Hermione's POV

She was early, as expected. Draco had already got into the train, but he didn't spare her a glance. Pansy sent her a sorry look and followed her best friend in. Hermione could understand that. Her own best friend was late; if she has to miss the train because of Harry…

The train was about to go when finally Harry appears of the platform, running, followed by his two uncles. Sirius Black helped Harry into the train while Professor Lupin was holding a baby; all of them were panting. The baby seems happy with the commotion secured in his guardian's arms.

"You are late, Harry Potter!" Hermione nagged him.

"Almost late," Sirius Black grinned the same time as Professor Lupin apologized.

"I am sorry, Hermione!" Harry hugged her.

Hermione huffed, but guided him to their compartment. Ron, Neville and Ginny were already there playing Exploding Snap; they all had already agreed not to mention Draco.

Harry greeted everyone and waved to his uncles as the train made its way out of the station. Hermione took out her book, she didn't really like playing games, whether it was sports or board games. Harry joined the ongoing game and a big chunk of the journey passed like this.

Over the pages of her book Hermione watched Harry carefully. He was skittish, restless and raised his eyes every time someone passed by their compartment.

Hermione saw Harry freeze; she knew it was Draco without turning to the door.

"I will go and say hi to my Slytherins now," He says loudly and grabbed his bag.

"Okay, mate, take care with the vipers," Ron said cheerfully.

"You only leave now because I am beating you," Ginny grinned.

"You'd win anyway, Gin," He smiled and walked out.

Hermione's eyes followed him.

"He will be fine, Hermione," Ron sighed.

"The guy he considered his best friend turned out to be an… ass. Imagine sharing a room with someone like that," Neville shudders.

"His best friend? And what am I, chopped liver?" Ron puffed his chest.

"Nope, Brussel sprouts, those are even nastier," Ginny snickered.

Neville laughed and the siblings started to bicker.

Hermione smiled and returned to her book. Maybe it was nothing, Harry usually splits his time between them and his Slytherin friends, nothing new here. So, when he didn't return to the compartment, she tried not to worry; her best friend did it all the time.

She went off the train after the commotion pass, one of the last ones. She looked around, but didn't spot Harry in the crowd. She saw Draco laughing with some of the other Slytherin boys, but not her friend.

"Come on, they will leave us behind!" Ginny urged her while Ron and Neville rushed ahead.

Hermione tossed one last look behind; she had a bad feeling about this… She spotted Luna jump back on the train wearing one of her weird glasses, but shrugged, she had long since stopped trying to understand Luna.

Harry was late to the dinner as well. He missed the announcement that Snape would be their new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. His seat at the Slytherin table, by Draco's right, was taken by a very chatty Nott. Pansy and Blaise were at their usual seats, but both were looking down and keeping to themselves. Hermione searched for Luna, she was seldom at the Ravenclaw table so it was quite hard to spot her… there, she was whispering something to Ginny and Neville at the Gryffindor table.

There were only a few minutes before the Feast ends and Harry finally made his appearance. He wasn't injured, but he didn't look ok. He passed by his usual table and sat by Ron at the Gryffindor table; the others greeted him merrily. Luna looked at him worried and then glared at the Slytherin table. Luna never glared, never got angry at anyone… Hermione was truly worried now.

When the room cleared of the first years and some of the others, Hermione slipped by Harry. Lavender dragged Ron off a few minutes ago leaving Harry alone.

"What happened?" She asked.

Harry jumped; he didn't notice her lost in thoughts.

"Wha'?" He answered smartly.

"You are never late to the Feast and Luna's been glaring at the Slytherin table for the past hour. What did Draco do?"

Harry flinched. They hadn't mentioned Draco's name in a few months by unspoken agreement.

"I… used the Invisibility Cloak to go and… keep an eye on him… them. They were spewing random racist crap, Newt was taunting D… Malfoy about something, an important role he received… I stayed in the compartment till we reached the station, I thought they hadn't noticed me… But Draco did… When they were going out, he cast a body bind on me… He said he will leave me there covered with the cloak till I get back to London… Luna found me and lifted the spell."

