Draco, Crabbe and Doyle were sitting at the edge of the Quidditch pitch, soaking up the last rays of the dying afternoon sun passing around a big bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.
"They all taste the same," complained Goyle.
"Yeah, purple," said Crabbe. "And its 'orrible."
"We should have got skittles instead, they're about half the price," sneered Draco sadly. "Oh well."
"Hey look boss, its that mudblood girl we all hate so much," said Goyle, pointing across the field in the direction of Hagrid's house.
Draco looked, and sure enough there she was. The rainbow he could have tasted had he bought skittles couldn't have compared to the one that now shone through the dense black cloud of his heart to warm the icy pastures of his soul. Oh! Hermoine!
To the trio's surprise, she ran straight up to them with her silly, head-bobby run ("she runs like one of Jim Henson's Muppets," Malfoy had once cruelly remarked to his yobbish pals) and stood before them, panting.
"What do you want, mudblood?" asked Goyle. "Is it some pure wizarding blood? Because you haven't got any!"
"Hur, hur," said Crabbe.
"Leave the joking to me, chaps," sneered Draco angrily. "What do you want, mudblood Hermoine?"
Hermoine drew breath to speak, then hesitated. Had Draco just used her name? The sun was in her eyes, but he didn't seem to look quite as mean as usual. She shook the thought from her mind – there were more pressing matters at hand.
"Harry and Ron have gone missing, don't you know," said Hermoine, "and no-one will help me find them. I want to go and look in the Forbidden Forest, but I'm scared because I'm a girl."
Draco's heart leapt at the idea of wandering off into the forest with Hermoine, but he couldn't admit it, not in front of Crabbe and Goyle. "And why would we want to help a mudblood like the likes of you?" he demanded.
"I don't know!" wailed Hermoine, and began to cry.
"All right, all right," said Draco. "Let's go then. You two can hang around here, keep a lookout for... for... well you know, for anything worthy of note. Come on, mudblood. And," he added for Crabbe and Goyle's benefit, "don't touch me or anything. I don't want mudblood on me."
"No fear!" said Hermoine as they walked towards the Forbidden Forest.
Crabbe and Goyle sat for a moment in stunned silence.
"Did the boss just go off with a filthy mudblood?" asked Crabbe.
"Feh," shrugged Goyle.