A/N: Forgot to post yesterday! Probably on the account of lack of reviews. . .(hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink XP).

The Seventh Year

Chapter 4

The Gossip and the Ravenclaw Operation

"Ferret has been quiet," Marisa stated as she and her friends lounged in the privacy of one of the Slytherin girls' dorm rooms.

"Too quiet, if you ask me," Erin muttered, scribbling the last answers onto her Transfiguration homework. "Merlin's beard, he has to be up to bleeding something, or he's. . .gone soft?"

Marisa snorted. "He's an arsehole."

"Which doesn't make sense in the current situation!" Erin hissed. "Because he isn't being an arsehole, or haven't you noticed?"

"I've noticed!" Cat chimed in, her facing lighting up as she waved her finger triumphantly in the air. The twins turned to look at her with raised eyebrows. "Well, besides me, I mean some of the other Slytherins have noticed."

The other Slytherin that lived in the room along with Davia Montague and Rayann Pucey looked up minutely from her work, and then glanced back down. "Huh? What are you talking about Cat?"

"Malfoy, Jin. Malfoy." Cat shook her head at her diligent roommate. Susie Jin took ambition to a whole new level. She was just like Hermione in that she threw herself into her schoolwork and never looked back.

"Oh!" Jin bolted upright. "Yes! Draco has been a bit. . .odd lately. Blaise said so."

"She would know," Cat claimed, and correctly. Jin and Blaise were cousins, and Jin was quite close with Blaise. "Anyway, yesterday I heard them talking in the common room."

"Draco and Blaise always talk in the common room," Jin mumbled, going back to her work.

"They talk in our common room sometimes," Erin said, exchanging a look with Marisa. "Isn't that a novelty?"

"It isn't really your common room," Sophie laughed, looking up from the chess game she was engaged in with Ginny.

"We all know Marisa lives there too. It is just a matter of time before McGonagall makes it official." Which was true, because the twins had magically enlarged Erin's bedroom and stored all of Marisa's things from the Ravenclaw dorm room (including the bed) there. They invented a few tricky spells to conceal all of it from McGonagall when she demanded to know why Ms. Benzene's things were mysteriously missing from the Ravenclaw Tower. She had threw up her hands in dismay after inspecting the Heads Dorm, and informed Mr. Malfoy that he was on his own. The two had started laughing even before the Headmistress was out the door.

"Well you wouldn't hear them carrying on about this in your common room," Cat grinned slyly.

Erin rolled her eyes. "Alright, tell me. Everything. Exactly what they said."

"Well, it wasn't much exactly," Cat hedged. "Malfoy just admitted that he was attempting to be nice to you, Benz."

"He did what?" Erin gasped, and Sophie perked up immediately. Even Jin spared Cat a glance. "That can't be true. Tell me what they said!"

"Well I walked in towards the end of the conversation," Cat said, "so I didn't hear everything. But Blaise was asking Draco if he was ok, which was strange in and of itself, so I stopped to listen. Draco growled at him, as per usual, and then told him that he would be ok if you, Erin, could get it through your head that he was only trying to be nice. Blaise said that Luna told him that you've been confused lately. For some reason, both of them took this as a good sign. At least, that is what Blaise said."

"A good sign?" Erin interjected.

"Yes, a good sign. Like maybe you were beginning to understand that Draco's changed? Or something. Then Draco said he wished you would be a lot less confused and a lot more receptive, and then stormed out."

There was a brief silence as they tried to digest this. "Something odd happened yesterday," Erin whispered, reluctant to even admit to the incident in the potions' cabinet. "After Marisa and I set fire to his cauldron, I tried to confront Malfoy and I couldn't get a rise out of him. I was so frustrated I couldn't think of anything further to say because he was being so bloody calm, and then he. . .well. . .he sort of hit on me."

"So?" Cat shrugged. "Doesn't he usually do that?"

