---
“Okay, I am so sick of living in this library. Today better be our last day of this stupid little investigation. I do not want to spend Christmas in here, I repeat; I do not want to spend Christmas here. Are we clear?” Ginny questioned Blaise rhetorically and let out a deep breath. “Let’s just get this over with. I am so ready to wrap the Christmas presents and take a nice long bath.” She mumbled as she walked away to her usual spot.
“She’ll probably murder me if we don’t finish by tonight.” Blaise shuddered at the thought and shook his whole body. “ He ambled over to the table in the far back corner and took in a deep breath before walking towards the bookcase. “Might as well just choose a book while waiting for anything suspicious to happen . . .” He lifted his hand up in the air, moving his index finger across the spine of every book. He furrowed his eyebrows when he stopped at a very ominous black tattered book that didn’t quite seem to belong there. “I choose you.” He whispered as he grabbed the book off the shelf when a note suddenly slipped out. His eyes immediately caught the fallen note that landed on the ground. “I feel like I’m in a movie.” Blaise managed to say in the situation as he snatched up the note from the ground. He eagerly opened up the note and allowed his eyes to scan it as quickly as possible.
If we want the Polyjuice potion to work, get a strand of her hair. Then, we’ll be set for Christmas.
His eyes widened as he looked at the piece of note and almost dropped the note from astonishment. He looked down and examined the title of the mysterious book. “Potions . . .” He read and gripped tightly to the book, walking over to Madam Pince. “I was wondering if you could tell me who last checked out this book.” He asked as he showed her the book.
Madam Pince looked at the book and then back at Blaise. “How did you get this?” She asked, seizing the peculiar book away from Blaise.
“I found it over there on the bookshelf.” He answered, furrowing his eyebrows.
“We don’t carry this book in our library. Someone must’ve bought it at a bookstore in Diagon Alley and accidentally left it here. It’s not ours.” She said and studied Blaise for a long time. “Why are you in here? You and your pretty friend stayed in here for the whole day yesterday and the day before that, and so on. Are you planning on doing the same today?”
“We made a bet in the beginning of break on who could read the most books until Christmas. It’s a stupid bet, we—“ Blaise said with a nervous chuckle but got cut off.
“Just don’t make any loud noises or I’ll have to kick you out and oh, please do tell your friend to put the books back where she found them . . . neatly instead of shoving them into random places.” She told him with a glare.
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, I’ll be sure to tell her that.” He said and looked at the book.
“I’ll be keeping this safe, don’t you worry. When the owner comes back, I’ll be sure to give it back to them. But in the mean time, it’ll be in my possession. Thank you for bringing this back.”
“Madam Pince, would it be possible if you could tell me when the owner comes by to pick it up? It’s urgent--personal reasons.” He quickly said as he looked up at the librarian.
“I suppose I can . . . only if you’re in here. I’m not going to leave this place and search the whole castle for you to tell you that someone picked up his or her book.” She scowled at him and dismissed him by looking back down the books.
“Right, thank you for your help.” Blaise said and walked over to Ginny with wide eyes.
“What did you find?” She asked as she looked around the place. She grabbed her book and cocked her head over to an empty aisle. She quickly walked over to the end of the aisle and looked around the library once more. “What happened?” She asked, shoving the book back into a random shelf.
“First, Madam Pince told me to tell you to start putting the books back in the right place neatly. I’m pretty sure she’ll kick you out if you don’t.” He told her with a smirk as he lightly laughed.
“Oh, shove it, Zabini.” She said with a frown as she grabbed the book back and sighed. “What if I don’t know where I found it?”
“I guess I’ll be the only one looking out for the spy with this new clue I found.” Blaise reasoned as he held up the note in front of Ginny.
“Alright! Alright! I’ll put it back.” Ginny surrendered and placed it back into the bookshelf. She turned to look at Blaise and saw him looking at her. “It’s the right place, promise.”
“I found something.”
