Author's Note: Since I began this story in 2005, before Half Blood Prince was published, you must excuse a few inaccuracies such as Snape still teaching potions in sixth year, as well as Harry, Ron, and Hermione still taking care of magical creatures.
Hermione intended to rush up to her dormitory the minute her last class was over, so burning was the desire to take out Malfoy and do to him some of the things she was dreaming of. However, she was getting behind in her work, and she was still Hermione enough to care about getting good marks. On top of that, having missed lunch she was getting quite hungry and there was no way she was going to miss dinner. Therefore, she resolved to head up to the common room after dinner.
There were enough people in the library that Hermione didn't have to worry about Snape ambushing her there. Even still, she checked the Marauder's Map every few minutes to make sure that Snape wasn't anywhere unusual.
A number of people entered and left Snape's dungeon, most of them Slytherins, probably talking to him about "see your head of house" kinds of problems or asking about their potions homework. Hermione noted that Pansy Parkinson paid Snape a visit, and Hermione wondered if Pansy was offering him more help in finding Draco. She didn't stay long—obviously Snape didn't need her to keep searching for Draco because Snape now knew who really had him.
Once dinner time had rolled around and Hermione felt she had made sufficient progress in her homework she got up and headed down to the dining hall. This would be the first time she and Sanpe would be in the same room after the encounter in the dungeon, but Hermione knew he would dare not confront her in front of so many people.
Hermione sat next to Harry and Ron as usual, though she barely listened to their conversation as she passed Draco little scraps of food under the table. Once again, they were talking about sneaking into Snape's office. Hermione didn't care very much about this until something caught her attention.
"…and Harry, we can use the Marauder's Map to see if Snape is in his dungeon." Ron said.
"That's a great idea!" Harry said. "I didn't think of that!"
Hermione turned around in her seat to face them: "Would you give it a rest with that?" She asked angrily. She was hoping that her annoyed tone would mask the worry that had just struck her—if Harry realized the map was missing, would he suspect one of his best friends?
"What's it to you, Hermione?" Ron retorted. "I'm sorry that I don't like being five foot five! Harry doesn't like it either."
"Pansy only got you with a few drops." Hermione said haughtily. "It should wear off tomorrow or the next day. It's not worth getting in trouble for stealing potion."
"Hang on," Ron said, an incredulous look coming to his face. "You actually like being taller than us, don't you?"
"No I don't," Hermione said, but even as she said it she felt a guilty grin coming to her face and her cheeks were reddening.
"Yeah, you do!" Ron growled. "Ever since we got splashed you've been strutting around, acting like you've got something over us."
"Oh, come on." Hermione almost laughed. "It's just a few inches. What are you worried about?"
Ron was about to retort but Harry jumped in. "Look," He said. "We'll wait one more day, okay Ron?" Hermione could tell Harry was trying his best to take a middle position. "If we're not our normal sizes when we wake up, then we'll try to take the antidote. All right?"
Ron looked irritated as he thought about it. "Fine." He said at last.
"And I think you should put it out of your mind for the rest of the day." Said Hermione. "There's no use sulking about it, and I've noticed you barely started on your Transfiguration essay."
Ron glowered at her but did not respond. A moment later he turned back to Harry and the two of them began talking once again, but not about shrinking potions and antidotes this time. Hermione knew that Ron was going to remain angry with her for the rest of the day, but just this once it didn't bother her, in fact it suited her fine. She didn't need Harry and Ron pestering her to check her essay tonight—she wanted to be entirely alone for Malfoy.
After dinner was over, Hermione made her way up to the common room well before Harry and Ron, who weren't too keen on talking to her anyway. She was hoping to beat all the other Gryffindors to the common room so she wouldn't be caught up with anyone desiring a chit-chat.
It was to her annoyance, then, that she discovered Lavender Brown had beaten her upstairs. She was standing outside the portrait of the Fat Lady looking slightly annoyed.
"Hey Lavender," Hermione said as she approached. "What are you doing out here?"
"I forgot the password," Lavender said, looking moodily at the Fat Lady.
"Oh," Hermione said, somewhat surprised. While Lavender wasn't the brightest in the year she never attained Neville's level of forgetfulness. Hermione stepped forward and said: "Hippogriff!"
