Monday morning began just as poorly as Friday afternoon ended; Hermione had just finished buttering her toast when the morning's post delivery arrived. She looked up in confusion when three separate owls landed in front of her, all clamouring to deliver their letter first. Four more owls followed, splattering scrambled eggs everywhere and knocking over goblets of pumpkin juice. Harry reflexively snatched Hermione's goblet out of the way before it could pour juice into her lap.

"What's going on?" Ron asked, staring at the owls crowding around in bewilderment, his spoon forgotten halfway to his mouth. Porridge dripped slowly onto the table.

"I don't know," Hermione said, taking one of the nearest letters and tearing it open. Her eyes widened at the contents.

You are a horrible girl. Harry Potter deserves better. Go back to the Muggles where you belong.

She ripped open the next letter to find it wasn't much better.

Viktor Krum doesn't need any more heartache. How could you? Didn't you see the results of the World Cup? I'll be sending a curse along as soon as I can figure out how.

One of the letters had a bright red envelope and had begun to smoke faintly at the edges. The owl dropped it at once and took off through the open windows. Hermione didn't have to open that one; a woman's voice exploded across the Great Hall.

YOU SCARLET WOMAN. TOYING WITH HARRY POTTER'S HEART. DRUGGING VIKTOR KRUM. FORCING YOUR ATTENTIONS ON DRACO MALFOY. YOU DESERVE TO BE TURNED INTO A TOAD.

Hermione sat staring in shock after the last echo faded. Nearly every face in the Great Hall was turned towards her. At the Slytherin table, Malfoy looked startled, too, watching her over a letter of his own. A handsome eagle owl sat by his breakfast plate, helping himself to Malfoy's bacon.

"Shall we chuck the rest?" suggested Ron.

"Good idea," Harry said quickly, beginning to snatch the other envelopes away from the owls still jockeying to get Hermione's attention.

Chatter slowly began filling up the Great Hall again as people turned away and resumed their own conversations and meals. Hermione dropped the last envelope she was holding, which felt suspiciously squishy, and let Harry Vanish it along with the others. She let out a long breath she hadn't realised she was holding.

"Ridiculous," she scoffed, trying to appear unfazed.

Harry's and Ron's sympathetic looks told her she hadn't been successful. They gathered their belongings and left the Great Hall hastily in case any more owls decided to turn up with Howlers. Harry looked back once over his shoulder at the Ravenclaw table.

"Cho still not talking to you?" Hermione asked him as they crossed the courtyard to the greenhouses.

Harry shrugged. "I guess not. I can only tell her that you were never my girlfriend so many times. Up to her now if she wants to believe me, I suppose."

"I'm sure she'll come around, mate," Ron said encouragingly.

Hermione was not best pleased to find herself the centre of attention once more. Thanks to the Howler at breakfast and another that had arrived late during Herbology, everyone now knew about Hermione's supposed schemes to win over the rich, famous, and powerful candidates at Hogwarts. All she could do now was wait for people to be bored of it all again. And immediately vanish or incinerate any other mail that arrived for her for the rest of the week.

Hermione picked at her lunch but quickly gave up, sick to her stomach. She decided to go to Arithmancy early and wait out the remainder of the lunch period instead. Taking her usual place in the classroom, she realised it was the first time she had arrived before Malfoy and Theo.

Hermione folded her arms on the desk and rested her forehead against them, closing her eyes. She hadn't been there five minutes when the chairs next to her moved to scrape heavily across the stone floor.

"Hey, Granger." Theo's voice. "How are you holding up? We thought you could use some company 'til class."

Hermione lifted her head off her arms in surprise. "Oh, hey Theo. Malfoy. That's nice of you."

Theo was smiling at her, but she only saw the top of Malfoy's pale blonde head as he studied the floor.

"Seems you can't catch a break lately, yeah?" Theo said. Hermione shrugged.

