Irresistible Temptations

IT- Chapter 3: Third Year

Last time: Draco and Hermione became close friends, aided in part by Dumbledore and the private room he gave them. They both made their Quidditch teams and Harry Potter survived once again.

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During the summer, Hermione's parents decided to visit Paris. The family saw all the regular sights, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre and the Moulin Rouge. They went to Versailles and saw the huge gardens. They also went to Notre Dame and Hermione saw a wizarding shop. She went in and saw the perfect birthday gift for Draco. She purchased it and then found her parents waiting patiently outside. They wanted to go to dinner at a fancy restaurant and it was across the city.

The time in Paris was the best three weeks Hermione had ever experienced. Draco's owl had no trouble finding her so they kept in touch. In one letter Draco mentioned his father was interested if she would like to spend the rest of summer with them. The Grangers were back from Paris then, and when Hermione asked, her mother said yes and her father agreed. She owled her reply and a few hours later a horn sounded outside. Hermione looked outside and not only was Draco with the car, but Lucius as well. He came to Hermione and embraced her.

"Hello Hermione," Lucius greeted.

"Hello Mr. Malfoy. To what do I owe the honour?" Hermione returned.

"How many times must I insist on Lucius my dear? Anyways, I decided I should meet your parents before we steal you away again," he stated.

Her father had finished bringing her trunk downstairs and to the door and her mother had been standing behind her. She gestured to her dad and said, "Well, the man standing beside my trunk is my dad, Thomas Granger and the woman behind me is my mum Anne Granger. Mum, dad this is Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy."

"Hello all. Nice to make your acquaintance," said Lucius, noting Anne gritting her teeth in an obviously false smile. "Your daughter is quite enchanting."

"Thank you Lucius. Your son is quite an accomplished young man," said Hermione's dad.

"Nice to meet you Lucius," said Anne. "You must have quite a long drive ahead of you."

"Oh, the children do," he replied, using magic to move Hermione's trunk to the car. "I can apparate home at any time."

"Well then, would you care to come in?" asked Mr. Granger.

"Why thank you for your hospitality," Lucius accepted. "Bye children."

"Bye Hermione," said her dad. "Have fun at school." Anne finally moved.

"Here's your Hogwarts' money dear. Bye Hermione," she said, embracing her.

Hermione went over to Draco as her front door closed. They got into the limo and the chauffeur started off. Hermione was thinking about how to give Draco his present on his birthday and Draco was thinking about possible reasons why his dad would be civil to muggles. The duo sat in silence as the chauffeur drove them on into the night. When they reached Malfoy Manor, they went to their bedrooms and went to sleep.

Lucius stayed for awhile before bidding good night and disapparating home. He had been thinking of ways to confirm his discovery last summer and had finally decided just to visit the residence. By the way Annelise had been acting, he knew he was right. With the precious information he held, he decided he wouldn't do anything drastic yet. He wanted Annelise to think he suspected nothing of her past and he had done some good convincing tonight. By the end of his visit, she was talking more freely, less restrained and rigid then at first. Soon, Annelise, soon, he thought and went for a brandy in his office.

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Draco and Hermione spent all their time together in the garden running among the trees, playing Quidditch, doing homework and picking potions ingredients. Well, most of their time. Sometimes Hermione disappeared for an hour or two and once Draco found her room empty with bloody sheets on her bed. He panicked for a few minutes before he remembered his father's lecture on women a few years ago and went to the garden to wait for Hermione. The end of July and the first few weeks of August passed rather quickly in the end.

Then it was Draco's birthday. Narcissa and Hermione had been plotting for weeks on how to surprise Draco and they had decided to ignore him until Draco cracked and then surprise him in the big dining room with piles of fake presents, a few guests and a pile of real presents. They had also decided on the menu: rack of lamb, with potatoes, corn and spinach, and a marble cake with chocolate icing and thirteen impressive candles. So they informed Lucius of their little plan, invited the Parkinsons and the Zabinis and waited. Now that today was the day, Narcissa and Hermione spent the day getting ready in an unused guestroom and Lucius went to work.

