Disclaimer:

Evil snail: Go on say it's yours, nobody will mind!

Me: Maybe, but what would happen if they found out?

Evil snail: The usual, legal battles, fines, maybe imprisonment.

Me: No! It's not mine everybody listen to me not the evil snail, it all belongs to the one and only Ms Rowling, not me or the snail.

AN: I'm so sorry it's taken so long for me to update but I've had some rather bad family problems, including deaths, cancer, MS, and a whole load of other things you need not know about! Oh well, I'm back and that's what matters. So without further ado, the next chapter!

Chapter 4:

Snape watched Hermione walk out of the room with a rare expression of surprise on his face. He stayed at his desk and pushed away the scrap piece of parchment he'd been writing a list of new ingredients on and pulled the stack of unmarked homework towards him. How she had known he was watching her was beyond him, his only idea was that she had turned around and seen him. 'No, she couldn't have turned around I watched her the whole time!' he said to himself though, that was followed quickly by 'you really shouldn't think like that, it was bad enough you did it.' Grimacing at the thoughts, he turned back to the homework.Marking each piece with lashings of insults to the unsuspecting student's intelligence, or lack thereof.

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" 'Mione, how'd it go?" Harry asked as soon as she entered the common room, slowly she shook her head and walked across to the stairs leading to the dormitories, with a nod of understanding Harry followed. When he reached Hermione she was standing under the stairs, quickly she tapped a sequence of bricks and an archway formed, not unlike the leaky cauldrons exit to Diagon alley.

"Come on, quick." she hissed pulling Harry through behind her. They emerged in an empty corridor a few floors above where they had started. Harry was grabbed again and pushed inside a doorway; he looked around at the small room. Furnished like a living room it was cosy and had a lovely fireplace. With a swish of her wand, Hermione lit a fire.

"Well?" Harry asked, sitting himself in an armchair.

"You can't tell anyone of this conversation tonight, please promise me not one word of this to anybody. I know you want to know, you always want to know, so I figured you could ask me questions away from everybody else, as I really don't want anyone to know." she smiled and sat herself down on the couch opposite him, "Did you understand that, or did I lose you?" she asked with ahint of amusement.

"I promise and I think I got it." Harry replied with a grin, "Let the interrogation begin! Why were you in the library?" he asked quickly.

"Because I needed a book." she replied amusement fading.

"What book?"

"A book."

"What's in the book?"

"Words, diagrams, you know the usual."

"Are you going to say anything remotely helpful?" Harry asked resigned.

"Maybe, maybe not!" she replied grinning, all too soon the grin faded and she looked deadly serious. "The book was on potions, I need one of them for something I'm working on." Hermione turned her pensively gaze to the fire. "I'm not the same Harry; I've changed over the summer, not only my appearance, I don't mean that in a bad way so don't worry, I'm still Hermione, just a little different." slowly she looked back at Harry and flashed him a sad smile. "I'm not making any sense am I?" she asked.

"Nope, none what so ever." Harry smiled at his long time friend, she did look different, though he couldn't place how, yes she'd become more attractive, but it was something more than that.

"You'll understand sooner or later, right now you should head back to bed." as they got up she killed the fireand walked towards the door, Hermione grabbed his shoulder, "Harry remember, I do everything for a reason, I always thinkmy actionsthrough thoroughly, and never forget that I love you as a friend more that you realise. I would do anything for you." With that she turned and walked away heading for her room, leaving a confused Harry standing by a now non-exsistant door.

'What on earth?' Harry thought as he headed back to his dorm, the long way, as he could no longer find the passage they had taken earlier. 'Where does she get all these tunnels and rooms from anyway? I'm sure the one in the common room isnt on the map, andFred and George didn't know about it!' Finally reaching his bed, he changed and lay down in the darkness to think things over.

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"Well look if it isn't mudblood Granger. Where have you been then? In the library with your nose stuck in a book?" a voice drawled as she walked into the shared common room.

"Malfoy, I'm sorry I would love to stay and chat, but I've got work to do." she drawled in reply, smirking when he looked shocked.

"Watch your back mud blood, you're a definite target. Just you wait." Hermione stopped half way to her door; slowly she turned around a calm smile on her lips. Malfoy who had been silently congratulating himself on coming up with a line so fast, stopped smirking.

"And why would you think that? Has your dearest daddy told you, or are you guessing?" she asked him sweetly. He looked completely shocked.

"Don't think that you can play games with me, mudblood, I know that you're a target." he replied watching her closely.

"Of course I am, and I will watch my back, thank you for warning me." she said again in that sweet voice. "Good night." she shut the door in his face and walked towards the desk to continue her research. In the early hours of the morning she called it a night and got into bed, and promptly fell asleep.

§§§§§

Over the breakfast table Harry kept giving Hermione worried glances when he thought she wasn't looking. How wrong he was, she was well aware of him and two other pairs of eyes on her. The other two belonging to one Draco Malfoy and one Severus Snape. Breakfast dragged on as it did every morning,ended without any major events and so began another day of classes.

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