"Homework on our first day back." Ron moaned as he joined Hermione and
Harry, the next day at lunch. He set his books down beside him. Harry
threw aside The Daily Prophet.
"Another family of muggles was attacked last night." he informed Ron. Ron picked up the paper and read through the article.
"Lucius. It had to have been. It wasn't too far from King's Cross. It's really started then. We only have two and a half months." he commented.
"I think we should get the DA together. Even if Dumbledore won't tell us what's going on, we have to do what we can. We can start teaching those spells we've been working on." Hermione glanced over at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was joking with Crabbe and Goyle about something, but she noticed that they were acting differently, and weren't as amused as usual.
"They know now, and I'm sure it won't be long before all of Slytherin knows that Draco's betrayed them." she added.
"Let him deal with that, it's not our place to go messing around in Slytherin business. He can handle it, Hermione." Harry warned her, reading her mind. They finished eating then headed to their double potions class. They were there early, and there wasn't any sign of Snape. They sat down at their desks and Hermione pulled out a roll of parchment where she'd organized the list of spells and charms she'd discovered during the holidays. They were listed in order by difficulty.
"So when should we meet?" Ron asked her.
"I don't know. It's hard with me tutoring Malfoy almost every night, and I'm not sure whether or not it'd fly well if he attended the meetings. At least not until everything is out in the open." she replied.
"Get out of tutoring then this Saturday, tell him you have to work on homework or something. What classes do you have that he doesn't?"
"Muggle Studies."
"Well tell him there's an important essay you have to write. He won't question it, it's the subject he hates the most." Harry said quietly as the rest of the class started filing in. Malfoy and Pansy came in last and took seats in the back of the classroom. He wrote something on a piece of paper, rolled it into a ball and chucked it at the back of Harry's head. It hit its target. Harry picked it up and looked back at him, but he was engaged in a conversation with Pansy. He unfolded the paper and flattened it out.
iMeet me tonight in the Room for Requirements after my session with Granger./i
He looked back again at Malfoy, who smirked in his direction. Hermione took the note from Harry and read it for herself.
"What's this about?" she asked. Harry shrugged.
Snape came storming into the classroom. He went straight up to the front of the room and cleared his throat to get the classes attention. The conversations dwindled into silence and everyone turn towards the front of the room. Snape made sure everyone had eye contact before announcing,
"Classes have been cancelled. You're all to report to your house and remain there for the rest of the evening. Dinner will be served to you around six o'clock. Not one of you are to leave the common rooms. Do I make myself clear?"
"What's happened?" Seamus Finnigan asked.
"That's none of your concern at the moment. Weasley, Granger, Malfoy, and Parkinson. As prefects you're to make sure everyone in your house is there, then proceed to The Room of Requirement for more details. Now go." Snape answered, coldly. The class got up and headed to the door, whispering frantically. Everyone had their own ideas of what was going on, and rumors began to fly before they even left the class.
"Potter! You are to join the prefects under Dumbledore's orders. Don't be late." Snape added as he, Hermione, and Ron reached the door. He nodded. Malfoy joined them at the door and stood by Hermione's side.
"Do you think this has anything to do with Voldemort?" Ron asked.
"God, you're slow. Of course it does." Malfoy remarked with a smirk.
"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be with Parkinson making sure all your death eater friends are there, instead of wandering about getting into trouble?"
"Mind your business, Weasley. I have to talk to Granger." Malfoy leaned in and whispered something to Hermione, she turned pink a bit, then nodded. He then ran off to catch up with Pansy.
"What was that about?" Ron watched Malfoy turn the corner.
"Nothing. Let's go." she headed off towards Gryffindor Tower. Ron and Hermione calmed everyone down and made sure everyone was there, then headed back down to The Room of Requirement. She pulled Harry aside before entering.
"Malfoy wants to see me tonight, and he needs to talk to you. I don't know how we're going to manage that without Ron knowing. We'll have to use the invisbility cloak, but I need you to come up with something to tell Ron. He's going to be hurt for being left out."
"I'll talk to him." they joined the rest of the group, they were the last ones there. Pansy kept trying to kiss on Malfoy, but he kept moving out of reach. Dumbledore joined them and called the meeting to order.
"Now it has been called to my attention that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has entered the school. Not him persay, but he's used the Imperius curse on two of the students." at these words, everyone started talking at once. Dumbledore raised his hand for silence.
"It is your duty to keep everyone calm and safe. The common rooms will be locked with a password that only myself and the head's of your house will know." Dumbledore continued.
