Author's Note: Firstly, can I thank everyone who's reading this … whether it's the first time or, erm, the hundredth. It means so much to me to hear your comments. A few comments first:

Lulu Hendrix – Draco and Hermione rule, don't they?! I didn't believe in it once, but some fic (I wish I could remember which one) changed me around! Thanks for your sweet comment. It means a lot!

Caitie – Hey! Welcome back! Missed talking to your Royal Craziness!

Kim – I do remember you! Uni's good fun, I'm enjoying it so much although, as you may have noticed, it doesn't give me a lot of time to work on other things, such as this fic for example.

Chelsea – I am going to work on the website very shortly. I know I haven't updated it ages but that's simply because I've had no time. I'm going to make time this term!

Sex & Diamonds – Are you sure you haven't read this story before? (That might make sense one day) But thanks for your comments.

Jenny – Hi! Haven't seen you around in a while! Hopefully it won't be tooooo long before I get this thing completely up here again!!

Anyway, on with the story …

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CHAPTER III

The following morning, Hermione awoke, and before even lifting her head, remembered what she had heard Malfoy and Pansy discussing the previous night. After getting dressed, she made her way towards the Gryffindor common room where she found Ron and Harry sitting on two comfy red armchairs in the corner.

Briefly noting that the two boys were up early, Hermione made her way towards them. They hadn't even noticed her arrival until she had said 'good morning' to them. Both boys had had their heads bent over a small piece of paper.

Looking more closely, Hermione saw that it was in fact a small card with the Slytherin emblem, a small green serpent, emblazoned in the bottom right corner. Malfoy! Hermione immediately thought. On the card, in an untidy scrawl, were the words: Weasley. Potions room. Ten o'clock tonight. The note had been left unsigned, but it was clear that both Ron and Harry were under the impression that it had been Malfoy who had sent it.

"When did you get this? Where did you find it?" Hermione temporarily forgot her news about Malfoy and Pansy, as a string of questions left her mouth. She quickly learnt that Ron had woken up feeling a slight amount of pressure on his face. Opening his eyes, he had found the card laying on his forehead. After hearing this, it took a while before Hermione uttered another word.

"Malfoy!" she exclaimed, looking at her friend's bewildered face.

"Hermione, we know it's Malfoy. But … he couldn't have come into the Gryffindor dormitories." Ron's face looked almost triumphant at the prospect of having proved his best friend wrong.

"Ron …." she began to explain, "Malfoy and I have been given the passwords and locations of all the common rooms. He could easily have told the Fat Lady that he was the Head Boy. He must have come in shortly after I heard him with Pansy."

She had forgotten that she hadn't yet told them about last night and tried hard to stifle a giggle; both were staring at her with confused expressions on their faces. She promptly explained what she had heard the previous night. When she had finished, she looked at each of her best friend's faces. Ron's face, whilst she had been talking, had portrayed expressions of both anger and fear.

"What do you think they're planning? Should I go tonight?" Ron asked, meekly, looking at his best friends for advice. Still discussing the options, the three seventh-years made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Hermione hadn't forgotten about her meeting with Malfoy and kept glancing in his direction whilst she ate her toast.

He, sitting at the end of the Slytherin table, kept looking up in the direction of the Gryffindors. Today, however, his gaze did not rest upon Hermione, choosing instead to focus on the red-headed figure of Ron. His stare, although going unnoticed by Ron, made Hermione feel uneasy. He was planning something, she thought, and it was not something pleasant.

Shortly after she finished her breakfast, Hermione saw Malfoy leave the Great Hall, giving her a meaningful look as he walked towards the Entrance Hall. Excusing herself, Hermione left Ron and Harry and hurriedly caught up with Malfoy.

Without even glancing at her, Malfoy began; "If you don't mind, I'll organise the Quidditch matched. Of course," he sneered at her, "you can try and help, but we both know I have more experience in this field."

Hermione felt as though she had been slapped across her face. So Malfoy though he was better than her? She'd show him.

"Okay, that's fine," she agreed, "I'll check it over when you've finished. I'll start on the Yule Ball preparations."

As she said this, she saw Malfoy's face fall. The Yule Ball had first been introduced to Hogwarts when they had been in their fourth year. It had been an official introduction to the Champions of the Triwizard Tournament. However, the students had had such a good time, that each year, they had continued to have a ball just before Hogwarts closed for Christmas. The name, The Yule Ball, had stuck, but the rule stating that it was only for fourth-years and above had been abolished.

Hermione smiled sweetly at Malfoy, as he stood shell-shocked. "Erm … okay," he tried to reason, "let's work on all the tasks together."

Having achieved what she wanted, Hermione nodded to agree. The two students spent the next couple of minutes discussing what each would do before they next met up, before departing to go to their first lessons of the year. So, Malfoy can act civilly when he wants to, Hermione thought as she walked away towards her Muggle Studies lesson.

Later, when they all had free periods, Hermione joined Ron and Harry again, in the Gryffindor common room. She almost collapsed onto the chair; she was worn out; she had spent the day both in lessons and directing younger pupils to wear they should be, and she hadn't even thought about her first Head Girl responsibility. She and Malfoy had agreed that he should make a draft plan of Quidditch matches and she would start with the initial planning for the Yule Ball.

Harry and Ron were still discussing Ron's meeting with Malfoy later that night. It seemed that it had been the topic of conversation between them all day; they had come up with many different ideas.

"Malfoy's going to challenge Ron to a duel or something," offered Harry, a little too enthusiastically for Ron's liking. Ron poked him in the ribs. "What?! Come on, he could make you drink a potion and turn you into something horrible." Harry smiled and looked at his friends. "Oh, come on, I was only joking! Malfoy wouldn't do that."

