Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot and a few of my own
original characters. They are J. K. Rowling's creation.
* * * * *
Winter had been fast approaching. Jack Frost began it's descent upon the grounds of Hogwarts and a thick layer of snow blanketed the areas that were once green but left with autumn. A think layer of ice settled itself on the lake outside and the branches of the tress were heavily weighed down by the snow.
Darkness grew around Hogwarts as the last meal before the holiday break took place. Holly and mistletoe were placed on all the torches that decorated the walls. The flames danced merrily and created a welcoming yet departing feeling in the Great Hall.
The Hall buzzed with excitement as the break approached. The food invaded Hermione's nostrils as she ate and Harry had decided to join them for dinner for once. The trio laughed joyfully as they ate and Hermione observed Harry's profile.
He had grown thin. His once built body, which he acquired from Quidditch, was slender and lanky again. He had not lost the broadness of his shoulders, but he had grown bonier. His cheekbones were even protruding from under his skin and the bones in his hands were visible. He looked horrible. At least he was eating a decent meal currently. His plate was full and he ate every last bit of what was there.
As Dumbledore bid the students farewell, Hermione, Harry, and Ron, who had all decided to stay over the holiday, walked up to the warm common room and relaxed on the furniture by the fire.
The trio laughed and joked as they always did. At one point, Ron suggested a game of Wizard's chess and Harry agreed.
"Can I play?"
Ron looked at her.
"Sure you're up for the challenge?"
"I'll help her" stated Harry plainly.
"Alright."
Ron ran up to his dorm and retrieved the chess set and returned to find Harry and Hermione just as they were. He set it down on the floor and set the pieces up on the board.
Hermione took a seat across from Ron and Harry sat next to her.
"You're white, you go first" Ron said.
"Knight to F3."
The piece jumped over the pawn in front of it and stopped when it reached F3.
"Pawn to E5." The piece slid slowly over the board and stopped.
"Knight to C3."
"Bishop to C5."
Hermione hesitated for a moment. Harry whispered in her ear.
"Move a pawn."
"Pawn to D4."
The game continued and Hermione caught on quick. Soon she found herself placing Ron in checkmate and his face was purely priceless.
"You weren't holding back were you?"
"No" said Ron.
"Good."
"How did that happen?"
Harry laughed at the situation and so did Hermione.
"How is this funny?"
"You're just annoyed because she beat you the first time she played."
Ron scowled at Harry.
"Oh c'mon, Ron. It's only a game."
"I know."
Harry became tired and stood up and walked up to his dorm. Hermione and Ron let him go without question. They remained behind and talked.
"Ron?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you think is going one with Harry?" she asked in a whisper when she was sure he was out of earshot.
"I don't know."
Hermione looked to the stairs where he had disappeared.
"I'm worried about him. He's grown thin and he looks...well, horrible."
"He hasn't been eating right either. I don't think he's slept in weeks. I caught him up one night."
"What was he doing?"
"Leaving."
"Where did he go?"
"I don't know. All that I saw him do was slip his Invisibility Cloak over his shoulders and he left."
"This isn't like him. I wish he'd tell us what's going on."
"You reckon we should follow him tomorrow?"
Hermione contemplated the suggestion.
"How would you do that? You can't see him."
Ron shrugged. "I hadn't thought about that."
Hermione thought for a moment.
"Well, we could put a special powder on the bottom of his shoes and use a black light."
"What?"
"It's a Muggle device."
"Oh! That explains it."
"It would work. It would just have to be me that would follow him though. You'd get in trouble."
"I don't care. He's my best friend and I'm looking out for his well- being."
"It's too risky. I would use my 'Head Girl' title as an excuse, but it would look suspicious."
"We could say you found a student and I knew where he was and I was helping you to find him."
"That might work, but still, it's a risky situation."
"Hermione, would you rather leave this uninvestigated?"
"Not really."
"Well, then it's something we have to do."
"How will I know when he leaves?" she asked.
"I'll take his map that tells where everyone is in the hallways and I'll follow him the first night. That way, I'll be able to show you the next night and we'll follow him."
"You're a genius!"
"What?"
"Forget the black light idea."
"Why am I a genius?"
"The map, dummy. We can use it to follow him without actually following him."
