Chapter Five
Hermione excused herself straight after dinner and disappeared off to the Head's common room. She found Draco sitting at the Dolmen waiting with his eagle owl.
"Do you have the book?" He asked impatiently.
Hermione nodded and pulled the black book from her bag. Draco took it from her and performed a wrapping spell. The book covered itself in brown paper and Draco tied it to the owl, along with a thank you note for his mother.
"Did the information in the book help you?" Draco relaxed a bit now that the book was safely on its way home.
"Yes," Hermione sat down next to Draco, "I'm sure now that what Harry and Ron saw was indeed the Orb of Pertraho. I have a feeling that Voldemort may have found it and, with your father's help if necessary, used it to try and seriously hurt Harry, if not kill him."
"If my father is involved, and I have no doubt that he is, then the orb is probably being kept at the Manor. It probably has returned there after the first failed attempt but I wouldn't put it past them to try it again." Draco ran his hand trough his hair.
"So the next question is: what now?" Hermione rested her head in her arms to think, she was now looking down at the desk, unable to see much.
"Are you not just going to go to Dumbledore with what you know?" Draco rested his head on his arms, which were also crossed on the stone, and looked at Hermione.
Hermione turned her head, "If we do that then we'll be left out of anything that follows after."
"Why would you want to have anything to do with it?"
"Because." Hermione turned back into the desk.
"Because you're a Gryffindor and that's what you do?" Draco snarled a little at the typical Gryffindor behaviour his wife was showing.
"Right." Hermione sat back up. "Back to my original question, where do we go from here?"
"We?" Draco raised an eyebrow, "When did I become involved in the marauding of the famous trio?"
"When you married me," Hermione looked up at her husband, an evil smile on her face, "or maybe when you helped find what the orb was."
"I want nothing to do with this." Draco leant back against his chair.
"Oh, please?" Hermione begged playfully.
"No, I refuse to be, in any way, affiliated with Potter."
"But Draco, you could be so helpful, and no one need ever know." Hermione leant in close.
"No."
"Please? For me?" Hermione was leaning in so close that she was almost on Draco.
Draco gulped. He felt his chest constrict and he was having trouble breathing or thinking straight.
"Please Draco?" Hermione whispered in his ear. Her warm breath sent shivers down Draco's spine.
Draco closed his eyes, 'Clear your head, man, think straight. You do not want to become involved with this.' Draco opened his eyes again to find Hermione right in front of his face; her eyes wide and pleading. Draco found he couldn't help himself, he leaned forward and their lips met. He suddenly felt alive; nothing else in the world mattered as time slowed down for them, just so that the moment would last forever.
Hermione's already wide eyes shot even wider as she felt Draco's lips against her own. At first she wanted to pull away, but something stopped her. Instead she found herself kissing him back. The kiss became more passionate, needier, Hermione felt Draco's tongue flick across her bottom lip, asking for entry.
Draco flicked his tongue across Hermione's lip for a second time, hoping she would permit him entry. His heart jumped as she opened up slightly and he was able to slide his tongue in. He ran it across the roof of her mouth; starting slow because he thought she was new to this.
Hermione found Draco's tongue slowly begin to massage her own; slyly she began to imitate his movements. She ran her tongue across his and was astounded to hear Draco moan softly. Hermione felt almost proud of this, she'd made the Slytherin Prince moan in pleasure.
Alas: as all good things do, the kiss came to an end. Both Hermione and Draco finished at about the same time, their heads remained close together and each could feel the other breathing heavily.
"What was that?" Hermione finally managed to say.
Draco smiled slyly, "That, my dear, is what we like to call a kiss."
"Why?" Hermione looked deeply into his grey eyes which were burning into hers.
"I needed you." Draco had to whisper quietly.
"Will you help us?" Hermione tried to get back on topic.
Draco looked into his wife's honest, open face and nodded slowly, "I'll help."
"Thank you." Hermione lent forward, meaning to kiss him on the cheek; Draco had different ideas and Hermione soon found herself in another tongue-wrestling match.
Harry and Ron sat in their dormitory looking over the Marauders Map; Ron wanted to use it to check up on Ginny, who had gone off on a date and not told Ron who she was going with. Ron had persuaded Harry to fetch the map; Harry was there to make sure that Ron only used it to find out the name of the boy and nothing else about the evening.
