A/N: Hey everyone! Yeah, I'm back for good. I haven't given up on fanfic writing at all. First of all, I'm really sorry I haven't updated in a long, long time. Terribly sorry about that. I meant to be on hiatus for only a short period of time but exams were nearing so I had to refrain from using the computer. But now I'm almost finishing my Final-Year exams. In fact, next Monday's my last paper. Very cool. So anyway, thanks for the reviews (I still haven't read most of them) and I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.

Chapter 7

Hermione was awoken by the warm morning sunlight that had streamed into the classroom from the windows, on her face. She slowly got out of her sleeping bag. She had conjured up purple sleeping bags for everyone the night before. Even for the Slytherins. Everybody else still seemed to be asleep.

Good

Hermione had to carefully cross over a snoring Ron to get to the hidden bathroom behind the bookshelf to brush her teeth.

It was rather lucky of her to discover the bathroom. And at a good time as well. She had never seen a large boy such as Goyle run so fast for the bathroom. Hermione couldn't help but smile at her reflection in the large mirror as she thought about that while waiting for the door to swing open after rapping it at the side.

"Professor Dumbledore must've planned this rather carefully," thought Hermione as she slowly and unsteadily stumbled into the bathroom and headed towards the marble sink.

Humming softly, Hermione brushed her teeth and then splashed water all over her face but then instantly regretted it. She was still in her school robes and uniform from the night before and now, she had gotten them all wet, along with her bushy brown hair which now hung limply down her shoulders .

"You know Granger, you needn't worry about getting your clothes wet," said a drawling voice behind her.

Hermione whirled around in fright and let out a squeak at the sight before her. In the large swimming-sized bath was Draco Malfoy with a smirk on his face. He was leaning against the side of the bath looking very much relaxed and very much pleased.

"Malfoy!" hissed Hermione who glared daggers at him. She was very sure he was taking a bath at that very moment and she was also very sure that he wasn't wearing anything and that he could get out of the bath anytime just to embarrass her. Hermione couldn't bear to look at Draco half-naked in the water.

As if that wasn't enough, another boy resurfaced from the water.

Blaise Zabini.

He smiled a sly smile at Hermione whose eyes had widened even more and her jaw was now hanging open.

"Good morning," said Blaise rather cheerfully. He glanced at Draco who was across from him and they both snickered.

"W-w-what are you doing here?" stammered Hermione as she turned away from them, her face a bright red.

"Taking a bath, what else Granger?" said Draco with a roll of his grey eyes.

"Together?" asked Hermione incredulously.

"Oh don't get the wrong idea here Granger. See, I woke up first to take a bath as I would usually do and then Malfoy here woke up right after me, wanting to take a bath in the early morning as well. And we weren't in the mood to fight over who got to take a bath first and we decided to share the bath and it helps that this bath's stonking huge you know," replied Blaise.

"And we don't have to worry about seeing each other stark naked with all this foam and steam around," added Draco and then his smirk widened. "Care to join us Granger?"

Hermione whirled around again to glare at the two boys. "No thank you. I do not wish to join you two in the bath," She replied rather coldly. "You can ask Pansy Parkinson as I'm sure she'll be delighted to do so," She turned to leave.

She paused for a moment and turned back to the boys. "Isn't there a lock?" She asked them.

Blaise shook his head. "No," He replied. And then before Hermione headed out of the door, he called out, "Hey Granger, before you go don't forget to take your clothes with you,"

"What clothes?" asked Hermione, staring at Blaise as if he had gone mad.

"Those clothes," Blaise pointed at a pile of clothes that were neatly folded on top of one another near the marble sink. "You might want to change into them later on,"

Hermione went back in to retrieve her clothes and then hugging them tightly to her chest, she hastily left the bathroom only to be stopped by Draco this time.

"Oh and Granger?" he called out.

"What now?" asked Hermione irritatedly.

"Next time, knock first," replied Draco and the two boys hooted with laughter. Fuming, Hermione rushed outside only to bump into a groggy-eyed Lavender.

"Morning 'Mione," mumbled Lavender who rubbed her eyes. She staggered past Hermione, almost stumbling into the bathroom.

But Hermione grabbed her arm and dragged her away.

"Malfoy and that Zabini boy are inside," Hermione informed her. "Bathing,"

Lavender didn't look sleepy anymore and her eyes widened as she tried to take a peek inside the bathroom. "Ooh .. let's have a little peek," She said eagerly.

Hermione stared at her in horror and disgust. "You have a boyfriend Lavender," She reminded the girl.