Hermione had kept Draco up late playing games, so he was very tired and slept late. As was his morning ritual, he got up and changed the day on his calendar. Then he took a lengthy shower, got dressed after finding a suitable outfit, and meticulously styled his hair. Today he followed his routine and then saw the time. It was already one o'clock in the afternoon and his stomach growled hungrily. He went to the dining room and ordered a lunch of pasta and pumpkin juice. He ate in silence, figuring Hermione was already outside. Draco went to the gardens when he was finished to their usual meeting place: in front of the yellow roses. She was not there. He scanned the entire garden and even flew above the hedge maze, but no Hermione. He went inside, stunned, and decided to try her room. On his way, he passed his door, where a note was:

'Draco, where are you? We've been trying to find you all day. Well, we can't wait any longer. We have to get ready. As long as you find this in time, we're flooing out of your father's study to go to Hogsmeade at three o'clock. It is your birthday celebration, and you don't want to miss it. Hermione'

Draco glanced at the calendar on his wall. It read August twentieth, it couldn't be his birthday, unless...he had forgotten to change it a week ago when Hermione was pestering him about something. He looked at the clock in the hall. It read four o'clock. They were gone! He rushed into his room, changed into his birthday outfit and ran to his father's study. He reached into the floo powder jar and it was empty. He ran to all the floo powder pots he knew of and they were all empty too.

Hermione was getting ready for a shower when she uncovered the large bag of floo powder stashed in her pocket. She chuckled and tossed it on the bed, then stripped down and pulled on her bathrobe. She headed to the shower stall in the bathroom and examined the scents. She decided on raspberries for her hair and a mixture of raspberries and strawberries on her body. When she was fully relaxed, she dried herself off and put on her gown. It was navy blue and covered in black embroidery and tiny black pearls. It was strapless and princess style. The high waist looked elegant on her and she thanked Narcissa's sense of taste. She went into the bedroom where Narcissa was waiting to style her hair and do her makeup. She charmed Hermione's hair into an elegant ponytail with sleek curled tendrils at the front. She put a silver circlet that looked like woven roses on the top of Hermione's head and the matching bun holder over some strands of ponytail pulled up near the elastic. To finish the look, Narcissa put light browns and gold on Hermione's eyes and cheeks and some soft red lipstick on her lips. Then Hermione put on her birthday jewellery: the swan pendant and the bracelet.

"I'm going to distract Draco before he sees his own guests," she told Narcissa.

"Do not be seen Hermione dear, or you will ruin the surprise," Narcissa replied.

"I won't. I just don't want him catching the Knight bus to Hogsmeade," she said as she left. Hermione headed to the gardens where she had put the device Lucius had given her. She turned it on, and suddenly her voice rang out across the gardens and into the mansion. She hurried back inside to the front door to greet the guests.

Draco had given up after five o'clock, mildly depressed about missing his party. He was making his way up to his room when he heard...Hermione's voice?!?! He strained his ears, and yes, he did hear it...coming from the garden! He took the quickest way he knew how to get there and her voice faded as he neared. He finally saw her standing under the oak tree where they did their homework. She was wearing yesterday's clothes, but he didn't care, he had company! He hugged her, but she wasn't solid and he stubbed his toe on a hard ball in the grass at her feet and she disappeared. Draco picked the object up and pushed another button. Lucius' voice could be heard. 'Draco I hope you are dressed nicely, because you need to go to the dining room now.'

Then the ball started growing warmer until Draco had to drop it. He made his way to the dining room and pushed the doors open. Nothing was in there. Then he clued in to the big dining room and he hurriedly went there. He pushed open those doors and it was totally dark. Then he heard 'Lumos' and he saw his favourite people: his parents, the Parkinsons and the Zabinis, but no Hermione. A sound behind him caused him to turn around.

Hermione had let the guests in and then Lucius and Narcissa went to the dining room as well. As soon as Draco showed up, she could join the party. When he did, looking like usual, she smiled. She let the group yell surprise before clearing her throat and stepping down a stair.

Draco blinked when he saw the gorgeous Hermione. Well, as gorgeous as a twelve year old girl gets who has buckteeth. But that wasn't the point. The point was she looked like a princess thanks to Narcissa's help and as she made her way down the stairs, she reeked of elegance. He was so enraptured that a picture of her could have been his present. He was so long in staring that she had to lead him into the dining room and to his place at the table.