"Skeeter is a daft cow. What's she after you for anyway?" Theo asked, and Hermione told him about the encounter in the Three Broomsticks after the rubbish piece on Hagrid.

"And about that…" Hermione began, looking at Malfoy. "I'm sorry your name got dragged into it just because you were there. I swear I'm going to figure out how Rita is listening in on conversations. I'm positive it's something illegal. Then she'll regret every piece she's written about me, Harry, or Hagrid."

It was Malfoy's turn to shrug. "Not a problem, Granger. It wasn't me she was trying to drag through the mud." He grimaced faintly, realising the possible implications of what he'd just said. "Although, my parents weren't pleased… mainly about my name being in the paper with Potter's."

Hermione bit her lip. "Oh," was all she could think to say. But he wasn't upset with her for being in the article. That was good.

"So… you and Krum, huh?" Theo asked innocently. Malfoy, who had been reaching into his bag, went very still.

"No… I mean, not really," Hermione confessed. "Viktor and I are good friends now, but I'm not sure it's anything more. Well, anything more for me. I guess I can't speak for him," she said, remembering what Viktor had said during lunch in Hogsmeade.

"Oh, I see," Theo said, a grin spreading on his face. "And you go snogging all your friends?"

Hermione gave a short laugh. "No, I don't. Besides, it's not exactly a dream having your first and only kiss advertised in a trashy tabloid."

Theo laughed, and surprisingly, Malfoy chuckled softly, too, meeting her eyes for the first time since the appearance of the article on Friday. A knot of tension in her middle loosened that she hadn't realised was there.

"You've got me there, Granger," Theo said, still grinning. "But feel free to change your mind on that stance anytime," he said with a dramatic wink.

"Ease up, Theo," Malfoy said jokingly. "Granger doesn't want your lips on her either."

"Yeah, well easy for you to say, Draco," Theo retorted quickly. "I'm surprised Pansy hasn't put a permanent Sticking Charm on you after you gave in and let her snog you all over the castle this weekend."

It was Hermione's turn to go still, and an awkward silence fell. Malfoy looked mildly embarrassed. Theo looked between them, turning faintly red himself.

"Ah, I'm sure I'll live," Theo put in hurriedly. "So, did you guys finish Flitwick's essay?"

After a few more minutes of somewhat stilted conversation, other students began filing into the room. Hermione was glad when Professor Vector finally arrived, and she could stop talking under the pretence of getting ready for class.

She wasn't exactly sure why she felt bothered about what Theo had said. No more than a little bothered, certainly… it wasn't like she cared what Malfoy did in his free time. Except for trying to understand him, of course. She had to know what he did outside of class if she was ever to figure out how he would be tasked with killing Dumbledore for Voldemort. But who he was currently snogging didn't seem to be a relevant factor.

Besides, she had kissed Viktor, and it wasn't like Malfoy was going to care about that. Perhaps it was that Pansy could undermine all of her work so far with getting to know Malfoy. Pansy was jealous, vindictive, and cruel, and if they were an item, she would most certainly not be fine with Malfoy talking to Hermione. And Hermione supposed she had become a bit possessive about Malfoy's interest since deciding to make a project out of the Astronomy Tower incident.

Yes, that would definitely explain her uneasiness over hearing about Malfoy and Pansy.

Hermione gave a start when she realised that she had been sitting with her quill poised over her parchment, not taking a single note for the first five minutes of the lesson. She made a small noise of frustration and began scribbling frantically. Malfoy eyed her sideways, looking concerned.


Hermione had been right about one thing; Pansy was worse than ever the rest of the week. Pansy had apparently taken Rita's piece quite seriously, and was territorial about Hermione being anywhere near Malfoy. The first incident was right after the same Arithmancy class that Hermione had found out about Pansy and Malfoy being… whatever they were. And whatever they were, Pansy wanted to make sure Hermione knew it.

