The heat finally began to roll in the following couple of months, and so did the exams. After the experience in the forest, that morning we had gone to tell Archidia and Snape. They were relieved and proud of us, though they would not explain why.

Through all the studying, there was still laughs. Aria had made a very good point the day before all the exams.

"Why is the Ravenclaw symbol an Eagle?" She had asked, looking at all the House Crests.

Goyle looked at her as if she was being stupid.

"What other animal would it be?"

"Oh I don't know," she sarcastically replied, rolling her eyes, "maybe a RAVEN?"

That had made the whole Common Room burst into laughter.

Even so, the heat don't help with all the pressure on doing well with the exams.

It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classrooms where we did

the written papers.

"My hair..." Lydia would complain during our breaks.

What was new, was that we had been given special, new quills for the

exams, which had been bewitched with an AntiCheating spell. Most likely for those who didn't study.

Then there were the practical exams.

Professor Flitwick called us one by one into his class to see if we could make a pineapple tap-dance across a desk. I had to admit, it was a bit difficult, but I had heard that it was one of the easiest. Crabbe had apparently made the desk move instead.

McGonagall was the most agitating. While she watched us turn a mouse into a snuffbox, points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, but taken away if it had whiskers. Lydia's had two and she took seven points away.

Still angry, no doubt.

Snape's was alright, I remembered how to make a Forgetfulness potion fairly well, but he was just breathing down other students neck, and you could tell they were getting very nervous.

Our last exam was History of Magic. One horrible hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self stirring cauldrons

and we'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week. Even though it was the last exam, I hadn't very well studied and was struggling a bit.

When the ghost of Professor Binns told us to put down our quills and roll up our parchment, everyone began to cheer. Lydia and I gave each other a celebratory hug and Draco took out some Tarts he had smuggled in.

"So worth it!" Lydia exclaimed, taking one.

Grinning, I took two gratefully.

"Thank you!" I said, biting into mine.

As soon as the bell rang, we all decided to relax near the lake, considering it was hot and the water was refreshingly cool. There was crowds of people flocking out near the lake and about, everyone chewing and celebrating.

"No more studying!" Lydia giggled, walking along the shore of the lake.

"No...more!" Crabbe snickered, pushing her suddenly into the lake.

"Crabbe!" I exclaimed, laughing.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Lydia hissed, but missed.

Instantly, my legs snapped together and my arms froze at my sides. I fell backwards, unable to speak, but hopefully my eyes reflected the annoyance I had in myself.

"Lydia!" Draco said, going over to help me up.

"I'm so sorry Vanice! That was totally meant for Crabbe!" She said, getting out of the water.

"Hey!"

"Just come help me pick her up, we'll take her to Archidia. We aren't allowed to use magic so anyone else will scold us." Draco ordered, taking me by my head.

"Yeah, totally." Lydia agreed, picking me up by legs.

I could feel the water from the lake drip from her hair and land on my legs. I couldn't really see, but they were taking me around the lake and through a path in the trees.

"Wait, Draco." Goyle said suddenly, stopping and standing near a tree.

"What?" Hissed Draco, "She's heavy, no offense, Vanice."

"Hear that?" Goyle asked.

As they all quieted down, you could faintly hear voices talking nearby the lake.

"We've got to go see Hagrid... someone knows how to get past Fluffy."

"Fluffy?" Lydia wondered out loud.

'I wish I could talk! Fluffy is that stupid mutt with three heads!' I screamed in my head.

"Let's just go to Archidia!" Crabbe muttered, beginning to walk again.

"Right." Agreed Draco.

It's hard to tell where you are when you're Body-Binded, but as soon as I heard Archidia groan, I knew we reached her office.

"What happened?"

"Well you see…Archidia…" started Draco

"Crabbe pushed me in the lake!" whined Lydia, shaking her long light blonde hair and sending beads of water everywhere.

"But then she tried to hex me!" Defended Crabbe.

"But she missed. And here we are." Draco finished lazily.

Archidia sighed.

"You five are just a handful."

"Archidia, we heard Potter and his friends plotting again! They know about Fluffy- whatever that is," I mentally rolled my eye seeing as I couldn't physically, "and they're talking to Hagrid right now!"

