AN: Another quick update! Thank you again "bcain17"! You are doing a GREAT job correcting the mistakes. You're the best :D

Chapter 5: Heavy artillery.

Unlike Granger, Pansy was not intimidated by the piercing gaze of the man who sat opposite them. Potter's wand was on the table and a deep silence filled the room.

"Which of you is going to confess first?" Asked the professor at last.

"How do you know it was us?" Pansy asked as she kept her gaze on him.

The man narrowed his eyes and grabbed the edge of the desk to lean forward. He did it so hard that one could see the marked veins on the skin and the completely white knuckles.

"Do you think I'm a fool, Miss Parkinson?" The professor's voice sounded intimidating, but then he leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands in his lap. "Just because I can't get a Veritaserum confession out of you doesn't mean I don't know that you two are up to something... I don't know if you understand the seriousness of what you've done. Taking someone else's wand leads to immediate expulsion from school." He turned his head to look at the Gryffindor. "Your attitude surprises me, Miss Granger. They say that you are the brightest witch of your generation, but for me you are just one of the many insufferable young people that unfortunately Hogwarts must keep."

"It won't happen again, professor." Said Hermione who, unable to face him, stared at her knees.

The teacher took a long, deep breath before looking back at Pansy. He swallowed and shook his head slightly in disapproval.

"I am going to overlook this, only and exclusively because the expulsion of one of my students would discredit the reputation of the honorable Slytherin house. But I will be watching you, of that there is no doubt. Next time you won't be forgiven so easily."

Pansy waited for the man to nod for them to leave and got up to head for the door. Granger followed with her head down and they both left the dark and gloomy office. They walked together to a section of the deserted corridor, they were definitely going to arrive more than late to their respective classes.

When Pansy made sure she had gotten far enough away from the office she grabbed Hermione's arm and got close enough to her to make sure no one could hear what she was saying, even though it was evident that they were completely alone.

"That damn weightless being betrayed us."

Hermione stared at her for a few seconds with a hint of smugness etched on her face before shaking her head.

"Myrtle? I don't think so."

"Don't you? So how do you explain the fact that Snape knew exactly where the wand was?

The Gryffindor rolled her eyes.

"He is the head of your house and you don't know that he is one of the most skilled magicians in the art of Legilimency?" Pansy's mouth dropped so wide that Hermione feared her jaw would go haywire. "You really didn't know?"

"Has he been reading my thoughts all this time?" She asked, stunned, when she absorbed the Gryffindor's words. It was the first time Hermione had seen the Slytherin so embarrassed.

"Only in the moments when you let him look you right in the eye." Hermione shrugged. "Why did you think I avoided his gaze all the time? I mean, I'm not sure this is permitted for teachers to do that on students, but…"

"Then he already knows that I... that Potter...?"

"Surely. And I bet he also knows my rare little obsession with your friend by now."

"And why are you so calm?" The Slytherin wanted to know. "Oh, Merlin. Surely he has seen all my sexual fantasies with Harry, everything I want to do when we finally are in bed together… this is so embarrassing that I want to throw myself from the Astronomy tower right now."

Granger just sighed. She decided to skip the part where Pansy confessed that she would practically tear down the castle if she got to have sex with Harry before graduation.

"There is no way to make him forget... all that. At least his inquisitiveness might have him nightmares tonight."

"God damn. Is there any way to stop him from re-entering my mind?"

"Occlumency." Hermione replied immediately. "But as far as I know it is not as easy as it sounds. Emptying the mind of any kind of thinking requires enormous will power and a high level of mental discipline. Occludants take years to perfect their occlumency skills. It's like managing to resist the Crucio hex, you could do it over time, but you should have worked hard on it.

"Come on Granger, give me a viable solution."

"We can also avoid eye contact." She said. Snape is a master of Legilimency and may be able to access your thoughts without looking you in the eye, but this definitely makes it easier for him.

"We'll stop going to his classes then."

"What?"

"What you just listened. We have to avoid him at all costs."

