The colossal failure of Draco's attempt at murdering the headmaster set into motion two things. One of which will go on to cause an uproar. But for the time being, it solidified the alliance between him and the two Gryffindor boys, tense though it might be.

"We'll just tell her that Harry is planning to start an anti-death eater squad in school to destroy him and his death eaters." Ron said absentmindedly while eating a pie in the room of requirement. The lone table, which originally looked like it couldn't have handled the weight of a feather, now held a pile of food which wobbled precariously.

"The dark lord will never believe that," Draco said, "He knows that Harry has things like honour and how much he values friendship, something you clearly lack."

Ron's ears seemed to have caught fire at the speed at which they turned as red as his hair, "The dark lord this and the dark lord that," he said hotly, "You positively adore him... How do we know this is not some kind of trap to get us to trust you so you can report back to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

The blond raised his eyes to the ceiling in exasperation and continued pacing around. The room accommodated them, creating nooks that each would enjoy, including a shared common area in the middle which sat an elaborate round table that Hermione said looked similar to the carved table of Arthurian fables, to which Draco pointed out, "Actually happened, which you would know if you weren't such a muggle." Which, in turn, caused Ron's eyebrows to shoot up into his hair, because he half expected him to spit out 'mudblood' and was surprised he didn't.

"As if Hermione hadn't thought of that before, give her some credit, will you?" Draco said. Hermione paused her scribbling but haven't decided whether it was a compliment or an insult until–

"Okay, instead of going off on each other, could we please focus on the issue at hand, please?" She interjected, looking up from her homework but still scribbling away.

"How are you multitasking?" Ron asked, "I think we'd all like to know that. How are you still doing," he peered at what she was working on and said, "Arithmancy? While we're all trying to think of a way to, I don't know, help this git who has been nothing but foul to us until daddy dearest was sent to Azkaban?"

"I think we're getting off point here... Selgentar wants him to spy on us – why? What is she hoping to hear? I think that you should figure out a way to find out what she wants so we know what kind of information to give her." Harry said from beside Hermione.

Draco chafed at their closeness but didn't say anything other than, "What would you want to know about your enemies?"

"How they sleep at night," Harry deadpanned.

"Harry." Hermione chastised, eyes not leaving her homework. "Maybe you should tell her that Harry is trying to find out where Voldemort is hiding and we're starting to suspect you because it's hard to ask us for information when you are unable to give us any."

There was a stunned silence from the boys before, "A bit close to home isn't it?" Harry said while fidgeting with a Sneakoscope.

"The best lies are seeded with truths."

Harry turned to grin at her, recalling how Hagrid thundered after Hermione and demanded to know what was going on, to which Hermione coolly replied with, "Draco has something that doesn't belong to him and I'm going to make sure he returns it." And marched Draco back into Hogsmeade. It was a comical scene, to be sure, and a befuddled Hagrid even funnier still.

"Yes, we all know how intelligent Hermione is," Draco said, pulling Hermione and Harry out of their little reverie. The boy planted his hands calmly on the table while leaning into the space between them, "Without her, I'd dare say you'd never make it this far."

"That's right, though," Ron said with his mouth full, "Remember Devil's Snare?"

Draco flinched from his blatant attempt at complimenting Hermione, "Now that we've established how smart Hermione is–"

"Oh, I'm sure we can think of something better." She suggested.

"No, no. I think it's a good idea," Draco said, suddenly gentle, "It's obvious – and the best lies are the simplest lies."

Hermione stopped writing to give him a look, again wondering whether he had handed her a compliment, or if he had just backhandedly reminded her how she had encouraged him to lie. She watched as he started picking on the carved surface of the table.

"Now that that's out of the way, the biggest mystery is why we're here with this ole git when we could be warm and cosy in the Gryffindor towers." Ron said.

"Because we have food here, now shut up." Draco said pointedly and glanced as a golden pudding streaked with red and green which was sitting at the far end of the table. Ron spotted what he was looking at and set off to grab himself a slice.

"Oi, Hermione!" He said from across the room, "Why haven't you tried roping him into joining spew? You could be liberating at least twenty house elves today – look at how spick and span this place is, and," he gestured to the food, "Not that I'm complaining but this is even better than what we get in the great hall."

"Spew?" Draco asked, picking a seat from opposite hers and settling in.

"It's not spew, it's S.P.E.W – it's the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare and it's two sickles to join. I think I've got a badge around here somewhere." She dropped her quill and Draco watched in horror at the girl digging around in her bag and also at the glob of ink which was slowly spreading on her parchment. Pulling out his wand, he gave it a wave and sent the quill flying back into the ink bottle. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done about the small splotch of ink.

"Here it is!" Hermione said, holding up a purple badge with the acronym emblazoned on it.

"Er, I do not have any money on me," Draco said sheepishly.

"Oh, okay..." Hermione said, slightly crestfallen and began looking for her quill, surprised to see it upright in her bottle and frowning at the inkblot on her parchment. But she picked it up and continued to write, determined to finish it before they had to leave the room for their next class.

"Go on then, do you believe that Malfoy wouldn't have any money on him?" Ron egged on.

"Yeah, I'm sure if you shook him by the ankles, change will start to fall out." Harry quipped.

"I'm only joking," Draco said in a dignified manner, "I care tremendously," he glanced at Harry pointedly, "About these house elves and such."

Harry looked back at those steel blue eyes and said, "Oh you do, do you? I'm sure Dobby– "

At that moment, Draco dropped two gleaming galleons loudly onto the table. "I'm sure," he insisted.

"It's two sickles, you git," Ron mumbled from the far end, but eyeing the coins all the same.

"We really should brush up on your vocabulary, or is 'git' the only derogatory word you know? I suppose there's never any money to buy a dictionary." Draco slinked away from the table, not bothering to take the badge from Hermione and simply disappeared into a curtained alcove, which was decorated to his tastes. A collection of accomplishments emblazoned in gold lined the shelves, which were haphazardly filled with unfathomable books that Hermione itched to get her hands on. There was a desk in the middle of the cavernous alcove, an ornate but compact thing, with cabriole legs that ended in a serpent head. It did not look comfortable to the other Gryffindors, who thought it looked like a study belonging to an old, rich gentleman instead of a seventeen year old boy. Even the decor was dated, with tassels on the curtains and woven carpets.

"That..." Ron seemed to struggle a bit before settling for, "Little cretin. I'll bet he's got one of those walls filled with the heads of past house elves..."

The mere mention of Kreacher melted the smile off Harry's face.

"You two shouldn't joke about the welfare of house elves. They deserve to be treated as equals, whether they serve freely or not. It's disgusting how they worship witches and wizards as though they were born to serve..." Hermione began and Ron rolled his eyes.

"There she goes again," He muttered.

"You got her started on it," Harry replied glumly.

Draco watched from the shadows as Hermione continued on her animated charade, homework forgotten and hands gesturing, speaking about rights and drawing parallels to the muggle world of which he knew close to nothing about.