Title: Helping Her

Genre: Humor/Romance

Category: Full Story

Summary: No one ever thought Draco Malfoy would show compassion. But him being the cause of a major turn up at Hogwarts, he must show at least a spark of it for what he has to deal with.

Crys: Okay, I'm done with mourning. This story will be continuously updated with the schedule and I won't even worry if I get reviews or not. There. And if you review, that means a ton to me. I don't even deserve it, so thanks anyway for dropping a line. Hope you like this chapter and I'll try to be as humorous as possible. And I hope you took the title of that last chapter to mean something.

Chapter 15: Tag, You're It and She Disappeared!

Hermione woke up and looked around. Cauldrons were in placed except for in the last few rows, upon a desk she was laying. The classroom was silent. Slowly and stiffly, she wrinkled her nose at the distaste of unconsciousness gathering in her mouth. Hopping off of the desk that she was laid across, she briefly tried to figure out what had happened to her. She remember being dragged off and...that was it. She didn't feel hurt or look it, so she decided she was perfectly fine. Marching out of the dungeons, she ran into Ron and Pansy, who immediately rushed towards her.

"Everyone said you had run off and they couldn't find you!" Pansy exclaimed, kneeling down to the girl. Hermione grinned and gave her a hug. Pulling back, the dark-haired witch put on a stern face.

"Draco, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Blaise said you ran off to find the two of us and we didn't even cross paths with you! What were you doing in the dungeons?" Ron asked, as he and Pansy sought to find the others. Hermione shrugged, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Like it matters. I'm alive and well, aren't I?" Pansy gave Hermione an apprehensive look.

"What makes you say it like that, Hermione? Normally, you'd be overly concerned about what happened to you!" The Slytherin girl asked, as she turned the corner. Hermione crossed her arms.

"Would you have been asking me this if I ran off to Gryffindor Tower?" It was quiet. "Exactly." She sighed softly. "Look, Pansy, can we just find the others?" Pansy nodded and took Hermione's hand. Finally, arriving in the Heads Common Room, Ginny smiled.

"Hermione!" The redheaded girl ran over and hugged the smaller brunette, joyous. This sent a tidal wave of hugs, from Blaise as well as Draco and Harry. They grinned at her, before she sat down. Everyone was dressed in their school uniforms, Ginny and Pansy the only ones with it all the way on--skirt, white blouse, and shoes. The boys had extracted clothing from the shirt, vest, tie, and pants collection. Harry had his tie off, Ron's vest lay on one of the chairs, Blaise had taken his tie off as well, and Draco had removed the tie and the vest altogether. Hermione was still in her overalls, looking childishly adorable, with the pigtails to match.

"Are you all right, Hermione?" Harry asked, sitting next to the five year old. She looked up at him with a smile.

"Perfect." Hermione answered him, jumping up and down on the couch.

"So, what are we going to do?" Blaise asked, sitting on the floor across from Hermione, who seemed to be full of ideas out of the six of them.

"Let's play another game!' Hermione shouted, springing in her seat excitedly.

"What?" Ginny asked.

Everyone watched Hermione as she got up and skipped over to Draco, tapped him on the nose, skipped over to Ginny, tapped her shoulder, and ran over to Harry and tapped him on the leg. She then ran to the top of the staircase, dragging Pansy, Ron, and Blaise with her. Then, from up there, she exclaimed, "TAG, YOU'RE IT!" A frenzy bolted out. Ginny stood up, but looked utterly confused, Draco ran up the stairs headed straight for the group up there, Harry took the other staircase, Pansy screeched and ran into Hermione's room, and Blaise grinned and dodged Draco on the stairs.

Hermione herself darted between the two boys, ran downstairs, and hid under the couch that everyone had just been on, including herself. Blaise darted into the bathroom and made himself invisible by use of his wand, then cowered behind the shower curtains. Pansy disclosed herself in Hermione's closet, behind some of her older clothing from when she was seventeen. Draco barged into his room to scour it for hiders, only to step on Snuffles. Snuffles yowled loudly, scratching and kicking his way out by means of shredding Draco. So, Draco left the kitten to its peace in his room and looked around the Common Room.

Ginny, still a bit confused and not liking the seeking, walked into the bathroom.