"He seemed so—well, serious," Erin mused, suddenly drawn back to the memory of silver fire and crackling electricity. It was almost unreal. The butterflies in her stomach had been fluttering madly, and she had been able to move, frozen by the obviously present passion in his eyes. But it was only for a moment, and he had turned away, and she had slumped, figuring his eyes had contained his rage. Because he didn't like her, and the emotion was so strong that it had to be pent up fury.

"Harry and Malfoy have apparently formed a truce of sorts," Ginny ventured.

"They've what?" Sophie asked.

"I'm not sure why, or when, or how, but he did tell me that they are on speaking terms. And that Malfoy has been helping him with his current work for the Ministry. I would trust Harry's instincts, E. Malfoy must have changed."

"Did you hear anything else Cat? See anything?" she pressed.

Behind her, Marisa was checking her watch. "Four," she murmured. "Three. . .two. . .one."

A faint but echoing boom was heard from the vicinity of the Ravenclaw Tower.

"What did you do!" Jin gasped, jerking out of her studying stupor and rounding on the twins.

"It wasn't that loud, Jin," Erin smirked, momentarily distracted from Cat's information.

Screaming was now drifting through the window that was magical enhanced to take in the sights and sounds of the school grounds. There would be no way for this room to actually have windows, as the Slytherin dorms were under the lake.

"Set off a smoke bomb in Boot and Corner's room," Marisa said smugly. "Idiots won't be able to sleep in there for a week."

Sure enough, black smoke was billowing out from an upper story window, and a few students studying by the lake were pointing and clearly laughing.

"Hell yeah!" Erin high-fived her twin. The other girls just looked at them and then started laughing.

"You have an alibi and everything, Ms. Head Girl," Ginny grinned. "What until I tell George. He'll be proud."

"I bet Padma is telling Flitwick right now that Marisa and I are in the Dungeons with you lot," Erin grinned. "Hopefully he won't even question us."

"Next operation is to smuggle you back out through the common room, Gin," Marisa rolled her eyes. "We know how you don't like being seen in here."

"Ron would kill me."

"We know," the twins chorused. "It's ok, we're here."

"You know we have a meeting with McGonagall tonight, don't you, Erin?" Sophie asked.

"Bloody hell! No!" Erin wailed. "Why me?"

"You'll get out of it easy," Ginny dismissed casually.

"Before I die I want to hear the rest of your story, Cat," Erin sighed theatrically.

Cat let out a short burst of laughter. "I was basically done. I mean that was really all they said. Draco looked really out of sorts though. Crabbe and Goyle weren't even with him."

"That is strange," Jin remarked. "He doesn't like having them around when he is in a pensive mood. They annoy him with their stupidity."

"They've been annoying him with their stupidity more and more often lately, I'd say," Cat agreed. "It's probably for the best. They need to learn to live in the real world without Malfoy and I am sure he is enjoying what peace and quiet he gets in his new dorm."

"We try to see that he doesn't get too much of that, but we still have to study half the time, or at least Marisa thinks she has to, so I suppose he is getting more peace and quiet than usual," Erin shook her head morosely. "It is such a shame."

"Although, I will say that Draco has been a bit reclusive lately. I haven't seen him with any of the Slytherin slags lately, not even Pansy or Astoria," Cat told the Head Girl.

"You don't still like him, do you?" Ginny asked suddenly.

Erin gasped and rounded on the red-head indignantly. "How'd you know that? And it was only a little crush, I didn't actually like him. Maybe I am a bit attracted to him, but, come on, who isn't?"

"I forced it out of Hermione," Ginny said airily. "Checkmate."

"Not again," Sophie groaned.

"I should go back to my tower before that meeting. Catch you later, Cat, Jin!" Erin gave hugs to both girls and then waved for Ginny and Sophie. "Come on, you two don't want to be caught in here. Let's smuggle them out, Marisa."

A/N: As close as anyone can get to blowing things up at Hogwarts, XD. Also, I realized that it is canon that Crabbe died, but I don't want to have to deal with that, so pretend like that didn't happen. Review review review!