A/N: All right-o, here's the anticipated chapter. I'm starting school, and updates may come more infrequently as a result, since I'm taking my O levels this year. Sigh, I do despise these nationwide examinations, but there's nothing I can do about it... Enough about my ranting. On to the story! (And don't forget to review :P)

Chapter 6: Suspicions

"Pssst! Potter, Weasley!"

Both boys spun at the voice, scanning the corridor for potential danger. When none presented itself, they visibly relaxed. "Who is it?" asked Ron.

"Me." A familiar head covered in slicked-back blonde hair poked out of a wall niche, and immediately found itself on the wrong end of two wands. "Really," drawled Draco, looking not all at perturbed. "Must you put me at wandpoint every time you see me?"

"What are you up to, Malfoy?" Harry demanded, jabbing his wand into his chest.

"Whoa whoa whoa, easy there. Careful with that thing, you could put someone's eye out with that." He made a great show of brushing himself off. "You know, you two disappoint me deeply. Am I so villainous?"

"Actually, yes." Weasley leant in, which was rather disconcerting, as he was taller than Draco by a good bit.

"I'm wounded," he pronounced, clutching his chest in mock-agony

"Cut out the theatrics and tell us what you have up your stinky sleeve."

"It's about Granger." Watching as the two faces before him hardened into identical expressions of accusation, he smothered an inappropriate chuckle and continued," Look, put your wands down and I'll tell you."

"Not even bloody likely," snarled BWL (that was his personal abbreviation for the Boy-Who-Lived).

Heaving a long-suffering sigh, he reached into his robes and withdrew his wand. "Here."

Both hesitated for a moment before Potter took the length of rowan, tucking it into his belt.

Draco held his robes open, showing them the lining. "See? I'm unarmed now, and you are. Since I'm not about to hex you in the next few minutes, can you kindly lower your wands now?"

"How do we know if we can trust you?" Weasley inquired.

He rolled his eyes. "If I wanted to harm you, I wouldn't have wasted my time talking to you, would I?"

Slowly, very slowly, the pair of wands came down, and he let out a breath he had not realised he had been holding. Motioning them into the niche, he explained, "Can't have anyone see me talking to two Gryffindors, or my reputation will be completely ruined." And I'll never hear the end of it from my father, he added silently.

Ron snorted while Harry exhaled noisily. "Get to the point, Malfoy."

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"D'you reckon he's having us on?" Ron asked Harry as they resumed their walk down the corridor to fetch Hermione for breakfast, as was their routine.

He shrugged. "I dunno, but he did give us his wand and all that, mind you. I wouldn't have gone to so much trouble for a prank if I were him."

"True." They fell into contemplative silence as they waited at the portrait for Hermione to appear. "Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see, then?"

"Better than that, I've an idea." Gesturing him closer, Harry outlined the details of his plan.

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Hermione stifled a yelp of pain as Harry's elbow nudged her forearm during lunch. "Hasn't anyone told you it's bad manners to have your elbows on the table?" she chided him,

"Sorry, Hermione. Did I hurt you?" The contriteness in his face softened her rising temper.

"No harm done," she replied, flashing him a wan smile. The bruise he had hit was new and rather tender, despite the accelerated healing she was supposed to have as the Slayer, and it had hurt, but he did not have to know that. Rubbing the spot, she returned to her steak and potatoes, missing the meaningful look her two friends were exchanging.

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Ron sighed for about the millionth time, wincing at the tingling that had began in his too-ling-inactive legs. He had been sitting cross-legged on the cold stone floor at the bottom of the tower that held the Head Boy and Girl's quarters for the past hour under Harry's Invisibility Cloak, waiting for Hermione to leave so that he could follow.

Idly inspecting his nails, he let his mind drift back to the conversation he had with Harry.

"Well, what'd you think?" he asked as they left Divination (completely useless class, if you ask him, but it was easy to pass).

"I don't think Malfoy was pulling our leg. She is bruised. And you're right, she does move differently, almost—almost..." Harry trailed off, trying to find an appropriate adjective. "Graceful...like...a cat." He frowned. "Is it something we didn't notice, like fourth year, or is it something that just happened?"

