Another chapter (and it hasn't been like a million days!) :) Sorry for the last cliffhanger (kind of.. MUAHAHA) :D But thank my beta Ellie ( ) for encouraging me to write!

As for you all, thanks again for the support, reviews, everything! I love each and every one of you, seriously! (no matter how creepy that may sound) :)

Enjoy this chapter!

Hermione woke up to the excited screaming of girls from the Common Room, which immediately made her whip off her covers and frantically glance at the clock, because screams meant the others were awake, and they were only awake when it was late.

Nobody was in the room when Hermione yelled out, "It's eight?!" She jumped out of bed, and quickly grabbed her robes. "How did I sleep in so late, and why didn't they wake me?!"

She brushed her teeth, took the world's fastest shower, combed through her mess of hair, and was out the dorm with her books and running down the stairs when she slammed into a fourth-year girl running up the stairs in delight.

"Sorry!" Hermione exclaimed, but the other girl didn't seem to care.

"Have you heard?" she asked excitedly, her eyes sparkling.

"Er. Heard what?"

"About the ball!" The girl literally leapt into the air, squealing. "We're having a winter ball in two weeks!"

Hermione wasn't sure she'd heard correctly. "A ball?"

Obviously, the fourth-year girl mistook Hermione's horror for delightment, because she grabbed Hermione's hands and said, "I know, right? I was like that when I found out, too! We're having an extra trip to Hogsmeade this weekend! And we get to dress up and take dates and dance!" The girl laughed happily and continued up the stairs, calling out to her friends.

Hermione stood, stunned, shook her head, and continued down to the Common Room, where she found an entire room filled with squealing, giggly girls, and mortified-looking boys. In other words, her worst nightmare.

"What the…"

"Hermione!" Before she could process anything, she was nearly bowled over by Poppy running towards her at full speed. "Where have you been? Have you heard yet?!"

Hermione nearly groaned. For a moment, she had wished the fourth-year had been joking. "We're having… a school ball?"

Poppy laughed. "Yes, we are, darling! And we get to dress up!"

"Uh-huh," Hermione said. "Sounds great."

Poppy gave her a stern look. "Now, Hermione. This is great! Hogwarts hasn't had a ball in ages!"

"Yeah," Emma said, sliding up to the foot of the stairs, where Poppy and Hermione stood. She grinned. "It's amazing, isn't it?"

Hermione gave a weak smile. "Of course." Because she just loved balls.

Since the Yule Ball, Hermione decided she would never dress up for anything again. Being pretty once meant that being normal was ugly - it set high expectations, ones that were too demanding for her to meet, what with her studies and all.

Hermione scanned the Common Room. It seemed as if the entire house of Gryffindor was still here. Hermione was reminded of the time and gasped. "We're all going to be late to class!" She frantically started towards the back of the Fat Lady's portrait, only to be held back by Poppy.

"No, we're not," Poppy said. "If you'd look at the notice on the board, you'd see that classes have been delayed for an hour today."

Hermione looked towards the bulletin, where people were most tightly packed. "They are?"

Emma nodded. "Which is why we decided to let you sleep in. Especially since you and Lily stayed up so late last night." She winked.

A sinking feeling set in Hermione's stomach. Oh, yes. Last night. When James found out about Lily liking Draco.

She was just starting to panic all over again, when Lily popped out of the crowd with Hannah, and the two made their way over.

"Hey, Hermione!" Lily called. "I'm guessing you've heard?"

"Yeah, I've heard."

Lily pouted. "Aw, don't sound so sullen, Hermione! Balls are fun!"

"Exactly what I said," Poppy chimed in.

Hermione snorted. "They're fun if you like dancing and dressing up. Which I don't. Where's Jessamine, by the way?"

"She's over there," Lily pointed towards the bulletin. "She claims she's not excited, but I think she is."

Hermione nodded, then sighed. "I guess I'll go down to breakfast now. No use in staying any longer."

Lily looked as if about to protest, then said, "Alright. We'll be down soon, too. See you!"

Hermione started towards the door, and was about to open the portrait, when she was (again) close to being trampled by a mess of dark black hair.

