A/N:: Thank you to all the precious reviewers who wrote while I was away::
Lilaznpinky525:: You'll find out soon enough. **grins evilly** mwha ha ha.
LuNa LoVeGoOd:: Thank you! Thank you! You'll find out what happens next, I assure you. I only wrote this much because I don't know how to end it well. Lol.
Jenna:: Thanks for being such a good reviewer!
Oh, my friend isn't sharing the username with me anymore, so now I take all of the perverted stories off my favorites list! Yay! On with the story because I'm as anxious as you are.
*****
Dinner was about to end. Harry and Ron were still interrogating Ginny about Hermione.
"You knew Hermione and Draco were going out." Ron said, more of a statement than a question. Ginny was about to say something, but Hermione skipped in, beaming at them. Harry was about to ask what happened. She didn't even sit down.
"Fred, George, come." Hermione said. Ron and Harry exchanged confused glances. Fred and George hurried out of their seats. Hermione beamed at Draco before leading the twins out of the Great Hall. Immediately, Harry and Ron turned in their seats to look at Ginny.
"Don't ask me, I didn't see Fred and George coming into this!" She said before they could open their mouths.
*****
In the Common Room, Fred, George and Hermione still hadn't come back. Harry and Ron were playing chess while Ginny sat next to them, pondering where Hermione and the twins went.
"I think it's time we went to check on them." Ginny said, crossing the room to the window, out of which you could see a sun about to go down and a lot of students clumped in groups around the lake.
"I agree." Harry said as he lost the third game in a row. They left the room. "They're in that room I know it." Harry said excitedly. Ginny nodded and they proceeded through the corridors. Ginny got right to the spot where the secret door was.
"They're not in there." She said at once. "The door would be here."
"Did Hermione ever tell you how to get into the room?" Ron asked, rubbing his hand against the wall.
"Of course." Ginny said quickly. She raised her wand, tapped three times on the stone and said, "Harry."
"First Ron's a password and now me?" Harry said rolling his eyes as the door appeared. They entered. Harry went straight to the shelf in the back of the room while Ginny and Ron looked all over the place. "Found a note." Harry said dully as he picked up the parchment. "Two of them."
"What do they say?" Ron said, but as Ginny was already there, there was no need to read it aloud.
I Draco,
Thank you.
It did prove to be helpful.
I hope you don't mind I brought Fred and George along, They want to find this out more than me. They do, after all, have the letter in their possession now.
Thanks again. It helped a lot.
Hermione. I
"What helped? What's going on Ginny?" Harry said, looking at Ginny and putting the parchment back down on the shelf.
"Something to do with the twins?" Ginny muttered to herself. "'It helped a lot'...I know what it is!"
"Very good, Weasley." Said a voice near the door. No one had to turn around to know who it was, but they all did, only to see the sneering, pale face of Draco Malfoy. "Very good indeed. Although I thought Hermione told you everything. Chang knew, of course. I fixed that, though. She won't be talking to Hermione for a while..."
"What...did...you do...to Cho?" Ron said with rage coming through his clenched teeth.
"Nothing that will last long, but I suspect she's not going to talk to any of you." He said smirking. Ron growled some swears under his breath.
"So Cho's not going to speak to us. What else do Hermione, Fred, George, and you have in common?" Ginny said coolly.
"I think that's for me to know. I should also suggest to Hermione to make the entrance more secure. We don't want pests in here." Draco shot back.
"Real harsh." Harry said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"You're the only I would tell if I were Hermione." Malfoy said, nodding at Harry. Ron, Ginny, and Harry all looked bemused.
"What?" Harry spat.
"You're the only one that I could see telling. Of course then you would go tell your Weasel friends, but if you didn't, I don't know why Hermione's not telling you this stuff." Malfoy shrugged. "As for you two, Weasel King, get your nose out of it. I'm telling you that with good reason. You're just going to end up mad at the world. Mini-weasel, just stay out of it, Hermione's got Chang to talk to now, even though they're temporarily not speaking. She doesn't need to befriend someone like you. Stay out of Hermione's business."
No one spoke as Malfoy crossed to the shelf and scanned over the note. "She brought them?" He muttered loudly to himself, as if yelling. "She gave them the letter?" He looked up, rage in his eyes. "She'll trust anyone. Look at me. Trusted me when no one else did. Then I blew it of course. Listened to my cock-and-bull father..." He kept murmuring as he paced up and down the room. Malfoy then let out a roar of anger that he was obviously trying to keep down. Ginny stared at him wide eyed. Harry wasn't listening to him, but rather thinking about what he said. 'He said I could be told. Hermione should have told me. It seems there's no reason not to.' Harry glanced at Ron, who was looking mad, but confused.
