FANTASY. WRITTEN BY GIRL-WHO-LAUGHS-WHEN-ANYONE-MENTIONS-THE-MALFOYS.

Disclaimer: Once again, I shall repeat that I own nothing. Keep this in mind.

Chapter Six: The Second Detention.

"So, Professor, what should I do?"

"Do not worry, Mr Potter. I know exactly why Lord Voldemort was jumping with glee. I'm afraid that what I have feared has come true. This will make it even harder for our plan to succeed."

There was a deafening silence.

"Professor," began Harry, looking into the eyes of the Headmaster with hope, "I know this is a bad situation, but does this mean that me and Ron can start being friends with Hermione again? We miss her, Professor, and we don't like to see her so unhappy."

Dumbledore shook his head. "I'm sorry, but that cannot be so. If she is alone, then she will need more comfort and if you and Mr Weasley are not there to comfort her, then Mr Malfoy may have a chance."

"But, Professor, if you don't mind me saying, me and Ron - and all the Professors - we all know that it's practically impossible and we've said it time and time again! They can hardly go near each other without making snide remarks and seeing as Voldemort knows now, it's even more unlikely, because he'll just try to stop it! His spy was probably the one who stole that essay about the legend, and he's probably passed it on to him! I bet he knows exactly what our plan is!"

Dumbledore closed his eyes calmly at Harry's outburst.

"Indeed. I will not hesitate to say that you are correct but we have to try; there is no point in giving up. And if the legend does come true, fate will be with us, and even Lord Voldemort cannot stop fate. Now I think you should be off to bed, Mr Potter. It is very late. Make sure you inform me if anything strange is going on."

Harry took a deep breath and nodded reluctantly. "Yes, Professor."

Wednesday passed surprisingly fast and soon, Thursday had arrived. Hermione was on her way to the library for her second detention with Draco. When she arrived, she found that he was already there, munching quite contently on a chocolate frog.

"Hurry up and sit down, Granger," said Draco through a mouthful of chocolate, "Dinner doesn't start until we both sit down."

She gave him a cold and nasty look before settling herself on a chair opposite him. The house-elves soon arrived with their dinner (cottage pie with peas) and the two students ate it without a second thought. Afterwards, they waited patiently for their teacher to arrive. Hermione slouched in her seat and held a hand over her stomach. She was stuffed.

"Acting a bit sloppy aren't you, Granger?"

She scowled at him and was about to reply, when a cruel voice called out from behind. "Five points from Gryffindor for nearly continuing an argument."

Hermione swiftly turned (as did Draco), and saw to her disappointment, that it was only Snape. He nodded at both of them.

"Come with me."

Snape turned and walked out of the library, soon followed by Draco and Hermione. It didn't take long, before they arrived at the Hogwarts dungeons. They entered a dungeon classroom, where Snape began to explain what their task would be.

"You must clean this entire classroom from head to foot. I want the floor spotless, the cauldrons spotless, everything in this room spotless by nine o'clock tonight." He paused. The dungeon classroom looked as though it had not been cleaned for a while. The students had not bothered to clean out their cauldrons – the potions that they had been making remained inside. "No magic is allowed in this task. If you attempt to clear any part of this room with your wands, the mess will double. I shall be back at nine."

Snape promptly exited, leaving Hermione and Draco to clean up the mess. They stood for a moment, looking blankly around the room.

"Okay Granger, let's get started. You take the right, then take the left and I'll take that chair over there."

"That's not fair, Malfoy! This task is for us to do together and if I do it all by myself, I'll never get it done by nine!" She sighed angrily. Draco had already sat down on Snape's armchair with his legs up on Snape's desk. Yawning loudly, he shut his eyes, as if he was about to fall asleep. Hermione couldn't take it. She took his arm and pulled it hard so that Draco fell to the floor with a loud thump.