"Where is she going?" Ron asked himself as she wandered down a long corridor.
"This doesn't feel right," Harry mumble.
"I only want to know his name," Ron continued poring over the map.
It took Ginny another five minute to meet up with anybody, "Keith Tapping." Ron smiled at his findings.
Harry, however, wasn't paying too much attention to that; he had just spotted Hermione's common room and dormitory. The little Hermione dot was right next to the little Draco dot; the odd thing about it was that both of them were labelled as Malfoy's.
"Harry?" Ron looked at his friend, a worried expression residing on his face; Harry had just become very pale.
"Ron can you look at that and tell me what you see?" Harry asked, not daring to trust his own eyes.
Ron looked where Harry was pointing. "That would be the Head's common room." Ron looked closer, "There's Draco Malfoy and Hermione…" Ron stopped.
"Please tell me it says 'Hermione Granger'." Harry's eyes were closed.
Ron shook his head, "It's a trick of the light."
Harry looked at his friend, "A trick of the light? How can it be a trick of the light?"
"I don't know, but there is no way that our Hermione is a Malfoy."
"But it says right there, as clear as day; Hermione Malfoy." Harry looked at the little dots.
"Maybe Draco has a sister," Ron suggested, "And her name just happens to be Hermione."
"How many Hermiones do you know about?" Harry asked.
"Well…" Ron looked back at the dots, "Harry, is it my imagination or are those dots really close together? I mean, we're sitting next to each other here," he pointed at the boy's dorm on the map, "and we aren't as close as those two."
"That is just horrible." Harry shuddered.
"It could be Malfoy is married to a Hermione," Ron suggested, "that is not ours."
"Do you see any other Hermione's on the map?" Harry stood up and began to pace, "Hermione told us she was going to that common room and there she is: Mrs. Hermione Malfoy."
"Harry!" Ron glared at his best friend, "There has to be some logical explanation to this. I refuse to believe that Hermione would do that to us; I refuse to believe that that is our Hermione."
"Who else could it be, Ron?" Harry slumped back onto his bed, "Who else?"
"I don't know," Ron stared at the map, "I but intend to find out."
Harry and Ron sat at the Gryffindor table not saying very much; they would have been discussing what they had seen the night before on the map if Ginny had not chosen to sit with them. She was chatting happily with Ron about Quidditch, not that Ron was really paying attention.
"There she is." Harry nudged Ron in the side as Hermione strode into the Great Hall with a smile on her face.
Hermione sat down opposite her two best friends. "Good morning!" She smiled brightly; the smile faded a little as she looked between Harry and Ron's faces.
"Well, I'm going to be polite," Ginny glared at Ron, "Good morning Hermione."
"Thanks Ginny." Hermione smiled at the younger woman, "What's eating you two?" she turned her attention back to the boys.
"Just something we saw last night." Harry replied cryptically, "Something on a certain map."
There was a ghastly silence as Hermione's heart stopped beating. 'What did they see? They didn't see my name, did they? They don't know about Draco and I, do they?'
"You were spying on me?" Ginny turned her yell into a low hiss so as not to draw attention.
"Yes, there was that too." Ron spun on his seat to look Ginny squarely in the face, "Who is this Karl person? I've never heard of him: how do I know if he's good enough for my little sister?"
"Because I think so, and it's my life." Ginny's fists curled up into little balls.
"I don't want you going out with someone I don't know about." Ron replied.
"Oh my gosh! Did Karl finally ask you out?" Hermione looked at Ginny excitedly.
"Yeah, it was so cool. He had organised a picnic out by the lake. It was so romantic, we nearly didn't make it back inside for curfew." Ginny smiled.
"You knew about this?" Ron rounded on Hermione.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Of course I knew, Ginny's been talking about Karl Tapping for weeks. He's a great guy; you should trust Ginny's opinion."
"Oh, yes, and you'd know all about good choices in guys now wouldn't you?" Harry nearly spat.
"What are you talking about?" Hermione tried to laugh; it came out as the obviously nervous laugh she'd promised herself she'd never do.
Harry picked up Hermione's left hand and waved it in front of her face, "Do I really have to remind you," he lowered his voice right down so Hermione could barely hear him, "Malfoy?"
Hermione gasped and pulled her hand away; this was the moment she had been dreading ever since school had started.
"We have to talk." Ron narrowed his eyes at Hermione.
"Somewhere private." Harry added.