“Obviously.” Ginny remarked with a scowl as she pointed to the note in his hand.
“A note, it’s not signed or anything but it does have something important.” He said as he handed Ginny the note.
Ginny quickly read it and looked back at Blaise, chewing on her bottom lip. “This can mean anything. It might be an old note from four years ago—“
“But I found it in a book, a really old black book. But the book doesn’t belong in this library.” He whispered to Ginny with a small grin. “This can mean only one thing.”
“Was the book called Potions, by any chance?” Ginny asked with wide eyes as she stared at him with uncertainty.
“How did you know?”
“And did it happen to have a few holes in the front?”
“Were you looking over at me when I was looking at it?” Blaise asked with wide eyes, furrowing his eyebrows. “And besides, that old thing had holes everywhere.”
“That’s my book.” Ginny said and looked over at Blaise. “I left that book under my bed back in my Gryffindor dormitory.” She said and furrowed her eyebrows, her body tensing up slowly. She crossed her arms across her chest. “That means that person’s been in my room.”
“It couldn’t have been a male student since there’s a charm on the girls’ dormitory. It has to be a girl and not just that, but a Gryffindor.” Blaise concluded and sighed as he leaned against the wall. “This person is one step ahead of us. Whose hair do you think they’re referring to?”
“If this is from Parkinson or one of her little spies, it has to be Hermione. That means Hermione’s not safe.” She said and placed a hand on her forehead. “What are we going to do?”
“First, we need to find out who the spy is. Do you have any idea who could’ve snuck into the room and stolen the book? Maybe even the handwriting?”
“I was thinking Lavender but she’s always with Ron . . . other than that, I don’t know anyone else.” Ginny said and looked at Blaise. “Is this Parkinson’s handwriting? You should know.”
“I haven’t seen that girl write anything during classes, how the hell should I know what her handwriting looks like? Hell, I didn’t even know she could write.” He exclaimed as he shook his head.
“On the bright side, you won’t get hexed to oblivion tonight. You-we found something. You got lucky.” She told him and tapped his shoulder. “Let’s keep looking out for that spy.” She said as she started to walk away.
Blaise grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. “Wait, aren’t you going to retrieve the book? I mean, it’s yours. We can stop the communications and—“
“If we keep staying in this library, we can probably find out who it is. The person will surely come back and if they can’t find it, they’ll go to Madam Pince. Do you see where I’m getting at now?”
“And then we’ll see who the culprit is!” Blaise said and snapped his fingers. “You’re actually smart.”
“I know I’m smart, it’s you I’m worried about. You would’ve been staring at a dead end if you didn’t have me to help you.” She said with a chuckle and walked back to her seat.
And just a few aisles away, Lavender, who had seen and heard everything, smirked and retreated back to Pansy to tell about their current situation.
---
Pansy paced back and forth as she impatiently chewed on her nails. She suddenly heard the door open and close, and she snapped her neck towards the sound to see Lavender standing before her with Anna. “Well?”
“I placed the book where I thought Zabini would most likely be. Lavender said she’d wait and see what happens and then report back he—“
“They fell for it like stupid rats.” A harsh voice cut in with a sinister laugh. “They’re staying in the library—waiting for someone to pick up the book.”
“Did they?” Pansy asked, faintly quirking up an eyebrow with a pleased grin. “My, my, this is becoming easier than I thought. Those two traitors fell for the trap and now, and all I have to do is give you two orders while I wait until tomorrow night to show up for the big finale.” She finished and laughed. “How pitiful . . . that mudblood doesn’t even know what’s coming to her.”
Lavender suddenly felt guilt rise in her body at the sudden thought of Hermione and Ron. “What will you do to her?”
Pansy looked over at Lavender and smirked menacingly, “She’s get what she deserves. Do you want to know, Brown? All I can say to you right now is to use your imagination. What I’m going to do to her is far worse than what you’re thinking—or even capable of thinking. I’ll make her endure the most excruciating thing on earth . . .”