Lavender rolled her eyes, still bouncing on her heels. She obviously couldn't wait to 'stumble accidentally' into the bathroom.

"It doesn't mean that I still can't ogle at other boys. I mean look at my boyfriend. He looks at you for Merlin's sake!"

"Oh and I suppose you don't mind?" asked Hermione half-sarcastically and half-curiously.

Lavender paused and looked thoughtful. "Well I wasn't exactly pleased. I mean, what can I do Hermione? He's a boy after all and boys can't help but look at girls they find rather fit-" She stopped and actually looked pained. "I've gotten used to him looking at girls and it's never really bothered me much than before because he's just looking at them and not really doing things with them , but there are moments when I absolutely hated whenever he looked but-" Lavender brightened up again. "It's quite alright because I can have my fair share of staring at boys. It's like a tit-for-a-tat isn't it? He stares at girls while I stare at other boys. Only maybe he's cured for the moment now. I mean, after when Ron tried to kill him,"

"But we're quite a happy couple," Lavender added. "We have our own fun, making out in empty classrooms-"

Hermione wrinkled her nose. "You can stop right there Lavender thank you," She said. "I don't think I really need to know,"

Lavender looked at Hermione in surprise. "Well I suppose that's what you and Ron would do right? Make out in classrooms or maybe in the Gryffindor Common Room if it's empty?" She asked.

Hermione looked shocked with her jaw hanging open. "Ron and I are not going out Lavender," She said.

Lavender looked confused. "You're not? But it looks like you two really are. I mean, the way Ron got angry with Seamus just because he looked at you, it seemed as if the both of you were dating each other,"

"Ron's my best friend and I love him but only as a friend. Our relationship is purely platonic," Hermione told her.

"Oh," Lavender looked disappointed. "I really thought that the both of you were going out,"

"Well no. Ron and I are just good friends," Hermione said firmly. That was followed by the sound of water splashing. Both the girls glanced back at the bathroom.

Lavender then grinned at Hermione. "You know Hermione," She said rather sweetly. "That Blaise Zabini seems to like you,"

Hermione gave a short laugh. "That's ridiculous Lavender," She said.

"Well he saved you didn't he? I mean, he actually revived you and checked if you were alright," Lavender said and then she sighed dreamily. "I think it's rather sweet if you ask me,"

"H-he revived me?" Hermione stammered.

"Yeah. Really concerned about you that boy was," Lavender told her. "Which probably means he likes you,"

"Well just because he sort of saved me doesn't actually mean that-"

They continued arguing not noticing Ron waking up and then slowly heading for the bathroom. They didn't hear his gasp in the bathroom. They only stopped when they heard him yell, "BLOODY HELL!"

Ron lay sprawled on the floor not minding the dust getting onto his clothes and red hair. His eyes were closed and he was moaning.

Hermione, Seamus and Lavender glanced at each other before looking sympathetically at the red-haired boy lying on the floor behind them.

"How are you feeling Ron?" asked Lavender.

"Awful," Was Ron's reply. "Anybody have any ice? Any spell to cure me? Anything?" He opened one eye to peek at the others.

"It can't be that bad," said Seamus.

"Are you joking?" cried Ron in horror. "I saw those two gits naked!"

"Oh shut your gob Weasley," growled Draco. "You saw us half naked. And it's only the top part that you've seen-"

Pansy was no help at all. She kept giggling and snickering. "What was it like seeing them starkers Weasley?" She asked. "Was it nice at all?"

Ron opened his eyes to glare at Pansy but he didn't say anything else. He didn't feel like saying anything at all anyway.

"You'll get over it," Blaise told him. "In a few years maybe. Or maybe you can make an appointment with this special Healer that I'd go to see. He sorts of heals your head after you've encountered a traumatic experience,"

Everybody looked at him curiously.

"What sort of traumatic experience did you have?" Pansy wanted to know.

"I can't tell Pansy, it's too painful to even try and recollect those awful memories," replied Blaise rather too dramatically, a hand placed at his heart.

"Was it that traumatic?" Seamus asked bewilderedly.

"Well most of my memories included my father so yes Finnigan, it was very traumatic," replied Blaise. "My first memory of my father was when he hung me upside down on the top of the roof of our house,"

Everybody was silent for a few minutes after that.

"He's in Azkaban now, just so you'll know that," Blaise spoke up as he played around with a strand of his dark hair idly. "Heard he's doing fine there, trying to be like a human dementor and turn the other prisoners mad or something. Good for him to have something to do there,"

"I think you're the first to go mad here Zabini," said Draco shaking his blonde head.