Although it was a formal affair, Draco was happy that the food wasn't. And it was all his favourites as well. Now, in the dining room, he saw how much planning had been done, seeing all the piles of presents and the gold, silver and green decorations. When dessert came around and everyone was singing 'Happy Birthday,' Draco was amazed at the candles. All were spelling out 'Happy Thirteenth Birthday Draco' and giving off rainbow-coloured sparks before becoming normal candles. He blew them all out in one breath and wished 'I wish Hermione was my own always.'

Draco was allowed to cut the cake and serve everyone. The guests all praised the cake and Narcissa told them that Hermione had made it. With everyone stuffed, it was time for presents. Draco had to guess which ones were real and had found them all except for Hermione's and the booby presents were dwindling. Finally, in the last box he found it. He opened it and found Moste Potente Potions, a first edition in Latin. He was surprised, and Lucius was as well, because the Latin one held fatal potions as well as some very useful potions which were edited out of the English and French versions. Hermione just smiled at Draco's reaction and then Narcissa surprised everyone by having an orchestra play and all the partygoers danced the Parkinsons and Zabinis left, and then the Malfoys and Hermione went to bed.

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The party was helpful to Lucius to get his mind off Sirius Black's escape and all the things that were happening. And when Harry Potter blew up his aunt and didn't get expelled it irked him. So what if Potter was Black's potential enemy? He shouldn't be treated any differently. And free room and board at the Leaky Cauldron on the Ministry, sheesh. It was enough to make any man sick. Although with his son's new book, he could control Fudge undetected...

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Draco and Hermione were anxious to go to Diagon Alley, but Narcissa had taken ill and could not be bothered. Hermione had gotten her money from her parents, with a bit extra for a birthday present of her own choosing and really wanted to spend it. Draco decided to ask his father one morning at breakfast and Lucius agreed. They all flooed over and he gave Draco and Hermione a small bag of money each and told them to meet him at Florean's in three hours. Then Lucius took off for Knockturn Alley and left them.

First Draco managed to drag Hermione to Quality Quidditch Supplies where they saw the Firebolt, and Potter and Weasley. After throwing some taunts and provoking Ron, Draco was to the Apothecary's by Hermione. They replenished their supplies and bought some other ingredients to try some of the potions in Draco's book they'd translated. Then they went to Flourish and Blott's, where the assistant looked so distraught they managed to get their own biting textbooks and restrain them, along with their other purchases and the manager was very happy. They made a detour home to drop off their packages before heading to Madame Malkin's for new robes and non-school cloaks.

Hermione had decided to get an animal with her birthday money and chose a fuzzy grey kitten which she called Athena. She also bought a large tawny owl she called Aries. She chose to try him out by sending home her permission slip for Hogsmeade. Then she remembered that Hogwarts students were only allowed one animal at school, but as they were waiting for their ice cream, Draco told her he knew a spell to summon an owl over distances. She was going to leap up and hug him, but she remembered Athena was on her lap.

They were just finishing their huge sundaes when Lucius came and picked them up. He inquired about their purchases and was answered by the sound of two delighted children talking animatedly about all the things they had gotten and the potions they were going to try. Lucius coldly smiled at that fact, for within his cloak he himself had ingredients to make new potions, but different ones than the children had in mind.

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On September 1^st, Draco and Hermione were at King's Cross quite early because Lucius had some business to attend to. He received two hugs when he said goodbye, and let Draco's show of affection slide. Whenever the Dark Lord returned, he would make sure Draco was ready for service.

Draco and Hermione went up and down the train, exploring the many compartments. In one they found a sleeping man in tattered robes and decided to observe him, since he was in their compartment from last year and since the D.A.D.A. professor had to be somewhere. The duo decided to switch their cloaks back in case they got any other people in their space because the platform outside the window had been filling up with lots of little new first years.

As luck would have it, they watched as Potty and the Weasels arrived very close to leaving. The sliding open of their door did not bode well either and to their dismay, Potty, Weasel and Weaselette sat down in the seats across from them just as the train pulled out of the station.