As class let out, Pansy practically sprinted down the hallway to meet Malfoy, throwing Hermione behind him a look of deepest loathing. She must have run all the way from the Divination Tower. Malfoy looked rather alarmed at her appearance, but Pansy clutched his arm with bright pink nails and quickly steered him away down the corridor.

Theo, walking next to Hermione, shook his head and sighed. "Can't believe Draco let her wear him down to this point. I don't know what changed this weekend, but… Granger, I'm sorry about before class. I spoke without thinking. You didn't need to hear about it that way."

Hermione put on a look of confusion. "Hear about what?" she said with feigned ignorance. "Malfoy and Pansy? Why should I care about that?"

Theo just raised his eyebrows at her and changed the subject.

In Potions the next day, Hermione parted with Harry and Ron, who were both looking rather disgruntled, to go to her new seat over at Malfoy's table. It wasn't to be a practical lesson today, so she began getting out her writing materials, only to look up from her bag and see Pansy hanging on Malfoy's arm in the corridor as they approached the classroom.

They were at the front of Pansy's usual crowd of girlfriends. Crabbe and Goyle walked awkwardly to the side. Before coming through the door, Pansy smiled maliciously at Hermione and twined her fingers in the white-blonde hair at the nape of Malfoy's neck, bringing his face down to hers.

When they broke apart a second later, Hermione took solace in the fact that Malfoy's long-suffering expression hadn't changed a whit. He entered the classroom, looking startled for a moment to see Hermione at his table, then looked back at Pansy with narrowed eyes. Hermione laughed softly as he sat down.

"What's so funny, Granger?" Malfoy asked, turning his suspicious stare onto her.

"Just wondering if you could use a Cheering Charm after that," she replied, smiling faintly. "I've got a book for that, you know. Someone lent it to me once."

His expression cleared and the corner of his mouth threatened to lift in a barely repressed smirk.

When Crabbe and Goyle arrived, Goyle sat next to her instead. Suspecting Malfoy had something to do with that, she threw him another grateful look, which he returned this time with a small nod.

The entire week progressed in a similar fashion, with Pansy swooping in whenever Hermione came within ten feet of Malfoy outside of class. Malfoy's annoyed expression etched deeper with each incident, in danger of becoming permanently part of his face. Theo had taken to remaining close-mouthed about the whole thing, watching Malfoy with a mixture of exasperation and revulsion.

Malfoy hadn't been back to the library any evening since letting Pansy lay claim to him, either. Hermione looked at his usual table in the back corner every time she went, even sitting there herself just in case he showed. They were getting on well now, despite everything, and she thought he might be ready to tell her more about his family. Maybe even more about the incident from the Quidditch World Cup, if she asked carefully.

When the Easter holidays came, not even Harry and Ron had the energy to complain about the amount of homework piled on them, taking it as a matter of course now. Hermione herself was barely managing to stay on top of everything they had been assigned — not that she would admit it out loud. At least with the break from classes, she would be able to get ahead again.

Hermione didn't usually leave for the Easter break, but felt a slight pang anyway at missing an opportunity to visit home, especially since she had stayed for Christmas, too. Malfoy and Theo must have gone home for the holidays. She hadn't seen either of them in the corridors or at meal times in the Great Hall.

Viktor came to visit her in the library once at the beginning of break, mainly to let her know that he would regrettably be gone over the holidays again. He was to participate in a much-anticipated friendly match against Greece just after Easter, and he was taking a Portkey home to Bulgaria immediately so that he could resume practice with the team. He also assured her that he was not upset about Rita Skeeter's latest article.

"The press vill alvays find something to lie about. The truth is never interesting enough," he had said, laughing.

She wished she could feel as blasé about it as Viktor.

Hermione went down to the kitchens once with Harry, too, so that she could give Dobby and Winky the first pairs of socks she'd made. They resembled socks, anyway. Dobby's were bright green, to match his eyes, and Winky's blue, to go with her skirt and blouse. Hermione felt like she was starting to get the hang of the Knitting Charm from the booklet, and with more practice, might even be able to add in patterns.