"I am a genius!"
Hermione laughed.
"How we going to get it from him?" asked Ron.
"During lunch tomorrow, I'll keep him in the Great Hall and you say you forgot something and go get it from his trunk."
Ron nodded.
"It's all set then. I should go and make my rounds."
"Okay. Good night Hermione."
"Good night."
With that, Hermione pushed open the portrait and disappeared. When she was finished walking the hallways, bumping into Filch only once, but having no trouble from him, she returned to her own common room, expecting it to be empty, but half expecting someone to be there.
When she entered, there he sat, as innocent-looking as he could be. Innocent-looking was the operative word in that sentence. Stupid. He had only saved her life a few weeks ago and here she had never even thanked him for it. Stupid.
"Where have you been?"
"Like you would care anyway."
"Why do you think I'm still up?"
"Because you're crazy."
"Crazy for you, yes." Draco looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
Hermione shook her head and walked upstairs. As she fell to sleep, a worried expression was planted on her features.
* * * * *
Draco was oddly curious where Hermione had been last night but a good guess was with the trio in the Gryffindor common room. He supposed he didn't even need to ask. Why had he stayed up to wait for her though?
The Great Hall that morning was substantially emptier than normal. There were only a handful of Slytherins including Draco, Blaise and Pansy, who was hanging all over Draco much to his dismay. She planted a kiss on his cheek just as Hermione looked in his direction. She looked away in disgust and went back to talking to Neville, Ron and Harry. She leaned in close to Ron and whispered something in his ear. Draco knew there was something going on.
Hermione, Harry and Ron decided to give Hagird a visit. Their big giant friend had been a couple months without a visit from the trio. The cold bit at their noses as they walked across the frozen snow and Hermione drew her robes tighter around her. At some point, Ron lost his footing and went sliding down the hill on his ass and stopped halfway to Hagrid's hut. There he sat and waited for them to catch up.
The three eventually reached his homely hut and knocked on the door. Fang barked loudly and scratching could be heard on the door. Hagrid approached the door and large thuds were heard with each step. He looked surprised but glad when he opened the door.
"Hi there, come on in."
Hagrid beckoned them to enter and the warmth of his hut welcomed them. The fire danced merrily in the fireplace and Fang knocked Ron over in excitement.
"It seems I'm like magnetically attracted to the ground today."
Hagrid pulled Fang off of Ron and helped him up.
"What brings yer here?"
"Just for a friendly visit. Is that ok?"
"Of course! I haven't seen you guys in months. It's nice to have some company again besides ol' Fang here."
Fang growled almost as if he understood what Hagrid had said.
"No offense Fang."
Fang lay down quietly and slept in front of the fire and the trio chatted excitedly with Hagrid. Lunchtime was soon approaching however and they had to leave.
"Bye Hagrid!" they yelled as they trudged up the hill back towards the castle. When they reached the doors, Ron spoke.
"I forgot something up in the dorm this morning. I'm going to go get it."
Harry nodded and veered to the left towards the Great Hall and with one glance back towards Hermione, Ron left for the boys' dorms. She knew what he was doing. She kept Harry occupied while Ron was gone.
Meanwhile, Ron had already reached his dorm but found Dean in there. He cursed under his breath.
"Hey Ron."
"Hi Dean. What are you doing up here?"
"Oh, I'm just reading."
"Where's Seamus?"
"I don't know. He's probably off with Ginny somewhere."
"What?!"
"They're going out. Didn't you know that?"
"No!"
"Calm down mate."
Ron took a deep breath and pushed the thought further back into his mind. Dean twisted back around in his desk chair and craned his neck over his work. Ron thought this strange because Dean wasn't the type to work, but he ignored it for the moment. He went over to Harry's trunk and opened it.
It wasn't lying on top anywhere so he dug through Harry's things and found it under some books of his.
"Ah ha!" he shouted.
"What?" asked Dean, turning around in his chair.
"Oh nothing" said Ron, trying his best to hide what he had taken.
Dean looked at him quizzically but returned to his work and Ron tucked the map into his robes. He exited the common room and soon appeared in the Great Hall. Hermione looked at him with one of those 'what-took-you-so- long' looks. Ron shrugged at her, signaling he'd tell her later.