The happy Gryffindor Trio ignored the two and the sleeping professor until the train came to a sudden halt, opening Athena's cage. Athena then smelt something and decided to attack the male Weasley before the lights went off. Sounds of the train being boarded echoed through the silent train and suddenly happy thoughts disappeared and a crushing sadness replaced them. The sleeping man woke up and as a creature in a shroud tried to open the door, a flash of silver light came out of the man's wand, scaring it away. Potty had passed out and the Weasels were concerned with him. Hermione had blacked out for a moment but was Draco hadn't noticed. The man left the compartment and came back a few minutes later. The power came on again and the train started up. Then the man finally noticed Harry on the floor and reached into his robes for something that turned out to be a chocolate bar.

"Here, give this to him when he wakes up," he said, earning a glare from Ron. "I'm Professor Lupin, it's not poison." Ron took it reluctantly. Lupin looked like he was going to speak again when Hermione spotted Athena curled in a ball on Harry's seat and reached for her. She glanced at him and he looked as if he had almost seen a ghost.

Lupin almost had a heart attack when he saw her. She looked just like Selenity had at that age, except for the eyes. Those eyes...he remembered all the possessive looks they had given him when he had watched Selenity. Lupin swallowed hard, thinking of having to teach her, the child of his crush, the only woman he could ever fully love and of Tyler Belouvre, a stuck Slytherin worse than the Malfoy and Black lines put together. He had heard the couple had had child but never that it survived. And with the dementors around, he was in for a very tough year.

Hermione was uncomfortable feeling Lupin stare at her and not knowing why. The car was still hectic, but she had managed to get Athena back in her cage and calmed down. Wanting some peace and quiet, she told Draco where she was going and left the compartment. She wandered aimlessly in the eerily empty corridors of the train until she came upon a group of Slytherins plotting to scare someone by bringing up a person by the name of Matthew Lavern. When she heard the name, something in her stirred and she felt dizzy. She hurriedly made her way back to the compartment. Lupin noticed her pale complexion and wavering steps as well as Draco. He gave her some chocolate and it helped her to calm down.

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Draco and Hermione managed to miss the Sorting because they had to go to Professor McGonagall's office. They had signed up for more classes then possible, but since they had proven themselves responsible, they were allowed the use of time turners to attend all their classes. And they received instructions on how to get to the kitchens for extra food when required. Then McGonagall escorted them down to the Great Hall where they separated for the evening and learned that the creature from the train was a dementor.

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Although their timetables were quite hectic and Flint and Wood called many practices (Draco had actually made the team this year) the duo had such good homework skills that they had enough free time to brew potions at night in their study room and had managed to tame their monster books for Care of Magical Creatures so they didn't need to be restrained. All in all, Hermione and Draco only had to use the time turners for double classes and extra meals. D.A.D.A was a breeze for both of them, even when half the time Lupin was staring at Hermione or out sick and Snape filled in. They enjoyed the Snape lessons because he was incredibly sarcastic and cruel to the Gryffindors...sans Draco of course.

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For Hermione's birthday, Draco had arranged to go to Hogsmeade chaperoned by Snape and McGonagall of course. They had dinner at a fancy restaurant where Hermione wore her gown from Draco's party. It was a lovely meal and during a delicious dessert (where Snape was drinking a wee too much Firewhisky and hitting on McGonagall) her presents arrived. The one from Narcissa was the circlet and hairpiece she had worn for Draco's party. From Lucius, she got a beautiful diary with an embroidered cover that had Hermione in silver stitching and a set of eagle feather quills. From an unknown source, she received a beautiful hand mirror with a dark gold and sliver frame studded with emeralds and sapphires and a note that read 'It belongs in your family.' Then Draco gave her his present. It was a matching ring for the one she had given him the past year, only more feminine and with a few diamonds on it. Hermione had a great birthday and Snape hadn't done badly either with his attempts on McGonagall. She'd had her fair share of Firewhisky and brandy cake and Snape had succeeded in getting a date with her for the following Friday night.