"Who hides in a bathroom?" The redheaded sixth year asked herself, looking around. She misnoted a towel on the floor in front of the tub and slipped on it. She slid all the way over, falling forwards into the tub, onto an invisible Blaise. In shock, as the spell wore off of him, the boy had grabbed in haste for a steadying device, instead grabbing a tap and turning the shower water on. It was quite a compromising situation for Draco to walk in on. Ginny seemed to be steadying herself on Blaise's chest; his vest soaking water and turning a dark grey as the freezing cold water was pounding straight down on Blaise's head and grazing Ginny. Ginny's shirt was permanently see through, and Draco bursting in yelling, "Merlin's bloody marshmellowed crackers, get decent and cover yourself up, Weasley!" wasn't really helping too much. Ron, who had just decided to switch hiding places, entered the bathroom, screaming. Draco tapped Ron's shoulder and Ginny Blaise's in turn, both of them passing the buck, before Ginny soggily limped out of the water with a smile and kiss to Blaise and Draco ran from the room to find a place to hide.

Hermione shrieked loudly when Ron jumped on the couch and she scrambled out, causing Ron to exclaim a stream of curses and run up the balcony in order to find out who was under the couch. Grinning, he jumped clear off of the balcony and seized Hermione. "You're it, small fry!" He said enthusiastically, before the redheaded boy let her go, as she fell onto her bum. He ran off, before Hermione ran off after him. She followed him into her room, as he barreled into the closet. Hermione stood there. No, she hadn't cheated, but heck, she'd known that Pansy was in there. Seconds later, a scream, a slap, and a loud exclamatory which definitely belonged to Ron met her ears as the two clamored out.

"It was an accident!" Ron countered whatever had happened. Pansy scowled. This time, Harry ended up as witness.

"This idiot was feeling around the closet and it so happens that his large manhandling self landed on my boobs!" She exclaimed, crossing her arms over said cleavage.

"And she hit me for it!" Hermione laughed, before tapping Pansy.

"You are it." She said, as Harry tapped Ron and ran out with Hermione in tow.

Draco walked into the bathroom to find his housemate toweling off. "A little wet, Zabini." The blonde smirked and held out his arm so Blaise could step out. Blaise dried himself with his wand, took Draco's arm and then let it go.

"You're it, mate." He said, before running out of the bathroom, Draco letting out a stream of curses, because, "Goddamn this game, I just tagged somebody, slow bastards!" So, he set out to find his next victim. Storming into his room, careful not to step on Snuffles a second time, he checked his closet, before turning to leave. But, he briefly caught a glimpse of a sneakered foot pulling itself from under the bed. So, getting down on his knees and leaning over, Draco pulled up the sheet to see Hermione. The small girl took in a breath and then proceeded to scream loudly. Startled, he fell back, which gave the girl leverage to scramble from out underneath the bed and out of the room. He swore softly, running after her.

Hermione ducked in between the couches and chairs, running up the stairs and down the stairs, everywhere to get away from Draco, who was chasing her. She smiled as she ducked into her room and hid behind the curtains. With a snicker, she watched Draco looked around, before leaving. She grinned and came out from behind the curtain with a slightly mocking yawn.

--

Draco was looking in the bathroom, under the sink cabinet, when someone shrieked loudly from another room, which caused Draco to crash his head against the sink. Muttering, he rubbed his head and left the bathroom. Everyone was gathered in Hermione's room, where Pansy was found, on her knees, her head down. She looked up and tears were in her eyes.

"I--I was looking for someone and I found Hermione behind the c-curtain." Draco scoffed at missing her there. "So, I grabbed her to tell her she was it. She was r-right here in m-my hands and I grabbed her and t-then she d-d-disappeared! Into th-thin air!" Pansy began to cry. Awkwardly, Ron leant over and patted her back in consolation. Draco closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, while Ginny threw herself into Blaise's arms. Harry looked down to the carpet where Hermione had been standing. If only he had felt an inkling of despair for his friend...If only he could.

Chapter 15: Tag, You're It and She Disappeared!

Crys: Yeah, yeah, I know, humor. But, the next chapter you'll deal with the emotions going through the teens at Hermione's disappearance and the chapter after that deals with where Hermione was. Because, she does come back and wasn't in danger. Just trust me on it. Review!