Chapter 3: In which Draco saves the day...sort of

Draco dumped his now completed dreamless sleep drought into a vile and twisted the cap tight, so as not to spill any of the liquid. He slipped out of his chair and strode over to the Professor's desk. After setting down his potion for Snape to grade, he took a quick scan around the dungeon as he glided back to his seat.

To his right, it seemed, Longbottom had completely destroyed his potion. Again. 'Nothing new here. Potty and Weasel are over in the corner with...yes that's Pansy and Goyle.' But as he was scanning the room, Granger caught his eye.

She was leaning over a long roll of parchment, obviously checking over her written portion of the quiz. She hadn't styled her hair that morning, and it was left loose hanging around her fragile looking face. 'I'm doing it again. I must be going crazy. That must be it! I am going insane, and that is the only reason I am looking at the beautiful, graceful– Oh damn' He caught himself from finishing the thought and ripped his eyes away from Hermione's face.

He sat back down, the lack of sleep finally catching up with him. He slouched in his chair and laid his head on the desk. Closing his eyes, just for a moment, he began to daydream about Granger of all people. 'Why won't she get out of my head? Why?'. He opened his eyes slowly, a migraine already forming in his head.

Draco looked up, a faint scratching of a quill reaching his ears. He dropped his head back to its former position on the desk, zoning in and out to the rythehm of someone's frantic scribbles. The noise changed– It was no longer a quill scraping parchment, but a ruffling and creasing of papers.

A small, cream colored piece of parchment slid into his line of vision. Draco picks it up and looks at his name inscribed on the outside curiously.

'Interesting... Who would pass me a note right under Snape's nose?' Questions race around in his already troubled mind.

He quickly shoved it under his desk and unfolded it as quietly as possible, and scanned the neat scrawl:

Malfoy-

I can't believe you cheated on that test! What on earth were you thinking?

-Hermione

He couldn't believe it. Granger thought that he-Draco Malfoy, perfect prince of Slytherin-would actually get caught cheating! Draco glanced up at Hermione in disbelief. She was scribbling away, and would have looked totally normal if not for the smirk that graced her face-his smirk.

He quickly pulled his ink bottle and eagle feather quill out of his bag, and wrote a response.

Granger-

How could you even begin to imagine that I of all people would get caught dead cheating?

-Draco

Hermione glanced up as Malfoy muttered something and the parchment came whizzing across the wooden desk that they shared. She hastily snatched it off the desk, her eyes growing angrily wide as she read his reply. She glanced over at him, but his face wore no expression. Hermione thought a moment, her dainty face crinkled in concentration, and she began to write feverishly.

"Moveo moti motum"She muttered, and the note flew back across the table just as before.

Draco grabbed the note, and not caring if anybody saw, he opened it in the direct view of Snape. He read the note to himself, his eyes widening in surprise.

Draco-

Fine, then neither of us cheated. We've obviously been set up.

-Hermione

'Maybe the Mudblood's right...' Draco thought to himself, wondering what to write next. He sat in slight disbelief. Half of him shocked that Granger actually believed him, and the other half wondering who had set them up and why they went through all the trouble.

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger, what do we have here?" Draco jumped at the icy tones of Professor Snape's voice. He and Hermione turned simultaneously backwards to face the greasy haired professor. A mere moment later, Snape's hand moved toward the small piece of paper and as his fingers closed around the note, the knots in Draco and Hermione's stomachs tightened. "A note, perhaps? We all know the rules about notes, Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger, don't we?" He continued smoothly, as he unfolded the dreaded piece of paper excruciatingly slow.

"Professor–I–Ummm" Hermione stammered, floundering for an excuse.

"It's not her fault, Professor Snape," Draco interjected, knowing he would regret this later, "I started it." He bowed his head down so Snape couldn't see the smirk playing on his sharp face.

Snape scanned the page, and the two teenagers cringed as his eyes widened.

"Well, this is very interesting. Detention. Both of you, after your meeting with Headmaster Dumbledore. I want you in my office, directly after the meeting. Class dismissed." He yelled the last portion to the rest of the class, who immediately scrambled out of there seats to get away from the obviously fuming Snape.

Hermione turned out of her seat, feeling thoroughly miserable. She hadn't had a detention yet this year, and now a note had to go and ruin it. 'Speaking of notes, why did Dra–Malfoy cover up for me? Strange, maybe I should ask him. No, not a good idea. But I really want to know why... Do you really think he's going to tell you? Well no, but, still...' Hermione turned around, her mind already made up. 'I'm going to regret this later. Probably, but oh well.'

"Dr-Malfoy?" She hoped he hadn't heard her almost slip, "Why did you cover up for me?" 'Why am I doing this? She thought to herself, already thinking this was a very, very, very bad idea.

