"Need to hurry…need to hurry…need to hurry" Hermione chanted to herself as she raced back towards the potions classroom

A/N: Alright people first off let me say, after all the wonderfully interesting reviews and comments I received about the last chapter I have taken it upon myself to put Mr. Nott in the character protection program. I feared for his life and if need be Marietta may join him. lol. Seriously though, Thank you guys so much for the wonderful response. It was truly amazing. I didn't get this chapter to the beta but decided to give it to you anyway. The last edits were done about 5 minutes ago. lol. Well I hope you enjoy, and as usual YOU GUYS ROCK. Oh and there is no recap in this one, because you'll see why.

Chapter 27…Confrontations…

"Is that what this is about?" He looked aghast. "Well I'm sorry Lord Malfoy" speaking with as much sarcasm as he could muster. "I didn't realize being married to you changed one's blood status. Forgive me, but where I'm from we call a dog a dog." He sneered as he leaned over the table. "You're becoming quite pathetic, you know that Malfoy. Ever since that farce of a marriage its Hermione this and Granger that. It sickening that's what it is. Next you're going to tell me how she's changed you; How your good little boy now. How you're giving all your gold to riff-raff and gutter-trash and how she's convinced you it was your idea. How you're willing to let her control your family name and fortune. But why stop there; you can become a bloody paragon of virtue like pot-head and weasel. You can be another lackey to some fools idealistic dream, a moron that's just too stupid to live. " He affected a mock salute and stood up to leave. " Congrats Draco, you're so pathetic I've effectively lost my appetite."

"Lost your appetite, have you?" Draco said softly. "Well, that's a shame. Let me help you with that." He didn't bother lifting his wand above the table, aware of the teachers sitting not far away, instead pointing it underneath. An arc of violent yellow light and a crash later, Nott was stuck spread eagle to the wall as all the food in the great hall raced each other in a bid to be first to force itself down his throat. He gagged and choked but was unable to escape the onslaught.

The teachers, momentarily shocked by the scene, were all galvanized into action at once.

Students watched with sick fascination as Nott choked, professors fired counter jinxes and charms, trying to save the boy before he asphyxiated; rampant curiosity was evident and chaos reigned.

Draco shook his head, bringing himself back to the present. He didn't care anymore now then he did then. He didn't care that he could have done serious damage to Nott, He didn't care that the Headmistress was interrogating students like crazy trying to figure out who had attacked him (Nott was strangely mum on the subject), He just didn't care about any of it.

"Ok…It's very important to remember that not all revealing charms…"

The professor droned on but Draco was more interested in his own musings. No matter how hard he tried or how many times he told himself Nott was an idiot, he couldn't help but wonder if the idiot had a point. Six months ago his biggest concern was his family's reputation. He'd called in innumerable favors in order to be put on that favored 20 list and given out innumerable more to make sure he was the first person to request Hermione. His considerable mental capabilities had been focused on re-creating the Malfoy name, and he was confident that he was off to a smashing start. Now…well now he was using his abilities to try to make his wife fall in love with him. The fact that 6 months ago he couldn't care less about her or anyone else love wasn't lost on him. Why did he care?

What did he need love for anyway, he'd done fine without it this long. His parent's loved him in their own way, that had always been enough, so why wasn't it now?

Other then the fact that he was eternally bound to her, she shouldn't matter in the least bit to him, but she did. Was that normal? Maybe he was getting pathetic. The fact that he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he didn't want to hear her say she didn't love him, was just as worrisome. It went beyond the fact that he didn't like losing and beyond the fact that he wanted it and therefore should get it on principal. He wanted her to want to love him; and that didn't make sense to him in the least. Maybe he should…

"Mr. Malfoy"

Draco's eyes re-focused on Professor Weasley, who was standing at the front of the class looking at him expectantly. "Yes?" He didn't like the interruption. He needed to solve this particular problem as quickly as possible; if not for the sake of his sanity then at least so he could get some sleep. It seemed like he'd tossed and turned all night, but that was neither here nor there. He was in class now, and the Prof was talking to him again.

"Would you care to demonstrate for the class?" The Professor repeated patiently.

"Demonstrate?"

"The proper way to unlock a cursed door. Revealing charms and such" he gestured to the huge stone wall and door that stood conspicuously in the front of the class.

