Disclaimer: I think we all know to whom these characters, settings, etc
belong, and it is certainly not me!
A/N: Sighhh I'm horrible at this now, aren't I? Well, I'm really going to try to finish this... good lord, before the end of the year?? I'm going abroad this summer and won't have time to put up another chapter, I really don't know how many I have left, hopefully only a few! But thank you all SO much for the reviews, even the one that told me that my story sucks :-D Though I feel ok about that one, since 43 chapters is a long time, and I'm glad I wasted someone's time!! But, anyway, I'm really glad to know that new people keep finding the story and liking it and old people keep reading. Thank you all so much! Here we gooooo.......
Hermione sighed, "No, you see, you have to be more careful with stirring Neville! Pay attention to where you start. The way I like to do it is that I always start at twelve o'clock, so I know how many time to go around precisely."
Neville furrowed his brown and frowned. "But... but..."
Hermione took her wand and pointed at Neville's cauldron, "Fuegos." A small tick mark was melted into the pewter. "There, now you have a starting point."
Neville smiled a bit, "Thanks Hermione, that was a good idea!"
Hermione smiled back. "Well, I think that's enough Potions for one night, don't you?"
Neville smiled gratefully and nodded. He gathered up his things as Hermione bid him goodnight, and left to the Gryffindor Common Room through the portrait in Hermione's room.
Hermione walked back out into the Head Boy and Girl's Common Room, where her Arithmancy notes were sitting underneath a small bottle of Pepperup Potion. She'd been feeling ill lately, but decided that she needed some good, old-fashioned Muggle coffee instead.
She walked down to the Great Hall, noting how eerie it was to walk through Hogwarts this time of year. Since OWLS and NEWTS were coming up, the students who weren't studying were under constant threat of bodily harm, should they decide to make too much noise.
On her way down, she passed a door, slightly ajar, and hear voices coming from inside. She took out her wand, to be safe, and pushed to door open to find Pansy Parkinson sitting in a chair in front of a fire. She jumped, hearing Hermione and turned around to see who the intruder was.
"Can I help you, Granger?" she said nastily.
"What are you doing in here?"
"That's none of your business, now is it, Mudblood?"
"I'm Head Girl, and I can make it my business. I heard you talking to someone, who was it?"
"I was talking to myself, Granger, I'm studying. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to it."
"I know you're lying, Pansy, I know what I heard."
Pansy gave her a malevolent smirk, "Prove it."
"Well, we both know I can't do that. But I'm going to find out what you're hiding, Pansy."
"Well, it seems like everybody's hiding something these days, doesn't it, Granger?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Pansy laughed, "I think we both know exactly what the means, Granger. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to my Common Room."
After she flounced out, Hermione sat down in the chair to think for a minute.
"She can't know... She can't know about Draco," she muttered to herself.
Something moved in front of her, and she looked up quickly into the flickering fire, and could have sworn that she saw a head ducking out quickly.
"Bollocks! She was talking to someone through the floo!"
Hermione got up and dashed back to her room.
Draco's door was closed, so she knocked on it. He came to the door with a surprised look on his face. He and Hermione had barely spoken five words to each other in the past few weeks. Seeing him made her breath catch and her heart ache: she missed him so much.
"Hi, "he said awkwardly.
"Hi."
They stood there looking at each other for a moment before Hermione realized why she was there.
"Listen Draco I was just walking down to the Great Hall, and I passed this door and I heard people talking, so I went inside and I found Pansy there. And I asked her what she was doing, but she wouldn't tell me, and I told her that I'd find out what she was hiding, and then she said 'it seems like everybody's hiding something these days.' And then when I asked her what she meant, she said that we both know what she means! Do you think she knows?"
Draco bit his lip. "I can't see how she could know, unless someone in Gryffindor said something."
"You know no one would ever do that.... But how could she know?"
Draco nodded, as if he understood something, "Maria."
"Maria? Maria who?"
"Venzetti! She's Pansy's cousin, remember?"
"So then Pansy knows," Hermione whispered. She looked frantically at Draco, "She knows! What're we going to do?"
