A Subtle Shift

All of the things that I want to say

Just aren't coming out right

I'm tripping on words you got my head spinning

I don't know where to go from here

'Cause it's you and me and all of the people

with nothing to do nothing to prove

and its you and me and all of the people and

I don't why I can't keep my eyes off you

(You and Me—Lifehouse)

Ginny finished the last line of her transfiguration essay and looked up at her brother and Harry sitting a few tables down. Luna had already completed her homework and was now working on the rune puzzle in the Quibbler. Hermione was sitting next to Ginny reading a book.

"So, when were you going to talk to us?" Ginny whispered to Hermione. Luna looked up at the two of them and set down her puzzle.

"Talk to you about what?" Hermione asked as she turned a page in the book.

"About you and Malfoy."

Hermione became very still for the briefest moment before she continued reading. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"I ran into Ron, literally, in the common room a few nights ago and let me tell you he was angrier than a nest of doxies. He was ranting about something going on between you and the Slytherin."

"He's overreacting. There's nothing going on there," Hermione said.

Luna leaned forward. "He said that Malfoy called you by your first name."

Hermione sighed. "It really wasn't a big deal," she protested. "Ask Harry. He was there."

"I did," Ginny said, "and something explodes in the common room every time Ron brings it up. I can't even tell you how many ink jars we've gone through."

"Are you trying to drive Harry insane?" Luna asked.

Hermione blinked at them. "Drive Harry insane? What on earth are you two on about?"

Ginny and Luna exchanged long looks before Ginny glanced quickly over at Harry then back to Hermione. "Hermione, you know that Harry and I broke up, right?"

"In a round about way, yes I heard about it," Hermione said vaguely.

"And you do know that I'm over him," she prodded further.

Hermione closed the book she was reading and massaged her forehead. "Ginny, what exactly is your point?"

Luna leaned forward. "Hermione…are you using Malfoy to make Harry jealous?"

"What!"

Harry looked over his shoulder at Hermione, Ginny and Luna huddled together in conversation. Hermione was wearing a purple cardigan and his favorite pair of low-cut denim jeans. God he loved those jeans.

"Would you stop undressing our best friend with your eyes?" Ron whispered. Harry whipped his head back around.

"I wasn't undressing her with my eyes," Harry whispered defensively.

"Riiiight," Ron said.

They fell back into silence, writing away at their homework. Harry finished on his first essay, rolled it and stuffed it into his bookbag. Looking back up, he noticed Ron gazing across the room at Luna.

"Now look who's undressing who," Harry jested.

Ron leaned forward and whispered to Harry, "Hey, you've had sex, right?"

Harry looked up at him from his paper. "I'm so not going to go down that road with you."

"Harry, I'm not asking what Hermione's like in the sack (Harry threw his quill down in frustration), I just want to know what it's like."

Harry ran his hands through his hair. "You want to know what it's like? It's a friendship killer, that's what it is. It fucks everything up and makes it more complicated so it's just as well that you stay away from it."

Ron stared at him then narrowed his eyes. "Do you regret sleeping with Hermione?"

Harry picked up his quill and resumed his homework. Did he regret sleeping with Hermione? That was a loaded question. He guessed the answer would have to be both yes and no. Yes, he hated the fact that they had crossed that line of friendship and they haven't been the same since and they never would be the same. And no, because well…frankly, it was pretty mindblowing sex with her and a part of him wouldn't mind a repeat. Oh God, what kind of horrible friend did that make him?

Ron continued. "'Cos it looked like you were enjoying it at the time."

"Ron!" Harry hissed. "Look, just drop it about me and Hermione okay and just get on with what you want to know?"

"Geez," Ron muttered. Touchy subject. "I just wanted to know…how you know when a girl is ready…you know."

"Wow," Harry said, putting his quill back down. "You and Luna, huh?"

"Yeah, our snog sessions are getting a bit heavy and," Ron lowered his voice some more. "Quite frankly, I'm leaving them a bit frustrated if you know what I mean." Harry tried to keep a blank look on his face to keep from incriminating himself.

"Well, uh, has she…mentioned anything along those lines?" he asked.

"No, not really," Ron whispered then quickly added, "but she hasn't said no either."

"Well, I guess you could try testing the waters, see how far you'll go and still be okay with it," Harry offered his best advice. Personally, he thought he was the wrong person to go about giving his best friend advice on this considering that when he and Hermione got together, it was more of a powder keg waiting to explode rather than a dreamy courtship.

"Yeah, I guess we should do that," Ron chewed on his lower lip. "But if you get to that point where she…you know, how do you know what to do?"

Harry shrugged. He wasn't even sure he knew what he was doing when he was with Hermione. He was just acting on instinct and adrenaline alone. "I guess it just comes naturally. You just know what to do."

Ron looked at him. "You just know," he repeated plainly.

"For crying out loud Ron. Humans have been having sex for about a million years, you'd think there was something in our DNA that came with instructions. It's just instinct, I guess."

"I guess," Ron said morosely. "But everyone knows I choke under pressure. Look at my Quidditch skills."

"Ron, you're Quidditch skills are just fine and I'm sure that goes with…everything else," Harry said patiently. "I'm sure you'll have Luna singing 'Weasley Is My King' from the bedroom in no time."

Ron grinned. "Thanks Harry."

The two of them went back to their homework but after awhile Ron looked up to see Harry looking over at Hermione for what had to be the hundredth time since they sat here.

It was in Potions class that Harry got a message to go to the Headmistress' office. Going up the spiral staircase and knocking on the wooden doors, he was surprised to see Mr. Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt in the room waiting for him.

"What is it?" he asked. "What's happened?"