"Now, you're taking the left and I'm taking the right. Understand?" Hermione didn't wait for a reply. She quickly got to work with the disinfectant and cloths that had been laid out on Snape's desk. "Oh, and before I forget, Malfoy, be careful with the cauldrons. You don't know what they might have been brewing."

Draco grunted. They scrubbed at the mould in the corners of the room, polished the cauldrons until they could see their own reflection, and swept the floor until not a single speck of dust remained. Surprisingly enough, Hermione had not heard a single moan escape from Draco's mouth – and it was nearly nine.

The detention was going rather well (considering the task was cleaning up with Draco Malfoy), but as Hermione poured the potion in the cauldrons down the sink in the corner, she heard a loud explosion from behind her. She turned and to her horror, found Draco lying on the floor next to a spilt cauldron.

"Malfoy!" She cried.

Hermione put her cauldron on the floor and rushed over to where Draco lay. He had obviously been trying to carry two cauldrons at once and failed, spilling the two potions onto himself as he did so. She now realised that one potion was a swelling potion and the other, was a potion that caused nasty boils to appear on the body. She pulled out her wand and mumbled a spell that she had read about in one of her many books. Malfoy's swelling stomach dropped back to its original size but the boils remained. The book had not mentioned boils.

"Malfoy?" She asked urgently, hitting his face gently as she did so. There was no response.

"Malfoy?" She called again. This time, she shook him slightly. He groaned quietly. She leant closer towards him. "Are you feeling okay? Mal – Draco?"

It seemed wiser to wake him with his first name, instead of his last. He groaned and shifted his head slightly.

"Draco, tell me how you're feeling."

He groaned again, and opened his eyes slightly. "What do you think, Granger? Bloody awful."

The growing feeling of pity in Hermione's stomach immediately shrunk. He would never change.

"Right, Draco, don't move a muscle. I don't know how serious this is, so just . . . don't do a thing, do you understand?"

He nodded slightly.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

Using her wand, she lifted him up and through the door towards the Hospital Wing. If she did this quickly, she could get back to the dungeons in time to finish off the cleaning. If not, then so be it. She couldn't just carry on tidying while she knew someone was hurt – even if it was, just, Draco. She arrived quickly enough and Madam Pomfrey was only eager to help.

"How on earth did this happen?" She asked, hurriedly grabbing some bottles from a shelf nearby.

"We were in one of our detentions and he spilled two potions on himself. One was a swelling potion, and the other was a potion that causes those boils. I managed to stop the swelling before it got any worse but I don't know how to deal with boils."

Madam Pomfrey nodded and rushed over to Draco's side. She opened his mouth and poured a drop from each of the bottles into his mouth. "He'll have to stay here for the night. The two potions seem to have a side effect when mixed, but I'm not quite sure what it is. I don't want this to spread through the rest of the school. I don't think Mr Malfoy would appreciate all this talk of his face turning into this horror, and I don't suppose he'd want visitors either, but you're welcome to visit – seeing as you've already seen his face." She paused and turned to Draco.

"Is that all right with you, Mr Malfoy?"

He nodded. He most definitely didn't want anyone to see his face covered with nasty red boils (that could easily be mistaken for acne).

"You may leave now Miss Granger, it is getting late and your night patrol will be longer without the Head Boy to assist you. Leave the dungeon as it is. I'll have a word with Professor Snape for you." Madam Pomfrey bid goodnight to Hermione as she made her way towards her office.

"Goodnight, Madam Pomfrey." Hermione called before turning towards the door and walking out of the Hospital Wing.

She could have sworn she heard Draco mumble a quiet thanks before she left, but she thought no more of it.

Madam Pomfrey watched as Draco shut his eyes and slowly fell asleep. She tiptoed out of the Hospital Wing and rushed to Dumbledore's office, where most of the staff had already gathered. As she entered, the conversations stopped, and all eyes turned to the breathless nurse. She told them of what had happened in the Hospital Wing.

"They certainly are starting to . . . bond," remarked Snape, as Madam Pomfrey took a seat beside him. All of the staff seemed worried, except for Dumbledore, who merely smiled.