"What's going on?" Ginny looked between the trio of normally-close friends; ok, Ron and Hermione argued sometimes, but Harry didn't often join in.
"Never you mind." Harry stood and motioned for the others to follow him.
Harry led the way from the hall, determination in his stride; Ron followed, he was clearly fuming; Hermione walked behind them, the bounce that was in her step a few minutes early had now gone; Ginny followed at the rear, her curiosity overwhelming her desire to stay put.
The four students found an empty classroom and Harry sealed the door shut.
"Hermione, how could you?" Ron yelled.
"I didn't have a choice." Hermione's face was nearly tearful.
"Like hell you didn't have a choice!" Harry wasn't yelling but there was an edge to his voice.
"I did have a say in the matter," Hermione sobbed, "I swear."
"Hermione, people always have a say." Ron glowered.
"He threatened to kill my mum and dad." Hermione tried to blink back her tears, it didn't help much.
Ginny tapped her foot; whatever Hermione had none she did not deserve to be yelled at in this way, "Will you two lay off Hermione!" she ordered in a voice that matched Mrs. Weasley's when she was on a warpath. Both Harry and Ron stoped yelling, but Harry took up pacing instead.
"Right; now will someone calmly explain to me what is going on?" Ginny glared her brother and his friend down.
Harry shook his head in frustration, "She's married." He pointed an accusing finger at Hermione, "Not only is she married but she is now Mrs. Draco Malfoy!"
Ginny gasped, "Hermione! Is this true?"
Hermione looked at Ginny through now red eyes. She nodded her head and hung it back down.
"Would you care to explain why?" Ginny knelt in front of Hermione, who was slumped in a chair.
"Does it matter?" Harry rounded on Hermione, "You married my worst enemy! You lied to me!"
"I think that's a bit much Harry." Ginny stood back up and stared Harry in the eye, "Draco isn't your worst enemy: Voldemort is."
"Ginny!" Ron flinched, "Am I the only one who doesn't say his name?"
"Yes." Ginny replied, slightly amused, before turning back to Harry, "An explanation matters because, if you were listening before, Hermione said she had no choice. Now I for one would like to know Hermione's explanation."
Harry and Ron didn't have a reply for that so they stood still waiting her Hermione to provide some explanation for her actions.
"The full story please, Hermione." Ginny handed Hermione an enchanted handkerchief to ease her tears.
Hermione took a deep breath and began.
"It all started over the holidays. I never told you that I was adopted, but I am; my blood parents came to find me so they could marry me off as payment for a debt. I hate them for that; but the person I was betrothed to was Draco Malfoy. I was taken to the Malfoy Manor and there I was forced to marry Draco. I was told that Lucius would kill my mum and dad, the Grangers, if didn't go through with it." Hermione told them this while keeping her eyes fixed on the floor.
"But Hermione, you should have told us," Harry looked down at his friend, "you lied to us."
"Would you have been any more considerate if I had told you?" Hermione's bloodshot eyes flashed angrily, "Do you really think that you would have accepted this if I had told you myself?"
"Better from you than the Marauders Map." Ron wasn't even looking at Hermione anymore; there was a hint of sorrow in his voice.
Hermione looked at the floor, "I knew you would react like this. Blaming me for being forced to marry someone I didn't like."
"What do you mean 'didn't'?" Harry stared at Hermione, "Do you like him now?"
Hermione's lifted to meet Harry's in horror.
"I knew it!" Ron slammed his fist into the desk, "I knew those dots were way to close together. You really are with him, aren't you?"
"He's really nice." Hermione argued hopelessly, "He's not the same when he's not in public; he's kind and caring."
"I don't believe this!" Ron turned his back on Hermione, "He's brainwashed you!"
"I am not brainwashed." Hermione stood up her fisted clenched, "You don't know anything about Draco."
"Draco? What happened to Malfoy?" Harry's voice had a dangerous edge to it, "Does six years of insults mean nothing to you?"
"I'm not going to let six years of anything stand in the way of being happy," Hermione decided it was her turn to yell. "I love him and I'm not going to let some petty insults ruin it for me."
The room fell into silence.
(AN: Oh this would be the perfect place for a cliff hanger! Alas, I have a conscience.)
"You love him?" Ginny whispered, although in the quiet room it sounded loud and clear.
"I didn't say that!"
