A/N: another chapter… another new thing… I'm not very happy with this chapter. But … blah… yeah, read the end for more notes.

Strip Down

You Have a What?!

By Kristina Chang

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Last time:

"This definitely ISN'T the Draco Malfoy I know. Third of all. Alexial is… Alexial. If you want to know so much, go ask her yourself. I will tell you that she is not a person you would think and she lives in another. You won't find anything about Alexial in the school records. She does not exist there. You won't ever find her, she'll find you." Hermione finished.

"Can you tell me anything? Anything about Alexial." Draco pleaded.

"Begging does not suit you, Draco Malfoy. And no, I will not tell you anything else of her. You can send her an owl."

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The door opened and a young woman with long red hair crept stealthily to the only occupant in the room. She stood behind the figure on the bed and poked her. Once. Twice. Three times. The figure stirred and turned to face the woman.

Hermione opened her eyes and saw big brown eyes staring back at her. She did what every normal person would do. She screamed.

The woman started screaming as well, but quickly realized what was happening and put her hands over Hermione's mouth to muffle her screams.

"Hermione!!! SHUT UP!! It's only me." The woman first yelled to her but then spoke. She took her hands away from Hermione's mouth when she stopped screaming.

"Oh. Hi Ginny. G'Night Ginny." Hermione slurred sleepily and turned over to continue sleeping. But Hermione had a hard time trying to go back to sleep when there was an insistent poking on her back. She tried swatting Ginny's hands away, but Ginny didn't stop poking her. Abruptly, Hermione turned around to face Ginny.

"VIRGINIA WEASLEY! Get OFF my back, STOP! And GET OUT!" Hermione yelled in her face.

"Eeww… morning breath." Ginny made a disgusted face p and laughed when Hermione's ears turned a little pink.

"Come on 'Mione, it's almost 10:30 and you're STILL in bed! Get uupppp!!" Ginny resumed her prodding of Hermione's back.

"Ginny. Go away!…" Hermione whined with her face in her blankets.

"Come ooonn… the guys are wondering where you are and they want to ask you stuff!!! Come oonnn!!"

"Tell them I'm tired and to GO AWAY!" Hermione shouted, face in the blankets still.

"Fine. I just want to see HOW you go back to sleep. EVERYONE in the Gryffindor tower knows you can't fall asleep after being awoken." Ginny blew a raspberry at Hermione's back and flounced out of the room. Hermione sighed in relief and closed her eyes.

Hermione's eyes popped open and she sighed.

"I hate it when she's right. Devil Witch. Might as well get up. No use lying around all day. Oh, but it's so comfortable!" Hermione stretched out like a cat on her bed and rolled around some. "Oh, but there are books to read, homework to do. Aah… screw the homework. I'll do it tomorrow. It's not due 'til two weeks anyway. Alright. Now what do I do?" Hermione sat up and thought for a moment.

'Might as well shower. I must be quite dirty from last night's… activities. And the sweat. EWW!! Oh… but MALFOY sweat…' she giggled.

"That's even WORSE!" She said aloud and laughed to herself. She looked around cautiously, making sure no one was in the room. She didn't want anyone to think she was a crazy loon, now did she? She sighed, thinking, 'too late. Oh well.'

A few minutes later…

Hermione stepped out of the hot shower and into her room, clad only in her towel. She was startled to see dark gray owl resting peacefully on her bed.

"Hello there. Do you have something for me?" Hermione asked it. The owl hooted softly and stuck out his leg with a package and note tied to it. Hermione untied it and patted it on the head softly. Then she gave it something to eat from her "secret stash" (that everyone has). It got up, but didn't leave. It perched itself on one of her bedposts comfortably.

"Hmm…" she ignored it and opened the note first.

For You. Damien is also yours.

"Hmm… Damien, are you?" Hermione spoke to the owl. It hooted softly in response.