Draco momentarily wondered what this Weasel would do if he said 'no, I don't want to demonstrate' and decided to find out. "No, I can't say that I would." If he was condemned to have a bad day, then so would everyone else.

If he had been in any sort of good-humor he would have found the reactions hysterical. Bill looked as shocked as a muggle in the middle of a ghost's convention. Half the students were gaping at him like he'd uttered an unforgivable. Hermione looked like she wanted to kill him and Blaise and Pansy looked as if they'd be rolling on floor at any minute. Unfortunately his humor was as opposite of good as it could get and he just found the attention to be annoying.

"Come up and do it anyway." Bill clipped from the front. He wasn't sure what the Malfoy kid's problem was, but he wasn't going to let him get away with disrespect.

Draco's familiar sneer set in and his eyes became cold and flat as he stood and walked to the front of the room. "Any particular way you want it done."

"You could try what we just went over…unless you think you know a better way, than by all means use that."

As he hadn't been paying attention he didn't know what they'd just gone over, and though it would have been an easy thing to go through Hermione's memories he didn't fancy being in her head at the moment. Mainly because she would know (he was a good teacher) but also because he'd been trying to avoid her as much as possible and flitting through her head was somewhat counterproductive.

Thinking of the strongest blasting spell he knew he pointed his wand and said the spell in his mind as non-verbal's were a requirement at newt level.

There was an almighty bang and dust and debris flew everywhere obstructing everyone's vision. Much to the amusement of the class, a quick ventilating charm revealed the door to be standing proudly but the wall surrounding it seemed to be gone with the wind. All that was left was the door.

"The door's still up." Bill pointed out unnecessarily

"But you don't need it." Draco sneered.

"Did you even check to see what types of curses were on the door?"

"Why would I? I got in fine without it."

"But you didn't. The door is still standing, you went through the wall."

"It cost less time and effort to make a new door then to try to work with the one there." Draco supplied calmly; perversely enjoying the fact that he was making Weasley angry.

"The exercise wasn't in time management."

"Then next time find someone who cares about the exercise." Draco retorted. He watched the color infuse the increasingly irate Prof. Weasley, knowing that he was sure to get detention; one more thing to annoy him.

The bell signaling the end of the class period sounded. "I want to see you in my office Mr. Malfoy…Now."

"There's a shocker." Draco muttered to himself but still gathered his things and followed the professor up the stairs into his private office.

Bill started in on him as soon as the door clicked. "I don't care who you're married to, or where you spent Christmas. Disrespect will not be tolerated. I'm assigning you detention. Be here tomorrow night, 8 o' clock sharp."

"Whatever you say…Professor" he sneered the last bit with all the contempt and anger he was harboring.

Bill's eyes narrowed on him for a moment before he asked, "You know Malfoy…" He spoke his name with just as much venom as Draco used. "You may want to keep that temper of yours in check. Because quite frankly I'm not in the mood for your attitude and if putting you in detention every night for the rest of the school year is the only way to shut you up…well then, I'll just have to make that sacrifice."

"That's assuming detention will – how did you phrase it – right, Shut me up. I'll warn you it never worked all that well before."

Bill shrugged and looked at him with something close to pity in his eyes. "How old are you, 17, 18? When are you going to stop acting like a spoiled little git and grow up?"

Draco's demeanor got considerably more agitated; whether it was from the condescension in Prof. Weasley's tone or his implication that Draco still acted like a child, was anyone's guess. "That's rich coming from a Weasley, the family of perpetual children and screw ups."

"What's your problem?"

"I should think it would be obvious. You're my only problem at the moment."

"No there's something else." Bill guessed shrewdly. "We've never had more then a handful of conversations but this is the first time you've been as nasty as Ron said you were. Why's that?"

"I've been in the dumps the last couple of months, but I'm better now; fear not."

"Drop the bull shit Malfoy. What the hell is going on? I'm a professor remember, I can keep you here all day." Bill lounged back in his chair looking as relaxed as ever, hoping it would infuriate Malfoy more. The sooner they got to the heart of the issue the sooner the jack-ass could get out of his office.

"I have other classes today."

"Well I would suggest you talk quick, 'cause I'm not writing you a pass."

Draco looked aghast. Not only was this sorry excuse for a professor keeping him from his other classes, but he was going to let him get in trouble for it too. Well to hell with that. Draco turned and walked towards the door only to have it shut in his face and a myriad of colors pass across it in what was unmistakably a curse being set.