"Yes you did!" Ginny jumped up and down, "You love Draco Malfoy."
"You love him?" Harry slumped into a chair, "How can you love him?"
"I did not just say that." Hermione sat down shaking her head.
"Yes you did!" Ginny smiled, "I can't believe you're in love!"
"Neither can I." Hermione stared at the space in front of her in disbelief.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Ron paled.
"See, there are perks to being married! You get to be in love." Ginny bounced up and down happily.
Hermione looked up at Ginny, "No, the perk of being married to Draco is he has a really big…"
"Do not finish that sentence." Harry and Ron yelled at exactly the same time.
"…library." Hermione finished.
"Oh, that's ok I guess." Harry nearly smiled with relief.
"So have you… you know?" Ginny asked cheekily.
"Good god no!" Hermione looked taken aback.
"Ok, this conversation is going to a place I don't want it to go." Ron marched to the door; he turned back, "I would have thought better of you, Hermione."
Ron pulled at the door; he wanted to have a dramatic exit. He wanted to pull open the door, stride out with his head held high and slam it shut after him. The door didn't budge and Ron had pulled it so hard he nearly fell over. He didn't, but to all the observers it was obvious what had happened.
Ron swallowed his pride; the dramatic exit was kaput. "Err… Harry, the door please?"
"Sorry." Harry waved his wand and the lock clicked open.
Ron then marched out with as much dignity as he could muster.
"Ron's right, 'Mione." Harry stood to follow Ron out, "I expected better from you."
Hermione was left sitting in the empty classroom with Ginny, her heart pounding in her chest, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Don't worry, 'Mione, I'm still here for you." Ginny gave her friend a hug, "I'll talk to those boys. I'll make them see reason for you."
"Thanks Ginny, but they're right. It is Draco Malfoy after all." Hermione pulled away from the comforting cuddle, "I don't know what I saw in him anyway."
"Probably the same thing as the rest of the female population and maybe a bit more than the rest of the female population," Ginny smiled, "Malfoy is the hottest, nay the sexiest, guy at this school. The only thing that guy doesn't have going for him is goodness, and if you've found that in him then you have what every girl in this school dreams after."
"Thanks," Hermione smiled weakly.
"Then again, who doesn't love a bad boy?" Ginny added wickedly.
"Ginny!" Hermione laughed softly, "That is really inappropriate."
Ginny grinned, "Sorry, I won't make sexual innuendo about your husband again."
The bell for class rang and Hermione automatically stood up, "See you at lunch, Ginny."
"Ok, see you." Ginny picked up her bag, before she left the room she looked back, "You sure you'll be ok, 'Mione?"
"Hope so."
"Righto then, see you at lunch." Ginny disappeared down the hall.
Hermione didn't attend any of her classes that day, nor did she show up at lunch. Harry and Ron were feeling really guilty, aided by a lecture from Ginny. They both quickly saw how much this was affecting Hermione; she was so upset that she was missing classes. Ron suggested that Malfoy had poisoned her, but a glare from Ginny shut him up.
The last class of the day was Potions; Harry as per usual wasn't looking forward to spending time with the Slytherins.
Draco was also feeling really worried, he hadn't seen her all day since she'd been led out of the hall by the Boy-Who-Would-Not-Die and the two youngest Weasleys. He had a horrible feeling that they had found out about him and Hermione somehow and decided to kill her; then again, they weren't in Slytherin and may just have upset her. Either way, Draco spent the entire potions lesson thinking of things to do to them.
"Mr. Malfoy!" Snape's voice snapped Draco from his daydream about pulling the arms and legs off of a Harry bug.
"Yes sir?" Draco looked up into the face of his favourite Professor.
"How on earth did you manage to turn your potion puce?" Snape sneered.
"I don't know, sir." Draco looked in to the potion that was meant to be lavender.
"You added the arrow-root too soon," Snape ladled the thick potion out of the cauldron and let it slosh back in. "Add an extra ounce of the crushed beetle shell to rectify the problem."
"Yes sir." Draco nodded his head, grateful he didn't have to start again from scratch.
The Professor moved on and Draco decided to concentrate on his potion rather than the Boy-Who-Just-Kept-On-Living.
After class Harry walked down the hall until he found himself pulled into an empty classroom by none other than the infamous Draco Malfoy.