"Ha, well, I'm going to die, and then everyone else is going to be attacked, fantastic!"
"Draco, that's not funny."
Draco looked at Hermione for a second, "Well, what would you like me to say?"
"Well, since you've said nothing to me for weeks, I suppose I'll take what I can get! How about a 'dirty Mudblood' for old time's sake?"
"Whoa, I don't know where this is all coming from, Hermione, but I don't need to bear the brunt of whatever the hell you're mad about."
"Well, it's hard to be carrying on like nothing is wrong when the person you love is supposed to DIE soon and he hasn't said a thing to you in a month!"
Draco sighed. "Well, I haven't got the faintest clue about what to do, and you getting all stroppy won't help, you know!"
"I am not stroppy," Hermione said defiantly.
Draco gave her a Look and wisely decided not to pursue it. He walked out into the common room and sat on the sofa.
"I think I should go tell Professor Snape. What do you think?"
Hermione bit her lip, "Will he be able to do anything?"
Draco shrugged, "I've no idea, but it seems like the best course of action right now. Though I'll have to do it carefully, if Pansy sees me, she'll know what's going on. "
Hermione nodded, "Do you think she's told the other Slytherins?"
"That's an excellent question... for which I have no answer. But I have an idea."
He walked over to the fireplace, and dipped his hand into a small bowl on the mantel. Throwing some dust into the fire, he called his mother's name. Her head popped up a moment later.
"Yes, Draco?"
"Mum, I'm sorry it's late, but I need you to summon Professor Snape to your quarters. I need to speak with him, but I can't do it in Slytherin or in his office."
She looked concerned, "Is everything alright?"
"I'll explain more when I get there. Tell him to get there as soon as he can, I'll be up in a few minutes"
Narcissa nodded and her head disappeared. Draco turned to Hermione, "Will you wait up for me?"
"Of course I will, I've got loads of studying to do anyway."
"Alright. I'll talk to Professor Snape and see what he thinks. We've got to figure out a way to see what my housemates know and if any of them are privy to any information about the attack on Hogwarts."
Draco returned briefly to his room to grab his robe and then walked towards the door. He had his hand on the knob and turned to look at Hermione. She gave him a small, reassuring smile that didn't reach her worried eyes.
Draco paused for a moment, then walked quickly over to her and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.
"I'll be back as soon as possible," he said and left without waiting for an answer.
Draco wanted his walk up to his mother's quarters to be as unobtrusive and quick as possible, so he set off quickly, taking as few of the main corridors as he could and checking behind him every few steps to make sure that no one else was around.
Snape was there when he got to his mother's, and he looked up as Draco entered.
"I trust this is urgent, Mr. Malfoy?"
Mrs. Malfoy clicked her tongue in irritation, "Of course it is, Severus, he's not going to call you up here just because he needs help with his Potions home-"
Draco butt in before she could continue, "Yes, it's important, Professor."
"Very well," Snape said and he gave Draco an expectant look.
"Well, Hermione found out tonight that Pansy Parkinson knows about our relationship."
"And?"
Draco faltered, "And... well, that's it, really. Don't you think we should be concerned?"
Snape sighed and shrugged, "They were going to find out eventually, Draco."
"Well, what should I do?"
"I suggest you take yourself and Miss Granger out of the crossfire as much as possible. Beyond that, it's not all that consequential. Of course we don't know how much they know."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, for example, it might be worthwhile to know if the Slytherins merely think that you're having a little romantic liaison with Miss Granger, or if they know what happened between you and the Dark Lord when your father was killed."
"But how am I supposed to find out now?"
Snape looked at him appraisingly, "I should think you could figure something out on your own. And I'd rather it be sooner than later. Mr. Malfoy." He rose from his chair and headed towards the door.
"Good night Narcissa, good night Mr. Malfoy," he said, and left in a swoosh of black.
Draco looked up, "Well, mum, any thoughts?"
"I don't know, love. I hope those Slytherins don't do anything to poor Hermione."
"Thanks for showing some concern for your own son!"
