Once they headed back to the Room of Requirement, Draco and Hermione found Harry pacing irritably and muttering under his breath. Ron, however sat on a chair in the corner of the room, longing for some jelly slugs from Hermione's bag.
Hermione stepped inside the room, closing the door behind her and Draco, and revealing herself to the two of them. Harry stopped walking immediately, and just watched her for a few seconds. Finally, he embraced her fiercely. "Thank goodness you're alive..." he whispered into her hair.
"'Mione!" Ron exclaimed, bounding off the chair for a hug. "We've been waiting for so long-"
"Thirty minutes, Ron." Harry said crossly, and urgency creeping into his voice. "Have you seen anyone? Or better yet, has anyone seen you?"
Hermione noticed the sudden insistence, and she pulled away from the both of them. "What's happened?" she asked worriedly.
Draco, who had been leaning against a wall by the door, held back a comment. 'Obviously the Weasel's got himself caught...'
"We think Snape's seen us." Said Harry.
"What? How?!" Hermione shrieked. "Did he recognize you?"
"Er...I dunno. We could barely fit the Invisibility Cloak over the both of us, and Ron's foot was poking out a bit on our way back...Unfortunately, we ran into Snape in the middle of a corridor..." he paused. "We managed to turn 'round it by the time he'd pulled out his wand to investigate, but..."
"Harry!" she reproached. "Why didn't you cast the Disillusionment Charm over yourselves, if it didn't fit completely? No one noticed Draco and I!"
Draco took the opportunity to reappear from the shadows. "So it's Draco, now, isn't it?" he smirked triumphantly.
Hermione chose to ignore him, but Ron stared at him with a mixture of complacence and disgust.
Harry noticed it, and quickly steered the subject away from their supposed romantic endeavors. "Well, was it worth it then?"
"Worth what?" she asked in confusion.
He straightened his glasses atop his nose, and cleared his throat. "Worth going to the library. Did you find anything important?"
Hermione opened her mouth to explain, but Draco beat her to it.
"Actually, we didn't." he put in.
Harry's face fell, and Ron groaned. "Nothing? Nothing at all?"
Hermione glared at him, and he raised an eyebrow, daring her to prove his statement wrong.
"No." he replied smugly. "But I did remind Hermione of Ravenclaw's diadem."
"What's that?" Ron and Harry asked in unison.
Draco continued, pacing from between Ron and Hermione as he spoke. "It's one of Ravenclaw's lost treasures; a tiara I believe. Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter, Helena, stole it from her a while back in history. Haven't you heard of-"
"The Grey Lady!" Hermione shouted in realization. "That's who you have to talk to, Harry; Ravenclaw house's ghost. If she stole the diadem from her mother, she most have been the last possessor of it, and therefore allowed Tom Riddle to take it while he was still attending Hogwarts!"
Harry's eyes widened. "That's brilliant, Hermione!"
She blushed modestly. "It was mostly Draco's idea..."
Silence followed her words for a moment, almost deafening as Harry looked up at Draco, who avoided eye contact, and as Ron ran a hand through his gingery hair, a thoughtful expression on his face.
Finally, Harry spoke. "Well done, Draco." He extended a hand towards him, a genuine smile lighting up his bottle-green eyes.
Draco shook it, tentatively, and there was a look of mutual understanding growing between them as their hands met.
Hermione put a hand to her mouth, as though she were about to laugh, cry, smile, or all at once.
Ron coughed. "So where can we find the diadem-thingy?"
They let go, awkwardly, but Harry still held his gaze with Draco, as if he could see something...different. Through new eyes.
"We'll need to get into the Ravenclaw common room, if the Grey Lady's there." Said Hermione.
Draco cleared his throat. "They said..." he seemed almost mortified for remembering this bit of information. "They said that she's always lurking in the North Tower...the Bloody Baron goes up there to visit her sometimes..."
"Well, that's perfect!" Harry exclaimed. I doubt anyone'll be up there; there are still classes going on, I'm sure."
"Four Horcruxes down, three to go!" said Ron cheerily.
Hermione stared at him. Draco held back a laugh.
"Well...we destroyed Hufflepuff's cup, didn't we?"
Draco sniggered.
"Well...er...you sort of sounded like Thomas the Tank Engine, there..." said Harry, smirking slightly.
Ron and Draco both gave him a blank look. "What's that?" Ron asked in bewilderment.
"A muggle cartoon." Hermione said briskly, shooting Harry a look.
"Uncle Vernon would always cut it off before I could ever see the show to the end on television...damn those Dursleys..."
"What's a television?"
Author's Note- Hi! Did you like the story? Cool...enough of that, let's talk about some relevant issues. So, when I was writing the little television/exuberant Ron bit, I sort of discovered the old Thomas theme song...and then I put it on ListenOnRepeat...the repeat counter is now at 64...Don't laugh at me! That song is legit! My friend, who's 'missingvictorious' here on fanfiction, by the way, (If you like/loved the show Victorious, you should definitely check out her story, it's pretty amusing and I don't even watch it much.), well she told me that I was "sinking to a new low". :( Come on, guys, there's nothing wrong with listening to a theme song for Thomas the Tank Engine! Like, seriously, listen to the '80s version, it's ridiculously catchy. Or should I say...Riddikulusly catchy...Hehe...no? Oh...I thought that was funny...*coughs* Well, good night! Thank you for reviewing and reading and saying nice things...I would reply to all of your reviews, but I don't want to be too stalkerish. But, believe me, I do definitely read them, and take them to heart. Most of them make my day. So, yeah! Thanks for being wonderful readers. Bye!