Hermione Has a Plan

Hermione walked into the hall and homed in on Harry and Ron, who were huddled on the bench, talking in low tones.

They were halfway through dinner. Ron was munching moodily on a breadstick, and Harry was polishing off a juicy drumstick.

She stood behind them, hesitating, before they turned and saw her. Ron looked a little uncertain, then scooted over to make space for her between the two of them.

Hermione smiled at that, a big grin that lit up her whole face, and wriggled in between them.

Suddenly she threw her arms around both of them and hugged them tight, "Oh, you guys! Whatever am I going to do with you?" and she burst into tears. Ron looked at Harry, horrified. Harry mouthed "hug her" at Ron, who hesitantly pulled her into a hug.

"Herms, don't cry. It's ok! Still friends, right?" Ron pleaded, patting her on the back.

Hermione dug a tissue out of her pocket and blew her nose. She clung to Ron a while more before her breathing returned to normal. Ron looked at Harry over her shoulder, a definite message in his eyes.

Harry grinned and detached Hermione from Ron, pulling her into a close hug. Hermione finally lifted her head and smiled through her tears.

"You guys are the best," she said.

Ron asked hopefully, "So will you go to the Christmas Ball with me then?"

"Nice try, Ron. But no, thanks. Go ask Padma Patil again."

"Nah. She's too Ravenclaw for me. I'll ask that nice Hufflepuff girl, Matty Woodhouse. She helped me out of a tight spot in divination once. Who are you going with, Harry?

Harry was about to speak, when one of the school owls swooped down to drop a little packet on Hermione's lap. She opened the small box and a thin, delicate bracelet fell out. It was filigree gold, its clasp a tiny dragon with glittering red eyes.

"Wow! It's beautiful! Who could have sent this?" She turned the box upside down and shook it out. A parchment fell out. She opened and read it. It said, "The sleeping dragon".

Hermione looked around. She suddenly stiffened. From the Slytherin tables, Draco gave her a small wave.

"Oh my god! It was Draco!"

Harry looked murderous. "Give me that bracelet, Hermione! I'm going to shove it down his throat. He's probably put 30 different hexes on it."

"No!" Hermione cried.

"Don't say you're going to keep it!" Ron joined the fray, "Never accept a gift from an enemy!"

"Draco's not the enemy," Hermione said flatly. "Voldemort is. And Draco is NOT a Death Eater."

Harry sat back, deflated. "Hermione, don't tell me you like him!"

"He's not so bad," she said airily. "We have been working together quite a bit now, being prefects, and he isn't the prat he used to be." Hermione slipped the bracelet onto her wrist and looked up at the Slytherin tables. Malfoy winked at her and she wiggled her fingers at him in a small wave.

"Oh, he is, Hermione! Believe me, he is!"

"Ok. He is still a prat to you guys. But he's been quite decent to me this year. You haven't heard him say 'Mudblood' even once, have you?"

Harry considered that. She was quite right. Malfoy had been as insulting to Ron and him as before, but he hadn't insulted Hermione this year.

A new idea broke on Harry, one that he didn't particularly like. "Do you think he likes you?"

Hermione tossed her long brown locks flirtatiously, "Oh, you think he doesn't?"

"This is Malfoy we are talking about here, aren't we? Since when has a Malfoy liked anything or anyone other than himself?" Ron sneered.

Hermione looked around, pulled both the boys closer and whispered softly, "Since he joined Snape's team of spies, working against the Death Eaters."

Both Harry and Ron were shocked. Ron nearly choked and burst into a fit of coughing. Hermione patted him on the back till he subsided.

She reached for a roll, buttered it, and started eating it.

Draco looked across at the three of them, and felt a pang of something like envy. He hated Harry Potter, hated him for being a hero, being adulated, and having friends who would die for him, like Granger. It just didn't seem fair. Harry was just your ordinary run-of-the-mill wizard to whom extraordinary things happened. Draco was sure he would have met danger with the same success, but the chance hadn't occurred yet.

Unless he counted the first and last time he had defied his father, and nearly been killed for it.

Draco had long known that everything was not hunky-dory between his parents. Lucius Malfoy was known for having a roving eye, and Draco had initially thought that having a string of gorgeous girlfriends was cool. As a boy, he hadn't been able to understand the effect that Lucius' infidelities would have on Narcissa, especially as his mother never mentioned it.

Till one night, he received the shock of his life.

He had gone to stay with Blaise Zabini, the smart, handsome Slytherin who was now his closest companion, replacing the boring goons Crabbe and Goyle. They had served as a foil to Draco for a time, but he had later decided he liked the picture he and Blaise presented, one with platinum hair and the other with golden hair, clad in identical black, and undoubtedly the handsomest pair of young men in Hogwarts.

Draco was supposed to return home on Tuesday, but on Sunday Blaise read in the Daily Prophet that the Chudley Cannons were going to play the Grim Reapers at Malfoy Village, just 7 km from Malfoy Manor, on Monday. The Grim Reapers were Draco's favourite team. They had been out of the country for the past year, playing all over Europe. This was their first match in Britain after their return.

