"There has to be an answer", the young witch mumbles and bends deeper, nibbling on her bottom lip.
Draco sighs. "Maybe there isn't." He settles himself next to Hermione, ignoring how she jumped at his comment.
The book in front of her is instantly forgotten. The blonde next to her will fire off the M-word any second and Hermione tries to get up her shield. "What do you want?"
Draco shrugs. His tone is bordering boredom and his body posture, straight back, hands in his pockets, his head slightly tilted, is full of himself and his arrogance. "Help you, I guess."
Hermione answers with a shrill, scared laugh. "You want to help me? I don't know which word to find more hilarious – help or me." She slams the book close. He is not allowed to know what she's doing, Harry and Ron made that clear.
The Slytherin student repeats her laugh mockingly, but gets serious soon. "In the past evenings I noticed how much time you spent here and how worried you seem to be. You are researching, am I right? About who – or what – is going around and petrifies the people here?"
Hermione's eyes get big and round. "How-…" she gets closer to Draco, "How do you know? You, of all people, are not supposed to find out."
"I know", he smiles. It's a sincere smile and somehow Hermione likes it.
She waits for him to continue, but since he keeps silent, she looks at him. "So? How do you want to help, Malfoy?"
He clears his throat and shrugs again. "Well, Granger, I have an information that might be important and the solution to your problem. The answer to your questions."
Hermione sighs impatiently and waves her hand. "If you only want to brag that you're so much smarter and know all the answers but not share your knowledge with me – I have better things to do than to listen to your voice."
Draco's smile gets bigger. "To be completely honest with you, I considered doing that." His smile fades. "But I'm not that much of a cruel person. People are getting hurt and it won't take long until someone dies. As you said yourself: I'm smart, I know which borders I shouldn't cross."
He pulls a ball of paper out of his pocket, a page of a book, crumbled into his hand. "I'm not the heir, no matter what Orphan and Weasel might think. I didn't open the chamber, but I can imagine who did. And I know, for a fact, what the chamber contains." He lets the paper ball roll off his palm and onto the table. "Use this information wisely." He stands up, turns to leave but hesitates. "One last thing: Something which you need in every modern bathroom and kitchen. This riddle shouldn't be hard for a mudblood." The profanity isn't spitted out this time but rather used as a normal term, which sounds even more wrong.
He walks away and suddenly, Hermione is alone and confused and her thoughts are speeding around the riddle he told her while her gaze is fixed on the ball of paper.
She takes it and reads it and suddenly, everything makes perfect sense. The victims are not dead because everyone had seen the basilisk through something. But… how? A basilisk is enormous, how could such a giant thing roam through the castle without-… Draco's riddle flashes back into her mind. Something which you need in every modern bathroom and kitchen. Hermione gasps, grabs a quill and scribbles one word onto the page, crumbles it up into her fist again. She turns to leave and squeaks as she can see how Penelope Clearwater, the prefect from Ravenclaw, leaves the library. Hermione runs after her.

Hello and welcome to my first openly published english fanfiction!
English is not my first language, I'm still learning, so please excuse minor mistakes. Feel free to tell me where they are though, the only way to learn is to know hwere your mistakes are.
I hope you enjoy this story. I always had a weak spot for Dramione and I'd like to show my favorite pairing some love.

Have a nice day and if you want, leave a review :)