"But he can fail us..."

"I'm not going to give up on the deal, Granger. Not now that Snape knows my intentions. This embarrassment is not going to fall on deaf ears." She said. "Also, very few classes will be missed. We can always claim to be sick."

"Am I really going to risk my course for someone like Draco, who threatened me just half an hour ago?"

"Yes, for him and for me. It is what it is." Pansy seemed unwilling to accept a refusal at the time, so Hermione chose not to question. "Okay, we will need another place to meet. Myrtle's bathroom is no longer an option and these plans are not going to come up on their own."

The Gryffindor crossed her arms. There was no point in going to the class she was supposed to have now, surely there were only about fifteen minutes left to finish.

"I have to think about it."

"Well, think fast then." Parkinson urged her. "You still have to explain to me how the hell the Weasley fool has ruined such a good plan without you doing something to prevent it.

And suddenly, that snake of infinite elegance turned her back on her and disappeared down the hall.

Hermione returned to the Gryffindor common room to pick up her Charms books. She had arranged to meet Harry in the library to do the volunteer work Flitwick had proposed in class a few days earlier. Whoever wanted to do so would have complete freedom to choose one of the enchantments learned over the years in order to analyse it in depth. Students would have to find out who was its creator, its beginnings, its history and its relevance in the magical world. She knew it was a time-consuming job, but instead of running to the library she decided to take a moment to sit on the sofa in front of the fireplace. She needed a few minutes to assimilate everything that had happened in the last few hours. First, Ronald and his plan-destroying loyalty, then the encounter with Malfoy and her brilliant idea of challenging him to a duel, later Snape and his legilimency...

Now that she had a moment alone she could think about it more carefully and understand the seriousness of what they had done. She and Parkinson could have been on their way to their respective homes with an expulsion scroll in hand for breaking one of the most important Hogwarts rules. Hermione knew full well that the wand was the most personal object of any wizard or witch, and that taking it without permission was a serious violation of the person's honor... but still, how to retract when the Slytherin had already given the go-ahead to your plan? She would definitely have to think things through before speaking.

A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of how close she had come to throwing her future down the toilet. At least they already knew that Snape was aware of their plans, so they would have to be careful if they didn't want to end the professor's already little patience. She swallowed, adjusted the books under her arm and jumped up. Sometimes she believed that this agreement with Parkinson would end up destroying her sanity, but then she thought that you had to be crazy enough to accept a deal with snakes in the first place... and how, after all, she had ended up doing it even knowing that this girl was not going to accept defeat on her part, so the only thing left for her to do was to hold on and carry on with that nonsense.

She had already demonstrated herself she was crazier than she would ever thought.

She found Harry easily when she entered the library. He and Ronald always sat at one of the tables furthest from the entrance, near the bookshelves. The first greeted her as she entered his field of vision, the second snored a little beside him as he covered his head with a Defense Against the Dark Arts book. The girl rolled her eyes. The only two states of the redhead were "hungry" and "sleepy".

Hermione put the books down on the table with a thud, causing Ron to jerk to his feet in shock.

"Good morning." She greeted him with a hint of disapproval in her voice, but all the boy did was scratch his head and put it back on the table. Hermione looked at Harry's wand. "Have you found it?"

He shook his head.

"An elf was waiting for me after class to give it to me. Before I could even ask him any questions, he snapped his fingers and disappeared. I guess I must have it gotten lost in the hallways…

"Listen." Hermione was feeling so guilty after steal his wand that she was about to apologize to him. She needed to do it, even if it wasn't for the real reason. "Harry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't stay to help you both search your wand. I was so concerned about being punished by Snape that I, I couldn't…"

"It's okay, Gryffindor didn't need another seventy points being discounted. By the way, where have you been?"

"I was feeling unwell."

"And why aren't you in the infirmary?"

"I feel better now."

"Good. So, you want to tell me what enchantment you want to do your job about?"

"I have considered various options. I am struck between spells like Depulso or Carpe Retractum, but I think the one I like the most is Wingardium Leviosa."

