Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed this far! It really means a lot to me to see your guys' opinions and compliments, so thanks again!

This chapter is again taking place the same day as the last chapter. They kind of overlap, actually. If you haven't read the chapter before this one, you may need to do so in order to understand what's going on here. It's not that confusing though, don't worry!

This chapter is focussing more on my plot rather than Ron/Hermione fluff. We see Draco implement his plan, a Ron/Harry moment, and then there's Harry's point of view at the end here, which I haven't done before. I found Harry a bit more difficult to write compared to other characters, so hopefully I got it to everyone's liking!

Don't forget to review and leave your thoughts! Enjoy! :)

PS: I own none of the Harry Potter characters or its story. They come from the marvellous mind of J.K. Rowling!

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Chapter 5:

Draco Malfoy was standing behind a tree near the outskirts of the courtyard, trying to stay out of view from his fellow students. He was almost certain he was out of sight, but just to be sure, he double checked to make sure nobody was around him. Deciding he was out of sight and alone, he pulled a small transparent vial out from his robes and held it up to his face to examine.

The liquid inside was of a pale blue colour and was relatively thick. He watched it slowly move around inside the vial as he shook it at eye level. His nose crinkled at the sight of how much thicker it was than the Polyjuice Potions based off two young girls he had been getting Crabbe and Goyle to use when he had them watch guard while he was in the Room of Requirement.

Finally refocusing on the task at hand, he quickly pushed the idea of how thick and sludgy it looked out of his mind. He pulled the stopper out from the vial and quickly downed half of the potion in one swift motion, and his face immediately cringed at the taste and the feeling of the thick potion dripping down his throat. He hadn't expected it to taste amazing, but the taste still caught him off guard.

He suddenly began to pant as he felt his body start to morph and his proportions change, and he transformed from Draco Malfoy into Seamus Finnigan. Once the transformation was complete, he wobbled backwards and fell against the tree, still panting from the alterations to his body.

He looked down at his hands and saw that they were definitely not his own, but he pulled out a mirror from his bag and checked to make sure he did, in fact, look like Seamus. He smiled diabolically at the reflection of Seamus staring back at him before shoving the mirror back in his bag. He pulled out a Gryffindor robe and tie that he had stolen from Seamus' locker at the same time he had stolen one of Seamus' hairs during his and the other Gryffindor's quidditch team practice. He quickly swapped his own tie and robe for the stolen ones and shoved his to the bottom of the bag before throwing it over his shoulder and heading for the nearest door to the castle.

As he winded down the hallways on his way to the portrait hole to enter the Gryffindor common room, he desperately hoped that the real Seamus wouldn't pass by. He kept his hand on his wand and was prepared to cast a Disillusionment charm on himself if necessary.

His pace quickened as he shot through the hallways, his nerves kicking in at the thought of being caught. Once he saw the portrait hole, he ran to it covering the last stretch of hallway and whispered the password, wildly shaking his head around to make sure the real Seamus wasn't in sight. He really should have come up with a way to distract him for the night before taking on his persona…

The portrait finally opened and he pushed through it with such panic and force that it swung and hit the wall with a loud bang. He winced at the noise he made but quickly entered the Gryffindor common room, looking around again to make sure Seamus or anyone else wasn't there. Satisfied that nobody was around, he found the stairs and started to climb them.

"Seamus!"

Draco stopped in his tracks, the panic inside him growing again at the realization that there were people in the common room. How could he have missed it? He turned around and scanned the room, trying to figure out where the voice had come from.

"What in the bloody hell are you doing smashing through the portrait hole like that? You almost scared us half to death!"

His breath hitched as he suddenly realized he recognized the voice shouting at him, and his fears were confirmed as he finally laid eyes on Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger looking up at him from a sofa over by the fire that he clearly hadn't checked when he entered. Not wanting Ron to follow him to their dorm, he tried to come up with something that wouldn't worry him and cause him to follow.

"Oh… sorry, Weas- err… Ron. I was just err… heading up to the dorm. Long day and all…"

What the hell was that? He became even more nervous at the sight of Ron's confusion, but it eventually faded and he saw Ron nod his head. It wasn't all that convincing, but it would have to do. He quickly spun around on his heel as the sound of blood pounding through his ears picked up and he ran up the rest of the stairs. Once he reached Ron's dorm, he slowly opened the door just enough to be able to check who was in there. He inwardly sighed with relief at the sight of an empty room, and slipped through the door before silently closing it behind him.

