I am the lemming that ran the other way,

Not towards the deep blue sea,

But stretching towards the sun,

On the high desert plain.

I do not know if I will pay.

But it's a small price to be free,

As surely your golden smiles beckon,

I am bedazzled, no matter what I may feign.

Draco smiled at the small poem, knowing that Granger would not manage to figure this one out without a lot more clues than he was likely to give. For now, at least. Folding it carefully, he emerged from the silver sheets on his bed, looking at Blaise who was tossing a snitch between his hands. "You're going to have to tell her, you know." Draco Malfoy said sternly.

Blaise let out a loud sigh, "Why me?"

"Because you know what will happen if you don't." Draco Malfoy said, the thin traces of a smile buried beneath a stern frown.

"You can't get someone else to do it?" Blaise said in exasperation.

"You she might listen to. Besides, who else is there? Greg? Vince? I'm not sure I'd listen to them." Draco said with asperity.

"You do have a point there," Blaise said, pondering what to do with a thoughtful hmmm...

"You could do it now you know," Draco said pointedly.

"Where, oh where could she be?" Blaise said, his smug smile tracing just the minimal outline on his face.

"Why, where she always is, of course - at the top of the ivory tower." Draco said shortly.

"Smug in her knowledge that she knows more than us mortals, indeed." Blaise said, his cutting words biting like the north wind. Seeming to recognize that Draco wouldn't leave him alone until he had actually done what he had mostly agreed to, Blaise stood, and walked out the door whistling. To all observers, it would appear that he had decided to go for a jaunty walk.

Meanwhile, Harry Potter was in the Gryffindor Common Room, pacing beside a couch where Hermione was reading. "I can get through this," he muttered to himself, "It's just another bloody detention." He paced back and forth with a suppressed freneticness that Hermione thought was actually worse to be around than him on a broom, racing circles around her on top of the stands (as he had done one day last year).

"Harry Potter, what exactly is wrong?" Hermione Granger said sternly, having finally had enough of his impatience.

"Another bloody detention. I'm starting to wonder if there's going to be a week when I don't have one." Harry Potter said.

"Well, if you hadn't-" Hermione started primly

Harry barged in, saying, "Hermione - don't." He flung his arms around, and said, "I know I have to go, I just really, really don't want to." Harry paused for a moment, letting the unasked question rest in the air. "I want to fly. I want to be outside. I want to be doing anything other than being in the potions classroom cleaning cauldrons again."

Hermione looked up, and pursed her lips. "You could-" she said, suddenly shutting her book with a snap. "Barter, I think."

"Barter? With Snape?" Harry asked, perplexed. It didn't seem like such a thing would be doable, even if everything Malfoy had said was true.

"Yes. If you portray it as a proposal, he may take it better. Double the time, for collecting potions ingredients, say, rather than cleaning cauldrons."

Harry's eyes seemed to light up at the suggestion, "Because you know he doesn't really need the cauldrons cleaned..."

Hermione's brown eyes glinted a warning, as she said, "Be careful, I have the feeling that Professor Snape is a rather hard bargainer."

Harry, thrilled, gave her a warm hug, saying grandly, "Oh, it doesn't matter. I just don't want to be there one more day."

Hermione was actively surprised, as Harry flew down towards his detention. Then she had a strange thought - what would Professor Snape think, of Harry Potter arriving on time. The thought of the look on his stern face was enough to send her into peals of laughter.

[a/n: Anyone know what Draco and Blaise are planning? Sometimes Slytherins outthink themselves, but in this case, they're rather outthinking someone else...

Does Harry actually get to complete a bargain with Snape? Or is Snape just that much of a bastard to not bestir himself even when it would be for his own good?

Leave a review! Thursday it is!]