Chapter 10
Explanations with Black Outs
Hermione looked down on her friend in horror. 'How could they do this to her?' thought Hermione angrily.
"Ginny what do they know?" She asked Ginny. She stopped crying and looked at Hermione through tear stained eyes.
"That you had been hanging out with the Slytherin girls. I was looking for you when I over heard them talking. They were planning to get you back for the scene at the lake." Ginny looked Hermione in the eye and then smiled. Hermione looked at Ginny. Bruises were starting to take form on her face.
"They put everlasting ink on your bed and don't open your trunk cause they loaded it with stink bombs." Ginny said 'Very juvenile' thought Hermione.
"Back to the story I went up to them and told them to Fuck Off and that's when they jumped me. I don't remember much after that." Said Ginny.
"Care to fill in the blanks?" Hermione said as she turned and looked at Sean. He had a few bruises on his face and had one hand on his right ribs.
"I was on my way here when I turned a corner and saw what was happening. I knew that no one would have problem with me helping Ginny out so I did." He answered. He looked at Ginny who smiled up to him.
"Thanks a lot Sean." Said Ginny. She looked at Hermione. Draco was standing behind her with his head on her shoulder and arms wrapped around her waist. 'At least Hermione has someone.' Thought Ginny sadly. She then looked at Sean.
"I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come." She looked at him thought fully. She didn't know him that well but she knew that they had many of the same classes together.
"Don't worry about it. I just couldn't let a pretty girl like you get hurt." He said with a sly grin. Ginny blushed a deep red. "Enough sitting around I feel better and I DO NOT want to go to Pomfrey." Ginny said as she got out of the bed. She took the time now to look around the room. There were four beds and what seemed to be a closet and a private bathroom.
"Whoa. These are way nicer than the ones in Gryffindor." Said Ginny as she continued to look around the room. She was puzzled to think as to why they were so much nicer then hers.
"Well if you both are done admiring our room would you like to come down to the common room and meet some of the other people?" Asked Draco. He started to the door when Sean stopped him.
"I don't think you want to go down." Sean stated. He had a really funny grin on his face as he turned and sat on what Ginny presumed to be his bed.
"And why would I not want to go down there?" Draco asked. He looked at Hermione who seemed to be trying really hard not to laugh.
"Draco go take a look in the mirror." Ginny told him. Draco gave her a quizzical look and then made his way to the bathroom. Meanwhile Sean looked at Ginny who looked at Hermione. They all headed for the door at a rapid pace.
Draco made his way to the bathroom. He walked in and turned on the light. He headed straight to the mirror. "You're all dead." He yelled out the door. He had bright red lip-gloss all over his face. "I would have looked really dumb going down stairs with this on." He said to the mirror. He quickly washed it off and headed down stairs.
He found Hermione sitting on a love seat by herself Ginny to her left on a larger couch sitting next to Sean and Millicent. Most of the 6th and 5th year Slytherins were sitting around them to.
Draco plopped down on the love seat by Hermione. She flashed him one of those got-you-good smiles. He just smiled with his you'll-pay-for-that smile.
"So Mina who taught you how to play Quidditch?" Asked Amy who sat on the floor against a couch across from Hermione. She looked at her with great anticipation in her eyes.
"Well since I was involved with Viktor for a while he thought it would be fun to teach me. So it turned out that I wouldn't have had such a hard time flying had I had a better broom." She said and then continued on.
"He trained me until I was better than him and then I went through about 3 more Quidditch players until I was better then all of them. It took a lot of work but over 2 years I got pretty since I trained everyday for about 4- 5 hours." She finished.
"That's cool. I'm just glad that you're on our team now and not on the Gryffindor team." Said Natasha. She was perched on the edge of the couch next to Hermione.
"Yeah me to. Oh I got those papers signed." Said Hermione. She looked at everyone and said.. "I am now an official member of the Slytherin Quidditch team." Cheers from the whole room could be heard.
