Here's a new chapter. It's a bit shorter than the last one, but I hope you'll like it. Please tell me what you think. I always enjoy reading your reviews.

Thanks.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

"A detention!" Hermione thought as she walked infuriated to the Gryffindor Tower to retrieve Harry's Cloak. "Oh, they will pay. Bloody first years! What on earth were they doing outside their dorm at that hour? Were they not aware of the curfew? But of course they were… everybody is…" she puffed out exasperated and then she let the train of thoughts continue "Gryffindor courage. Now I understand Snape's…reservations towards my House." Hermione was angry at the boys for putting her in that position, but somehow it reminded her of the years she, Harry and Ron spent sneaking out of their dorm and even out of the castle. "But it's different," she thought "we were at war, we had to do it." She sighed. She didn't know what to do. "I should have let them there, let Snape catch them. At least that way they would have learnt their lesson. Or not. "

"Hermione!" Ginny shouted at her best friend. She looked lost in her thoughts.

Hermione stopped from her stride at that and turned her head to look at the redheaded girl who was looking at her puzzled. "What's wrong, Ginny?" she inquired.

The redhead looked even more confused at the other girl's question. "Well, you should tell me that… you're the one with the uncanny behavior after all."

"What do you mean, 'uncanny behavior'? I was just walking to your Tower." Hermione defended herself.

"Yes, and you looked murderous doing so… I thought you were going to Avada someone… " Ginny replied amused.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at the redheaded girl "Ha ha. Very funny, Ginny."

Ginny let out a giggle and then asked her: "So what happened? What put you in this… mood?"

Hermione sighed and then started walking again "Three Gryffindor first years… Last night I caught them after curfew …"

"And that made you so…homicidal?" Ginny asked with a chuckle and earned a scowl from the other girl.

"Oh, but that's nothing. It's a good thing I found them before Snape, but that got me into detention with him. If it wasn't for the three dunderheads…" Hermione went on revolted, but Ginny interrupted her.

"Oh, relax, Hermione. It's just a detention. You will probably have to scrub a dozen cauldrons done. It's over. Don't worry, everything will be fine." The redhead assured her.

"But Ginny, it's not only about the detention. It's not about me anymore. I am the Head Girl and I need to be a good example for the others. I can almost hear Snape going on again about my duties and about my irresponsibility…"

"Since when do you care what Snape says?" Ginny asked a little amused.

"Since always… And he is right. My behavior has been unacceptable." She said firm.

"Now that you mention it… what were you doing after curfew?" Ginny inquired with a knowing look and saw as the other girl quickened the pace and she stayed behind. She watched as the angry Gryffindor entered the Tower and then turned on her heels and walked back. It was time to start her plan.

Ginny almost ran to the Head Girl's and Boy's little Tower. She stood in front of the portrait for a second and then she whispered the password she heard from Hermione. The door opened just before she got the chance to step in and Malfoy exited the room but he stopped when he saw her standing there.

"Can I help you?" He asked her as he raised a brow in doubt and he continued"If you are looking for…" but was interrupted before he got to finish his sentence.

"No, I am not looking for Hermione. I was actually hoping to talk to you." She started in a low voice and that made him raise his brow again. She never wanted to talk to him before. It was odd.

Draco stepped back in, leading her inside as well. "I'm listening." He told her as he crossed his arms at his chest.

Ten minutes later, they heard the door outside and Ginny quickly rose to her feet from her place on the couch. Draco rose also from his chair and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Hermione can't know that I was here." Ginny told him quickly and Draco directed her to his room. He was just closing the door behind her when Hermione entered the common room suspicious.

"Are you alone?" she asked him with a frown.

"Yes" he replied with a sincere smile.

Hermione's expression changed at that, but she wasn't convinced. "I thought I heard someone talking."

Draco couldn't believe the situation he was in. He was protecting the Weasley girl from the Know-It-All and the situation somehow amused him. It was nice to know he was needed, that he was helping in some way so he continued with the charade, making a fool of himself "Well, when I am alone, I tend to… speak…" he told her and he managed to blush slightly, making it more believable.

Hermione raised her brow in doubt and she took a step closer to him. "You tend to… speak?"

"Yes." He replied curt.

Hermione sighed. It was clear that he was hiding something. Or someone. She grinned before replying: "I know that it's not allowed to bring… companions to our chambers, but I would not say anything if someone did so? We're grown ups after all…"

He snorted at the thought of the Weasley girl being his"companion". No. He had… other preferences. "Really, Granger, I just told you my deepest secret and you go on about companions?"

Hermione let out a chuckle at that. "Yeah, like I would believe you…"

"Well, it's only the truth" he grinned.

Hermione rolled her eyes amused and started walking to her room. "I'll leave you so that your… imaginary friends can come out. Have fun." She said and she entered the room.

