Hermione had to hide her explorer's kit again, this time in an empty classroom in the dungeons. She didn't want awkward questions about it when she arrived for the meeting, and she didn't have time to get to her room and put it away before the meeting was due to start. Hiding it was the best option, regardless of how reluctant Hermione felt about it.

Hermione entered the common room just short of 8 o'clock. The older students were storming around, muttering and playing violent games of gobstones or chess. Hermione's eyes fixed on her year-mates, who were all sitting around the circular table by the lake. Hermione felt a thread of pleasure – with all of them sitting there already, it made it seem like they were waiting for her, even if they weren't.

"So sorry if I'm late," Hermione said, sliding into the last chair as the clock started chiming 8 o'clock behind her. She clapped, looking around at the others. "Shall we get started?"

The House Elves' platter of treats appeared at just that moment, to a murmur from the others. Hermione bit her lip, amused. It seemed almost like she'd made it appear when she clapped. If only she could do something like that.

Greg was the first to descend upon the platter, claiming three of the tarts, before the others sat back with fancy treats in their hands as they began to discuss the plan.

"Ron Weasley is foe to House Slytherin, and we are here, united in purpose, to discuss a plan to bring him down," Daphne began, looking around. Everyone seemed to be nodding. "Right. So, Draco – you have a plan?"

Draco sat up straighter.

"The best way to bring an enemy to ruin is to ruin their reputation in the eyes of others," he told them. "That is much harder to regain than anything so menial as money, from financial ruin, for example."

"Not that the Weasleys have any money to lay ruin to anyway," Blaise muttered. Draco shot him a dark look, Daphne kicked him, and with an "ow!", Blaise shut up.

"The plan is to bring him down in the eyes of the professors, so he loses a lot of points," Draco said. "The easiest way to do this, we think, is to deliberately antagonize Weasley just before a teacher arrives, so the teacher only sees his out-of-proportion reaction."

"Weasley has an explosive temper," Theo agreed. "We can take advantage of this and make him look like a fool who's always about to go off."

They discussed a plan on how best to do this. They concluded that Draco, Greg, and Vincent would be the ones to confront Ron, and that Blaise and Theo would run teacher interference/warnings in the hallways, to ensure the timing was always right.

Part of Hermione found this perversely amusing. They were choreographing fighting in the hallway, just so the other person would get caught. It seemed so inauthentic, but Hermione was well aware that any insults thrown would be all too real in the heat of the moment.

"Next," Draco said, looking down at a small piece of parchment he'd brought. "Granger – you need to attempt to renew your friendship with him."

"What?" Tracey said, growing furious. "After all those things he said?"

"That's exactly why she should do it," Draco said. "The professors will see Hermione being the better person, being gracious and forgiving. The professors all love her – she's at the top of every class. We'll get Weasley to snap at her again – somewhere public, with a lot of the professors around – and when Hermione is upset and starts crying and runs away, the teachers will all be furious with Ron, and he'll feel their collective wrath."

"I'll need to cry in public?" Hermione asked, unsure.

"We'll arrange it so only the necessary people are around," Daphne assured her. "Us, the teachers, maybe some of Ron's friends, some of your friends… we have time to figure out what would have the most impact. We want Ron to utterly disgrace himself in front of people who are predisposed to love you and hate him."

"Lastly," Draco said, glancing at Pansy, who looked irritated but resigned. "Lastly, one of us will attempt to seduce Weasley, and then subsequently break his heart."

"Seduce him?" Hermione said, repulsed. "You do realize he's eleven?"

Theo shot her a look. "And…?"

"I don't think he thinks of girls – or guys, for that matter – that way at all, yet," Hermione said diplomatically. "I don't think he's even begun to hit puberty."

"He's not even starting to look for matches?" Theo asked. "Nothing at all?"

"His parents were a love match," Blaise offered. "I don't think they'd have spoken to him about any of it yet – he may not have even gotten 'the talk'."

"So trying to seduce him would be a wasted effort?" Pansy said, throwing her hands up.

"At least right now," Hermione said, shrugging. "If we're still trying to bring him down in a few years, after he's actually hit puberty – there might be some success there then?"

"Thank you," Pansy said firmly. She shot a dark look at Draco, who was determinedly not looking at her.

"So we'll put that one on hold for now, then," Draco said, marking his sheet. He looked up. "As the plans stand, we will drive him to fury in the hallways, and then make him cut Hermione down in front of a crowd. Agreed?"

Hermione felt uneasy, but she agreed with them nonetheless. Pleased, Draco looked to Daphne, who pronounced the meeting concluded. They started divvying up the remaining treats, and Hermione turned to Tracey.

"I'm not sure the teachers really like me that much to bring wrath down on Ron," Hermione confided in her. "I hope this isn't all some plan to just have me insulted and be seen crying in public."

Tracey opened her mouth to respond, but her eyes widened and her mouth snapped shut a moment later. Hermione looked behind her to see Draco, looking at her.

"It's a good plan, Granger," he told her, frowning. "You agreed with it."

"I did," Hermione said steadily, holding his gaze. "That doesn't mean there mightn't be a secondary motive behind it. We are all Slytherins, after all."

Draco almost looked struck, torn between being hurt at her accusation and pleased she thought him sneaky enough to have multiple motives already.

"She's not wrong," Tracey said, looking at Draco pointedly. "You haven't exactly been welcoming, or been nice to her at all since the beginning of the year."

Draco hesitated, before turning to look at Hermione.

"I would never put you in a position like this just to see you humiliated," he told her quietly. "Realize – though I may not have spoken to you before, neither did I insult you, nor did I degrade you. We all have roles to play, and…" He trailed off, looking uneasy. "…well, at least we're able to speak now."

Able to speak to her? That struck Hermione as odd. It sounded almost as though Draco had wanted to talk to her, but couldn't. Maybe Draco's father told him not to talk to her because of his blood prejudice? That certainly wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility, knowing what little she did of the Malfoys.

"Tears and humiliation can be a powerful weapon – pity and rage at injustice are powerful tools," Draco told her. He bit his lip. "It won't happen for a while – we need to set the stage, and you need to regain his friendship, or at least seem to. It'll all work out, Granger."

Hermione gave him a small half-smile.

"I know," she admitted. "But that doesn't mean I won't get my feelings hurt in the process."

"If he makes you cry genuine tears, I will make him rue the day he was born and bring ruin to his family," Draco said, his voice dark.

"Why, Draco," Hermione said, with an odd sort of half-laugh escaping her mouth. "You almost make it sound as though you care."

Draco jerked awkwardly at that, moving towards her but stopping short. He looked like he wanted to do something – or say something, at least – but he held himself back.

"The plan will start in the morning," he told her, snagging a few tarts and nodding to her as he left. He shot her a smirk. "You might enjoy it – watching Weasley lose loads and loads of points will be fun."

Hermione smiled to herself and shook her head in amusement, before abruptly realizing Tracey had left at some point in the conversation. Shrugging to herself, she left the common room, hurrying to grab her explorer's kit and get to her dormitory before curfew.