"Yes, of course you do." He almost smile for that. "Besides, there are hundreds of books where you can easily find useful information about that enchantment."

"Which one have you opted for?"

"I want to do it about Incendio. I think it would be interesting to relate what was learned both in Charms and in Herbology. You know that other uses have been taught in that subject too... but I suppose it will be more difficult to find certain types of information. I asked the librarian and she has not been able to tell me exactly in which section to start searching."

"Oh, I remember reading a book in second year where everything related to that enchantment was very well explained. It took the librarian a couple of hours to find it when I asked for it because there was apparently only one copy in the castle. The author's decision to include fairly explicit images of all the damage and deaths caused by this enchantment was not a very popular thing for students to see, so Dumbledore only had one copy."

"Brilliant! What is the name of the book?"

"The name is…" Hermione stopped herself. She forced herself to do so when Parkinson's face suddenly appeared in her thoughts. She had just come up with a completely perfect plan, so she pretended to be thinking while biting her lip for a few seconds. "I don't remember, but let me think about.

Ronald let out a loud snore, causing everyone around him to turn to face the three of them.

Well, with him close to Harry all the time, maybe the plan wasn't quite perfect... but she would think of something to solve it.

Hermione plucked up the courage to glance at Snape at lunchtime, and although she did so sneakily she could see him staring at her without blinking once. Well, he was serious about keeping them under surveillance. She hid behind Ronald and watched Pansy as she served pumpkin puree across the dining room. She seemed calm, yes, but she knew that deep down she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to the fact that they ran out of time. Maybe she would panic too soon. The girl in green stared at her plate as Malfoy and Nott talked to each other. How could she get her plan across to her? Where could they meet again without risking being caught again? It was a fact, next time they would be kicked out and there would be nothing they could do or say to prevent it. Because they hadn't broke the rules trying to win over a couple of boys, and Snape knew that well, but she was sure that he would try to catch them doing something forbidden so he could kick them and send them out of school. Perhaps Snape would even try to blame her alone if the opportunity presented itself, he had already verified that he was not very excited to expel one of the most popular students from his own house... even so they had to manage somehow, find a place that guarantees a certain level of security, but how to conspire together without raising suspicions? They definitely couldn't be seen speaking in public.

Hermione hoped something would occur to her soon, but in the meantime they couldn't waste their time. The first came to her next class, picked up one of her scrolls, and ripped one of the corners out with haste. Before Harry sat down next to her and could see what she was doing, she quickly wrote with her ink.

11pm Seventh floor stairs.

She folded the paper and put it in the inside pocket of her robe. She hoped she could sneakily pass it to Pansy when the hallways were completely crowded, but although she looked everywhere for her, she didn't see her again until dinner time. Without paying attention to the discomfort of her friends, Hermione literally swallowed a bowl of rice before getting up from the table and hastily out of the Great Hall. She could feel Snape's gaze on the back of her neck when she left, but she didn't worry too much about it and focused all her energy on getting to her common room as soon as possible. If Pansy finished dinner and returned to the dungeons there would be no way to communicate with her and they would have wasted precious time. So she went up the stairs three by three and ran through the painting of her common room. She felt that her body needed to recover from the race, but she knew she had no time to lose. With hardly any air in her lungs, Hermione managed to stammer her cat's name.

"Crookshanks?"

The animal, which was curled up in a chair, took a few seconds to answer the call. She stretched, leaped at her owner's feet and brushed her legs. Hermione removed the note from inside the robe and crouched down in front of the cat.

"Crookshanks, I need you to take this to..." She stopped talking when Lavender entered the common room. She pretended to be petting her cat and waited for her to drop into one of the armchairs in the room. Swallowing and considerably lowering her voice, Hermione continued speaking. "Take it to Pansy Parkinson." The animal snorted a little in disagreement, but Hermione frowned at him. "Come on, I've never asked you for anything. Be a good pet and do me that favour. I promise to buy you the fish cookies that you like so much."

