Many thanks to my wonderful Beta, They'll Call Me Hopeless!
The sun was harshly shining directly into Hermione's blurry eyes as she stirred from her slumber. A wretched feeling sat heavily in her stomach, making her frown as she slowly opened her eyes to the new day. Her body felt dreadful, a sickly feeling of depression loomed over her and as she sat up she was startled to find all her belongings in a complete disarray.
Hermione cocked her head in confusion, glancing up to inquire to her roommates what happened, but she was all alone in the dorm room. Pushing off her covers, Hermione stood from the bed, placing her hands on her hips as she gazed all around at the ruined state. It took her a full minute to remember what happened and she stumbled back down onto her bed, her face going from confused to petrified as she recalled.
Great panting breaths escaped her as she zig-zagged with single-minded purpose, dodging and ducking behind trees away from their curses. "Get her! Don't let that mudblood go free!" ...
Eager to quickly get out of the scary forest, Hermione broke out into a run for the tree line, very eager to just curl up into a ball underneath her Gryffindor comforter back in the dorms. In her haste, Hermione once again lost her footing on a tree root and roughly face planted into the dirt just at the tree line....
The next second, however, Hermione knew that something was up as the Pures all seemed to clench up, hissing breaths of air whistling through clenched teeth, long drawn out moans and groans all reaching her ears from where she was crouched completely frozen leaning against a tree....
At that point, everything happened pretty quickly as Hermione continued to watch this time with horror as the Pures that were once human before her were now all something else entirely.
They were monsters...
A tense moment followed in which it felt like, to Hermione, the entire world slipped away and it was just her completely vulnerable in the eyes of a predator as it took one ominous deep breath of air. Immediately, the instinctual fight or flight response tapped in Hermione and a second later, without a conscientious thought, Hermione was up and taking off through the trees.
Reaching up to her empty neck, Hermione choked out a sob, cursing her unlucky fate in life. Desperately, Hermione reached out for her wand on the bedside table beside her.
"Accio Locket!" she cried, begging to heaven that it would work.
"Urgh!" she screamed with frustrated tears ten minutes later when nothing happened, hazardously plopping down onto her bed and cradling her head in her hands.
The signal for the start of classes was the only thing that stopped Hermione from having a serious break down. She was extremely tempted to skip classes for the day and dare to go out to the forest and look for her locket there. She couldn't, no wouldn't, miss her classes though, her mother's words ringing in her ears and springing her into action.
"I have to admit Hermione," her mother spoke, her long fingers moving swiftly, but soothingly, through Hermione's hair as they laid on the couch watching telly. "I'm honestly surprised that you such a genius!" Hermione's brow furrowed even as her mouth formed a little smile.
"What do you mean?" she asked her mother, lifting her head from her mother's lap to gaze at her curiously. Her mum shifted a little, rubbing the back of her neck slightly with embarrassment.
"Well, I never told you this but...I was never any good in school when I was a kid...I almost didn't even finish college!" Her mother confessed making Hermione's eyes go wide as she quickly sat up.
"What?" she cried with surprised amusement as her mother gave an embarrassed shrug.
"I know, quite the rebel right? It was only because I wanted to help your grandparents with their pub since they were really hurting at the time... but then I met your dad!" she said, her gaze going far away with a wistful smile on her face.
"What happened?" Hermione asked, now completely engrossed as her mother returned to her.
"Love Hermione. I fell in love with your father and was so determined to do everything I could to be around him and that meant finishing college and then going to uni...I still can't believe sometimes how I even managed to do it. Your grandparents couldn't afford to send me to uni so I had to get all the expenses myself but since I had just been cruising before since I thought I would drop out I didn't have grades good enough for a scholarship..."
"So how did you do it mum?" Hermione asked as her mum smiled at her.
"I worked my arse off, that's how. I studied like never before to get into A-level classes and worked after college at different jobs but mostly the Pub. When I finally graduated I did well enough to get into uni with your father and from there I worked my but off in the classes we took together."
"But doesn't that mean that you just followed after dad? Didn't you want to do something else with your life besides being a dentist?" Hermione asked as her mother smiled and ruffled her unruly hair.
"Always the practical one," her mum said affectionately before she sighed. "You know, before I fell in love with your dad and I thought I would live the rest of my life at the pub, I dreamed of running away and becoming a professional piano player..."
"A piano player?" Hermione repeated incredulously.
