A pair of cool brown eyes searched the crowded room before them. The smiling pink lips faded into a straight serious line. The eyes had seen something, something slightly amiss.

Hermione gazed around the great hall at dinner time and noticed that Harry, seated next to her, kept shooting looks at the Slytherin table…and that Draco Malfoy was returning them.

Ron who was sitting opposite Harry glanced over his shoulder and then turned back and rolled his eyes at Harry, who rolled them back, grinning. Then they both burst into identical giggles.

Parvati, opposite Hermione, kicked her under the table.

"Why'd you kick me, Parvati?" Hermione asked a tad angrily. Now she was going to have a bruise on her leg. Hermione hated the fact that she bruised really easily.

"Oh, sorry, Mione. I meant to get Harry."

"Why?"

Parvati glanced at Harry who gave a tiny shake of the head. Parvati subtly changed the flow of the conversation some meagre piece of gossip she had overheard in the girls bathroom that afternoon.

Ron nudged Harry and hissed at him.

"Dude! Stop being so obvious! She's noticing!"

"Sorry, mate. I keep forgetting."

Over on the Slytherin table Malfoy got up and left without Crabbe and Goyle. Hermione caught that he was leaving alone out of the corner of her eye as she listened to Parvati nattering on about one of the Gryffindor prefects dating the Slytherin prefect…of the same sex. Hermione also thought she saw Harry nod to Malfoy subtly.

A moment later she noticed her right side had gone a bit cold and she looked up to see the raven haired Gryffindor leaving the hall.

"Where's he going?" she asked.

"Um, he said he had some homework that he needed to finish. Which reminds me, Ron, you said you wanted help with your Divination prep. Since we're both finished, do you want to do it now? You don't mind, do you Hermione?"

"Not at all Parvati. Go on. Divination is the one subject I can't help Ron with. Ginny'll keep me company."

Hermione watched their retreating backs and felt a little more than confused. Everyone was acting so strangely. She would question them later.

Outside in the entrance hall Parvati sat Ron down on the stairs and seated herself next to him.

"Okay, what are we going to do?"

"The fact is that we need to come up with some better cover ups. Hermione is far too clever to buy the homework one all the time. Other people will also figure it out and tell her." Ron ran a hand through his bright hair, deep in thought, making it an even bigger mess than it usually was.

"Harry doesn't want her to find out because he thinks she wouldn't approve, right?"

Ron nodded. Parvati got up from the stairs and started pacing in front of Ron.

"Any ideas on how we can throw her off the scent?" he asked watching her.

"Just one. If Harry would consent to it then it could send her spiralling in completely the wrong direction. We just need to act well and convince her."

"A little more info would be a great help."

"Mind you she'll be even angrier if she discovers the truth on top of what we're trying to cover up."

"That's cleared that up nicely!" Ron glared at her.

"Shut up Ron! And come with me." She stormed up the stairs dragging Ron behind her.

Just in time too. Hermione entered the entrance hall with Ginny a second after Ron's heels had turned the corner at the top of the stairs.