Dobby's profuse thanks made her rather uncomfortable, though, and Winky's pitiful state of distress made her slightly ill. Next time, she'd just send the clothes along with Harry during one of his trips to parcel food for Sirius.

Still puzzled by the mystery of Mr. Crouch wandering the castle, Hermione, Harry, and Ron took out the Marauder's Map thrice more at differing times during the day in an empty classroom to see if they could locate him. Crouch was nowhere to be found over the holidays. Moody, on the other hand, never seemed to leave his office.

During their final inspection of the Map on the last afternoon of break, Hermione noticed a dot labelled Draco Malfoy on the seventh floor. He and the other students who went home must have just returned for the start of summer term. Two corridors over showed another dot labelled Pansy Parkinson, slowly moving towards Malfoy's. Malfoy began moving quickly towards the side of the corridor, and to Hermione's astonishment, proceeded to disappear entirely off the map.

Harry and Ron, busily looking through names around the rest of the map, didn't notice. She scanned the area around the seventh floor corridor, looking for any potential passageways Malfoy could have slipped into. Seeing none, she returned her attention to the spot Malfoy had vanished, and watched as Pansy kept a steady pace past it without pause. Hermione continued to watch Pansy's dot a few seconds longer before Harry announced that he was certain Crouch wasn't here, and Ron voiced agreement.

Harry had just wiped the map clear and was beginning to fold it away when the door to the classroom opened, causing them all to jump.

Professor McGonagall let out a shriek, clutching a hand to her chest. "What are you three up to in here?" she asked rather breathlessly.

"Er…" Harry began, while Ron gaped at her.

"We were helping Harry practice," Hermione jumped in. "He's been preparing for the final task, and he needed partners, so… we volunteered."

"I see," Professor McGonagall said, not unkindly, readjusting her spectacles. Her eyes rested momentarily on the parchment in Harry's hand. "Well, if it's outside of class times, why don't you three use the Transfiguration Classroom? I'd rather not have any accidents up here."

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said, smiling. "That would be wonderful."

McGonagall nodded to Hermione then looked at Harry and Ron. "Potter, Weasley, since you're here, why don't you two make yourselves useful and help me transport these crates down to my office."

McGonagall moved further into the room, looking around. She abruptly snatched up a long roll of parchment atop several dusty wooden crates, using it to direct Harry and Ron to the particular ones they were to carry. Ron looked rather put-upon, grunting as he hefted two of the crates into his arms. Harry shrugged, taking out his wand to cast a Levitation Charm on his own burden, and followed McGonagall out of the room. Ron threw a disgruntled look at Harry's back before mimicking him and trailing after.

Figuring there was no point in following the boys down to McGonagall's office, Hermione was halfway to the common room before she remembered Malfoy's dot on the Map. She slowed to a halt, and after a moment's deliberation, turned back for the Grand Staircase, now heading for the seventh floor. After countless twists, turns, and staircases, she turned the corner to the deserted corridor where Malfoy had disappeared.

Hermione studied her surroundings. There was an enormous, moth-eaten tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy training trolls for the ballet along one wall, and the other wall, the side where Malfoy vanished, was a blank stretch of stone. Hermione felt along it, in case the door was just pretending to be a solid wall, but found nothing. Maybe she was misremembering where exactly Malfoy had gone. She returned to the other side of the corridor and lifted a corner of the tapestry to inspect behind it.

"Granger, what are you doing?" came Malfoy's voice.

Hermione gave a squeak and whipped around to face him, letting the tapestry fall back against the wall.

"Malfoy. You startled me. I was just… where did you just come from?"

Malfoy watched her uncertainly. He was still dressed in trousers and a dark green jumper, presumably from his time at home. His eyes swept over her own casual attire before he spoke, from her trainers to her blue sweatshirt, lingering on her Muggle jeans a moment longer than the rest.