Draco stood there as she entered her private space and then he returned to his own. Inside, he found the other girl standing in front of the door, arms crossed at her chest. She looked furious.

"Really? You talk when you're alone? Really? That's the best you could come up with?" she attacked him when he closed the door behind him.

"Relax, at least she doesn't know that you're here." He defended himself amused.

"For now…" she replied thoughtful.

"Well, she will figure it out anyway. She's anything but stupid and we all know it" he said as he walked past her and jumped on his bed. He reached for his book on the nightstand and started reading, supporting himself on the bed's wooden board.

"And how am I gonna get out without her noticing?" she whispered.

"You can't. She will notice anyway." He told her without looking away from his book.

Ginny exhaled frustrated. "Great. Now I'm stuck here, with you" she said, emphasizing the last word.

"I'm glad you are here too" he replied with an innocent smile.

Hermione closed the door behind her and put the Cloak on the small table next to the door. She was pleased with herself. She got Harry's Cloak back from the three trouble makers and she managed to castigate them by sending them off to Hagrid's. They would be feeding all the creatures by now. And not all of them were friendly and nice. Hagrid is a better choice than Snape when it comes to discipline, anyway. She sighed when she thought about Snape. She wasn't looking forward for his detention. She really wasn't in the mood for scrubbing and Merlin knows what else.

She was distracted from her thoughts when she heard Malfoy's door close. He also returned to his room, then. Hermione listened closely for any signs of noise and she thought she heard whispers. She thought who might be the mysterious companion. "He and Pansy are always together. Maybe she decided to pay him a visit." She thought. Her eyes darted to her working table across the room where the Map was. She took a step closer. And another. And a few steps later, she found herself at the table, holding the Map in her hand. "Merlin, what am I doing? It's not my concern." She whispered and she dropped the Map.

Half and hour later, Hermione was absorbed by a book professor McGonnagal recommended in Transfiguration when she heard Malfoy's door open. And close. And then the door to Hogwarts' corridors opened and closed. Five minutes later, the procedure repeated and Hermione returned to her reading. "Interesting" she thought.

"Monday!" Hermione thought as she rose from her bed the following morning, still half asleep. "As much as I like school and learning and everything, I really don't like Mondays!" She thought as she made her way to the bathroom. When she was ready for school, she got out of the room, expecting Malfoy to be there, waiting for her as always, but he wasn't there. She glanced at the watch. It was late already so she went and knocked at the door. When nobody answered at her third knock, she tried to open the door, but she discovered it was locked. "Strange" she thought and then she made her way to the Great Hall.

When she got there, her eyes darted to the Slytherin table and he was there. "Very strange indeed" she thought as she took her place next to Ginny and Neville.

"So, Hermione, you look much better than yesterday. Did you get your… revenge?" Ginny asked with a devilish grin.

Hermione chuckled at that and her eyes darted to where the three troublemakers were sitting. They looked pale and they weren't eating. "Yes, but I hope that it wasn't too much for them. They seem whitish." She told Ginny, concerned.

"Don't worry, Hermione, everything is ok, I'm sure." The other girl reassured her.

"I hope so" the Know-It-All replied and she looked away, her eyes setting on Neville, who looked slightly the same as the three boys and he wasn't eating either. "Neville? What's wrong?" she asked him worried.

His eyes turned to his untouched food on his plate at her question "Nothing, I'm just not hungry" he told her as he got up from his seat and left the room.

"What happened?" Hermione asked Ginny when he was out of sight.

Ginny sighed. "I heard that he and Luna broke up."

"What? But they are perfect for each other. What happened?"

"I don't know… But I hope he is ok." Ginny replied.

"I hope so too."

The classes passed in a whip and now Hermione found herself walking back to her dorm. She wanted to finish her essay in Charms for the following day before she had to go down in the dungeons for her detention with Snape. Five minutes later, she was standing outside the door to her quarters and she opened her mouth to say the password, but she stopped when she saw that the door was slightly opened. She got out her wand and walked in slowly, cautious for any signs of danger, but she wasn't prepared for what she saw. And heard.

"Surprise!" she heard twenty of her friends and fellow Gryffindors yell.

Hermione was left standing there, in front of all those people. She was counting the days in her head. "19! Merlin! I forgot my own birthday! How is that even possible?" she thought frustrated.

When Hermione didn't respond to their "Surprise", Ginny broke the silence with a chuckle. "You forgot, didn't you?"

"No…" Hermione replied as she blushed slightly and everyone started laughing, her included. "Thank you, guys, I really wasn't expecting this."

"Obviously." Ginny replied in a Snape-alike voice and everyone burst into laughing once again. When the laughter dissipated, everyone stepped in front of Hermione and wished her a "Happy Birthday".