"I took the liberty of cursing the walls too in case you decided to try your earlier stunt." Bill smiled. "There's a chair there, you may as well sit. If you're as stubborn as they say we'll be here for a while."

"If you think this is going to make me talk to you, you're sadly mistaken. I'm not one of you're pathetic brothers…just waiting to cry my eyes out every time something happens. So spare me the counseling session. I don't need your help" Draco spat from where he stood by the door.

"So something did happen." Bill said with a smile, ignoring Draco's jab at his family. From what he'd heard from all of his younger brothers and sisters, excluding Charlie, The kid liked to lash out and Bill would readily agree with the assessment.

"Excuse me?" Draco growled, not pleased that he was being forced to stay here.

"You said you aren't going to cry on my shoulder every time something happens, which is good because I don't want you on my shoulder, but because you said it, that tells me something happened. So what happened?"

"Obviously they didn't teach you about hypothetical situations." Draco drawled, trying to get some of his usual detachment back.

"I…" he emphasized the word. "and I repeat I didn't have to be taught. But realizing you're not working to your full capacity today, I'll explain to you that in order for a situation to be hypothetical it can't be real. You're really angry and I'm guessing you didn't just decide to be that way so something must have really set you off meaning that whatever happened was indeed real."

"Why do you even give a damn, Weasley?" Draco ignored his skewed logistics. It was time he took this conversation in hand.

"Among other things…You're being disrespectful and disrupting my class."

"And that tells me why I have detention. Not why you're harassing me, keeping me from learning in my other classes, and generally being a pain in my arse." Draco folded his hands behind his head and waited.

"You were harassing me, keeping the other students from learning and being a pain in my arse…"

"You called me to the front of the room after I said I didn't want to be there, I might add. Anything that resulted from that would be your own fault. Don't try to blame it on me."

"There you go acting like a spoiled little snot again. As soon as you have to do something you may not like then the world's got to pay for it. Grow up. I have a bit of a news flash for you Draco, life is full of things you probably won't like. Learn to cope."

"You don't know a damn thing about me or my life Weasley so why don't you keep your fat mouth shut." Draco sneered. "You think just because we had dinner…because I may have talked to you for five minutes that you know me. Well I have a bit of a news flash for you, you may be so simple that five minutes can deduce everything about you, but the rest of us are slightly more complicated than that."

"I don't think I know you, and to be frank I'm fairly certain I don't want to. Just from casual observation I found you to be a stuck-up, self-centered, and a complete waste of natural talent and space. In fact, generally when I look at you I can't help but feel bad for Hermione. She was a good kid, slightly bossy but still a good kid. But being stuck with you, "Bill shrugged. He could have been talking about a garden gnome for all the concern he showed, but his eyes were watching Malfoy carefully, hoping he would find the trigger that would get past his natural defenses and let the kid show some genuine emotion. "That's certainly not going to do much for her disposition. Everyone knew how much she hated you. Add a loveless marriage and insufferable in-laws and I would bet 20 galleons that she turns into a neurotic psychopath in a year. And I really would hate to see what any kids– "

One moment he was sitting thinking of something, anything to tell the interfering sod to get him off his back and the next moment Draco was standing wand drawn pointing directly at Prof. Weasley's face. There was a dull roaring in his head and some part of him was aware that attacking a teacher was much worse then attacking a student, but that part was overshadowed by the need to silence him; the need to stop those horrible words that seemed to echo in his brain. Hated you…loveless marriage…they repeated themselves over and over each time bringing a fresh wave of hurt and anger. A reality he didn't want to begin to deal with. No, he couldn't…wouldn't hear him. "Enough…" he whispered softly, menacingly "We are done now. Open the door." he still hadn't lowered his wand.

" No, were not done. Now sit down and put that away." When Draco didn't move to comply, Bill spoke again. " Are you going hex me Draco? Is that your answer to everything? Someone says something you don't feel like hearing and you hex them. Is that how you deal? You don't bother to think, you just go shooting your wand off will you nil you all over the place! Sit your arse down! You're smarter than that. What're you thinking? You going to hex a professor? An Order member at that, please! You may be the Lord of Malfoy Manor. You may be the richest kid on this side of the Continent, but guess what?! You're still a kid. You're 18 and still in school. YOU. ARE. A. KID. A kid with a lot to learn."