He wasn't entirely sure which one of the trunks at the end of the beds was Ron's. He looked around for any indication at which one would be his before finally spotting a pile of dirty clothes. The pile had what looked to be like an older, more worn out jumper, almost as if it was handed down.

He smirked and maliciously chuckled to himself as he checked the trunk at the foot of the bed with the pile of clothes. Sure enough, he found text books with Ron's name in them, as well as a jumper with the Weasley name printed on it.

Happy to have found this was Ron's trunk, he plopped his bag down on the floor beside him and pulled out a notebook as he sat down on Ron's bed. He opened the cover of the book and two pieces of paper fell out onto his lap: one he had ripped out of a book that had a section on Unforgiveable Curses, and one that had come from a book full of malicious spells and poisons.

The first paper had the instructions to perform the Imperius Curse on one side, which he had underlined and circled with pen, and instructions to perform the Killing Curse on the other side. He stuck it out of the trunk in a way that was just noticeable enough for someone to find it, but not enough that it looked like it had been placed there on purpose.

The second paper had instructions on how to create the same poison he had attempted to assassinate Dumbledore with when he mixed it in with a bottle of mead. He placed it on the floor directly underneath the first paper that was sticking out from the top of the trunk.

Satisfied that somebody would notice them if they were to walk by, he grabbed his bag and snuck out of the dorm. All he needed now was for someone to see what kind of dark magic was on those papers. He was certain that if they did they would confront Ron with them. Harry would then find out, and hopefully he would be smart enough to piece together that the Imperius Curse was the same spell that Draco had cast on Katie Bell so that she would give the cursed necklace to Dumbeldore.

All he had to do next was get out of the Gryffindor common room and back to his own without being spotted by the real Seamus, and he would be home free. Quickly dashing down the stairs, he heard Ron call out Seamus' name once more. He decided to ignore it, as he just wanted to be out of there without a hitch, but Ron was persistent and called out again.

"Oi! Seamus, where are you going mate? You just said you were going to bed 10 minutes ago! Now you're leaving again?" shouted Ron.

He ignored it again as his heart rate picked up and his nerves started to tighten at the thought of being caught. He would have no good explanation for what he was doing if he was caught, and he was running the risk of ruining his entire mission assigned to him by the Dark Lord. The thought of what he would do to Draco and his family if the mission failed had Draco panicking worse than ever. He rushed out the portrait hole and turned to his left, but found himself colliding with somebody else.

He started apologizing as he looked up to see who it was, and he felt his heart race unimaginably faster at the sight of Harry Potter staring back at him with widened eyes and a worried look on his face.

"Alright there, Seamus?" he asked, concern in his voice and a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah…" he managed to squeak out, as he quickly looked around and then nodded before stepping around Harry. He didn't look back as he hurried down the hallways and turned the corner. Releived to be out of that situation, he rushed as quickly as he could to a bathroom and waited for the Polyjuice potion to wear off before making his way back to the dungeons and the Slytherin common room.

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Harry and Ginny had come back to the common room following their date, both laughing at something they had been talking about. As soon as they spotted Hermione and Ron sitting on the sofa they started smiling at each other and moved towards them.

Suddenly realizing who had walked in, Ron and Hermione sat up straight trying to look as innocent as possible, and Hermione put some distance between them on the sofa once more. Ron knew they had been sitting fairly close to each other for a sofa that only had 2 occupants, but he was hoping Harry hadn't noticed.

"Hey guys!" Said Hermione enthusiastically. "Did you have a nice time?"

Ginny grinned back at her. "We did! It was very lovely," she said, smiling up at Harry. Ron felt his eyes instinctively roll at the giddiness in her voice.

Harry smiled back at her and then smiled at Ron and Hermione. "And how about you two? Did you have a good time?" He gave Ron a knowing smirk and Ron's face flushed as he realized that Harry had to have noticed how close they had been on the sofa.

"Oh, err… yeah. We just spent the night working on our essays. You know, same old, same old…" he trailed off as Harry tried not to laugh at his excuse. Out of the corner of his eye, Ron could see Hermione's face flush and she awkwardly looked down at her hands, trying to avoid everyone's eyes.

"Sounds wonderful," Harry replied, still trying to keep his laughter at bay. Ron glared up at him and realized Ginny must have caught on too, as she was trying not to laugh as well.

Regaining her composure, Ginny let out a casual yawn and stretched her arms. "Well, I think I'm just going to head on up to bed now. I'm pretty tired. Will you be joining me later, Hermione?" she asked, trying to make her tone as plain as possible. It was clear that she was partially trying to rescue Hermione from the awkwardness, but from the look on her face Ron could tell that Ginny was dying to gush about her date.

