Draco's POV:

I laid on my back in bed in the dormitory I shared with Hermione, content at the thought that Pansy was being dragged back to Professor McGonagall's office right now to be punished. I couldn't believe her. My year had been ruined by stupid Pansy and the other stupid Slytherins. My heart softened when I thought of Hermione, and Ginny. 

I started to change into my pyjamas when I heard somebody burst through the door behind me.

"Hermi --" I started. I turned around and saw Blaise standing in the doorway, breathing heavily like he'd just been running. I jumped with a start.

"Blaise, bloody hell!" I shouted. "What are you doing here?"

It took Blaise a moment to recover. Then, finally, he said, "It's Hermione. Granger, that is."

"What about her?" I demanded, feeling my heart beat quicker in my chest as I pulled my pyjama shirt over my head. "Is she hurt?"

"I was coming out of the common room," said Blaise breathlessly. "And Pansy was there. Just standing there, with this big grin on her face. So I asked her what she was doing. And she said that she was 'helping the mudblood.'"

The colour drained from my face. "So what happened?" I asked, my pulse quickening with every word Blaise said.

"So she waved her wand and there must have been this - I dunno - disillusionment charm on her - because there she was, on the floor, all curled up and pale. Pansy was just standing there, smiling at me. So I tried to knock her out of the way and get Granger safe, and then she hexed me and I ran."

Blaise held out his arm, where there was a dark-coloured burn running up to his elbow. I winced and sank down onto the bed.

"I only just got Hermione back," I moaned softly. "What do we do?" I looked up and stared at Blaise.

He sighed, and sat beside me. "Tell McGonagall, I s'pose," he shrugged. "But she could be anywhere by now. She could have taken Granger anywhere."

I put my head in my hands. "Ugh!" I shouted. "I hate Pansy Parkinson, and I hate this school." I felt tears coming into my eyes and forced them back in front of Blaise. Then I stopped abruptly, and stood up. "I know what we need to do," I said suddenly.

"What?" Asked Blaise at once.

"Do you know the password to Gryffindor tower?" I asked him.

"Er --" Blaise hesitated. "I think it's fiddlesticks, something stupid like that."

"Right," I said firmly. "We need the help of a Weasley."

Blaise stopped in his tracks on the way out of the dorm. "You mean - the girl?" He asked, paling a little.

"Yes?" I nodded. "What's wrong with her?"

"She - she's the one I tried to ask out today. Well, I didn't - I just sort of stared at her. But then she told me she was going out with Loony Lovegood!"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, bloody hell, Blaise, grow up," I hissed. "Hermione could be in trouble. We have to help her. Come on."

We raced down the corridor to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, where the portrait of the Fat Lady guarded the entrance. She was snoring loudly when we approached, but with a knock against the canvas she woke with a start.

"Slytherins?" She exclaimed. "What on earth are you doing here?" She frowned and knitted her eyebrows together.

"Fiddlesticks," I said loudly.

The Fat Lady seemed at war with herself for a moment. "But - but you're not Gryffindors!" She said, biting her lip.

"Oh, for God's sake..." muttered Blaise, but only loud enough for me to hear.

"Please, we need to help a friend," I pleaded. The Fat Lady sighed loudly, as though she was overburdened with work.

"Fine," she said. "Go on. But be quick!" She added hastily, as her portrait swung open. We ran into the cosy Gryffindor common room and Blaise nodded to me. I started to run up the girl's staircase, but it shifted beneath my feet and became a steep stone slide that I couldn't climb. I slid down it and landed on the floor at Blaise's feet, looking like a total idiot.

"What do we do now?" I asked anxiously, fretting about all the time we were wasting.

"Come on. We just need some help," grinned Blaise. He pointed his wand at his school shoes and muttered some spell I'd never heard before. Huge plastic suckers extended from the soles of his feet and he walked perfectly normally up the slide, his feet sticking to the stone as he walked.

"Accio Draco," he snorted, and I came zooming to Blaise's side as though glued to him. I rolled my eyes and slipped into the girl's dormitory, gently shaking Ginny's shoulders.

"Assassins!" Ginny shouted, leaping to her feet at once with her wand in hand. Surprisingly, the other girls were sleeping heavily enough not to notice. Ginny's face relaxed when she saw the two of us and she sank back onto her bed. "Oh, it's you," she frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"It's about Hermione," I said quickly. "Pansy's got her, and we don't have much time to find her before she gets hurt. We need to know if you've still got the Marauder's Map, from when Potter gave it to you last year. We need it to find Hermione."

Ginny paled, but sensing that there was no time to waste, rummaged around in the bedside cabinet and pulled out a plain piece of parchment. She tapped it with her wand and muttered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Ink danced across the page and the three of us crowded around the map, watching for Pansy and Hermione's dots in the castle. But we couldn't see them.

"They're not here!" Blaise exclaimed in a whisper. "They've left the castle!"

"Don't be stupid," whispered Ginny, smacking him on the arm. "This happened to Harry, in my fifth year. When you go into the Room of Requirement, you can't be seen on the map. That's where Pansy and Hermione are."

Draco and Blaise nodded. "Then we need to follow them. And fast," I said. Me and Blaise stood up. "Are you coming, or not?" I asked Ginny.

Ginny grinned, wand in hand. "Of course I'm coming. Who do you think I am?"