"Well, I found the most extraordinary chamber, full of old rubbish, just back there, and I…" He trailed off, looking over his shoulder, and his eyebrows knit together. "But there was a door. Right there. I swear I just came out of there…"

Hermione stepped up next to him, inspecting the wall again, too.

"I know I didn't imagine it," Malfoy said emphatically.

"I believe you," Hermione assured him. "It must be a part of the castle that can only be accessed at certain times. Or maybe only in a particular way. What was inside?"

Malfoy looked relieved at her acceptance, but still gave the wall another glance of consternation. "It was this huge room filled with mountains of stuff, most of it old rubbish. I've never seen it here before. Tons of broken furniture, old clothes, rusty mediaeval armour and the like. But there were thousands upon thousands of books in there, too."

"Ooh, really?" Hermione asked eagerly, scrutinising the patch of wall Malfoy had indicated even more intensely.

"Really. I've never seen so many in one place except the libraries here and at home," Malfoy said seriously.

Hermione turned to him with wide eyes. "Your library at home is as large as the Hogwarts library?"

"Of course," Malfoy replied matter-of-factly. He then seemed to realise that it wasn't a common occurrence to have an institutionally-sized library in one's home. "It's an estate you see… passed down in my family for generations. Things tend to accumulate." He attempted a laugh that came out as a dry chuckle.

"Wow," Hermione mouthed silently. She tried to picture the scale and extravagance of Malfoy's home, but her imagination likely fell short of its true grandeur. "Do you remember how you found the room in the first place?" she asked after a moment.

"I was getting away from—" Malfoy cut off abruptly, then sighed, seemingly resigned. He ran a hand through his hair, tousling it carelessly. "If you must know, I was hiding from Pansy. She's been all over me."

Hermione felt her cheeks colour faintly and looked down at her feet.

"Not like that," Malfoy put in quickly. "I just meant she's been after me to spend every moment with her and her gang of gossiping birds. She's relentless. It's not like she and I were good friends before we…" Malfoy trailed off again and cleared his throat.

"Sorry, Malfoy," Hermione said coolly, not sorry at all. "I don't have much experience with relationships." She resumed studying the wall.

"I wouldn't call it a relationship," he muttered, almost too softly for her to hear. Then he spoke again at normal volume. "So, what's with the tapestry over here?"

Malfoy gestured to the wall hanging of the dancing trolls.

Hermione blew out a long breath between puffed cheeks. He had been honest with her. "Well, I was actually looking for… you," she finished, cringing slightly.

Surprise painted his features before he reigned in his expression.

"Behind a curtain?" Malfoy asked incredulously, one pale eyebrow raised.

"No, not exactly. I knew you'd just returned from the holidays, and that you were up here somewhere—"

"How did you know that?" he asked quickly.

"Um… I can't say," Hermione said, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.

"What do you mean 'you can't say'? Were you following me?" he drawled, smirking, and folded his arms over his chest.

"No!" Hermione said quickly. "I just…" She sighed. "Can you keep this between us?"

Malfoy searched her eyes once before answering. "Alright," he said finally.

Hermione checked their surroundings to ensure they were still alone before replying.

"I sometimes have this way to tell where people are in the castle. Kind of like a… map," she explained. "And I was curious when you seemingly disappeared from it entirely. It must have been that storage room you stumbled into."

Malfoy eyed her doubtfully. "Really."

"Yes, really," she repeated with a touch of exasperation. "But I'm very curious about this room that appears and disappears randomly, and just happened to show up when you needed it."

"Don't change the subject, Granger," Malfoy said, watching her intently. "What do you mean you can tell where people are in the castle? This… map?"

"All of Hogwarts, actually," Hermione corrected. "Out to the boundaries on the edge of the grounds. But it's not really my secret to tell. It's Harry's, you see…"

"You've got to be joking," Malfoy scoffed. "Potter's got some sort of magical map of Hogwarts? No wonder he gets away with everything."

