A/N: Thanks to my reviewers!

Summary: Well, the title is pretty self-explanatory. Four students have been killed and a fifth victim lies unconscious. But, who is she? And why were they killed? And, most importantly, whodunit? Harry Potter & Co. investigate while love tries to flourish.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything HarryPotterish, JK Rowling does, and I'm not making any money out of this. The plot and the few original characters are mine, if I want them.

Rating: A high PG-13, I suppose, for swearing, violence and gory scenes.

Pairing: Some RW/HG, but I think that main focus might be DM/HP.

Murder in the Hogwarts Express or the Fifth Element, by Dark Fairy.

Chapter 3

"You need love like I do, don't you?/ I can tell by the way you look when I'm looking at you/ You need love like I do, don't you?/ It seems like I'm looking in the mirror when I'm looking at you" Tom Jones and Heather Small, 'You need love like I do'

"What are you staring at, Potter?" hissed Malfoy softly, awaking Harry from his reverie. They had finally managed to corner the Slytherin at lunch-time and threaten him into collaborating with the Dream Team (to Ron's great chagrin, because he still didn't believe in the advantages of having a clever, well-informed Slytherin with them) and now they were sitting in the library, in front of a pile of books, where they had been researching for about twenty minutes, although Harry often found himself looking away from his encyclopaedia and towards the Slytherin.

"Nothing, Malfoy, nothing" replied the Gryffindor, quickly looking away //What am I doing staring at Malfoy? Although his hair catches the light like a halo and his eyes look unsettlingly dark from here, but... what's wrong with me?//

Everybody fell silent again. Ron had his arms around Hermione, trying to comfort her like he had been doing since their first day, and Harry felt rather left out //Third wheels never work, they say...//; unconsciously his eyes turned to Malfoy, who was also standing alone and looking rather wistfully at the embracing couple. As soon as those grey eyes turned to Harry, the Gryffindor boy looked away in confusion, and for the first time in his life he was glad to hear Hermione coughing meaningfully.

"I know that there's no reference to the Reuniatos spell in the Hogwarts library" she started, sounding highly sceptical, like she couldn't believe there was *something* which wasn't in the library "but we have managed to find a rather impressive amount of information about the elements. This might give some clue into what the girl might become when she wakes up..."

"But we still don't know anything about *who* did this" interrupted Ron, to his girlfriend's great annoyance "I think that is the most important bit, because if it wasn't You-Know-Who, it means we have yet another full- fledged lunatic running around..."

"Only that this one is playing for the Light Side" reasoned Hermione soothingly.

"It doesn't matter, 'Mione," said Harry sternly "he is still killing innocent people..."

"But he's done what he wanted, hasn't he? He's created the Fifth Element and left it in the hands of Dumbledore so he can use it. He got what he wanted."

"How do you know what he wants, Granger?" cut in Malfoy acidly, making the girl jump "You have no idea of how some people's minds work. All your goody- goody book-knowledge cannot tell you anything about it. You don't know a damn thing, so shut up and read" The sudden aggressiveness of the Slytherin flared Harry up.

"And I suppose you know a lot about it, don't you, with you being a Malfoy and all?"

"I do, yes" replied Draco, with a mixture of resignation and pride simmering under his ice-cold countenance. The Gryffindors fell silent, guessing there was much left unsaid behind that simple statement.

"I'm going to have lunch, you coming, 'Mione?" proposed Ron, showing a sensitiveness no-one could have guessed he'd show towards his enemy. His girlfriend agreed with him, but Harry felt particularly disinclined to leave Draco's side, and so both boys stayed under Madam Pince's suspicious look.

"What is it, Potter? Aren't you happy enough with imposing me your presence for a full hour? You want to continue the torture for how long exactly?" The snappy remarks left Malfoy's almost closed lips in a dangerous hiss.

"You can tell me, you know?" replied Harry quietly, making his enemy raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"Tell you what, Potter? My innermost fears and nightmares? Do you want to have a bloody therapy here?" Draco was trying to avoid the truth of what he *had* been considering to tell Harry.

"I know you wanted to tell me something." insisted Harry, basing his words on a strange gut-feeling and the desire to keep talking with the Slytherin "You can trust me to keep it a secret if you want to"

"I can *trust* you, Potter? Is that you being your self-righteous Gryffindor self? Offering your hand to your enemy after you rejected it once? I certainly don't think so!" Draco was feeling rather light-headed and excited, for some unfathomable reason, and he got up to leave, knowing it was dangerous to stay near The Boy Who Lived in his present fevered state.