Hermione tried to close her mouth, but it was pretty hard. She heard Draco had gone a bit off the rails, but she couldn't really process it. It didn't seem like the same Draco she knew. He was always cold and a bit rude, but nothing like what he was now… Last year he had changed a lot to fit with the Inquisition Squad, but that was history now.

"What are you planning to do?" Hermione asked.

"What can I do?"

"Report him to Snape!"

Harry looked around, no one is close enough to hear.

"He told me to stay away this year, to act like we are strangers."

"You can send him a letter."

"We do not know what is safe… I will be fine, I can handle myself."

"His actions are worrying!"

"Hermione, it will be fine!" Harry reassured her.

The next day, Hermione went to class as normal; nothing was out of the ordinary. She had the first class with the Hufflepuffs and then Care of Magical Creatures with the Gryffindors. They were studying Unicorns, for a whole month, since Professor Grubby-Plank tried to expose them to as little creatures as possible.

Hermione was tagging behind with her bucket of Unicorn food, the rest of her class were running up ahead the path to the Unicorn enclosure Hagrid had built after their first year.

"Hey, stranger!" Neville's voice rang from behind her. She turned.

"Hello, Neville" Hermione smiled. "How come you are alone, is Ron sick?" She asked trying to not let her concern seep into her words.

"No, he is up ahead with Lavender again," Neville sighed.

"Lavender?"

"They are dating now, apparently!" Neville raised his hand. "He's been hanging out with her in every class today."

"How did that happen?"

"She asked him to go out last night and he said yes."

"Of course, he did" Hermione bit her lip.

"Can I… stay with you for this class?"

"Of course!" She beamed. Neville knew a lot about herbs and usually she really liked his company and enthusiasm. He pointed out plants to her and shared interesting tidbits about them, but today somehow her brain couldn't concentrate. Neville was talking about a plant that could defy gravity and Hermione heard his voice like she was underwater. What was happening to her?

Hermione had been off the whole day after that. In Potions they had to make a Draught of the Living Dead and whoever succeeded would receive a vial of Liquid Luck, and she stirred both times clockwise… Her potion had the wrong color, she brewed a Polyjuice potion for Merlin's sake…

Draco was the one that got the prize – Draco Malfoy now since he officially changed his name. She turned around to look at Harry, a powerful potion like that in Draco's hands could only mean trouble… And why was Theodore Nott smiling so broadly anyway? Showing that many teeth, creepy.

It didn't get easier for Hermione after that. She was distracted, she needed to focus even more to pay attention; her grades weren't slipping yet, but she felt like she was on the precipice. Ron and Lavender were everywhere, she didn't realize how much their life had intertwined. In class, there they were not paying attention and passing notes; on their trips to Hogsmeade, their free time, she hadn't got to exchange a word with Ron without Lavender being there as well, glued to his side.

Harry was in a bad mood as well… Draco has requested them to change rooms and Harry is rooming with Blaise now. At Nott's instructions, Crabbe and Goyle were giving Harry a hard time in the Slytherin dorm. Blaise was the only Slytherin Hermione talked to… Pansy was also by Draco's side, she didn't look worried, but Hermione knew she must've been… She kind of missed Pansy too.

The next few weeks felt like Hermione was living through years of bad luck. She had to work harder than ever to keep her grades up. It was like all around her people were going crazy, all that everyone talked about was dating. Harry was a breath of fresh air, but all that he ever talked about was Draco.

Ron had Lavender constantly hanging off his arm. Ginny was hanging out with Dean and Seamus and Neville would pine at the sight of them. She started spending more time in the Ravenclaw tower than ever before, but even there she saw two people kissing in the library… all over the books. Was this normal? Was she missing an important stage in human evolution? Hermione had no idea and no one to ask.