Hermione wasn't so sure, and neither, by the look of it, was Ron. His face, beneath his freckles, had gone very pale. It was obvious to Hermione that Ron was particularly nervous about their encounter tonight, but Harry hadn't seemed to notice this as he continued to joke about the possibilities until Hermione pointed out that it was nearly quarter-past-nine.

"Ron, take the Invisibility cloak," she advised, "and don't forget your wand." He gave her a funny look when she said this, to which she only shrugged. "Just wanted to remind you, and if you're at all unsure, at any time, just leave and come back."

With fifteen minutes to get to Snape's dungeon, where the trio had Potions, Ron slipped through the portrait hole. With the Invisibility cloak on, no one could see him, but he was extra careful as he tip-toed around a group of third-year Hufflepuffs who, it seemed, had just come back from a Divination lesson. They were discussing the alignment of Neptune and Pluto. Ron grinned; he and Harry had always enjoyed predicting their deaths each week.

Almost immediately, Ron's face dropped. He remembered where he was headed, and the uncertainty of the task that lay ahead struck him. He was meeting Malfoy, in Malfoy's own territory. Suddenly this didn't seem like a good idea. In almost no time at all, Ron found himself at the darkened entrance to Snape's dungeon. He lifted the Invisibility cloak from his shoulders and looking through the archway which served the purpose of a door, Ron saw that it was empty. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was five-past-ten, he was late.

Stepping into the classroom, Ron saw a small card placed on Snape's desk. The card was the same as he had found on his face, with the serpent in the corner. Once again, Malfoy's untidy scrawl defined a message. Weasley. Be ready. I'll get you. 30th September. Be waiting. This letter, too, had been left unsigned.

Ron almost laughed, he had been so nervous about what might happen that night, that he hadn't considered the prospect of Malfoy not showing. Grabbing the card, Ron lifted the cloak, placed it over his head, and walked back towards the Gryffindor common room.

He made it back to the common room, having had a very close encounter with Mrs Norris, the care-taker's cat. He was disappointed to find that both Harry and Hermione had left the common room to go to bed, he would have to tell them all about it in the morning.

Only when he was lying down did he remember what the note had said. What was Malfoy going to do on the last day of September, he thought nervously.

The next day, Ron woke to see two familiar faces looking at him. One belonged to Harry and the other, to his surprise, belonged to Hermione.

"What?" he started to say, "what are you doing here?"

Hermione didn't answer his question. "What happened last night?" Ron began to explain everything that happened the previous night; he told them about the empty classroom, the second card and the date set by Malfoy. After asking them where they had been when he returned, Hermione replied and Harry fell silent. "Oh, I went to bed, I thought you'd be a while," Hermione brushed off the question. Ron looked at Harry but it was evident that he wasn't going to get an answer. Harry had gone so red, that Ron thought he resembled a bright tomato.

He laughed and dropped the subject, much to Harry's relief. The trio continued to discuss the matter as they walked down towards the Great Hall for breakfast. It reminded Hermione of the previous day, but this time, however, Malfoy had returned to his usual self.

From the Slytherin table she could see Malfoy smirking and whispering to Crabbe and Goyle who sat one each side of him. They both, in turn, grinned evilly at something Malfoy had said before their eyes drifted towards the Gryffindor table. Shortly afterwards, Malfoy too, would look over at the Gryffindor table. Like yesterday, Hermione felt a shiver go down her spine, there stares were making her uncomfortable; there was something in Malfoy's eyes that made her think of all the things he could be plotting.

Harry and Ron, once again oblivious to Malfoy's comments, continued to discuss the latest Chudley Cannons Quidditch match. Hermione, however, kept watching him. When he looked directly at her, she would hold his gaze and challenge him to look away first. When he eventually allowed his gaze to drift away from her face, a small smile crossed her lips.

When they had finished breakfast; Hermione, Harry and Ron left the Great Hall and started to make their way back to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione hadn't realised that they were being followed until she heard Malfoy's cold voice from behind her.

"Granger, a word please." His words were informal and she shivered, unconsciously. Seeing Harry and Ron's confused looks, "Head Girl business," he added, sneering at them.

"It's alright, I'll meet you in the common room," Hermione let her friends walk ahead. She blushed as she recalled Malfoy's last words. The privilege of the title of Head Girl had begun to wear off; she was getting tired of having to escort first-years all over the castle, yet when Malfoy had said the two words an tremendous sense of pride came over her.

She noticed that Malfoy had noticed her reddening face and looked at her feet, wanting to avoid his eyes. She sensed his eyes searching her face, and this made her blush even more.

"What was that all about Granger?" Malfoy's stern face shocked her and she looked up at his face. "Couldn't keep your eyes off me at breakfast?" he continued.

She almost laughed at the idea. "You'd like to think so, would you?" she retorted. She watched as Malfoy's eyes narrowed as he tried to think of something he could throw back at her.

Deciding instead to change the subject, Malfoy told Hermione that he had finished the timetables for the Quidditch matches and told her she could pick it up from the Slytherin area anytime she chose. Telling him that she would meet him there at eight that evening, she turned to leave. As she walked away, she heard Malfoy say something that almost made her stop and retrace her steps.

"Tell Weasley that he had better be there on the 30th." He laughed loudly as she continued down the corridor that led to the Gryffindor area. She was going to have to think of a plan, Hermione told herself, and quickly.

Just before she muttered the password 'Twinkletoes', an idea came to her. Practically running into the common room she spotted Harry and Ron and instantly told them of her plan.

"We'll use Polyjuice Potion to transform ourselves into a Slytherin who is close to Malfoy and find out what he's planning for the 30th September." Excitement rose in her voice as she continued to tell them what she was thinking. Harry and Ron both nodded, it was the best plan that they had thought of, so far, and …, Harry thought, there was almost no way it could fail.