"Stay, Malfoy" said Harry, halfway between a plea and an order. He had taken hold of Draco's thin wrist, and the Slytherin looked at him with a certain amusement in his eyes.

"What do you want?" the question was devoid of scorn, of malice, of annoyance; it was a simple quest for information.

"What is it you know and you're not telling me?" insisted Harry "Why aren't you with Voldemort any longer? Why.?"

"Stop acting like a five year-old, Potter" interrupted Malfoy, feeling more composed. "One question at a time, didn't they teach you that as a child?" A shadow covered Harry's green eyes, and Draco felt almost remorseful of having brought up the issue. "One of the many things that I know and I'm not telling you is who was responsible for the attack to the Hogwarts Express." A certain bitterness seeped through those words, and Harry refrained his eagerness to know "The reasons why I left Voldemort? I never joined him in the first place, and I could say that his reasoning didn't suit mine. A half-dead dark wizard is not quite the role-model, you know? Even less for a Malfoy."

"What did your father say about it?" Draco's slate-grey eyes became almost black at the mention of his father.

"Nothing. My father, contrary to popular belief, rather likes me. He decided to let me hold my own" Malfoy shrugged and released his wrist from the hold Harry still had on it. "Enough information for one day, don't you think? You and your Gryffindor friends will have to actually use your brains now"

"But, the other thing.?" asked Harry when Malfoy was already half-way out of the library.

"I wouldn't want to put you brain into overload, would I? Besides, what would I win if I told you *everything*...?" The last words floated in the atmosphere until Hermione and Ron came back and Harry hurriedly informed them of the latest discoveries.

"But why didn't you ask him, Harry? He *knows*, the filthy scumbag. I don't believe a word of what he said about leaving You-Know-Who... and why didn't you ask him, mate? Harry? Harry!" Ron actually had to shake Harry's shoulder to get his attention.

"Sorry, what did you just say?" Harry came back from his reverie to find Ron looking at him in alarm, while Hermione had a more amused expression.

"Ron, sweetheart, you heard Harry, Malfoy left before he could ask. Besides, hurry up or you'll both be late for Divination" The girl shooed both boys off to the North Tower, and she followed the black-haired Gryffindor with a worried look "I hope I'm misunderstanding things, Harry, or you'll need more that your share of good luck to pull it off..." Shaking her head, Hermione made her way to Professor Vector's classroom.

"Every time I see you/ something happens to me,/ like a chain reaction/ between you and me:/ my heart starts missing a beat/ my heart starts missing a beat/ every time./ (Pet Shop Boys, "Heart")

"Professor Grimm, I need to talk to you after lessons" stated Malfoy clearly for all the class to hear; the young teacher looked attentively at the Slytherin and nodded.

"Very well, Mr Malfoy" Draco smirked at the pompous manner of Ethan, his closest cousin and confidante. He had always wondered why Dumbledore had accepted a boy from such an eyebrow-raising heritage to teach at Hogwarts; you'd have thought that Snape was enough...

"Harry, wake up, mate, what's wrong with you?!" Ron's hoarse whisper could be heard by the whole class, and Harry turned very red when he felt the teacher staring at him.

"Alright, Ron, no need to embarrass me in front of everyone!" hissed Harry, glaring at Draco's smirk.

"Wakey, wakey, Potty" sing-songed Malfoy annoyingly from his place on the Slytherin side of class, in a whisper that no-one else heard "We don't want you to have a nightmare here, do we?" The Gryffindor turned to his enemy, about to retaliate, when the teacher advance towards him.

"Something wrong, Mr Potter? No? Then I suggest you turn round and start paying attention; you may think you don't need these lessons, but even I can teach something to the great Harry Potter" Did he realise how much he sounded like Snape? Harry turned back to his parchment and quill, feeling his heartbeat follow an ungainly rhythm and tried a few therapeutic breaths. Why were Malfoy's eyes glued to the back of his neck? Why did they leave a warm tingly feeling? Why did he *know* those were Malfoy's big, grey-and-silver eyes? What was wrong with him? "Mr Potter, what did you say were the appropriate words for raising a Protection Spell?"