"It's Crabbe and Goyle." Malfoy muttered.
"Mr. Malfoy, could you speak up? I'm afraid at my age, I'm a bit hard of hearing."
"It's Crabbe and Goyle." he repeated, nervously.
"Are you certain?"
"I overheard them talking in the common room last night. They were to meet with the Dark Lord, and then they never showed up for classes. I didn't see them again till lunch. They have something to do with it." he looked at Hermione, who gave him a sympathetic look. Pansy just looked at him with horror. He'd just ratted out his best friends and commited the biggest act of betrayal.
"How do we know you're telling the truth? You're a Slytherin! Your whole lot is probably working for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. You'd just love for us to believe you and then attack us from behind." Hannah Abbott shouted, standing up. The whole room broke out in commotion. Malfoy got up and left the room. Pansy followed. Hermione ran off after them. Dumbledore raised his hand once again, silencing the room.
"Harry, if you would please go get Miss Granger, Miss Parkinson, and Mr. Malfoy." he said, once the group had quieted down. Harry nodded and slid out of his seat. He looked down the hallway but he didn't see anyone. He heard noises from around the corner.
"Draco, how could you? What are you doing going telling Dumbledore about Crabbe and Goyle? Your father is going to be furius!" Pansy yelled at Draco.
"Well it seems to me that you have very little insight into recent events, Parkinson. And how dare you speak to me that way! If it wasn't for my father you wouldn't even be in this school you half-breed!" he hit her. She clutched her cheek.
"I'm sorry, Draco." she whimpered.
"I told Dumbledore because he needed to know. Honestly, haven't you heard anything over the holiday. My father's disowned me. You can stick around and help the Dark Lord, but really think about it. He's so obsessed with Potter, he's going to slip up."
"But everyone else-"
"Shut up. Can't you think for yourself?"
"What's happened to you Draco, you've been this way since SHE started tutoring you. You fancy the mudblood, don't you?" she snapped. He went to hit her again, but Hermione held him back.
"Stop! Now isn't the time for this!" she pleaded. Pansy turned on her and attacked her.
"You did this to him!" she screamed at Hermione and started pulling her hair. Harry rushed over to help Malfoy seperate them. Malfoy pulled Pansy off of Hermione and threw her against the wall and forced himself on her.
"Now go, run back to your Lord, tell him we'll take him on. We're not afraid." Malfoy snarled at her, then grabbed her arm and threw her in the direction of the hallway. Pansy ran off crying. Harry helped Hermione up. She'd been scratched across the face by Pansy's sharp nails. She pulled her hair back up once more and stuck a pencil in it to hold it into place. She flinched as Malfoy checked her cut.
"Dumb bitch." he scoffed, looking in the direction Pansy had run.
"Dumbledore wants you to come back to the room." Harry mentioned. He was uneasy about the situation. They followed him back inside. Everyone was calm and just watched as they sat down.
"What happened to you, Hermione?" Ron asked.
"Where's Pansy?" Hannah asked.
"Pansy has decided not to join us." Malfoy replied, cooly. The whispers started again, but were immediatly stopped by Dumbledore.
"Due to Draco's honesty, we have some sort of idea where to start looking."
"Try the kitchen." Ron whispered to Harry.
"Mr. Weasley this is serious."
"It's just that it's Crabbe and Goyle. He won't get very far with those two." Ron explained.
"They may not be very smart, but those under the Imperius curse have the ability to do things they wouldn't be able to achieve normally." Hermione told him. Ron, having be told off, turned a bright shade of red that almost matched his hair. Everyone was arguing and discussing the situation again. Dumbledore sighed.
"I see we're not going to get anywhere tonight. You're all excused. Any questions you have you may ask the head of your house."
Everyone got up and left. Harry and Malfoy stayed back. Harry had some questions, and Malfoy wasn't quite sure if it was safe for him to return to the Slytherin commonroom. By now, Pansy would've told everyone what'd happened.
"Harry, I know you may not be up to it, but seeing as you're one of the few who've faced Voldemort before, I have to ask that you join us in the search for Crabbe and Goyle." Dumbledore told him, heading to leave. Harry nodded and joined Dumbledore back to his office. Malfoy followed.
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"
"You don't expect me to go back to Slytherin?"
"Well yes, you are a prefect, you have duties to attend to."To be honest, I think he's right. I mean it might be wrong to say, but most of the Slytherin house supports Voldemort. He's just betrayed his house."