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By Christmas, Snape and McGonagall were secretly engaged and Draco and Hermione had finished the Animagus brew, a potion that allowed them to become animagus easily. Draco became a snake, which was not surprising and Hermione became a black panther. Also, having had enough with Divination and Trelawney, they quit it and gained some more free time. They stayed at the castle for Christmas because they had an invisibility draught brewing and couldn't leave it unattended for two weeks straight. Dumbledore surprised the students staying behind with a ball and gave them an extra Hogsmeade on December 23^rd.

The 23^rd dawned bright and clear on the night's snowfall. Hermione and Draco walked together to Hogsmeade and went to Gladrags to select dress robes. Hermione found a new one quickly and left to find some makeup and some disgusting candies to send Potter and Weasley as a joke for teasing Draco. Draco, on the other hand, was having some difficulty choosing between black or deep green robes and had to wait until Hermione came back to decide. He ended up getting the deep green when she hinted that they would compliment her robes. With their purchases in hand, Draco and Hermione saw Weasel talking to himself walking towards the Shrieking Shack. The duo followed after him and heard him say 'Harry' frequently. Draco nodded at Hermione, who took his packages as he snuck off back to the castle, knowing that Potty didn't have permission. Hermione teased Weasel, who cursed her with Densaugeo, and she retaliated with a slug-belching curse before strategically falling to the ground to land on Harry's cloak (and the map which had fallen.) Hermione then told them with confidence that Draco had surely told McGonagall by now, although some of the mocking was lost through her teeth. Then she grabbed at Potter's cloak and stuffed it (and the map) in her purchases while they gawked. She had to get to the hospital wing.

Draco had indeed told McGonagall and as Harry was stupid enough not to run away at Hermione's warning, when McGonagall apparated from just outside of Hogwarts to right in front of Harry, she was seething. She took fifty points from Gryffindor a piece (Ron was a collaborator) and then dragged them back to the castle by their ears. She also gave Harry a detention with Snape and awarded Draco with ten points for informing her. Meanwhile, Hermione had run all the way to Hogwarts and to her dorm to drop off her stuff. Then, wanting more revenge on Potter and Weasley, she went to Professor Snape and gave him Potter's cloak and the still-enchanted map. When Snape heard what Weasley had done and saw, he took twenty points of Gryffindor, and two off Slytherin for retaliating. With a promise that Weasley would serve detention with Filch and that Harry would have to beg for his belongings back, he sent Hermione to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey fixed Hermione's teeth with a spell and Hermione had had her stop once her teeth were more normal than before.

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Dumbledore had set the ball for Christmas Eve, so everyone had had to find dress robes for the occasion like Draco and Hermione had. The day dawned bright and the sky was clear although snow had freshly fallen in the night. Hermione was not as worried as the other girls who'd stayed behind, so she slept in, then tossed on some casual muggle wear and visited the kitchens for lunch. After a nice meal, she went back and relaxed in a vanilla-scented bath until she was almost a prune all over. Then she dried herself off in the fluffy towels Hogwarts provided. She sat combing her hair, frowning as it frizzed. She decided to try the straightening formula she had brewed from some hair-care book in the library. She poured it on her locks and ran a brush through it. With her hair successfully straightened and frizz-free, Hermione smiled at her reflection and left the bathroom to get dressed. Her new dress robe was a long-sleeved one, with a v-neck and a gathered waist at her hips. It was a dark silver colour with white embroidery on the edges of the sleeves and on the bodice. She put on her jewellery collection, which always continued to grow; only the silver rose circlet as she was wearing her hair down, her swan pendant, her bracelet and her new ring. Noticing that her clock read five to seven, she realized she only had five minutes for makeup. Hermione put on some gold wizard's eye shadow, sparkling brown mascara, light pink blush and rose-coloured everlasting lip gloss and she was done.

Draco was waiting patiently in the Slytherin common room wearing his dark green robes that Aries had brought to him the night before, along with the current password to the common room. Hermione was only a few minutes late, even though she was usually punctual, but if she looked half as good as she had for his birthday, it was worth the wait. His breath caught in his throat as she made her way into the common room. He almost couldn't believe it was her with her hair straight, but she was the only Slytherin in the castle at the moment. He remembered his manners at the last second and offered her his arm, which she took and she allowed him to escort her through the maze of corridors to the Great Hall, where some of the ghosts were waiting to greet the students as they arrived.