"And they know about the legend," Madam Pince added.

"Yes, but so does the spy, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Professor Binns interrupted. Everyone nodded.

"That Potter boy came complaining about his scar as well," Filch muttered, stroking Mrs Norris as he spoke.

"Well, that cannot be helped." Dumbledore sighed. "But it is going well, you have to admit that." They all nodded again.

"Yes," said McGonagall, giving Dumbledore a small smile, "I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Albus. There might just be some hope after all."

"My Lord, there is another letter from your spy, reporting today's detention."

Voldemort snatched the parchment that had just been sent to him and read it with interest. "How very . . . interesting. The boy is starting to weaken." He turned to Wormtail and glared at him with piercing red eyes.

"Get Lucius to check the Hogwarts student files at the Ministry for me. I need a full list of Hogwarts students as soon as possible. Remind him that he's meeting my spy at Hogsmeade tomorrow. Do you understand?"

Wormtail nodded. "Yes, My Lord."

He retreated quickly and set off to find an owl to sendto Malfoy Manor.

Hermione ate her food slowly the next morning. Every so often, she glanced over to the Slytherin table to see if Draco had recovered, but there was no sign of him. She didn't know why she was so bothered. It wasn't like they were friends or anything, but she found herself caring for him and wondering if he was going to be okay. She tried to forget about him but she couldn't. Somehow, all her thoughts would end with Draco. Two boys watched as she stood up and left the Great Hall to wait in the Arithmancy classroom.

"I wish we could talk to her. I still don't understand why Dumbledore won't let us be friends." Ron whispered to Harry.

"I suppose he's doing it because he thinks that we'll just get in the way of this whole Malfoy and Hermione thing . . . and to be honest, Ron, I think that we would have if he didn't keep us away from her."

"Well, speaking of Malfoy, where the hell is he?"

"I don't know. But I can bet you that Hermione does."

The lessons that day passed horribly slowly and Hermione even surprised herself by not putting her hand up in any of her lessons. Her thoughts drifted to Draco and for once she was glad that no one spoke to her. She was beginning to enjoy the time that she had to think things through without disturbance.

"Hermione!" Someone shouted from behind her.

She turned to find Callum Flewington running to catch up with her. He grinned. "I just wanted to know if you've seen Draco lately."

Hermione tried her best to look blank.

"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't," she replied. She didn't want to lie to anyone.

Callum raised an eyebrow and nodded at her before he turned and walked away. Hermione stood for a while, frowning in confusion. She decided to forget what had just happened. It couldn't be important. Hermione decided that she should head towards the greenhouses, instead of the Gryffindor common room. She wanted to pick up a little something before heading to the Hospital Wing and it wasn't long before she arrived at her destination.

"Professor?" Hermione called, knocking on Professor Sprout's office door.

"Yes, dear?" A voice – presumably Sprout's – called in reply.

Hermione entered the room and felt her cheeks flush slightly. "I was wondering, Professor . . . I was wondering . . . erm . . . whether you have any, erm . . ."

"Flowers, honey?" Professor Sprout smiled. She had been expecting this. Dumbledore had mentioned an event like this at the meeting yesterday evening. Hermione nodded shyly as the blood continued to rush to her cheeks. "Okay dear, come with me. I have some lovely flowers that I started growing just this year."

She led Hermione to Greenhouse Four. As Hermione looked inside, she gasped at what she saw. She had never expected Hogwarts to grow such beautiful flowers! Some were blue, some were red and some were even black and white.

"Now, I think this one would suit him perfectly!" Professor Sprout exclaimed as she picked a bunch of flowers and handedthem to Hermione. They were roses, but they weren't just any roses – the petals were a rich green, and the stem was a shade of gold. Hermione smiled to herself. They would, indeed, suit Draco perfectly.

"Thank you very much, Professor!"

