So You Understand

Disclaimer: Do I really have to come up with another one of these?

"So," Dumbledore addressed them with seriousness over the tips of his fingers, the gleam remained in his eye but he had a stern expression painted across his face, "You both understand what you have done wrong?"

"Yes sir," the two sixth years said the words in a somber unison.

"Very well, I shall deduct 30 points from each of the four houses," a small smile played across both of the Slytherins' lips, at least their house wasn't the only being punished, "and 30 extra from Slytherin since you two started this whole fiasco," the smiles dissipated a bit, but stayed plastered in place in hopes of pleasing the headmaster,

"You both will receive separate detentions; your head of house will inform you of when and where your punishments will be. Thank you for your time, you are dismissed."

The two teenagers made their way down the spiraling stairs and out of the headmaster's office toward the dungeon common room of Slytherin.

"You're lucky."

Malfoy turned on heel and glared with all the malice his mind possessed, which was quiet a bit considering this was the pureblood son of a top-notch Death Eater, Malfoy shook his head, "top notch? How is my father 'top notch', the things he does are horrible and must not go un-punished, I have discovered for myself through new friendships that muggleborns and half bloods aren't as horrible as I thought. Wow... When did I get sappy and philosophical? I need to snap out of it... I've got to deal with this idiot."

"Why am I lucky?"

The brown haired Slytherin turned toward him with hatred and what seemed to be hints of jealousy on every line of his face, "You have never lived the life of a traitor ferret-boy, you will pay for your disloyalty, not just to the Dark Lord, but to your house and those who truly belong in it."

"Oh no! I escaped the Dark Lord without a problem but now Theodore Nott is after me! I will never be able to survive his wrath!" Draco said the line with every ounce of sarcasm he possessed.

"You didn't escape the Dark Lord, not fully, you just managed to avoid him for a while... Don't get your hopes up, he will be avenged."

Draco rolled his eyes, "I'm sure he will be, but until then I would like to get some sleep, so if you don't mind, 'Snake Eyes'," The common room door swung open and Draco swaggered up to his dorm and collapsed quickly into bed, closing his curtains behind him, a confused Nott followed him without a word – not that Draco gave him time to say anything.

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"So," Hermione said from the other bed, "You understand?"

It was a drizzly afternoon, and Ginny had recruited Hermione's help with her homework. She had just today realized how true it was that fifth year was particularly hard, and Hermione had not let her forget why it was so difficult.

"Okay, I think so. If you flick instead of snap, the object you're transfiguring, basically, will explode; where as if you snap instead of flick the object will, basically, turn into your favorite animal?"

Hermione laughed, "That's the main idea, you'll have to read to get the details. I don't think you're going to turn that into a 3 ft. essay."

"Well yeah, but at least I get it now," Ginny was sitting cross-legged on her bed surrounded by transfiguration books that managed to twist the simplest thing into the most complex definition possible. Hermione was sitting across from her on one of her roommate's beds where the two had been cramming all afternoon. It was Thursday and the first week of school was coming to a close, a fact for which Ginny was very thankful.

"Gin, you look brain-dead, why don't you take a break?" The Weasley stared at the frizzy-haired girl across from her, what an un-Hermione like thing to say! Did she just say a break from homework? Something must be wrong.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, I'm not as uptight as I used to be, I've been hanging around your brother and Harry too much for that."

Ginny just laughed, "Whether you've gone insane... or maybe you've gone sane... I'll take that offer," she jotted down a few notes so she wouldn't forget what Hermione had explained to her about the difference between "snapping" and "flicking" her wand and quickly stood up to leave.

"Let's get out of here! I'm so tired of being cooped up in this room; let's go down to the common room at least."

"Sounds good to me. Let's go!" As the two were walking down the stairs Hermione started a seemingly innocent conversation, "So, are you going to enter?"

"Enter what?"

Hermione's next words brought the fiery redhead to a complete standstill...

(A/N: Alright kids, sorry it took so long, I have chapter 6 being beta'd as we speak and chapter 7 bein' written  I'm sorry to say neither will be up this weekend since a) I don't know how long my wonderful beta-girl Jade is gonna take, and 2) I'm out of town, oh, and not to mention III) I found an awesome new game that I can't get enough of P I'm working on it though... oh yes, and I'm also sorry this chappy is SOO short, but don't worry, they're getting longer, please keep in mind this is my first fic. Same deal with S'mores and Flames)