She was hanging around by the Astronomy tower one evening, she knew they weren't any classes that day so the road should be clear. She wasn't expecting any company, but she got one anyway. She was conjuring some birds, playing with a new spell when Pansy walked in.

"You look like someone pissed in your soup."

"It's cereal," Hermione sighed. "But I appreciate the try anyway."

Pansy took a seat by her, the birds flew over her head menacingly.

"What is wrong with you?"

"You can talk to me now?" Hermione glared.

"Hermione… It's not like that, you know it's not that I do not want to."

"I know, it's just easier to go with the flow". The birds closed in, they were ruffling Pansy's hair.

"Blaise said I am a coward as well."

"What do you want, Pansy?" Hermione sighed defeated.

"Some room to breathe… I am so tired."

Hermione flicked her wand and the birds disappeared leaving Pansy's perfect bob messy.

"I heard about Weasley and Brown," Pansy started after a few minutes of silence.

"They are everywhere, kind of hard to miss…"

"Are you okay?" Pansy asked concern bleeding into her voice.

"Of course, I am!" Hermione glared.

"It's fine to not be" Pansy said.

"I just… I hate him so much…"

"I know," Pansy's tone was softer than she ever heard before.

The next few days got even worse. The school was filled with couples; people Hermione has never even seen interacting with each other were starting relationships. Harry had started chatting up a Slytherin girl and has abandoned her, Pansy was still not interacting with her in public. What happened to the school?

She was reading in the library one night, alone since no one was showing up to the study group anymore. She was sure there was a couple making out behind some shelves, but she was ignoring them.

"I know I would find you here!" Pansy said bustling in.

"Is something wrong?"

Pansy took a seat at her table and tossed aside the books Hermione had opened in front of her. She started talking before Hermione got to protest.

"My parents gave me an old family heirloom, it's an heir ring, solid silver, has our crest and all that, but can also detect poison or if something is put into your food or drink," Pansy extend edher hand, she had two rings, one with the Malfoy crest Draco had given her and a new one, with what Hermione assumed was the Parkinson's crest, a sword and a wand crossed. "So, I was eating my breakfast this morning and the ring turned pink, my food was tempered with."

"Someone tried to poison you!?"

"No, you see, poison is purple, pink means potion, especially love potion since the purebloods were worried about their heirs being targeted," Pansy explained.

"But who has access to your meal?"

"The kitchen elves, but I highly doubt it's them."

"Do you think…" Hermione started "The school is acting weird, I think it's not only you."

"We have a serial love potion giver?"

"No, love potions make the target fall in love with the person that is feeding it to them."

"So, it a house elf or someone trying to raise chaos?"

"It's not a house elf," Hermione rolled her eyes. "I was thinking that some of the new relationships happening were kind of weird."

"Should we do something about it?"

"Of course, we should!" Hermione glared. "We should start with the kitchen!"

"Okay, but promise me you won't try and kidnap an elf again, you made the poor thing cry."

"I was not kidnapping them, I was releasing them…" Hermione puffed.

"Because Dobby has integrated here doesn't mean all of them want new masters."

"Fine, I promise… But if I see any signs one of them would want to willingly go…"

Pansy rolled her eyes, but nodded.

Hermione headed to the kitchen; Pansy had to rush to follow after her. The Ravenclaw prefect tickled the pear near the Hufflepuff entrance and walked in. As soon as she got in, the elves started hiding and in a few seconds the kitchen was empty save for Dobby and Winky.

"Miss Granger," Dobby smiled.

"Dobby!" Hermione walked over. The rest of the elves peaked their heads out.

Hermione started chatting with the elves, but Pansy spaced out.

"Can students come in and temper with the food?" Pansy asked suddenly.

"No, miss!" Dobby straightened up. "We make the food and send it to the table, no one can touch it."

"Are you sure? Someone is putting potions in people's food."

"Very sure, miss, we are talking our job very seriously," Winky spoke for the first time. "We are good elves, miss."