"Yes, a piano player..." she said, tickling her sides and making them both giggle. "But truthfully nothing was more rewarding being inspired by my love for your dad and actually achieving something I never thought I would...an education." she replied sobering up Hermione.
"It's why this," her mum continued, reaching out to grasp Hermione's pendant, lovingly running a finger over the engraved words. "Amor Vincit Omnia is so important Hermione. If you love fully, without fear everything you do takes a new meaning, it can change lives...yours and anyone else whose touched by your love."
Hermione snapped out of her reverie as she finally scrambled into her classroom just in time. She quickly sat down next to Dean who saved her a spot at his table with Seamus Finnigan, a loud and rambunctious Irish boy.
"What took you so long?" Dean asked her curiously when she thumped down next to him, her heavy bag hitting the floor with a loud thwack.
"I over slept." Hermione responded nonchalantly as she pulled out her text books, purposely ignoring the disbelieving look Dean shot her.
"You don't over sleep, Hermione." he responded narrowing his eyes at her.
"Well I did today." she replied shortly without looking up from her text she was flipping through.
"Hermione, if this is about what those wenches did yesterday-" Dean started as Hermione sighed and finally turned to him.
"It's got nothing to do with those girls Dean! I over slept that's all." Hermione said in a that's final tone that raised Deans eyebrows.
"Alright fine, if you say so." he responded with a shrug.
"Yes, I say so." she mumbled turning to the front of the room as the Professor came in.
The hairs on the back of her neck started to stand on end as the lecture commenced. Glancing around Hermione tried to find the source before she stilled, startled to find Draco, Harry and Blaise all sitting in the row next to their table on Seamus's side.
Heart thudding wildly in her ears, Hermione swung her head back to the front of the class room with such speed, her neck cracked. She couldn't believe she had forgotten even for a moment that some of the Pures were in her class. In fact, she had at least one Pure in all of her classes. Hermione clenched her jaw even as her hands started to tremble.
Taking steeling breath Hermione glanced at the three again through her hair, assessing their appearance. Draco sat with one arm thrown over the back of his chair, the other tapping the desk lightly, his legs spread wide in front of him looking for all intent purposes like a lazy prince. His head was tilted back slightly, his blond locks falling perfectly around his face, and his grey eyes were staring dully at the skeletal of a small dragon that hung above them all in the DADA classroom. The irony didn't go pass her as she mused that this dragon above them was nowhere near as big as the one Draco transformed into last night.
Blaise, looking positively bored beside him, sat in a similarly arrogant manner; holding his head up with the tips of his fingers at his temple with one hand and other arm strewn out on top of the desk, his foot tapping the floor impatiently. Periodically, his tongue would sweep out and lick his plump lips and Hermione's mind couldn't help but flash to that enormous Basilisk, thinking of how it's long forked tongue would flick out to taste the air.
In comparison to his mates, Harry looked almost humble in his sitting stance. Leaning over his elbows on the desk, he sat slightly hunched, his eyes staring unseeingly in front of him; he was perfectly still without twitch of movement and the pensive look on his face was intensive even from a distance. She wondered what he was thinking about that made him so still...so consuming. It didn't even look like he was breathing.
A knock at the classroom door pulled Hermione along with everyone else in the classroom from their musings. Pausing his lecture, Hermione almost missed the small sigh that escaped her DADA Professor Lupin with the interruption. Curiously, Hermione saw the Professor shoot a quick glance at the notorious Pures and Hermione couldn't help but follow the look. The Pures shockingly were already standing up and it was only then that Hermione realized that none of them had even brought book bags. For some reason this sparked a slit bit of anger in her for the obvious dismal of learning as if it was beyond them to write notes in class or crack open a book.
"Come in." Professor Lupin called to the door, as the three Pures weaved their way towards the doors, the eyes of everyone watching reverently as they passed.
The door opened and there stood Professor, no, Coach, Black, as he makes everyone call him, smirking leaning on the door frame. Irritation immediately sparked in Hermione at the sight of him. Although he was only a flying instructor to the first years, Hermione just couldn't stand his unprofessional-ism in regards to the way he held himself around the students. He was always cracking inappropriate jokes and flirty with the seventh years girls, of course nothing to foul but enough to have a fan group dropping at his feet because of course he was bloody gorgeous. He also always hung around the Pures; the favoritism he held for the beautiful crew blatant during Quidditch matches and in the Great Hall for meals. She hated that damn cocky grin he always carried too, maybe because it was the same grin he wore when he forcibly made her ride on a broom with him in front of the entire classroom in her first year, sufficiently scarring her for life.