"Well, you're not the one walking around with a look on your face like your kitten died, love."
"She does not walk around like that."
Narcissa chuckled, "No one's made of steel, Draco... except maybe dear Sev. He really is rather, well, severe, for lack of a better term, isn't he?"
"Well, I guess I'll figure something out."
"I think you can, dear. Now, if you don't mind, I'm quite tired, and it's getting late." She bent down and gave her son a peck on the cheek.
Draco walked towards the door, saying good night to his mother, then left her chambers. The halls around him were still quiet as he made his was carefully back to his quarters and he was cautious not to run into other students.
"Wish I had an Invisibility Cloak like Potter's," he muttered to himself. He stopped in his tracks for a moment, "That's it! I'll borrow his cloak to get in to the Common Room."
Draco arrived at the portrait and took a glance around himself before entering. He smiled when he saw Hermione, asleep on the sofa, with her Arithmancy notes opened in her lap. He walked over and picked the notes up, and shook her gently to wake her up.
"Hermione?"
Her eyes opened halfway and she gave him a sleepy smile, "Hi, love, come lie down." She grabbed him by the waist and pulled him down on the couch, and promptly fell back asleep.
Draco laughed to himself and decided that telling her about the meeting could wait until the morning and that he should take advantage of the fact that Hermione was too tired to say something snippy, and lie down on the couch with his girlfriend. He gingerly kicked off his shoes, so as not to wake her up, then quietly summoned his alarm clock on to the coffee table. He smiled as Hermione started to snore a bit, then fell asleep next to her.
A/N: OK, so I think that I know where I'm going. There should still be a few more chapters left, and I'm going to get those out as soon as humanly possible. I'm sorry if this is getting tediously long!!
But PLEASE review, I really really really reeeeeeeeealllllllllyyyyyy appreciate the reviews, and I honest-to-jkr read every single one! Thank you all for sticking with me, and thanks to everyone who reviewed the story in the past, the response has been overwhelming!!
PS- ENJOY THE POA MOVIE EVERYONE!!!!!! :-D (Yay Rupert Grint!)
A/N: Sighhh I'm horrible at this now, aren't I? Well, I'm really going to try to finish this... good lord, before the end of the year?? I'm going abroad this summer and won't have time to put up another chapter, I really don't know how many I have left, hopefully only a few! But thank you all SO much for the reviews, even the one that told me that my story sucks :-D Though I feel ok about that one, since 43 chapters is a long time, and I'm glad I wasted someone's time!! But, anyway, I'm really glad to know that new people keep finding the story and liking it and old people keep reading. Thank you all so much! Here we gooooo.......
Hermione sighed, "No, you see, you have to be more careful with stirring Neville! Pay attention to where you start. The way I like to do it is that I always start at twelve o'clock, so I know how many time to go around precisely."
Neville furrowed his brown and frowned. "But... but..."
Hermione took her wand and pointed at Neville's cauldron, "Fuegos." A small tick mark was melted into the pewter. "There, now you have a starting point."
Neville smiled a bit, "Thanks Hermione, that was a good idea!"
Hermione smiled back. "Well, I think that's enough Potions for one night, don't you?"
Neville smiled gratefully and nodded. He gathered up his things as Hermione bid him goodnight, and left to the Gryffindor Common Room through the portrait in Hermione's room.
Hermione walked back out into the Head Boy and Girl's Common Room, where her Arithmancy notes were sitting underneath a small bottle of Pepperup Potion. She'd been feeling ill lately, but decided that she needed some good, old-fashioned Muggle coffee instead.
She walked down to the Great Hall, noting how eerie it was to walk through Hogwarts this time of year. Since OWLS and NEWTS were coming up, the students who weren't studying were under constant threat of bodily harm, should they decide to make too much noise.
On her way down, she passed a door, slightly ajar, and hear voices coming from inside. She took out her wand, to be safe, and pushed to door open to find Pansy Parkinson sitting in a chair in front of a fire. She jumped, hearing Hermione and turned around to see who the intruder was.
"Can I help you, Granger?" she said nastily.