"James?" she guessed.

"Hey, 'Mione," he said with a lopsided grin. He opened the portrait for her. "Ladies first."

Hermione rolled her eyes as she walked through. "Thanks. But call me 'Mione again, and I'll hex you into the future." Which wasn't the best joke she'd ever made.

Fortunately, James didn't seem to be fazed. "That'd be cool."

"It would," Hermione agreed. He had no idea.

"You've heard of the ball, right?" James asked, sweeping his black hair back. Hermione almost expected to see a scar on his forehead.

"Um," she said distractedly, and then snapped back to the moment. "Oh yeah. I have, and please don't say you're excited."

"I'm excited."

She glared at him.

"Just kidding. But it sounds like it could be fun." He rubbed his hands together mischievously. "Lots of chances to prank people."

"Fair enough."

They were going down the staircases when James stopped.

"Hey, Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

His hazel eyes were conflicted. "About Lily."

Hermione cringed in anticipation. "Yes?"

"I was a little angry with Draco last night," James said, and gave a wry smile, "but it's not really his fault, so this morning I apologized."

"That's nice of you."

A determined look came into his eyes. "But for the ball, I'm going to get Lily to go with me."

Hermione smiled kindly. "And you want me to help?"

James looked ever so hopeful that even if Hermione hadn't been planning to help, she'd probably consent. "Would you?"

"Sure," Hermione laughed. "I'll put in a good word or two about you to Lily."

"Thanks!" James flashed her a grateful smile.

"But only as long as you stop pranking her friends. And by that, I mean Snape."

James opened his mouth to protest, but Hermione held up a hand. "James, you might not like it, but they're still friends."

James seemed as if he was going to argue, but then sighed. "Fine."

Hermione patted his shoulder. "I'm sure she'll warm up to you if you stop pranking Severus, you know."

James grimaced. "I hope you're right."

For some reason, a picture of Lily and Draco forced its way into Hermione's mind. The thought made her very uncomfortable, in more ways than one, and she quickly stuffed it away. "Yeah," Hermione agreed, "I hope I am."

"Hermione!"

Hermione turned around. "Hey, Lily," she smiled.

"You have a free period now, right?"

Hermione nodded. "Yep."

"Want to take a walk with me?"

"Sure."

Lily grinned, brushing her red hair out of her face. "Cool. I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh." Hermione probably could have sounded more enthusiastic, except for the fact that she was pretty sure she wouldn't like what Lily was going to ask.

Lily bit her lip as they headed out to the grounds. "It's about Draco."

"Let me guess - the ball?"

Lily nodded vigorously, and put her head in her hands. "Do you think he'll ask me?"

"Er.." Hermione didn't want to say "no", because Lily sounded so hopeful and longing. But she didn't want to lie, either, and force Draco to go with the redhead, because that would defeat their entire purpose. "He might," she ventured unhelpfully.

Lily looked up at her. "Do you know who he fancies, Hermione?"

"No."

"Do you think he fancies me?"

"I don't know."

Hermione really didn't know why she was being so sharp with Lily. It wasn't like it was her fault.

Lily seemed to hear the short tone in Hermione's voice, but she didn't seem to be angry with Hermione. In fact, she wrinkled her nose and said with a hint of disappointment, "Sorry, I'm probably boring you right now. I've just been so out of character lately. I'm being so...girly."

Now there was something Hermione sympathized with. Being girly wasn't fun (another lesson learned from the Yule Ball). "No, it's fine, Lily. Really."

At that moment, Lily gave a huge gasp and whispered quickly, "Hide, hurry!"

Hermione's wand was out and a curse was on the tip of her tongue as Lily pulled her behind a tree. A rush of adrenaline kept her breathing hard, her eyes as focused as a laser, and her legs ready to sprint.

"Where is it?" she hissed to Lily. Her eyes and wand searched for a target, but she found none. Perhaps it used a Disillusionment charm.

Lily looked surprised. "What? Where's what?"

"The Death Eater, or whatever the thing is that we're hiding from!"