"What are you looking at?" Malfoy said, now getting parchment and a quill out of his robe pockets and no one had to look to see what he was writing because he muttered it, "'Hermione, What were you thinking bring those Weasels in here? And to give them the letter? But I suppose you're welcome anyway. Potter and the two other Weasels are here with me. They were here looking around, trying to figure things out. I don't see why you don't tell Potter, but suit yourself. Hope you're having fun with your new evidence I gave you, Draco.' You should all go back to the common room, it's getting late. I'm staying here for a few more minutes, going to try to get some thinking done." Malfoy said sitting on one of the benches. He took off his shoes and propped his feet on the bench in front of him. Before any of them could make a step to the door they heard a shriek of rage.
"I HATE THEM! I HATE THEM ALL!" The girl's voice shrieked.
"Hermione" they all gasped at once.
"Yeah... I was afraid that would happen...err...hide." Malfoy said.
"There's no where to hide you stupid dolt!" Harry said angrily to Malfoy.
"There's that problem too." He replied as Hermione stormed into the room, her wand raised. She glared at them.
"I didn't have any part in this. I just came here to see what really happened this one time and I found them here..." Malfoy started.
"Shut UP!" Hermione shrieked. Fred, George, and Cho slipped into the room and shut the door behind them. "You're allowed to be in here. As for you three..." She said putting on her best teacher expression and turning the Ginny, Ron, and Harry. "No telling what you could have seen or heard."
"May I remind you, Hermione, that they don't know the spell to make the room purposeful, so I doubt they could have heard, or seen, anything." Malfoy said quietly.
Hermione looked like she would have screamed at him, but then her expression lowered, along with her wand. "You're right. How could I have been that stupid?" She added, sitting down looking stressed out. "I should be happy, considering the huge discovery we've just made, but I keep worrying that some one will stumble on how to make the room work..."
"It's ok." Malfoy said, trying to sound comforting, but the cold drawl didn't leave his voice. He crossed over to where she was sitting and started rubbing her hair.
"No." She said, ducking out of the way of his hand. "Nope." Harry felt like this was something he shouldn't be watching. He mixed his guilt with his curiosity to find himself staring at his feet.
"Forgive my father, Hermione." Malfoy said.
"No. We decided." She said firmly. He sighed and backed away.
"That was before I thought of nothing besides blood." He said carefully. Everyone gaped at him: Malfoy not caring about blood?
"Give me a break." Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Everyone looked expectantly at Malfoy. Except for Ron, who looked deeply in thought.
"Hang on, hang on." Ron said quickly. Everyone shifted his or her eyes, much to Malfoy's delight, to him. "What huge discovery?"
"What?" Hermione snapped.
"You said you should be happy, what with the huge discovery you made." Harry piped in.
"It wasn't me, it was Draco." She said quietly.
"So how about you tell us?" Ron said.
"Yes, dearest little brother of mine." George said sarcastically. His voice then changed to normal, "No way. We can't tell you and I know it seems weird we're telling Malfoy stuff we're not telling you, but you'll see once you've gotten your big nose in far enough to see it all adds up to you."
"Exploding snap, anyone?" said Fred, and then yanked the door open and dashed out of it, slamming it shut. George had realized his mistake though, unfortunately, everyone else had too, except Ron. Harry knew what was coming.
"How about just telling us what happens, Hermione." Harry said and grabbed Ron by the arm. He swung the door open and dragged Ron out of the room. George closed the door.
"That was so effing close, George, you nearly blew us off!" Malfoy yelled.
"Shut up!" Hermione whispered. "They could be right outside the door!" Everyone was quiet after this.
*****
Ron and Harry got to the common room. Fred was already there. Ron mumbled something about going to think and stormed up into the boys' dormitory. Harry took the opportunity to talk to Fred.
"You stay here, keep an eye on Ron. If you go to bed, grab my Invisibility cloak and hide it. Have someone watching the portrait hole at all times." He whispered. Fred nodded and Harry left. He got to place and happily saw that the door was still there. He opened it cautiously.
"Harry what are you doing back, Ron could just follow you here!" Hermione said anxiously.