"Yes, well, he only uses it sparingly, I think."

"Seems kind of an invasion of privacy, yeah?" Malfoy mused, tucking his hands into his trouser pockets and leaning against the wall casually.

"Yes, I suppose," Hermione reluctantly agreed, crossing her arms together, feeling a bit uncomfortable now.

"Who were you and Potter spying on anyway?"

"We weren't spying," Hermione replied defensively, and Malfoy smirked at her. "Okay, maybe it could be construed that way," she allowed. "But we were observing Professor Moody and Mr. Crouch, actually."

"That Ministry bloke?" Malfoy asked.

"That's right," Hermione said, nodding. She moved to lean against the wall next to Malfoy. "He's supposed to be a judge in the tournament, after all, but he wasn't at the Yule Ball, and he didn't show up for the second task. Harry noticed that he's been sneaking around the castle at night, and he seems to spend a lot of time in Professor Moody's office. He was in Snape's office once, too, but Snape was in his own rooms, so it's unlikely he knew Crouch was there. We thought maybe Crouch and Moody had some plan to get to the bottom of whoever submitted Harry's name for the tournament, but Moody seemed reluctant to discuss it. We were thinking of approaching Crouch directly, if we can ever locate him outside of classes. And alone."

Malfoy rubbed his lips together thoughtfully before he spoke. Her eyes lingered on the motion.

"Hmm, that does sound unusual. I don't know much about Crouch — Father never seemed to care for him. But that part about Snape's office made me remember something. A while back, Snape was questioning a few of the Slytherins about ingredients missing from his personal stores in his office. Gillyweed was one, but it seems pretty obvious now that Diggory nicked that. But he also mentioned Boomslang skin and a bicorn horn, which made me think—"

"Polyjuice Potion," Hermione breathed, finishing for him.

He nodded once. "Yes."

"But what would Mr. Crouch want with Polyjuice Potion? And why would he need to steal from Snape's supply to make it?"

"Beats me, Granger," Malfoy said, shrugging. "But both of those ingredients are pretty rare. I'd wager the others are easier to come by for whoever is mixing it up."

Hermione turned that information over in her mind. "That does seem to fit. And Crouch can't very well be out and about if he's supposedly ill enough to miss even the most important events. Ooh, I wonder if Crouch has been under Polyjuice Potion around the castle, and we've been walking by him all along."

"If Crouch is the thief," Malfoy reminded her.

"Yes, yes," Hermione agreed, impatiently brushing strands of hair out of her eyes. "But there's an easy way to check. The Map will show Crouch's name, no matter who he looks like or what type of enchantments he's cast."

"That's a pretty sophisticated magical artefact," Malfoy commented, the corners of his mouth twitching down.

"It is," Hermione agreed. "I've often wondered how they created it… but then, Harry never realises the value of what he's holding sometimes. I mean, his cloak is also very—" Hermione snapped her mouth shut.

"His cloak? Do you mean to tell me Potter also has an invisibility cloak?" Malfoy said indignantly.

Hermione grimaced, reluctant to confirm her slip.

"Oh, come on!" Malfoy growled. "This is outrageous. A complete injustice."

He trailed off, muttering about Hogsmeade and globs of mud.

"Please forget I said that," Hermione said in a tiny voice. Malfoy spared her a look of pure disbelief before mussing his hair with a hand again and sighing heavily.

"Alright, fine, Granger. But if Potter thinks he can start spying on me, or try to pull one over on me, he's got another thing coming."

She gave him a tiny smirk. "Not everything's about you, Malfoy." His expression turned distinctly unamused with the statement and she laughed. "In all seriousness, don't worry. He won't. Not unless you're up to something you shouldn't be. Haven't you noticed how little you, Harry, and Ron have been throwing insults at each other lately?"

Malfoy shrugged, still glowering about Harry's good fortune in magical artefacts. Hermione supposed it was rare that someone else had something that Malfoy couldn't, even if he wanted.