"What are you doing in here?"
"That's none of your business, now is it, Mudblood?"
"I'm Head Girl, and I can make it my business. I heard you talking to someone, who was it?"
"I was talking to myself, Granger, I'm studying. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to it."
"I know you're lying, Pansy, I know what I heard."
Pansy gave her a malevolent smirk, "Prove it."
"Well, we both know I can't do that. But I'm going to find out what you're hiding, Pansy."
"Well, it seems like everybody's hiding something these days, doesn't it, Granger?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Pansy laughed, "I think we both know exactly what the means, Granger. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to my Common Room."
After she flounced out, Hermione sat down in the chair to think for a minute.
"She can't know... She can't know about Draco," she muttered to herself.
Something moved in front of her, and she looked up quickly into the flickering fire, and could have sworn that she saw a head ducking out quickly.
"Bollocks! She was talking to someone through the floo!"
Hermione got up and dashed back to her room.
Draco's door was closed, so she knocked on it. He came to the door with a surprised look on his face. He and Hermione had barely spoken five words to each other in the past few weeks. Seeing him made her breath catch and her heart ache: she missed him so much.
"Hi, "he said awkwardly.
"Hi."
They stood there looking at each other for a moment before Hermione realized why she was there.
"Listen Draco I was just walking down to the Great Hall, and I passed this door and I heard people talking, so I went inside and I found Pansy there. And I asked her what she was doing, but she wouldn't tell me, and I told her that I'd find out what she was hiding, and then she said 'it seems like everybody's hiding something these days.' And then when I asked her what she meant, she said that we both know what she means! Do you think she knows?"
Draco bit his lip. "I can't see how she could know, unless someone in Gryffindor said something."
"You know no one would ever do that.... But how could she know?"
Draco nodded, as if he understood something, "Maria."
"Maria? Maria who?"
"Venzetti! She's Pansy's cousin, remember?"
"So then Pansy knows," Hermione whispered. She looked frantically at Draco, "She knows! What're we going to do?"
"Ha, well, I'm going to die, and then everyone else is going to be attacked, fantastic!"
"Draco, that's not funny."
Draco looked at Hermione for a second, "Well, what would you like me to say?"
"Well, since you've said nothing to me for weeks, I suppose I'll take what I can get! How about a 'dirty Mudblood' for old time's sake?"
"Whoa, I don't know where this is all coming from, Hermione, but I don't need to bear the brunt of whatever the hell you're mad about."
"Well, it's hard to be carrying on like nothing is wrong when the person you love is supposed to DIE soon and he hasn't said a thing to you in a month!"
Draco sighed. "Well, I haven't got the faintest clue about what to do, and you getting all stroppy won't help, you know!"
"I am not stroppy," Hermione said defiantly.
Draco gave her a Look and wisely decided not to pursue it. He walked out into the common room and sat on the sofa.
"I think I should go tell Professor Snape. What do you think?"
Hermione bit her lip, "Will he be able to do anything?"
Draco shrugged, "I've no idea, but it seems like the best course of action right now. Though I'll have to do it carefully, if Pansy sees me, she'll know what's going on. "
Hermione nodded, "Do you think she's told the other Slytherins?"
"That's an excellent question... for which I have no answer. But I have an idea."
He walked over to the fireplace, and dipped his hand into a small bowl on the mantel. Throwing some dust into the fire, he called his mother's name. Her head popped up a moment later.
"Yes, Draco?"
"Mum, I'm sorry it's late, but I need you to summon Professor Snape to your quarters. I need to speak with him, but I can't do it in Slytherin or in his office."
She looked concerned, "Is everything alright?"
"I'll explain more when I get there. Tell him to get there as soon as he can, I'll be up in a few minutes"
Narcissa nodded and her head disappeared. Draco turned to Hermione, "Will you wait up for me?"
"Of course I will, I've got loads of studying to do anyway."
"Alright. I'll talk to Professor Snape and see what he thinks. We've got to figure out a way to see what my housemates know and if any of them are privy to any information about the attack on Hogwarts."