"I left Fred in charge of that." Harry said.
"You can never trust a Weasley." Malfoy muttered. Everyone shot him reproachful looks. Harry realized Cho and Ginny had left as he sat down on a nearby bench.
"You're only here because Hermione's proven that you can be somewhat of a help, or, at least your memories can, so why don't you just keep your mouth shut until we need help." George said, standing up.
"Harry, Cho told me to tell you it was very important to go tonight, as I'm going to tell you everything, but be sure to hide the cloak." Hermione said, trying to change the subject. "Look, why don't we come back to this tomorrow." She added as she yawned widely.
"Is it ok if me and my shadow come, Harry?" George said. "Hermione and Cho said it was fine if it was fine with you." Harry nodded numbly. He had forgotten about his meeting with Cho. There was a silence in which everyone thought.
"I suppose I'll come." Malfoy said.
"No." George and Harry said together.
"No, he can. He'll provide some information." Hermione said to the gloomy looks of George and Harry. "You guys go, I'll be out in a minute." She added to all of them.
"I'm staying, I've found a few things that might interest you." Malfoy said, then added as George looked excited. "Not about that. About some stuff Hermione and I have to talk about." Harry got the idea and dragged George out.
They were walking for less than a minute when going around they crashed - literally--into Ron.
"It's no use, just Hermione and Malfoy 'talking' in there now." George said. "I swear if they want to do...erm...things, seriously, they could just tell us."
"I don't think that's what they're up to, you heard Hermione. She doesn't want anything to happen." Harry said, jamming his hands into his pockets.
"Wouldn't be too sure. You saw Malfoy rubbing her head. That just sickened me!" Ron said, who was now walking back with them. After a few minutes of talking about this, they crashed into Fred, who swooped into a slur of apologies to Harry.
"Harry, sorry, I left Dean in charge, I had to go to the bathroom. Never should have trusted him." Fred said, looking stressed.
"It's ok, I suppose. No harm done." Harry said nodding. They talked as they made their way to the common room, mostly about Hermione and Malfoy. When they got into the common room, they all went straight to bed, seeing it was late. Harry turned to George and mouthed, "See you later."
A/N:: Mwha ha ha! Review! See you next chapter!
Lilaznpinky525:: You'll find out soon enough. **grins evilly** mwha ha ha.
LuNa LoVeGoOd:: Thank you! Thank you! You'll find out what happens next, I assure you. I only wrote this much because I don't know how to end it well. Lol.
Jenna:: Thanks for being such a good reviewer!
Oh, my friend isn't sharing the username with me anymore, so now I take all of the perverted stories off my favorites list! Yay! On with the story because I'm as anxious as you are.
*****
Dinner was about to end. Harry and Ron were still interrogating Ginny about Hermione.
"You knew Hermione and Draco were going out." Ron said, more of a statement than a question. Ginny was about to say something, but Hermione skipped in, beaming at them. Harry was about to ask what happened. She didn't even sit down.
"Fred, George, come." Hermione said. Ron and Harry exchanged confused glances. Fred and George hurried out of their seats. Hermione beamed at Draco before leading the twins out of the Great Hall. Immediately, Harry and Ron turned in their seats to look at Ginny.
"Don't ask me, I didn't see Fred and George coming into this!" She said before they could open their mouths.
*****
In the Common Room, Fred, George and Hermione still hadn't come back. Harry and Ron were playing chess while Ginny sat next to them, pondering where Hermione and the twins went.
"I think it's time we went to check on them." Ginny said, crossing the room to the window, out of which you could see a sun about to go down and a lot of students clumped in groups around the lake.
"I agree." Harry said as he lost the third game in a row. They left the room. "They're in that room I know it." Harry said excitedly. Ginny nodded and they proceeded through the corridors. Ginny got right to the spot where the secret door was.
"They're not in there." She said at once. "The door would be here."
"Did Hermione ever tell you how to get into the room?" Ron asked, rubbing his hand against the wall.
"Of course." Ginny said quickly. She raised her wand, tapped three times on the stone and said, "Harry."
"First Ron's a password and now me?" Harry said rolling his eyes as the door appeared. They entered. Harry went straight to the shelf in the back of the room while Ginny and Ron looked all over the place. "Found a note." Harry said dully as he picked up the parchment. "Two of them."
"What do they say?" Ron said, but as Ginny was already there, there was no need to read it aloud.
