Well here I am, updating this story four days after my last update. And why?

...I don't know...

Oh well.

Disclaimer: See last chapter

Claimer: See last chapter


Harry blinked. What was Malfoy doing here? And furthermore, who was he expecting to see? If Harry and Hermione backed into some shadowy corner, would Malfoy think no one was actually here?

The vague plan that had taken shape in Harry's head was crushed instantly when Hermione, startled, snapped back, "What are we doing here? I think the question should be what are you doing here, Malfoy? It's eleven-forty-five at night!"

"Did I not just say that?" Malfoy replied, "You took your time getting here, didn't you?"

Harry found her voice at that.

"You were waiting for us?"

"Of course I was!" Malfoy said, sounding irritated, "When I was so inconsiderably assaulted by Weasley earlier today, this fell out of his pocket."

His face looking a little red, Malfoy added, "And if I hadn't picked it up, someone more willing to tell the professors would have."

The last part sounded as if Malfoy had thought it up on the spot, and perhaps he had; in his hand, the Slytherin boy was holding Charlie's letter to Ron. Harry took it and jammed it deep into her own pocket. Harry wasn't certain what to say in this sort of situation, but thankfully Hermione was rarely at a loss for words.

"That doesn't explain why you're here," the bushy-haired witch said, "Or what you want, and we don't have time for questions. Either help us get up the stairs or go back to your common room, Malfoy, but at the very least will you please get out of the way? You're standing right in the middle of the staircase!"

Malfoy seemed startled by this, but moved out of the way. Hermione began levitating Norbert's crate up the steps, and Harry moved to assist her with only a last lingering look at the confused Slytherin boy. The two of them managed to get Norbert's crate all the way to the top of the Astronomy Tower without any further delays, and Harry had the invisibility cloak off the crate and stuffed underneath her shirt before Malfoy made it the rest of the way up the stairs behind them.

They were just in the nick of time. After only a minute's wait, four broomsticks came swooping down from the depths night sky. Their riders, Charlie's friends, were very cheerful despite the late hour, eagerly showing off the harness they had rigged to carry Norbert in his crate between them. Once every strap was in place and buckled firmly, Charlie's friends shook hands all around (even Malfoy's, to his confusion and Harry and Hermione's bemusement) before mounting their brooms, kicking off in unison, and rising swiftly into the air, Norbert's crate rattling loudly. In another few moments, they were all out of sight, and Harry and Hermione were enjoying their first moment of relief in a week.

"I can't believe we managed it!" Hermione exclaimed as they began making their way down the stairs, "I could sing!"

"I wouldn't," Harry said dryly, before turning to Malfoy.

"Are you going to tell anyone about this now?" she inquired.

Hermione lost her joyful look at this reminder, whilst Malfoy looked thoughtful.

"There'd be no point in telling the professors," Malfoy said, "I wouldn't have any proof, so I'd only be making a fool of myself."

"Why did you come up here anyway?" Hermione asked, "You never did say why."

Malfoy deliberately looked away as he said, "Merely my curiosity acting up."

It certainly didn't sound very convincing to Harry…she recalled how open he had been about his infatuation with her before the term, and how there had been no sign of that infatuation for months now…

'I hope he wasn't thinking he could be some kind of valiant helper in this,' Harry thought, 'If Ron had come with us, they would have ripped each other's heads off. And that would have attracted a professor, I'd bet.'

They had just reached the bottom of the staircase, and were about to make their way down the corridors when Harry felt a sudden spike of alarm shoot down her spine.

"Oh no," Harry groaned.

Hermione and Malfoy looked at her, baffled. Before Harry could say anything else, a sharp voice rang out in the corridor from behind them.

"WHAT do you three think you're doing out of bed at this hour of the night!"

That piercing voice belonged to an upset Professor McGonagall, and when the three turned, she was striding down the corridor, eyes already flashing in indignation. Hermione made a squeak, and looked like she was about to faint then-and-there.

"It's half-past midnight! There is no excuse for any student to be in this part of the castle - Ms. Granger? Ms. Potter! And Mr. Malfoy?"

McGonagall seemed surprised at first - they didn't make the most likely combination of students, Harry would admit - but then her outrage returned tenfold.

"You three, follow me at once!" McGonagall snapped, and began walking towards the nearest staircase leading down.

The repercussions were not pretty. McGonagall demanded an explanation of what the three of them were doing, but Harry and Hermione couldn't think of one that didn't implicate Hagrid for buying and attempting to raise an illegal dragon. Hermione's mind seemed to have nearly shut down completely from the shock and shame of being caught breaking rules by her Head of House. Malfoy, for his part, insisted that he had merely been going on a walk.

"This late at night at the Astronomy Tower?" sniffed McGonagall, "I will hear no such foolish lies. There is nothing that gives you the right to wander about the corridors at this time of night!"

Unfortunately, there were no answers that could satisfy the Transfiguration Professor - even telling about Norbert and Hagrid would be no good. Finally, McGonagall settled for taking fifty points from each of them. Later, they would be serving detentions.

Harry had almost gotten used to being a normal member of a student body during her time at Hogwarts. But the next day, when the school discovered that Gryffindor had lost one hundred points overnight, no one seemed able to believe it. Slytherin's fifty-point loss, it was reported, was resolved in the Potions classes of the day, and no one besides Harry and Hermione seemed to know it had been Malfoy who lost those points. That information soon became irrelevant when their fellow Gryffindors figured out who was responsible for their loss, and for the permanent damage that had been done to Gryffindor's winning the House Cup. All because famous Harley Potter and her know-it-all friend had decided to be complete idiots.

Ron stayed loyal, which was nice, but almost everyone else in the house started shunning Hermione and Harry as soon as they heard the news. Lavender and Parvarti were a constant source of dirty looks, and Harry began putting a binding spell on her trunk to prevent the contents from being 'disturbed' when she was out of the dormitory - just in case.

Hermione didn't seem able to cope very well. She started keeping her head down and not answering questions in their classes, and twice Harry had seen Hermione burst into tears after being glared at by the older years. Even the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws got in on the action. The only ones enjoying things were the Slytherins, and after a couple of days Harry decided that if she was 'congratulated' by Pansy Parkinson one more time the other girl was going to have to fish her eyebrows out of Moaning Myrtle's toilet.

Quidditch, which Harry had been starting to enjoy, had turned even more unpleasant as the rest of the team started addressing her as 'The Seeker' when it was necessary to talk about her and otherwise ignoring her completely. Well, Fred and George weren't going so far, Harry was relieved to notice, but they did seem disappointed.

It was a relief to have something to break the tension, even if that something was their detentions finally being decided. One morning at breakfast, an owl fluttered to Harry's place at the table bearing a note.

'Your detention will take place at eleven o' clock tonight. Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall,' the note said.

Ron plucked the note out of Harry's fingers and read it, blanching. He was holding an identical note in his other hand - Hermione's.

"Filch, ugh," Ron groaned, "I'd rather have detention with Snape again."

"Very helpful, Ron," Harry said tersely, watching Hermione pick at her food without any enthusiasm whatsoever.

'Well, at least this can't get any worse,' Harry thought morosely.