Chapter beta:Dark Akuma Hunter

The day was almost over for Hermione as she headed towards dinner. She had passed the completed homework assignments to Harry and Ron during breakfast. They were sure to get all A's and possibly even an E. She really hoped that she hadn't made it too obvious that the boys hadn't written them. They had walked almost uncomfortably close in between classes, but completely disappeared during their breaks. Hermione had spent her breaks completing her day's worth of homework, knowing that the evening would be spent working on theirs.

Hermione wished she could say that what had happened in Hagrid's class earlier was unusual, but something was always amiss in Hagrid's lessons. She really did appreciate the practical side of any class, but really did wish there was more to the written half of this one. What was unusual about today's lesson was that Malfoy actually participated for once, and Harry and Ron never returned from searching. They should know they would never find a diricawl in each other's pants; maybe a dodo brain in their skull, but that would be it!

Once again she felt a set of eyes on her. She had felt them during the whole of lunch, and it seemed whoever was watching her was determined to continue during dinner. She had a suspicion that she knew exactly who it was, but whenever she looked over to the Slytherin table, her prime suspect was always conversing with Zabini. Their conversation was hard to read, it looked neither unpleasant nor friendly. Down their table a ways Parkinson watched the two Slytherins with a small glare.

The meal itself went by in a very uneventful fashion until it was time to go. Harry and Ron left quickly, as they have tended to do through this school year, giving her one last glance before they exited. She had yet to have a proper conversation with them since the incident. Everything felt so strange to her, what would she even say? They made it clear to her what they would do if she refused to do their homework, and she was convinced they were right about the teachers. Sure, being saved from you-know-who is a big thing, but at what cost?

She excused herself from the table, collecting her things so she could make her way to this secret library. She glanced at the map as she made her way through the halls. The words 'Esoteric ex Libris' were scrawled near the bottom in Malfoy's small and tidy handwriting. Hermione had looked up the password during her one of her breaks. The first part, esoteric, was another word for secret. The second half was a Latin phrase which meant literally "from the books". Put together it probably meant anywhere from "Secret from the books" to "From the book of secrets". Either way it was an interesting concept.

The map led her to the entrance of the dungeons, and followed the path towards the Potions classrooms. However, instead of continuing straight, the map led her left towards the lake and presumably the Slytherin Common rooms. She followed along the route indicated to her without running into anyone; they were all still finishing up their dinners. The hall continued on before her, but the map told her she had come to her destination. The part of the hall where she'd come to a stop had a tall book shelf on one side and an ornate mirror on the other. She turned to the books and began inspecting them.

She truly hoped this isn't what Malfoy regarded as a library. All the books were first year level texts or wizard fiction. Starting with those at eye level she scanned the titles, trying to figure out how the password was used to gain entrance. In all the other password guarded rooms she had been in there had always been some entity in which to give the password to, like the Gryffindors had the Fat Lady. None of the illustrations on the covers of the fiction gave any sign that they heard or understood her as she repeated the password over and over. Trying a different tactic she began arranging the tomes by their titles to try and spell out the password, but found she didn't have all the required letters. Hermione tried this again, only this time by authors, but gained the same results: nothing.

Frustrated Hermione turned to the mirror on the opposite side of the hallway. She looked tired, her hair sticking up a bit higher on one side, and there was a darkness around her brown eyes. That was the sad thing about mirrors on a day like this, they always told the truth, and one could not hide a secret from a mirror. The frame was brushed silver, with snakes and salmon swimming about it. The snakes were chasing after the salmon, and the salmon were evading the snakes with ease. That seemed very suitable as the salmon were a symbol for knowledge, among other things. The snakes, or serpents, could also symbolize many things, but she assumed that in this place it was alluding to Slytherin. The truth….knowledge…you could not hide a secret from a mirror…oh! This time when Hermione looked her reflection in the eye, her reflection smiled separately from her and asked, "Password please?"

"Esoteric ex Libris," Hermione replied with confidence, pleased that she had figured out the solution to another of Hogwarts' riddles. She had expected the mirror to swing open and lead her into this secret Slytherin library, but nothing happened. Puzzled, Hermione looked about to see if anything had changed. Turning back to the mirror she finally noticed something had changed! When she looked behind her, the book case was exactly as it was when she first saw it, however, when viewed from the mirror she saw that the book case had moved aside, leaving an opening to a short hallway behind it. She kept her eyes on the mirror as she walked backwards through the hole in the wall. Satisfied that she was completely in, she turned and reached for the door, only to hear laughter behind her in the main hall.