An awkward silence fell on the table, so Ron decided to make conversation.
"Ginny's going out with Seamus" he blurted out.
"I know" said Hermione.
"And you didn't tell me?"
"I thought you knew."
"Not until just a few minutes ago! I never know anything!"
"Don't have a coronary!"
"She shouldn't be dating!"
"I think we have a hypocrite on our hands, Harry."
"I think we do. Did you or did you not date Lavender Brown in sixth year?"
Ron blushed slightly. "Alright, so I did. So what? This is different."
"No it isn't. She's your sister and you're looking out for her, but it's not different. She's a sixth year; that's' the same age you were when you started dating."
Ron admitted defeat and finished his meal.
* * *
That night at dinner, Harry was a no-show, not that Hermione had expected anything different. He was unaware of the fact that he was slowly starving himself. He was simply just too caught up in whatever he was doing.
Ron handed Hermione the map and she tucked it into her breast pocket of her robe and acted like nothing had been switched. Ron planned to accompany Hermione to her own common room that night and they would watch his movements together on the map. After dinner, that's where they headed.
Draco wasn't there yet. He was probably down in the dungeons getting himself drunk and fucking that whore, Pansy. God knows he'd have to be drunk to do it with her anyway. Hermione admitted she had the looks but her outlooks and morals were no match.
Hermione locked the door behind her and Ron and they sat down on the floor. Hermione muttered an incantation while tapping her wand against the map to activate it. Just then Draco entered the common room and heard talking and giggling. Her put his ear to the door and strained his ears to catch the words taking place in Hermione's room, hoping to discover whatever it was that she had been hiding.
It was most unfortunate for him, but he felt a sneeze coming on and his curiosity had obviously overcome whatever common sense he had at that moment, explaining his lack of movement. He tried his best to hold it back, but only succeeded in muffling the sound which did not go unheard.
There was sudden silence in the room and Ron and Hermione had stopped giggling. They exchanged glances and the last thing Draco heard was "Silencio!"
"Damn it!" he muttered to himself. Draco walked into his own room and sat on the bed. He couldn't help but be curious. Then again, why was he looking out for her? The ungrateful little Mublood had never even thanked him for saving her life. He argued against himself by saying she never really had a chance with Potty and Weasel around all the time and then resorted to his original thought that she had plenty of chances to thank him, but she never had. On the other hand, the look in her chocolate brown eyes when she glanced up at him in his arms said it all. She was grateful, but maybe was afraid to show it.
"Will you stop it?!" he shouted at his subconscious argument.
"No!" it yelled back.
"Fine, have it your way! Take it somewhere bloody else though!"
"We will have it our way! Right here!" it retorted.
Draco shook his head violently, with the smallest hope he had his sanity. To his own relief, silence fell upon the room.
"Snap out it...you're still sane" he whispered.
"No you're not" his subconscious snuck back in.
"Bloody shut up already will you?!"
Draco waited for a response but none came and a sigh of relief escaped his lips.
~ ~ ~ ~
Back in Hermione's room, Ron stole a quick glance down at the map.
"Look! There he is!"
Hermione's attention snapped to the map and they watched the little dot labeled, "Harry" wander through the halls. He was on the third level when it vanished and he walkd on the fourth level.
"Where do you reckon he's going?"
Hermione shook her head nervously and continued to watch his movement. He stopped at a random place in the hallway and the dot suddenly disappeared.
"Where'd he go?!"
"I-I don't know. It must be a hidden classroom somewhere along there. I suppose this task must wait until tomorrow."
"I suppose it will."
"Ron, you should get going. I'll give you a five minute head start before I start my rounds."
"You're not serious are you?"
"Like hell I'm not. Get going. I wouldn't want to have to turn you into Filch."
"Hermione, you're pulling my leg right?"
Hermione smiled at him and the once tensed muscles relaxed.
"You're down to four minutes."
"What?!"
Ron scrambled out of the room and ran down the stairs. Hermione yelled something after him.
"Tomorrow! Don't forget!"
She giggled as she saw him disappear. Then she heard a low masculine voice behind her that was unmistakably identifiable.
"Forget what?"
* * * * *
A/N:
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The plot thickens. Mauahaha! Hopefully I'll be able to post fairly soon again. Please review!!!!!