"So, did you have a good holiday?" she asked, changing the subject.

"It was alright," Malfoy said. "Mainly caught up on homework and—"

"Draco!" came a shriek from down the corridor.

Malfoy hurriedly straightened off the wall. Hermione turned to see Pansy stalking towards them, murder in her expression.

"What are you doing here? With her?"

Hermione winced at the echo of what Montague had said several months ago upon finding them after the first task.

Before Malfoy could respond, a voice came from around the corner at the other end of the corridor.

"Hermione!" Ron's voice shouted. "Are you still here? We couldn't find you after McGonagall interrupted, and saw you on the Map up here with…" Ron trailed off as he and Harry came around the corner and saw her still with Malfoy, now joined by Pansy.

Malfoy gave her a knowing look, the 'I told you so' from their conversation about spying heavily implied. She shrugged apologetically back at him. Pansy was ignorant to their exchange, watching Ron approach with narrowed eyes. She seemed to have a particular problem with Ron ever since he joined her table in Potions.

"Weasley," Pansy sneered. "What are you and your antiquated loafers doing smelling up this hallway?"

"Parkinson," Ron replied with a sneer rivalling Pansy's. "No need to pretend there's a smell. We all know that's just how your face looks."

Pansy spluttered, red splotches staining her cheeks, before turning to Malfoy.

"Oh no, I'm not getting in the middle of your spat with Weasley again," Malfoy said, shaking his head and backing up a step. Pansy gaped at him, and Ron smirked in self-satisfaction. Harry just watched with a mildly curious expression. Hermione took the opportunity to move over between Ron and Harry.

"Let's get back to the common room," she said, beginning to walk so that they either had to follow or be left behind with Malfoy and Pansy. She took one last look over her shoulder to see Pansy tossing her head angrily, long dark hair swinging behind her back, and Malfoy looking obstinate. As they turned the corner to the next corridor, shrill tones echoed from behind them — the unmistakable sounds of castigation.

"Ha, two-for-one," Ron said, sniggering. "Got Parkinson to shut up and now Malfoy's being chewed out."

"What's your deal with Parkinson now?" Harry asked Ron.

"Bloody gets under my skin, she does," Ron complained. "Honestly, I never knew someone who could talk so much. She spends all of Potions either yakking to her friends or insulting me. It's driving me bonkers."

Harry gave a short laugh. "Sorry, mate. Just figures that the worst thing Snape does to you this year comes from trying to make me as miserable as possible."

Hermione laughed, too, glad that they weren't questioning why she had been in the hallway with Malfoy for so long in the first place.

Harry looked at her now. "Hermione, what were you doing up here with Malfoy for so long?"

Drat.

"Is he bothering you?" Harry asked with concern.

"No, he wasn't bothering me… we've just got a big project coming up—" Hermione began.

"Arithmancy stuff again?" Ron interrupted suspiciously. "Hermione, don't tell me Skeeter got something right in that article. And with Malfoy, of all people…"

Hermione scoffed and rolled her eyes dramatically. "No, Ron. I am not 'forcing my company' on Malfoy, or whatever rubbish she wrote."

Not exactly, anyway.

"Hmph," Ron grunted. Harry wisely made no comment.

Hermione hated having to lie to Harry and Ron, but she still felt that it would do more harm than good to fully disclose the situation right now. They started up another staircase to Gryffindor Tower, and she hurriedly changed the subject to something she could tell them about.

"So, I overheard something interesting, and I've just now put it together with something to do with Mr. Crouch…" Hermione began, and proceeded to tell them about Snape's missing ingredients, and her thoughts about that being connected to Crouch's nighttime visits to Snape's office.

Harry and Ron wore matching expressions of surprise. As she talked, Ron's eyebrows climbed so far up that they were in danger of disappearing into his hair. She, Harry, and Ron continued discussing the implications well after reaching the common room, making plans to track down Crouch and find out the truth.