"You will be fine. If anything happens, Professor Snape will take care of it." Dumbledore smiled then headed off for his office again. He reached the Gargoyle and repeated the password.
"Pie Coconut."
He looked back to see Harry, with Malfoy standing beside him.
"All right then, well if you insist, you can help Harry. Follow me." they followed him up to his office and sat down in the chair across from his desk.
"Now, what I was going to say was, it seems he's using your classmates as a way to figure out our weakness. It's also another weak attempt to get at you, Harry. There are dementors surrounding the school. I assume he's placed them there in case we try and stop him. But not to worry, they can't get into the castle, yet. We have the other professors and Filtch searching the school, but they've gotten good at hiding either that or they have some sort of invisibility."
"But you can see through invisibilty cloaks. You've seen Ron and I loads of times."
"There are other things other than cloaks that can make one invisible. You two working together might actually be beneficial. It's a big school, and I'm aware that it might take several hours to find them, but you Harry know Voldemort best, you run through his veins. And Draco, you know Crabbe and Goyle, you know where they might lead him. Anything they might've said to you could be crucial at this moment."
"They wouldn't talk about it with me. They heard that I'd betrayed my father and been disowned. They didn't trust me." Malfoy replied. He looked at Harry who was watching him.
"But I have some idea where they could be leading him.. or where he could be leading them. Before we went on holiday, they kept talking about the Chamber of Secrets. They said that he'd hid things in there that would be useful to him now." he added.
"Why didn't you say anything sooner, Malfoy?"
"Maybe I didn't want to." he snapped back at Harry. Harry rolled his eyes. He'd once thought Malfoy had been a bit intimidating, but over the past few years he started seeing him how he really was. He was scared and jealous, and he didn't know how to deal with those two emotions. He wasn't like his father, because he didn't know which side he wanted to be on. Harry figured Malfoy picked sides by whichever would be most beneficial to him, but now he was starting to see that maybe there was more to it. He could see straight through Malfoy's lies and see the scared boy underneath the temper. Now he saw what Hermione had seen. Now he understood her.
"Well, I know where the Chamber is, come on. It should be safe now that the Basilisk's been defeated."
"What's a Basilisk?" Malfoy asked. Harry remembered that only he, Ron, and Ginny were the only ones who knew the real story behind the Basilisk, the journal, the messages on the wall, and the mysterious attack on the students in their second year.
"Remember back in second year when everyone was getting attacked. No one else was told what it really was, it was Voldemort. He came back as a memory through the journal that your father had planted in Ginny's Cauldron. The Basilisk was the snake that was petrifying everyone. The only one who could control it was the heir of Slytherin."
"Voldemort."
"Yes."
"So that's why you can speak Parcel tongue, cause he can?"
"Technically yes."
"Well you boys have work to do, if you need anything or run into trouble, I'll know. Harry take the invisibilty cloak, for safety. Draco, I do have to say I'm rather pleased at your honesty at the meeting earlier. You've grown to show potential to be a great Wizard someday. Under any other circumstance, I'm sure your father would be proud. Lemon drop, before you leave?"
"No thanks." both Malfoy and Harry replied, then left.
"Let's make one thing clear, Potter. We're working together, but we're still not friends. Once this is over, I'll be happy if I never see the three of you again." Malfoy stated as they headed towards Gryffindor tower to get the invisibilty cloak.
"Even Hermione?"
"Shut up."
"I think you better stay out here." Harry stopped Malfoy before reaching the Fat Lady.
"I'm not staying out here alone."
"Yes, well you're still safer out here than in there. Not everyone knows you're on our side, remember. Everyone will think it's you."
"Fine. Hurry up." he leaned up against the staircase and pulled out his wand. Harry climbed through the portrait hole and was greeted by Ron and Hermione.
"How is everything here?" he asked them.
"Fine, everyone freaked out at first. But then they realized they don't have to go class for the rest of the day." Hermione told him.
"Once I told them it was Crabbe and Goyle, everyone stopped taking it seriously." Ron added.
"Probably for the best. Malfoy and I are going to find them."
"Please be careful, Harry. And I know he can be aggrivating, it's just a-"
"I know, Hermione. I'll be fine. I need to grab the cloak, he's waiting out in the hallway." Harry inturrupted, then pushed passed her and up to his room. He looked outside. The sun should've been shining brightly across the remenense of the snow. It'd been a beautiful morning. Now dark clouds hung over the sky, thick with sleet and rain ready to fall. The snow seemed thicker and colder than usual, and Harry could make out the dementors down at the front gate. He shivered and rushed out of the room.
