"Are you sure it was Malfoy's dad they were talking to?"

"Positive. Besides, in my dream last night he was talking to Draco. Of course it was him."

At breakfast that morning I finally gave in and told Harry and Ron about my dreams. The only part I had omitted was meeting Malfoy in the owlery earlier. I didn't know why, but I just didn't feel like they needed to know about it.

I stole a quick glance across the hall to where Malfoy usually sat, and was mildly surprised to see that he wasn't there. I was about to point this out when Ron interrupted me.

"I reckon you should go see Dumbledore about this. Remember when Harry was having all those dreams? I reckon Dumbledore ought to know what to do."

Harry nodded.

"Yeah. We should go see him after breakfast. Besides, if this is all true, we could get rid of Malfoy once and for all."

I looked down at my plate and sighed. I knew it wasn't really Malfoy's fault, he had been pressured by his father who had, in turn, been pressured by the unknown person I had seen. It would be hard to prove this, however, because I still had no idea who that other person was.

As much as I hated Malfoy, and would love to see him out of Hogwarts for good, I had a nagging feeling that he might get a greater punishment for this than just expulsion. This was serious.

"Maybe we should wait a bit before going to Dumbledore, guys. I mean, maybe these are just weird dreams after all."

Ron gave me a horrified look.

"Are you mad, woman? Just dreams? They've been keeping you up at night and-" he gestured towards my untouched food "-killing your appetite and..."

"Really, Hermione," Harry interrupted. "I think this is serious stuff. Dumbledore ought to be able to help. Besides, if your dreams are real he could be in danger."

I stood up abruptly.

"Listen, Harry, Ron, I'll think about it. I have some things to do ... I'll catch up with you later."

With that, I hurriedly picked up my coat and left.

---

As soon as I made my decision, I decided to act on it before I changed my mind. I snuck into Harry's room and borrowed his invisibility cloak, donned it, and climbed out of the portrait hole.

I peeked into the Great Hall once more, just to make sure Malfoy wasn't there, and then began to make my way down to the Slytherin dungeons.

I had to double back a few times, because I didn't really know where I was going, and ended up following a small bunch of unsuspecting Slytherin 2nd years.

One of them uttered the password.

"Loch Ness."

I decided to remember it for future use, as the large door slid aside to reveal the Slytherin common room.

Decked entirely in green and silver, it was a fair bit darker and more foreboding than the Gryffindor common room. I shivered slightly, and made my way up the stairs to what I hoped was the 6th year boys dormitory.

I approached the door, and attempted to change my voice slightly with a spell I had seen in a library book. I could sense the change even before I had finished uttering the spell.

Satisfied, I knocked lightly on the door and said;

"Open up, Malfoy."

I heard a grumpy sort of noise from within, and then the door swung open. Malfoy looked around at the seemingly empty air and scowled. He was about to close the door again when I slipped through the gap and into the dormitory. I was pleased to see that it was otherwise unoccupied.

"Malfoy?"

The boy jumped about a foot in the air, and began staring frantically around the room. He was about to draw his wand when I plucked up the last of my courage and slipped off the invisibility cloak.

"Granger? What the hell are you doing here? Get the hell out you filthy..."

"Malfoy, I know about the plot against Dumbledore."

I watched with some satisfaction as Malfoy promptly shut up and lowered his wand. He eyed me suspiciously.

"How did..."

I interrupted him.

"I've been having some really whacked-out dreams, Malfoy, and it wasn't until I saw you crying up at the owlery this morning that..."

"I was not crying!"

"...that I began to think that maybe my dreams were real. I should be going straight to Dumbledore, you know."

Malfoy ran a hand frustratedly through his hair. It was usually perfectly slicked back, and it was a mild shock to see it like that, messy and sticking up at all ends.

"So then why are you here, mudb-"

"I'm here" I interrupted; "because I know that you are going to be in alot of trouble if anybody finds out about this. I'm talking, Azkaban trouble. I know what I saw, Malfoy. I saw your father getting bullied into this by another death-eater! If people know its not really his fault then-"

I was interrupted by Malfoy slamming his fist against his bed-post. I started. I was used to him being in control, or at least pretending to be. This new Malfoy was starting to scare me in a whole other way.

"Listen, Granger. I don't know why you feel it's your little responsibility to come running in here and saying you can help me. You can't. Even if people knew why I've been assigned this task, my father would still be prosecuted, only instead of by the ministry he will have You-Know-Who, and every single one of his supporters on his hands!"

Slowly, I digested this. I had to admit, Malfoy had a point.

"But ... The ministry can protect you!"

"The same way they protected your precious Potter's parents?"

This startled me. The full hopelessness of the situation began to settle on me. I sat heavily down on the nearest four-poster bed.

After a moment, I looked back up at Malfoy.

"So you're just going to do this. You're just going to condemn the whole of Hogwarts to death because you don't trust the ministry."

Malfoy leaned his head against the bed-post and closed his eyes.

"Yes. I'm just going to do this." He opened one gray eye and looked at me. "Unless you can think of a better idea."