Chapter Nine- What's that Smell?

The day of their detention came quickly and Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked down to the dungeons. They walked into the musty classroom and saw the expected Snape. They also saw a very smug, very blonde jerk. Malfoy had come to watch.

Snape quickly set them quickly to reorganizing the student potions cupboard. He wanted everything resorted, re-labeled, and for them to create an inventory. Harry and Ron sighed but Hermione was grateful. This would be a cinch. Hermione was one of the most organized people at Hogwarts. She thought she may even enjoy this detention. Snape told them that if they finished early to come and speak with him. He also unnecessarily told them that they were to complete the task without magic.

Hermione walked over to the closet and opened its' doors. This is when Malfoy laughed out loud. Snape had taken all of the dry ingredients and mixed them together. The liquid had different labels. Snape smirked and then left the room telling the trio that he expected them to work hard and that if the time ran out then they were to work until it was finished.

Hermione looked at the top of the closet and grabbed a textbook. Inside she knew was a complete detailed description of all of the ingredients that they would find in the closet. Harry and Ron squatted down and began to sift through the mixed ingredients. They started to take them out and fill the empty boxes (where the dry ingredients one resided) with ingredients of their kind. The boxes had no labels or were too worn to read them so they put them where they saw fit. Hermione began searching through the book and making labels for the boxes Harry and Ron were filling using a roll of white tape Snape had sat on a desk near the closet and her quill.

After they had begun working Malfoy hovered over them making quiet snide comments when he saw fit.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione tried to ignore him and apologized after Malfoy "accidentally" tripped over Ron's shoe that had "appeared out of nowhere". This pissed Malfoy off and he rudely said, "Maybe you should buy shoes that can watch themselves then, huh, Weasel? Oh but wait, I forgot, you can't afford new shoes can you?"

After his remark Harry grabbed his nose and shouted, "Gross what's that smell? Oh disgusting, Malfoy, close your mouth!" Hermione sniggered and Malfoy turned to her and said, "Mudblood, close your legs!"

Ron jumped up and was about to shut Malfoys' mouth for him when Professor Snape walked in the door. "Problem?" he asked in a monotone voice. Malfoy exclaimed, "he was about to try and fight me, Professor. I was just watching their progress, or lack there of, and he jumped up." Malfoys' eyes had grown wide and he put on the charm for the man before him. He didn't need to however and he knew that. He knew that even if he told him what had really happened Snape would twist the situation in his favor. That was a given.

Snape issued out another detention set for the next Quidditch match and calmly said while staring at the wall across from him, "If you three keep this up I expect that you will miss the entire Quidditch season. What a pity Potter, being captain and all." He sniggered to himself before walking back out of the room. Harry told Ron to sit down and to ignore Malfoy. Ron obliged but was very unhappy about it.

Hermione sat on the floor and angrily continued sorting through the ingredients. She was trying to keep her cool and composure so that she didn't go crazy. She breathed deeply. Harry and Ron resumed the set task while whispering to each other about ways to kill Malfoy and get away with it. Ron laughed and Malfoy seized his opportunity.

"Not even you two can keep from whispering about the mudblood behind her back. I mean, I know it's great that her filthy, muggle mother virtually off-ed herself but I would figure that even you two would have the decency to wait until she left the room. You are her paramours or whatever, aren't you?" Hermione yelled at Ron and Harry who had lunged forward. After casting several charms at the two boys she finally was able to contain them. They were fuming. Where did Malfoy get off thinking that he could go around saying things like he was?

Hermione spoke to her friends in a soothing tone telling them that it didn't matter what he was saying and that Malfoy was just being a prick because he was compensating for the lack of something else. The boys calmed down and began to work again. They were about halfway done sorting everything and Hermione had already relabeled all of the liquid ingredients. She had also made the form for inventory and added all of the liquids. She needed to wait until Harry and Ron were finished before adding their ingredients. She peered into the book and began to try and identify a brown spongy item in front of her.

While concentrated on the task an owl flew into the classroom and deposited a letter in front of Hermione. Ron and Harry failed to notice with their heads bent down and their voices jabbering back and forth with one another. Hermione opened the letter and in Malfoys silky script it said, 'Just kill yourself. Why waste your time pretending everything is okay? This way is easier; no one would miss you anyways. What have you got to lose?' Hermione quickly hid the letter in her pocket and continued her work. She tried to ignore it.