Professor Sprout watched as Hermione hurried out. She waited patiently for a while, before hurriedly making her way to Dumbledore's office to report the good news.

"Why Miss Granger! This is a lovely surprise."

Madam Pomfrey opened the door and smiled. She had to let Professor Dumbledore know about this. She glanced at the flowers clutched in Hermione's hands. That was, unless Professor Sprout had already informed him.

"He's asleep at the moment, but he'll be awake soon. If he does wake, do you mind if you just feed him from the tray on that table over there? It seems he has difficultly moving – one of the side effects I suspect. And don't worry; I made sure he wasn't lying! I'll be gone for some time."

Madam Pomfrey held the door open and waited for Hermione to enter. Closing the door behind her, she rushed out of the Hospital Wing and in the direction of Dumbledore's office. Hermione crept towards Draco's bed and sat on the empty bed beside him. Summoning a china vase using the power of her wand, she put the flowers into it and placed the vase on his bedside table. She stared at him silently. He looked kind of cute, when he was asleep. But then again, Crookshanks did too and he was a nightmare when he was awake. She jumped as a groan escaped Draco's lips. His eyes parted slightly.

"What on earth are you doing here, Granger?" He managed to stutter, trying his best to sit up straight – and failing to do so.

"Attempting to murder you." She rolled her eyes. "What do you think?"

Draco glared at her before turning away.

"Where's Madam Pomfrey? I'm hungry."

"She went somewhere. She told me to feed you instead." Draco raised an eyebrow as Hermione went to get his dinner. She returned with some porridge and a bottle of potion. She put one hand behind his back and pushed him forward, placing an extra pillow behind his back so that he could sit up properly. Draco gave Hermione a questioning look. She sighed.

"Trust me Malfoy, I don't have a clue why I'm doing this either. Now open your mouth." He did as he was told and Hermione blew gently on the porridge before putting the spoonful in his mouth. Draco swallowed with difficulty.

"Do I have to have that potion? It tastes foul." Draco said, staring disgustedly at the green medicine Hermione was now holding out to him. He wrinkled his nose at the smell.

"Yes, you do, Malfoy. If you want to get better soon, that is." He rolled his eyes and opened his mouth. Hermione placed the spoon in his mouth and watched him wriggle as he swallowed. He pulled a face and she laughed. It wasn't so bad being around him when he didn't have anyone to show off to.

"I like the flowers by the way." He said, looking at the vase.

Hermione smiled, happy that he appreciated them. She glanced at her watch and gasped. "Is it nine already? I better go, seeing as I have to do night patrol by myself again. Get well soon, Malfoy!"

She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and hurried out of the Hospital Wing, leaving Draco bewildered. He placed a hand on his cheek in disbelief.

"Holy crap."

Hermione leant against the door of the Hospital Wing. She had just kissed Draco Malfoy. Yes, kissed Draco Malfoy. She shuddered. The peck on the cheek had certainly been unexpected, and she mentally reminded herself never to do it again.

It was Hogsmeade weekend. The weather outside was beautifully sunny and after breakfast, everybody either signed the list that Filch held out to go into Hogsmeade, or sat outside to finish off some last minute homework. Hermione decided to sit by the lake for a little light reading. She had nothing to buy and no one to meet up with, therefore having no reason to enter Hogsmeade at all. As she sat below a tree and turned the page, she heard a loud cough from beside her.

"Hello Callum," Hermione said, squinting up at him. He gave her a small smile and crouched down beside her.

"How are you today, Hermione?" Callum asked politely.

She smiled and replied, "Fine, and you?"

"Just great, although there has been something that's been bugging me lately." Hermione closed her book as Callum continued. "I do wonder . . . have you ever had a boyfriend?"

She gave him a suspicious look, "Yes, why do you ask?"

"I was just curious. Who were they?"

She gave him another suspicious look. He laughed. "Look, I'm just trying to be friendly. And I do have a good reason for asking . . . just tell me who they were first."