Naturally, the two boys decided to return to Malfoy Manor on Sunday. It was quite late when they arrived, about 11.00 p.m.

Draco and Blaise were let in by a young, smart butler. Draco wondered idly where their old retainer Brierson was. Probably asleep, he thought uncharitably.

They both sat down in the hall, while the butler was sent off to get butterbeer. Blaise sat back on the luxurious divan and looked around, duly impressed by the wealth he saw, as Draco intended.

Draco took his wand out of his pocket and idly lit the chandelier hanging above their heads so that a million diamonds of light danced around them. Hogwarts students were normally not allowed to do magic, especially if Muggles were around, but within the confines of Malfoy Manor, Draco had latitude.

Suddenly a faint cry came from upstairs and they both looked up. It sounded like his mother's voice. Perhaps she was having another epileptic fit! Draco had occasionally seen bruises on his mother's face and arms, which she had explained as a result of her epileptic fits. Blaise should not see his mother like that, was his first thought. The second was that he himself should run up and help her, although he had no idea what to do for an epileptic fit.

"Stay here," said Draco, "I'll be back."

Blaise nodded tensely, but kept his wand ready. He saw that Draco had left his wand behind, so he picked it up too, and walked to the head of the stairs. Something told him Draco might need him, so ignoring Draco's request, he followed him up the stairs.

Draco ran up the stairs to his mother's room and threw open the door. What he saw horrified him - his mother lay on the ground, her arms covering her face, and his father stood over her with a whip.

Draco ran up to his father and shoved him, hard, into the opposite wall.

He turned to his mother, angry tears springing into his eyes. "Mother, it's all right. I'm here."

Narcissa whispered faintly, "Draco, no!"

Draco turned to his father, who was now taking out his wand. "Move aside, Draco, or you'll regret it. This is between your mother and me."

"Not any more, father. I am not a boy now, and you won't touch her anymore!"

Lucius' eyes flared with rage and he lifted his wand. The words "Crucio" were beginning to form on his lips, and Draco braced himself, wishing that he had his wand with him.

"Expelliarmus!"

Lucius' wand flew out of his hands and into Draco's.

They both turned. Blaise stood in the doorway. He threw Draco's wand to him, and Draco caught it easily.

Lucius paused. Without his wand, he was no match for two determined opponents with wands, boys though they were. And he had taught Draco enough of the Dark Arts to make him a dangerous fighter for his age.

Draco faced his father again, "You'll never touch her again, father. Or I swear I'll kill you."

Lucius sat back on the bed. "Get out of my house, all of you."

"We are going. You'll stay here quietly while we collect our things."

Lucius didn't reply. Blaise stood over him with his wand while Draco lifted his mother and led her away.

Out in the world, Draco and Narcissa found that many doors had closed to them. No on wanted to rub the powerful Lucius Malfoy the wrong way. Narcissa herself had no relatives she could go to. Blaise's parents were persuaded to take Narcissa in for a couple of days.

Draco had no idea whom to turn to in this crisis. Unlike most of the other students at Hogwarts, he wasn't in the habit of turning to Dumbledore in a crisis. But he did the next best thing - he sent an owl to Snape. Snape came that very day and took both of them to his sister's house in Hogsmeade.

Snape's sister, Priscilla Tanner, was a widow. Her husband and 2-year-old child had been killed by Death Eaters a month before Voldemort's legendary defeat.

The arrangement was quite satisfactory for all. Priscilla liked the company, Narcissa got the peace and quiet she had yearned for, and Draco could meet Narcissa every week. It also helped that Snape visited her occasionally. They had been friends and classmates at Hogwarts, and the old friendship was slowly revived.

The earlier love and adulation Draco had felt for Lucius had turned into blinding hate. Draco abandoned all the respect for Voldemort his father had engendered in him, and began to follow Snape's view of Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Snape was glad of this. With Draco abandoning the Dark Arts, many other Slytherins would follow. The loss of Slytherin House as a sure breeding ground for Death Eaters would hit Voldemort hard.

Draco tuned back into reality, dismissing the memories that still haunted his nightmares. He smiled. It would be the crowning moment of revenge when Draco started dating Granger, the Mudblood that Lucius hated.

And dating Hermione Granger had its own attractions. It would not be true to say he was attracted to her, but he recognised that she was attractive. She wasn't the prettiest girl at Hogwarts, or even in her own year - the exotic brown-skinned Patil twins were by far more beautiful - but Hermione Granger had something more, an aura of power akin to Snape and Dumbledore, an indication that she was destined to become a great sorceress. Harry Potter had that aura too, he grudgingly admitted, but in Potter it just fuelled his envy and hatred. In Granger he rather liked it.

Oh, no, Draco sighed, as Pansy appeared at the door at the far end of the hall. Luckily he seemed to have developed a radar against the pestiferous Parkinson. Draco slipped out of the closest door and quickly walked away, stuffing a couple of rolls into his pocket.

The moon was high in the sky when Hermione Granger noiselessly walked through the corridors of Hogwarts school.

She stopped at the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's room and whispered, "Sugar pops". The basilisk moved and Hermione entered.