I Draco,
Thank you.
It did prove to be helpful.
I hope you don't mind I brought Fred and George along, They want to find this out more than me. They do, after all, have the letter in their possession now.
Thanks again. It helped a lot.
Hermione. I
"What helped? What's going on Ginny?" Harry said, looking at Ginny and putting the parchment back down on the shelf.
"Something to do with the twins?" Ginny muttered to herself. "'It helped a lot'...I know what it is!"
"Very good, Weasley." Said a voice near the door. No one had to turn around to know who it was, but they all did, only to see the sneering, pale face of Draco Malfoy. "Very good indeed. Although I thought Hermione told you everything. Chang knew, of course. I fixed that, though. She won't be talking to Hermione for a while..."
"What...did...you do...to Cho?" Ron said with rage coming through his clenched teeth.
"Nothing that will last long, but I suspect she's not going to talk to any of you." He said smirking. Ron growled some swears under his breath.
"So Cho's not going to speak to us. What else do Hermione, Fred, George, and you have in common?" Ginny said coolly.
"I think that's for me to know. I should also suggest to Hermione to make the entrance more secure. We don't want pests in here." Draco shot back.
"Real harsh." Harry said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"You're the only I would tell if I were Hermione." Malfoy said, nodding at Harry. Ron, Ginny, and Harry all looked bemused.
"What?" Harry spat.
"You're the only one that I could see telling. Of course then you would go tell your Weasel friends, but if you didn't, I don't know why Hermione's not telling you this stuff." Malfoy shrugged. "As for you two, Weasel King, get your nose out of it. I'm telling you that with good reason. You're just going to end up mad at the world. Mini-weasel, just stay out of it, Hermione's got Chang to talk to now, even though they're temporarily not speaking. She doesn't need to befriend someone like you. Stay out of Hermione's business."
No one spoke as Malfoy crossed to the shelf and scanned over the note. "She brought them?" He muttered loudly to himself, as if yelling. "She gave them the letter?" He looked up, rage in his eyes. "She'll trust anyone. Look at me. Trusted me when no one else did. Then I blew it of course. Listened to my cock-and-bull father..." He kept murmuring as he paced up and down the room. Malfoy then let out a roar of anger that he was obviously trying to keep down. Ginny stared at him wide eyed. Harry wasn't listening to him, but rather thinking about what he said. 'He said I could be told. Hermione should have told me. It seems there's no reason not to.' Harry glanced at Ron, who was looking mad, but confused.
"What are you looking at?" Malfoy said, now getting parchment and a quill out of his robe pockets and no one had to look to see what he was writing because he muttered it, "'Hermione, What were you thinking bring those Weasels in here? And to give them the letter? But I suppose you're welcome anyway. Potter and the two other Weasels are here with me. They were here looking around, trying to figure things out. I don't see why you don't tell Potter, but suit yourself. Hope you're having fun with your new evidence I gave you, Draco.' You should all go back to the common room, it's getting late. I'm staying here for a few more minutes, going to try to get some thinking done." Malfoy said sitting on one of the benches. He took off his shoes and propped his feet on the bench in front of him. Before any of them could make a step to the door they heard a shriek of rage.
"I HATE THEM! I HATE THEM ALL!" The girl's voice shrieked.
"Hermione" they all gasped at once.
"Yeah... I was afraid that would happen...err...hide." Malfoy said.
"There's no where to hide you stupid dolt!" Harry said angrily to Malfoy.
"There's that problem too." He replied as Hermione stormed into the room, her wand raised. She glared at them.
"I didn't have any part in this. I just came here to see what really happened this one time and I found them here..." Malfoy started.
"Shut UP!" Hermione shrieked. Fred, George, and Cho slipped into the room and shut the door behind them. "You're allowed to be in here. As for you three..." She said putting on her best teacher expression and turning the Ginny, Ron, and Harry. "No telling what you could have seen or heard."
"May I remind you, Hermione, that they don't know the spell to make the room purposeful, so I doubt they could have heard, or seen, anything." Malfoy said quietly.
Hermione looked like she would have screamed at him, but then her expression lowered, along with her wand. "You're right. How could I have been that stupid?" She added, sitting down looking stressed out. "I should be happy, considering the huge discovery we've just made, but I keep worrying that some one will stumble on how to make the room work..."