Lily tilted her head to the side, and noticed Hermione's wand. Her eyes widened. "Don't hex him," she said with a panicked tone.

Hermione was about to reply when she spotted a glint of blond hair and movement. The curse was out of her mind before she could even think. "Stupefy!" she shouted out.

The red light hit Draco Malfoy, who was about twenty yards away. His face looked to be briefly surprised as he fell towards the ground.

"Hermione!" Lily sounded shocked. Hermione was shocked. "What did you do?"

"I don't know," Hermione said honestly. "It was just… natural instinct?"

Lily looked scared, and Hermione didn't blame her. "Okay," Lily said hesitantly, "let's go see if he's alright." She ran to Draco's fallen form, leaving Hermione with her wand arm hanging uselessly by her side.

Hermione didn't know what had been going on in her head. She'd just known… well, for a brief moment, she thought Lily had been Ginny, and she kind of forgot her surroundings and focused on the need to save her friends from the Death-Eaters. Except it didn't really work out that way.

"Merlin," she muttered under her breath as she jogged over to Lily and Draco.

Lily had known to use Rennervate to counter the spell, and was helping Draco sit up straight, when Hermione came over.

Draco's grey eyes glared up at her. "What the hell was that for, Granger?!"

"Sorry! I just… lost control," Hermione said, stowing away her wand, avoiding his eyes. She didn't really want to explain to him that she'd thought he was a Death-Eater.

"Yeah, well, next time, don't take it out on me, hmm?" Draco scowled, but he didn't seem to be very mad, which obviously disproved her "Death-Eater" thing. That scared her. A lot.

"Thanks," Draco told Lily. Which scared Hermione even more.

"No problem," Lily said breathlessly, getting up. "You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah." He stood up, suddenly growing taller than both of the girls.

And then he did something that nearly made Hermione faint in shock (probably Lily, too, but for a different reason). He smiled at the redhead.

Hermione barely had time to process this phenomenon when Draco turned to her, a scowl forming on his face again. "Before you hexed me, Granger, I was actually going to tell you that Dumbledore wants to see us."

Hermione snapped back into reality. "Oh? He does?"

"Yeah, he does. Come on." He started back the path where he came from, pausing to say, "Later, Lily."

"See you!" Lily gave a little wave, and then turned to Hermione. Apparently, she didn't quite so mind anymore that Hermione'd hexed her crush. "Did you see, Hermione? He smiled at me!" Lily said happily.

Hermione felt a surge of anger, and she wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because Draco wasn't supposed to be egging Lily on. But the anger didn't seem to be quite so simple. "Yeah, I saw," she said briefly. "I have to go now. See you later."

She rushed off to Draco without waiting for Lily's goodbye, though she regretted it and felt guilty about how she was acting to Lily two seconds afterwards.

"Hey, Granger," Draco said as she caught up to him.

"Er, hi?" Salutations weren't typically exchanged in their conversations.

"You've heard of the winter ball?" Draco didn't look at her.

Hermione almost groaned. First, all the girls in the school. Then James. And now Draco?

"Yeah, why?"

"Remus says Hogwarts hasn't had one since 1949. Don't you think it's strange that they happen to have it while we're here?"

Hermione nodded her agreement as she thought about how Lily was asking her about Draco. "It's almost like they're trying to make it harder for us to get back home, what with Lily and all."

Draco had a mixed expression on his face. "Oh, right. Lily." He saw Hermione's face and said, "What?"

"What?" Hermione said defensively.

"You're looking at me weirdly."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yeah, you were."

"What? Why would I be?"

"I don't know, you tell me!"

Hermione huffed and turned her face. "Lily wants you to ask her to the ball." Was that… bitterness in her tone? Hermione never felt more disgusted and embarrassed with herself. Draco was a git, but he wasn't stupid. He probably detected it in her voice, and thought it was because of jealousy. It wasn't, though! It wasn't.

"And?"

"And are you going to?" Hermione had lost it. Somewhere today, she'd lost her sanity, because if she still had it, she wouldn't have: one, hexed him. Two, had that talk about Draco with Lily. And of course, three, just asked him if he was going to ask Lily to the ball.