"You do know you didn't have to walk through backwards, don't you?" Malfoy's voice carried into the small hall, and he followed shortly after. As he came into view, smile still on his face, Hermione realized that this might be the first time that he had laughed at her without any trace of malice. She studied his face, seeing how his smile reached all the way to his grey eyes. Her observations were interrupted when he said, "Well, as much as you might want to stare at me all evening, we have some work to do." He walked past her, missing her blush, leading her into the lower library.

The lower library was not at all what she was expecting in many ways. Hermione thought they would walk into some grand cavern system, with book shelves carved into the rocky walls. She expected it to be cold and damp like the rest of the dungeons. This was not at all the case. While the lighting did share a tinge of green like the rest of the dungeons, it was much brighter in here. The ceiling was low with small round lights set into it. The room was longer than it was wide, with several rows of short book shelves running across the middle. She could see over top of them to the far end where there was a small sitting area in front of a fireplace. The floors were a light grey flagstone surrounded by a dark grey mortar, sporadically pierced with dark green stones. The walls of the room were lined with book shelves, periodically punctured with doors to the private study rooms.

A few steps away from the door there was a table with a book on it and a unit with many small drawers. Immediately to her right was a coat rack and to the left a small empty shelf with a sign that read in large print, "LEAVE ALL FOOD AND DRINK AT THE DOOR," and under that in smaller print it gave another message, "If you are muddy or wet, leave and return again when you are suitable to be in a library!"

"What an odd sign," Hermione commented.

"Salazar may not have respected all people, but books he more than respected; in fact, he prized books above many people." Malfoy said as he hung up his cloak and checked his shoes. Satisfied they were clean he continued into the room towards the study rooms on the right.

"What's that?" Hermione asked as he passed the table holding the book and drawers unit.

"That is the book register. It lists all the books in the main library; the book on the table is the request form. Once you find a book in the register you need, you simply write the information from the card, your name, and which study room you wish for it to be in and the books will be sent there. If all the study rooms are full you can ask for it to either be saved for you at the main library or sent to this reference desk. Is there any book you might need?" He said this all in a matter-of-fact manner, pausing by the reference desk and waiting for her response. Hermione almost said no when she remembered something.

"Yes, tomorrow they have Divination, and as I don't take that class anymore I need the text for it in order to complete the assignment." Wednesdays were the one day that her class schedule differed from most Gryffindors. She had decided to opt out of Divination, a class she considered a waste of time and resources, taking Arithmancy in its place. She stepped forward, eager to use the reference desk, only to be stopped by Malfoy's voice.

"Oh, you won't be needing to use the desk for that. All current class text books are kept on this first shelf for convenience. If a student were to forget their class text, they would have to leave the library and run to their dorm room then run back; that is a lot of unnecessary risk of exposing the lower library." He walked to the shelf and scanned the titles for a minute, pulling out a copy of Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky. "I believe they use this same text for all of the class years." Next he pulled out a copy of The Dream Oracle by Inigo Imago. "I am pretty sure they use this as well." With those in hand he passed five of the seven short rows of shelves in the middle of the room before entering the study room he had mentioned to her before.

She followed him into the small room. Once again, the light was brighter, only this time it didn't hold that green tinge. To the right of the door there was a sturdy wooden table with four chairs around it. To the left was a wall with a clock on it. On the far wall of the room there was, surprisingly, a window. Surrounded by light green drapery, the window showed an impossible view of the quidditch pitch. To the left of the window two winged back chairs were squashed into the corner. A love seat was crammed into the opposing corner. Unlike the sitting area in the main area of the lower library where the furnishings were covered with dark green leather, the furniture in here was upholstered in a light plush green fabric. There was even a matching green area rug coving the flagstone that had continued from the library. There was no fire in here, but the temperature of the study room felt the same as the room before it.

Malfoy walked to the table and took the far seat, from where he could see both the door and window. Not wanting to make things any more awkward than they were, Hermione chose the seat across from him, putting the door at her back. For the first minute or so she watched out the window. The sun had begun its slow decent, giving an amber color to the figures flying over the pitch as well as the room.

