Exposure

"Ron, could you maybe let me win for once?" Harry scanned the chessboard and sighed. "It's getting kind of depressing."

"But then that wouldn't be fair to me." Ron looked at his players for a few seconds, then took Harry's king. "Checkmate."

Harry groaned. "I guess now that this game is over I can go find Hermione."

"Oh, are you going to her dorm? I'll come with you."

"Ron, normally I'd say yes, but I kind of need to talk to her about something personal."

Ron gave him a blank stare. Then he grinned. "You fancy Hermione!"

"No, it's not that." Harry paused. "How do I explain…Ok, so you know how Hermione and Malfoy are both Heads?"

"Yeah…"

"And so you've noticed that they've gotten a bit…comfortable lately."

"Well not really…" He waited for Harry to continue.

"Ok. I think there's something going on between them."

"What?"

"Yeah, haven't you noticed anything?"

"They don't even talk."

"That doesn't mean anything. Every meal that I see Malfoy, he's always looking at our table. And it can't just be to give me dirty looks. And Hermione…"

"She said it was just work!" Ron considered the idea for a moment. "Are you sure?"

"Remember when we caught them in the gardens? That was just way too weird to be what Hermione says it was."

"Gods," Ron exclaimed as he considered the idea, "that's sick, Harry!"

"Well, I don't want to believe it either. But don't you think her behavior is just a little bit odd?"

Ron looked at Harry for a moment as he again considered the idea. "I guess she is kind of spaced out when Malfoy is around."

"I could be wrong though. I just want to ask her to tell us if there's anything going on."

"Ok…But how are we going to get into the dorm when she's inside?"

"I don't know. Maybe Ginny knows the password."

"Ok. We'll wait I guess." Ron began picking up players and placing them back on the board. "Another game?" he asked. Harry rolled his eyes but consented.

Halfway through, Harry spotted red hair making its way down the girls' dorm staircase.

"She's coming," Harry said.

"You'd better leave this up to me." They continued concentrating on their game until Ginny appeared in the common room.

"Hey Ron," Harry said loudly, "what was the Potions homework?"

"I don't know," Ron responded in an equally loud voice.

"Maybe Hermione knows."

"Yeah, and she could probably help us too. But she's inside her dorm and we're outside. And I don't know the password."

"I can't remember either." Harry paused. "Maybe someone else knows it…"

The boys pretended to ponder their predicament until Ron suddenly looked up.

"Hey Ginny." She walked over. "Would you happen to know the password to Hermione's dorm?"

"Yeah…" she said.

"Could you tell us what it is?"

"We just need the Potions homework," Harry piped in.

She eyed them suspiciously. "You guys aren't going to go harass her about Malfoy again, are you?"

"Of course not," Harry said.

"Well, alright…" Ginny said. She leaned down and whispered in Ron's ear.

"Thanks, Ginny," he said. He and Harry immediately stood and rushed out of the common room.

"That was too easy," Harry said as soon as they closed the portrait behind them.

The two boys quickly walked to the statue of armor. Ron pulled the lever and Harry stepped forward as the staircase appeared.

"Alright, say the password."

Ron said the password and the man and woman in the portrait eyed the boys suspiciously, but let them in anyway. They walked over to the red carpeted staircase and then stopped at the portrait once they'd climbed the stairs.

"Hermione!" Harry called.

No response.

"She's not in," the portrait said. "Perhaps the Head Boy," the lady smiled knowingly, "can tell you where she is."

"Uh…ok." Harry looked a little confused, but turned around anyway and followed Ron down the stairs and over to the other staircase. When they reached the portrait, they saw it was open.

"Hmmm," Harry said. They entered and stood in the hallway.

"Malfoy!" Ron called.

Inside the bedroom, Draco heard someone call his name, someone who was definitely inside his room.

"Did you leave the portrait open?" he asked Hermione.

"Oops," she said. The voice called again. "Oh my gods, it's Ron!" she yelled before quickly sinking under the covers.

Draco said nothing as the two boys entered his bedroom. They both gave him a weird look on seeing that he was shirtless, then took in the underwear and clothing strewn across his floor.

"Eww," Ron said.

"I see you're busy," Harry said.

"Yes, so maybe you should leave now," Draco said.

"Believe me, we're leaving," Ron said.

"Do you know where Hermione is? Her portrait told us you might," Harry said.

"Um…no," Draco said. He couldn't help the grin that was creeping onto his face. Too bad Hermione wouldn't think it was funny.

"What the hell are you smiling for!" Ron yelled. "Did you do something to her?"

"Do something to her? Uh, not very much more than usual."

"What did you do?"

"Calm down. I swear I haven't done anything to harm your precious Hermione."

The lump on the bed next to Draco fidgeted a bit, then became still again.

"Fine." Harry gave Draco another dirty look. "If I find out that you've done anything…"

Draco said nothing.

"Hey, girl under the covers." The lump didn't move and Ron continued. "I hope this is the last time you sleep with Malfoy. He's a bastard you know."

Draco rolled his eyes as Ron began making his way to the exit. Harry turned to follow and noticed the girl's robe on the floor.

Is that the Head Girl's badge? he thought. Harry turned around and eyed Draco suspiciously. Draco simply beamed at him.

"Come on, Harry," Ron said as Harry began eyeing the toes sticking out from underneath the covers.

Harry moved towards the bed. That looks like Hermione's uniform too…

"What are you doing!" Ron yelled as Harry pulled the covers slightly off the lump and revealed Hermione's head. Ron walked over then drew back in surprise at the face that was currently giving Harry a very Draco-like dirty look.

"Hermione!"

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked, glaring at Harry.

"What are you doing?" Harry couldn't help but ask.

"What does it look like?" she retorted.

Ron turned his stare towards Draco. "With Malfoy!"

Hermione said nothing.

"Hermione, I think we need to talk about this," Harry said.

"Oh gods, are you even serious?" Her death glare intensified.

"Maybe you should leave…now," Draco said. He began to pull himself out from under the covers.

"We're leaving, we're leaving," Ron yelled, lifting his hands to shield his eyes from Draco's naked body. "Let's go Harry," he said, grabbing Harry's arm and dragging him from the room.

"Don't forget to close the portrait," Draco yelled. Seconds later it slammed shut.

Draco turned to Hermione. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah…it's just—well, I can't believe them!"

"Don't worry about them."

"I'm not."

He continued to gaze into her eyes. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah. I'm just wondering if there's such a thing as portrait removal."