"I would have noticed." He felt his ears grow hot when Harry raised his brows at him. "I mean, if it was there all along, we'd have realised, wouldn't we?"

Harry scratched his head thoughtfully. "Yeah," he said slowly. "So it has to be recent..." He stared off into the distance, muttering to himself. Ron let him be, knowing he was thinking hard. At last, he snapped his fingers. "I've got it! We follow her."

"Uh, mate? I don't think she'd be too happy."

"Not like that." Harry shot him a half-exasperated, half-amused look. "Malfoy said she leaves the tower nightly for her exercise routine, or so she claims. It can't be just exercise, it doesn't change the way you carry yourself. It has to be something else."

"Great idea!" Then his face fell as he remembered the amount of homework they had been assigned for various subjects. "What about the Transfiguration essay due tomorrow, and all the other stuff?

"I'll take care of that," said Harry hastily. "You're on duty tonight."

Here, he pulled a face. He was fairly sure he wasn't that bad at his subjects...at least not after Hermione's tutoring.

A quiet click pierced the silence and sent him scrambling to his feet with a muttered oath. Measured footfalls could be heard, moments before his friend came into sight.

Climbing out of the portrait, she paused for a moment, looking down the seemingly empty corridor with a frown. Shrugging to herself, she strode along the passage, the flickering light of the torches reflecting slightly off the coppery colour of her hair.

The change in her was more apparent than ever, perhaps due to the absence of the usual book-laden knapsack on her shoulder and yet more books on her arm. She didn't simply walk, she glided.

He was strongly reminded of a panther as he watched her, sleek, elegant and lethal.

He blinked at that. Where had that come from, he wondered. Hermione was no femme fatale, at least, not the last time he checked.

While he was thinking, the subject of his musings was moving further and further away, almost out of sight. Cursing his lapse of attention, he started walking as quickly as he dared, his long legs eating up the distance easily.

Slowing when he was about fifty paces behind Hermione, he trailed in her wake as she made her way down flights of stairs and more corridors.

A sudden draught rushed in through the pane-less windows set high in the walls, and he managed to clutch the Cloak in time to keep it flying off him completely.

He looked up from adjusting it in time to see her reach the end of the corridor. Instead of turning left, down to the castle doors and the grounds beyond, she went right, taking a course which led down into the bowels of the castle.

Surely...not the dungeons?

His fears came true as she descended the short flight of steps into the dungeons. Stopping before the Potions classroom door, she opened it a crack and slipped inside noiselessly.

Spinning on his heel, he hurried back to Gryffindor Tower, his mouth a grim line. There was a great deal he had to discuss with Harry.

In case anyone was wondering why I made Draco's wand rowan, here's a description of its properties from www(dot)geocities(dot)com/amberladyhawke/mp(dot)html, whichI think is apt for my interpretation of Draco as a character: ROWAN

Best gathering from January 21 - February 17: The Green Dragon, Duck. Insight and Blessing the Planet Uranus (flame), The Fire Festival of Brigantia Brigid and Brigantia: The Rowan tree was believed to be magical tree which grew red berries that were the food of the Gods. These berries were so sacred that it was believed that the Gods guarded them jealously and kept them from man. The Druids believed that the Creator, Celi who was an invisible god, manifested in nature including the restless elements such as lightning, which was also associated with Dragons. Dragons are associated with new life and thus this period of time is also associated with the coming of new life out of the dark winter.

See the 'coming of new life out of the dark winter' part? I see it as a symbol of him turning to the Light.

Acknowledgements:

Shu Min: Thanks! Dunno when Hermione's gonna get her first vampire, I'm just following the flow of the story as I go. But I promise to include it as soon as I can, though :)

ourlittlesecret7: Woohoo, a new reviewer! Thanks for reading!

DracoKrazee: Nope, I definitely am not in grange middle school. Thanks for reading!

DramaQueen48: Thanks for reading! I haven't received your story, though...