Deciding she had to know, Hermione finally asked, "How is this possible? There is no way for us to have this sort of view from underground!"

Malfoy chucked at her then responded. "Are you a witch or not? This window is charmed to mimic other windows of the castle. Without the charm you would actually be looking face to face with some of the creatures in the lake. Since I use this particular study room regularly I leave it on my favorite." A pang of sadness punctured her fascination. Are you a witch or not! Back in their first year Ron had said something very similar to her. Now she was hearing those words from Malfoy due to Ron's actions. "So, how are we going to split the work? Will I be taking one and you another? Or will we be doing this by class?" Malfoy's question brought her back to the task at hand.

"Well tomorrow they have Divination first thing, followed by Transfiguration. After lunch we have Herbology then-" Hermione began listing off their classes when Malfoy interrupted.

"Care of Magical Creatures with yours truly."

"Yes, and finally Astronomy in the evening." She ended. They paused for a moment to think about how to split the classes. "Well, since we share Care of Magical Creatures, we could split that one. No reason to write the same paper more than twice." Malfoy's eyes darkened a bit on that comment. His eyes were so intense she had to look away.

"I can take on the Divination work, seeing how I have taken more Divination classes than you. Would you mind taking the Herbology? I haven't had too much success with plants." He offered seeing her discomfort.

"Thank you, that would be great. All that leaves is Transfiguration and Astronomy. I have always had a knack for Transfiguration, which would leave you with Astronomy. Are you alright with that?" Hermione was hesitant at the end, not wanting to push too much work on him. She was still unsure why he was really helping her in the first place.

"That's fine with me. Well, I suppose we better get started" Malfoy reached for the books the same time she did, their hands froze in the air for a moment before Malfoy grabbed the pile, offering her the portion she needed. With a silent thanks they settled in to do Harry and Ron's assignments that were due tomorrow.

By the time Hermione was done with her part the sun had set outside and the stars were peeking out above the empty pitch. She started packing up when she felt a yawn coming on. Giving into the yawn she stretched for a moment then rubbed her eyes. If it wasn't for Malfoy she would still have many hours in front of her, not to mention the nightmare that Divination would have been to wade through. She looked up to see Malfoy was still working on something. The first thing she noticed was the small rectangular glasses that sat on his face. Since when does Malfoy wear glasses? Then again, since when does a Malfoy willingly help a mudblood? She continued to stare at him, thinking if she looked hard enough she might find the answers.

Without looking up Malfoy startled her by saying, "Granger, if you have a staring problem I suggest you let Madam Pomfrey take a look at your head." He sighed then took his glasses off with one hand and ran his other hand through his hair. It was loose, and looked soft, no longer plastered to his head like a yellow helmet. In fact, it was nice. Just nice, nothing more.

"You have glasses?" Hermione asked as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Yes, we found out that I was farsighted back in second year. I always had trouble with reading before, but my parents though I was just being lazy." He let the glasses rest on the table as he looked towards her. "It is only slight, but when I need to get a lot done I get a headache if I don't wear these."

"Then why don't you ever wear them in class?" Hermione couldn't think of any reason not to wear ones glasses if they were needed.

"And look like that dork Potter? No thanks." Oh, that is a real reasonable excuse! Hermione thought as she scoffed.

"Then how do you see to take your notes?" At this question Malfoy screwed up his eyes a bit, into his usual glare… "Wait, you mean this whole time everyone has thought that you are forever in a bad mood during class, but the truth is that you are too arrogant to wear your glasses! That's rich!"

"No, I'm rich, and I can do as I please. If I choose my looks over accurate notes, that is my prerogative. My marks really aren't affected by it really, I just come down here and study alone, catch up, and no one has to know." He spoke lightly at first, then looked her straight in the eye and lowered his tone a notch. "Am I right? No one has to know."

"Right, no one has to know. I still feel that this is entirely ridiculous, but sure. I'll keep both your library and failing eyesight a secret. Now what type of Muggle Studies homework do you have?" Hermione was keen to move on to a safer topic; lately she had been collecting more secrets than she would like. Like the fact that Malfoy looks cute with glasses…Gah! That thought never happened.