"I did it for myself Granger. If he thought that you had done it, both of us would be in a great deal more trouble than we are currently." He said in a cool voice, his words coming out like silk, "And don't be getting ideas that I'll do this all of the time. It's not going to happen again," He said loudly, but in a low voice almost a whisper he muttered in her hair, "I agree that we've been set up. I'll talk to you later, Granger." With that, he turned around and walked out of the room, not looking back once.

"Ron! Harry! You are never going to believe this!" Hermione shouted across the common room after potions, sounding very ticked off.

"What is it Hermione?" Asked Harry from by the fire, motioning her over to where he and Ron were playing a competitive game of Wizard's Chess.

"Shhhh! I'm trying to concentrate on the game! Now if I move my queen here then..." Ron mumbled, zoning back into his own little world.

"Anyway, what's going on?" Harry asked, looking concerned. He got up and walked to where she was sitting and proceeded to slouch down in the fluffy scarlet couch.

Hermione took a deep breath and everything came pouring out, "This morning, Professor Mcgonagall asked me if I cheated on our test. She told me that Malfoy and my scores were exactly the same, word for word. She actually accused me, me! Of cheating on a test! And then, on top of all that, I have to sit next to the one and only Draco Malfoy in potions.

Then I got passing-" Hermione cut herself on then, thinking that it might just be a bad idea if Harry or Ron found out she had been passing notes in class. She couldn't even imagine how they would react if they knew it was Malfoy she had been passing notes to.

"Passing what?" Hermione jumped when Ron's voice came from behind her.

"Oh, umm, nothing, Ron," Hermione managed to choke out, wondering how he had managed to catch her slip, "I'm just going to go get ready for dinner." With that she scampered off to her dorm before either of the baffled boys could interrogate her further.

'So, I wonder who could have set up Draco and I? Why would anybody want to do that? I mean, I haven't done anything to hurt anybody have I?' She wondered, running a comb through her hair before dinner. She heard a swooping noise, and turned to the window. A large bird of some sort was hovering outside the dorm window with a note clasped in its claw.

"Who would be sending me a message at this time? It's right before dinner..." She trailed off and swept over to the window and unclasped the latch. The huge bird swooped into the room, dropped the letter on the bed, and landed on the vanity chair, watching her intently.

She shut the window again and crept over to the bed cautiously, slightly apprehensive of the large bird now inhabiting her room. Her fingers closed around the smooth parchment and unrolled it slowly, revealing a neat pen:

Hermione–

Meet me in the library during dinner, we're going to try and figure out who set us up. Unless of course you don't want to find out who caused all of these problems...

–Draco

'All right, should I go, or should I not go?' Hermione thought to herself, debating over which choice was best, 'On one hand, Harry and Ron will have a bird if they ever find out how I spent my dinner. But on the other hand... it would be nice to figure out who set Malfoy and I up.' Hermione argued with herself, torn over whether or not to go to the library.

She walked to her desk and scribbled a reply, mind already made up. After sending the letter off with the bird, she strode down her stairs to the Common Room.

Meanwhile, in the Slytherin dungeons, Draco's owl flew into his room with Hermione's reply. He caught his hawk on his arm and lifted him onto his perch. He quickly unraveled the parchment to see if Hermione would be joining him in the library before the meeting with Dumbledore.

His smirk/smile widened on his face as he read her response:

Draco–

Of course I will meet you in the library, I want to find out just as much as you do who set us up. I'll meet you in the back corner by the potions section, it's the most secluded area so nobody will see us.

–Hermione

Twenty minutes later, he was walking through the corridors on the way to the library. His school robes flowed like black water at his sides. He swung his bag further up onto his shoulder as he pushed his way through the thick oak doors that led to the quiet library of Hogwarts. Turning directly to his left, the blonde Slytherin scanned the shelves for the potions section.

Once he had spotted it, he slowed, looking for the table he was supposed to be meeting Granger at. He walked up to a little round table shrouded by the shelves of books and found what looked like a head buried under a bunch of books.

"Typical, Granger. Head always in a book." He said snappishly, but not quite as malicious as it could have been. He threw his bag down next to hers and sat in one of the ancient looking wooden chairs that occupied the entire library.

"Shut up, Malfoy. Your late. How is that possible?" She finished almost to herself, looking up over the book at him with a sly smile gracing her face. She slowly put down one of the many tomes she had been sorting through before he had arrived.

"What's that?" Draco wondered aloud, pointing a long finger at a dirty scrap of paper lying on the ground.

"I don't know, but it looks like it's been ripped from a book, and it's all in Latin." She commented once she had gotten out of her chair to pick up the grubby piece of parchment, "Can you read Latin, Draco?" she asked and sat back down.