Ron was also pulled in by Draco's other arm. Harry was amazed at how strong Draco was; he would have thought that Draco would be much weaker because he relied so much on his bodyguards for protection.
"What the fuck did you do to her?" Draco demanded.
"What you talking about, Malfoy?" Harry replied.
"Don't play coy with me." Draco sneered, "I want to know what you did to her to make her miss an entire day's worth of classes."
"Why do you care?" Ron's hand crept to his wand.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry watched in horror as his wand flew out of his hand and was deftly caught by Draco. Ron's was also ripped from his grasp and now in Draco's possession.
"Answer my question!" Draco's voice held the same commanding tone that his father often used.
Both Harry and Ron remained silent; no one dared move or speak. Draco's cold grey eyes shifted from one to the other.
"We were just having a little chat about why she didn't invite us to her wedding." Harry boldly spoke up.
Harry had been expecting some kind of reaction to this statement; however he was disappointed with the reaction he witnessed.
"I thought as much," Draco hissed, "bet you two were really inconsiderate to her; didn't you understand that she couldn't say no?"
"Of course we understand that!" Ron wanted to hurt Malfoy, now more than ever; even more than in their second year when he had first called Hermione a mudblood. "And we want you to know that if you hurt Hermione we will kill you." His hand flew to his wand pocket and he was disappointed to find it came back empty.
Draco smirked, "You two are pathetic, but if I ever find out that you have been hurting my wife in any way, I will see to it that you both suffer greatly." He turned and walked out of the room, throwing Harry's and Ron's wands onto a table as he went.
Draco stood at the entrance to his bedroom listening to the heavy breathing coming from with in. 'Damn those idiots! It's been all day and she's still upset about this whole thing. Why the fuck couldn't they leave her alone?'
Draco summoned up all of his courage and pushed open the door. "Hermione, are you ok?"
"Leave me alone," came a voice muffled by a pillow.
Draco walked forward and pulled aside the vine drapes to reveal Hermione lying face down on the bed.
"I told you to go away."
Draco ignored Hermione's words and climbed onto the bed next to her. He sat with his back against the headboard and pulled Hermione onto his lap where she continued to cry, cradled in his arms.
"They hate me." She sobbed.
"They don't hate you." Draco comforted.
Hermione held onto Draco tightly, "Yes they do; they really hate me and it wasn't even my fault."
"I know, I know." Draco shushed softly.
"They hate me," Hermione cried, "just because I let slip…" she stopped talking and fell into gentle sobs.
"If they hated you so much, why would they make death threats at me? They told me they would kill me if I were to hurt you." Draco whispered gently into her eye.
"Really?" Hermione looked up hopefully; her eyes were wet with tears.
"Truly." Draco reassured Hermione.
A single tear slid down Hermione's face and Draco had the sudden desire to kiss it away. So he did. Hermione giggled softly as Draco lips brushed over the side of her face. She smiled up at her husband and snuggled in closer to him. 'Harry and Ron can wait until morning.' she thought. One after the other the young couple drifted off to sleep, Draco's arms still wrapped around his young wife.
Ron woke up early the next day; he was feeling really guilty about how he and Harry had treated Hermione. It had been a restless night for him and Ron had finally given up even trying to sleep.
He pulled back the curtains on his bed a crawled out of bed. He snuck over to Harry's trunk and retrieved the Marauders Map and the Invisibility Cloak. He looked at Harry's sleeping form and frowned. How could Harry sleep so peacefully knowing that one of his best friends was in pain; pain that was, in part, caused by him?
Ron threw the cloak around his shoulders, and crept from the dormitory, halfway down the stairs he reprimanded himself for thinking ill of Harry, having remembered the Dreamless Sleep Potion Harry always took at night now.
Ron crept along the halls of Hogwarts in the general direction of the head common room. Halfway there he pulled the Map from his pocket and whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." From the tip of his wand the lines and borders of Hogwarts spread. He never became tired of watching the ink flare across the old parchment.
Ron checked the position of the Head dorm and adjusted his trajectory. It took about another five minutes to find the painting of the little girl; she was sitting up and playing with her Teddy.
"Hello." Ron smiled at the girl who looked up sleepily.
"Can you let me in please?" Ron asked, not really expecting she would open the door.
The young girl shook her head.
Ron looked down at the Map and noticed the little dot labelled Ronald Weasley had a speech bubble. "Verus consilium." Ron read aloud. The portrait door swung open.