The Fat Lady's portrait swung open and Hermione climbed through, Lavender following her. Hermione hoped that Lavender would pick a seat in the common room and wait for Parvati, her best friend, but she was annoyed to see that Lavender instead was making for the stairs to the girl's dormitory.
It wasn't a big deal, really. The curtains of the four-posters were enchanted to muffle sound so that anything shy of a shout would be virtually inaudible. But Hermione wanted to have time to move around the dormitory unimpeded, and she would hate if Lavender saw her open the drawer that contained the potions.
"Did you hear about Draco?" Lavender asked as they climbed the stairs to the dormitories.
"What about him?" Hermione asked. She wasn't really in the mood to talk to Lavender. They were friendly but not close—Lavender rarely engaged Hermione in conversation, and Hermione couldn't think of a more annoying time than this.
"I recon he was shrunk." Lavender said. "Don't you remember how he just kind of disappeared, leaving robes behind?"
"I suppose he was." Hermione said, trying not to show much interest.
"You were his lab partner." Lavender said. "Did you see who got him?"
"I think Pansy has him." Hermione lied, repeating Ron's speculation. They were at the door to the sixth-year girls dorm now.
"Pansy doesn't have him." Lavender said with a certainty that both surprised Hermione and made her highly suspicious. Hermione opened the door and both girls walked inside. Hermione tossed her bag on the bed hoping to get this pointless conversation finished as soon as possible.
"I don't know who has him, then." Hermione said, sitting down on her bed. Lavender remained standing, stareing at Hermione, her expression odd.
"You know," Lavender said, slowly, "If you had Draco, you could show him to me. I mean, we are friends."
"What?" Snapped Hermione, a chill running through her blood.
"Well, you know," Lavender said, a shadow of a greedy smile crossing her face, "You were right there when he shrunk. I'm sure you have him. Can you show me Draco? I mean…you trust me right? We're both Gryffindors…"
This was definitely not right. Lavender wasn't speaking in her normal tone of voice. Her robes didn't look right, as if they were put on in a hurry. She had never seen Lavender wear an expression anything like what she had right now. Also, Lavender would never let her hair be that messy in public…
Suddenly something clicked in Hermione's mind. This was not Lavender Brown. This was…
Hermione sprung to her feet and reached for her wand. The fake Lavender, however, was ready for this, because just before Hermione was able to shout "STUPEFY!", Pansy screamed "PROTEGO!"
Hermione's spell bounced off Pansy's shield and Hermione was knocked backwards onto her bed. Pansy advanced on her, pulling a vial of light green potion out of her robes.
"This is for Draco!" Pansy sneered, Lavender's face contorted with wicked triumph. Pulling off the cork, Pansy splashed the bottle across Hermione.
Hermione exclaimed in pain, throwing her head back. The entire front of her body felt like it was on fire. She looked down at herself—wherever the potion had touched her hot, angry boils were breaking out.
Pansy stood over Hermione for a moment, confused. Hermione realized suddenly that Pansy had intended to shrink her, but had instead used an incorrectly brewed potion. Hermione took advantage of Pansy's confusion by kicking out her legs out from under her. Caught unaware, Pansy fell to the ground.
Hermione leapt to her feet. "EXPELLIARMUS!" She roared, pointing her wand at Pansy. Pansy's wand flew out of her hand and into the air. Hermione wrenched open her cabinet drawer and selected a bottle of green potion herself. Pansy was scrambling for her fallen wand.
"This is for Harry, Ron, and Neville!" Shouted Hermione. Pulling out the cork, Hermione splashed the correctly brewed shrinking potion all over Pansy.
Hermione got a brief sight at the look of terror on Pansy's face as Lavender's body disappeared into her robes, which crumpled to the ground. Hermione panted with the effort and the pain of her boils. She knew she had to start healing herself, but excitement was pulsing through her. The adrenaline blocked out the pain—healing the boils could wait.
Wincing somewhat, Hermione dropped to her knees in front of Lavender's robes. She ruffled them, looking for the lump where the shrunken Pansy would be. She reached inside, feeling around for the tiny little Slytherin. Then—with a surge of excitement that almost matched the time she had found a shrunken Malfoy—her fingers came upon a trembling little warm being. Hermione wrapped her fingers around Pansy and brought her out.
Hermione opened her palm and looked down into it. There, transforming back into her own appearance was the tiny, naked, cowering form of Pansy Parkinson.
Please Review!