Draco returned briefly to his room to grab his robe and then walked towards the door. He had his hand on the knob and turned to look at Hermione. She gave him a small, reassuring smile that didn't reach her worried eyes.
Draco paused for a moment, then walked quickly over to her and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.
"I'll be back as soon as possible," he said and left without waiting for an answer.
Draco wanted his walk up to his mother's quarters to be as unobtrusive and quick as possible, so he set off quickly, taking as few of the main corridors as he could and checking behind him every few steps to make sure that no one else was around.
Snape was there when he got to his mother's, and he looked up as Draco entered.
"I trust this is urgent, Mr. Malfoy?"
Mrs. Malfoy clicked her tongue in irritation, "Of course it is, Severus, he's not going to call you up here just because he needs help with his Potions home-"
Draco butt in before she could continue, "Yes, it's important, Professor."
"Very well," Snape said and he gave Draco an expectant look.
"Well, Hermione found out tonight that Pansy Parkinson knows about our relationship."
"And?"
Draco faltered, "And... well, that's it, really. Don't you think we should be concerned?"
Snape sighed and shrugged, "They were going to find out eventually, Draco."
"Well, what should I do?"
"I suggest you take yourself and Miss Granger out of the crossfire as much as possible. Beyond that, it's not all that consequential. Of course we don't know how much they know."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, for example, it might be worthwhile to know if the Slytherins merely think that you're having a little romantic liaison with Miss Granger, or if they know what happened between you and the Dark Lord when your father was killed."
"But how am I supposed to find out now?"
Snape looked at him appraisingly, "I should think you could figure something out on your own. And I'd rather it be sooner than later. Mr. Malfoy." He rose from his chair and headed towards the door.
"Good night Narcissa, good night Mr. Malfoy," he said, and left in a swoosh of black.
Draco looked up, "Well, mum, any thoughts?"
"I don't know, love. I hope those Slytherins don't do anything to poor Hermione."
"Thanks for showing some concern for your own son!"
"Well, you're not the one walking around with a look on your face like your kitten died, love."
"She does not walk around like that."
Narcissa chuckled, "No one's made of steel, Draco... except maybe dear Sev. He really is rather, well, severe, for lack of a better term, isn't he?"
"Well, I guess I'll figure something out."
"I think you can, dear. Now, if you don't mind, I'm quite tired, and it's getting late." She bent down and gave her son a peck on the cheek.
Draco walked towards the door, saying good night to his mother, then left her chambers. The halls around him were still quiet as he made his was carefully back to his quarters and he was cautious not to run into other students.
"Wish I had an Invisibility Cloak like Potter's," he muttered to himself. He stopped in his tracks for a moment, "That's it! I'll borrow his cloak to get in to the Common Room."
Draco arrived at the portrait and took a glance around himself before entering. He smiled when he saw Hermione, asleep on the sofa, with her Arithmancy notes opened in her lap. He walked over and picked the notes up, and shook her gently to wake her up.
"Hermione?"
Her eyes opened halfway and she gave him a sleepy smile, "Hi, love, come lie down." She grabbed him by the waist and pulled him down on the couch, and promptly fell back asleep.
Draco laughed to himself and decided that telling her about the meeting could wait until the morning and that he should take advantage of the fact that Hermione was too tired to say something snippy, and lie down on the couch with his girlfriend. He gingerly kicked off his shoes, so as not to wake her up, then quietly summoned his alarm clock on to the coffee table. He smiled as Hermione started to snore a bit, then fell asleep next to her.
A/N: OK, so I think that I know where I'm going. There should still be a few more chapters left, and I'm going to get those out as soon as humanly possible. I'm sorry if this is getting tediously long!!
But PLEASE review, I really really really reeeeeeeeealllllllllyyyyyy appreciate the reviews, and I honest-to-jkr read every single one! Thank you all for sticking with me, and thanks to everyone who reviewed the story in the past, the response has been overwhelming!!
PS- ENJOY THE POA MOVIE EVERYONE!!!!!! :-D (Yay Rupert Grint!)