"Actually, I'm tired as well," Hermione answered. "I think I'll join you." She quickly packed her things into her bag and stood up. "Goodnight, Ron. I'll see you in the morning?" she asked, an anticipating smile on her face. Ron nodded his head with a small smile in return.

"Yeah, sure," he said sweetly. He continued to smile back at her and hoped she didn't notice the disappointment in his voice. He had wanted her to stay down in the common room with him, but he was sure she probably wanted to hear all the girly details about Ginny's date upstairs.

Hermione and Ginny both said goodnight to Harry and headed up the stairs to their dorms. Ron followed Hermione with his eyes as he watched her leave, barley noticing Harry sit down beside him on the sofa. After a few more seconds, Harry cleared his throat and Ron shot his head over to the other side of him to see Harry smirking at him with the same smile he had given him when he asked about his evening minutes ago.

"Oh, sorry, Harry…" was all he could come up with as Harry kept from trying to laugh again.

"So I take it you had a good night then?" asked Harry, his smirk turning up into a grin.

Ron chuckled at his friend's assumption. Only Harry knew him well enough to have known what sort of night he had had just by looking at him. He'd never get away with trying to deny it. Besides, it wasn't like he hadn't already confessed to Harry that he fancied Hermione.

"Yeah. I spent the whole night with Hermione, so I reckon it was all right," he said in a joking tone, a huge grin of his own growing on his face. "How about yours?"

Harry chuckled and grinned back at him. "The same as yours, I'm sure. Maybe with a bit more mud," he laughed, looking down at his muddy shoes. "The quidditch pitch might not have been my best idea yet, but it was still a good time."

Ron laughed with him at the sight of his muddy shoes. "Well, glad to hear you had fun. And I hope you were a perfect gentleman to my sister, Harry, because if not, I'm gonna' find out." He was partly teasing, but part of him still wanted to make sure that Harry had taken care of the only sister he had.

Harry smiled back at him. "Oh, come on, Ron. When have I ever not been a perfect gentleman?" he joked. "Of course I was! I opened all the doors, made all the food, and used all my manners. I was probably the gentlest man to have ever been."

Ron laughed at his answer. "Good. Not that I was worried, but I just wanted to make sure."

Harry smiled gently back at him. "I know, Ron. You're a good brother." His face then changed moods, and he suddenly looked very nervous as he looked down at the ground. "Which is why I think you deserve to hear this from me before anyone else…" he trailed off, still looking at the ground.

Ron's amusement suddenly transformed into worry as he watched Harry stare at the ground. What could it possibly be this time? Was he already thinking of dumping his sister? How could he be tired of her after one bloody date? He knew she could be annoying at times, but even he thought that was harsh. His eyebrows were furrowed and his facial expression was like stone as he stared at Harry.

Harry pulled his eyes up from the floor and looked up in Ron's general direction, still avoiding making direct eye contact. "Now, I know you already said you were okay with this… but I know your temper, and I just want to remind you that you were the one who said you were okay with me dating your sister." He finally caught Ron's confused expression before continuing. "Promise you won't be mad?"

Ron narrowed his eyes at him. This was starting to become very similar to when Harry had confessed to him that he liked Ginny the night before.

"Okay, you're making me nervous again here, Harry. What did you do?"

Harry winced before answering him. "Well, I just thought you should know… I err… well, I err, kissed Ginny tonight." His face was turning pink and he pulled a "Ron" as he started rubbing the back of his neck, his eyes darting around the room trying not meet Ron's.

Ron let out a disgusted groan and buried his face in his hands as he shook his head back and forth. "Ugh!" he moaned, wishing that Harry hadn't decided to share. "I really didn't need to hear that, mate."

"Sorry…" said Harry shyly. "I just thought you should know."

Ron sighed, uncovered his face, and laid back in the sofa as he let his arms flop down on either side of him. He looked over at Harry who was watching him with an apologetic expression. The look on Harry's face made him think about him and his sister snogging again, and he scrunched up his nose and grimaced as he shook his head a second time.

He eventually calmed down again and said "Look, Harry, I appreciate you giving me a heads up, but I really wish I hadn't heard that. My best mate and my sister, snogging… ugh!" He shuddered dramatically as the thought crossed his mind again. "I knew this would be weird, but holy hell! It's quite disgusting to think about, you know! So I need you to not tell me things like that anymore, okay? I'm not gonna' get mad… it's more gross than anything else, really."