"Funny, earlier you said I needed to grow up." Draco lowered his wand, but didn't bother sitting down. As far as he was concerned this meeting was over. "You are more then welcome to say what you want about me, as I have no problem insulting you right back. But leave my family out of it."

"Bother you, does it? Kinda glad, I was beginning to wonder if you were made form ice."

Draco shrugged, "They're not here to defend themselves." He came up with what should have been a plausible excuse.

Bill scoffed, "Sure, because my family was here when you had a go at them. No tell the truth. What really bothered you about what I said?"

"Does it matter? Just don't do it."

"Matters to me."

"Don't really care about what matters to you."

"I believe that." Bill laughed.

Draco's stone cold facade was even forced to soften for a moment; but only for a moment. He was still achingly aware of the horrible words and his own depressing thoughts. "Why are you trying to get reactions out of me? this can't sill be because of the little incident in class…You're a Weasley, you're not that blood thirsty." Draco was all business again.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Bill said dryly. "Maybe I thought you could use a bit of release. I imagine hexing Nott once didn't give you much."

Draco's eyes shot up to connect with Bill's but that was the only outward reaction he showed to the comment. "Now you're assuming I did something to Nott, my housemate, Roommate, and a guy I've been friends with for years. Why?"

"Lucky guess. It just came to me. But fear not, no pun intended, I'm not going to turn you in. I'm sure he did something to deserve it."

"Again assuming you're correct, which I'm not saying you are. How do you know I didn't just do it out of spite? He may have taken the roll I wanted." Draco said snarkily, all the while waiting for his answer.

Bill scoffed. "Please! I had to insult your parent's, you're wife and mention you're future children before you even touched your wand."

"You're a teacher."

"yeah and the great hall was full of them. No don't insult me, you may not admit that you did it for obvious reasons, but we both know you were provoked."

Draco studied him hard before asking again "Why do you care"

"Dunno, I'm a masochist I guess." He gave a dry humorless laugh. "So you going to tell me what he said; must've been something for you to still be on about it days later."

Draco just looked at him.

"Again, we'll be here all day. You're class is going to be over in about 5 minutes and then we'll be cutting into you're free time. I'm sure you don't want that."

Draco quickly looked at his watch and swore to himself. The interfering sod was right, classes were about to be over which meant a plethora of things, not the least of which was that Nott would be back in the dorm where his treasured pet was sleeping without him there to protect him. "I Have to leave, I'll come back and you can continue on with you useless line of questioning, but I have to go now."

"Why?"

"Because I do."

"That's not a reason Draco, and you're not getting out of here without a good reason."

Draco stood silent his inner mind at war with itself. He knew he could tell Weasley and Weasley would let him go, but that would be revealing way too much information. The watch on his wrist seemed to be amplified as he heard each individual tick as the seconds went by with tense regularity. "I have to geo get something out of my room." He tried to hedge.

"What and why."

"Is this between us?" Draco asked carefully, not seeing a viable way out and not having time to create one.

"Like you would trust me even if I said yes."

"You're a Weasley," He said like that answered everything "loyal to the end and all that rubbish. I'd believe you."

"Then yes, strictly between us." Bill waited, wondering what the hell he needed to go get so bad that he would agree to come back once he was out.

"I got a…pet for Christmas. It's still a baby and at the moment asleep in my dorm." He answered slowly, unaware that he was holding his breath waiting for some sort of reaction form Prof. Weasley.

"And why is it so important to go get it now?" Bill asked, he had a good idea why but he wanted Draco to say it.

"Because I have to get him before Nott gets there." Draco let him draw his own conclusions after that.

Bill smiled a little at the confession. He hadn't thought much of teaching when he first received the offer. After the accident and then the war and with Fluer's pregnancy he hadn't been keen on traveling, breaking curses for Gringotts so he'd accepted grudgingly. Now he was thinking he might not be half-bad at it. "Congratulations Mister Malfoy, you finally admitted that there is something going on between you and Mr. Nott and lightening hasn't struck you down. You haven't been eviscerated or disfigured. Amazing. You're free to go, I expect you back here at 8 o' clock tomorrow night. You still have detention and we still have a lot to talk about." Bill un-cursed the door with a skillful flick of his wand.

