Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter and everything related to him. J.K. Rowling owns everything! And her stacks of money from all this, too!

P.S. Since I read the Harry Potter books in another language then I don't know the exact translation of what Sirius Black asked Ron, Harry and Hermione to call them. I am guessing it's 'Snuffles' or something along those lines. If not then tell me in the review and I will fix it! Now for the story…

~* 5 *~

The delicate edges of the paper fell apart, to reveal words, scribbled tightly in Harry's less-then-perfect handwriting. Draco squinted to see better as the flickering light of the Lumos spell didn't quite do the job. The paper crackled loudly as he snapped the top back to keep it from folding closed. Hermione grumbled in her sleep.

'Hey Hermione,

So how is everything? I bet you're really bored in there.

Remember who Snuffles is? I got a letter from him.'

Draco stopped reading and then traced his eyes over the line again. Snuffles? Seems Harry either corresponded with some peculiar characters, or he wasn't right in the head. Draco shrugged and supposed that it could be either, for his dislike towards Harry greatly influenced how he interpeted the letter.

' I think that his name will be cleared real soon. At

least, I hope so. In other news, I told Ginny to

come see you so it won't get suspicious that I'll

be coming down there so much. Ginny's supposed

to pretty much update you on some things.'

So then the girl that had come to see Hermione was Ginny Weasley. Draco suspected as much. Only a Weasley would just barge up to someone's door at the crack of dawn, or even earlier, to have a chat, and a chat revolving around Harry Potter at that.

'Is Draco bothering you in any way? I suppose it

would be like him to either completely ignore

you, or put you down the entire time. Hang in

there, I suppose he can't hurt you without his

wand.'

Draco felt angry at that remark. He didn't know why, but reading about how he'd be so horribly mean to Hermione just didn't sound right. It sounded like him, to his surprise, but he didn't like Harry's tone about it. He didn't think it would bother Hermione much. She'd probably have been more bothered if he were nice to her. He turned the note around to read the last few sentences.

'I miss you a lot and I hope you miss me, too.

Love,

Harry'

Draco realized that Harry had crossed out the word 'Love' at the end and then only left his name in it's place. He suddenly felt incredible curiousity as to whom this Snuffles character was, but Draco knew he'd have to speak to Hermione to find out. He had said in front of everyone that he wouldn't speak to her, though, as long as he was in there.

A Malfoy's word was stronger then iron. Nothing could melt it, not even the fires of hell, or the fires of love, or anything else.

~*~

Hermione woke up to find the note lying in a different place on the desk, with Draco's wand resting beside it. She felt alarmed at first, then calmed herself by thinking, logically: 'Draco must have set his wand down and moved my note as he did it.'

She nodded to herself, finding this a good excuse. Then, she stood up to read the note to herself. She was intrigued by the crossed out 'Love' and she even blushed at the thought, then realized a lot of people signed their letters with that word. In fact, when she wrote to Ron or Harry over the summer, she'd write 'With love' instead of 'Sincerely'.

But… why was it crossed out? Did Harry not want her to get the wrong idea? Was he telling her something? Or… was he afraid she'd figure something out?

Hermione's mind flooded with ideas and puzzles, and she didn't notice as she accidentally tripped over something. It was Draco's bag. Professor McGonagall had let everyone bring a little bag of items for personal use while in the room. Hermione had taken a brush for her hair, about four or five books, a soft teddy bear, and a couple pictures of her family.

Draco's bag was horribly small, though. It was really only a large satchel, made of good expensive leather. It had his name on it, stitched in curlicue letters, with gold thread. Something inside rattled loudly and she bent over to right it up only to see the edge of a photo frame peek out.

Her hands trembled as she was tempted to see what it was.

Finally, she allowed herself to peek at the photo and was surprised to see it was a small picture of Draco, his mother, and his father. His mother waved happily while his father frowned sternly. Draco seemed more to his mother's side, with her hand gently put down on his shoulder, and her face smiling down at him. She didn't look so sour in the picture. Then again, the picture showed a much younger Draco, he only looked eight or so. The picture was faded and old, as if he removed it from the frame a lot.

Hermione put the picture back into the satchel and then went back to sit on her bed. She wondered when Harry would come to see her again. She missed him even more now that Draco wasn't awake. She felt truly alone now. At least when Draco was awake, there was someone else on the watch in the room.