When the wishes were over, Ginny charmed a pillow from the couch into a music player and the "party" was on. Everyone was having fun, but Hermione didn't know what to do. She wasn't a party person. She just wanted to hide in a corned and watch, but Ginny and Draco got to her before that happened.

"Merlin!" Hermione exclaimed as she suddenly realized: "You two. Ginny! It was you, yesterday. You were here."

Ginny let out a giggle. "You got me. I wanted to ask for Malfoy's help to make this happen."

"So she is your imaginary friend, huh?" Hermione asked Draco with a grin.

"It looks like it is." He replied and he handed her the butterbeer he was holding.

"Cheers!" Ginny raised her beer and the three of them drank together. A moment later, Neville joined them and then Luna did the same.

All of the afternoon passed and now only the five of them remained in the room. Hermione, Ginny and Luna were sitting on the couch and the boys were playing chess at the small table in front of them.

Ginny let out a drunken giggle. "I've had such a good time! We should do this more often."

"But a person is only born once." Luna said in her dreamy voice. She was the most sober of them.

The others laughed slowly at the blonde girl's remark and then Ginny replied again "True, but we can do this without celebrating someone's birthday."

"I think that's a good idea" Neville stated. He also had a good time and he enjoyed spending time with his friends. And Malfoy was turning out to be a good chess player.

"As long as we stay focused on our studies." Hermione's half asleep voice could be heard from the couch. "On another note, I think I had a little too much butterbeer." She complained as she started getting dizzy.

"You had three butterbeers. That's nothing." Ginny replied amused.

"You forgot the glass of firewhiskey you forced me to drink." Hermione accused as she raised her head from the back of the couch to look at the redhead, but she let it fall back when everything started spinning around her.

"Yeah, where did you get that from, anyway?" Neville asked curious.

"It's Malfoy's" Ginny told them with a chuckle.

"It's from my father's collection." Draco informed them. "He won't even notice it."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want him and Snape storming in and claiming it." Neville reacted.

"Relax. I told you, he won't even notice it, I told you. And besides, if he were to trace this back to me, he would just send professor Snape."

Hermione, who was almost asleep on the couch, woke up when she heard what they were talking about."Snape! Oh my God, I have detention with Snape!" she exclaimed as she rose to her feet, ignoring the dizziness and she stormed out of the room.

The others watched calmly as she exited the room. "I don't think professor Snape will like this." Luna voiced her thoughts.

"No, he won't." Neville said."We should have told her to stop." He continued concerned and then he chuckled. A moment later, the room was filled with laughter.

Hermione ran through the castle corridors and was about to turn right to enter the Potion's classroom corridor when she bumped into something hard and due to her speed, she was standing on the floor now, with her eyes closed, waiting for the pain of the fall to come, but when nothing happened, she opened her eyes and supported herself on her hands to rise her head. She couldn't believe what she saw. Beneath her, her Potions professor was cringing in pain. "No wonder he is in pain, you knocked him out on the hard floor, you idiot, and on top of that, you fell with him. On him. "She mustered herself.

"Professor? Are you all right? "She questioned concerned and she had to support her head with her hand to keep it from spinning. She hated herself for getting drunk.

"Well, you are the Know-It-All, so you tell me. Am I all right? Do I bloody look all right?" he raised his voice at her.

"I am so so sorry, professor, I didn't mean to…" she started but she was cut off by him.

"Yes, I'm sure that you didn't, but now can you please get off of me? It hurts without you standing on me."

"Of course, sorry, professor" she replied as she got up and she leaned on the wall next to her so that she won't fall again from the dizziness.

Snape stayed like that for a second before he also rose to his feet, feeling his back stiff. He stretched and the bones in his back could be heard. He sighed in relief when the pain disappeared and he focused on the girl in front of him. Even in the light of her lumos she looked pale. "Are you unwell, Miss Granger?" he asked in his low voice. "That would explain it since she didn't show up for her detention." He thought.

"N…no, Sir. I am sorry I injured you, but I was trying to get to your class for detention. I know I was late, but…" she excused herself, but she was interrupted by him.

"Late? Miss Granger, do you know, by any chance, what time is it?" He asked as he took a step closer to examine her more closely. He had a hunch, but that wasn't possible…

"Um… I really can't say, Sir." She told him as he took a step closer. She straightened herself on the wall.

"It is ten thirty, Miss Granger. So, care to tell me what got you so busy that made you miss your detention? And don't tell me it was a homework." He inquired as he took another step closer.

"It wasn't, professor. You see, it's my birthday and my friends came over and it looks like I lost track of time." She defended herself as she raised her eyes to watch him. He was standing right in front of her.

"You lost track of time… I wonder how is that possible." He said with a frown and he lowered his head to look directly into her eyes, his nose almost bumping into hers in that process. Then he felt it. He was right. "Maybe the alcohol had something to do with it?" he smirked triumphant.