Apparently, Draco thought she was going insane as well, because he literally stopped in his tracks and stared her down. "Are you alright?" There seemed to be genuine concern in his voice.

"What? Of course, I am!" She honestly didn't feel so sure.

"Did you just ask me if I was going to ask Potter's mum to the ball?"

Hermione wanted to smack herself for saying that in the first place. "Maybe?" Merlin, she was mortified. Absolutely mortified.

Draco shook his head and started walking. He said, without looking back, "Merlin, Granger, you're crazy. Not to mention daft."

Hermione felt rather indignant as she stormed up to his side. A ball of anger and something else exploded in her. "Well, I was just wondering! After all, you were smiling at her and thanking her!"

"In case you haven't noticed, thanking people is an ordinary thing to do."

"Not for-" Hermione stopped. She had been going to say "not for you", but she felt like it was too harsh.

Unfortunately, Draco seemed to know exactly what she'd been thinking. His gaze turned steely. "'Not for me', huh, Granger?"

"No, that's not what I meant!" Hermione blurted out, but immediately drew back. It had been what she meant.

Draco just nodded expectantly, and continued walking without a word.

Hermione honestly would have felt better if he'd started yelling at her, because that was normal of him. He was supposed to start shouting insults at her, and she was supposed to shout back until hexes started flying. That was the norm.

Except, it seemed, time decided to take that away too, because Hermione was pretty sure that a few months ago, she'd never had felt guilty for half-insulting Draco Malfoy.

She was also very certain that a few months ago, she would never had felt jealous of Lily for getting a smile out of that stupid git.

When they reached Dumbledore's office, Hermione's guilt increased ten-fold when Draco held the door open and gestured for her to go in first. She didn't know why he was being so nice to her, but it was creeping her out.

"Thanks," she murmured in surprise.

"Ah, Miss Granger, and Mr. Malfoy!" Dumbledore smiled at them as they sat down. However, his face quickly grew serious. "I've received a letter from my Unspeakable friend, and I'm afraid it's not the best news."

He looked at both of them in the eye. "I think you should read it yourself." He handed them a piece of parchment with spidery handwriting on it.

Concerning Miss Hermione Granger and Mr. Draco Malfoy's predicament:

It has come to our notice that the two believe they have discovered their task. They are wrong. Their task is not to pair Miss Lily Evans and Mr. James Potter - on the contrary, that would be a disaster towards the timeline, for Miss Evans and Mr. Potter are not due to fall in love until their seventh-year. By trying to manipulate Miss Evans's feelings, they are only avoiding reality.

Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy's disappearance has caused disturbances to the future already. I suggest they continue searching for their task quickly, though it may be near impossible for them to succeed…

Hermione and Draco finished reading the letter at the same time, and set it back on the table with looks of disgust.

"Who is this guy?" Draco said angrily. "Telling us to complete the blasted task, then saying it's impossible!"

For once, Hermione completely agreed with him. "And the task! If he says the thing with Lily isn't the right task-"

"-then that means he knows what it is!" Draco completed with a murderous expression on his face.

Hermione nodded and repeated Draco's words. "Who is this person?" she demanded. Heat rushed to her face and she spat out, "Having the nerve to ridicule us - if it's so obvious that what we're doing is wrong, why can't they help us?"

Dumbledore, who was watching them calmly, finally spoke up. "Miss Granger, I understand this is frustrating. But Unspeakables are under strict vows not to reveal anything about time. Time is a tricky thing. You two must figure this out for yourselves." He paused and said with a slightly pained voice, "Even I cannot help you."

Draco cursed under his breath, and Hermione didn't blame him. Nothing like finding out you're completely on your own to find out an impossible task and then complete it.

All the fight rushed out of her. The letter had said that they weren't doing the right thing, with Lily, and that they were "only avoiding reality". Did that mean that they were supposed to sit and let Lily fawn over Draco, or…?

Hermione gripped the sides of the chair. No. It couldn't be that Draco liked Lily. But… the picture of Draco smiling at Lily flashed in her mind. She almost couldn't breathe. No. It wasn't possible.