"Can't wait." Draco said sarcastically as he left. He took the steps down two at a time quickly making his way across the now empty Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Just as he made it to the door the bell signaling the end of classes; cursing under his breath he increased his speed while pushing people out of his way.

DMHGDMHGDMHGDMHG

She was hungry, she was tired, she had studying, homework, and head duties to do and, as if all that wasn't bad enough, her husband was still avoiding her and every other living being. Needless to say Hermione wasn't in a good mood as she made her way through the common room towards her dorm.

She woken up as early as humanly possible grabbed a piece of fruit for breakfast and settled herself in her Arithmancy class an hour before it started so she could study in peace. That was hours ago. Lunch was in full swing and she was determined she would eat something substantial and then have a long over due talk with Draco to find out what in the world was going on.

That was the plan she'd devised and was well on her way to implementing it. She pushed open the door to what she was sure was her empty dorm only to find chaos.

It was empty like she'd assumed, but it hadn't been that way for long apparently. All her clothes were strewn about the room, her books were in shreds on the floor, and everything she owned that was breakable was broken. If not for the huge words painted across her sheets she would have thought that whoever had done this was searching for something. But she wasn't that lucky. No she knew the exact reason her things had been defiled, it was written plain as day 'stupid mudblood bitch…you don't belong and you will never be more than trash. Stop trying. Keep your nose out of places it doesn't belong.' Not that it made any sense to her, but the nerve of some people was just galling.

She hadn't done anything, had she? Maybe someone had found out about Draco offering her those Board seats. Or maybe they were just mean a hateful and didn't really have a reason.

Whichever it was, it really didn't matter. All that mattered was that her room was now a mess, she was still hungry and tired and busy as Merlin, and now she had to worry about fanatical idiots coming to ransack her stuff or worse. It was too much. She could feel each individual pound of her head against her skull and was half tempted to crawl into one of the empty beds and shut the world out; at least for a few hours. She really didn't need this, not now. It was just to much for one person to deal with and refuge under the covers was looking more and more appealing.

Hiding, however, never had been her style and it wasn't a habit she wanted to get into. No she would face this problem with logic and discipline, head on just like she usually did.

Squaring her shoulders, she decided it was best to just clean up the mess. The Headmistress would believe her when she told her about it and she couldn't stand the sight of it any longer.

People really were sick to do something like that to another person. Muttering about the injustice of it all, she went about eradicating evidence of the mess and salvaging most of her things. The only things that were irreparable were some of the books she'd brought to read for fun. They'd been strategically burned so that they were recognizable but unusable, and at that moment she was inexplicably glad she'd left the book Draco gave her at the Manor

Draco! She still needed to find him and figure out what was bothering him. Then maybe she would mention this and they could figure out who was trying to give her the migraine from hell so she could curse them. Having done all she could do in the room she put her important things inside the trunk and locked it this time, as well as all the doors and windows before she left. It was something she would start doing everyday now.

.

No matter how many times she told herself, not to think about it she couldn't help but wonder who would do that and why. It was fairly obvious, at least to her, that it had to be someone in Slytherin. No one else cared about her blood status. That should have caused her to wonder over how they had gotten there, but the memory of Draco flying in and out of her window was startlingly clear and if he could do it why couldn't someone else; it's not like she'd thought to lock the window. No she'd purposely left it unlocked, hoping someone else would visit her. Not that she would tell him that, but she was starting to miss him, which is why his issue was getting solved today. She didn't think she could handle his coldness to much longer.

So caught up in her own little world, she didn't notice the two people coming towards her until they were right in front of her and waving their arms around looking rather foolish.

"Hermione!! Earth to Hermione!!" Ginny called, a worried frown creasing her tan skin.

"Huh..what? Oh Gin, Pansy…what are you two doing here? Why aren't you at lunch?" Hermione asked coming back to herself.

"We're done and we were coming to look for you. Have you eaten yet? You skipped breakfast." Ginny said accusingly.

"No, I was on my way there now…and how did you know I skipped breakfast?"

"I was there most of the time." She shrugged.

Hermione just nodded. "Was there a reason you were looking for me?"

"A couple actually." Pansy said dryly, though clearly she wasn't in the conversation. "Flame wanted to tell you off for keeping secrets from her, and I need your help with something…but you can eat first. It wouldn't do to have you daydreaming about food instead of concentrating" She added as an after thought when Hermione's stomach growled..