"Your previous certainly knew how to keep you well. The only person who WOULD send something would be… nah. Couldn't possibly be him. I wonder who you're from." Damien jumped down from the post and nipped at the package that came with him. Hermione picked it up and unwrapped the silver paper and green ribbon. It revealed a necklace from the box within. Hermione looked at it in awe. It seemed to resemble the necklace she wore last night. It was a silver necklace with a pendent. The pendent itself was the most awe-inspiring factor. An emerald was interwoven in a delicate embrace of silver. There were no words to describe how intricate the pendant was. It was breathtakingly beautiful. She put it on and admired it in the mirror.

"Geez, your previous owner must be very rich. Certainly knows how to pick his jewelry." Hermione murmured. "Better not flash this everywhere. Not sure WHO it's FOR. Hmm… is it me, or is it cold in here?" she said to Damien.

Damien nipped at her towel lightly.

"Oh yeah, I'm still naked. Forgot about that." Hermione went to get dressed after telling Damien to go off on his own. Hermione got dressed in a comfortable pair of baggy black pants and a comfortably sized green t-shirt, not too big and not too small, with a dragon on the front. Then she skipped down to lunch, carefully remembering to tuck the necklace in her shirt so that no one would see it.

Draco was in hurry to get to the Great Hall. In a rush, he turned the corner and felt a body crash into him. he nearly feel over but caught himself in time. The other person, however, was not as fortunate.

Hermione was walking hurriedly to the Great Hall. She knew that Ginny and the others were waiting for her. She turned the corner and fell down with a headache and a bruised butt.

"What??" Hermione looked around, wondering why she would be on the ground and saw a pair of shoes. She looked up and saw one of the people she, as in Hermione Granger, would not really care to see.

"Hermione. You alright?" Draco Malfoy stretched out his hand to her and pulled her up from the ground.

"Uh… thanks." Hermione brushed herself off and looked at Draco strangely.

"Sure. No problem. Bye." Draco replied distractedly and continued to the Great Hall.

'Strange child.' Hermione thought and followed him to the Hall. Draco walked over to the Gryffindor table, followed by Hermione, although unbeknownst to him. Draco went to sit next to Ron who was siting next to Lavender, who was across from Parvati who was next to Seamus who was… yeah, you get it, they're all there. Draco sat across from Harry and Harry noticed that Draco wasn't really acting like himself.

"'Mione what's with your clothes?" Harry asked Hermione when she stepped up to the table, eyeing her change of clothes. Hermione just shrugged.

"Just felt like being … different today… felt like being extra comfortable, that's all." She answered him nonchalantly and sat down next to Draco. She pointed to him, mouthing to Harry, "what's with him?"

Harry shrugged lightly.

"I don't know." He said.

Ginny looked at him weird, because he'd said that aloud when no one said anything to him. Harry just laughed nervously and waved it off, continuing to eat.

Hermione laughed at them. She looked at her plate and saw a little emerald colored serpent slithering around on it. She reached out to take it off, but it disappeared right before she touched it. She wondered if anyone else had seen and looked around to ask. But Hermione never ended up asking because the owls flew in at that time and everyone looked up anxiously for their letters and packages. Hermione wasn't expecting anything for her so she started eating her lunch. She was famished since all that dancing last night took a lot out of her. All of a sudden a red box dropped from the sky and Damien landed on her shoulder. Hermione gave Damien a piece of her lunch and then examined the box skeptically and reached to pick it up. She realized it funny that no one noticed anything she was doing.

Draco was off in his own world, staring blankly at nothing, Harry and Ginny were talking animatedly to each other, Ron and Lavender were snogging, and at the table!! Have they no shame! And Seamus and Parvati were staring at each other lovingly.

Hermione picked up the box and examined it carefully, turning it around in her hands. She decided to open it when she saw no note attached to it. Hermione pulled the silver ribbon and as it was unraveling, the box began to open automatically. She heard a tinkling and realized that it was coming from the box. As it unfolded, a creature slowly floated into view. It was Aenyra Faerie. Hermione had read about those in her Care of Magical Creatures book. Aenyra Faeries were extremely rare, extremely beautiful and could only be found in southern regions of the globe. The faerie was a silver color all over and had blue wings with white streaks.