Hermione got up abruptly. Without looking at Dumbledore or Draco, she said, "I'm going to the library." She quickly turned around and forced herself to walk to the door. As soon as she broke free of the office, she ran down the staircase and out the doors into the hallway. (The gargoyles angrily told her, Hey! No need to scare us like that!)

She didn't stop running until she was in front of the library, and pushed her way inside, breathing heavily. She quickly stalked her way over to a shelf, plucked out four books, and found a nice, isolated table at the back.

And did what the normal Hermione Granger would do - research.

Later, she'd say she had run out of Dumbledore's office because she felt the overwhelming need to find out their task. She might say that it was because she was so angry with the Unspeakable that she wanted to prove him wrong as soon a possible.

But all those were lies, and Hermione knew it deep, deep, deep down in her heart (but that didn't mean she was about to admit it).

After all, it was much easier to immerse herself into tomes of the history of time travel than think about that stupid git.

"Hermione!"

She nearly screamed, and the only reason why she didn't was because she couldn't; a hand clamped down on her mouth.

Hermione drew out her wand again, but was stopped by Sirius's voice.

"Hey, hey, don't go hexing us, Hermione!"

Hermione put down her wand on the table and tore his hand off her mouth. "Then don't go scaring me like that," she grumbled.

"What are you reading?" Remus came up from behind Sirius, curiously peering at the books she'd stacked on the table.

Hermione inwardly cursed herself. Why had she been so… obvious? "Er, it's stuff for Professor Binns. A research paper he wanted me to do," she lied smoothly.

Obviously, Remus didn't buy it, but luckily for her, he made no further comments.

"Er, do you want to sit?" Hermione asked in a slightly nervous tone.

"Ah, but we don't," Sirius said.

"You don't? Okay."

Sirius and Remus walked over to the seat across from her, and, facing her, gave smug smiles (well, Sirius's was smug - Remus just looked like he wanted to run away as soon as possible).

Hermione raised her eyebrow casually, but she already had a feeling she wasn't going to like this conversation.

Sirius leaned in, putting both hands on the table. "See, Hermione, last night, Draco told me a very interesting thing."

Merlin, she was going to kill that git. "And that would be?"

"That your former school was in Belgium!" Sirius's eyes glittered as he pulled out a parchment from his robes. "But he seemed rather hesitant about it, like he'd forgotten already! Now, maybe it was because he was thinking about you-" (here, Hermione threw daggers at him with her eyes) "-but I decided to enlist Remus's help in… researching." He said the last word with exaggerated boredom.

Hermione forced herself to stay calm. "And what did you find?"

Sirius displayed the piece of parchment, which was obviously torn out of a book. "That there are no wizarding schools in Belgium."

Hermione took three deep breaths and pretended to be immersed in looking at the book page. It was a list of all the Wizarding schools in the world, but Sirius was right - there were none in Belgium.

"Er… they must have forgotten to put it there," Hermione said in her best "don't-think-about-it-too-much" tone.

"Mmhm," Sirius said, "and Hogwarts isn't the best Wizarding school."

"It was a small school," Hermione protested.

"You and Draco said you adjusted quickly to Hogwarts because your old school was a lot like it," Remus reminded her.

Hermione desperately groped for another excuse. "We meant that the environment was the same! Besides, this was taken three years ago! It's not accurate!"

Unfortunately, neither Remus or Sirius were stupid, and both of them saw the wild look of desperation in her eyes.

"Hermione," Remus said slowly, "you told me once that you couldn't tell me where you got that… potion from."

Sirius cast a confused glance over at Remus, but turned back to Hermione. "Yeah, and that time, when you were talking about prejudice and Draco? You told me not to question that either."

Remus took the seat across from her. "And neither of us did at those times, but now it's just too big of a mystery to avoid. What about your past is so secretive that you can't tell us?"

Hermione just sat there, her eyes darting from Sirius to Remus in fear. Her mouth trembled, and her heart ached. She couldn't lie again.