"And definitely not the last," mumbled Ron, his eyes still closed. He was still lying on the floor, using his rolled up sleeping bag as a pillow.

"What if we never make it out of here?" Pansy whimpered. "What if we all-"

"Die?" Draco suggested and he let out a snort. "Well if we do die, it'll be all Dumbledore's fault,"

"What about Professor Snape?" asked Pansy. "He's searching for us isn't he? He wouldn't like to hear that Peeves had locked us up. And with Gryffindors no less!"

"Yeah, well, if he is-" said Blaise lazily. "-he's surely taking his time trying to find us,"

"And what about Potter?" Draco turned to the Gryffindors. He looked malicious and his eyes were narrowed at him. "Isn't he supposed to have saved you all by now? He's the hero of Hogwarts now is he?"

"Shut up Malfoy," said Hermione but she glanced worriedly at Ron who was also looking as worried as she was. She herself had expected Harry to come bursting into the classroom, triumph written all over his face that he had succeeded in saving his friends. Well, there wasn't really anything that he could've saved them from; just maybe the possibility of turning mad. Then again, it wasn't like they were all in any danger. Professor Dumbledore was of course, the one behind it all.

'If Harry's noticed that we're missing by now, he's probably dead worried about us' Hermione thought.

"So I suppose the Hero can't afford to save his own best friends right now. Just because he's more famous than ever after defeating the Dark Lord just recently-"

"Fame hasn't gotten to Harry's head Malfoy," said Hermione coolly. "Rather, he'd like it if he wasn't famous at all,"

Nobody had noticed the door opening slowly. Nobody noticed Peeves

"I'm sure he wasn't allowed to go search for us because Professor Dumbledore set this all up. He probably doesn't want Harry to come and try and save us," Hermione continued.

It was at this point that Ron noticed the open door. He saw Peeves quickly tossing in a picnic basket. Ron's eyes widened and he yelled, "Oy! The door!" And then he got up and ran towards Peeves.

But Peeves was much quicker and he slammed the door, cackling loudly and singing out, "Can't get out! Can't get out!"

"Peeves!" Ron yelled banging on the door. "Open this door or I'll-"

"Or what Weasley?" Blaise broke in sarcastically. "What are you going to do to someone who's already dead? Tickle him to death?"

Ron opened his mouth to say something then closed it. It wasn't any use arguing with the Slytherin.

"Well at least he's trying to do something!" said Seamus coming to his friend's defence. "What did you do? Nothing!"

"Yeah because what's the use? I'll just waste my time trying to do something that won't work at all," said Blaise.

Lavender sniffed lightly. "Typical," She said. "You Slytherins always love to give up easily,"

"Yeah and what about you Gryffindors? Gryffindor pride indeed!" scoffed Draco. "You have Longbottom in your house - is that something you people pride on?"

"He's been through alot more than you have Malfoy!" said Hermione furiously, remembering the few recent events that had happened not too long ago. "And I'm sure if you've been through what he's been through, you would've burst into tears in less than a minute,"

Draco looked at her, obviously disgusted and angry. "Never knew you liked Longbottom alot Granger," He said snidely.

Hermione lost count of how many times her face turned red today. "Shut up Malfoy. Just shut up!" She told him.

"Why? Afraid to admit that you actually like him-" Draco got cut off by a loud growl which was followed by a yelp. Everybody turned to find Goyle with the large basket in front of him. He was clutching his hand and he looked as if he were in pain.

Suddenly Ron asked in a small voice, "Did that basket just move by itself?"

Everyone stared at the basket and sure enough, they saw the basket shaking and quivering. Suddenly the basket jumped and faced the small group of students who were staring at it. It looked just like any ordinary picnic basket. It even had a checkered red and white blanket tucked under the two wicker handles. The only thing that made this particular basket that it could open its flap to reveal not food but two long rows of sharp white, gleaming teeth.

"Oh..," gasped Lavender, her eyes wide with surprise. "What is that?"

"It looks like one of those biting books we had to get in third year," replied Seamus.

"Only it's a basket and it's much larger than the book," said Ron. He cocked his head to one side and looked at the basket thoughtfully. "Much sharper teeth too,"

"We should back away from it slowly," said Hermione who was almost whispering. "Really. We should,"

There was actually no need for Hermione to tell everyone as they were already edging slowly away from the basket The basket lay quite dangerously still for a while. That is, until Pansy sneezed. Then the basket shook again and it growled quite low and then suddenly -

It leapt up and flung itself at the group of Gryffindors and Slytherins, it's flap opened wide, and it's teeth gleaming in the morning sunlight.