"Moony," Profe-Coach Black greeted with a nod of his head as the Pures came up to him with considerably less passivity on their face, definitely even with-dare she say it- fondness.
Professor Lupin gave a long-suffering sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose at Coach Black's strange endearment that he's been calling him since long before Hermione got to Hogwarts.
"Honestly," Professor Lupin said shaking his head as Coach Black's smirk deepened, even the Pures cracked slight smiles. "at least call me Professor Moony if you insist on that blasted name...anyway, go on and get already, your disrupting my class." Professor Lupin ordered making Coach Black pout dramatically (Hermione could just hear the hearts of her female classmates throbbing) before he flashed a smirk.
"Alrighty Moony. I'll be seeing you later." he said with a purposefully smoldering look that had everyone including Professor Lupin blushing a little. The defense against the dark arts professor slammed the door in his face so fast, Hermione didn't even see him move his wand. The barking laugh of his comrade sounded even through the thick door as the Professor cleared his throat and called for attention.
"Right, sorry for that. You all know by know that Black suffers from that pestering case of a bad sense of humor so we won't waste another minute on what he just said. Now, where was it that I left off..."
Hermione rolled her eyes at the snickering Seamus on Dean's opposite side and raised her hand to remind Professor Lupin where they were at. After that the class went by smoothly and time flew quickly in her other classes. It soon came to her attention that her fear of having to see the Pures was unfounded since they had all seemed to disappear from classes. By lunch time the rest of the students were all gossiping about how all the Pures were pulled out of classes and wondered where they had all gone to since it was so rare for them to all leave at once. Hermione didn't care though, so long as they were far away from her.
What she did care about, what she just could not get out of her head about the Pures was what she had seen last night. If it wasn't for her lost necklace than Hermione would spend the time after classes scouring the library for any answers. Instead though, when the classes ended, Hermione trekked back to the location of her most recent nightmares, the forbidden forest. She would be happy to never step a toe in the wretched forest again after yesterday but unfortunately her locket was most likely hanging off a tree branch some where and she would be damned if she wouldn't check each one to find it. She could only hope that she wouldn't be found out for coming back here, or worse, that the Pures weren't lurking somewhere waiting to change into those creatures again.
Little did Hermione know that all the Pures were in fact there with her with the addition of four more figures. They all watched from a distance moving silently and swiftly with the grace and agility unnatural to humans.
Severus Snape watched the know-it-all bookworm with the keenest eyes, the necklace the girl was searching so desperately for dangling in his fingertips. He knew like all the Professor in Hogwarts that the girl was a genius. Her ability to retain even the most minute detail from the texts was impressive even to him even if she lacked the originality and creativity to think outside of the box, or rather, the texts. However, other than her brains, Hermione Granger registered very little to most and was an outcast.
Strangely, it was this fact that would save her.
Behind him, Pansy let out a cruel snort when the object of their observations tripped and fell quite spectacularly into the dirt making Severus turn and fix her with a glare. Scowling Pansy shut her mouth but the quiet was once again interrupted by a frustrated sigh from Draco.
"What?" the boy asked roughly at the look his Professor threw at him. "I'm bloody tired of this already! How much longer are we going to watch this mudblood? We already know that it was her since the moment she stepped a foot in here looking for that pathetic bit of jewelry. I don't get why we haven't just obliviated the girl and called it a day by now. It's completely ridicul-"
"Enough," Severus interrupted, his cold voice slicing through Draco's complaining. "Voldemort has ordered that we watch the girl for a couple of days to see if she will talk and if she does then we can obliviate her."
"And if she doesn't?" Harry asked curiously, not tearing his gaze away from the stumbling hazardous girl and the determined expression on her face.
Severus didn't respond for a minute as he watched her too. His look was discernible to the others around him, even the other adults, Tonks, Remus and Sirius.
"If she doesn't talk or behave any differently then Voldemort ordered that we make her take an unbreakable vow of secrecy; we're done with her after that." he said waiting. He was not disappoint when a heart beat later the outburst came.
"You've got be kidding, right?"
"What do you mean 'we're done with her after that'?"
"How are we just going to let her carry on knowing our secret?"
"But she's a mudblood! An annoying know-it-all one at that!"
"No body but close family members even know what we are, how are we all the sudden gonna let that girl run around with this kind of knowledge?"