“Will you use the cru—“
“Betrayal, Brown, use your head, will you? I don’t like to get my hands dirty.” Pansy informed Lavender with a disheartening smile. “I may not be good with my wand, but I’m unstoppable with my words. Granger can never be damaged from the outside. Haven’t you seen her?” She asked Lavender as she walked over to her bed, taking a seat. “In order to destroy her . . . you need to tear her down one by one from the inside out. What she needs is a little bit of betrayal from her close friends . . . and lover.” She spat venom with disgust as she made an ugly face at the thought of the mere word associated with Hermione.
“You’ll turn everyone against her?”
“Why the tone of surprise? I thought you wanted to take her down with me? It’s too late to back out. I need you now, and you need me, too. Don’t you want Weasley for yourself? You want him to look at only you, right? Getting rid of the bitch is the only way to get what you want.”
“Of course.” Lavender agreed, now determined to take Hermione down after hearing about Ron. “But what do you mean get rid of her?”
Pansy let out an exasperated sigh as she groaned, rolling her eyes. “Must I explain every little damn detail to you? Try to get my words through your thick skull, Brown! And they call me dense.” She insulted Lavender with a scoff as she glared at the girl. “Any more questions?”
“N, not at all.” Lavender squeaked out as she glued her bottom lip to her top lip, securing them together to prevent any more slip ups. “Oh, wait, I do have something to say.” She said quietly and watched as Pansy lowered her eyes on her. “I have a feeling that Ron might be suspicious of my random disappearances to come here.”
“Really?” She asked and smirked triumphantly. “It’s like killing two birds with one stone.” She muttered to herself and looked over at Lavender with a threatening look. “Change of plans . . . okay, let me tell you what we’ll be doing . . .” Pansy started to divulge their plan to the two girls.
---
Hermione poked her head out her room and looked around to see if Draco was anyone to be found. A pleased smile spread across her face like butter on toast as she checked the time. “I have exactly five minutes before we see each other again . . . I better get to work.” She whispered to herself hurriedly as she flew out of the room and quickly over to the fireplace with a small Christmas tree in her hand. She took out her wand and pointed it at the empty space in front of her. She shut one eye as she tried to picture exactly what she wanted. Without another sound, she placed the small Christmas tree in the empty spot shot a nonverbal spell and soon, the small Christmas tree began to enlarge quickly until it was bigger than Hagrid. Hermione cheered quietly by herself as she clapped her hands together rapidly. She checked the time and her eye widened. She ran into her room and came back out, running towards the beautiful tree with tons of presents in her arms. She threw them down under the Christmas tree just in time for Draco to come out and see what she was up to.
“Is that a—“
“Christmas tree? I believe so.” Hermione finished for him with a giggle along with a smile playing on her lips. “Why don’t you grab your presents and put them under the Christmas tree to give the whole effect for tomorrow?”
“Of course.” Draco said slowly, clearly he was in awe, as he disappeared back into his room. He soon came out with his neatly wrapped presents and put them under the Christmas tree. “Wow . . .”
“What is it?”
“It’s just . . . I’ve never really had anyone surprise me with a Christmas tree before. I only saw them when I was here, at Hogwarts . . . never back at the manor.” He said quietly as he kept his eyes glued to the tree. “It’s amazing.”
Hermione grinned from ear to ear as she kissed him on the cheek. “I’m glad you like it but now . . .” She said as she interlaced their hands together. “Why don’t we go out for a bit? A small date outside the castle, for once.”
“That sounds like a plan.” Draco said as he pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of his head. “Go ahead and get dressed, it’s cold out.”
“You should get dressed, too.” She said as she laughed while walking off.
---
Hermione and Draco walked hand in hand around the lake as they laughed. “Blaise told me about your little fall for that one girl.” Hermione brought up with a mischievous grin plastered onto her face. “Do you mind telling me about that?”
Draco felt his body freeze as he snapped his neck towards her. “Wh, wha, did Blaise tell you about that?” He asked with wide eyes.
