Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter© or any of the concepts derived from the book series. The book series is the soul property of J.K. Rowling.

To Keep it Simple

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Draco set down the broom, then raised it with his hand. She climbed on and he slipped on behind her. The two sped up the tower's side and back to the main window to the Gryffindor Tower common room. As they neared the window, Hermione's breath caught in her throat. Something black scrambled on it's limbs around the tower's surface, clambering about the brick like a newt. It was the size of a human but had no features, just a limp shape along the wall that had no content. It moved back and forth rather spasmodically, causing Hermione's pulse to considerably rise. They were so close to the window, but the thing raced after them along the tower's walls. It moved like a spider—too quick to be any human and she had definitely not remembered reading about any type of animal that looked like a human but moved like liquid. She couldn't very well lead it up to the window and cause even more havoc.

Draco finally noticed the creature and instinctively pulled back. The shadow abruptly stopped moving and it seemed to look at the two as they rushed to pull the broom away from the wall. Hermione suddenly remembered that Draco still had her wand and she had no way of grabbing it to send up any flares in time. Her heart pumped loudly against her chest. The creature bridged the gap between them and launched itself at Hermione.

Chapter 10- Apologies and Exceptions

Hermione watched the black shroud come closer and closer, closing the large distance between the still moving broomstick and the tower's wall. The storm clouds were shifting just as quickly as they had arrived but by the time the moon pierced through, she wouldn't have enough time to send up flares and live long enough to be saved. She turned her head to the side and leaned out towards the left, half her body weight held thousands of feet above the ground with no support whatsoever. Her heart screamed to be released from her chest, pure adrenaline pounding in her ears. When she looked down, her head spun for several brief seconds. The world certainly looked much different from an altitude of several thousand feet. She squinted her eyes tightly shut and swallowed the bile that threatened to escape. As time passed and with no sign of movement, she opened her eyes and saw a bright light.

"Oh God, I must be dead," she whispered as she tried to focus.

"Well now, isn't that a pity," a voice said from behind her. She jerked around, nearly falling off the broomstick. Draco clasped his hands firmly around her waist and repositioned her safely on their vehicle of choice. The moon's circular figure slowly came into view and Hermione shook her head in both humiliation and frustration.

"What just happened?" she demanded of Draco as they glided back to the tower were a fuming Ron and Harry awaited.

"I've read about these things," he softly said to himself, disregarding Hermione and her questions. They gently landed on the floor of the common room.

Harry rushed forward and took his broom as Draco and Hermione slid off of it. He leaned it against a nearby table and folded his arms across his chest, mimicking Ron's movements.

"I am going to count to five before all Hell breaks loose and I snap your neck, Malfoy," he said angrily, his fingers already rippling with the anticipation. Draco rose a brow and pulled back a chair, falling into it with the easiness of a feline—as if nothing had even happened. Hermione pulled off her soaking robe and placed it on the floor, pulling out a seat for herself. She placed her hands in her lap and shook her head, unable to explain what her eyes had just told her.

"One.."

Hermione brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and turned towards Draco, awaiting his explanation of the events that had just occurred before them.

"Two.."

Harry turned towards Ron who seemed very intent on causing some sort of havoc, and sighed, shaking his head in disapproval. He pulled aside a seat for himself and folded his arms across his chest.

"Five!" Ron yelled out, purposely skipping several important numbers. He launched himself at Draco, who being the slick and slimy snake that he was, was able to remove himself from his chair before Ron could propel his entire body weight into him. The chair was faced with the deadly blow and as Ron collided with it, the two fell to the floor. The wooden chair collapsed and shattered into a numerous amount of splintered pieces. The red head quickly pulled himself up, dusting off his shoulders. He coughed into a balled up fist and turned towards Draco.

"I say, that went rather well, don't you think?" he said innocently. As he turned to lean upon the table, his feet were busy scraping the remnants of the chair beneath the large couch opposing them.

Hermione shook her head and faced Draco, crossing her legs and arms in the process.

"Care to explain?" she asked. Draco glanced towards the pile of books on the table beside him but seeing as that what he seeked was nowhere to be found, turned back towards the group before him.

"The Rise and the Fall of the Dark Arts. Does the book title ring a bell? With any of you dolts?" he inquired. Hermione quirked a brow but disacknowledged his pointless insult.

"It's about the rise and fall of the dark arts, I'm guessing?" she said sarcastically.

"Thank you, Granger, for pointing out the obvious—once again," he sneered. "Any way.. it talks about a thing called the Umbramotum."

"A shadow mover?" Hermione asked, quickly translating the Latin. "A shadow mover!"

Upon realization of the association of the name with the creature, she immediately understood.

"It disappeared after the moon came out because it no longer had the cover of darkness to work under! But.. did it just die? Or did it.. go some place else.."