* * * * *
Winter had been fast approaching. Jack Frost began it's descent upon the grounds of Hogwarts and a thick layer of snow blanketed the areas that were once green but left with autumn. A think layer of ice settled itself on the lake outside and the branches of the tress were heavily weighed down by the snow.
Darkness grew around Hogwarts as the last meal before the holiday break took place. Holly and mistletoe were placed on all the torches that decorated the walls. The flames danced merrily and created a welcoming yet departing feeling in the Great Hall.
The Hall buzzed with excitement as the break approached. The food invaded Hermione's nostrils as she ate and Harry had decided to join them for dinner for once. The trio laughed joyfully as they ate and Hermione observed Harry's profile.
He had grown thin. His once built body, which he acquired from Quidditch, was slender and lanky again. He had not lost the broadness of his shoulders, but he had grown bonier. His cheekbones were even protruding from under his skin and the bones in his hands were visible. He looked horrible. At least he was eating a decent meal currently. His plate was full and he ate every last bit of what was there.
As Dumbledore bid the students farewell, Hermione, Harry, and Ron, who had all decided to stay over the holiday, walked up to the warm common room and relaxed on the furniture by the fire.
The trio laughed and joked as they always did. At one point, Ron suggested a game of Wizard's chess and Harry agreed.
"Can I play?"
Ron looked at her.
"Sure you're up for the challenge?"
"I'll help her" stated Harry plainly.
"Alright."
Ron ran up to his dorm and retrieved the chess set and returned to find Harry and Hermione just as they were. He set it down on the floor and set the pieces up on the board.
Hermione took a seat across from Ron and Harry sat next to her.
"You're white, you go first" Ron said.
"Knight to F3."
The piece jumped over the pawn in front of it and stopped when it reached F3.
"Pawn to E5." The piece slid slowly over the board and stopped.
"Knight to C3."
"Bishop to C5."
Hermione hesitated for a moment. Harry whispered in her ear.
"Move a pawn."
"Pawn to D4."
The game continued and Hermione caught on quick. Soon she found herself placing Ron in checkmate and his face was purely priceless.
"You weren't holding back were you?"
"No" said Ron.
"Good."
"How did that happen?"
Harry laughed at the situation and so did Hermione.
"How is this funny?"
"You're just annoyed because she beat you the first time she played."
Ron scowled at Harry.
"Oh c'mon, Ron. It's only a game."
"I know."
Harry became tired and stood up and walked up to his dorm. Hermione and Ron let him go without question. They remained behind and talked.
"Ron?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you think is going one with Harry?" she asked in a whisper when she was sure he was out of earshot.
"I don't know."
Hermione looked to the stairs where he had disappeared.
"I'm worried about him. He's grown thin and he looks...well, horrible."
"He hasn't been eating right either. I don't think he's slept in weeks. I caught him up one night."
"What was he doing?"
"Leaving."
"Where did he go?"
"I don't know. All that I saw him do was slip his Invisibility Cloak over his shoulders and he left."
"This isn't like him. I wish he'd tell us what's going on."
"You reckon we should follow him tomorrow?"
Hermione contemplated the suggestion.
"How would you do that? You can't see him."
Ron shrugged. "I hadn't thought about that."
Hermione thought for a moment.
"Well, we could put a special powder on the bottom of his shoes and use a black light."
"What?"
"It's a Muggle device."
"Oh! That explains it."
"It would work. It would just have to be me that would follow him though. You'd get in trouble."
"I don't care. He's my best friend and I'm looking out for his well- being."
"It's too risky. I would use my 'Head Girl' title as an excuse, but it would look suspicious."
"We could say you found a student and I knew where he was and I was helping you to find him."
"That might work, but still, it's a risky situation."
"Hermione, would you rather leave this uninvestigated?"
"Not really."
"Well, then it's something we have to do."
"How will I know when he leaves?" she asked.
"I'll take his map that tells where everyone is in the hallways and I'll follow him the first night. That way, I'll be able to show you the next night and we'll follow him."
"You're a genius!"
"What?"
"Forget the black light idea."
"Why am I a genius?"
"The map, dummy. We can use it to follow him without actually following him."
"I am a genius!"
