Chapter 17-

Hello everyone, how have you been doing? I am okay…College is a little crazy, but starting to settle down…Well, I know that you don't really care so I will just let you read the story, so here it is…

Hermione thought that everything was perfect in her life, almost. She still had no mother and a father who hurt her, but she was still extremely happy. During the day, she would pretend to hate Draco and be friends with Harry and Ron. Then, at night, hidden from the rest of the world, she would be best friends with Draco. They would talk about anything and everything and do homework together every night. Yep, Hermione's life was good.

About two weeks from the day she met up with her pen pal (Draco), that would all change…

Hermione woke that morning with a smile on her face. She had stayed up late talking to Draco, and she couldn't wait to see him. She got up and decided to take a quick shower before breakfast. When she got into the shower, she started thinking about the past couple weeks.

'Draco and I are getting really close. I love hanging out and talking to him, but what if Harry or Ron find out?' she wondered as she shampooed her hair. 'They won't, right? Well, if they do, it's not like Draco and I are anything more than friends…' Hermione thought, but knew that her conscious was telling her that she wanted there to be more. 'I like him a lot, a relationship would never work between us, we are from two very different groups of people!'

'Hermione, just admit it. You know that you are in love with him.' her conscious told her.

I am not in love with him!! she yelled to herself.

'Sure.'

"Hermione! What are you waiting for?" Draco called from the Common Room.

"I am coming!" she yelled back as she finished brushing her hair. They were going to go to Hogsmeade today, and Hermione was totally excited. They were taking Harry's secret passage, and Hermione had even stolen his invisibility cloak. Yes, Draco was a very bad influence on her.

Hermione grabbed the cloak and set off down the stairs. She met Draco at the bottom of the stairs and she threw the cloak over them so that they could get going. It was the middle of the afternoon, so they had to very careful to stay under the cloak and not bump into anyone walking.

They were finally in the passage and she pulled off the cloak. "Let's get moving." she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards Hogsmeade.

"Where did you say that we were going to end up?" Draco asked after they had been walking for a while.

"In the basement of Honeydukes." Hermione replied as she continued walking, still holding Draco's hand.

"Oh, okay."

"Come on, I think that we are almost there." Hermione said.

"You think? Have you never been in this passage before?" Draco asked skeptically.

"Well, no. Before I starting hanging out with you, I was a good girl." Hermione replied without looking at him.

"Does that mean that you a naughty girl now?" Draco asked in a husky, masculine voice.

"You know that I didn't mean it that way." Hermione said, extremely glad that he couldn't see her face since she was blushing so darkly.

"Didn't you?" he asked.

"No, I didn't." Hermione replied defiantly. Draco was about to say something, but stopped when he saw a trap door. "We're here." Hermione said as she threw the cloak over herself and began to climb through the trap door. When she saw that the coast was clear, she ushered Draco through.

When they were out on the street, Draco told her that he wanted to get some money from Diagon Alley really quick, so they took the floo network to Gringots. They then shopped for a few hours before deciding that they should probably go back since it will be getting dark soon. They were getting ready to go back to Hogsmeade when something caught Hermione's eye. "Draco! Look!" she said pointing down Knockturn Alley.

Draco turned his head in the direction she was pointing and saw none other than Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley walking into one of the many shops. Draco pulled her into the shadows and they watched as the boys walked into a shop.

"What are they doing down there?" Draco whispered.

"I don't know! I can't believe that they are shopping in Knockturn Alley! I don't know what is wrong with them."

"Let's find out." Draco said, pulling the invisibility cloak out of her bag and throwing it over them.

Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but curiosity won her over and they went down the alley.

The two of them crept down Knockturn Alley after Harry and Ron. Soon, they were inside the store that the two boys had entered only minutes before. They looked around the room, but Harry and Ron were nowhere in sight.

After a few minutes of wondering what happened to the boys, a curtain leading to the back room opened and Harry and Ron stepped out.

"Are you sure that we should be doing this? What if we get caught?" Ron whispered to Harry as they headed to the exit.

"Calm down, Ron. Who would ever suspect the Boy-Who-Lived and his red-headed sidekick to practice Dark Magic?" Harry asked confidently as he marched out of the room with an air of confidence that Hermione had never seen.

Once they were out of sight, Hermione turned to Draco. She was about to say something, but Draco covered her mouth and started moving towards the door. Hermione's instincts were to struggle, but instead she let him drag her out into the alley.

"We have to keep up. I want to know where they are going." Draco hissed in her ear as he released her and let her walk on her own.

They followed Harry and Ron back into Diagon Alley and straight to Leaky Cauldron. Once inside, Harry and Ron climbed into the fireplace a flooed to Hogsmeade.

When the boys were gone, Draco lead Hermione into the back room and they took off the cloak.

"What is going on?" Draco asked.

"I have no idea. Why were they buying Dark Art stuff?" Hermione asked.

"How should I know? You're supposed to be their best friend!"

"Well, I don't! They never tell me anything because they know that I would be against it and I will tell on them. I mean honestly, they haven't truly trusted me since that time in third year when I turned the Firebolt into McGonogall."

"You what?"

"I thought that Harry's Firebolt was jinxed, so I gave it to McGonogall for a checkup." Hermione replied as if it were nothing.

"Are you crazy?! They could have torn it up! Do you know how much one of those costs?!"

"Oh god, not you too." Hermione said as she rolled her eyes dramatically. "Can we please go back to Hogwarts and discuss this later?"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." Draco said, once again throwing the cloak over them and started walking towards the door. He reached for the handle and found that it was locked. He turned it back and forth several times before cussing and kicking the door.

"What's wrong?" Hermione, who had been to deep in thought to notice that they were locked in, asked.

"The door is locked."

"Okay, and?"

"It won't open!"

"Did you try to use your wand?" Hermione asked as if it was the most obvious things in the world.

Draco opened his mouth, but closed it. He hadn't tried that. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and held it up to the door. "Alohamora." Nothing. "Alohamora!" Still nothing. "What now, Little Miss Know-it-all?"

"I guess we are locked in." she replied.

"Great."

"What do we do now?" Hermione asked.

"Well, we could play a game." Draco asked in his best innocent voice.

Hermione looked at his suspiciously, but decided that she had nothing else to do. "What did you have in mind?"

AN- That's all. I hope you aren't too mad at me for the wait! Love yas!