"It would be smart to close the window," Draco said as he stared holes into Ron. Ron quickly rushed to lock the still open window, his coloring slowly draining into a pale white color that made him look rather pasty. He rushed back and purposely stood near the blazing fire.

"So would you two like to tell us what exactly happened down there?" Harry asked.

Hermione glanced towards Draco who seemed more focus on burning off the dirt and mud on his shoes with his fiery glare.

"When we were flying back up, we saw this—this thing. It was like water and it just kind of flowed up the tower. It was absolutely horrific—even though there was no distinctive features because it was all just a black mass of moving.. moving.. mess. When it tried to jump out towards me and Draco, the clouds parted and the moon's light must've done something to it.."

"There are no shadows when there's light," Harry said in revelation, finally tuning into the conversation that Hermione and Draco had been having. He nodded his head in understanding, but quickly turned to Draco, questions overfilling the brim of his curiosity.

"Where does it come from?" Ron asked.

"Powerful wizards and witches conjure them up—of course, you'd have to be someone who practices the dark arts in

order to perform such a feat. Pureblood too," he said, shooting a look at Hermione that nearly caused her to lose her balance—even though she was sitting. "Way back when—they used them to infiltrate places—where purebloods did not reside. Of course, it's nearly impossible to make one nowadays because of the price of the materials and the fact that it would take an extremely powerful in both fame and money to create something like that.."

Ron coughed loudly, receiving a stare from all three other members still left in the common room.

"We're past that already, Ron," Hermione warned. "Draco is not a threat so it must be someone else.."

Draco blinked but avoided making eye contact with Hermione, knowing that she was probably staring at him at that very moment. He shrugged off the feeling and turned back towards pulling the threads from his wet robe.

"That Ron double that we saw lying on the floor—it was the same Umbramotum that tried to attack Granger. It takes the form of the person requested of it and infiltrates in that manner as well. In that form, it has no shadow because it is the shadow—but it also cannot be destroyed by light in that form either. Either way, which ever form it takes, it will have an equal amount of flaws. It escaped by opening the window on it's own and it must've been waiting for us somewhere on the grounds."

"For the first time in my life, Malfoy, I think you may have actually helped someone for a good cause," Harry said. "If you knew all of this, why didn't you tell us when you first saw it so we could've stopped it?"

"I wasn't sure until I saw it turn into it's shadow form," he bit back. With a brief sigh, he glanced at the large clock in the common room. It was three in the morning—roughly.

"I have one question to ask though," Draco said to no one in particular. "Why is it after Granger?"

"What do you mean? It's after Harry, isn't it?" Ron asked, unsure of where he was heading with his questions.

"If it was after Harry, it would've gone up the tower and attacked Harry instead of killing itself by throwing it's body at Granger," he quickly pointed out, standing up with the growing amount of confusion running through his head. The storm clouds gathered around the moon again and Ron turned to look nervously at Harry.

"Without the moonlight, nothing's going to stop that thing from crawling into Hogwarts again. There could be open windows all over the school," he said in a hushed tone.

"It's only after one person—and if that one person keeps their lights on, it's got no chance," Harry explained.

"Exactly," Hermione reassured them all, standing up to stretch at the same time. "Right now I would like to get some sleep. We have all of tomorrow to research so let's all just get some shut eye and we can work better in the A.M., when there's

light.."

"Right then," Ron said, rubbing his eyes. He followed Harry up to the Boys' dormitory, but upon reaching the top of the steps, promptly turned around and pointed at Draco with a menacing finger. "If one hair on her is harmed—I swear. I'll kick your arse so badly that you'll be walking on your hands for the rest your life!"

With that said, the two companions quietly walked into their respective rooms and left Draco and Hermione to themselves in the common room.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you tomorrow then," Hermione said as she unknowingly walked him to the door. He ignored her comment and turned to open the port. Before he could take a step out, Hermione hesitantly ran the hem of her shirt through her hands. She suddenly reached out for his shoulder and managed to pull him back.

"I just wanted to let you know that you have my trust," she said. He turned and raised a brow, his expression breaking into a sneer.

"Nice try, Granger, but that doesn't fix everything," he said. "I think we've both overstayed our welcomes."

Hermione reached out for his shoulder once again to turn him around.

"I'm giving you my trust, you git. Do you not understand how much self control it takes for me to say that you have my

trust and then not take it back? You're shameless, Draco Malfoy. Maybe it is better that you walk right out that door and pretend you have no responsibilities at all."

"I am shameless? Quite the comedian, you are, Granger. One second, we're sleeping together and the next—you're off denying that anything ever happened. You're just afraid of the consequences—Little Miss Goody Goody wouldn't want this stain on her clean record, now would she?"

Hermione shook her head.

"We shouldn't be talking about this right now," she said, turning to look nervously out the large closed windows.