Ron ducked in and found himself in a small round room with two holes in the floor. Ron carefully positioned himself at the top of the slide and slid into the dark room beneath. The room in which he landed in was even more amazing than Hermione had described, to be honest he didn't know why she even bothered to come out, it was such an amazing place. But that was not why he had come here. He looked at the map. Hermione was behind the door on the left.
Ronald paused before he opened the door; the two Malfoy dots were merged into one big one, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to see what was behind the door. Summoning up his Gryffindor courage and remembering that Hermione had insisted that nothing had happened between her and Malfoy, Ronald pushed open the door.
The room he walked into was just as amazing as the previous, but Ron was not here to admire the décor. Double-checking the Map for the last time before wiping it clean, he cautiously walked over to the large double bed and pulled back the vine curtain.
Hermione woke with a start, there was somebody shaking her arm to wake her up. She reluctantly forced open her eyes and look up into the nervous face of her friend. Hermione jumped causing Ron's hand to snap over her mouth to stop a scream from escaping.
"Hermione, can we talk?"
Hermione looked up into Ron's eyes for a moment before nodding her head. She climbed out of bed, trying to be very careful not to wake up her sleeping husband. Then she followed Ron out into the common room.
"Why did you come here?" Hermione decided to take control of the interrogation.
Ron fidgeted as he sat down on one of the cushions that encircled the fire that now burnt low casting a soft glow about the room. "I had to talk to you." Ron stared up into Hermione's face, "No, that's not quite the truth. I had to apologise: Hermione I am so sorry about the way that I acted. I shouldn't have been such an idiot; you are allowed to make your own choices. I may not agree, but that shouldn't spoil our friendship. You're a grown woman and you've been forced into a difficult position and you seem to be making the most of it. I'm sorry for doubting you, for yelling at you and being a general pig."
Hermione's face softened at Ronald's words and she sat down next to him, "Ron, you had every right to be angry; you just found out about Draco and I. It would be unreasonable for me to assume that you wouldn't throw a tantrum; it was one of the many reasons why I refrained from telling you and Harry. I'm so glad that you can accept the situation now that you've thought about it."
"I wouldn't say I accept it." Ron replied honestly, "I don't like it; I just understand that I can't change it and you are too great a friend to risk losing over something you have no control over. We'll work our way up to acceptance."
Hermione smiled. "Ok."
"Now I want you to know that I'm here for you if you need someone to talk to." Ron put his arm around Hermione in a half hug, "Or if the ferret ever does anything to upset you; please tell me so I can set him straight."
Hermione laughed quietly, "You know he told me that you and Harry have already been making death threats at him."
"Ah, yes," Ron looked up as if remembering a pleasant memory, then his face hardened a little, "Unfortunately, Malfoy managed to have the upper hand and last word in that conversation; he made the same threat at us."
"He did?" Hermione sounded a little surprised, "That's so sweet!"
"Yeah, really sweet, your husband and best friends all threatening to kill each other, how will you ever survive Hermione?" Ron rolled his eyes.
"You're looking at it from the wrong perspective; you have to see it from my position. I have all these people looking out for my happiness." Hermione smiled happily.
"See why I couldn't bear to lose you as my friend?" Ron laughed, "You always make things seem better than they really are."
"Thanks." Hermione blushed with pride.
The conversation lulled, but neither Hermione nor Ron seemed to mind. They both stared into the fire, watching as it danced merrily.
"Where's Harry?" Hermione finally decided to break the silence.
"Sleeping." Ron replied shortly.
"Why didn't he come?" Hermione asked curiously, "Isn't he as shaken up about this as you? He is going to come around isn't he?"
"I'm sure he is upset and wants you back as soon as possible, he didn't come because he took his dreamless sleep potion and probably won't wake for hours." Ron patted Hermione's arm in what he hoped was a reassuring way.
"So he'll understand?" Hermione asked again.
"I'm sure he will, he may just take a little more time to come around that I did, you know what he's like and how much he hates Malfoy."
"I guess you're right." Hermione looked at a clock on the wall, "You better go back to bed before someone notices that you're missing."
"Ok, see you at breakfast." Ron stood and made his way over to the ladder, "You going to be ok?" He cast one last glance around at Hermione.
"Yes I'll be fine," Hermione smiled, "I have Draco to look after me."