"I know," Hermione smiled warmly. "Sorry to keep you guys, thank you very much!"

"So, not the kitchen... Are they putting it in at the table?" Pansy asked.

"Without anyone noticing?"

"Apparently. Is the potion hard to make?"

"Depends on how strong it is, but generally it's not taught in school."

"So except for you and Draco, can someone in our year make it? Or in the upper levels?"

"The ingredients are not very easy to find… I do not think someone can brew it in school."

"Does Zonko sell something like that?"

"Zonko doesn't but…the Weasley twins opened a store, they might."

"Should we… talk to them…?"

"I can write to them, we are in a fairly good relationship," Hermione said chewing on her lip.

Hermione got her letter from the twins early the next morning. She was too afraid to touch her food so she poured over it instead. She didn't know when to approach Pansy so she was still at the Ravenclaw table when her friend plumped down beside her.

"Ok, we have to do something… I stopped two stupid people from drinking spiked juice already. Does no one in this school pay attention to what they are doing!?"

"I got my answer from the twins," Hermione said pulling out the letter. "They sell the potion, but it shouldn't be this effective, so I assume someone is increasing the strength of it locally."

"Have you asked them to stop selling it?"

"They mentioned they are pulling it from shelves. Apparently, they are not happy that their siblings were targeted."

"Ok, so without the new supply should things return to normal around here?"

"Assuming they haven't already stocked up," Hermione chewed nervously on her lip.

"Can we make an antidote?" Pansy asked suddenly.

"I need to know what they used to strengthen it… We need a sample."

"So… how do you get around broadcasting your unwanted affections?"

"How did this person get in touch with so many people without the whole school knowing?"

"What about that charm you used for the HG?"

Hermione's face lights up. "The Protean charm!"

"Can it work?"

"Yes, you can send messages to a lot of people or only one… But how do they know who to give it to? We didn't receive any…"

"Because we are not pining over people… loudly," Pansy added after one quick look at Hermione.

"Why would someone act like Cupid though?"

"Who?' Pansy asked confused. "Never mind, I do not want a whole history of the reference… Maybe to cover their steps… Say you want to use the potion yourself, but need to test it first, so you sell it and then used it safely knowing it does work."

"That is so…"

"Slytherin! That is something a Slytherin would do… A Ravenclaw would just use it because they already test it in a clinical trial, a Gryffindor would just gorge it down immediately and a Hufflepuff…"

"Would never use it because it's immoral?"

"Yeah. Tell me one evil Hufflepuff in all of our history."

"Pansy, we can't just base our whole investigation on class typing!"

"Fine, then we need someone who is desperately in love and pining loudly then!" Pansy puffed.

"Hello, Seamus!" Hermione smiled innocently.

Seamus eyed them both suspiciously. He was standing under a tree in the courtyard, as far as he could get from the castle, at the foot of the Forest.

"Granger, Parkinson," he nodded his head. "What can I do for 'ya? Want to start an army again?"

"Have you noticed anything weird with the couples sprouting lately?" Pansy asked directly.

Seamus's eyes turned steely.

"I do not care for or need help. I should have figured out you were behind the coin."

"Coin?" Hermione asked.

"Not recognizing it now, huh?" Seamus asked. He pulled a coin from his pocket, it was like the one Hermione made last year, but this one had a heart shape, something was scribbled on it, but Seamus was moving his hand too fast to read.

"We are not behind this," Pansy reassured him.

"Oh… I thought… It was the same trick," Seamus stammered.

"Can I take a look?" Hermione asked.

Seamus handed it to her. It only had a time on it and a meeting place.

"It changes every time I look at it… The time and place," Seamus said looking down.

"Can we borrow this?" Hermione asked weighting the coin in the palm of her hand.

"Of course… I never wanted to use it, I do not want to win like that…"

"I know! Thank you!" Hermione said.

"Who do you think it is?" Pansy whispered.

"We will find out soon enough," Hermione whispered back. They were hiding in the greenhouse waiting for the culprit to arrive with the potion.