“Awh, it’s okay, it’ll be our little secret.” Hermione whispered into his ear followed by a chuckle as she stopped walking, standing in front of her. “Come on, I’m waiting to hear the full story. Don’t be shy, I’ve heard worse.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stated stoically, looking past Hermione with his arms crossed across his chest.
“Oh?” She asked, raising her eyebrows as she stared at him. “You’re refusing to talk?” She questioned with a small frown as she saw Draco continue to look past her. “Fine, I’ll just have to ask Zabini again for more details on how . . .” She started to turn her body back towards the castle. “DRACO MALFOY FELL OUT OF A WINDOW WHEN HE TRIED TO IMPRESS A GI—“
Draco slapped his hand over her mouth as he brought her Hermione towards him. “Alright, alright, I’ll tell you.” He surrendered with a sigh as he looked at her.
Hermione took his hand off her mouth and smirked, completely satisfied. “You could’ve just told me when I asked nicely.”
“You and Weaslette are just so damn scary . . .”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Nothing.” Draco said as he put an arm around Hermione’s small waist, pulling her closer to him. “I don’t know, judging by what you were yelling out, you seem to know the whole story.”
“Who was it?” She asked him, looking into his eyes as she waited patiently for an answer.
“Who was it?” Draco repeated and his face dropped as he looked over at Hermione. “I don’t think it really matters.”
“I just want to know who you were so in love with that you’d be nervous enough to fall out of a window.” She said as she innocently laughed.
“Pansy Parkinson.” Draco answered softly, looking away from her.
Hermione’s smile vanished into the cold, crisp wintry air. “Pansy . . . Parkinson?” She repeated to him, more so to herself, and gazed over at Draco. “Why do you hate her so much, now? You seemed to have liked her back then.”
“She was different from how she is now.”
“Oh . . . was she your first . . . love?” Hermione asked in a quiet voice, wanting to know his answer. Something in her heart stirred, she wanted to know but she knew that she would be disappointed once he answered ‘yes’.
“No . . .” Draco answered confidently as he lifted his eyes up to Hermione’s honey glazed marbles. “You’re my first love.” He told her with his signature smirk, wrapping another arm around her waist as he looked intently into her eyes.
“Liar . . .” Hermione muttered but couldn’t help but to smile at his answer, her heart thumping loudly and fast.
“Really . . . I’ve never truly loved anyone, well, not until now.” He told her, giving her an irresistible smile along with a wink.
“Then what was Pansy Parkinson?”
“Infatuation,” Draco replied as he leaned in close to her. “You are and always will be my first love, hopefully my last.” He whispered to her as he rested his forehead on hers.
“Well, you may not be my first . . . but you are definitely my best, and hopefully my last.” Hermione whispered back as a warm smile spread across her face.
“I guess that makes up for being second.”
“Good.” Hermione giggled before she leaned in, capturing his lips. She wrapped her arms around his waist as she kissed him in front of the lake with white snow gracefully lying on the ground beneath their feet.
Draco grinned and deepened the kiss, raising an arm up to the back of her neck, his fingers running through her soft cascading curls.
Hermione pulled away from the kiss and let out a content sigh. “It’s already getting dark out . . . we should start heading back.”
“Let’s walk around for a little bit more and head back.”
“Okay.”
---
“I don’t think anyone’s coming to pick it up . . . not today, at least.” Ginny stated as she looked over at Blaise. “Let’s just go back. It’s Christmas Eve for crying out loud. I think we should give ourselves a bit of a break, don’t you think? We know that Pansy Parkinson is brewing up a Polyjuice po . . .” She suddenly stopped talking as she lightly gasped. “Hold on, that note doesn’t even make sense. A Polyjuice potion needs to brew for a month for it to work. If Parkinson is targeting Hermione because of Draco . . . it wouldn’t be possible. They’ve only been together for three weeks. Three weeks doesn’t give Parkinson enough time to brew it.” She told Blaise as she slapped his arm. “Parkinson is stupid and wrote this note down to trick us into staying here . . . and we fell right into the trap.” She finished and quickly grabbed her wand. “We need to go to the dorm, now.” She ordered as she ran for the door with Blaise trailing closely behind her.
