Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of he characters.

Chapter 14

It was finally the end of all their classes and Harry, Hermione and Ron were absolutely exhausted.

"I'm so hungry." Ron grumbled.

"Yeah. I am a little famished as well." Hermione agreed.

The three walked to the Great Hall, where Ron bumped into Draco, whom seemed not to be paying attention to where he was going.

"Watch where you're going Malfoy. You're not the only person walking here." Ron snarled at him.

Draco looked at him, but he didn't say anything. He just glared at him and walked into the Great Hall.

"I wonder what's up with him?" Harry said.

So do I.- Hermione thought to herself.

"It doesn't matter. Whatever is happening in Malfoy's life is his problem, right?"

"I guess so." Harry said. Hermione nodded.

"So, now that that's settled, how about we go and chow down?" and he walked ahead of Harry and Hermione. They soon followed him.

When dinner was over, the students went back to their Houses. Hermione reached the Head Boy and Girldormitory, but no one was in it. "Draco's mustn't have gotten up here yet." She looked at her watch.

I only have two hours left of free time before I start walking the halls and I already did the homework we got from Snape, so what else ids there to do? She started thinking. Hey I know. I'll just go and pay a little visit to the Gryffindor dormitories. I'll meet up with Draco in before we start our shift. And with that she left out the dormitory and worked her to Gryffindor house.

"Password?" the fat lady, blocking the portal to the entrance of Gryffindor common room said.

"Hinypunk," Hermione replied and the portrait swung open, revealing an area to climb through and she went in.

"Hey Hermione, what up?" It was Ginny who seen her first. She and Ricardo were sitting in the red cushion armchairs by the fire.

"Yeah, what brings you to our neck of the woods?" Harry said once he saw Hermione. He and a rather enraged Ron were sitting on the other side of the room along with Neville, Seamus and Dean.

"Nothing really. I was just a little bore in my room without any of my friends around."

"It must be even worse when you have Malfoy in with you." Seamus said. Hermione walked over to the boys and sat down next to Harry.

"This Malfoy, is he as bad as you say he is?" It was Ricardo who spoke up.

"He's worse than bad. That slimy little git is bad news. All he ever doesis make Gryffindors' lives a living hell." Ginny told him.

"He probably takes after his father." Harry snarled.

Ginny, Hermione and Ron stood still. They knew that he was referring to Sirius's death. It wasn't Draco's father who killed him, but it was one of his men and although Harry does blame himself for the incident, part of him is well aware Lucius had something to do with it. Ginny also knew the pain that Lucius caused. In her second year, he slipped Voldemort's Diary into her cauldron, causing her to be possessed by him.

"Are you alright, Ginny?" Ricardo asked.

"Yeah I'm fine." Ginny said, snapping out of her trance.

"Are you sure because I won't want anything to happen to you." He said and in one swift motion, grabbed her eyes and held it, causing Ginny face to turn a deep red. Ron, on the other hand was about to explode.

"That little-" He started to get up, but Harry quickly pulled him by his robes and he fell back down.

"It's getting late, I probably should get to bed. G'night Ginny." And gave her a charming smile. Ginny blushed even more. "G'night everyone." He finally said to the others.

"G'night." Everyone said in unison, except for Ron.

He got up and went up the stairs. Ginny gave a little squeak of excitement. "I think I'll go to bed as well. I'll see you tomorrow. G'night." And with that, she ran up the stairs.

"Are you sure because I don't want anything to happen to you." Ron said making his ascent sound as close to Ricardo's as possible. "What a load of crap. He really expects to hit on my sister like that? Well he has another things coming."

"Uh...mate? I think he already has her fancying him." Seamus pointed out.

Ron threw him a death glare.

"It's a good thing I grabbed you, or you would've been beaten for sure." Harry said while the others agreed.

"Yeah, about that. Why the bloody hell did you pull me back?" Ron face grew red in anger. "And what the hell do you mean 'you've would've been beaten for sure'?"

"Not saying that you're weak or anything, I'm just stating out that you're not as... built as he is." Harry said, trying to put his words carefully.

"I could've taken on that monkey. He's not that tough. He's a load of B.S. if you asked me. Bull sh-"

"Well we didn't ask you." Hermione interrupted. Ron glared at her back she didn't back down.

"You know what I think you're problem she Ron,"

No, and I really don't care what you have to say."

"I think you're jealous."

"Hermione, that's just sick. She my own sister for crying out loud!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Not like that you moron. You're jealous that Ricardo is already hooking up with someone and that person, just so happens to be the person you always want to watch, you're probably just mad that someone else can protect Ginny other than you."

"Hmm... It makes enough sense." Harry said as the other agreed.

"IT DOES NOT!" Ron yelled, causing some other Gryffindors to look their way.

"Sorry about that. Don't mind him, he's just a little jealous is all." Hermione said to everyone and they turned back to what ever they were doing.

"I'M NOT JEALOUS!" Ron yelled again.

"Ron, hush! You're being childish." Hemrione told him.