Crookshanks licked his paw and shook himself a little before taking the note in his mouth and walking through the portrait with a dignified air.

Even in the distance, Pansy could feel Snape staring at her skull. She knew he wasn't about to let one of his students get involved with a Gryffindor, let alone Harry Potter… but she wasn't about to give up either. The feeling of embarrassment when she realized that the Potions teacher had entered her mind was not completely gone, but she could live with it. What she couldn't live with would be without having tasted Potter the way she had thought so many times. Hell, he was so… kind. So caring and loving. And that was what got her hot and bothered the most. His manners and good heart, so different from what she had always known. She didn't know if that obsession was completely healthy for her, but what was clear was that it had become a personal challenge that she didn't want to lose even for all the Gringotts gold.

"I'm telling you, that mudblood is going to fall at the first hex." Draco said beside her, pulling her out of her musings.

"What are you guys talking about?" She asked.

The blond one totally ignored her while Theo shrugged at her.

"He says Granger challenged him to a duel on Sunday." He explained. "He is convinced that he will easily beat her, but I am telling him that... that she is Granger. Being objective, there is no better student than her in the castle. She has even shown to have great secret dexterity in Quidditch, what makes me think that, maybe, she is also good at duelling."

Draco wrinkled his nose a lot and frowned as he stared at his friend.

"It seems you only have kind words to say about that mudblood."

"Theo likes Granger." Pansy crooned with a mischievous smile on her face. "Theo likes Granger."

"Shut up!" Theo screamed. The companions around them stared at him for a moment. "Do not say foolishness. I was just trying to keep Draco from underestimating someone like her."

"I've made it clear that I don't need you to protect me from anyone, much less Granger."

Pansy allowed the boys to continue arguing when something fluffy stroked her legs suddenly. Puzzled, she peeked under the table to see what it was about. Granger's cat brushed once more for her before leaving a paper on her feet and walking away from under the table until he walked out the door to the large dining room. Pansy took the paper in her fingers and read the brief note before standing up. An hour and a place, perfect. Of course, Granger would have already found a new abandoned place to meet. The Slytherin put that little note in her pocket, but made the mistake of looking instinctively at the teachers' table. She realized this when her eyes went to Snape's. His gaze was so penetrating that she couldn't tear her away until a few seconds later. She didn't know if she'd given him time enough to "see" what she'd just read, but she couldn't risk leaving Granger alone in the face of danger. If Snape caught her out of his common room at that hour he would surely end up expelling her, and what would she do without her only access to Potter? No, she had to answer her call and make sure she got to the new hideout on time.

She was still feeling watched when she got up from the table and left the large dining room. Pansy occupied an entire sofa while waiting alone in her common room. The intrigue was eating her up inside, but she had to wait at the agreed time. Time passed slowly, as if the hands of the clock were moving lazily. There were barely four people awake when Pansy jumped to her feet and started to leave the room. Draco shot her a frozen look from his chair, and though she expected to hear a "where are you going?" from him, the blond didn't say a word. Instead he kept reading that Quidditch book as she turned to get out of there. She was twenty minutes early, the castle was huge and she had the added difficulty of trying to avoid being caught.

Stealthy as a green-eyed cat, Pansy walked all over Hogwarts until she reached the agreed upon location. Granger was nervously waiting for her near there.

"You came." She whispered anxiously.

"Of course I did." She replied.

Granger nodded for her to follow her. They both walked a few steps and positioned themselves between two standing armours on the wall.

"Well, we don't have much time." She whispered again. "I know what your next move is going to be. Harry is doing work for…"

"Wait." The Slytherin interrupted. "Don't you have a place to hide? I think Snape was able to read my mind after I read your note."

Hermione shook her head and looked at both sides of the hallway uneasily.

"Not yet. I just wanted to tell you about the new plan, and corridors are always full during the days."

"And why did you make me come all the way here instead of spotting somewhere in between?" Pansy looked really upset at the time.