"Well first I am going to return these extra books, and maybe you will be done blushing by the time I get back." Malfoy left the small study room with a smirk on his face. Hermione stood; she needed to stretch and clear her mind is all. She walked over to the window to study it a little closer. When she closed her eyes she could hear the swish of water moving. This was almost instantly calming. However when she opened her eyes she saw wind blowing through the trees near the quidditch pitch, and her mind told her that the sound she was hearing was that wind. She continued to stare out the window, hoping her confusion could be blown away by the wind, as the leaves were blown from the trees. Before she knew it, Malfoy had returned. It hadn't taken Malfoy long to replace the books they were using with the ones he thought he might need for his own assignment. Turning away from the window, Hermione returned to her original seat, ready to repay Malfoy for helping her.

"Right now we are going over our muggle disguises, the part about convincing accessories. I must say, I am very confused. Professor Burbage tells us that the muggles wear charms on their wrists. How do they get them? Muggles don't know how to create a charm! They don't even know about magic! Then there is the strange part where muggles and their friends wear tags like dogs to show who they are friends with. Why can't they just say they are friends and be done with it? Muggles are so confusing." Hermione laughed, it was always strange hearing things that were so common to her described as if it were something from an alien space ship!

"Charm bracelets don't really have anything to do with charms! Well, they don't to muggles anyway. A long time ago they really believed that the charms on their bracelets really did do something to protect them, and that is most likely from some sort of wizard influence. Now they are just part of the current fashion trends." Draco was busy taking notes are she spoke, and he paused when she stopped, giving it a moment to sink in.

"So if it is just a fashion thing, why so many types of charms? I thought fashion was everybody trying to be the same…" He really does look cute with glasses on, and with that look he looks like a lost puppy. Hermione smiled and shook her head.

"Fashion is kind of hard to explain. Many people see it differently. The way I understand it is that everyone is trying to look unique and different, while at the same time trying to fit in and look the same. The charms on the bracelet could be there for a number of reasons. A charm could be there to mark an important event or person in their life, or just because it looks pretty."

He jotted down a few more notes before asking, "So it could be a person, like the friendship tags?" he looked at her with genuine curiosity.

"You mean friendship bracelets? Well I suppose a person could add one as a charm, but often a friendship bracelet is something separate that one friend gives to another to symbolize their friendship. It doesn't have to be a bracelet; it could be any matching form of jewelry. An old Central American tradition is that the friendship bracelet, or item, is not to be removed until it naturally falls off, to take it off before that would symbolize that the friendship had gone bad." Once again Malfoy took a moment to think about what she had said.

"So you just leave them on? For all the friends you have? You aren't wearing any bracelet; does that mean you don't have any muggle friends? Or are you allowed to take it off when they aren't around?" The last question felt like he was poking her in the heart, like literally poking the muscle that was her heart.

"No, you don't take it off just because they aren't there. If your feelings stay the same, then the symbol theoretically should stay as well. And no, I don't have any muggle friends." His face softened for a moment, and before he could ask she continued with, "I just don't fit in; I don't fit in either world I belong to. In the muggle world I am odd, only around during the summers and constantly trying to keep up with my summer homework. In the wizard world I'm an outsider from the muggle world, not fit for this place, a mudblood." Her voice got lower and lower as she spoke until the last became a whisper.

"Oh." That's all he said, but that one soft syllable was enough to raise her ire.

"Oh? Oh! Is that all you have to say is 'oh'?! Ever since I came to this place you were captain of the 'WE HATE YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE A FILTHY MUDBLOOD' team! And when I let you know how awful that has made me feel over these past years all you have to say for yourself is oh?! You really have no idea how your actions impact others! You have no idea what it's like on my side of the fence!" Her voice became louder and louder, her tone high and shrill, and at some point she had stood up.

"Granger, get a hold of yourself! We may be in a private study room, but we are still in a library! While the library doesn't have Madame Prince guarding its doors, this is the library has its own protections in place, and if you do not calm down immediately you will activate them!" This seemed to do the trick as she stopped yelling, but her eyes were still seething with an eerie level of what must be years of pent up rage. "I will not pretend to know how you feel, but you also have no idea what it is like in my shoes. You have the courage to at least be yourself, while I do not." They stood there in silence for a moment. When Hermione decided that he was not going to explain any further at this moment, she realized how awkward this silence was compared to all the previous moments they had earlier.