---
“Ron, I’m going to go out for a bit, okay? I’m meeting up with Susan Bones for a bit. Don’t wait up for me, okay? I’ll probably be a bit late.” Lavender told Ron as she planted a quick peck on his lips. “Goodnight, Harry.” She said and walked out of the door.
Ron and Harry exchanged glances with each other as they abruptly got up once the portrait doors opened and Lavender had left. “Susan Bones left for the holidays.” Harry corrected as he shook his head. “Something is definitely up. Let’s go.” He said and grabbed the piece of paper. “Just in case something happens to us, we’ll need Ginny or anyone to find it.”
“But you don’t even know where we’re going.”
“I have a feeling it’ll be somewhere we all know.”
“Alright, well let’s go before we lose her.”
Ron and Harry quietly ran over to the portrait door and slid out before it closed. They turned to their right and saw Lavender walking quickly—too quickly. Ron looked over at Harry and nodded, grabbing out his wand. “Let’s go.” He repeated one last time before they started trailing silently behind Lavender.
Soon enough, the boys found themselves hiding behind a column as Lavender stood in front of portrait door. Harry looked behind his shoulder as he furrowed his eyebrows. “That’s their dorm, Hermione and Ginny’s.”
“What the bloody hell is she doing . . . oh hell.” Ron peeked out of the column and saw Lavender waiting nervously in front of the portrait door. “She doesn’t know the password to the dorm . . . is she waiting for someone?” Ron whispered over to Harry in confusion, his eyes furrowed together.
“I don’t know, but something’s not right.” Harry said earnestly and suddenly heard a sound behind him. He quickly snapped his neck towards the sound but saw nothing. He turned back over to where Ron was to find him gone. “Ron?” He asked, panic filling his body. He quickly walked out from behind the column to see Ron unconscious in Lavender’s arms. “What the hell—“
“Harry, I’m so sorry.” He heard Lavender’s unsteady voice tell him.
“What’s going on, Lav—“ He suddenly felt a sharp pain go through the back of his head. “Ow . . .” He managed to squeak out before he collapsed onto the floor.
“Nice job, Lavender. Now, let’s take them to Pansy.” Anna stated as she dragged started to drag Harry’s body away from the scene.
Lavender nodded and quickly disappeared behind Anna whilst dragging Ron’s body.
Just as they had disappeared, Ginny ran behind the corner to the front of her dorm. Her chest heaved heavily up and down as she looked around the place. “Zabini, check the dorms. I’ll look out here and try to find anything wrong.” She ordered as she began to scan her eyes around the place.
Zabini muttered the password and ran into the room, searching for anything suspicious. He quickly searched through every room and found nothing. Everything looked the same as it was. He suddenly heard his name being called, “Zabini!” He quickly ran out of the dorm and out into the hall to see Ginny crouching down near a column. “What is it?”
“Read this,” Ginny handed over the small note to Blaise as she stood up.
Blaise quickly read the note,
If you find this note, it means we’re in trouble. Help us. –HP
“Is HP . . .”
“Yes, and if it says ‘we’re’, that obviously means he’s with Ron.” Ginny finished Blaise’s sentence as she let out a deep sigh. “This cannot be happening. We fell for Parkinson’s damn trap!”
“We may have fallen for her trap, but she forgot to clean up her mess.” Blaise said as he looked over to a column. He saw something emerald and shimmering. He quickly dashed over to it and picked it up. “I know this . . .” He said as he looked at it. “This belongs to the girl I was telling you lot about. The girl who I’ve been gaining all my information from.” He showed it over to Ginny.
“This is definitely Parkinson’s doing, then. She made the girl take them away.” Ginny concluded as she handed back the jewel. “But there were two boys and one girl. That means she had a helper.”