"Erm, 'Resguardio'?" ventured Harry, praying he had rightly read Hermione's note.

"Right, then can *anyone* tell me why Protection Spells are not commonly used?" Taking advantage of the fact that Grimm didn't know her, Hermione monopolised the rest of the lesson, leaving her classmates to take sporadic notes, or fall into a daydream, as in Harry's case. Only when the lesson was over, and he was packing his things, did Harry verily awake, feeling all of a sudden hyper-aware and nervous. He sensed, more than saw, Malfoy flinging his bag over his shoulder, dismissing his two gorillas and walking towards the teacher. He also sensed the electric sparks flying when the Slytherin brushed past him, leaning on him perhaps a bit more force than would have been needed.

"Come on, Harry, you need to eat, maybe then you'll snap out of it" stated Hermione, dragging her dark-haired friend out of the classroom and into the Great Hall, hoping to avoid a realisation that was more than necessary. While the last students finished packing and vacating the DADA classroom, Draco mentally kicked himself: instead of paying attention, or developing a evil plan to boycott the Gryffindors, he had spent the lesson *staring* at Potter. He frankly hoped no-one had noticed, but he simply couldn't seem to be able to tear his eyes away from the fragile-looking neck of The Boy Who Lived. Finally the classroom was empty, and Malfoy left the dangerous ground of his meditations and turned back to the business at hand.

"So, Ethan," he started, after checking the door was well closed "what did you tell Dumbledore last night?"

"I know very little about the Reuniatos, Draco, and I couldn't withhold much information. He knew most of it, though." Eyeing his cousin with a little mistrust, the teacher asked: "Are you informing Lucius about this?"

Draco gave a small, bitter laugh.

"Don't play innocent with me, Ethan. You suspect my father like I do. In fact, I'm almost sure it was him, and, of course, I don't have any evidence to prove me. It wouldn't be my father if I had" There was a kind of desolate pride in those words.

"So, I'm not the only one" muttered Grimm, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I wonder how long it'll be before Dumbledore goes down this train of thought."

"Not long, probably, if he hasn't already. It'll be hard to nail Lucius, though, he's slippery to Hell and beyond" Draco started pacing the room back and forth "Last night I sent father a small report on what had happened, but I don't think he'll be giving me any clues soon, and I don't particularly think I'd like him to"

"Are you going to do anything?" asked Ethan.

"You talk as if I *could* do anything. What? Risk my neck finding clues to imprison my own father? What would I win with that?"

"You could always let Potter do the job. A few clues here and there, and him and his sidekicks will pull another stunt." Ethan smiled wanly.

"I don't want my father to be caught, Ethan, I don't think you want that either" Draco pronounced those words very carefully. "If he hits the bottom, he'll make sure we all go down with him. Stop being so self- righteous and start thinking survival" with a sigh, Draco prepared himself to ask the other question "What do you know about the girl?"

"We don't know anything yet; she's still unconscious and no-one seems to know her" sighed Ethan, sitting in the edge of his desk "There has no reports of disappearances whatsoever in the wizarding world, but Dumbledore thought it best to investigate in the Muggle world before taking more desperate measures, like trying to trace the girl's blood"

"Dumbledore thinks she may be Muggle?" asked Malfoy in disbelief; what would a Muggle do in all that? "My father would never use a Muggle for something like this, would he?"

"He's your father, not mine, you should know him better. But yet I don't think that Uncle Lucius would taint his precious dark spells with Muggle blood unless it was extremely necessary..."

"Keep me informed on the state of the girl and anything you find out about her, all right? Good lesson today, too" Draco lied "I'll see you around"

Harry raised his head as soon as Malfoy entered the Great Hall, and met the grey eyes of the Slytherin boy, who seemed to have been looking for him; after a second of staring into each other's eyes they both looked away, Harry turning his attention back to where Ron was hosting an animated Quidditch debate, and Draco towards the Slytherin table. Both were cursing mentally //Why did I let him catch me staring at him? Was he staring at me too?//. Behind her bushy hair, Hermione smiled knowingly.

----------------------------- A/N: I HATE when Hermione knows everything, but it kind of happened...I know, we haven't gotten very far in this chapter but I assure you that the next one will be more action-packed: we'll find out who the girl is for an instance (no, she is NOT MarySue) and the two boys will continue to be their charming oblivious selves...Now, if you got this far, REVIEW!!!!!