"I've been reading Latin since I was four years old," he commented, scooting his chair closer to the brown haired witch's to get a closer look, "Do you have a spare quill? I want to be able to write it down. It's unusual that there would be something written in Latin in the library." He finished as Hermione began to pull out a long, black quill and a small roll of parchment.

He bent over the sheet and Hermione looked over his shoulder to read what the page said:

Unus substantia carbo etiam unus argentum volo subiungo partier infinitas. Multus pugna volo erumpo, etiam prius lenio, tutella volo capio tria degeros infinitas. Per multi impendimentum aiunt volo existo, etiam statim magis putus etiam lino volo existo.

"What does it mean, Malfoy?" Hermione whispered in his ear as she leaned over his shoulder.

"Well," He said as he scribbled on a little piece of parchment, "It roughly translates to: One soul of coal and one of silver will come together forever. A great war will erupt, and before it get better, the angels will take three lives forever. Through many trials they will emerge, and once more pure and mud will merge. It sounds like some sort of prophecy to me." he finished, glancing up at Hermione's awestruck face.

"I–I know that from somewhere!" she exclaimed and immediatly began to pace back and forth. "Where could I have known that? I know I've never read it before... or have I? Oh, I don't know! Doesn't it sound familiar to you, Malfoy? I wonder what book it's from, "Hermione murmered, gently taking it from Draco's fingers, "It looks so old." She sat down again to examine it closer.

"I'm not sure, Granger, " He asid, his pale brows furrowed in concentration, "But look at this." He pointed to a small picture at the bottom right hand corner of the page.

"And there's little dots under some of the letters! Dou you think it will say something if we spell it out?" she asked, her eyes lighting up in anticipation, almost resembling a little girl.

"I don't know, but we've got nothing to loose. Let's try it." he said and flipped over his piece of scratch paper.

'Surprised I didn't think of that. What could they possibly mean? And that little picture in the corner, it looks really familiar, maybe its somebody's family crest or something.' Draco thought as he began to decode the dotted letters.

He heard her gasp behind his as he spelled out the letters in blue ink.

'HG and DM'

"What does that men, then?" he asked her. He turned slightly in his chair to look at her. She squirmed slightly under his gaze and looked away after a moment.

"Dinner's almost finished. We should be getting to the Headmaster's office." With that she gathered her things and storrmed out of the library without looking back.

'I wonder what that was all about?' Draco silently wondered to himself. He followed Hermione's example and left, not at all looking forward to the meeting.

Hermione wandered down the hall, wishing she could avoid meeting with the Headmaster about a crime she didn't commit.

'I suppose I should just go and get it over with.' She sighed and stood against the wall. Slowly sliding to the floor, she felt more and more miserable. 'I wonder what that little picture was?' she wondered, reluctantly getting to her feet.

Much to her amazement, she managed to drag herself all the way to the stone gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office.

"Blood Flavored Lolli-pops." She recited to the ugly stone creature that lept away, revealing a spiral staircase.

'I can almost hear the funeral march' she thought gloomily, feeling as though she was marching to her death. Her feet dragged and her bag felt like it weighed a ton. She knocked lightly on the giant door, a feeling of impending doom settling in her stomach.

"Ms. Granger? Come in, Mr. Malfoy has only just beat you to my office." an ancient, but strong and hearty voice resonated through the small space. The door creaked open of its own accord and she crept in silently. She faced a very aged looking Dumbledore, a pissed off looking Draco, a stern Professor McGonagall and an indifferent Professor Snape.

"Have a seat, Miss Granger." Said the Headmaster, conjuring up a cushy crimson armchair. She sank into it slowly, feeling petrified. "It has come to my attention that one of the two of you has committed a serious offence. I would have expected better of you." he said sternly, but a small smile was playing on his face, like he knew something they didn't. "Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape have come up with an appropriate punishment. Professor McGonagall, if you would care to explain?" He nodded his head at the female professor to begin her explanation.

"Underneath the school, is a very special room. Not many people know about this place, and we would like it if you would not mention it to anybody. It is our school conservatory and it has not been used in many years, or at least since the rise of Lord Voldemort. We need you to clean the conservatory and restore all of the magical musical instruments. There are many important artifacts in that room, so you best be careful when handling anything delicate." She said, being cut off by Professor Snape.

"We are going to give you each a key that will unlock the door. After that you must say a password in order to get in. The password is 'tickle me pink'." At this, Draco begin to laugh a bit, making Hermione jump, "This is to serve as your punishment and you will be working on it the rest of the year."

"You may be dismissed." Dumbledore said and handed them the keys. Hermione and Draco walked out together, shutting the door quietly behind them.

"I didn't know the school had a conservatory!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly, "They think this is a punishment? I mean we get to look at these ancient-"

"Hermione, relax! What?" Draco asked as Hermione froze and looked at him a little strangely.

"You said my name"