"What is all this noise?" Bellowed a voice from the entrance? Everyone turned to look at who the voice had come from. Hermione stiffened. She knew that voice to well to mistake it for anyone else.
"Ah. Hermione and Virginia. What a surprise to see you here." Said Snape. But what surprised Ginny and Hermione was that he a) Used their first names and b) He didn't say it in his normal malicious tone of voice.
"Hello Professor Snape." Said Hermione cautiously. She looked him right in the eye and didn't blink. It was a cold stare between them until Snape started to laugh.
"Please Hermione I am not as mean as you think I am and since you are on our Quidditch team you need not to hate me." Said Snape after he had finished laughing.
"But must admit that it is very nice to see that you are no longer under Mr. Potters wing." He added after Hermione stopped glaring at him and really looked at him.
"Please don't talk about that prick around me. And it is a honor to play for the Slytherin Quidditch team." Hermione said to Snape with a genuine smile.
Snape then turned to leave but when he got to the porthole he turned around to address her one more time. "I must also say well done with your joke to the males of your house Hermione and Virginia. It was a brilliant plan." Hermione only responded by saying.
"That is a great compliment coming from you Professor." He then left the common room. Hermione had by then un-stiffened a bit. She felt a hand on her back and she immediately relaxed.
"He isn't that bad you know." Draco said to her. He knew how most of the Gryffindors felt about Snape and that he hadn't been very nice to Hermione because of her house placement.
"I know. But I have been a Gryffindor for 5 years so it will take some time to get used to." She said as she looked at him. She looked beyond him to the clock. It read 9:00.
"Whoa. We gotta get going Ginny. Millicent, Natasha and Amy come with me. You know what for." Hermione said as she put on one of her devilish smiles.
"What about the Gryffindors? How are we going to get passed them? And what are we going to do about the traps set up?" Ginny said all this very quickly. Hermione looked at her friend. 'She really does care about me. She is a great friend.'
"I don't know. Go with the flow I guess." Hermione sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. She knew what she had to get but she didn't know how to get it.
"Since that will never work. Come with me." Draco said as he started up to his room again. They all followed him up. He went to the bottom of his bed and opened a large trunk. He started to rummage through it. He pulled out a wad of cloth and a little silver ball.
"What are those?" Hermione asked Draco as she looked closely at the items in his hands. She didn't know what they were but she knew that he had something up he sleeve. He always seemed to.
"I thought that you would recognize this since Potter has a very old one." Said Draco as he held up the wad of clothing so it fell to the floor taking the shape of a cloak.
"An Invisibility Cloak!" Said a very astonished Hermione. She new that there was more than one of them but she never thought that someone else at Hogwarts would have. Suddenly a thought came to her.
"How did you know that Potter has one?" She asked. She knew that Harry and Ron had told her to keep it quiet and to not tell a living soul. The one that Draco held was a little different from the one that Harry had.
"That is where this comes in handy." He said holding up the little silver ball to her eye level. "It glows red when danger is near to the person that is holding it and it turns purple when another invisibility cloak is near." Draco said as he started to pass the ball between his two hands.
"But how did you know that it was Potter and no one else in the school?" Asked Ginny who was still in awe that someone else had an invisibility cloak other then Harry.
"That is the other great thing about this little ball." He said holding it up once more. "When it glows the name of the person or persons will show up on it. I happened to carry this one night in first year when Harry found that mirror. I was under my cloak so he has no idea that I know he has one." Draco finished off and threw the cloak over his shoulder.
"You're a sneaky little shit aren't you?" Hermione asked. She put on a huge smirk as she said this. Draco whipped his head towards her. "Yes. Yes I am." Draco responded by sticking his chin into the air.
"Draco why does your cloak look different from the one that Potter has?" Hermione questioned him.
"Because mine is a lot better." Draco told her as if he were talking to a 3 year old. "It can fit any amount of people in it and no one can hear the noise inside if they are not under the cloak." Draco said lightly.
"Okay so what are we going to do with those?" Ginny asked. She was really curious to see what was going to happen.
