"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron said, lazily swish-and-flicking at nothing in particular. Harry didn't seem to notice that his mug of pumpkin juice was levitating until it was nearly above his arm span.

"Watch where you point that thing," Harry protested in mock anger, grabbing his beverage before it was out of reach. He took a long gulp and set it back down on the table. The two boys hadn't realized that in their distraction over the floating mug, Hermione had quietly slinked downstairs to join them in the armchairs by the Common Room fireplace.

"Hey, Hermione," Ron said. She merely nodded, smiled a bit, and sat down into the third armchair. "What's on your mind?"

"What can you tell me about… that Malfoy? In our Potions class?"

Harry and Ron immediately shared a look. "Draco Malfoy. His father used to be one of You-Know-Who's biggest followers. Then he somehow lost favor with You-Know-Who and his family disappeared for a while. Nobody knew where they were. I was almost surprised to see him at Hogwarts, although they probably feel safer now that You-Know-Who's gone into hiding," Harry explained.

Ron looked at him funny. "How do you know all this?"

"I overheard mum and dad talk about it a while ago," Harry shrugged.

"Lucky," Ron muttered. "My mum and dad don't talk about anything interesting. Not with seven kids in the house."

"So he's… a sympathizer of You-Know-Who?" Hermione asked, unable to repress a shudder.

"Hard to say," Harry said. "From what I gathered, his family's laying low, ready to hide in case You-Know-Who comes back."

Hermione fell silent. She somehow felt a bond with Draco Malfoy, even though she was sure she'd never met him before in her life. But having any part of her connected to dark magic was terrifying, especially since she hadn't even known she was a witch for very long. This was all very confusing. She stood up and bid the two boys goodnight, then retreated to her dormitory to think.

"That was odd," Ron said as soon as the door to the dormitories had shut.

"Tell me about it. Why did she want to know?" Harry mused aloud.

"You know what it reminds me of," Ron said. "Remember that time when we were, like, eight? And Dumbledore called that super late-night meeting, and it was about that girl?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah," Harry said. "Wasn't that also the night Fred and George switched out your toothpaste with jellied rat spleen?"

"That was vile," Ron chortled before the two of them fell back into silence. Ron had no idea why that memory had suddenly resurfaced.

Crack! Crack! The sound of two people Apparating.

A redheaded man carrying a little girl into a spare room.

Two boys watching with bemused interest.

The girl's head lolled slightly sideways…

Harry's eyes met Ron's.

"Don't tell me…"

"That girl was…"

"Hermione?" The two of them asked in unison before both of their heads slowly turned to look at the door to the girls' dormitories, where Harmony Malfoy had just been less than a minute ago.

A/n: Oh shock and disbelief! Wanna know more? Review, dear readers, review! :O