"Enough!" Severus bellowed for a second time in his rarely used loud voice, "If it's what Voldemort wants then who are we to question it? His reasons for this are his own and I don't want to hear another word about it."
Sheepishly everyone stopped their pestering and turned back to evaluating the increasingly frustrated witch still frantically searching. Severus turned back to the girl as well and, certain that everyone was distracted, let an extremely rare smile grace his face for reasons only known to himself...and Albus Dumbledore.
Like a statue, Hermione stood in the fading light of the sun, eyes sweeping desperately at all the nature around her. Her time was unfortunately up, hours spent relentlessly looking for the only connection she had left to her deceased parents to come out empty handed.
It was just plain sad.
A tear trickled down her cheek but she made no move to swipe it away. She just felt so hollow, so tired and defeated. She wanted to cry and sob and beg for her mum back, to see her father one more time.
Hermione sucked in a shaky breath; those were dangerous thoughts...weak. Her mother taught her better than that and would probably smack the back of her head for her ungrateful attitude.
"What is with this weepy attitude? Don't you have your whole life ahead of you? Aren't you only, like, a genius and a witch to boot? You shouldn't be moping about the past when there's so much to look forward to in the future! You should be making plans to rule the world! No really kid, I'm being serious. If you keep on looking back than you can never move ahead. If you feel miserable and stuck then just realize that it's your own fault! Only you can say, you know what, enough of this shit! and focus on what's really important...not wasting the life you've got. Don't let yourself be your own worst enemy, got it?"
Taking a deep breath, Hermione closed her eyes and focused. A gentle breeze danced along her skin, wafting up her hair to tickle her face and just like that she was transported.
Standing in the lush green scenery of rolling hills and arces of tall dancing grains that was her own backyard, Hermione basked in the beauty of the home she created, her kids rolling down the hill, their playful laughter reaching her ears. Smiling at the sound, Hermione sighed contentedly when suddenly pale freckled arms, muscular and masculine wrapped around her waist. Her smile turned coy as she leaned back against the broad chest behind her, feeling her heart thump at the safe feeling of his embrace.
And it was in this beautiful moment that Hermione suddenly remembered the lost broken feeling of searching desperately for that last piece of her parents. Of being dirty and alone in a huge dark forest like a modern-day Sleeping Beauty.
Looking down at that same locket, Hermione smiled and ran a finger down the engraved words Amor Vincit Omnia, proud at how far she had come from that black place.
"Rose, love. Come here! I've got a gift for you!"
Opening her eyes, a wistful smile on her lips, Hermione sighed to herself and gave one more fleeting glance around her surroundings. With the light of day quickly fading Hermione marched back to the castle with not a trace of defeat in her. She would get her necklace back and once she did she wouldn't hurt herself anymore with silly self-deprecating thoughts. It would be an insult to the memories her mother and the lessons she had taught her.
Acting on her feelings, Hermione decided to momentarily forget the necklace and the Pures in favor of some research for her homework until dinner time. She even checked out a book to read while eating since she knew Dean wouldn't be sitting with her two nights in a row.
She chewed slowly as she read, tapping her wand to flip the page so as to not get greasy fingerprints on Madam Prince's precious books. Halfway through her meal, however, Hermione could feel a prickly sensation of being watched. At first she ignored the feeling, highly doubting that anyone would actually be staring at her the 'mudblood'. Yet that feeling persisted and unable to stand it any longer, Hermione raised her head and immediately sought out to see if it was Millicent staring at her as she plotted something cruel to do to her. Millicent however was not paying Hermione any mind as she stuffed her nasty face with food.
Confused and a little unnerved, Hermione continued to scan the hall subtly while she ate, only to find her peers eating and talking among each other, not a one looking at her. Maybe she was just becoming paranoid...she did have a rough week...
Shrugging it off, Hermione turned back to her text and scarfed down the rest of her food. The feeling of being watched persisted though, even as she walked away from the hall and in breakfast the next morning. Even in the classrooms and in the library as she did her homework. The only time she didn't feel eyes on her was when she was in Gryffindor tower or in the forbidden forest looking for her necklace.
She thought by the fifth day that she was perhaps going a little barmy but refused to let her tormentor, whomever it may be, know they were getting to her. She kept walking through the halls with a straight spine, an arrogant little tilt to her head with her books braced like a shield in her arms. She met everyone's eyes and continued to answer questions in class.