"That's not quite what I meant," Ron mumbled to himself as he climbed the ladder. Hermione didn't hear him as she walked back into her bedroom.
Much to Hermione's delight Harry decided to apologise over breakfast the next day and things seemed to be back to normal. Well, as normal as they ever were at Hogwarts. Now that Harry and Ron knew about Hermione's situation she spent a lot of time trying to persuade the three men (Harry, Ron and Draco) to co-operate and spend time together: an almost hopeless case.
By the end of November Hermione felt like she was making some progress; Harry and Ron would often come down to the Head common room to hang out, Draco would also be there working quietly on his homework and, to Hermione's delight, there were very few arguments. Draco had even joined in some of the discussions, although to Hermione's disappointment he did because they were about Quidditch and she didn't really find it all that interesting.
It was a week before the Christmas holidays that something happened that… well, it's something big anyway.
It was about eleven at night and Harry and Ron were sneaking out of the Gryffindor rooms to visit Hermione, why they were doing this so late it a complete mystery but anyway, on with the story.
"Ow, Harry that was my foot," Ron complained from under the invisibility cloak.
"Sorry," Harry apologised, "but we've both grown since first year, we don't fit as well as we used to."
"Well do you think you could try not to step on me?" Ron glared at the invisible boy next to him. Harry didn't see the glare; Ron was invisible too. (AN: In some storys you can see things under the cloak if you're under it too. Well in this one you can't: if you're under the cloak you can't be seen by anything.)
Harry, unbeknownst to Ron, rolled his eyes and held the map out from under the cloak to check for patrolling teachers.
"The way's clear." Harry stated the obvious. "We'd better keep moving, though; it looks like Filch might be headed this way and I do not want to have a run-in with him at this time of night."
The two boys quickened their pace. As it turned out Filch did not come down that way and Harry and Ron were both in the clear. However when they turned the corner they saw something which made them stop dead in their tracks; a glowing orb hovered in their path. It bobbed up and down enticingly.
"Ron, Ron!" Harry bumped Ron on the arm a couple of times never breaking eye contact with the orb, "It's that pretty orb thing again."
"Yeah," Ron's brain turned to cotton wool, "'Mione told us it was dangerous."
"But it's so pretty," Harry tilted his head at the orb as if trying to see something else, "how could it be dangerous?"
"I don't know." Ron reached out it hand to touch the orb, it moved away from him, keeping out of his reach.
"Where's it going?" Harry sounded disappointed.
"I don't know." Ron replied thickly, "But 'Mione warned us about it, maybe we shouldn't follow it."
"But we have to." Harry insisted.
"Why?" Ron couldn't even take his eyes off of the orb to look at Harry in the face.
"Err…" Harry searched his woolly mind for a valid reason, "to find out where it's going. Maybe it's leading us to whoever is controlling it. You know… Voldemort."
Ronald flinched at the name; in doing so he broke eye contact with the orb. His head suddenly became clear and he could think straight. "Harry!" His voice was back to its normal self, not floaty and dreamy like it had been a moment before, "Harry, snap out of it mate."
Harry started to follow the orb that Ron was trying desperately not to look at.
"Harry!" Ron stood in front of Harry, "Stop looking at it."
"But… pretty!" Harry was looking over Ron's shoulder.
"Harry, no!" Ron addressed Harry like the child he was acting like.
"Orb," Harry pointed, "Look, very pretty."
"Oh for crying out loud, Harry!" Ron put his hands over Harry's eyes so he couldn't see the orb any longer. "Are you going to behave now?" he asked.
"Yes." Harry seemed to snap back to normal, "Lets get out of here."
Harry and Ron ran in the opposite direction to the orb, being very careful not to look back over their shoulders at it.
The quickly reached the portrait of the little girl, "Path-word?" she asked sweetly.
"Verus consilium." Ron wheezed, out of breath from running so far so fast.
The door swung open and he and Harry dashed in shutting the door sharply behind them.
"That was close." Ron tried to catch his breath.
"Not as close as last time." Harry leant against the wall, it looked kind of funny because he still had the cloak fastened around his shoulders and only his head was visible.
Ron looked up at the head floating in the air in front of him and laughed, "Harry, you look really bizarre like that."
"What?" Harry looked down and noticed he couldn't see his body. "Oh, right." He swung the cloak from around his shoulder and paced it over his arm.
The two boys then slid down into their friend's commonroom.