As the duo entered the Hall, it was Hermione's turn to be astonished. The decorations were more spectacular than previous years and the walls glittered like ice. Fake snow was floating to the ground, as the ceiling sparkled with stars and the almost full moon. Draco had to nudge her to move. They walked over to the single table set up for the ten staff members that had decided to celebrate and the twelve students that remained. Draco and Hermione took the last two available places in between Snape and Lupin.

"Ah, now that we are all here, let's tuck in!" said Dumbledore cheerfully and the food appeared. It was only regular school food, well as regular as it usually was, because tomorrow's lunch was the real feast.

Lupin tried to focus on his meal, but ended up just pushing his fork around because Hermione was talking almost non-stop to Draco and her voice sounded so much like her mother's. Snape, who hadn't been as observant as Lupin as he had given up on Selenity early in his schooling career, was slowly noticing that Hermione resembled her, except for the eyes. Snape recognized those eyes well, as they had glared at him for even responding to Selenity at dinner when she had asked him a question.

Dumbledore banished the lone table away after everyone was full of dessert and made the orchestra appear. It played numerous songs, some with singing, most without. Draco managed to monopolize the majority of Hermione's dances, but Dumbledore, Lupin and Snape managed to have one each, which made Draco dance with Madame Pomfrey, Madame Hooch and McGonagall in turn. Harry, Ron, Seamus, Fred and George were busy trying to ignore Hermione's new look and calm down their dance partners, Ginny, Parvati, Padma, Angelina and Katie respectively. The dancing lasted until midnight, when Dumbledore bid them all goodnight.

After the ball, Lupin and Snape had one of their rare civilized conversations.

"So, you danced with Miss Granger," said Snape.

"As did you, Severus," countered Lupin.

"Yes, she is very familiar," stated Snape.

"Yes, she is. In fact, she looks an awful lot like Selenity."

"I do believe so; everything is similar...except those eyes."

"Those eyes used to give me nightmares back in school."

"I reckon to most boys at that time as well. You don't suppose Remus?"

"Oh, but I do. I believe she it the Belouvre child."

"And you are correct Remus," said Dumbledore, "although you can not tell her or anyone else. Let her and her adoptive parents worry about it."

"But sir..." Snape started.

"No buts. Lemon drops anyone?" Dumbledore offered. They declined.

"Goodnight then, gentlemen," he said and left them standing in the empty hall.

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As Draco and Hermione left the Great Hall, she got the feeling she could not spend the night alone. She shivered as she remembered the fear, and oddly, longing in Snape and Lupin's eyes as they had danced with her. She told Draco to sneak back down to the Slytherin dorms in his invisibility cloak when the coast was clear. He was puzzled, but he replied in the affirmative to the plan. With that, she took her leave and headed to her dungeon room. He stared after her for a moment, and then headed towards Gryffindor tower.

Hermione was sitting on her bed after a quick shower and donning her sleepwear of green flannel pants and a Slytherin sweatshirt she'd had made. She had been putting her circlet back in her trunk and had come across the mirror the anonymous person had sent for her birthday. Now she was looking in it and studying herself...actually, she was imagining what she would look like with blonde hair. Her hair turned blonde in the mirror and it didn't suit her. She looked away, with the intention of tossing the mirror back in her trunk when she noticed the strand of hair she had been sucking on was blonde. Hermione panicked. It had to be a curse, but there was no one in the room and her door had not opened. She was still panicking when Draco showed up a few minutes later.

"Draco, look what happened!" she cried.

"Hermione, is that you? What did you do to your hair?" he asked.

"I don't know! I think somebody cursed me...and they can read my thoughts!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was looking in that mirror I got for my birthday and I was thinking about what I would look like with blonde hair. The mirror showed me that image and when I looked away, my hair was actually blonde!!"

"Let me see the mirror." She handed it to him and he looked at it, thinking about green hair, but nothing happened. He handed it back to her. "Look into it again, thinking about your normal hair colour," he instructed.

"Okay," she replied and looked into it. Draco nodded.

"What?" she asked.

"You've got a glamour mirror, Hermione!"

