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Here it is! Chapter 4! Yay me! I hope you all like it. And as always I don't own the characters, otherwise I'd be rich and not posting here and all that . . .

Ron walked down the hall to Hermione's room. For once he was visiting Hermione for a reason other then her imminent punishment. In fact, his master was sending him to see Hermione as a reward. It had been a week since she'd last had to be punished. He and Hermione had had a long talk. Ron hoped the talk was the reason she was behaving.

Ron arrived at Hermione's door a few minutes later. He knocked lightly. Since there was no reply of 'go away' he opened the door and stepped in. She was sitting on her bed flipping through a notebook of the type he'd only seen in Muggle stores.

"Hey." Ron said.

Hermione glanced up and nodded.

"What's that?" Ron came and sat down next to her. "Where did you get that notebook?"

"In a Muggle store." Hermione muttered as she wrote something down on a page. She looked over at Ron. "I stole it . . ."

"You stole it?" Ron looked skeptical.

Hermione nodded.

"Last week Mr. Nott reluctantly took me shopping for clothes in a Muggle store as a reward for being good." She explained. "I knew that none of them would touch it, let alone buy it, if it were a . . . Muggle thing."

"What's it for?" Ron asked.

"Thoughts, ideas . . . my plan." Hermione shrugged.

"What . . . plan?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Ronnie, we've got to get out of here." Hermione said. "And if we can't do it ourselves then we have to find a way to contact someone who can."

"Mione, don't you think that if someone were going to rescue us, they would have done it by now?" Ron said. "We've been missing for a long time!"

"That's just it!" Hermione exclaimed. "We haven't been missing a long time. In fact, as far as our friends and family know, we aren't missing. I mean, you're supposed to be at Quidditch camp and . . ."

"But Harry or Ginny or anyone from the team would have noticed that I didn't show." Ron interrupted.

"But didn't you get into an argument with your parents and then threaten not to go?" Hermione said. "When you didn't show, someone would have written your parents and they would have said. And your parents probably think that you're visiting me."

"And what about you?" Ron frowned. "Where are you supposed to be?"

"Visiting Viktor." Hermione answered. "I'm supposed to be there until just before school starts. And when I didn't show, he probably thought that I couldn't make it. I told him I wasn't sure until I showed. And my parents probably think that I am there. And neither will write so . . ."

"But it's still been a long time." Ron said. "At least . . ."

"Five weeks." Hermione finished.

Ron's jaw dropped.

"Are you sure?"

Hermione nodded.

"But . . ." Ron started.

"I-I . . . I think that they did something . . ." Hermione mused. "Something that made us submissive."

"Like the Imperius Curse?" Ron asked.

"No . . ." Hermione frowned. "It can't be. Don't you remember? That year that Moody . . . well not the real Moody but Barty Jr. . . . anyway, remember? He taught us how to fight it off. They must have been putting something in our food. Something that isn't . . . they must not be putting it in our food anymore. But who would . . . Draco!"

"Huh?" Ron looked confused.

"Draco." Hermione repeated. "I told you . . . he doesn't like it here anymore then we do. He must be making sure that whatever was being put into our food, isn't anymore."

"Why would Malfoy do something like that?" Ron frowned.

"Don't you remember what Harry told us he saw?" Hermione said. "He walked into the bathroom and found Draco crying because he couldn't kill Dumbledore. Draco isn't as bad as everyone thinks he is. At least I don't think so. I think . . . I think he's only a bully to attract his father's attention. You know Mr. Malfoy has been preoccupied with Harry since we started school. Ever since first year, Draco's pretty much been ignored."

"And . . . explain to me why Mr. Malfoy is even out of Azkaban." Ron said.

But Hermione didn't answer. She had fallen into a thoughtful silence. After a few minutes she opened the notebook to a blank page and furiously began writing. Suddenly a bell rang out.

"Oh shit!" Hermione gasped and looked up. She began pushing Ron off the bed. "Go Ronnie! You need to leave!"

"What's wrong?" Ron stood up.

"Mr. Malfoy is coming." Hermione pulled a brush out of her bedside table and began brushing her hair. She threw the brush and notebook back into the drawer. "I'll get punished if you're still here!"

"What?" Ron began backing to the door.

The bell rang louder.

"Go!" Hermione jumped and ran to Ron. She began pushing him out the door. "Please just go Ronnie."

"I'll be back later." Ron promised.

Hermione nodded. She gave him a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth and then just shut the door in his face. Feeling slightly concerned, Ron decided to go back to his room and wait.

That's the it for this chapter. I tried to answer a question or two and then ended up asking another. Oh well. Please read & review.