"Do not spoil my fun, Hermione! I think it's Millicent… No way she could've got Harry to go out with her otherwise."

Hermione tensed as someone opened the door to the greenhouse. The figure was wearing a cloak.

"Incarcerus!" Hermione cast.

The figure was hit by the spell and struggled against the magic chains.

Pansy jumped from their hideout behind some big pots and walked to the figure.

"Can Prefects make civil arrests?" She asked excited.

Hermione rolled her eyes and walked to the figure. Struggling against the restrains and trying to pull out her wand was Hannah Abbot, the Hufflepuff Prefect.

"Abbot!?" Pansy asked in disbelief.

"Why?"

"This is the part where I reveal my plan, Granger?" Hannah snarled.

"If you want to… I mean, I am here to listen."

"The time will pass faster till the Professors arrive," Pansy said nonchalant. She cast a Patronus and sent it for Professor McGonagall.

"You have no proof except for me entering the greenhouse."

"We have this," Hermione said pulling the coin out of her robe. "And I am sure somewhere on you is the love potion you were supposed to deliver to Seamus, isn't it?"

Hannah flinched.

"Didn't Neville just start dating Hannah?" Pansy asked suddenly. "You did all this for Longbottom!?"

Hannah glared.

"She couldn't have done it otherwise, Neville was in love with someone else. Someone Hannah here didn't want to compete with so she decided to forcefully take what she wants," Hermione cleared.

"He was pinning over someone that didn't want him back," Hannah snarled.

"So why make everyone all loved up and happy?" Pansy asked.

"So many people are hung up on other that do not care about them, not giving a chance to the people that do. So I am giving them a chance to be happy with the people that love them."

"But what about what they want? What about the victims that you stole agency from?" Hermione struggled to keep her voice leveled.

"Everyone wants to be loved," Hannah spat.

"Not really. People want to find someone that they have a connection with and build on that… What you did is stole that from them, their time, their choice," Pansy interjected.

"How did you do it anyway? The Protean charm is impressive enough on its own, but how did you deliver the spiked drinks to the targets?" Hermione asked intrigued.

Hannah was quiet for a few minutes. Hermione was worried she would keep silent till the teachers arrive, but she was wrong.

"My family owns an inn," Hannah started, it looked like all the fight had left her, she sounded tired and defeated. "We have had it for generations; we use a spell to get the food from the kitchen to the tables, similar to what the house elves are using at Hogwarts. I use that to deliver the potion…"

"But the elves said no one was tampering with the food," Pansy raised her eyebrows.

"I do not have to be in the same room to perform the spell, just to know the exact time to do it… And we all eat at specific times."

"That is very clever," Hermione's eyes lighted up. "What about the straightening agent for the potion? How did you manage that?

"I didn't," Hannah said.

"Miss Parkinson, I got your message, but I must say I am not…" Professor McGonagall said as she entered the Greenhouse.

"We caught the person that is in charge with spiking people's food with a love potion," Pansy started.

Hannah Abbot was suspended from Hogwarts but she still didn't reveal the identity of the person that helped her with the potions, the Weasley brothers were fined and the whole incident started a campaign against selling love potions. All the food for the next week was infused with the antidote Professor Slaughorn created.

The chaos that followed was louder than Hermione expected. What she didn't expect was Lavender and Ron, the antidote didn't broke them up, because Lavender hasn't used a love potion. She was hiding away under the tree they found Seamus that day.

"You know I never expected a Hufflepuff," Pansy said suddenly.

Hermione startled and raised her eyes from the book she was pouring over.

"Are you talking to me again?"

"People that solve crime together stay together?" Pansy shrugged. Her attempt at humor fell on deaf ears. "Draco… broke the engagement."

Hermione looks at her surprised.

"I think he got himself into something big this time…I am not sure how to get him out," Pansy's voice was trembling.

Hermione was on her feet, "We will figure it out, I promise!"