Who Would've Thought?

Ron's eyes had widened throughout her explanation. "Wait," he said before she could leave

Hermione stopped. "What is it?"

"Uh..." Ron nudged Harry, and gave him a significant look. "Um... Harry has to tell you something. Don't you Harry?" he stared pointedly at him.

He glared at Ron for a split second before turning to Hermione. "Um, yeah, I need to tell you something."

"Well what is it?" she crossed her arms, looking impatiently at him.

"Well, uh..." he looked around at all the people in the Great Hall. "Do you think we could go up to the common room, and I could tell you there?"

"No, Harry, there's only a half hour left before curfew. I need to find what I need in the library before then. Just tell me here."

"Er... actually, Hermione," he sneaked a side glance at Ron. "I forgot what I was going to tell you." He smiled sheepishly up at her. "Sorry."

Hermione rolled her eyes and started walking away. "Boys," she muttered. "I'll see you two later," she called over her shoulder as she exited the Great Hall.

When she had gone, Ron turned exasperatedly towards Harry. "Why didn't you tell her?"

"Ron! I couldn't tell her in front of everybody!"

"Oh, no one was looking, Harry," he sighed. "Tell her when she gets back from the library, then," he said finally. "Promise me."

"Yes, yes, I promise," Harry said, then quickly changed the subject. "Now, how about that Herbology test, eh? Pretty easy, wasn't it...?"

* * *

A little over a half hour later, Hermione quietly emerged from the library, holding a heavy book under one arm. "I can't believe that I lost track of time..." she muttered as she glanced furtively around the empty hallway. "If Filch catches me..." the thought was too unbearable to finish.

Rounding a corner, she smacked into Malfoy. They collided and the book fell from her grasp with a heavy thud.

"Ow! Nice one, Granger," Malfoy said, grimacing as he massaged his injured shoulder

"Malfoy?" she asked in surprise. "What are you doing out past curfew?"

"I could ask you the same thing, you know."

Her eyes narrowed as she bent down to pick up her book. "I think I hurt my arm..." she muttered as she took out her wand to perform a simple spell to make the pain go away. Then she straightened up to look at him. "Careful, Malfoy, I'm a prefect. I can deduct house points for being up after curfew."

He rolled his eyes. "Then you'd have to explain why you were out late, too."

"Well, I'd think of...some excuse..." she stammered. "And besides, mumpff!" she finished incoherently as Malfoy placed his hand over her mouth.

"Quiet!" he snapped.

Hermione struggled, but stiffened when she saw two reddish points of light down the hall. Her eyes widened.

"Mrs. Norris," Malfoy whispered. He quickly looked around the hallway, then opened the door to a small storage room. "In here! I definitely don't want another detention with you," he hissed into her ear before pushing her into the room, neither of them noticing that Hermione's wand slipping from her fingers and falling to the floor. The wand rolled under the door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom across the hall.

The door closed with a soft click, and the two students stood rigid, listening to the silence. They heard Filch pass the door and his muffled mutter to Mrs. Norris. "Anybody here, my sweet?"

There was silence, and Hermione took a moment to look around the small room. Large boxes and crates were stacked everywhere, but the room itself was tiny. There was barely enough room for two people. Then her head snapped back towards the door as she heard footsteps approach. "Hiding in here perhaps?" he asked himself.

Hermione's automatically took a step backwards as she heard Filch twist the doorknob. "Locked," he said, disappointed.

Hermione started to breathe again when she heard the footsteps retreat down the corridor. She looked over at Malfoy, whom she could barely see in the dim room. He had just collapsed wearily against the wall, sighing. "Please tell me he did not just say that the door was locked."

Hermione gulped, walked towards the door, and tried to open it. It wouldn't budge. She groaned and turned back to face Malfoy. "Okay, I won't tell you."

Malfoy closed his eyes and banged his head off the wall.

"Oh stop that. You're acting like a baby," she said in disgust. "It's not a big deal. Just perform the Unlocking Charm, then we're out of here."

