a handful of potato in the face.
‘Now stop it all of you before you cost Gryffindor house points!’ Hermione warned them.
The boys cleaned themselves up, not seeming to be angry at one another. Hermione knew they had listened to her because she was Head Girl and had the power of handing out detentions. It was definitely a handy position although night duty was rather more of a punishment than a privilege.
And it came too soon. Hermione dressed herself in her night robes, tied up her hair clumsily with a bow and headed outside the Common Room to begin her roster. Fortunately it was not often that she found students out of their rooms after bedtime.
But tonight luck was not on her side. From somewhere below there came the sound of scattering feet. Hermione was quick on her feet. She called out to whoever was there but no answer met her ears. She groaned. This was karma for all the times Harry and Ron had dragged her along with them while sneaking out to different places.
The chase continued and Hermione admitted that her escapee had very fast legs. Soon she found herself drawing near the library.
Oh no you don’t She thought crossly. Sneaking into the library could only mean trouble. What was this person up to?
Silently, she glided closer to where a lantern was lit up ahead near the forbidden section. Strange though, there was no body holding it up.
Hermione realised who it was. ‘Harry!’ She hissed.
There was a fumble and the lantern almost dropped from the air but suddenly Harry’s head appeared floating alone. His face looked petrified.
‘Hermione you nearly scared me half to death!’ He whispered back unapologetically.
Hermione breathed sharply. ‘Harry, you led me on a wild goose chase. Couldn’t you have at least warned me it was you?’
‘No,’ he replied matter-of-factly. ‘You wouldn’t have let me past.’
‘Yes I would have. I was the one who wanted you to return the book, remember?’ She replied hotly.
Harry shrugged but did not respond. He placed the book carefully in it’s position and returned to Hermione.
‘There, all done. Now if you don’t mind I’m off to bed.’
‘Be careful.’ Whispered Hermione as he left. She thought it lucky that the librarian hardly ever went into the Forbidden Section herself otherwise she would have noticed the book missing.
She began to retreat from the library after some moments, closing the doors quietly behind her. She didn’t like roaming around the castle in the dark. It had a most foreboding atmosphere. That brought her to the decision of returning to her post just outside the Common Room. But before she managed to go far, a voice from behind startled her.
‘Who’s there?’ Came a deep masculine voice.
‘Malfoy it’s me, Hermione.’ Her heartbeat returning to it’s normal pace.
‘Oh. I thought I heard someone else.’ He muttered, Head Boy badge gleaming in the lantern light. ‘What are you doing all the way down here anyway?’
‘I thought I heard someone as well and followed them down here but I must have been mistaken.’ She lied.
‘Really? I’m sure I heard someone near the dungeons just ten minutes past.’ He said.
There came an awfully loud creak from somewhere near the Entrance Hall. ‘What was that?’ Hermione jumped.
Malfoy gave her a mocking expression. ‘You’re not scared are you Granger?’
‘Of course not!’ She snapped.
‘Then come along.’ He said before speeding off in the direction of the noise.
Hermione followed him until they came to the Entrance Hall. ‘It looks as though the student has left the castle.’ Said Malfoy.
‘Maybe we should alert a teacher.’ Suggested Hermione.
Malfoy snorted. ‘Yeah right. The culprit would have gone and come back by the time a teacher came.’
‘We can’t go out there! It’s raining.’ Hermione tried to reason.
Malfoy didn’t stick around to hear what she was saying. He reached the doors opened one, looking back briefly at Hermione to see if she was coming. She sighed and ran after him. Hopefully they would find the student immediately and not get too wet.
‘Lumos’ She muttered to her wand. It lit the path in front of her and soon she came striding up behind Malfoy.
‘Can you see anything?’ She said over the sound of the rain, which was saturating her and blinding her vision.
‘No. But I think I heard something from over there.’ He pointed in the direction of the Greenhouse.
All the while Hermione had felt quite peculiar walking and talking with Malfoy without arguing and bickering as usual. And were they now teaming together to try and find a rule breaker? Perhaps he really had listened to her warning and was changing his attitudes for good.
‘It’s a bit slippery Granger. I hope you’re wearing the right shoes for this weather.’ He shouted.
‘Of course I’m not!’ She replied angrily.
Malfoy carefully walked down the small hillock that led to the big Greenhouses in the valley bellow then beckoned for Hermione to follow.
‘I don’t like this at all.’ She muttered. Slowly and gradually she began climbing down the muddy surface, several times almost slipping. Malfoy waited impatiently, telling her not to be such a chicken, that she wouldn’t hurt herself.
Hermione tried to hurry the last few steps but predictably slipped, screamed and fell downwards. At the last minute, strong arms caught her but were not strong enough to withhold her weight. Both Malfoy and Hermione toppled over onto the wet grass.
Hermione realised her position and quickly jumped up and straightened. ‘Thankyou.’ She said quickly.
