Disclaimer: All characters but Naomi belong to J.K.Rowling (quite sadly), not me.

slytherin-kittycat: I say, thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you've liked it so far. The prologue was my personal favourite too. I think keeping characters in hand is very important to tighten the plot and not let it spill too much. Update your fic - I'll be reading it soon!

There was a nagging urge to rush out of the library to find Harry and Ron and blurt out the whole horrid truth to them – that Draco Malfoy made use of a stupid, silly reason to get the Gryffindors a totally senseless month's ban from the Quidditch pitch. Tell them what made Naomi Whittington so furious and irk them enough to send them running after Malfoy along the corridors and hexing him repeatedly. After all, Harry's Defence Against the Dark Arts was quite excellent – though Draco himself could have enough skill in Dark Magic to defend himself.

Hermione mentally slapped herself as she stood stock still in the middle of the library. (This time, silence reigned all right) What was she thinking? She would end up sending Harry and Ron straight to the Headmaster's Office for hexing fellow students along the corridor and even if Draco defended in Dark Magic, his offence would be smaller because he didn't provoke the fight (not directly) and Snape would defend his student's appeal for the ban and basically, because he was a Malfoy.

But something was nagging in Hermione's mind. It wasn't really all these reasons; underneath it all, she knew that for some obscure reason, she didn't want to tell on Malfoy.

"You know what," whispered Ron, during Transfiguration lesson whereby Professor McGonagall had asked them to Contort a squarish acryllic piece into a beautiful piece of artwork. "Naomi isn't telling us what got our Quidditch team into this mess. But I bet a hundred Galleons it's that ferret face's good work."

"But a month's ban!" Harry was livid when he had heard the news, and his anger had not diminished since. He tried in vain to melt his acryllic piece so that it would be bendable. "The school's gone insane!"

"Oh for heaven's sake, focus on your acryllic Harry!" Hermione was annoyed they never got off the topic of the ban, for which she felt sorry about, but didn't want to delve into it any further for fear the boys would do something to Draco Malfoy if they knew the whole truth. She tapped her acryllic piece with her wand gently – and POOF! – the bluish transparent square piece began to liquefy a bit before arching itself into a lovely flower shape. Harry and Ron stared at her "artwork", flabbergasted.

"Hermione Granger, you're a…"

"Miss Granger, that was lovely," said Professor McGonagall, looking approvingly at Hermione's blue acryllic flower. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Five to the next person who does it as smoothly as Miss Granger, or even better."

That sparked a heavy murmur in the class as everyone tried in vain to copy Hermione. The Hufflepuffs present were not as quick as Hermione, but finally Susan Bones got down to making her acryllic look somewhat like a curly strip. Since nobody else in the class could succesfully contort their acryllic piece at all, Professor McGonagall sighed and gave Hufflepuff the five points. That certainly, however, could not rival the skill of Hermione Granger. In fact, only one other student could do it as neatly as Hermione, thought Professor McGonagall as she strided up to the front of the class. With no surprise, Draco Malfoy had calmly changed his green acryllic square piece into a Christmas tree-like ornament before showing off by changing it again into a coiled snake with a proudly arched head. Now Hermione sat at her desk, absent-mindedly changing hers into a cube, then a pyramid, then tapping it again to revert it to its original shape. Professor McGonagall cocked her eyebrow at that, before continuing with the next spell.

"Honestly," Ron muttered, as they came out of the classroom when the bell rang shrilly. "I don't think I'll be able to pass Transfiguration NEWTs if I can't even tap a stupid square and tell it to change into a triangle!"

"You don't talk to the piece, you cast magic on it," retorted Hermione, rolling her eyes. Then she nearly stopped in her tracks, for Draco Malfoy had exited from the adjacent classroom down the corridor and was walking smugly towards them, his eyes gleaming with suppressed mockery. "So Potter and the Weasel can't seem to Transfigure their squares, it seems. How…shocking." He emphasised greatly on the last word, smirking as he did. Hermione eyed him with great distaste, but he calmly ignored it.

"You think you're so great huh? Getting us Gryffindors into trouble with goodness-knows-what tactic and making us lose our practice for Quidditch eh?" Ron was turning his usual purple, but Hermione bit her lip as soon as he said that, for Draco Malfoy's focus suddenly switched towards the bushy-haired girl, who was looking everywhere but at his eyes. "You didn't tell them?"

Hermione felt herself grow hot, as Harry and Ron looked rather bewilderedly at each other before throwing that same expression to Hermione. "What?"

"Ask your good friend," replied Draco, looking rather queerly at Hermione, though he couldn't suppress a smirk. "She knows it all. You'll hate to know the truth because it's just so stupid, but good enough to do you Gryffindors in. Tell them, tell them what I've done, Mudblood."

Hermione felt her eyes smart as she raised her head to Draco Malfoy, rage burning in her heart. She had been kind enough not to spill the beans on him, and yet he was egging her on to be humiliated in front of her own friends. That she was hiding the truth from them just to be kind for once to a Slytherin. And the Slytherin heir, to be exact. Malfoy lost the smirk on his face as he blinked twice at Hermione before walking past her, leaving her to be surrounded immediately by Harry and Ron, who were bombarding her with questions she didn't know how to answer. Suddenly, Hermione didn't want to talk to them at all, and she just burst through the duo and ran all the way to the Gryffindor commonroom.

Draco Malfoy turned his head to watch her run away from the astonished Harry and Ron. Somehow there was an unknown queasiness in him as he saw how she avoided her friends, not telling them the truth he had so proudly announced to her. He didn't listen to the annoying chatter of Goyle and Crabbe, merely walking on to the Slytherin common room, turning his thoughts from a Gryffindor mudblood to the voices in his dream that were somewhat haunting and yet revealing…