"Another family of muggles was attacked last night." he informed Ron. Ron picked up the paper and read through the article.
"Lucius. It had to have been. It wasn't too far from King's Cross. It's really started then. We only have two and a half months." he commented.
"I think we should get the DA together. Even if Dumbledore won't tell us what's going on, we have to do what we can. We can start teaching those spells we've been working on." Hermione glanced over at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was joking with Crabbe and Goyle about something, but she noticed that they were acting differently, and weren't as amused as usual.
"They know now, and I'm sure it won't be long before all of Slytherin knows that Draco's betrayed them." she added.
"Let him deal with that, it's not our place to go messing around in Slytherin business. He can handle it, Hermione." Harry warned her, reading her mind. They finished eating then headed to their double potions class. They were there early, and there wasn't any sign of Snape. They sat down at their desks and Hermione pulled out a roll of parchment where she'd organized the list of spells and charms she'd discovered during the holidays. They were listed in order by difficulty.
"So when should we meet?" Ron asked her.
"I don't know. It's hard with me tutoring Malfoy almost every night, and I'm not sure whether or not it'd fly well if he attended the meetings. At least not until everything is out in the open." she replied.
"Get out of tutoring then this Saturday, tell him you have to work on homework or something. What classes do you have that he doesn't?"
"Muggle Studies."
"Well tell him there's an important essay you have to write. He won't question it, it's the subject he hates the most." Harry said quietly as the rest of the class started filing in. Malfoy and Pansy came in last and took seats in the back of the classroom. He wrote something on a piece of paper, rolled it into a ball and chucked it at the back of Harry's head. It hit its target. Harry picked it up and looked back at him, but he was engaged in a conversation with Pansy. He unfolded the paper and flattened it out.
iMeet me tonight in the Room for Requirements after my session with Granger./i
He looked back again at Malfoy, who smirked in his direction. Hermione took the note from Harry and read it for herself.
"What's this about?" she asked. Harry shrugged.
Snape came storming into the classroom. He went straight up to the front of the room and cleared his throat to get the classes attention. The conversations dwindled into silence and everyone turn towards the front of the room. Snape made sure everyone had eye contact before announcing,
"Classes have been cancelled. You're all to report to your house and remain there for the rest of the evening. Dinner will be served to you around six o'clock. Not one of you are to leave the common rooms. Do I make myself clear?"
"What's happened?" Seamus Finnigan asked.
"That's none of your concern at the moment. Weasley, Granger, Malfoy, and Parkinson. As prefects you're to make sure everyone in your house is there, then proceed to The Room of Requirement for more details. Now go." Snape answered, coldly. The class got up and headed to the door, whispering frantically. Everyone had their own ideas of what was going on, and rumors began to fly before they even left the class.
"Potter! You are to join the prefects under Dumbledore's orders. Don't be late." Snape added as he, Hermione, and Ron reached the door. He nodded. Malfoy joined them at the door and stood by Hermione's side.
"Do you think this has anything to do with Voldemort?" Ron asked.
"God, you're slow. Of course it does." Malfoy remarked with a smirk.
"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be with Parkinson making sure all your death eater friends are there, instead of wandering about getting into trouble?"
"Mind your business, Weasley. I have to talk to Granger." Malfoy leaned in and whispered something to Hermione, she turned pink a bit, then nodded. He then ran off to catch up with Pansy.
"What was that about?" Ron watched Malfoy turn the corner.
"Nothing. Let's go." she headed off towards Gryffindor Tower. Ron and Hermione calmed everyone down and made sure everyone was there, then headed back down to The Room of Requirement. She pulled Harry aside before entering.
"Malfoy wants to see me tonight, and he needs to talk to you. I don't know how we're going to manage that without Ron knowing. We'll have to use the invisbility cloak, but I need you to come up with something to tell Ron. He's going to be hurt for being left out."
"I'll talk to him." they joined the rest of the group, they were the last ones there. Pansy kept trying to kiss on Malfoy, but he kept moving out of reach. Dumbledore joined them and called the meeting to order.
"Now it has been called to my attention that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has entered the school. Not him persay, but he's used the Imperius curse on two of the students." at these words, everyone started talking at once. Dumbledore raised his hand for silence.
"It is your duty to keep everyone calm and safe. The common rooms will be locked with a password that only myself and the head's of your house will know." Dumbledore continued.
"It's Crabbe and Goyle." Malfoy muttered.