She had a look Hermione was use to seeing on Draco, a look that said he was formulating so crazy idea she probably wouldn't approve of, but she would deal with that later. "Keeping what from you?" She asked Ginny instead; getting the easier issue out of the way first.

"This you skunk…"she thrust an elegantly folded piece of parchment into Hermione's hand not managing to hold her frown as her face broke into an excited smile. "You should have told me…I could have helped you plan it. I helped with the wedding and that turned out wonderfully…"

Ginny kept rambling on but Hermione wasn't paying any attention to her. She had gone into shock as soon as she started reading the invitation in her hand. One more thing she didn't need. "Gin I had nothing to do with this. In fact, I was and am adamantly against this disaster waiting to happen, not that it matters." She said resentfully as she re-read the missive.

"You didn't know about it?" Pansy asked a look of disbelief evident on her aristocratic face.

"Well yes I knew," Hermione muttered, "but I was hoping she would come to her senses. Wishful thinking." Hermione sighed and then explained to them about Narcissa and Bronwyn and the tea time meeting that led to Narcissa planning her 'Anniversary party'. "So yes, I knew, no I don't agree and I can't believe she put both our names on these invitations like I was inviting people too. She knew I didn't want to be involved. She knew, I made sure she knew."

"Oh precious relax." Pansy snapped though not cruelly. "Sometimes we have to do things we'd rather not for the greater good."

"And explain to me how this helps the greater good." Hermione said skeptically.

"Anything that shuts up Bronwyn-the-brown-noser is for the greater good. Besides she slighted you first."

"Why should I care if she invites me to a party that I wouldn't go to anyway? Playing this little game is what gives her power. If everyone were to just ignore her, would anything she says matter…no of course not." Hermione defended.

"But everyone won't ignore her. Everyone goes to her Garden party, or at least they did." Pansy smirked maliciously. "It's usually the first event of the season. She'll be in a right state now. No one is going to turn down an invitation to Malfoy Manor; they're just too rare…." She stopped and thought for a minute. "You know, besides your wedding, I don't think I've heard of them having a party there since Draco's birth. No everyone will definitely be there. I am shocked though. I don't know how she managed to get her invitations out before Mrs. Nott."

"She's probably been working on them night and day." Hermione said venomously.

Pansy thought about it for a minute before she shrugged. "I'll ask her about it later. If I were you precious I would just go with the flow. When it comes to things like this, you won't get a better teacher then Narcissa Malfoy."

"O joy O bliss." Hermione muttered sarcastically. "Just what I needed to learn." She shook her head before another thought popped in, this one even less comforting then all the rest. "When did you get these anyway?"

"This morning at breakfast, a whole troop of official looking owls came in. it was quite a scene actually." Ginny finished thoughtfully.

"Great just great; at least now I know why… and probably who, for that matter." She cursed under her breath. "And I know whose doorstep to lay the blame on. Interfering psycho in-laws."

"What are you talking about?" Ginny exchanged a worried look with Pansy.

"Nothing, I'll tell you about it later." She muttered tiredly, "What else was it that you wanted?"

"I need your help brewing a potion," Hermione's stomach gave a particularly large growl. "But you should eat first. Ginny and I can start it." Pansy said with finality.

"What's it for?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

Ginny shrugged. "No idea, she won't tell me."

"That's because I don't want it getting out yet, I will tell you but in the middle of the corridor isn't the best place."

"Everyone's at lunch"

"Still"

"Oh quit with the cryptic…I'm tired and hungry, just out with it. I may have the potion already brewed and in my supply kit. And wouldn't you feel foolish if you sat there brewing a whole new batch, wasting precious time that could be used to study for NEWTS."

"Trust me, you don't have it." Pansy said with a shake of her head.

"How do yo– it's not illegal is it? You're not trying to get me to brew an illegal potion because I swear if you are Pansy I'-"

"What do you take me for?! If it were illegal I'd go to Draco, much more discreet."

"I'm discreet" Hermione was affronted.

"Of course you are, and this has nothing to do with that anyway. No this is something I'd just rather do with girls then boys, is all…" Pansy hedged, looking uncomfortable.

"Well what's it for." Ginny tried again.

"it's sort of almost like an divulging solution." Pansy studied the ceiling.

"And what are you trying to find out." Hermione persisted, still worried about the legality of any potion pansy wanted to make.

"Well…I kinda think… I might sort of be pregnant."