They had worked comfortably in silence for the past few hours; she wasn't constantly being interrupted by him to explain things or to give him an answer. Then when she was helping him he listened carefully, actually thinking about what she said, not just telling her to get to the point or to only say what was needed for the paper. She realized she didn't even know what his paper was about! Shame flooded through her almost instantly. Here he was for whatever reason trying to help her, and she goes off on him just because he mentioned friends!

"Malfoy, I'm sorry, I'm just, I'm so sorry…." Embarrassment piled up on top of her shame. There she was, the brave Gryffindor, crying for the second time that week in front of Draco Malfoy! He looked conflicted for a moment, then walked to her, steering her to the small sofa. She sat down with a plop, her hands covering her face. She sobbed noisily for a while when she felt a shift in the seat next to her. She took a minute to breathe and to try and calm herself before she looked to see Malfoy handing her a handkerchief. "Thank you," she mumbled as she tried to straighten herself up.

"Well, I have decided," Malfoy stated as if it were the answer to everything.

"Decided what?" Hermione replied, confused and still sniffling a bit.

"I have decided that neither bracelet belongs in my disguise portfolio. I thought they were strange, but when Professor Burbage talked about them in class before asking us to add an accessory to our portfolio, I assumed she meant for us to pick one of the two. But both of them sound girly." Hermione laughed, the image of Malfoy's muggle portfolio full of 'girly' muggle items was too much.

"Well you could wear the friendship bracelet," Hermione ventured. "They aren't exclusive to girls."

"And be stuck with a muggle teen accessory forever? No thanks. I need something that says 'I'm a man and I don't have time for you!' not, 'Look, I'm a hoppy and I want to be friends with everyone!' My portfolio is to get in and out of the muggle world without notice, not to stay and throw a party with them!" He sighed with exasperation, slumping back into the plush sofa.

"It's a called a hippy not a hoppy." Hermione pointed out, and then thought a moment. "Like you don't have time….what about a watch?" Hermione shifted so she could see his face better.

"A what?" he said while quirking an eyebrow.

"Not a what, but a watch! It's a time piece that you wear on your wrist." She pulled her sleeve back to show him her own watch. It was a gift from her mom last Christmas. The band was made of leather dyed hunter green. The face was analog surrounded by a silver band, and it was a wind up. How does mom remember facts like 'technology doesn't work in the wizard world' but not facts like 'my house colors are red and gold and our rivals are silver and green'? Still she wore it anyway; it was nice to have a piece of her mom with her while away in this strange world.

"Why would I need one? Wouldn't this work ok?" Malfoy reached for a gold chain that was connected to one of his belt loops. Tugging on it he pulled out a brilliant silver pocket watch that had a snake looping over itself to form an M.

"Well I suppose that would work in some instances, but in others it might attract unwanted attention. It isn't like you need to actually have one; this is only for your portfolio, right?" Hermione answered as he sighed and scratched his forehead.

"I suppose. Well, then we are done here for the night? I don't have Muggle studies again until Thursday, so I have another night to think about it." Since they had already packed up the assignments Hermione needed she headed to the door, only for Malfoy to stop her. "Wait; let me check to see who is out there before you go parading yourself about." She stood there awkwardly, tracing a small green stone with her toe. Malfoy returned moments later and announced, "It's empty in the main room, but hurry through in case someone is using one of the side rooms. And I wouldn't hang about the dungeon halls too long, hurry up!"

Hermione once again went to leave, but when she reached the door to the small room she turned and looked at this strange new glasses-wearing Malfoy. "Thank you, once again, thanks." He looked up at her as he was putting his own papers away.

"Don't mention it, really, don't." He went back to cramming his papers into his bag, and she turned to go through the door when she heard his voice follow her, "See you in Potions tomorrow." Hermione smiled as she made her way out of the dungeons and towards her own house. She wasn't really as alone as she previously thought. The circumstances that had brought her and Malfoy together were by far anything but pleasant, but maybe, just maybe things will turn out ok.

Authors note:

There are ms paint floor plans of the lower library and study room three on photobucket. Search for sneaky-teaky.