"I'm not being childish! I'm trying to tell you something isn't right about that guy, and you guess won't believe me. It's like you're not even listening to me!"

"I'm sorry I wasn't listening, did you say something?" Harry said and the others laughed.

Ron glared at him. "That wasn't funny. I thought you guys were s'pose to be my friends. Especially you two." He said pointing to Hermione and Harry. "All the things when been through, all the adventures we had together and all the people we accused we thought were up to no good, and you can't even put Ricardo for a suspect?"

"A suspect to what, Ron? Nothing has happened. We haven't even gotten through a week yet." Hermione told him.

"Hell, we didn't even get through a full day, come to think of it." Dean added.

"Arghhhh!" Ron let out a frustrated cry. "Fine. Don't believe me, but if he really is up to something, don't come crawling to me." He gave them all nasty looks before getting up and walking up the stairs.

"Can you say, 'Drama King'?" Dean said when Ron was out of sight.

"Yes, he was a little over dramatic, but I'm still worried about him. He's never been this worked up about any one before. Maybe, just for Ron sake, we should keep an eye out for Ricardo."

That's exactly what I was thinking Harry.- Hermione thought to herself.

"Agree?" he asked. Everyone nodded their heads.

"Well this visit has been a blast, but I better be getting back to my dorm. It's almost time for me to roam the halls." Hermione said as she got up and walked to the portal.

"Alright. See ya." Harry said and the others waved.

Hermione made her way back to her dormitory. When she walked in, Draco was laying on the couch with his eyes closed.

"Hey, you okay?" Hermione asked. She wasn't worried about him; she was just trying to catch his attention.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said. He sat up and looked at her. "So where were you? I came in here and you were gone."

"Oh I was at the Gryffindor common room. I just wanted to catch up with my friends."

"Oh okay. Well hey; we still have more than an hour left. You wanna start working on what we have to do for Dumbledore?"

"Alright."

They sat there almost the entire time, trying to figure out dates and arrangements for the upcoming occasions. It was almost time to go by the time they were done.

"Well I s'pose we won't need those extra days to finish this, since were already done." Hermione said and Draco nodded.

"We should get going. It's almost ten o'clock." Draco said as he looked at his watch.

"Okay. Lets go."

They left the Dorm together.

Then Hermione looked at Draco. She had totally forgot he was acting strange today.

"Draco,"

"Hmm." He answered to let her know he was listening.

"Has something been going on lately that you haven't been telling me?"

Draco hitched a breath.

-Don't tell me she knows.- Draco thought to himself. He looked into her eyes. Her eyes show no hint of suspicion. -So she doesn't know, but I can't tell her. I don't want to hurt her, even if that means pain for myself.-

"No. I don't think I so. Why do you ask?" Draco said trying to play it off.

Hermione look down. "I dunno why I thought that. Just forget about it."

Draco looked at her and frowned.

"Anyways, I have to patrol the Dungeons, so I'll see you at 11:30." She gave him a little kiss on the lips. "See you." She said and walked away.

"Alright, bye." Draco told her as her walked away.

Hermione walked through the dark, silent hall. "It's a sure lot scarier when you're by yourself." Hermione said to herself. "I don't know how Harry can do this all the time?"

When she reached the dungeons, she realized it was even worse than the other floors. "Okay. This is not fun at all. This place is so creepy." She took out her wand. "Lumos!" she called out and the tip of her wand glowed.

The light gave a faint glow in the dungeon halls. "There that's a little better." She stated and then slowly started walking.

As she was walking, she heard something in front of her. "Hello. She anyone there?" Hermione whispered into the shadows of the hall. It answered back with silence.

It must have been that pesky poltergeist, Peeves.- Hermione thought to herself. Then she jumped when she heard the sound of a boy yell. Still a little shaken up from the noise, Hermione ran in the direction of the yell. It wasn't long before she reached the boy. He was on the floor staring into the shadows. He was probably a first year. He had short black hair and brown eyes. He seemedterrified about something.

"Hello, are you alright?" She asked him and moved closer to him, but he never turned his head. She kneeled in front of him and stared into his eyes. "Listen to me, tell me what happened to you."

He slowly moved his eyes in her direction. "Help me. Please."

"What has got you so afraid?"

He raised one of his little fingers and pointed it behind Hermione. "Over there. Something is over there."

Hermione turned her head around and as soon as she did she heard the sound of a low growl, causing her to stand up and back away some. -What the hell is that?-

All of a sudden, a pair of big amber eyes glaring at Hermione. Stepped back some and the boy on the floor soon got up and ran behind Hermione. The creature in the shadows started advancing forward, causing Hermione and the boy to move back. Soon the creature's body started to be revealed. First came itscream coloredpaws, then the head showed, after that the red-orange colored body and finally the long and powerful tail came to view. It sat down; with its tail swinging behind it and a low growl came from its throat, while it stared at Hermione and the boy. Hermione knew what this creature was. "A L-Lion." Hermione whispered. Finally she couldn't contain herself and let out a blood-boiling scream.