"But I don't have my wand!" he complained, opening his eyes. "I was out taking a walk around the school, and I didn't think I'd need it, so I left it back in my room. Just use yours."

Hermione sighed. "Malfoy, you're never supposed to go anywhere without your wand. What would've happened if someone had attacked you?" she asked him as she searched her pockets for her wand.

"Oh, yeah," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I can see that I am such an easy target, here in Hogwarts, the most protected place in the wizarding world, among a throng of people walking all around me. Yeah, I can see where that 'getting attacked' thing might come into play."

"Well just in case! What about our second year, eh? Neither student nor teacher nor ghost was safe from that basilisk. And now, with You-Know-Who back, who knows what could happen? Now shut up and let me find my wand!" she shouted back at him. She continued searching her robes for her wand, with an expression of increasing horror on her face. "I...I don't have my wand..." she said with disbelief. "I...I can't believe it. I just had it!" She looked accusingly at him. "I must've dropped it when I was shoved in here."

"Great! This is just great!" he punched the wall angrily. "Thanks a lot."

Hermione shivered, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm. "Hey, this isn't my fault! You're the one who made me drop it!"

"Well it's not my fault Filch was coming! Believe me, I could think of a million things I'd rather do than to spend yet another evening with you! If you hadn't been out so late, we wouldn't have crashed into each other, then we wouldn't have had to hide from Filch, and we could both be back in our nice warm dorms by now!"

Hermione sighed and rubbed her temple. "Just, stop. We need to stop accusing each other. Nobody's to blame, alright?"

"Fine," Malfoy said. He sat down on a wooden box, shivering.

"It's cold in here," Hermione murmured to herself.

"Really?" Malfoy drawled. "Thanks for stating the obvious."

"Be quiet," she said as she set the heavy book on the floor started opening different boxes and cartons.

"What are you doing? We need to think of ways to get out of here, Granger!"

"I'm looking for blankets, Malfoy. Why don't you try helping instead of just sitting on your butt and throwing insults at me?"

"Please," he snorted. "Like I would ever help a Mudblood like you."

Hermione scowled as she stood up, holding a blanket in her hand. "I found one," she said as she settled down on a crate across from his, throwing the blanket around herself. "I should've known better than to ask someone like you to help me."

"What do you mean, someone like me?" he frowned.

"You know what I mean, Malfoy."

"No, I don't. Enlighten me," he said.

"Oh please, Malfoy. How can you not know what I mean? You know as well as I do that you're nothing but an insufferable git with a horrible father, and you both have nothing better to do than bother my friends and I."

"Don't you dare talk about my father, Granger." He crossed his arms and stared at the floor.

"Oh yeah? Why not, Malfoy?" she challenged. "You always talk about the Weasleys, or Harry's parents. Why shouldn't I talk about yours?"

"Let me tell you something, Granger. My dad is a good person and a good father. He doesn't deserve to be degraded. Things aren't always as they appear to be, you know."

Hermione scoffed. "Well I'm sorry, Malfoy. But I find it hard to believe that your father can actually be a decent person, after what he has done to countless Muggles and wizards alike. Like at the Quidditch World Cup back before fourth year started."

"He wasn't the only one there, you know! Has it ever crossed your tiny brain for one second that he was forced to do it?! To do things like that? Did you ever think that maybe he might not wanted to have do that at all?!" he told her angrily, with a trace of bitter resentment in his voice

Hermione stared at him for a minute, hardly believing what she was hearing. "You mean he didn't?" she asked quietly.

He turned and faced away from her. "I shouldn't have told you that. It's none of your business. It's nobody's business but mine."

She nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her. They sat in silence for a minute before Malfoy suddenly stood up and examined the door. "There has to be a way out of here," he muttered under his breath.

"I don't think there is," Hermione said dejectedly.

He turned to face angrily at her. "Did I ask for your opinion, Granger?"

"No, but I'm giving it to you anyway," she said, staring straight into his eyes, not backing down. "We're probably going to have to wait until someone finds us."