Everyone in this time were so kind to her and Draco. The Marauders accepted them almost immediately. Lily and her roommates treated Hermione as if they'd known her for years. The people in her classes made them feel welcome. And all they'd given back were lies.

Before she could stop herself, Hermione blurted out, "It's not the past that's secretive." She paused and lowered her eyes, staring at a spot on the table. "We just… can't tell you. It would be dangerous to." She looked up again. "Just please, please trust us. I swear we're not Death-Eaters or anything. I promise. Just trust us, and don't ask about it again."

She locked eyes with Remus. She could practically see his brain's gears working and dissecting every word she said. Sirius, on the other hand, jumped to the gun.

"You're telling us to trust you? Hermione, you and Draco are nice and all, but we really don't know anything about your background, aside from the fact that you lied to us about your past!" Sirius's grey eyes lit up in slight fury as he jabbed his finger to the parchment. "This is solid proof that you lied to us! How are we supposed to trust you if you can't even tell us where you're from?"

Hermione started shaking her head, and couldn't stop. "You don't have to," she whispered. "We may be gone soon." She stood up, still shaking her head, and started stacking her books up.

She could feel the anger rolling off of Sirius like a tsunami. "What do you mean you'll be gone-"

"Sirius, stop."

Hermione lifted her head in surprise, her eyes finding Remus's.

"What do you mean, 'stop', Moony? It's true!" Sirius said indignantly.

Remus held up a hand and blinked a few times, his eyebrows furrowing. "I don't understand it, anymore that you do," Remus said, "but we've known Hermione and Draco for awhile now, and they've not done anything to us." He shrugged. "And if Hermione says not to ask about it, then she has a good reason."

Hermione tried to send all the thanks in the world to Remus through her eyes. Remus nodded and gave a light smile, and tilted his head towards Sirius.

"Sirius," Hermione said gently, "he's right. There is a good reason for us not telling you. Trust me, I want to. But we can't."

Sirius's eyes observed her carefully, but at least his anger seemed to have subdued, some.

"Fine," he said at last. His hands clenched and unclenched by his sides. "Fine."

Hermione couldn't resist the impulse. She placed down the books onto the table, and reached out her arms. "Thank you." She pulled them both into a hug, squeezing her eyes shut.

When she let them both go, she could tell that Sirius would eventually accept that he wouldn't find out, because he gave a little, easy grin, and said teasingly, "Maybe we should get mad more often, so we can be hugged by pretty girls like you."

She slapped him on the arm, but her heart grew warm at his words, because it showed that they'd be alright, even though she was probably hiding the biggest secret of all time from them.

Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius, then said to Hermione, "We'll see you soon, then. We need to repair a book and return it to Madam Pince before she sets her dust-feathers onto us." He gave a pointed look to Sirius.

"Oh yeah, I forgot this came from a book," Sirius said casually, picking up the parchment from the table.

"Speaking of that," Hermione said strictly, "how dare you tear a page out of a book!"

"That's what I said!" Remus agreed. "It's an-"

"-injustice to books!" Hermione completed. The two grinned at each other.

Sirius scoffed and said, "Come, now, books don't have feelings."

Both Hermione and Remus's eyes widened, and they gasped in sync. "Oh no, you didn't!" Hermione exclaimed.

Remus shook his head grimly. "I'll talk to him," he said, taking the page from Sirius's careless hands. "He just needs to see."

"He does," Hermione nodded.

"'He' is right here."

Hermione gave Sirius a mock glare, and flashed Remus a smile. "Alright, see you!"

As the two walked away, she heard Sirius complain, "How come I get the glare and you get the smile?"

She laughed, but the smile was taken off her face as soon as she looked down at the books again. She glanced at the clock. There was still time before her free period ended, and she may as well spend it doing something useful.

Hermione's nose was in one of the huge tomes when a tap on her shoulder literally made her tear out of her seat and let out a muffled scream (for maybe the third time).

"Calm down, Granger!" Draco said, putting his hands up.

"Oh." Hermione fought to keep the blush down. "Sorry."