"I was... scared of being too far from my common room." She confessed. "Since Snape would be much more benevolent with you than with me… I don't know. I can't be kicked out by now, I just can't."

"I want to launch a stunner at you right now."

Hermione stiffened, but not because of the Slytherin threat. Pansy put her index finger to her lips to signal her to be silent and they could both hear a couple of footsteps heading there.

"Shit, shit, shit." Hermione whispered hysterically. Her heart had begun to pound wildly in her chest and now her feet seemed to be nailed to the ground.

"Don't just stand there." Pansy grabbed her arm and forced her to move. They ran down the hall as quietly as they could, but it was impossible not to make a noise in the midst of so much stillness.

They were running desperate with that third person on their heels. They turned an infinity of corners to try to confuse him, but they never stopped listening to the footfalls behind them.

"We have to hide somewhere." Groaned Hermione. "If we keep running through the halls he will end up catching us."

Pansy seemed to agree with her, but they just couldn't find anywhere that inspire them enough confidence. A few long seconds later, Pansy pointed to a door at the end of the hall.

"I don't remember ever seeing that door."

Hermione did not reply. She grabbed her hand and tugged her until she got there, opened the door and they went inside. She could see Snape's silhouette looking both ways down the corridor in the millisecond it took to close the door. It faded in the blink of an eye.

"It was Snape." She informed the Slytherin... but she seemed too fascinated to react to that properly.

"What is this place?" She wanted to know.

Hermione, who was breathing hard due to the chase, looked around in surprise. It was a large room with a huge sofa and a table on the left, in the background was what looked like a fitting room next to some clothes hangers and to the right an empty space with a rubber floor.

"I've read a lot about this place, but I've always been very skeptical about its existence..." Hermione took a deep breath, taking the opportunity to finish calming down. "It is the Room of Requirement."

"Really?" Pansy moved around the room, looking in all directions. "I've read about it too... Does this mean that Hogwarts is helping us move forward with our purpose?"

"So it seems." Hermione replied. "A minute ago we urgently needed a place to hide and the castle provided us with it."

Pansy held her thumbs up in the air.

"Well done magic room. One hundred points for you."

Hermione couldn't help but smile. She had been spinning her head all day trying to find a place where she and Pansy could see each other in the remainder of the course... and in the end it had been the castle itself that had put that room ahead of them. And to be honest it was ideal, much more inviting than Myrtle's dirty old bathroom.

"Look, it's also left you with a few excellent-quality clothes." Pansy told her as she touched the fabric of one of the shirts on the hangers. "Even the living room thinks you need a change of look. And that part over there seems perfect for practicing grief lessons. You will also need it."

Hermione nodded across the room. Then she walked over to the table in front of the sofa and picked up a couple of small jars on it, next to a box of Honeydukes chocolate cauldrons. The Gryffindor shuddered when she realized that those sweets were Ron's favourites. She read the labels on the jars and recognized the name immediately.

"And here are a couple of doses of a non-lethal poison, but strong enough to make a person have horrible diarrhea for an entire day."

Pansy strode over to her and snatched those little jars out of her hands, looking at them curiously.

"You know who they are for, right?"

Hermione nodded, though she had begun to feel remorse before even doing anything. Then, she remembered Harry's yesterday's words: "She also said that someone from our class will be poisoned very soon." She didn't want to believe that Trelawney could have been right this time, so she tried to clear her mind coming up with something she knew she had to talk about sooner or later.

"Hey, about Ronald this morning..."

"Forget it, okay?" She interrupted. Then she returned her the cans with the poison. "But make sure you don't fail this time or you and I will have a big problem."

"That won't be necessary."

"I hear you."

"You see... Harry is doing the volunteer work that Flitwick suggested in class, but he wants to do it about the Incendio enchantment, which there aren't many books to get information on... The thing is, I know of one where he could find a lot of interesting facts, but there is only one copy in the entire castle..."

"And you want me to get it out before he can do it." Pansy continued.

"So he'll be forced to work with you if he wants to find enough information." Hermione continued, nodding.