Hermione laughed.
"How we going to get it from him?" asked Ron.
"During lunch tomorrow, I'll keep him in the Great Hall and you say you forgot something and go get it from his trunk."
Ron nodded.
"It's all set then. I should go and make my rounds."
"Okay. Good night Hermione."
"Good night."
With that, Hermione pushed open the portrait and disappeared. When she was finished walking the hallways, bumping into Filch only once, but having no trouble from him, she returned to her own common room, expecting it to be empty, but half expecting someone to be there.
When she entered, there he sat, as innocent-looking as he could be. Innocent-looking was the operative word in that sentence. Stupid. He had only saved her life a few weeks ago and here she had never even thanked him for it. Stupid.
"Where have you been?"
"Like you would care anyway."
"Why do you think I'm still up?"
"Because you're crazy."
"Crazy for you, yes." Draco looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
Hermione shook her head and walked upstairs. As she fell to sleep, a worried expression was planted on her features.
* * * * *
Draco was oddly curious where Hermione had been last night but a good guess was with the trio in the Gryffindor common room. He supposed he didn't even need to ask. Why had he stayed up to wait for her though?
The Great Hall that morning was substantially emptier than normal. There were only a handful of Slytherins including Draco, Blaise and Pansy, who was hanging all over Draco much to his dismay. She planted a kiss on his cheek just as Hermione looked in his direction. She looked away in disgust and went back to talking to Neville, Ron and Harry. She leaned in close to Ron and whispered something in his ear. Draco knew there was something going on.
Hermione, Harry and Ron decided to give Hagird a visit. Their big giant friend had been a couple months without a visit from the trio. The cold bit at their noses as they walked across the frozen snow and Hermione drew her robes tighter around her. At some point, Ron lost his footing and went sliding down the hill on his ass and stopped halfway to Hagrid's hut. There he sat and waited for them to catch up.
The three eventually reached his homely hut and knocked on the door. Fang barked loudly and scratching could be heard on the door. Hagrid approached the door and large thuds were heard with each step. He looked surprised but glad when he opened the door.
"Hi there, come on in."
Hagrid beckoned them to enter and the warmth of his hut welcomed them. The fire danced merrily in the fireplace and Fang knocked Ron over in excitement.
"It seems I'm like magnetically attracted to the ground today."
Hagrid pulled Fang off of Ron and helped him up.
"What brings yer here?"
"Just for a friendly visit. Is that ok?"
"Of course! I haven't seen you guys in months. It's nice to have some company again besides ol' Fang here."
Fang growled almost as if he understood what Hagrid had said.
"No offense Fang."
Fang lay down quietly and slept in front of the fire and the trio chatted excitedly with Hagrid. Lunchtime was soon approaching however and they had to leave.
"Bye Hagrid!" they yelled as they trudged up the hill back towards the castle. When they reached the doors, Ron spoke.
"I forgot something up in the dorm this morning. I'm going to go get it."
Harry nodded and veered to the left towards the Great Hall and with one glance back towards Hermione, Ron left for the boys' dorms. She knew what he was doing. She kept Harry occupied while Ron was gone.
Meanwhile, Ron had already reached his dorm but found Dean in there. He cursed under his breath.
"Hey Ron."
"Hi Dean. What are you doing up here?"
"Oh, I'm just reading."
"Where's Seamus?"
"I don't know. He's probably off with Ginny somewhere."
"What?!"
"They're going out. Didn't you know that?"
"No!"
"Calm down mate."
Ron took a deep breath and pushed the thought further back into his mind. Dean twisted back around in his desk chair and craned his neck over his work. Ron thought this strange because Dean wasn't the type to work, but he ignored it for the moment. He went over to Harry's trunk and opened it.
It wasn't lying on top anywhere so he dug through Harry's things and found it under some books of his.
"Ah ha!" he shouted.
"What?" asked Dean, turning around in his chair.
"Oh nothing" said Ron, trying his best to hide what he had taken.
Dean looked at him quizzically but returned to his work and Ron tucked the map into his robes. He exited the common room and soon appeared in the Great Hall. Hermione looked at him with one of those 'what-took-you-so- long' looks. Ron shrugged at her, signaling he'd tell her later.
An awkward silence fell on the table, so Ron decided to make conversation.