It was Dean who finally shed some light on the situation.
"Hey, why have the Pures been eyeing you in the great hall lately?"
Snapping her head up from her notes, Hermione gazed up at Dean's brown eyes with shock and disbelief.
"What?" she asked shrilly as he gave her a funny look.
"Don't tell me you haven't noticed! Their the Pures for gods sake Hermione! I know you like school work but really Hermione-" he started before she cut him off.
"But that's it, isn't it? Why in the world would I think the Pures of all people would eye me? I knew something was strange!" she said, her eyes falling to the table as her thoughts whirled around her head. "But what could that mean...unless," she gasped, her eyes going wide as they flew across the room to where Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were sitting.
Panic made her head spin as she gazed with revelation at the back of their shiny heads. Unless they know I was there! She finished in her mind, her heart thudding in her chest, her palms becoming sweaty.
"Er, Hermione?" Dean asked making her gaze back to him.
"Oh, sorry Dean I, er... I have no idea why they would be looking at me." she stuttered, her fingers digging into her book nervously. "Anyway, we should get back to work. I've still got to finish some Ancient Runes translations and start and my essay for potions and I still have no idea what I'm even going to write it on! I was thinking of doing it possibly on the draught of living death but I was wondering if that might be too challenging for me-"
"Merlin, that's quite a lot. I'll just let you get to it then." Dean interrupted before gazing back at his own paper.
Relieved that she drew his attention away, Hermione peeked a glance back at the Pures and literally feel her eyes popping when she saw Draco Malfoy smirking back at her. Immediately her eyes flashed back to that massive black dragon, its scales not even reflecting the light of the moon, those silver eyes with narrowed pupils so huge and consuming.
Trembling she quickly averted her eyes and let her hair fall into her face. She was practically panting with fear as the weight of his gaze settled on her. She knew that all the Pures had been listening to the conversation and the fact that they were watching out for her was quite unnerving.
She wondered just what they were watching out for? For her to slip up and spill their secret? For her to demand some sort of deal in exchange for silence? Of course she would do none of that; she wanted nothing more than to leave the whole fiasco in the past. It nibbled on her pride that they would even think she would stoop to those levels. Then again they did not know her, her sense of righteousness.
She supposed she would just up and confront them about it, set it straight right off the bat that she had no intentions to do anything with her new-found knowledge. She couldn't help but question, however, why the Pure's hadn't already came up to her about it. Maybe they had just figured it out that it was her? But no, she had felt the burn of their eyes on her for almost an entire week already. It was more than that. Either way though, she was going to confront them.
Steeling her nerves, Hermione raised her eyes again to them, meeting, not Draco's eyes as she expected, but Ronald Weasley's. She froze for a moment at the clear blueness of his eyes... like electric blue sparks and entirely too beautiful to look at for too long. So glancing down, Hermione collected a calming breath and then raised her eyes back up to his before tilting her head back towards the door. He gave one nod of understanding and that was all Hermione needed to spring up from her chair, shocking Dean.
"I'm going to the loo." she announced with more gusto than necessary, making Dean give her that look as if she was the oddest thing he'd ever seen again.
"Right, go along then." he said as Hermione bent down and collected her things "and you don't have to announce those kinds of things next time, okay?"
"Sure, sure." she responded with a wave before she headed out to the doors without a backward glance.
She nervously waited in an empty corridor by a strange tapestry of a fat man snoring with a tub of wine in his lax fingers. She habitually raised her hand to her empty neck as she paced fitfully back and forth. Her instincts told her that waiting to let the Pures know that she was not a devious sort of person who would take advantage of what she saw was the best course and yet, her mind begged her to run away, to think more about what she was going to say and plan out just how when and where they should talk about this.
She had no time to second guess herself because the next second the Pures were all heading her way. She gulped at their impressive forms, her mind automatically flashing back to their naked flesh in the light of the moon making her blush.
Clearing her throat she waited for them to step up to her, each and every single one of them at least a head taller than her, with Ron towering almost two above. Draco was smirking at her of course, his eyes unfriendly but at least not vicious like Pansy as she glowered down at her, her light eyes narrowed and arms crossed. Harry stared at her behind his glasses with green eyes still so brilliantly bright even behind the frames, his expression though was not of arrogant mockery but curiousness. It was Ron Weasley's face, though, that made her startled because she just didn't understand it. His head tilted down so his fringe slightly covered his eyes, he gazed at her with nothing but it wasn't a blankness directed at her but at something else...possibly just everything.
