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Thanks for reviewing, and thank you to LooneyLovey for letting me know that Hermione's real birthday is September 19th.

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Chapter 14-Sleeping Draughts and Polyjuice

Since her birthday, Hermione had not been able to look Snape in the eye. To her knowledge, the raven had not made any more appearances outside her bedroom window and she did not dare question the potions master about the mysterious bird. Though her gut instinct told her that the raven was Snape, her mind worked overtime in a pitiful attempt to disprove that theory and provide an alternative answer.

In her potions lessons, Hermione kept her head down and didn't even raise a hand to answer a single question. Whenever Snape swept past her desk like a storm cloud to strike a verbal lightening bolt at her work, she bit her lip refusing to look up at him or make a retort.

Even at meal times Hermione made sure to avoid the older man's eye. Ron and Harry were both unaware of these changes in Hermione's behaviour but Draco noticed them instantly. However, it wasn't until the end of September that he made mention of it.

At first Hermione had tried to deny that anything was different but she had always been too honest a person to ever become an accomplished liar. Eventually she had crumbled under Draco's steel grey gaze and told him all about the raven and her suspicions that it was Snape in animagus form. However she did leave out the fact she took her clothes off in front of the bird that may or may not have been Snape.

"Do you know if he's an animagus or not?" Hermione asked.

"I've no idea." Draco replied. "It never really occurs to me to ask my acquaintances if they have the power to turn into an animal at will."

"Thank you Draco for that much needed sarcasm." Hermione snapped.

"Now who's being sarcastic?" Draco asked causing the head girl to scowl. "I'm sorry Hermione, I really don't know if Sev's an animagus or not. Though if he is I can't imagine why he'd send you one of his feathers as a birthday gift."

"What about hanging around outside my window?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know." Draco told her. "Anyway, you said yourself you haven't seen that raven since, and you can't be positive that it was the same raven each time you saw it. You're probably over-analyzing the whole thing, it's probably nothing."

"No, it's something." Hermione insisted. "I know it is."

"You need to calm down." Draco replied. "If you keep stressing yourself out you'll wrinkle prematurely. As it is I think I can see a few strands of grey hairs."

"Oh no you can not." Hermione retorted as her hand subconsciously ran through her curls. "And if you ever say such things to me again then you'll wake up with no hair at all."

The smallest of whimpers escaped the Slytherin boy who was renowned for his love of his sleek blonde hair that always seemed to look perfect even when he came inside from the wind and the rain.

"Look, if you like I can talk to Sev." Draco offered. "See if he'll tell me anything."

"Thanks Draco." Hermione told him gratefully with a large smile.

"But don't get your hopes up." Draco warned her. "Sev doesn't easily confide in others. He'll more than likely throw me out of his office for wasting his precious brooding time."

"He does not brood." Hermione defended. "I was with the two of you this summer remember? I saw him smile and I heard him laugh. And I was there when you sat up all night waiting for him to return home."

"That didn't happen." Draco replied with a brief shake of his head. "I'm a Slytherin; I'd never do such a thing."

Hermione just rolled her eyes at him good-naturedly before selecting herself a book from their small library. She was so thankful it was a weekend.

***

When Hermione next saw Draco after he had promised to talk to professor Snape, the blonde cast her a look that she understood to mean Snape had told him nothing.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I tried, I really did but he wouldn't say a word to me. That either means he is the raven or he's got a bad throat infection and he's temporarily lost his voice."

"I knew it. I knew it." Hermione cried. "He's the raven. I should confront him…I'm going to confront him…I should have done this weeks ago."

"Hermione, stop." Draco called to her as he blocked her exit from the room. "Just calm down, take a deep relaxing breath and think this through before you go barging into Sev's private chambers. I'd bet my broomstick he's still mad at you about this summer. This whole raven thing, if it is him…"

"Oh come on Draco, you and I both know that it was him." Hermione interrupted.

"Ok, it's him." Draco agreed. "But this is probably his way of getting even. You've seen him going about his private life so now he's watching you. It's only fair."

"Fair?" Hermione asked shrilly. "Him spying on me is fair? You're such a Slytherin…only a Slytherin would say something like that."

"Hermione please, just stay here until you've calmed down a little." Draco tried to compromise. "If in an hour or so you still want to confront Sev, which will only result in you losing house points and getting a detention, then fine I won't even try to stop you…but for now, just relax. We could play a game of chess or something."

"I hate chess." Hermione groaned. "Ronald always beats me."

"So there's something Hermione Granger can't do?" Draco asked in amusement which resulted in him having to dodge the cushion Hermione hurtled at him. "Alright pussy cat calm down. We can do something other than chess you know. How about we read each others' palms and tea leaves?" He asked knowing that the girl despised Divination.

In the end, the head boy and girl ended up painting one another's nails and Draco took up a brush and comb and tamed Hermione's stubborn curls into submission.

