Disclaimer- I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. They all belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Six

As Hermione and Draco reached the middle of the dimly lit entrance hall, they realized that neither of them knew where to go.

"There's no use just standing here all night," Hermione said after at least five minutes had passed.

Draco nodded his head in agreement. "We should probably find someone to ask."

Hermione looked around as if someone would pop up from beneath the shadows to tell them were their dormitories were. The only help they got was a shabby cat with red eyes that came walking down the stairs.

"Like that will help us," Draco said sarcastically.

"Look's like we have a Slytherin and a Gryffindor out of bed. An unusual combination I might add, but you are still breaking the rules and will be punished." said a voice from the top of the steps. The cat had now walked up to him and was rubbing against his ankles.

Hermione was almost scared to see this man. He was almost as shabby looking as his cat, and the lantern he was holding gave him a very eerie appearance. He also had several teeth missing. To add to it all he was talking some nonsense about slither and Griffin.

Still too shocked by this man's appearance, Hermione couldn't find the courage to say one word. Fortunately for her, Draco took charge.

"We're lost." Draco said bravely.

The man at the top of the stairs simply smiled evilly. "A likely story."

"We really are lost." Draco answered.

"Perhaps we should take this matter up with Professor Snape. Maybe he'll find your story amusing." the man suggested, as he came down the stairs, the cat following closely at his heels.

He motioned to a dark hallway off to the left of the stairs and began heading in that direction. Hermione and Draco had no choice but to follow.

The corridor was very creepy. The only light present was being emitted from the man's lantern. As the hallway started to slope downward, the temperature dropped sufficiently. Hermione hoped that they were almost there because she was beginning to shiver.

Finally they reached a tall wooden door. The man knocked three times. A very angry voice answered. "Come in if you must."

The man opened the door wide and let Draco and Hermione through in front of him. He closed the door behind them and shut off his lantern.

There was a man sitting behind a desk surrounded by jars full of various foul and disgusting objects. The man had long greasy black hair, dark lifeless eyes, and a large crooked nose. He wore long black robes and a very unpleasant look on his face. Hermione only assumed that this was the Snape that the other man was talking about.

"Argus," Snape said, "Under what pretenses have you brought these two students to my office for. It is only five minutes past curfew, so in the time that it took you to bring them here, it passed curfew. Therefore when you found them it was perfectly legal for them to be out of their beds."

The man called Argus looked stumped. Obviously he had not realized that Draco and Hermione had really done nothing wrong. However he thought of something to explain his actions. "It was close enough to curfew. Besides they showed some cheek when I told them they were breaking their rules."

"Ah yes Argus," Snape said, his upper lip flaring. "And what did these two say to you exactly?"

"They claimed that they were lost." Argus said, as if this was ridiculous and that no one in the entire school ever got lost.

Snape's upper lip remained slightly raised. "Are you aware of who these two students are?"

Argus shook his head, "All I know is that they are a Gryffindor" he jabbed a finger at Hermione, "and a Slytherin." he jabbed the same finger at Draco.

"Anyone can see that." Snape said, referring to the patches on their robes, to which Hermione had just noticed. She looked down at hers. It was red and gold and had a roaring lion on it. She also stole a glance at Draco's. His was silver and green and had a serpent on it.

"While these two students, Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger were in my potions class, they were accidentally exposed to a memory loss potion." Snape said. Hermione relaxed her shoulders. At least he knew why they were out of bed.

"No punishment will be necessary." Snape continued. "Please escort Malfoy to the Slytherin common room and Ms. Granger to the Gryffindor common room. You know the passwords."

With that he waved his hand lazily towards the door and turned back to his work. Argus lit the lantern again and opened the door. Without being told Draco and Hermione filed out the door. Before shutting the door, Argus bent his head down to Snape, who was not paying attention, and closed the door.

The walk to Draco's common room was short and uneventful. When they reached it, it looked like just a stone wall, and Hermione was almost positive that Argus was off of his rocker.

However, her suspicions proved to be wrong because the man muttered a word that Hermione could not quite make out, and the wall suddenly turned into a doorway. It exposed a room consisting of only silver and green. Armchairs surrounded the fire in no apparent order.

Draco waved good-bye to Hermione and walked through the doorway. Before it closed he turned around and said, "See you at nine."

Hermione couldn't help but smile, though she was trying to make it seem to Argus as if nothing was going on between them. However, she was almost positive that she saw him roll his eyes.

Soon the were going back up the winding dark corridor. Hermione could tell they were getting close when the temperature started to rise. It was about ten minutes, seven flights of stairs, and twenty-four suits of armor later that they reached Hermione's dormitory.

Argus stopped in front of a portrait of a very large woman in a pink silk dress. Hermione could have sworn that it was the same woman that she had seen earlier dancing with the stick-skinny man.

Argus muttered another nonsense word that Hermione couldn't quite understand. This time instead of changing into a doorway, the portrait swung forward on hinges that Hermione could not see. It revealed a small portrait hole.

Before Hermione went inside she quickly observed the room. This one was much more cheerful than Draco's. It was a bright red and a dazzling gold. There was a much larger fire surrounded by squashier armchairs.

Their were only two people in the room when Hermione began to enter. One had red hair and the other had black hair. They were sitting by the fire, talking softly. It didn't register who they were until the portrait had already slammed shut behind her. They were probably the two people that Hermione wanted to avoid most.