"So, little know-it-all mudblood. We meet at last." Draco said, bringing Hermione back from her musings. The usage of mudblood made her straighten her spine and narrow her eyes, her arms defensively crossed in front of her.
"And with that one sentence your proving to be just charming, Pure." she spat sarcastically as Draco raised his eyebrows, his face turning curiously impressed for a moment before going back to that smirk. She supposed it was because she not only could form sentences in his presence but seemed unaffected by the knowledge that he could turn into a dragon and rip her to shreds. Next to him Pansy hissed and made as if to step to her but Draco simply held an arm out to stop her movement.
"Be careful the way you speak to me, mudblood. It would do well for you to remember why we're even speaking." he warned, his eyes flicking over to Pansy who smiled unpleasantly with malicious promise at her. Squaring her shoulders, Hermione eyed them both and did not relinquish her glare.
"Stop it, that's enough Malfoy." Harry suddenly interrupted, his voice sounding tired as he stepped up in front of Hermione, locking onto her startled gaze. "You're missing something, aren't you Granger?" he asked making Hermione's eyes go wide and immediately fly to her bare neck. Harry smiled at her knowingly with sympathetic eyes.
"How did you-?" she started but a rustling sound drew her attention back to Ron as he pulled out her golden locket from under his shirt. She gasped at the sight of it, tears of relief springing to her eyes as she immediately stepped toward him. He hastily moved back away from her however, making her freeze with shock at his hasty almost panicked retreat but before she could even wonder about it, Draco stepped back up to her, his face smirking as he wiggled a finger at her.
"Ah ah ah. Not so fast little mudblood." he said condescendingly making Pansy laugh.
Anger flashed through her at his audacity and her immaturity and without care she easily brushed past him and stomped up to a shocked Weasley.
"How dare you! All of you, that is my necklace and I will have it back!" she shouted, whipping out her wand quickly and doing a fast Accio! The chain pulled dangerously around Weasley's neck but he quickly waved his own wand and said Finite! effectively making her necklace freeze and fall back onto his chest. She gaped at him for a minute as both Draco and Pansy laughed behind her. "Oh I can't believe this! Is that how you've blocked my spell! How rude! Just give me back my necklace already, it doesn't mean anything to you!" she hollered as Harry came up to her with a long-suffering sigh, running a hand through his messy jet black hair.
"I'm sorry Granger, but we can't do that just yet." he said making Hermione sputter.
"Can't do that just yet? It's my necklace and if you don't give it back to me I'll go to the Headmaster and tell him that you lot have stolen it!" she cried, her hands on her hips.
"I wouldn't do that mudblood since it would be a complete waste of time." Draco drawled behind her, making her turn sharply on her heel to face him, as he arrogantly inspected his nails.
"Excuse me?" she said sharply as he raised his eyes and smirked at her again.
"It would be pointless to go to Dumbledore since he wouldn't dare even raise a finger against us." he responded smugly as Hermione gaped at his beautiful annoying face.
"How dare you! Headmaster Dumbledore is a fair and gentle one and he would most certainly-" she started only to be interrupted by Parkinson's amused voice.
"No he wouldn't, mudblood. See, us, what did you call us again...oh right, Pures, we have an understanding with the old man. One he wouldn't likely break unless he wants the wrath of Voldemort-" she said taking slow steps with her long lean legs towards Hermione with a smirk on her painted lips.
"Enough Parkinson!" Harry yelled suddenly, his green eyes glaring harshly at Pany's as he butted into the conversation.
Feeling lost, Hermione could only glare at the lot of them as her thoughts whirled with the information that made no sense to her.
"What, don't yell at me Harry! It's not like she knows who we're talking about!" Pansy retorted hotly.
"Alright, alright! Just stop for a minute okay? This isn't what we're here to do." he said, turning back to her when he finished his sentence. "Look Granger, we have something that you want and you have knowledge we don't want you to have."
She eyed him in silence for a moment, debating on lying even when she knew it was useless. The need to deny burned in her though and she took a hard swallow to push it down.
"So what are you proposing?" she asked apprehensively as Harry flashed her a rare smile before turning very serious.
"A deal." he stated simply as Hermione huffed with impatience.
"What sort of deal? Be specific." she said making his lips curl upwards for a split second.
"You'll have to meet us back here after curfew to find out. Don't be late."