Hermione had to think about the problem in front of her. She pieced together what she knew and suspected.

There was a lot of strange behaviour coming from her friends and she knew they were hiding something from her. Work it out like you do with a difficult spell.

So far as I know there are four people in this secret. Harry, Ron, Ginny and Parvati. Harry seems to be the leader so I guess the secret is his.

What could it be though?

Maybe Harry's trying to hide a girlfriend who I wouldn't approve of…no that's silly…Ginny wouldn't be in on it then…she has as much cause as I do to resent that thought.

I can't think what else it could be then. Oh come on Hermione! You're the smartest one in the Golden Trio. Come on! If anybody can work this out, it's you.

Wait, there was that look between Malfoy and Harry. Maybe he's in on it as well. That's unlikely though…Harry loathes Draco with a passion.

How can I find out the truth? Interrogation might not be the prettiest way of getting the facts, but I can't come up with another one.

Unless…

An object is only as strong as it's weakest point. I find the weak point in the group and I crack the code. Who is the weakness? Who would know exactly how it began and what it is?

Not Harry, I can't crack him. He's too clever. I can't trick him into confessing.

But I can trick Ron! Harry tells him everything. He's in on this and he's stupid enough to confess willingly. I can't believe I didn't see it before. But how can I get him to confess? I know… play on his feelings. As long as he still has that crush on me I can work him.

She knew it was mean, but she hated to be out of the loop. Fred will know how to crack him. She needed to ask Fred's permission anyway so she got up from her seat in the library to find him. She needn't have bothered. As she got up from the table she saw him wander into the library with George in tow. She smiled when she saw him and they sauntered over to where she stood waving them over.

"I think I know how we can crack the group and find out this beastly secret." She said after Fred had taken her seat and sat her on his lap.

"How's that?" George asked.

"Go for the weakest point. The person who will crack the easiest."

"Parvati. She's a gossip queen. If you con her into spilling then we know what's going on." Fred guessed.

"Wrong. I'm going to crack Ron. He's stupid and he knows. And he has feelings for me, at least I think he still does. With your permission, Freddy, I can flirt with him and coax it out of him. He'll never see it coming."

Later.

"Damnit! He did see it coming!" she ranted to the twins that night in the library. Pacing furiously she wrung her hands and kept hitting the bookshelves in frustration that her plan had blown up in her face…and in front of the Gryffindor common room full of students too. Eventually Fred got tired of the pacing and protesting that she was making him dizzy attempted to stop her. She wouldn't, so the next time she went past him he grabbed her and sat her on his lap.

"How could it fail, though? He's one of the dumbest boys in the school! No offence to him and all, he is one of my best friends…but how could he know? I've missed something here. He foiled my plan but without help from Harry or Ginny. Wait…he stopped talking the second something in his pocket started jumping. Wait that's it! They have a code. One of them must have got wise on what was happening and sent him the signal."

"That must have been Ginny. I was watching Fred beat Harry at wizard chess and so was she. I kept my eye on her and she kept shooting looks at where you two were sitting. She fiddled with something in her pocket too."

"Anyway don't worry about them. You'll figure it out, I know you will. The three of us should be able to come up with something." Fred told Hermione soothingly kissing her lightly on the cheek.

Hermione smiled in a 'Yeah, sure.' kind of way and gathered up her bag and left the library. As she crossed the entrance hall on her way to the kitchens her bag split and the contents spilled out all over the hall. Cursing her bad luck she scrambled around gathering it all up. An arm held out her charms book and glancing up she saw Draco Malfoy on the other end of it.

The strange thing was that he wasn't throwing it at her and he wasn't mocking her. What's more he was smiling at her. And it wasn't the patented Malfoy smirk that she had expected. It was a nice friendly smile. Hermione felt her mouth drop open and her eyes widen in shock. What the hell was wrong with him?

"It's annoying when your bag just breaks like that, isn't it? I know how you feel. Mine always used to break. I could teach you a neat spell I know to prevent it from happening again. That is, if you want me to." He said looking down and holding a hand out to raise her to her feet.

She took it and stared at him as though he was from a different planet.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because I'm not as bad as you think I am. Look, I'm sorry that I was so mean to you for all those years, but I'm different now. Really. It was all because of my dad. He taught me from an early age to be mean to muggle-borns and Harry and I hit it off on the wrong foot. I'm decent really. Let's be friends, Hermione."

She hesitated, he was a Malfoy, after all. But he was being nice. Maybe it was a trap. Wait…he said Harry's name. That's odd.

"Well, okay then." She said resolutely.

