CHAPTER 5

'It's one thirty,' Harry said, raising his head on his shoulders and glancing drowsily at the other two. 'Do you think we should leave?'

'Check the map,' Hermione advised him. 'Snape's been prowling around in his office for the last three and a half hours.'

Harry lifted the Marauders Map and glanced over it.

'He's still there,' he said, in a bored voice. 'No wait! he's going to the door! He's leaving!'

Ron propped himself up. 'What! He is! Finally! I was beginning to wonder if he camped out in his storage cupboard at night.'

'No, no, he's definitely leaving!' Harry said, excitedly. 'Come on guys, get up! We have to go!'

Hermione had already got up. 'Remember,' she said. 'We have to put up our Shield Charms before we enter. And we have to be very quiet and careful so that we don't attract the attention of that horrible Seeing- Dwarf of his,' she looked pointedly at Ron.

'What are you looking at me for?' he demanded.

'Nothing,' Harry said, quickly. 'Come one, guys. We'd better hurry before he changes his mind and decides to spend the night in his beloved cupboard.'

They quickly wrapped the cloak around themselves, and crept out of the Common room, which was by now completely empty. Hermione stifled a yawn. She had not been able to sleep well.

'Do you think we can pull all this off all right?' she asked, a little worriedly, as they climbed down the staircase to the Great Hall.

'Of course,' Ron said easily. 'We get in, we find the Veritaserum and Polyjuice Potion, and get out. What could possibly go wrong.'

'For starters,' Hermione said, 'We might not be able to find any.'

'Hermione, he always has extra stores of these potions, remember?' Harry said, pointedly. Hermione nodded, a little anxiously.

'What if we get caught?' she muttered.

Harry pointed at the map, which he was still holding. 'No Snape. He's retired to his own stinking private rooms.'

'But the Seeing Dwarf-.'

'Cannot see us since we're invisible,' Ron said. 'We just have to be a little quiet.'

'What if Ron trips over her own feet and-.'

'We're almost there will you shut up?'

Hermione kept quiet, but still felt a little uneasy. They had entered the dungeons.

'It's that black door, to the left,' she said, pointing. 'Shield Charms, I think.'

The three of them took their wand out, and murmured, 'Protego.' Immediately, Shimmering Shields formed around them. Pulling the Invisibility cloak back on, they began to move towards the door. Hermione reached it first, and took her wand out.

'Alohomora,' she whispered.

The door unlocked with a click, and swung open. She grabbed Harry and Ron's hand and pulled them inside.

They were in a small room that was lit by an eerie red light that reflected off the white marble floor and walls. It was completely bare except for a door at the other end. A small ugly imp, was hovering about the ceiling, it's eyes fastened on the door, without doubt wondering how it had opened. When it swung shut again, it seemed to shrug and turn around. Quietly, the three crept under the Cloak, to the far door, and checking that the imps' back was turned pushed it open gently. Immediately, a flash of green light shone, but by the time the imp whirled around it, the door was shut.

Inside, the three took off the clock. 'You weren't hit were you?' Hermione asked, anxiously. 'The spell-.'

'We're fine.' Harry said. They looked around.

The inside of the storage cupboard was gloomy and dark. There was a skylight ahead, and a gloomy swirl of dust rose in the column of moonlight that filtered through. It was lined on three sides by shelves.

'This shelf has ingredients,' Harry said, pointing. 'Look- bicorn horn, boomslang skin, powdered horns…'

'This one seems to have the potions.' Hermione said, eyeing the second shelf. It was filled with glass phials. Harry and Ron hurried over to her.

'Well?' Ron said. 'How about this pink one?'

'No Ron,' Hermione murmured. 'Veritaserum is the only potion which is absolutely clear. And Polyjuice- well we all know what it is.'

'I think I found the Polyjuice,' Harry said, hesitatingly. He pointed to a glass bottle that held a bubbling, brownish potion.

'Lovely,' Hermione said, pocketing it, 'And here's the Veritaserum. Now let's go, quick!'

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Back in the Common Room, Harry and Ron were yawning. Hermione was looking at the little glass bottles they had nicked from Snape's stores.

'Perfectly brewed Veritaserum.' She said, admiringly. 'Quite a large dose, too. Three drops is enough for Malfoy. We can keep the rest for future use.'

'If Snape ever catches us with that bottle…' Ron said, uneasily.

'He won't,' Hermione replied, 'I'll hide it in my dorm. Snape would never enter our Common room, let alone go into the girls dorm.'

'How do we make Malfoy eat that stuff?' Harry asked, surveying the bottle with distaste.

'Simple.' Hermione said, brightly. 'Over breakfast tomorrow morning, you two get into a fight with him. Distract him at any rate. I'll manage to tip the potion into his drink.'

'And then…?' Ron asked, hesitantly.

'And then,' Hermione explained, 'He'll go all woozy and in a daze. We're going to have to corner him somehow, and ask him questions. One of us is going to be in a Polyjuice Potion, and the other two will be holding him down. We need a place to interrogate him in peace. We need to make sure he won't try and fight us. The effect of the Veritaserum will wear of in an hour. So we have to figure out how to get him to drink the potion, get him somewhere safe, transform into a Slytherin, which by the way will involve some messy business with hair, again. Then we have to interrogate him in an hour.'

She turned to look at Harry and Ron, who were gaping dumbly at her. She sighed. 'Leave it to me.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Hermione was up surprisingly early. Before anyone in the Common Room was awake, she had left place, and was already on her way to the dungeons.

All the while, there was a small, nagging doubt in her mind. What if she was wrong? What if it didn't work out. What if-

'Calm down,' she ordered herself as she entered the dungeons. 'Just calm down.'

She walked past the potion class room, until she was in the large chamber, inside which Harry and Ron had told her lay the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room. She hung around in the chamber, twisting her hands worriedly.

Fifteen minutes later, she heard a noise. It came from the far end of the chamber. Taking a deep breath, Hermione turned around.

Yes. She thought, stifling both a smile and a feeling of dread that was welling up in her stomach. Blaise Zabini was walking towards her- or more specifically, towards the entrance to his Common Room. Judging from the messed up condition of his hair, and half undone shirt, Hermione gathered that his outing had had objectives which were less than scrupulous.

His stopped, and his eyes narrowed, when he saw her.

'What the hell are you doing here, Granger?' he asked, rudely.

She sneered at him, her heart thumping. 'You mean outside your Common Room?' she asked.

Blood rushed to his face. 'How do you know that!'

She simply winked cheerfully. He seemed to inflate with rage, and began striding towards her.

'Get away from there!'

Hermione willed away the feeling of dread building up in the pit of her stomach. She knew what she had to do, but she didn't know how he would react. As he drew up to her, she raised her hand, and slapped his fully across her face. He stumbled, and her hand quickly grabbed at his head.

Blaise finally managed to push himself upright.

'What the fuck-.' he began, but couldn't continue. Hermione had raised her wand, and pointed it at him.

'Obliviate,' she said, quickly.

Immediately, Blaise's eyes slid out of focus. He looked slightly bemused. When his eyes settled on her, he frowned.

'What are you doing here Granger?'

'Got lost, Zabini,' she said, coldly, and strode off.