“Parkinson isn’t the one to get her own hand dirty. How would Potter and Weasley end up getting captured here? Were they following someone or—“
“Let’s look for Lavender. If we can’t find her anyone, it’s her. She’s always with Ron . . .”
“You think Lavender helped kidnap Ron for Parkinson? Why would she do that? She loves him.”
“And that’s exactly why she would help Parkinson. The bitch obviously manipulated Brown and told her to help her get rid of Hermione. Do you know what that means for both of them? For Parkinson, Draco Malfoy.”
“For Brown, Weasley for herself.”
“I’m going to kill that girl.” Ginny stated with anger as she clenched her jaw.
“Where would they have gone?” Blaise asked as he leaned against the column.
“Well, we came from the place Harry left the note . . . which means they went straight.” Ginny said, pointing to a dark corridor in front of them. “Let’s go.”
“What if we get caught by Parkinson, too? What would Draco and Granger do?”
“We won’t. You don’t actually think I was planning on going without a plan, right?” She asked and scoffed lightly. “I’m the younger sister of the two--one biggest jokester ever. I have everything that they made . . . including the extendable ears.” She told him as she cocked her head over to their dorm. “Let me go grab that and try to find them. When we find them, we’ll eavesdrop on their plans. And then I’ll kill Lavender.” She stated as she ran into the dorm.
“Oh merlin, please save us.” Blaise stated with a deep sigh. “I have a feeling we’re in deep trouble.”
---
Hermione and Draco walked back into the dorm and frowned as they saw it completely empty. “Where are they?” Hermione asked as she plopped herself down on the couch.
“Maybe they went out for a walk or—“
“It’s already eleven . . . do you think something happened to them?” Hermione asked apprehensively as she thought about her friends.
“I’m sure they’re fine.” Draco reassured her as he took a seat beside her, putting an arm around her.
Hermione nodded slowly and let out a big yawn as she looked at the mesmerizing fire. She reflected on everything that had happened to her during the wonderful break and couldn’t help but frown. She stole a quick peek over at Draco and back at the fire. “Draco, what would you do if . . . something happened between us after the break? I know we already went over this but, let’s think about this rationally. Let’s say that something dreadful happened between us . . . what would you do?”
“Well, how bad would this problem be?” Draco asked slowly as he stared at Hermione intently. He was afraid Hermione knew about his plan.
Hermione looked into his eyes and let out a deep sigh slowly as she shook her head, forcing a smile on her face. “Nevermind, forget I said anything about it.” She told him, quickly dismissing the conversation elsewhere. “I, I think it’s been a long day.” She told him, faking a yawn as she stretched her arms. “Goodnight, Draco. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Hermione kissed his cheek and quickly left him alone on the couch, disappearing into her room.
“Goodnight . . .” Draco muttered to himself as he stared at the empty space beside him. He firmly pressed his lips into a thin line and sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Where’s that bloke when you need him . . .” He groaned and got up, walking into his room without another word.
---
Feeling a rough tap on his foot, he awoke with a light groan as he placed his hand over his pounding head. “Ugh . . . what the hell happened?”
“You’re finally awake.”
Harry quickly widened his eyes and looked beside him to see Ron. “Ron, where are we?”
Ron sneered as he looked around the place. “It seems to me like we’re in Parkinson’s territory . . .”
“Lavender set us up?” Harry asked in a ferocious whisper.
“We were stupid to follow without any caution . . . or back up, for that matter.” Ron whispered back with a scoff. “We were fooled by my girlfriend—ex-girlfriend.”
“No, I dropped the note by the column . . . hopefully they’ll find it and find us.”
“What are the chances of getting rescued by one of them?”
Harry stayed silent as he looked away from Ron, afraid to answer the question. “None . . . I guess.” He muttered as he sighed. “At least we’re both okay, though.”