"Harry," Mr. Weasley stepped forward. "Some disturbing information has come across my desk earlier this week. There was an incident where a diamond choker had nearly strangled a muggle jeweler in London. The man is fine but during the investigation he revealed that a Mr. and Mrs. Kensington sold him this piece of jewelry along with others, which I might add, were perfectly normal."

Kingsley spoke up at this time. "An investigation in our department revealed a Mr. Abraham and Winifred Kensington are the only registered wizards in Scotland but they have never owned such a piece of jewelry and have an alibi to their whereabouts the day this piece was sold to the muggle."

"An alias?" Harry asked, still unsure of why this concerned him.

"I did some research on the necklace," Mr. Weasley said, "and found that it belonged to the Black Family."

This caught Harry's attention. "Sirius'? But I thought we got rid of all the dangerous objects in the house." As soon as he said it, he knew it wasn't true. The locket went missing now this necklace. "Mundungus," he whispered.

"I thought so too," Kingsley said. "Until I looked at the muggle jeweler's security tape the day of the transaction."

Shacklebolt and Mr. Weasley shared an uneasy look then handed Harry an envelope. Harry took it and opened it, tipping its contents into his hand. Black and white photos of Hermione and Draco Malfoy together.

Harry looked up sharply at them. "Who else has seen these?" he asked.

"Just us two," Kingsley said. "Why?"

"Harry, is that really Miss Granger in that photograph?"

"Is she who you wanted to track, Harry?" Kingsley asked. "Did you know about this?"
Harry sighed. "She says she's trying to help him."

"And you believe her?"

"I have no reason not to. She's my best friend. It's Malfoy I don't trust."

"What is she helping Mr. Malfoy with?" Arthur asked.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"And you're hoping that she'll lead you to exactly what's going on?" Kingsley said.

Harry shifted. "Something Hermione said to me really sticks out in my mind. She said that she couldn't tell me what they were up to. She wouldn't willingly hide something like this from me. I know she wouldn't."

"And?" Mr. Weasley prodded further.

"And…how can you tell if someone is under a Fidelius or Unbreakable Vow?" he asked them.

Kingsley and Arthur looked at each other uneasily.

"Harry," Arthur said, "if Hermione is indeed Draco's Secret Keeper of some sort. This investigation will go around in circles until she willingly gives it up."

"And if she's not willing to do that. That must mean he has something big over her head, some sort of leverage that he's using against her," Kingsley added.

"Have you heard anything more on Dolohov?" Harry asked.

Kingsley shook his head, "He might have been involved in the Death Eater attack on the Leaky Cauldron but other than that. Nothing. The same goes for Malfoy Sr. However, we have gone through the list of guests that had checked in and out that day and only one is unaccounted for, a Miss Jane Austen?"

"That's a fake," Harry said. "That's the name of the author of those muggle books that Hermione…likes to read," he trailed off. "I'll see you guys later," he said and took off out of the office and down the stairs.

He opened his school trunk and pulled out the Marauder's Map and his invisibility cloak. Seeing that Malfoy was still in potions and would be for another fifteen minutes, he raced out of his room and down the hall to the dungeons where he vaguely remembered where the Slytherin common room was. He put on the invisibility cloak at this time as he got nearer to the portrait and he didn't have to wait too long before a student stepped out of there and he darted past them.

Assuming that these dorms were similar to Gryffindors, the seventh year boy's dorm would be on the top floor and would be on the staircase that didn't turn into a slide when you stepped on it. But luck was not with him when he saw several doors in front of him. He didn't have a lot of time but he was invisible so he began to open them one by one and found that some rooms had bunk beds, two or three singles and some of them had rooms with only one bed. A room of their own. Draco's would be one of these. And he knew which one it was when he opened the door and saw one filled with expensive robes, an obscene amount of beauty products that no guy should normally have and a dartboard with his own picture on it. Disturbing.

But, right away Harry began opening desk drawers and thumbing through their contents to see if he could find anything that the Ferret had on Hermione. He opened the drawers of his bureau (ew!) and used the tip of his wand to go through those items. He moved to the bookshelf and fanned through every book, then moved to under the bed which oddly enough was clean.

He heard the chime of the clock and took out the Map, seeing that his classmates and Malfoy were leaving the Potions classroom. Dissatisfied with finding nothing, he gave up the search and left the Slytherin dorm to rejoin everyone in the Great Hall. Once in the corridor, he stuffed the map in the pocket of his cloak and the invisibility cloak in his bookbag as he moved to blend in with the students coming out of the classrooms. But right away, there was a commotion in the hall as he saw Dean shove Blaise up against the wall.

"What's the big idea?" Dean was saying. "You could've seriously hurt someone in there!"

"It was just an accident," Blaise shot back. "Take a joke, you insolent little mudblood."

Dean made a move for Blaise again but was held back by Seamus. Ron stepped forward.

"Don't call him that! Fifteen points from Slytherin for using that word and another fifteen for your little stunt."

"Why you little…" Blaise hissed but Draco stepped in front.

"He said it was an accident. You can't take points for that Weasel!"

"I've got a badge here that says I can," Ron shot back.

"Oh, do you have a Weasley is a Loser badge, too?"

"No, it says Malfoy Sucks Cock," Ron replied.

Draco was furious and he quickly drew his wand and before Ron could defend himself, a jet of red light was headed for him only to be deflected to the ceiling by a jet of blue light. Harry always was a faster draw and he held his wand out as he marched toward the crowd.

"Oh, does Potty want to play?" Draco snarled. "Good, I've been waiting to have another go at you!"

Harry took off his bookbag and shrugged off his cloak, tossing it to the ground as Malfoy did the same, his cloak landing on top of his.

"Harry, NO!"

Hermione came bursting out of the crowd and ran for Harry, standing in front of him and turning to face Malfoy.

"Hermione, move out of the way," Harry said.