"Mr. Malfoy, could you speak up? I'm afraid at my age, I'm a bit hard of hearing."
"It's Crabbe and Goyle." he repeated, nervously.
"Are you certain?"
"I overheard them talking in the common room last night. They were to meet with the Dark Lord, and then they never showed up for classes. I didn't see them again till lunch. They have something to do with it." he looked at Hermione, who gave him a sympathetic look. Pansy just looked at him with horror. He'd just ratted out his best friends and commited the biggest act of betrayal.
"How do we know you're telling the truth? You're a Slytherin! Your whole lot is probably working for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. You'd just love for us to believe you and then attack us from behind." Hannah Abbott shouted, standing up. The whole room broke out in commotion. Malfoy got up and left the room. Pansy followed. Hermione ran off after them. Dumbledore raised his hand once again, silencing the room.
"Harry, if you would please go get Miss Granger, Miss Parkinson, and Mr. Malfoy." he said, once the group had quieted down. Harry nodded and slid out of his seat. He looked down the hallway but he didn't see anyone. He heard noises from around the corner.
"Draco, how could you? What are you doing going telling Dumbledore about Crabbe and Goyle? Your father is going to be furius!" Pansy yelled at Draco.
"Well it seems to me that you have very little insight into recent events, Parkinson. And how dare you speak to me that way! If it wasn't for my father you wouldn't even be in this school you half-breed!" he hit her. She clutched her cheek.
"I'm sorry, Draco." she whimpered.
"I told Dumbledore because he needed to know. Honestly, haven't you heard anything over the holiday. My father's disowned me. You can stick around and help the Dark Lord, but really think about it. He's so obsessed with Potter, he's going to slip up."
"But everyone else-"
"Shut up. Can't you think for yourself?"
"What's happened to you Draco, you've been this way since SHE started tutoring you. You fancy the mudblood, don't you?" she snapped. He went to hit her again, but Hermione held him back.
"Stop! Now isn't the time for this!" she pleaded. Pansy turned on her and attacked her.
"You did this to him!" she screamed at Hermione and started pulling her hair. Harry rushed over to help Malfoy seperate them. Malfoy pulled Pansy off of Hermione and threw her against the wall and forced himself on her.
"Now go, run back to your Lord, tell him we'll take him on. We're not afraid." Malfoy snarled at her, then grabbed her arm and threw her in the direction of the hallway. Pansy ran off crying. Harry helped Hermione up. She'd been scratched across the face by Pansy's sharp nails. She pulled her hair back up once more and stuck a pencil in it to hold it into place. She flinched as Malfoy checked her cut.
"Dumb bitch." he scoffed, looking in the direction Pansy had run.
"Dumbledore wants you to come back to the room." Harry mentioned. He was uneasy about the situation. They followed him back inside. Everyone was calm and just watched as they sat down.
"What happened to you, Hermione?" Ron asked.
"Where's Pansy?" Hannah asked.
"Pansy has decided not to join us." Malfoy replied, cooly. The whispers started again, but were immediatly stopped by Dumbledore.
"Due to Draco's honesty, we have some sort of idea where to start looking."
"Try the kitchen." Ron whispered to Harry.
"Mr. Weasley this is serious."
"It's just that it's Crabbe and Goyle. He won't get very far with those two." Ron explained.
"They may not be very smart, but those under the Imperius curse have the ability to do things they wouldn't be able to achieve normally." Hermione told him. Ron, having be told off, turned a bright shade of red that almost matched his hair. Everyone was arguing and discussing the situation again. Dumbledore sighed.
"I see we're not going to get anywhere tonight. You're all excused. Any questions you have you may ask the head of your house."
Everyone got up and left. Harry and Malfoy stayed back. Harry had some questions, and Malfoy wasn't quite sure if it was safe for him to return to the Slytherin commonroom. By now, Pansy would've told everyone what'd happened.
"Harry, I know you may not be up to it, but seeing as you're one of the few who've faced Voldemort before, I have to ask that you join us in the search for Crabbe and Goyle." Dumbledore told him, heading to leave. Harry nodded and joined Dumbledore back to his office. Malfoy followed.
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"
"You don't expect me to go back to Slytherin?"
"Well yes, you are a prefect, you have duties to attend to."To be honest, I think he's right. I mean it might be wrong to say, but most of the Slytherin house supports Voldemort. He's just betrayed his house."
"You will be fine. If anything happens, Professor Snape will take care of it." Dumbledore smiled then headed off for his office again. He reached the Gargoyle and repeated the password.