"Ginny's going out with Seamus" he blurted out.
"I know" said Hermione.
"And you didn't tell me?"
"I thought you knew."
"Not until just a few minutes ago! I never know anything!"
"Don't have a coronary!"
"She shouldn't be dating!"
"I think we have a hypocrite on our hands, Harry."
"I think we do. Did you or did you not date Lavender Brown in sixth year?"
Ron blushed slightly. "Alright, so I did. So what? This is different."
"No it isn't. She's your sister and you're looking out for her, but it's not different. She's a sixth year; that's' the same age you were when you started dating."
Ron admitted defeat and finished his meal.
* * *
That night at dinner, Harry was a no-show, not that Hermione had expected anything different. He was unaware of the fact that he was slowly starving himself. He was simply just too caught up in whatever he was doing.
Ron handed Hermione the map and she tucked it into her breast pocket of her robe and acted like nothing had been switched. Ron planned to accompany Hermione to her own common room that night and they would watch his movements together on the map. After dinner, that's where they headed.
Draco wasn't there yet. He was probably down in the dungeons getting himself drunk and fucking that whore, Pansy. God knows he'd have to be drunk to do it with her anyway. Hermione admitted she had the looks but her outlooks and morals were no match.
Hermione locked the door behind her and Ron and they sat down on the floor. Hermione muttered an incantation while tapping her wand against the map to activate it. Just then Draco entered the common room and heard talking and giggling. Her put his ear to the door and strained his ears to catch the words taking place in Hermione's room, hoping to discover whatever it was that she had been hiding.
It was most unfortunate for him, but he felt a sneeze coming on and his curiosity had obviously overcome whatever common sense he had at that moment, explaining his lack of movement. He tried his best to hold it back, but only succeeded in muffling the sound which did not go unheard.
There was sudden silence in the room and Ron and Hermione had stopped giggling. They exchanged glances and the last thing Draco heard was "Silencio!"
"Damn it!" he muttered to himself. Draco walked into his own room and sat on the bed. He couldn't help but be curious. Then again, why was he looking out for her? The ungrateful little Mublood had never even thanked him for saving her life. He argued against himself by saying she never really had a chance with Potty and Weasel around all the time and then resorted to his original thought that she had plenty of chances to thank him, but she never had. On the other hand, the look in her chocolate brown eyes when she glanced up at him in his arms said it all. She was grateful, but maybe was afraid to show it.
"Will you stop it?!" he shouted at his subconscious argument.
"No!" it yelled back.
"Fine, have it your way! Take it somewhere bloody else though!"
"We will have it our way! Right here!" it retorted.
Draco shook his head violently, with the smallest hope he had his sanity. To his own relief, silence fell upon the room.
"Snap out it...you're still sane" he whispered.
"No you're not" his subconscious snuck back in.
"Bloody shut up already will you?!"
Draco waited for a response but none came and a sigh of relief escaped his lips.
~ ~ ~ ~
Back in Hermione's room, Ron stole a quick glance down at the map.
"Look! There he is!"
Hermione's attention snapped to the map and they watched the little dot labeled, "Harry" wander through the halls. He was on the third level when it vanished and he walkd on the fourth level.
"Where do you reckon he's going?"
Hermione shook her head nervously and continued to watch his movement. He stopped at a random place in the hallway and the dot suddenly disappeared.
"Where'd he go?!"
"I-I don't know. It must be a hidden classroom somewhere along there. I suppose this task must wait until tomorrow."
"I suppose it will."
"Ron, you should get going. I'll give you a five minute head start before I start my rounds."
"You're not serious are you?"
"Like hell I'm not. Get going. I wouldn't want to have to turn you into Filch."
"Hermione, you're pulling my leg right?"
Hermione smiled at him and the once tensed muscles relaxed.
"You're down to four minutes."
"What?!"
Ron scrambled out of the room and ran down the stairs. Hermione yelled something after him.
"Tomorrow! Don't forget!"
She giggled as she saw him disappear. Then she heard a low masculine voice behind her that was unmistakably identifiable.
"Forget what?"
* * * * *
A/N:
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The plot thickens. Mauahaha! Hopefully I'll be able to post fairly soon again. Please review!!!!!