Harry finally smiled and tried not to laugh at Ron's reaction. "Okay, deal. I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to be upset with me over any of this."

Ron tried to give him his best reassuring smile. "Harry, I already told you that as long as you treat her right, and I'm pretty confident that you will, then I don't have a problem with it. It's still gonna' gross me out, but I'm not upset. Okay?" As strange as it was for him to think of them as dating, he still preferred Harry over any other boy at the school. And he was genuinely happy for Harry and Ginny, despite the teasing he had put them through that day.

Harry smiled back at him and nodded. "Good. Well now that that's sorted I think I'm gonna' head up to bed. Are you coming?"

"In a little bit. I'm just gonna' sit down here for a while. I'll see you up there?"

"Sure," said Harry, standing up from the sofa and gently slapping Ron on his back before wandering over to the stairs.

After Harry had left, Ron stared at the fire for a while, watching the flames dance. He smiled to himself as the thoughts of his night with Hermione pushed out the disturbing thoughts that Harry had planted about him and Ginny.

He thought about how upset she had been when he was angry with her, and how she had been holding his hand in an attempt to comfort him. At that moment it was clear that she cared about their relationship, whether platonic or not. But then there was that moment, however brief it was, where they had been looking into each other's eyes, and he was certain there had been a spark between them. Maybe it was just his imagination trying to give him the thing that he wanted more than anything else, but he really hoped that his suspicions were accurate.

After another 15 minutes of staring at the fire with his thoughts, he decided that the only way he'd ever find out how Hermione felt about him was by somehow talking to her about it. But the thought of bringing it up and her finding out that he's had romantic feelings for her since they were young though made his stomach churn. He decided again that waiting it out might be a better option for now as he dragged his feet upstairs, clutching his stomach as it twisted and turned.

He walked to his dorm and silently entered, hoping to be able to get Harry's opinion on the matter. He wasn't usually an open book, but lately he really felt the need to get things out of his system. To his disappointment, Harry was already asleep in his bed, his back turned to the door.

Not wanting to wake Harry up for his petty problems, he tiptoed around the room as he got his pyjamas on and brushed his teeth. Once he was ready for bed, he hopped under the blankets of his own bed and let his thoughts carry him off to sleep.

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Relieved that Ron didn't want to murder him for snogging his sister, Harry wandered up to their dorm and slipped into his room. He looked around, but none of his other roommates had made it up to bed yet. He began undressing to get his pyjamas on, starting with his shirt and then moving on to his trousers.

As he was trying to take his trousers off, one of his feet got stuck in the cuffs and he almost toppled over back into Ron's bed. He caught himself before falling, but heard a crinkling and ripping sound as he looked down to see that he had stepped on some sort of paper. He finished undressing and put his pyjamas on before swooping down to make sure the paper he had ruined wasn't of strong importance. If he knew Ron, he probably wouldn't care anyways if it was anything school related.

He picked up the now tattered paper and was confused to see that it had clearly been ripped out of a book. His eyebrows furrowed as he read what was on the paper. It was instructions on how to create some sort of potion, and there were several different ingredients underlined and circled. His eyes widened at the description. The paper described exactly what would happen to a being that ingests the potion: sudden loss of breath, violent shaking, shut down of organs and immediate death. This wasn't just any potion, this was a lethal poison.

Confused as to why instructions for such dark magic were in his dorm, he looked around the floor where he had stepped on it to see where it came from. The floor was empty, with the exception of some of Ron's dirty clothes nearby, but out of the corner of his eye he saw the corner of a similar paper sticking out of Ron's trunk.

He wasn't usually one to go snooping around in his friends' things, but a potion that had the ability to kill gave him enough reason to think he better figure out what was going on. He pulled the rest of the paper out from the lid of the trunk and noticed that it too had been torn from a book.

His eyes widened again at the big, bold letters at the top of the page: "The Imperius Curse". His mind was panicking and his heart sank as he scanned the paper that gave clear instructions on how to perform one of the three Unforgiveable Curses. Performing such a curse was enough to land a wizard or witch in Azkaban! Why was it in Ron's trunk?

He flipped the paper over and felt his heart beat faster as he read another title: "The Killing Curse". His thoughts were racing as he desperately searched his memory for an explanation. Maybe Ron had mentioned something about why these curses would ever been in his trunk or his possession? But to his dismay, he couldn't remember Ron telling him anything about them, nor could he find a reason for why Ron would ever need them.

The thought of Ron feeling the need to hide these papers from him caused his thoughts to swirl and his worry to rise more. What could Ron possibly need to know these curses for? And why would Ron not tell him, his supposed best mate, about them?