I heard Lydia slap her forehead and if I could, I'd do the same. Could he stop focusing on Potter for one minute?

"You better tell Severus that, or Quirrell." She seemed irritated at this news as if it were unwelcome.

The door banged open.

"Tell me what?"

"You really have developed a knack for loud entrances." Commented Archidia.

Snape began to survey the scene before him and seemed almost crestfallen when he spotted me, stiff as a board.

"Oh…what have you five gotten yourself involved in this time?"

As Draco filled him in, Archidia pointed her wand to my forehead

"Finite Incantartem."

I felt all the muscles in my body relax as I regained control of my movements.

"I think they're planning on going tonight!" finished Draco.

Snape had sunk into his office chair seeming thoroughly exasperated.

"You know you five are dreadful at laying low as I told you to." I suddenly felt bad, seeing as what was about to occur.

"I need you to do me a favor; I only need three of you for it and you must do it efficiently, otherwise your work will be in vain. You must stop Potter at all costs from retrieving the Stone. Instead I need you to take the stone and give it to me. I need you to do this tonight because from what I've gathered, potter and friends are planning on entering tonight as well. They obviously know more about the defense mechanisms than we thought; I believe, that the only way you three can get to the stone, is to work with them."

"Work with Potter? No way!"

"You must. I need you to do everything in your power to convince him- which with his lack of intellect should not be too difficult- that you have set your differences aside and want to assist him, until the very last moment. Only then is it that you will be allowed to allow your façade to fall away, reveal your true intentions and as quickly and cautiously as possible."

"Wait…will we have to miss dinner?" asked Goyle

"Well evidently...yes..."

"Then I'm out."

"Me too." Agreed Goyle.

"Well that was fairly easy. You two are like Draco, honestly. Cannot stop obsessing over something for a minute." I said once my jaw felt normal again.

"Like me?" Draco questioned, scoffing.

"Like, yeah. You with, like Potter and them with food." Lydia said as if he was being stupid.

"So tonight?" I asked Snape, a bit worried.

"Tonight, but take this vial. You will need them to get to the Stone...keep them hidden. You will know when to use them."

"If anything goes wrong while you're backstabbing those mud-"

"Blame everything on anything, just do not give away crucial information." Snape ordered. "We have confidence in you five...three."

.

...

.

"If you were a stupid Muggle lover and his friends, where would you be?" Draco muttered as we stalked around the school.

We had been searching for the Rotten Trio near the Dungeons at Draco's lead for nearly half an hour, with no sight of the lighting scar.

"Totally not near our Common Room." Lydia said, rolling her eyes.

"Well then you lead, Lydia!" Draco exclaimed frustratingly.

"Gladly." She snapped, going up to the halls.

"We have to find them soon..." I mumbled, my bracelet turning a light lavender with the words NERVOUS slinking slowly around.

"Watch, they'll totally be in the Library." Lydia giggled, walking in quickly.

We hurried behind her, attempting to blend in. Carefully and quietly, we searched about the bookshelves and desks, trying to catch a glimpse of either red or curly brown hair.

"Any idea what we'll even say to convince them?" Draco whispered beside me.

"I've got a few tricks up my-"

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?"

"Found them!" Lydia said quietly, putting a hand in the air happily.

"Looking for a fight, is that it?" Weasley said, giving us a dirty look.

"No no no. Be quiet and listen." I snapped, looking at all three of them.

Potter was beside Weasely, sitting in a chair and looking at us suspiciously, while Granger had her head stuck in a large book. Luckily they were in a corner of the Library, so not many people were around.

I lowered my voice and head a bit to create a secretive mood, hoping to seem innocent.

"We know about Nicolas Flamel's Stone." I whispered, pretending to look around for eavesdroppers.

"We don't know what you're talking about." Potter said instantly.

"Yes you do, we know." Draco replied, giving him a stare.

"Hermione, like, left her book in Potions once and we totally saw all the underlines and stuff." Lydia said, surprising us all by using her first name.

Immediately, Granger groaned and slammed her head against the large book, then quickly changed her mind.

"It was for, uh, extra credit!" She squeaked.

"Nice try, but we're not stupid." Draco said, and Weasley scoffed, making Lydia look at him with annoyance.

"Alright, so what if you know about the Stone...?" Potter pressed, elbowing Granger.