The blond rolled his eyes and said, "What were you going to do, hex me?" Did he just make a joke? Hermione wasn't sure, because his face was blank.

He stood awkwardly, and gestured towards the books. "I assumed you were in here, after… well, after you ran off."

Hermione bit her lip. "Yeah. I wanted to get in good research time."

"Yes, which explains why you were hugging Sirius and Remus." Draco smirked, and promptly took the seat opposite from hers. "Don't worry, I just saw that part, so whatever you were doing before…" he trailed off.

She turned completely red, and her mouth fell open. "What - okay - I wasn't even-" she spluttered.

The smirk grew wider.

"Stop it!" Hermione said frustratedly, taking her seat again.

"Okay."

And just like that, he shut up.

"That was nice," Hermione commented in surprise.

He just nodded. "Anyway, I thought I'd want to research a bit too. Can't spend too much time here, after all."

Hermione noted the conflicted way he said the last part. "I agree. It's nice here, but I don't want to start forgetting…" she started hesitantly, and stopped. Since when did she have the urge share her fears with Draco Malfoy?

Since he started to be civil, said an infuriating voice in her head.

His grey eyes seemed to know what she was thinking, and suddenly, out of nowhere, the git started laughing.

It wasn't a mocking laugh. He wasn't laughing because of what she said, she knew that. It wasn't mean. It wasn't even fake. It was real, and it scared the hell out of her.

But it was nice. Oh, it was really, really nice. A deep, rich sound that filled her head with happy thoughts, and warmed her like a blanket. It was almost infectious. And it was completely, utterly genuine.

She vaguely remembered a smile he'd given earlier to Lily, which she'd thought was a miracle, but this… this was something else entirely.

She found herself staring at the curve of his jawline as he laughed, admiring the way his blond hair glinted with the slightest movement. He was handsome. She could see that. She could see why a million girls had fallen for him back in their own time, even though he was a stuck-up brat.

But he wasn't a brat anymore, Hermione thought to herself. Somewhere along the way, Draco Malfoy became less of a ferret and more of a… companion.

But he's still a git, Hermione reminded herself, in a weak attempt to stop admiring him and his looks.

She had to physically and mentally force herself to pinch her hand and bring her mind back to focus.

"And you're laughing because...?" she managed to get out, but it sounded more curious than suspicious like she'd wanted it to.

He let out a few more chuckles (Merlin, where did he learn to laugh like that?) and just gestured at them two. "You. Me. This."

Hermione raised her eyebrows, struggling to contain her amazement at Draco Malfoy laughing. "Yeah. And?"

"It's just…" He shook his head, obviously suppressing another wave of laughs. "It's weird. People back home… if they saw us like this, there'd be a war going on between the Houses, trying to find out what bribe I gave you, or something." His eyes lit up in mirth.

Hermione smirked. "I'm sure they'd be more intent on finding out what got Draco Malfoy to laugh out loud in public."

Draco snorted. "Probably."

"And why the third part of the Golden Trio's sitting with a Slytherin." Hermione nearly giggled, but then she caught herself before she could. Merlin, what was happening to her?

Draco nodded, and after a pause, gave another laugh, but it was darker, more like his regular ones. "And we couldn't have you tainting Potter's reputation, could we?"

The mention of Harry made Hermione feel completely nostalgic, and, she hated to say it, but it kind of ruined the mood. "I guess that's what people would think," she said wisely, all traces of laughter gone from her voice.

They sat in serious silence for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts (Hermione's included a very interesting battle of deciding if she trusted herself enough to look up at Draco and not completely freak out).

Finally, Hermione pulled herself out of her reverie and said, "So you want to do some research before free period ends?"

Draco sat forward, his face unreadable. "Sure."

Hermione handed him a book, then leaned back in her chair. The words on the page blurred in front of her eyes, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't focus. The sound of his laugh still rung in her ears. The way he'd smiled at her, and how they'd had more than a civil talk - they'd talked as if they were friends.

Hermione dug her fingernail into her thumb. Stupid thoughts. She could never trust thoughts centering around Draco. That stupid git was always messing around with her thoughts and feelings, and the worst part was that she didn't really mind.