"Pie Coconut."
He looked back to see Harry, with Malfoy standing beside him.
"All right then, well if you insist, you can help Harry. Follow me." they followed him up to his office and sat down in the chair across from his desk.
"Now, what I was going to say was, it seems he's using your classmates as a way to figure out our weakness. It's also another weak attempt to get at you, Harry. There are dementors surrounding the school. I assume he's placed them there in case we try and stop him. But not to worry, they can't get into the castle, yet. We have the other professors and Filtch searching the school, but they've gotten good at hiding either that or they have some sort of invisibility."
"But you can see through invisibilty cloaks. You've seen Ron and I loads of times."
"There are other things other than cloaks that can make one invisible. You two working together might actually be beneficial. It's a big school, and I'm aware that it might take several hours to find them, but you Harry know Voldemort best, you run through his veins. And Draco, you know Crabbe and Goyle, you know where they might lead him. Anything they might've said to you could be crucial at this moment."
"They wouldn't talk about it with me. They heard that I'd betrayed my father and been disowned. They didn't trust me." Malfoy replied. He looked at Harry who was watching him.
"But I have some idea where they could be leading him.. or where he could be leading them. Before we went on holiday, they kept talking about the Chamber of Secrets. They said that he'd hid things in there that would be useful to him now." he added.
"Why didn't you say anything sooner, Malfoy?"
"Maybe I didn't want to." he snapped back at Harry. Harry rolled his eyes. He'd once thought Malfoy had been a bit intimidating, but over the past few years he started seeing him how he really was. He was scared and jealous, and he didn't know how to deal with those two emotions. He wasn't like his father, because he didn't know which side he wanted to be on. Harry figured Malfoy picked sides by whichever would be most beneficial to him, but now he was starting to see that maybe there was more to it. He could see straight through Malfoy's lies and see the scared boy underneath the temper. Now he saw what Hermione had seen. Now he understood her.
"Well, I know where the Chamber is, come on. It should be safe now that the Basilisk's been defeated."
"What's a Basilisk?" Malfoy asked. Harry remembered that only he, Ron, and Ginny were the only ones who knew the real story behind the Basilisk, the journal, the messages on the wall, and the mysterious attack on the students in their second year.
"Remember back in second year when everyone was getting attacked. No one else was told what it really was, it was Voldemort. He came back as a memory through the journal that your father had planted in Ginny's Cauldron. The Basilisk was the snake that was petrifying everyone. The only one who could control it was the heir of Slytherin."
"Voldemort."
"Yes."
"So that's why you can speak Parcel tongue, cause he can?"
"Technically yes."
"Well you boys have work to do, if you need anything or run into trouble, I'll know. Harry take the invisibilty cloak, for safety. Draco, I do have to say I'm rather pleased at your honesty at the meeting earlier. You've grown to show potential to be a great Wizard someday. Under any other circumstance, I'm sure your father would be proud. Lemon drop, before you leave?"
"No thanks." both Malfoy and Harry replied, then left.
"Let's make one thing clear, Potter. We're working together, but we're still not friends. Once this is over, I'll be happy if I never see the three of you again." Malfoy stated as they headed towards Gryffindor tower to get the invisibilty cloak.
"Even Hermione?"
"Shut up."
"I think you better stay out here." Harry stopped Malfoy before reaching the Fat Lady.
"I'm not staying out here alone."
"Yes, well you're still safer out here than in there. Not everyone knows you're on our side, remember. Everyone will think it's you."
"Fine. Hurry up." he leaned up against the staircase and pulled out his wand. Harry climbed through the portrait hole and was greeted by Ron and Hermione.
"How is everything here?" he asked them.
"Fine, everyone freaked out at first. But then they realized they don't have to go class for the rest of the day." Hermione told him.
"Once I told them it was Crabbe and Goyle, everyone stopped taking it seriously." Ron added.
"Probably for the best. Malfoy and I are going to find them."
"Please be careful, Harry. And I know he can be aggrivating, it's just a-"
"I know, Hermione. I'll be fine. I need to grab the cloak, he's waiting out in the hallway." Harry inturrupted, then pushed passed her and up to his room. He looked outside. The sun should've been shining brightly across the remenense of the snow. It'd been a beautiful morning. Now dark clouds hung over the sky, thick with sleet and rain ready to fall. The snow seemed thicker and colder than usual, and Harry could make out the dementors down at the front gate. He shivered and rushed out of the room.