"Well," Hermione began, thinking hard. It had been a long time since she had had a boyfriend. "There was a brief thing with Viktor Krum and then, during the summer, I went out with this muggle boy called John, but he got jealous every time I talked to a boy. Then, I started to go out with Ron Weasley at the beginning of sixth year. But we both agreed it wasn't working after a few months, and that was it. I haven't had a boyfriend since."

Callum nodded, and grinned mischievously. "Would you like another boyfriend?"

Hermione frowned at him. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you see, I have this mate. He likes you – a lot - but he's way too shy to ask you out."

Hermione frowned and stared at Callum for a while. She wasn't quite sure whether to believe him or not.

"Who is this mate of yours, exactly?"

"Oh just . . . somebody. He doesn't want me to tell you yet, you see. He just wanted me to ask you to meet up with him next week, under that oak tree over there. He wants it to be a blind date sort of thing, to make it more exciting."

Hermione looked at the lake, which was gleaming mysteriously in the sunlight. She didn't know what to say, and she didn't know why she was hesitating either. She sighed.

"Fine. Tell him I'll be there." Hermione said, looking up and expecting to see Callum. Instead, she saw that he was already walking away from her.

"Where are you going?" She called after him. He glanced over his shoulder and gave her a small smile.

"Oh, just Hogsmeade."

Lucius Malfoy looked around angrily, as he sat in a dark corner of the Three Broomsticks. He tapped his foot impatiently. That little spy was meant to be there by now.

"I'm so sorry, Mr Malfoy, I had to keep you waiting. The second stage of the plan took longer than I thought it would." The spy said, sitting down beside Lucius and helping himself to some butterbeer on the table.

"Why, I thought the little spy could handle anything?" Lucius sneered.

"I couldn't find the Granger girl last night, and I had homework to finish. I am still a student, even if I am working for the Dark Lord."

"You did find her in the end though, didn't you?"

"Of course. You can tell the Dark Lord that it seems all is going well – just as he planned."

"And are you sure that Dumbledore knows nothing of our plan?"

"Well, I cannot be certain. No one is sure of what that old fool is thinking most of the time, not even the great Dark Lord himself. Surely you know that, Mr Malfoy."

Lucius sniffed. "I should be leaving you then. People would find it highly suspicious that I, the great Lucius Malfoy, is talking to someone like you."

With a nod and a malicious smile, Lucius Malfoy left his seat and strode out of the Three Broomsticks, leaving the spy to sip his butterbeer.

Dumbledore stroked his phoenix, Fawkes, fondly as he looked out of his window at the night sky. The plan was going exceedingly well and he was pretty sure that the spy was not aware of their knowledge. Suddenly he heard a crash from behind him. He looked up and turned to find that someone had shot out of the fireplace. Obviously, they had just travelled to his office by Floo powder. He recognised this person almost immediately.

"Yes, Mundungus?" He smiled, his eyes twinkling knowingly.

Mundungus Fletcher got up and straightened his skirt. Although he was a man, he still enjoyed dressing up as though he was a young witch. He looked up at Dumbledore and smiled, revealing his grim yellow teeth.

"'Ave some news dat might interest ya. Ya might wanna know it cus' of dat plan ya told me 'bout at Grimmauld Place, ya know?"

Dumbledore nodded and gestured to the loveseat in front of his desk. Mundungus sat down.

"Well, ya see Professor, I was drinking me fire whisky at the Three Broomsticks when I noticed Lucius Malfoy sitting in da corner. 'E was looking around, quite frantically, waitin' for somebody, so I waited for 'em too. When 'e arrived, I was surprised, cus' it wasn't a grown man, like I fought. Instead, it was one of ya students – 'ere! 'Ere, in 'Ogwarts!" Mundungus paused as Dumbledore surveyed him through his half moon spectacles.

"And do you know the Hogwarts student's name, Mundungus?"

"I sure do Professor! It's –

Edited Version: 30th July 2005