***

After being pampered by Draco, Hermione certainly felt a great deal calmer. The hot chocolate he had made for her had been delicious and was starting to make her feel drowsy. She struggled to keep her eyes open but her eyelids disobeyed the requests of her mind and they fell shut.

She was dimly aware of being lifted up and carried up to her room and placed on the soft mattress of her bed.

"Sorry Herms." Draco sighed as he tucked the quilt covers over her. "But it's for the best. If you'd have gone down to speak to him things would only…"

His voice faded from her consciousness and she gladly snuggled into the inviting warmth of her bed falling into a deep and peaceful sleep.

***

Once Draco had made sure Hermione was indeed asleep he quietly stepped out of the room ignoring the dark looks Crookshanks was shooting him, the same dark looks that would no doubt appear in Hermione's eyes come morning when she realised what he'd done.

Shutting her bedroom door, Draco made his way back to their shared common room then out of the portrait hole. His intention had been to carry on down to Snape's private rooms but the sight of Harry stood in the corridor stopped him.

"It's after hours." Draco pointed out to the other boy. "You shouldn't be here, if you get caught…"

"Well you're not going to tell on me…are you Draco?" Harry asked. "We're friends now right."

"Right." Draco replied trying to work out if the Gryffindor was flirting with him or not. "But look, you need to go to your dormitory."

"I will." Harry answered. "I just wanted to speak to Hermione first."

"Merlin's sake Potter, can't it wait?" Draco asked.

"My name's Harry." He told him. "And it won't take long. Come on let me in."

"Hermione's asleep." Draco said truthfully. "And one thing my father taught me was to never wake a woman from her slumber. Now if you'll excuse me I have to be somewhere so get back to your dorm or as head boy I will have to report you."

To Draco's surprise, Harry stepped closer pushing him against the wall and pressing their bodies close together.

"Isn't there another reason why they call it head boy?" Harry asked.

Somehow, Draco managed to keep his composure and he stared down at the shorter boy who was smirking at him.

"Fuck off Blaise." Draco snapped as he shoved the other boy away. "You're not funny alright. How did you get your hands on a batch of polyjuice potion anyway?"

"I have my ways." Blaise replied mysteriously with his temporarily borrowed voice.

"Don't fucking tease me like that again." Draco said icily.

"Lighten up. It was only a joke." Blaise told him as he walked down the corridor a few paces behind the blonde.

Draco just shook his head before quickening his pace and stalking off away from the other boy.

Watching him go, Blaise looked down at Harry's hand and smirked as he admired the strand of blonde hair. He should have known that Draco was too smart to fall for the polyjuice guise but with luck when he took some more potion Harry Potter would easily believe that Blaise was Draco.

***

Arriving at his destination, Draco knocked twice upon the door before it magically opened to admit him. He stepped inside and took the seat Snape indicated to him.

"She's asleep." Draco said. "I gave her the draught just as you asked."

"Good." Snape replied.

"Is that all you can say?" Draco asked. "You make me drug my best friend without explaining to me why and all you can say is 'good'?"

"Best friend?" Snape questioned.

"Yes, best friend." Draco replied. "Is that a problem?"

"Not at all." Snape answered. "I merely thought you'd have better taste."

"Now you're starting to sound like my father." Draco told him. "Why did you make me put her to sleep? What was the point? She's only going to wake up tomorrow and be really pissed off with me. Sev, please, just tell me what's going on."

"Nothing you need concern yourself with." Snape said.

"That's not an answer." Draco pointed out.

"Now you're starting to sound like Granger." Snape mocked.

"Sev, I know perfectly well that you're the raven she kept seeing." Draco said. "And more importantly, so does she."

"I know." Snape replied. "But it is important that you keep her distracted enough so that she doesn't come to discuss it."

"Why?" Draco demanded to know. "What happened?"

"That is not your business." Snape snapped.

"You can't expect me to run around keeping Hermione out of your way when you won't even give me a reason why." Draco spoke up. "If you want me to help then you need to give me an explanation. Why were you watching her in the first place? Why did you make me give her a sleeping draught tonight? Why are you so determined not to talk to her about it? What harm will it do? She already knows it was you, all she wants is confirmation."

"She spied on me this summer." Snape replied. "I just thought I'd give her a taste of her own medicine."

"Well not only is that pathetic, it's stupid." Draco commented. "Hermione wasn't spying on you. She was stuck in her animagus form."

"So she says." Snape stated snidely. "As for putting her to sleep, that was just an easy way of making sure she didn't come bursting into my room tonight."

Draco kept silent waiting for the older man to say something more but it seemed the potions master had said all he was going to.

Bidding the man a half-hearted goodnight, Draco made his way back to his room. He crawled under his bed and took out his box. He then selected a fresh piece of parchment and began scribing a new letter to Harry. Just like all the rest, it ended up in the box unread and undelivered.

Placing the box safely under his bed again, Draco stripped down to his underwear then made himself comfortable in his large warm bed. He fell asleep thinking about Harry and woke up to find a very angry Hermione beating him around the head with a pillow.

To Be Continued

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