"A what? Draco, you're not making sense."

"A glamour mirror, they're really rare and usually attuned to the bloodline of a family for safety reasons. They change the user's appearance to the one they are thinking of."

"So my hair is brown again?"

"Yes, back to your normal chocolate."

"So, I could become you if I wanted?"

"I think the handheld ones only alter the face. The full-length mirrors are even rarer, since they're usually cut up into the smaller ones."

"Oh, okay," Hermione yawned. "Ugh, so tired," she said as she put the mirror on her bedside table next to her wand. "Let's go to sleep Draco."

"Where am I going to sleep Hermione?" he asked.

"The bed's big enough for the two of us, just don't get any ideas. Night Draco," she said sleepily.

"Night 'Mione," he whispered as he extinguished the lights, and then climbed in.

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Hermione woke up around seven in the morning to discover a pile of presents on her bed, for her and Draco. She looked over at him to see him propped on his elbows watching her. Well, he would have been watching her had his eyes not been closed.

"Draco, wake up! It's Christmas!" she exclaimed.

"I'm awake already 'Mione. There's no need to shout," he replied groggily.

"Well, Happy Christmas then," she said while handing him his presents, then grabbing her own. She tore open her parents' package to find a pouch filled with sugar-free mints and a copy of Beauty by Robin McKinley. She received a plain silver thumb ring from the Malfoys and a black artist's book from Draco that had a special lock and pages. Hermione was done with her presents (no anonymous ones this time), so she watched as Draco opened her gift: a green jumper with his name in silver embroidery. He pulled it on and beamed at her.

"Thanks 'Mione. It's really neat," he said.

"You're welcome. Thanks for the book. Now, how about some breakfast?" she asked.

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Before they knew it, school was back in session and everything was hectic again. They had very frequent Quidditch practices as the Gryffindor-Slytherin match was approaching and the teachers had decided to give more homework to prepare the students for exams and take their minds off Sirius Black. Not that Draco and Hermione had trouble handling it, but they had to sacrifice some extracurricular potion-making once the invisibility draught was done. When it came time to Quidditch match, everyone was super-psyched. The match was very close when Hermione managed to grab the Snitch and cement Slytherin's claim to the Quidditch cup again. When they were in their library room after managing to escape the wild aftermath parties, Draco assured her there were no hard feelings between them.

In the first week of February, Lupin asked Hermione if she wished to take lessons in defending against Dementors, remembering she had seemed faint back in September on the train. She agreed and the only downside was that she had to work alongside Potter, but it was only for an hour a week and (to Draco's utmost amusement) see Potter pass out a lot. She managed to perfect the Patronus charm by mid March, hers was an otter, and thanked Lupin. Draco took only a week longer (she'd been teaching him) to have his form a dragon instead of mist. In working with Potter, she remembered the items she'd given to Snape for confiscation, knew he still had them and decided to get around to "borrowing" them. The idea took some planning but she and Draco were ready to go by April. Draco had agreed to create a distraction since he was Snape's godson and Hermione would sneak in with his cloak to where they'd discovered Snape had hid the items. The plan went off without a hitch and they were happy they'd succeeded, but they had to study for exams before they could thoroughly examine them.

After their last exam, Hermione and Draco were in their room looking at Potter's things. The cloak was a standard one, so they focused on the weird parchment. It was a map and on it they saw two strange dots. One was a dot labelled Peter Pettigrew which was located in Hagrid's cabin and the other was a dot for Sirius Black in the Shrieking Shack. Draco had been told by his mother that Pettigrew was the spy back before she was obliterated by his father, because Black's were generally loyal to each other and Sirius was her cousin so Lucius didn't want her messing up the Dark Lord's ambitions. The duo decided to prove Sirius's innocence because they knew the Ministry was too incompetent to catch him and they didn't want Potter to get spoiled by the Ministry again for Black still being on the loose.

They needed to get into Hagrid's house first though, so they needed a distraction. Once they reached the cabin under the invisibility cloaks (Hermione was using Potter's), they found the perfect one. They decided to let Buckbeak go free and it managed to draw Hagrid out and into the forest. They snuck into the cabin and the map indicated that Peter was in a cupboard. Hermione double-checked the map, which explained he was in rat form. Draco conjured up a cage with an anti-breaking charm on it while she opened the cupboard and coaxed him out. Peter had no reason to hide from a Malfoy, so he went into the cage calmly. Now they had to fetch Sirius.