"We use this to sneak into the dorm at around 8. You get what you need and disarm the traps set for you. Me and Sean are going to leave our own little surprises for the male population of Gryffindor. Right Draco?" Sean said. He had a very cocky grin on his face. He was looking at Ginny the whole time he said this. She smiled up to him.
"Okay lets go love birds." Hermione yelled to them when she saw the way they were looking at each other. 'I have to say that Ginny doesn't have bad taste in men at all.'
Both Sean and Ginny blushed at this point. 'Maybe I won't be alone after all' thought Ginny. She liked Sean. She knew that. He was good-looking and very nice to. But she would still be on her guard because, hey, she just met the guy.
"We have a Quidditch game to go win. This will have to wait till after. As much as I love practical jokes, I like kicking their butts at Quidditch even more." Millicent said while making very large hand gestures to make her point.
"You are so right. Lets get ready to play!!" Cried Amy. She was standing at the door. She pumped her fist in the air and then turned around. Stuck her noise in the air and headed down stairs.
"I have to agree with her. I only have a few hours left to get these papers signed and then to get the stuff that I will need." Hermione said as though she were read from an invisible list. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Professor!" Hermione called to the teacher who was just about to turn a corner.
"Yes, what would you like Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall answered Hermione with a genuine smile on her face.
"I was wondering if you could sign this please. It's so I can do something to help improve myself." Hermione stated. She may be a lot more out going but she still hated to lie to teachers. It was the truth but not the whole truth.
"Sure. Anything to help my top student." She handed the paper to Professor McGonagall. She magically conjured up a Quill with ink on it already.
"Here you go Miss Granger." She said as she handed her back the paper.
"Thank you Professor." She answered as she turned and headed back to the Slytherin dorms. She looked over the paper to make sure that everything was in order. Everyone's signature was there but Draco's.
"Shit. Forgot to get that from him." She turned a corner that lead down a flight of stairs. As soon as she touched the first step everything around her went dark.
Explanations with Black Outs
Hermione looked down on her friend in horror. 'How could they do this to her?' thought Hermione angrily.
"Ginny what do they know?" She asked Ginny. She stopped crying and looked at Hermione through tear stained eyes.
"That you had been hanging out with the Slytherin girls. I was looking for you when I over heard them talking. They were planning to get you back for the scene at the lake." Ginny looked Hermione in the eye and then smiled. Hermione looked at Ginny. Bruises were starting to take form on her face.
"They put everlasting ink on your bed and don't open your trunk cause they loaded it with stink bombs." Ginny said 'Very juvenile' thought Hermione.
"Back to the story I went up to them and told them to Fuck Off and that's when they jumped me. I don't remember much after that." Said Ginny.
"Care to fill in the blanks?" Hermione said as she turned and looked at Sean. He had a few bruises on his face and had one hand on his right ribs.
"I was on my way here when I turned a corner and saw what was happening. I knew that no one would have problem with me helping Ginny out so I did." He answered. He looked at Ginny who smiled up to him.
"Thanks a lot Sean." Said Ginny. She looked at Hermione. Draco was standing behind her with his head on her shoulder and arms wrapped around her waist. 'At least Hermione has someone.' Thought Ginny sadly. She then looked at Sean.
"I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come." She looked at him thought fully. She didn't know him that well but she knew that they had many of the same classes together.
"Don't worry about it. I just couldn't let a pretty girl like you get hurt." He said with a sly grin. Ginny blushed a deep red. "Enough sitting around I feel better and I DO NOT want to go to Pomfrey." Ginny said as she got out of the bed. She took the time now to look around the room. There were four beds and what seemed to be a closet and a private bathroom.
"Whoa. These are way nicer than the ones in Gryffindor." Said Ginny as she continued to look around the room. She was puzzled to think as to why they were so much nicer then hers.
"Well if you both are done admiring our room would you like to come down to the common room and meet some of the other people?" Asked Draco. He started to the door when Sean stopped him.