"But that probably won't be till morning!" Malfoy said, frustrated. He started banging on the door and yelling, "HELLO?! IS ANYONE OUT THERE? OPEN THE DOOR!!"

Hermione stood up quickly and pulled him away from the door, one hand clutching his arm, the other covering his mouth. "Are you crazy?" she hissed at him. "Do you want Filch to find us?"

He struggled, pulling his mouth away from her hand, and glowered at her. "It'll be better that spending the night with you!"

"No it won't, Malfoy. Use your head. Filch will probably give us not just one detention together, but a whole month of them!" she fumed

"Well what do you propose we do, then?" he asked furiously. "And get your hands off me!"

"I propose that we get comfortable," Hermione said, letting him go. She went over to the blanket, wrapped it around herself, and laid down on the floor. "We're in for a long night."

He stared down at her disbelievingly. "No way, Granger. There is no way that I'm going to sleep next to you."

"Believe me, I don't want you to, but it seems like we have no other choice. Unless you want to sleep sitting up on one of those uncomfortable wooden crates," she said casually, then shrugged. "Good luck getting to sleep."

"Thanks, Granger," he said as he went over to the box that contained the spare blankets, and pulled one out. Then he sat down on a crate, throwing the blanket around himself. "Thanks a lot."

She smiled sweetly. "Anytime."

* * *

Harry jerked awake. Someone was shaking him. "Wha? What...what's going on?" he said stupidly.

"Harry! Wake up! You overslept," someone said urgently.

Oh. It's only Ron, Harry thought. "Go 'way Ron. Lemme alone," he said sleepily.

"Harry," Ron tried again. "You overslept. We have our first class in 15 minutes!"

That got him awake. His eyes flew open as he sat straight up, groping around for his glasses.

"Why'd you let me sleep so late?" he asked Ron as he slid out of bed, looking around for some clean robes.

"It wasn't my fault you forgot to set your alarm clock," Ron said indignantly.

"Oh. That's, right, I remember now," he yawned. He closed his bed hangings and started to get dressed while Ron started to get his books he needed for that day. "I was waiting up for Hermione again. To tell her... uh... you know. But she never came back. And I was so tired when I finally came up to bed, I forgot to set my alarm."

"Hmm...," Ron wondered. "Where can she be?"

"I don't know." Harry shoved his bed curtains aside and hopped out, fully (albeit messily) dressed. He ran to the bottom of his bed and grabbed his bag out of his trunk. "Alright, let's go."

The two boys ran out of the room heading for their first class. They would have to skip breakfast that day.

* * *

Hermione woke up groggily, her half-opened eyes looking around. Wait, this isn't my room. Where am I? Then her mind registered a warm body pressed against her side. Oh, that's right. Malfoy and I got locked in this closet last night. Wait a minute! Her eyes flew open and she looked down at the body next to her. There was a head of silvery blonde hair resting against her shoulder.

"Malfoy?! AHH!" she screamed in shock, scooting frantically away from him.

* * *

Harry and Ron arrived at Defense Against the Dark Arts with a few minutes to spare. Ron opened the door, stepped inside, and promptly fell on his butt.

Harry burst out laughing. "What happened?" he asked, helping his friend up.

"I slipped on something," he grumbled, bending down to pick it up. "Wait a minute..."he frowned. "Is this Hermione's wand?"

Harry's eyes widened as he stared at the familiar object. "It is! But... what is it doing here?"

Quite suddenly, they heard a girl scream.

"What was that?" Ron asked, looking around.

"It came from in there," Harry answered, staring suspiciously at the storage closet across the hall.

The two boys approached it cautiously and Harry tugged at the door.

"Locked," he murmured. He took out his wand and said, "Alohomora." The door opened, and Harry gasped at what he saw.

"What is it?" Ron asked. He peered around Harry to get a glimpse, and then he gasped as well.

"Hermione?" They both asked at the same time.

Hermione, who was staring in horror at the boy next to her, jerked her head up as the door opened.