For someone to get her this, they'd have to be either extremely rich, extremely stupid, or just extremely good friends with her. Or at least WANTED to be. And now to the question at hand: who the hell sent HER one?!

Suddenly, as if they all broke out of a trance, or another world, Draco, Harry and the others looked at her new present, which was currently hovering in front of her, flapping her blue and white wings lazily.

"Hermione, what's THAT?" Harry asked. Hermione was about to answer, but someone else answered for her.

"Oh! I've heard about THOSE. My dad saw one once. Don't know where but he told me about it. It's an Aenyra Faerie! Those things are extremely rare and very few people have seen one." Surprisingly, it was Ron who answered for Hermione. But then Draco butted in.

"So how is it YOUR FATHER has seen one before?"

"I don't know. Said something about looking through muggle things and one popped out of a chest or something. Right quickly flew out of there or something." Ron shrugged as he answered Draco's question.

"I used to have one." Everyone looked at Draco.

"Didn't do much. Just hung around me a lot. Strange… it looked exactly like this one… don't quite know WHERE it went…"

The faerie looked at Draco and flitted over to him. Draco stared at it, feeling a sense of recognition coming from it. Then, in an unexpected move, the faerie lightly kissed the tip of Draco's nose, like it had known him its entire life and was greeting him. Then it flew back to Hermione and did the same to her, seemingly connecting the two somehow. Everyone stared in awe as it did that. Then the aerie embedded itself into Hermione's chocolate brown hair. It looked no different from a clip or a barrette. A perfect disguise.

Ginny looked at Hermione, then Draco, and then back to Hermione.

"Hermione… do you think… she's linking, or BONDING you two together?! Wouldn't that be funny?"

"Oh yes, hilarious." Hermione said sarcastically. "I'd just love to be bonded to the Amazing Bouncing Ferret that is King of Slytherin."

"Oy. Geez, 'Mione. Can you say personality disorder? Or two-faced?" Parvati whispered into her ear. Hermione just shrugged.

"Just thinking about a lot of things, that's all. I'm quick to snap and tend to be highly sarcastic. You know."

"Yeah yeah. I know." Parvati answered.

"Hey Hermione. WHO gave you and Aenyra?!" Harry asked.

"I don't know. It just showed up with my owl."

"What?! You don't have an owl." Ron countered.

"Yes I do. Damien here." Hermione gestured to the owl on her shoulder. Everyone stared at the beautiful gray owl.

"When did you get him?!" Ginny asked, astonished.

"Someone gave him to me." Hermione answered simply.

"Who would give you such a beautiful owl? AND an Aenyra?" Lavender asked.

"And I forgot to mention the necklace too." Hermione added.

"NeCkLaCe?!!" Everyone said at once.

'Yeah. I'm wearing it now. See." Hermione pulled the necklace from under her shirt.

Everyone gaped at the beautiful necklace.

"It's beautiful." Parvati exclaimed.

"I know. Isn't it? I really want to who is giving me these things. And especially Damien. He's amazing. For an owl."

Draco stared at the necklace that she had on, a look somewhat akin to surprise on his face. But it was quickly masked and no one ever noticed. Draco stored away this information and made a note to talk to Hermione later and continued to look like he was listening to their conversation.

"Oh 'Mione!! You have an admirer!!" Ginny squealed with excitement.

"A WHAT?!" Harry and Ron exclaimed at once.

"Well, Ginny… I suppose you're right." Hermione said with a smile.

Authoress's Notes: Well, I think that was really bad. Since I didn't know how to stop this chapter. And and and and… I don't know how to write it!!!! Wahh!!! I'm really distressed over this. And I'm trying my hardest to write all this. I have the ideas. But I'm having trouble putting it down. I think from now on, the chapters I write are going to have nothing to do with the stripping except maybe with the referral and I thin I might end this with another 2 chapters. Yeah… and then with HSPA and all, the damn test. I think I'm gonna be pooped out with writing. But at least this isn't up after a month. Eh?? I think. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. ^_^

Kristina Chang