"I don't think you want to go down." Sean stated. He had a really funny grin on his face as he turned and sat on what Ginny presumed to be his bed.
"And why would I not want to go down there?" Draco asked. He looked at Hermione who seemed to be trying really hard not to laugh.
"Draco go take a look in the mirror." Ginny told him. Draco gave her a quizzical look and then made his way to the bathroom. Meanwhile Sean looked at Ginny who looked at Hermione. They all headed for the door at a rapid pace.
Draco made his way to the bathroom. He walked in and turned on the light. He headed straight to the mirror. "You're all dead." He yelled out the door. He had bright red lip-gloss all over his face. "I would have looked really dumb going down stairs with this on." He said to the mirror. He quickly washed it off and headed down stairs.
He found Hermione sitting on a love seat by herself Ginny to her left on a larger couch sitting next to Sean and Millicent. Most of the 6th and 5th year Slytherins were sitting around them to.
Draco plopped down on the love seat by Hermione. She flashed him one of those got-you-good smiles. He just smiled with his you'll-pay-for-that smile.
"So Mina who taught you how to play Quidditch?" Asked Amy who sat on the floor against a couch across from Hermione. She looked at her with great anticipation in her eyes.
"Well since I was involved with Viktor for a while he thought it would be fun to teach me. So it turned out that I wouldn't have had such a hard time flying had I had a better broom." She said and then continued on.
"He trained me until I was better than him and then I went through about 3 more Quidditch players until I was better then all of them. It took a lot of work but over 2 years I got pretty since I trained everyday for about 4- 5 hours." She finished.
"That's cool. I'm just glad that you're on our team now and not on the Gryffindor team." Said Natasha. She was perched on the edge of the couch next to Hermione.
"Yeah me to. Oh I got those papers signed." Said Hermione. She looked at everyone and said.. "I am now an official member of the Slytherin Quidditch team." Cheers from the whole room could be heard.
"What is all this noise?" Bellowed a voice from the entrance? Everyone turned to look at who the voice had come from. Hermione stiffened. She knew that voice to well to mistake it for anyone else.
"Ah. Hermione and Virginia. What a surprise to see you here." Said Snape. But what surprised Ginny and Hermione was that he a) Used their first names and b) He didn't say it in his normal malicious tone of voice.
"Hello Professor Snape." Said Hermione cautiously. She looked him right in the eye and didn't blink. It was a cold stare between them until Snape started to laugh.
"Please Hermione I am not as mean as you think I am and since you are on our Quidditch team you need not to hate me." Said Snape after he had finished laughing.
"But must admit that it is very nice to see that you are no longer under Mr. Potters wing." He added after Hermione stopped glaring at him and really looked at him.
"Please don't talk about that prick around me. And it is a honor to play for the Slytherin Quidditch team." Hermione said to Snape with a genuine smile.
Snape then turned to leave but when he got to the porthole he turned around to address her one more time. "I must also say well done with your joke to the males of your house Hermione and Virginia. It was a brilliant plan." Hermione only responded by saying.
"That is a great compliment coming from you Professor." He then left the common room. Hermione had by then un-stiffened a bit. She felt a hand on her back and she immediately relaxed.
"He isn't that bad you know." Draco said to her. He knew how most of the Gryffindors felt about Snape and that he hadn't been very nice to Hermione because of her house placement.
"I know. But I have been a Gryffindor for 5 years so it will take some time to get used to." She said as she looked at him. She looked beyond him to the clock. It read 9:00.
"Whoa. We gotta get going Ginny. Millicent, Natasha and Amy come with me. You know what for." Hermione said as she put on one of her devilish smiles.
"What about the Gryffindors? How are we going to get passed them? And what are we going to do about the traps set up?" Ginny said all this very quickly. Hermione looked at her friend. 'She really does care about me. She is a great friend.'
"I don't know. Go with the flow I guess." Hermione sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. She knew what she had to get but she didn't know how to get it.