"Oh... uh..." she stood up and ran a hand through her sleep-tousled hair, trying to smooth it down. "Hi guys..." she said in relief.

"Whassa matter?" Malfoy said crankily, slowly sitting up. Her scream had awakened him. He rubbed his eyes, looked up at Harry and Ron, and rubbed his eyes again. "What are you two doing in my room?"

Harry, who up until now was just working his jaw silently, finally found his voice. "This isn't your room Malfoy. And the more important question is, what were you doing with Hermione, locked in a closet all night?" he said angrily, noticing that Hermione was still wearing the same clothes from the previous night. Ron still couldn't speak, but the expression on his face told Hermione that he would like very much to pound Malfoy to a pulp right there.

Malfoy glanced up at Hermione, and the events of the previous night came rushing back to him. He stood up quickly and raked his fingers through his uncommonly messy hair.

"Uh..." he started, but then he thought of an idea that would make even more trouble for the trio. He looked at Harry and smirked. "Well, Potter, we couldn't exactly do it out in the open, you know. We had to find some place with a little bit of privacy."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Enough, Malfoy." She brushed passed him and looked at Harry and Ron.

"We got locked in there last night. I dropped my wand, and he didn't have his, so we couldn't get out." She spied her wand in Ron's grasp. "Oh, you've found it, thank you," she said as she reached out to take it. Ron let her have it wordlessly; he and Harry were both gaping at Hermione, still reeling from Malfoy's statement. Hermione looked back and forth between them. "Guys, nothing happened!"

Behind them, they could suddenly hear the rumbling of feet and voices of the students starting to leave the Great Hall.

Hermione glanced behind her. "We'd better go get cleaned up. Don't want the rest of the school to see us. Let's go, Malfoy," she said. She grabbed his arm and dragged him quickly down the hall.

As they disappeared around the corner, Ron gulped and finally turned to Harry. "Bet...better go inside..."

"...Yeah," Harry finally croaked out, and they turned and went inside the classroom.

Meanwhile, in the next corridor, Hermione was fuming. "Oh God... I can't believe they saw that!"

Malfoy rolled his eyes as he tried to pull his arm out of her grasp. "Granger, relax. It's no big deal."

"And you!" she said, turning towards him. "I can't believe you would insinuate that we... we... you know..."

He smirked. "Yeah, their reactions were pretty funny weren't they?"

"No, they weren't! I'm so embarrassed..." she said, picking up her pace even more, not even noticing that Malfoy had to jog to keep up with her.

"Granger! Let go!"

"And why were you sleeping next to me, anyway?" she asked him accusingly. "It wouldn't have been so bad if you were still sitting on that crate."

He stopped abruptly and put his other arm on his hip. "Well forgive me for trying to be comfortable! You said it yourself, it's too difficult trying to fall asleep sitting up on a wooden crate. It's not my fault that there wasn't any floor space!"

"Well you didn't have to be so close," she said, pulling on his arm to get him to start walking again.

"Granger, let go, already!" he yelled at her as he pulled at his arm with his other hand.

"Students, students! What is going on out here?" a quiet voice interrupted them Professor Dumbledore stepped out of the tunnel that led to his office, quickly taking in their ragged appearances and Hermione's hand clutching at Malfoy's arm as he looked at them.

Hermione groaned to herself. I can't believe I didn't even notice that we stopped right in front of the entrance to his office.

"Um...well... uh..." she stammered as she quickly let go of his arm.

"We're sorry for the commotion, Professor," Malfoy broke in smoothly. "It won't happen again."

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Well I should hope not. As sixth years, at the top of the class, I might add, you should both be setting an example for the younger students."
Hermione nodded. "Yes, yes, Professor. We're sorry."

"Well, then. I suggest you both clean yourselves up, and hurry up to your first class. If you make haste, you might not be that late."

Hermione and Malfoy walked quietly away as Dumbledore stared after them. At the intersection, without exchanging another word Malfoy turned left and headed to the Slytherin dormitories; and Hermione turned right towards Gryffindor tower.