Malfoy grimaced. ‘Whatever. Just try to stay on your feat until we are back in the castle.’
Hermione ignored his sardonic manner and continued following him until they reached the first Greenhouse. It was the smallest out of the three and contained plants used for the First year’s lessons. That meant there were Mandrakes growing in the pots lined up on the tables. Hermione hoped the troublemakers they were looking for would not cause disturbances in there.
Fortunately, after a brief search, they found the room empty and went to the next. Malfoy pointed out that the door was ajar and intimated for her to be silent. They crept inside, wands at the ready. Everything was completely dark and there was no sign that anybody was there. Hermione began to feel as though they were wasting their time and desperately wanted to return to the warm castle and alert a teacher. After all, they were not required to leave the castle during their night duties. Why was Malfoy so intent on finding the students himself?
Probably for recognition She shook her head thinking how typical of Malfoy that was.
She was about to say that she had had enough of this folly when there was a sudden noise just in front of them and all at once Malfoy had jumped on something and was wrestling to keep it at bay.
‘Ah!’ Someone shouted.
‘Stay still and I’ll let you go.’ Came Malfoy’s voice.
‘What’s going on?’ Hermione asked.
‘Hermione get your wand!’ Ordered Malfoy.
At first Hermione was shocked to hear him say her name but there was no time to think properly so she did what he said. Quickly, she re-lit her wand and shone it at Malfoy.
‘Now block the door!’ He said, squinting his eyes against the light.
She obeyed. Then she saw whom Malfoy had been wrestling with. It was a second year Slytherin called Jacob Pews. Finally Malfoy let the boy go and stood up, adjusting his robes. To add to Hermione’s confusion, Malfoy gazed sternly toward a shadowed area of the room and said.
‘You, come here so we can see you.’
A figure moved gradually in the dark until it reached the area Malfoy had ordered it to stand.
‘Bradley,’ Malfoy muttered with recognition. He stared at the two boys. ‘What were you doing out here at night? Do you want Slytherin to lose against Gryffindor in house points again this year?’
The boy’s shook their heads vigorously, afraid of Malfoy. ‘You can be sure the rest of the Slytherin’s will hear about this and don’t presume they will be happy about it.’ Malfoy snarled.
Hermione saw they boys shiver and decided to say her own piece. ‘Right, well you two will follow us up to the castle where one of us will call a teacher to come and deal with you.’
Malfoy looked at her sharply. ‘There won’t be any need for a teacher Granger-’
‘I dare say there will be,’ Hermione looked at him firmly. ‘After all, when you found those two Gryffindors heading to the kitchens last month, you sent them to Professor Snape immediately. I only imply fair treatment.’
Malfoy ground his teeth in frustration, remembering Hermione’s threat. ‘Very well, we’ll send them to a teacher.’
Hermione smiled triumphantly. This was more like it.
The second year Slytherins appeared terrified and staggered all the way up to the castle. By the time they were safely inside, the rain had turned into a slow drizzle and it was becoming increasingly windy.
Hermione and Malfoy dried each other off with a simple wave of the wand and then
decided to deliver the boys to Professor Snape themselves. After a quick explanation they were dismissed from his presence leaving the students to be dealt with alone.
When they were alone at last Hermione sighed deeply. ‘I’m exhausted. I wonder what time it is.’
Malfoy shrugged but did not speak.
For some reason, perhaps just to get Malfoy talking, she decided to tell him her latest news. ‘I found out who foiled your plans.’
Malfoy’s eyes widened. ‘Who was it?’
‘Estelle Edwards. Hufflepuff.’
‘Don’t know her.’ Malfoy replied. ‘Why did she do it?’
‘I suppose because of her jealousy toward me.’
Malfoy rolled his eyes. ‘Because your teachers pet and she wants that position?’
‘I'm not teachers pet!’ Hermione said but then saw the amusement in Malfoy’s eyes and realised he was teasing her. Malfoy, teasing but not being mean? This was different indeed.
‘So what are you going to do about it?’ Malfoy asked after a pause.
‘I have no idea,’ Hermione replied honestly.
‘Ever considered revenge?’ Asked Malfoy.
‘No. I won’t take that path.’ She said.
‘Then there isn’t anything else you can do.’
Hermione shrugged. ‘I doubt she will try anything else. I might look into trying to catch her red handed. That way a teacher can deal with her.’
Malfoy simply shook his head although he had been expecting that answer from her.
‘You know, you called me Hermione earlier on.’ She said slowly, trying to sound casual.
Malfoy’s eyes widened. ‘I did? Well it didn’t mean anything!’
Hermione was taken aback by his defensive reaction. ‘I didn’t say that it did.’
‘Good,’ He said grumpily. ‘I’m off to bed.’
‘Good night.’ Muttered Hermione softly as he stormed away into the darkness.