"It's ok." Malfoy said, trying to sound comforting, but the cold drawl didn't leave his voice. He crossed over to where she was sitting and started rubbing her hair.
"No." She said, ducking out of the way of his hand. "Nope." Harry felt like this was something he shouldn't be watching. He mixed his guilt with his curiosity to find himself staring at his feet.
"Forgive my father, Hermione." Malfoy said.
"No. We decided." She said firmly. He sighed and backed away.
"That was before I thought of nothing besides blood." He said carefully. Everyone gaped at him: Malfoy not caring about blood?
"Give me a break." Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Everyone looked expectantly at Malfoy. Except for Ron, who looked deeply in thought.
"Hang on, hang on." Ron said quickly. Everyone shifted his or her eyes, much to Malfoy's delight, to him. "What huge discovery?"
"What?" Hermione snapped.
"You said you should be happy, what with the huge discovery you made." Harry piped in.
"It wasn't me, it was Draco." She said quietly.
"So how about you tell us?" Ron said.
"Yes, dearest little brother of mine." George said sarcastically. His voice then changed to normal, "No way. We can't tell you and I know it seems weird we're telling Malfoy stuff we're not telling you, but you'll see once you've gotten your big nose in far enough to see it all adds up to you."
"Exploding snap, anyone?" said Fred, and then yanked the door open and dashed out of it, slamming it shut. George had realized his mistake though, unfortunately, everyone else had too, except Ron. Harry knew what was coming.
"How about just telling us what happens, Hermione." Harry said and grabbed Ron by the arm. He swung the door open and dragged Ron out of the room. George closed the door.
"That was so effing close, George, you nearly blew us off!" Malfoy yelled.
"Shut up!" Hermione whispered. "They could be right outside the door!" Everyone was quiet after this.
*****
Ron and Harry got to the common room. Fred was already there. Ron mumbled something about going to think and stormed up into the boys' dormitory. Harry took the opportunity to talk to Fred.
"You stay here, keep an eye on Ron. If you go to bed, grab my Invisibility cloak and hide it. Have someone watching the portrait hole at all times." He whispered. Fred nodded and Harry left. He got to place and happily saw that the door was still there. He opened it cautiously.
"Harry what are you doing back, Ron could just follow you here!" Hermione said anxiously.
"I left Fred in charge of that." Harry said.
"You can never trust a Weasley." Malfoy muttered. Everyone shot him reproachful looks. Harry realized Cho and Ginny had left as he sat down on a nearby bench.
"You're only here because Hermione's proven that you can be somewhat of a help, or, at least your memories can, so why don't you just keep your mouth shut until we need help." George said, standing up.
"Harry, Cho told me to tell you it was very important to go tonight, as I'm going to tell you everything, but be sure to hide the cloak." Hermione said, trying to change the subject. "Look, why don't we come back to this tomorrow." She added as she yawned widely.
"Is it ok if me and my shadow come, Harry?" George said. "Hermione and Cho said it was fine if it was fine with you." Harry nodded numbly. He had forgotten about his meeting with Cho. There was a silence in which everyone thought.
"I suppose I'll come." Malfoy said.
"No." George and Harry said together.
"No, he can. He'll provide some information." Hermione said to the gloomy looks of George and Harry. "You guys go, I'll be out in a minute." She added to all of them.
"I'm staying, I've found a few things that might interest you." Malfoy said, then added as George looked excited. "Not about that. About some stuff Hermione and I have to talk about." Harry got the idea and dragged George out.
They were walking for less than a minute when going around they crashed - literally--into Ron.
"It's no use, just Hermione and Malfoy 'talking' in there now." George said. "I swear if they want to do...erm...things, seriously, they could just tell us."
"I don't think that's what they're up to, you heard Hermione. She doesn't want anything to happen." Harry said, jamming his hands into his pockets.
"Wouldn't be too sure. You saw Malfoy rubbing her head. That just sickened me!" Ron said, who was now walking back with them. After a few minutes of talking about this, they crashed into Fred, who swooped into a slur of apologies to Harry.
"Harry, sorry, I left Dean in charge, I had to go to the bathroom. Never should have trusted him." Fred said, looking stressed.
"It's ok, I suppose. No harm done." Harry said nodding. They talked as they made their way to the common room, mostly about Hermione and Malfoy. When they got into the common room, they all went straight to bed, seeing it was late. Harry turned to George and mouthed, "See you later."
A/N:: Mwha ha ha! Review! See you next chapter!