"In here… hurry!"

"What do you want?"

"We need to discuss the two. Now get in!"

Lucius Malfoy ushered Severus Snape into an empty classroom. The second boy looked suspicious and on his guard.

"You mean that Granger girl and your cousin?"

"Don't call him that!" Lucius snapped.

Severus narrowed his eyes. The (other) Malfoy didn't seem to be all that… common as Lucius was proposing. Though he was in Gryffindor.

"Now," Lucius said, pacing the length of the room. "There's something very off about them."

"Yeah, a Malfoy being in Gryffindor's fairly 'off'," Severus commented dryly, hovering by the door.

Lucius stopped in his tracks and put up a finger. "Yes, but that's precisely it. See," he said vigorously, "yesterday I approached the Granger girl."

"Oh." Severus wrinkled his nose and sneered. "Her."

"You've met her? Good. Then you know how much of a Gryffindor she is."

Severus nodded distastefully. That girl had been completely, utterly Gryffindor. Except… she was good friends with Lily. In fact, both Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger were good friends with Lily. The two were practically all Lily talked about nowadays (except, luckily, for how annoying Potter was).

"So what happened?" he asked.

A scowl formed on Lucius's face, but Severus had known him long enough to know that it was to express his confusion.

"She said something about how the… Malfoy wanted both of them to be in Slytherin."

"They can't choose," Severus said immediately. He knew that, because in his first year, he tried to convince Lily to ask Dumbledore to change her house, which resulted in Lily thoroughly researching the topic and giving him a ten-minute speech about how it was "absolutely, positively against the rules".

"I know," Lucius said. "That's exactly why I questioned her." He sneered. "But the Mudblood didn't say anything. Still…"

Severus looked at the clock on the wall impatiently. "Yeah, it's odd, but did you call me in to tell me just this?"

Lucius's eyes flashed dangerously. "Of course not. There's a purpose to everything I do. No, I want you to find out more information about those two."

Severus gave him a suspicious, calculating look. "How?"

The blond smirked. "Through your little friend."

Severus's heart skipped a beat. He grew tense as he fought the urge to run straight out of the room. "What friend?" he said with as much indifference as he could muster.

Lucius's mouth curled into a snarl. "You know which one. That Mudblood Evans!"

Anger surged through his blood and outweighed the instinct to protest. "Don't call her that. And I don't even see her that much anymore!" Which was a blatant lie, but maybe Lucius wouldn't see through it.

Unfortunately, he did, and his snarl only deepened. "Question her, or I'll tell the rest of Slytherin about your… friendship. Which would be the right thing to do anyway."

"Don't!" Severus growled. "And I was already planning to question her anyway." That was partly true – he had been considering it (seriously, what about them made Lily talk about them so much?!).

Lucius calmed down a little. "Alright. Give me the information by the day we go to Hogsmeade. Sunday."

Severus scowled at the idea of working for Malfoy. He was rather… annoying. "Fine," he said angrily. "If I see her, I'll ask." Maybe he wouldn't see her, and so he wouldn't have to ask.

Lucius turned from him. His voice sounded grim (and a lot more humane) as he said, more to himself than Severus, "I've got to figure it out. Something about them don't belong here."

Severus would never admit it, but he privately agreed. After all, he wasn't very partial to the fact that even without their physical presence, the two newcomers still managed to take up all of his and Lily's private time together.

How was it? Good? Bad? Great? Ehe well you can tell me all about it if you….. review! (clearly, I'd be a horrible saleswoman)

But in all seriousness, reviews and feedback are like… I don't know, hot chocolate on a cold day. They make us writers feel warm, fuzzy, and most importantly (for the sake of quick updating), motivated!

Another thing: I'm going to attempt to respond to all the reviews I get, because I feel like a "thanks" at the beginning of each chapter honestly does not sum up how thankful I am for these reviews. So I shall start doing that from now on (unless you haven't got a FF account, in which case, I can't reply back; sorry!)!

Yeah...So long and farewell for now, my lovely readers :)