"You're scared, aren't you?" Draco revealed with a smirk. Hermione glared at him. He quickly realized that she was probably feeling immense tons of confusion and anxiety at the moment—knowing that a dangerous killer was out to end her life. He turned his body fully around and let the port close behind him. He wanted to avoid having any contact with her whatsoever but at the same time—wanted to crack her open and see what lay inside.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Making sure you live long enough to have this argument again," he said with a forced sneer. He clasped her wrist in his hand and began to guide her towards the steps which would lead to her room.

Hermione wasn't sure whether to feel relief or intrusion, but went along with it any way because being safe was always better than being sorry. All of a sudden, the creature didn't seem so horrifically traumatizing with Draco around. She warned herself that it was because he had background knowledge of the animal which she did not and would not have until tomorrow. The fear slowly turned from a boiling churning cauldron in her stomach to a simmering kettle. She had to admit her feelings to him sooner or later—but by then—who knew what he would consider the flavor of the week. Her eyes cast downward at the thought, but until then—he was hers. She smirked and followed as quickly as she could.

When they reached her room, she unlocked the door and then locked it again even though it would act as little protection against anything that lingered in the dark. Draco let go of her arm and quickly moved to sit down in an armchair, falling into the large plush seating as was his manner. She gasped and moved to push him from the seat, her nightgown having been conveniently placed where his rear had been several seconds ago.

She blinked after realizing that Draco's robes were still wet—meaning that her nightgown was wet as well. With an angry mixture of sounds, she tossed her gown back onto the floor and clambered into her bed, not bothering to change for obvious reasons.

"I suggest you take off your robes before you catch a cold—or before you ruin my armchair," Hermione advised, taking off the thin gray sweater as she spoke. With one less layer to keep her down, she slipped further beneath the covers, leaving the lights on.

Something moved in alongside her and she froze, already having predicted this event. She turned around, prepared to let loose a string of insults and comments that she was sure her mother would never approve of her saying. His hand covered her mouth just as she prepared to speak. He moved quickly and was soon clutching her body to his, the sheets reaching up to their shoulders. His breath was steady, but she could feel his irregular heart beat. He was forcing himself to breathe at a normal pace.

"Don't move, Granger," he whispered harshly into her ear. She blinked and stopped all movement, having learned to trust Draco's instincts. His gaze was directed towards her window. The curtains were pulled back but the panes were clasped shut.

Outside of the window, where storm clouds provided sanctuary for creatures of the night, hung one particular creature that Hermione would preferred to have not seen on a night such as this. Three encounters in one evening was not exactly considered a lucky thing. The black mass had a human shape, but no human features. It was once again, the detail-missing shroud of darkness that had limbs which moved like water. It's head looked as though it's hair was made of string, nasty yarns of lumpy darkness which clung to it's body. Uncontrollable shivers convulsed down her spine. The creature hung upside down—tap-tap-tapping at the window pane, taunting her and filling her insides with fear. Hermione would've bet anything that if the creature did have a face, it would be smiling directly at her, smiling with dripping fangs and eyes filled with red menace. The dim lamp in her room only covered so far as up to the bed where it could protect Hermione's body—but nothing further.

"It attacks by sensing movement," Draco advised her. "But it can't get in here any way because it hasn't taken human form and there's too much light. It's better to be safe than sorry, though. Do not move, Granger—and do not, above all, try and stupid tricks to try and scare it away. You'll just provoke it."

He whispered into her hair so that the creature couldn't see his lips moving. At least he had taken off his wet robe.

The creature, seeing no action, slowly crawled away, like a spider. Hermione immediately turned towards Draco, pulling his hand from her face.

 "We have to tell someone before it comes back," she urged, her eyes wide with uncontrolled emotions. He nodded and slid from the bed. Before Hermione could move though, she saw the creature sidling into view once more through the mirror opposing her. It's lithe body was slowly crawling back onto the window and when she saw this, she tried to call out to Draco. However, he was already moving and speaking at the same time—a very dangerous combination. Hermione turned her head as she quickly sat up, afraid of what was bound to happen next.

The shadow creature suddenly lost control and began furiously banging on the window. Hermione gasped in horror as it succeeded in loosening the panes just a small bit—enough to allow it's entrance into her room. She froze. So long as she didn't move and stayed in the light she was safe. Draco rushed for his robe to grab both of their wands, having forgotten that he was still in possession of both.

           "It's heading for the canopy, get out of the bed!" he yelled, pulling out his wand to ready himself for an attack. Hermione stumbled, rolling around and tangling herself in the covers. The creature squeezed through the space in the window and moved along the shadowy crevices of the room, watching and waiting for the best opportunity to attack. Hermione stumbled from the bed and watched as her hand reached out to grab Draco's hand. It missed and as she steadied herself, the blanket that she dragged with her pulled the lamp off the night stand. The two watched as the lamp fell onto the ground and shattered—sending the room into total darkness.