"Look at this" Harry said suddenly, making Hermione jump. She had been absorbed in the History of Magic essay she was writing. Although it wasn't due for another week she was already almost done. She liked to be prepared, and besides, she knew she would need to spend the time right before the essay was due helping Harry and Ron finish theirs. Harry had moved over to sit next to her and pushed the Marauder's Map on top of the unfinished essay. Ron, eager for a distraction from his own work moved over to her other side to look as well.

"What exactly are we supposed to be seeing?" Hermione asked, trying to keep the sigh out of her voice.

She could hear the excitement in his voice and knew there would be no escape back to her essay until Harry had told her his latest theory. Probably more "evidence" that Draco Malfoy had become a fully fledged death eater. Although she had no doubt that would happen at some point, she really didn't see how Harry could think Voldemort would allow someone so young and untrained into his ranks. Voldemort seemed to be all about power and perception, and having a sixteen-year-old as one of the 'elite' didn't exactly encourage confidence in his judgment - or in the movement itself. She had - of course - told all of this to Harry, but nothing seemed to dampen his belief. He was simply more determined to prove to her and Ron that he was right.

"Well, he's gone now." Harry said gesturing to the map. "But I finally figured it out! I figured out where he is going."

She had been right. Malfoy again. This obsession was getting a little tiresome. What she wouldn't give to have a Malfoy free conversation. She was curious too, of course. But Harry didn't seem to think about anything else. Except maybe quidditch.

"You will never believe it!" Harry gestured again, this time more roughly to a spot on the map. "He knows about the Room of Requirement! I saw him, he used it on purpose. He stood in front of it, stopped, and then paced back and forth three times. There is no way that was an accident! And then he disappeared from the map."

Though certainly not proof of his Death Eater status, it was at least new information. "And?" Hermione asked slowly, curious as to how exactly Harry was going to tie the new information into his theories.

"Why would he need to use the Room of Requirement if he wasn't doing something he's not supposed to?" Harry said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ron was starting to look excited as well.

These two, she thought, just can't handle a quiet life, can they? She wondered briefly how they would react once the war was indeed over. Rolling her eyes slightly Hermione set about attempting to put them straight.

"One," She said holding out a finger "using the room or requirement doesn't mean you are doing something wrong, didn't you tell me Dumbledore used it as a loo once? And two," She continued before either one of them could interrupt, counting on a second finger, "Even if he is using it for something bad, that doesn't mean he is a Death Eater. He has been doing everything he can to get around school rules since he got here." Similar to you two. She thought this part to herself, as Harry and Ron certainly would not take kindly to being compared to their nemesis. "and even you can't think he has been a Death Eater since he was eleven."

Seeing her friends deflate slowly wasn't exactly pleasant - she didn't like to always be the buzzkill - she just needed to make sure they didn't get entirely carried away. They had way too much Gryffindor in them to think carefully when they thought they could catch a bad guy. Especially if that bad guy was someone they hated as much as Malfoy.

"Look Harry" she said in an attempt to console him "You know I don't think Malfoy is a death eater - Ron doesn't either" she added shooting him a glare for being so eager to switch sides on her "if you can find some proof, I will believe you, but, really, this is probably just Malfoy being Malfoy. I don't really think there is more to it than that. And you really should be working on the potions essay due tomorrow, not stalking Malfoy on that silly map."

It looked like Harry didn't have much to say on that - this was a conversation they had had countless times over the last month, since the beginning of the school year. He couldn't just let her have the last word though and Harrys muttered "this map isn't silly." grumpily as he walked back to his chair.

Hermione smiled at him, with an exaggerated eye-roll, "of course not. But it would be pretty silly to not finish an essay you've had over a week to work on. Besides, if you want me to read it over before you turn it in you have to give me a little time to do so." Harry hesitated for a second then sheepishly returned her grin, folding up the map and pulling out his half done essay. Looking over at Ron, who was considerably less than halfway done with his essay Hermione said, "That goes for you too, I can't be sacrificing my sleep just because you guys like to procrastinate." Although they knew she meant it, she said it with a smile so they knew she wasn't really that put out by helping them. Ron gave a half smile as he sighed, looking back down at his paper, "Ok 'Mione, whatever you say."

Later that night as she crawled into bed Hermione's mind was more distracted than usual. Surprisingly, both Ron and Harry had finished their essays at a respectable time, and Hermione had left them to fix the mistakes she had found. Now Hermione's mind kept returning not to her own essay (as was often the case when she tried to sleep), but to Malfoy and the Room of Requirement. She had not wanted to encourage Harry and Ron of course, but it was interesting that Malfoy was using the room. Well, not that he was using it, but more that he had found out about it. They had only found out about it because of Dobby and she doubted that Malfoy would ever stoop so low as to ask a house-elf for help. Even Dumbledore didn't know the true nature of the room. How could someone like Malfoy? She knew it wasn't in any books she had read, and she doubted whether anyone had read even half as many as she had. She also doubted whether any students explored the castle as much as her, Ron, and Harry had. Besides Fred and George of course, but they didn't know about the room either - even the Marauders hadn't known about it.

Although she knew about the room as well, she was annoyed by the fact that Malfoy had somehow discovered it on his own while she had been told by Harry. Malfoy figuring out something she hadn't was... an irritating thought.