A few hours later Hermione sighed and picked herself off of the dungeon room floor. Harry and Ron had already gotten up. They had finally finished and in the last hour or so Malfoy had gotten bored with antagonizing them and left the room. They walked up to Professor Snapes' desk where he had decided to perch and claimed they were finished. He dismissed them after reminding them of the next time they were to meet.

The trio left the room and walked to the Gryffindor tower with their heads dropped. They were exhausted and so they didn't talk. Once they arrived they bid each other a goodnight and left to their beds. Hermione opened her door and gasped at what she saw. Twelve owls were perched miscellaneously about her room. They all had letters tied to their legs. Hermione walked over to a tawny school owl and untied the parchment that was attached. He hooted and flew away. Hermione opened the paper and saw that someone had drawn a picture of her cutting her wrist. The letter was sat on the bed and Hermione quickly untied all of the other letters. One had a drawn cartoon of her mother telling her that if she killed herself they would be reunited. Another showed a drawing of Hermione hanging in a noose. Yet another depicted her stomach with the letters M-O-M sliced onto her skin.

Hermione was scared. How did anyone know about this? More specifically, how did Malfoy know about this? She was positive it was him and she was going to figure out what was going on.

She summoned all of the letters and sent them zooming into a desk drawer to keep for proof if need be. Hermione then summoned a fresh parchment and a quill. She scribbled a quick note to Malfoy telling him to meet her at the Room of Requirement. She knew he knew where it was. She also told him to 'need' a place to sit. Hermione left her room and walked to the owlery. It was nine o' clock but thankfully Heads and patrolling prefects had until eleven to be out of their dormitories. Hermione was thinking about how she was going to go about getting an answer out of Malfoy when she found herself at the entry to the owlery. She opened the door and walked in. Ron was petting Pig and encouraging the tiny owl to send off a letter. Hermione laughed as Pig flew out the window, letter weighing the little body down.

"Oh! Hey, Hermione," Ron stated looking around at his surroundings, his cheeks pink. Hermione returned the greeting and then told Ron that she was going to go talk to Malfoy about Head business and that if she wasn't back in an hour and a half to look for her. Ron sensed that Hermione wouldn't tell him what they were going to discuss so he didn't push the subject. Hermione bid him a goodbye and quickly tied her letter to a barn owl and watched it soar out the window towards the school doors. Hermione peered closer out of the window and saw that the owl, intelligent bird he was, flew into the doors after Filch, the caretaker, opened them to take a nightly stroll/hobble.

Hermione turned around and left the owlery and quickly made her way to the blank space that occupied a wall in the seventh floor corridor. She thought about needing a place to sit and paced the wall three times before a large, heavy door appeared. She quickly opened it and walked inside. Inside the room were couches, loveseats, and cushy chairs everywhere. Hermione picked a loveseat to sit upon near a fire that was roaring nearby. The fire was warm and before Hermione could stop herself she eased off into an uneasy sleep.

"I didn't come here to waste my time watching you sleep," an annoying voice stated interrupting her slumber. Hermiones' eyes peeked open and she pulled herself up from the awkward position her body had fallen into.

"Her mind quickly adjusted and she calmly retorted, "So how much time did you waste with all of those sick and morbid drawings you sent?" Malfoy smirked, which Hermione hadn't been expecting. "Mudblood, when are you finally going to understand something about me? I don't waste my time doing anything I don't want to do. I made Crabbe and Goyle do it, and believe me did they have fun." Hermione wasn't expecting him to confess so easily. "How do you know about everything," she asked tautly. "Do you really expect me to tell you everything?" He replied, looking genuinely happy at the shape her anger face contorted into. Hermione told him that she thought he was a horrible excuse for a human being. He also thought that this was amusing. Then he waved goodbye and simply stated, "You know Granger? You really should take my suggestions to heart. I mean after all it was, in essence, you who killed your mum. If you hadn't been so selfish about coming here then she wouldn't have had a reason to go loony like she did. Good job. Look what you have caused for your father, imagine how he feels knowing his own daughter was responsible for everything. I bet your conscience is feeling great right now, huh?" He replied with a sarcastic tone. Then he left the room to go and continue to wreak havoc.