“Physically, sure . . . emotionally and mentally, I’m not so sure about those.” Ron answered as he shifted awkwardly on the couch due to the tight rope wrapped around his torso, hands, and legs. “Do you happen to have your wand on you? I don’t have mine.”
“What are the odds of me still having my wand when you don’t?” Harry asked, shaking his head.
“You’re Harry freaking Potter, I thought you were supposed to save the day.”
“Not today, I’m not feeling like playing hero.”
“More like can’t.”
“And whose fault is that?” Harry snapped at Ron, shooting daggers at his friend.
“Are you saying we’re captured because of me?” Ron retorted back with anger.
“Maybe if you kept check on your girlfriend a little better, we probably wouldn’t even be in this mess right now!” Harry roared at Ron as he stomped on the floor because that was all he could do to show his anger. If only he wasn’t tied down by the rope . . .
“Well, you should’ve—“
“Oh, will you two ladies quit fighting. You two have bigger things to worry about, anyways.” A sharp voice cut in.
Harry and Ron both stared at each other, eyes widening, and looked over towards the fireplace to see three people walking over in front of the fire.
Pansy appeared before them with a big proud smirk stitched on her lips. “Wow . . . who knew I could capture you two so easily when even death eaters couldn’t?” She asked with a laugh. “Oh, but it wasn’t all just my doing. Of course, I have your little girlfriend to thank, huh?” She asked Ron as she raised an eyebrow at him.
“What girlfriend?” Ron growled at her with a sharp gaze.
Pansy laughed once more and turned to the side and looked over at Anna and Lavender. “I think you two need to talk later on.”
“Ron, I’m sorry, I had to—“ Lavender started when she was suddenly silenced by Pansy’s dangerous voice.
“I said later.” Pansy snapped at Lavender with a scowl and looked over at Anna. “You two go outside and check for anyone coming—I’m sure these two rats left crumbs on their way here.” She dismissed the two girls behind her and once the door shut, she relaxed a bit. “Now, that they’re gone, I think I can just tell you two what I want.”
“What is it?” Harry spat through his teeth.
“Calm down, Potter, I’m not here to hurt you two.” She told him with a scoff, rolling her eyes. “Actually, what I want from you two is fairly simple,” She sighed and took a seat on a different couch, staring at them. “I need you two to just sit there and look pretty until tomorrow evening.”
“And why the hell would we do that?” Ron asked as he looked at her.
“I just need something to help—something to push him into doing what’s right.”
“And what exactly is that?” Harry asked as he looked at the fire.
“My, you two are just full of questions. I’m afraid you’ll just have to find out tomorrow evening.” She told them and nodded, getting up. “That’s all. Make yourselves at home.”
“What? Are you just leaving us here?”
Pansy got up and let out a small giggle. “What else do you want me to do?” She asked and nodded as she stared at them. “Oh, I understand. How rude of me to let my prisoners suffer out here on the couch. I’ll have Anna come in and escort you two to another room. Hopefully that’ll be enough for you two.” She said and looked at Ron. “Don’t me so hard on Brown . . . she only did this to protect you.”
“Protect me from what?”
“Protect you from who is what you should be asking.” Pansy ended their conversation as she ambled off, leaving the two boys on the couch.
Harry and Ron let out a deep breath as they looked over at each other. “Hermione,” They said in unison and sighed, closing their eyes. “They’re all after her. We’re bait. We’re basically helping them hurt Hermione.” Ron concluded, putting all the pieces together.
“We can still help her . . . Ron, just talk to Lavender and try to make her help us get out of Parkinson’s grasp.”
“I’m afraid that train is long gone. Lavender is determined to get rid of Hermione . . . she helped Parkinson capture us for bait, don’t you think that’s enough of a reason as to how determined she is?”
“Just try because that’s our last hope.” Harry told him quietly, looking away.
“Okay, but don’t get your hopes up too high.” Ron warned his friend and sighed once more as the girl who was referred to as Anna, took them to a room far away from the entrance to the common room.
---
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-Annie