"We know you're going in tonight to the Third Floor Corridors to get it." I said slowly, "and we want to help."

"You're mad!" Weasley exclaimed, looking at Potter.

"No she's not." Draco spat, taking a step forward.

I looked at Potter, knowing if I could convince him, I convinced all of them. This was my only chance and I wasn't going to let Snape down.

"Harry," I sighed, "I know all of us don't get along, but trust us. You might think it's Professor Snape...yet it's not."

"How would you know? He's cruel and cold, he might as very well be behind all this!" Ron said, crossing his arms.

"Let us speak." Draco groaned, taking a seat.

"Because like, as much as that's all like totally true, he wouldn't go and take the Stone. He's mean, but not that mean."

"So you're saying that you want to help us, and that's it's not Snape?" Granger asked in a lazy tone.

It clicked.

"Yes! Precisely yes! Because we want to prove that it isn't Snape!" I said, smiling and nodding my head

Lydia and Draco immediately understood.

"Like yeah! He's our Head of House, we so want to defend him!"

"Plus, whoever does want the Stone will be against six minds." Draco said.

"How did you know that we knew?"

Harry asked, still skeptical.

"Well we were sort of behind you three on all of this...it started off with Draco wanting to get you all in trouble, but we soon realized it was something more important." I finished, hoping we had convinced them.

All three of them looked at each other, making questionable faces until Harry finally looked at us.

"Alright, we're doing this together."

"What?! Have you gone mad as well, Harry?!" Weasely hissed.

"Ron, think about it. More heads, more plans, the more chances of getting through this..."

"And this isn't for anyone's personal gain, Ron. We want to save the Stone from falling into the wrong hands, and they want to prove it's not Snape." Added Hermione.

"Where are Crabbe and Goyle?" Weasley asked suddenly.

"They're too stupid to be involved in this." Draco explained. "Don't you think?"

Lydia and I nodded, giving them a hopeful smile.

"What do you three know?" Harry finally said.

Draco pulled out a chair for me and Lydia sat on my lap, getting closer so no one would hear or see the Rival Gryffindor's and Slytherin's teaming up.

"As in suspects, no one. But we do know there's tasks from each teacher guarding it." I said, blowing Lydia's hair out of the way.

"That's new." Said Granger.

"In suspects, we have...had, Snape and You-Know-Who." Harry whispered.

"The Dark Lord?" All three of us mumbled.

'We have to begin the plan! The Dark Lord WILL rise again, and he will be most disappointed if he thinks we've turned our backs on him'

'Never! We are his most faithful and trusting! The Mark binds our blood to him!'

'Thus, more of a reason to start the plan. It shall begin a day before the children begin at Hogwarts.'

It's The Dark Lord...he wants the Stone...

"Vanice? Vanice!"

"What?" I said, snapping out of my thoughts.

"You're pale, and you were out of it for a few moments there..." Hermione said, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you OK?" Draco asked.

"F-fine...just cold..."I lied, "anyone got a sweater?"

"Here, you can like use mine." Lydia said, standing up and letting me borrow hers.

"Vanice, are you sure you're all right?" Repeated Draco, standing up.

"You know what, I'd rather just head back..." I stood up slowly and looked apologetically at the Gryffindorks, "Harry, Ron, Hermione, tonight at the foot of the stairs, alright?"

"For sure, you're probably just nervous, we all are." Granger said, nodding.

"Thank you Vanice." Said Harry, "we'll be waiting."

Nodding, I leaned on Draco, walking back to the Common Room. My head was dazed, and the realization had hit me like a wrecking ball.

"Like what is wrong with you?! You totally almost blew our cover!" Lydia exclaimed once we were in the Common Room.

"Lydia be quiet." Snapped Draco, taking me to one of the couches.

"Sorry." Lydia said, crossing her arms.

"No, she's right, I almost blew it." I said, feeling better and taking a seat. "But I'm fine now."

"If you say so." Draco said, sitting on the couch arm besides mine.

"So...what now?" Lydia asked, brushing her blonde hair with her fingers.

"Now, we wait." I sighed, falling onto the pillows.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Well everything is beginning to sort out(:

should I keep doing Questions of the Chapter? No one ses to review anymore...

So F&F, R&R and Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon(: