Chapter One

The corridor was silent as Hermione hurried down towards the Great Hall, her footsteps echoing quietly. It had been a long day. She had had runes, charms

and then double potions, in which Snape had completely ignored her Fire resistance potion, instead choosing to humiliate Ron on his Anti-venom potion.

Unfortunately, his potion had taken on a pale green colour, despite the textbooks orange appearance. On top of all that, Harry had been becoming

increasingly obsessed with Malfoy, and with his written-in copy of Advanced Potion Making, one which had ensured that he had finished his potion only five

minutes after she had completed hers. It was all very frustrating.

Hermione wished that she could talk to Harry now about it, but she was completely alone. She was returning from Professor Vector's office, after being

reassured by him that her Arithmancy essay had been 'absolutely perfect'. She was just hoping that Harry and Ron would be waiting for her in the Great Hall,

when a sound coming from the male bathroom on her left made her pause. It almost sounded like someone was crying.

'It must be a first year' Hermione thought. She herself had found her transition to Hogwarts hard, not only because she missed her family and her friends,

but because she didn't know anything about the wizarding world before she entered it. A muggle born.

There was no choice in her mind whether it would be a good idea or not to make sure that he was okay. After all, it was her job as a prefect to look after her

fellow students. Hermione slowly walked over to the toilet door, and was about to push it open when a voice inside spoke,

"Don't" crooned the voice. It was very familiar, but Hermione couldn't put her finger on it. It sounded like girls voice...

"Don't," said the voice, "tell me what's wrong...I can help you..."

Hermione realized with a start that the voice belonged to Moaning Myrtle, although Hermione had never heard her sounds so calm. The shock of this
discovery was nothing compared to when He spoke though.

"No one can help me" he said in a voice that she had never heard him talk in, one that shook and was distorted by his heavy breathing.

"I can't do it...I can't...it won't work...and unless I do it soon...he says he'll kill me." Malfoy gasped, his very inhale quivering with emotion.

Hermione stood rooted to the floor outside the bathroom, thoughts flying around her head. She knew that Malfoy would kill her if he knew that she was

listening, but she couldn't make herself walk away. This meant that Harry was right, he was right all along. Malfoy was working for Voldemort, as the only

person that could kill Draco Malfoy without fearing the wrath of two Death Eaters was indeed, Voldemort himself.

"What are you trying to do...I can help you..." Myrtle crooned again.

"YOU CANT HELP ME!" shouted Malfoy suddenly, making Hermione jump. His voice sounded hoarse and rough.

"I'm only trying to help!" cried Myrtle, and with a girly sob, Hermione heard her dive into one of the toilets. Then there was silent's.

' Is that all?' Hermione wondered, pressing her ear to the crack of the door. Wait, he was saying something! She quietly opened the door a notch, and

positioned her ear as close as she dared, and caught him mid sentence.

"..kill us all...if they didn't...I mean they wouldn't...give me up...he'll kill-

"Miss Granger, I was hoping I'd catch you!"

Hermione gasped and whirled around to see Professor Vector striding towards her.

"I forgot to ask if I could use your essay as an example for my other six year class. Needless to say, most of their papers were nowhere near as good as

yours, so I thought that..."

Hermione was only half listening to him, the other half wondering what Malfoy was thinking.

Did he know that she'd heard the whole conversation? Surely not, only that she had been passing. But it must be on his mind-

"So, is that okay?" Professor Vector said, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Yes, that's fine, I don't mind" she said as normally as possible, but even to her it was unusual high.

"Are you feeling all right, Miss Granger? You look a bit pale." Professor Vector peered at her through his dusty glasses, and Hermione wished that he could

just leave her alone, a first for her.

"You know, I don't think I do. I might quickly go up to the Hospital Wing. Thank you." She quickly turned and walked as fast as she could without running,

hardly hearing Professor Vector wish her good health before she had rounded the corner and was running as fast as she could towards the Gryffindor

Common Room.