They followed the map to in front of the Weeping Willow where the next obstacle was presented. Asking the map how to access the passageway, it told them to prod the knot at the base. Draco found a long stick and pressed it to freeze the branches. They climbed into the tunnel and followed it to the Shrieking Shack entrance. They opened the door and a large black dog almost pounced on them, but stopped when it saw Hermione. The dog then proceeded to change into a man, not paying any attention to Draco.

"Selenity?!" the man asked.

"What? I know you're Sirius Black, but who is this Selenity?" asked Hermione as Draco cast 'Lumos' to lighten the gloom.

"Uh, never mind. How do you know who I am?" he asked.

"The wanted posters and this map here. We are here to give you your innocence so Potter doesn't get special treatment again," Draco supplied.

"And you'll tell me more about this Selenity person," added Hermione.

"You have Pettigrew?!" Sirius asked hopefully.

"He's in this cage. Minister Fudge will be at the castle soon, so we should be going," Draco replied.

"I'll have to bind you though, for security reasons," stated Hermione.

"Alright, let's get going," said Sirius.

Hermione cast the binding charm on him, and then led the way out, with Draco holding Peter following along behind the levitating Sirius. Once outside though, all the dementors sensed Black's presence. Hermione and Draco managed to dissuade them using the Patronus charm. Sirius, though he could barely see what was going on, saw the head of Draco's dragon and was reminded of his old adversary's Patronus, a basilisk, and involuntarily shuddered at the memory of him. Once it was all clear, the group started back to the castle again.

At the doors were an anxious looking Fudge, a patient Dumbledore and Snape.

"Is there a safe place close to here Dumbledore?" asked Fudge.

"Everything is ready inside Cornelius," Dumbledore replied.

"Then let's get this show on the road," Fudge said.

Dumbledore led them to a room off the Great Hall and locked the doors. Hermione unbound Sirius as Draco let Peter out in the pentagram already on the floor to keep him in place. Snape forced Peter to resume his own form then administered Vertiaserum. Fudge asked the questions that needed answers and when it was through, sentenced Peter to the kiss and signed the pardon slip for Sirius. Snape petrified Peter and levitated him out after Fudge to find the dementors. Sirius was overjoyed and went to embrace Hermione and Draco, but they shied away.

"Remember Sirius, we only did this to ensure Potter wasn't spoiled by the Ministry," Draco said.

"And to learn about Selenity," Hermione added.

Sirius nodded as Dumbledore looked on in silence. 'Best not to tell them Sirius is Harry's godfather yet,' he thought.

"Come Sirius, I have a guest room for you," Dumbledore said and led him away as Fudge returned to the chamber.

"Congratulations Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger on your heroic deed. A is murderer gone and an innocent has been set free. Order of Merlin, First Class to both of you," Fudge stated. "See you at the ceremony. Oh...and here's the ten thousand galleons reward money for finding Black." He left the room again while tossing the money at their feet.

Draco and Hermione grinned at each other. Everything was tidied up, they had made five thousand galleons each (which they divvied on the spot) and in time for curfew too.

**************

The end of third year at Hogwarts was a strange one. Draco and Hermione had achieved top marks in their year again and Slytherin had won the house and Quidditch cups too. The weird part was the explanation of the innocence of Sirius Black to the whole school and all the reporters present. Lupin was acting weird too, as he embraced Sirius in front of everyone in a brotherly way. Draco was disappointed that Potter hadn't had even an attempt on his life. Dumbledore even gave Draco and Hermione special thanks and they got Special Service to the School medals for sorting out the mess so the dementors had to go away. And when all was said and done and Hermione was packing her trunk, she found the map where she had put it the night before, but Potter's cloak was missing and in its place was a note: 'Harry deserves some fun.' After the train ride was over, on which Hermione and Draco had managed to get a private compartment, they parted ways with hopes for the summer and a promise to go to the Quidditch World Cup, their cloaks switched of course.