His smile widened and he proceeded to teach her the spell. She realised that it would work on so many things that needed mending.

"Thanks Draco, that's a cool spell. I'll have to teach it to Mrs Weasley. With seven children she needs as much help as she can get."

"Seven? I knew they had lots of kids, but I didn't expect them to have that many. Poor Ginny. She's the only girl isn't she?"

"Yep, the youngest and only girl. No wonder she's so crazy."

"They all are, aren't they? The twins especially. I've never met the eldest two. I assume you have. I'm curious, what are they like?" he asked helping her to pile her books back into her bag.

"I have indeed. Bill, the eldest is cool. He's like a rock star and so sexy it's unbelievable. I envy Fleur."

"Why? Hang on, who?"

"Fleur Delacour, remember the Bauxbatons triwizard champion. They're getting married soon. Their children will be so good looking. The second son, Charlie, is a dragon breeder in Romania. He started the whole quidditch pressure on Ron. Next to Harry and his father, Charlie is the best seeker Gryffindor have ever had. Harry is a lot better than him and I know this from personal experience, I've seen them play against each other at the Burrow."

"What's the Burrow? I'm really interested now."

"Come on. Let's go get some cocoa from the kitchens. Dobby'll give us a nice warm seat by the fire and we can talk some more." Hermione led the way down the long corridors.

"I've never been down to the kitchens. How do you know about them?"

"I'll explain about SPEW some other time. Trust me, once I get started on the elf rights thing I won't stop."

"House Elves?"

"Hundreds of them. How else did you think this place gets cleaned and how do you think the food gets to the dinner tables? Oh, you might recognise one of them."

"Dobby? Yeah you said he was here."

"He's changed. A lot." Hermione stopped by the portrait of the bowl of fruit and noticed that Draco was watching her. She pointed out the pear and tickled it.

"Miss Hermione!" a voice squeaked and Dobby launched himself at her knees and hugged them tightly.

"It's great to see you too, Dobby." Hermione said winking at Draco, who chuckled.

Then Dobby caught sight of Draco and hid behind Hermione.

"Could you please bring us some hot chocolate, Dobby? And maybe some biscuits too?" Hermione said changing the subject rapidly.

She and Draco moved to where a sofa was placed in front of a roaring fire in a corner of the room. Draco gazed around, noting the four long tables placed beneath the house ones marked on the ceiling. All the house elves stared at them and bowed as they went past them.

"So, tell me more about the Weasley clan. What's the Burrow like?"

"I'm amazed the Burrow can stay standing. All the kids are slightly mad, as you probably have gathered from the twins, Ron and Ginny. There isn't a straight line in the house. I think only magic is holding it together."

Hermione went on to describe the Burrow in detail and Draco seemed touched by the quaint house and thought he could picture it. He went on to tell her about his home and the truth behind the real Lucius Malfoy. They exchanged handy spells and interesting spell book titles. They were getting on so well that they even started to gossip about people they knew.

"There's something wrong with everyone at the moment. It's like no one can trust anyone else and everyone has loads of secrets." Hermione confided.

"I know. Friends don't trust each other anymore. Do you trust your friends?"

"Well, yes."

"You don't sound very sure, Hermione."

"They're hiding something from me. I know they are. But every plan I make to try and find out what it is blows up in my face. Like earlier I tried to crack the weak spot in the circle, Ron, but he somehow knew what was going on and I found nothing out."

"Have you thought that maybe they're hiding it from you so that you won't get hurt? I've noticed this intrigue of yours and I guess they are trying to protect you."

"I don't need protecting! I can't concentrate on my school work because I'm fretting so much about what the secret is. I have no clue as to what it is and if I don't find out soon I don't know what I'll do." Hermione fumed wringing her hands in her lap.

"If everyone has a secret around here, then what's yours?" he said breaking the pause.

"Oh, no, I'm not telling you."

"At least I know you have one. Do Harry and Ron know about it? do they know what it is?"

"No, they don't. And they won't, unless Harry tells me what his is."

"Maybe there's more than one secret in play here. A few they're trying to hide. That would explain the system and the coins."

"What coins? I didn't mention coins." Hermione stared at him like there was something wrong with him.

"Gotta go!" Draco bolted for the door. Hermione was too quick for him and got there faster. She flattened herself against the door and blocked his exit.

"Tell me what you know." She panted dangerously.

"I don't know anything." He protested automatically.

"Yes you do, I know you do. Tell me, or so help me god, I will make your life a misery."

"What could you do to me?"

"I could give you a womb."

His eyes widened in fear. Anything but that!

"Okay, I'll tell you, just don't hate me, and promise you won't tell them I told you."