Something ominous seemed to hang in the air and Hermione couldn't quite put her finger on it as to what it was.

~*~

Later that day, after Professor McGonagall came to offer Hermione and Draco breakfast – Draco immediately protested eating with Hermione and Hermione said she wasn't hungry – Hermione ended up sitting and waiting.

Draco was writing something feverishly, his tongue slightly out of his mouth, deep in thought. He hand flashed across the parchment, his neat handwriting quickly filling the page up. Hermione thought: 'He's probably writing a letter to his father, just waiting to complain about this all'.

Suddenly, she heard a voice outside the door:

" Hermione, it's me."

" Harry!" She couldn't help it, she ran to the door. " Oh, did you find out how to get into the room?"

" I found the spell, and I'm going to try it right now." Harry replied.

" Do you think you'd be able to get through this door? Maybe you should go into the room next door, like I told Ginny." Hermione said.

" The room next door?" Harry sounded surprised.

" Yes! It's adjoined to this one, separated by a wall, but there's a window peeking into the room." Hermione shook her head angrily. " I can't believe Ginny didn't tell you about it! It was really important, because…"

" No, that's not what I mean." Harry said. " Ginny told me about some room next door to this one, but are you sure it's there? There's no door."

" What do you mean, there's no door?" Hermione huffed.

" This is the only door to this side of the corridor. Believe me, I looked." Harry said.

" That's impossible!" Hermione shouted.

Draco looked up from his paper, his eyes narrowing. If it wasn't annoying enough that there was constantly some loser at the door, talking through it, now they were shouting. He realized that Hermione and Harry didn't really acknowledge his presence, so he looked back down at his paper, however reluctantly.

" I promise you, there is NO door!" Harry said.

" Are you absolutely sure? Isn't there another corridor running from the other side, maybe?" Hermione sounded desperate. " I mean, what's the point of building a room if nobody can get in… except through the window in here?"

" There isn't any other corridors. I checked on the way to Potions last time." Harry explained, calmly. " Don't worry, it's not like it matters. I bet I can get into this room."

" Why don't you try going through the wall of the room next door, instead, not the door?" Hermione persisted. " I don't think that you'd be able to get in through this door. Professor McGonagall sealed this room from all sorts of spells. It'd be nothing short of a miracle if she didn't seal this spell up as well."

Harry sighed. " I'll try to get into the room, then."

Hermione waited as the sounds of shuffling were heard in the corridor. Then, Harry began to chant a spell, slowly. Finally, the sound of fizzling, like a firecracker ready to explode, seemed to fill the entire corridor.

" Are you okay?" Hermione pressed her ear against the door, as if she'd be able to hear what occurred better.

" Yeah, hold on. My body feels kinda funny…" Harry's voice trailed off.

" Harry!" Hermione gasped.

'Shut up, shut up, shut up…' Draco said in a sing-song voice, over and over in his head, hoping that the message would somehow project into Hermione's head.

There was an odd noise suddenly, like the sound of something bouncing off the surface of a trampoline. Then, something hit the wall opposite of the side of the corridor that Hermione and Draco were on.

" Ouch." Harry grumbled. " Hermione, I tried to get in through the wall. I was halfway through when I just - - bounced off. It blew me right across the hall. It's like some sort of force field." He laughed at the words, though. " I probably made a mistake somewhere…"

" Probably." Hermione answered, cheerfully, trying to hide her worry. Why would the ordinary-looking room next door not let Harry in?

Suddenly, she had an idea. " Harry, I'll try and crawl through the window into the room next door, and then when I see you coming through the wall I'll pull you in, so then you won't be pushed back for some reason."

" Sounds good." Harry said. " I'm waiting."

Hermione scrambled across the room to reach the other side, then froze as she thought about how she might be blown back if she tried to get into the room, as well. After all, they haven't done as much as stick their hand through the window before. How could they know whether there was some sort of force shielding the room?

If so, though, wouldn't Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore know about it? They would have surely not let Hermione and Draco stay in the room if it had some sort of dangerous secret that nobody wanted them to know.

Unless… was it something secretive, between the last occupants of the room?

" I'm going in." Hermione announced, decisively.

~*~

Author's Note:

Oh! I am a meanie! I am stopping right there and I'll wait for reviews! Ha!