"Since that will never work. Come with me." Draco said as he started up to his room again. They all followed him up. He went to the bottom of his bed and opened a large trunk. He started to rummage through it. He pulled out a wad of cloth and a little silver ball.
"What are those?" Hermione asked Draco as she looked closely at the items in his hands. She didn't know what they were but she knew that he had something up he sleeve. He always seemed to.
"I thought that you would recognize this since Potter has a very old one." Said Draco as he held up the wad of clothing so it fell to the floor taking the shape of a cloak.
"An Invisibility Cloak!" Said a very astonished Hermione. She new that there was more than one of them but she never thought that someone else at Hogwarts would have. Suddenly a thought came to her.
"How did you know that Potter has one?" She asked. She knew that Harry and Ron had told her to keep it quiet and to not tell a living soul. The one that Draco held was a little different from the one that Harry had.
"That is where this comes in handy." He said holding up the little silver ball to her eye level. "It glows red when danger is near to the person that is holding it and it turns purple when another invisibility cloak is near." Draco said as he started to pass the ball between his two hands.
"But how did you know that it was Potter and no one else in the school?" Asked Ginny who was still in awe that someone else had an invisibility cloak other then Harry.
"That is the other great thing about this little ball." He said holding it up once more. "When it glows the name of the person or persons will show up on it. I happened to carry this one night in first year when Harry found that mirror. I was under my cloak so he has no idea that I know he has one." Draco finished off and threw the cloak over his shoulder.
"You're a sneaky little shit aren't you?" Hermione asked. She put on a huge smirk as she said this. Draco whipped his head towards her. "Yes. Yes I am." Draco responded by sticking his chin into the air.
"Draco why does your cloak look different from the one that Potter has?" Hermione questioned him.
"Because mine is a lot better." Draco told her as if he were talking to a 3 year old. "It can fit any amount of people in it and no one can hear the noise inside if they are not under the cloak." Draco said lightly.
"Okay so what are we going to do with those?" Ginny asked. She was really curious to see what was going to happen.
"We use this to sneak into the dorm at around 8. You get what you need and disarm the traps set for you. Me and Sean are going to leave our own little surprises for the male population of Gryffindor. Right Draco?" Sean said. He had a very cocky grin on his face. He was looking at Ginny the whole time he said this. She smiled up to him.
"Okay lets go love birds." Hermione yelled to them when she saw the way they were looking at each other. 'I have to say that Ginny doesn't have bad taste in men at all.'
Both Sean and Ginny blushed at this point. 'Maybe I won't be alone after all' thought Ginny. She liked Sean. She knew that. He was good-looking and very nice to. But she would still be on her guard because, hey, she just met the guy.
"We have a Quidditch game to go win. This will have to wait till after. As much as I love practical jokes, I like kicking their butts at Quidditch even more." Millicent said while making very large hand gestures to make her point.
"You are so right. Lets get ready to play!!" Cried Amy. She was standing at the door. She pumped her fist in the air and then turned around. Stuck her noise in the air and headed down stairs.
"I have to agree with her. I only have a few hours left to get these papers signed and then to get the stuff that I will need." Hermione said as though she were read from an invisible list. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Professor!" Hermione called to the teacher who was just about to turn a corner.
"Yes, what would you like Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall answered Hermione with a genuine smile on her face.
"I was wondering if you could sign this please. It's so I can do something to help improve myself." Hermione stated. She may be a lot more out going but she still hated to lie to teachers. It was the truth but not the whole truth.
"Sure. Anything to help my top student." She handed the paper to Professor McGonagall. She magically conjured up a Quill with ink on it already.
"Here you go Miss Granger." She said as she handed her back the paper.
"Thank you Professor." She answered as she turned and headed back to the Slytherin dorms. She looked over the paper to make sure that everything was in order. Everyone's signature was there but Draco's.
"Shit. Forgot to get that from him." She turned a corner that lead down a flight of stairs. As soon as she touched the first step everything around her went dark.