He thought back to his brief conversation with Draco Malfoy earlier that day in the halls. He had hinted that somebody who was close to Harry was a bigger threat to this school than himself, but he "wouldn't sell out his own kind". Although Draco hadn't yet admitted it, Harry was nearly certain that he was working as a Death Eater, meaning whoever this other threat was had to have been a Death Eater as well.

Was it possible that he had been talking about Ron? Ron was the closest friend Harry had, and he was one of the few people in the world that Harry trusted with all his secrets and plans over the years. If there was anyone that Voldemort would want to corrupt, Ron would be it.

It had already been determined that Katie Bell had tried to kill Dumbledore under control of the Imperius Curse, so if Ron was working as a Death Eater it would certainly explain why he would need to know that curse. The instructions for the poison that had been on the floor also clearly outlined the effects that the poison in the mead intended for Dumbledore had taken. But it had been Ron himself who was mistakenly poisoned that night by drinking the mead, and he had no way of knowing that Harry would be able to save him. It seemed unlikely that Ron would willingly poison himself that night as part of his plan.

But the Harry remembered why he had drunk the mead in the first place. They had gone to Slughorn with hopes that he would be able to cure Ron of the love potion he had mistakenly ingested. If Ron had been under the influence of the love potion, there's a good chance he would not have been thinking clearly enough to recognize the mead he was drinking as the poisoned one he had made for Dumbledore.

On top of that, Ron had family members working for the Ministry of Magic, which had spent the majority of the past year defaming Harry and Dumbledore. There had been rumors that Voldemort had spies working on the inside of the Ministry, and there was really no way of knowing who was loyal to whom. Both Ron's father and brother Percy were working there. Was it possible they had been working for Voldemort all this time? Had they managed to convince Ron to follow suit?

Harry started to panic at the thought of his best friend betraying him in such a way, and sat down on his bed as he thought some more. Ron had always been the most loyal friend he had, and he knew everything about Harry. If Ron had ever asked him about anything, Harry would have told him in a heartbeat, without a second thought as to why Ron would want to know. Now he was wondering how much he had confided in Ron that could be used to help Voldemort with any plans he had.

His breath hitched in his throat as his eyes darted around the room. He scanned for any other mysterious papers, but as he was looking, he instead laid eyes on a photo of Ron, Hermione and himself from first year that Ron always kept on his bedside table. His panicked expression softened at the sight of the moving photo.

He suddenly felt slightly guilty at the thought of questioning the loyalty of his best friend. Ron had always been the first one to follow him to any danger, sacrificing his life every time he did so. He was always there when Harry needed him to be, and he was always there to make him feel better and get through his problems. How could he ever think that Ron would be involved in something so evil? The tingle of guilt was starting to turn into more of a stab, and he scolded himself for ever thinking such things about his best friend.

He decided it wasn't worth confronting him about tonight, but he would definitely have to show the papers to Hermione tomorrow when he was able to talk with her alone. As much as he hated himself for suspecting Ron, he couldn't let anything get in his way of doing what was right. His friendship with Ron meant a lot to him, but if it was a sham, he wouldn't feel bad for finding out the truth.

Conflicted with his thoughts and suspicions, he decided to go to sleep and sort it out tomorrow with Hermione. He got under the covers, hid the papers under his pillow, and laid his head down on top of it. A few seconds later he heard Ron enter the room, but he feigned sleep to avoid any conversation that could lead to an unwanted argument.

His eyes stayed shut as he listened to his best friend get ready for bed, and he desperately hoped that Ron had nothing to do with Voldemort or Death Eaters. He didn't think he could handle the pain of such a betrayal at this point in his life. Holding out hope that Ron would have some sort of explanation, he eventually drifted off to sleep.

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So now you all know what was up with Seamus in the last chapter! I'm sure most of you could guess though, haha! I'll post the Chapter 6 next Tuesday, as usual. Next chapter has more Ron/Hermione, I promise. But it won't be all sunshine, and that's all I'll say about it for now!

Just a little heads up though, next week I have 3 tests and 3 final projects due, and I, being the cliché procrastinating college student that I am, have not started any of that. So if the week after next week's chapter is delayed, I sincerely apologize. I really hate when that happens with the stories that I follow myself. I will try my hardest to get everything done next week though while still leaving time to write Chapter 7. But next week's chapter will still be on time for sure! It's already written. :)

Thanks for reading, and please review with your comments and feedback! :)

-ArticulateFiction