The Slytherin narrowed her eyes slightly before continuing.

"I like it. I wasn't going to do that blissful job, but if I have to sacrifice myself to be near him, I will."

"I'll make sure Ron eats these poisoned sweets."

"You better... And go try on these clothes over there. I also have a couple of ideas for you."

Pansy wasn't entirely sure what time it was when she got to the dungeons, but she supposed it must be early in the morning. Despite that, she found Draco in the same chair he was in when she left. He kept reading that book carefully, so much so that he didn't even deign to raise his head to look at it.

Pansy took off her robe and placed it on the back of the sofa as she got closer to him.

"Aren't you going to ask me where I came from?" Her voice took on a completely unintended sensual touch when she said that in a whisper, but even that didn't make Draco notice her presence. "Are you still mad at me?"

Her friend gripped the book tighter. Pansy knew she was doing well when his fingers seemed about to pierce the cover.

"It's a shame you won't talk to me, I have something that will definitely interest you."

The blonde's nostrils widened as he looked up to see her. There was an implicit warning in his eyes that Pansy did not ignore, but she was sure that the information she had for him would make him forget everything about her "betrayal" in Hagrid's class.

"I hope you're not wasting my time on anything." He warned her.

She tossed her hair back with a shake of her head before sitting down on the armrest of the chair.

"Oh, I assure you, you would kill to know what I know."

"Get to the point, Pansy."

"I have two conditions before I tell you." The air in the room froze with the expression that appeared on the boy's face. It was clear that he did not like to have limitations placed on him. "The first is that you don't ask questions. The second is that you answer mine."

"Speak now." He roared.

Pansy stood up again and walked in front of him before giving him a glorious smile.

"I know what strategy the Gryffindors are going to follow in the final game." Draco widened his eyes and parted his lips to speak, but Pansy was quick to lean over him and put a finger on them. "No questions. You will have to trust me, but first... I am curious about your duel with Granger."

Pansy licked her lips unconsciously. Draco stared at her until she was separated from him and continued walking in circles.

"Curious?" He said at last.

"Yes, curious. What led you to accept a duel with her a few days before graduation? What's more, why would she even chalenge you?"

"Her lack of common sense." He snapped. "I just wanted another chance to pull her off her broom and she came up with the stupid duel. One way or another I will win."

"Curious..." The smirk on the girl's lips awoke Draco's most irritable side.

"What the hell do you think is curious about it?"

"Your obsession with her..."

"What are you talking about?"

"I remember when in the early years at Hogwarts you couldn't stop talking about Granger. You were doing it to insult her, yes, but in the end she was always in your thoughts."

"You did it too." He accused.

"Yes, but I did it because I liked to bother her. However, yours has always been something more... personal. And now you are going to have a duel face to face with her."

"I don't know what you mean by that." Her friend's body was completely tense at that point.

"I always thought you had a little crush on Granger, even if you'd never admit it." Pansy bent down to dodge the Quidditch book he'd thrown directly into her face. "I would recommend that you solve these issues before the end of the year, but that's okay, I don't want you to be mad again. Let's go back to the topic of Gryffindor strategy. And remember, no questions will be asked."

Draco pursed his lips and Pansy started to speak. She was completely and hopelessly crazy about Potter, yes, but that was one thing and quite another was her desire for victory. Maybe that boy could make her inner heart burn with his presence, maybe he could cloud her senses with his closeness, but she would never let herself be beat by anyone, not even by him. She knew his strategy and would use it to her advantage. She would get Draco to forgive her and they would win the match. This was how a true snake took advantage of every situation.

Pansy stared at Draco as she finished speaking. He was the snake messiah in the castle and was being betrayed without realizing it. And Pansy was willing to take action when it came to Granger. That girl needed a miracle for Draco to give up his principles and start really wanting her, and for that she would need to start pulling out the heavy artillery.

AN: Thank you to all of you who are writing some reviews! I read them all, and I'm super glad that most of you like the story so far!

Review? :D
Cristy.