Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter World. Larry the Purple Pidwink belongs to me.

A/N: Thank you to all of my lovely reviewers! I love you forever! I have drawn a picture of what Larry looks like, but the light bulb in my scanner is busted. I'll see if I can scan it at school. Anyway, here's Chapter six. I meant to post it on Saturday but I couldn't wait.

Chapter Six: My, My, Master Malfoy

            Draco lay awake in his four-poster bed. The thick green curtains were closed but a sliver of pale moonlight snaked through a crack between them. Draco sighed deeply and felt the weight on his chest that was Larry rise and fall. The poor little creature had only gotten worse as the day wore on. He had laid entirely still all through Potions class. Draco had caught Hermione staring at him apprehensively more than once. Draco was a bit surprised to find that he and Hermione also shared their last class: Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupin had returned to teach the class again this year. As Draco thought of this he glanced uneasily at the moonbeam that slid across his legs. Draco had long had suspicions about the man and how he was always "sick" around the same time of the month; at the full moon. Must be cramps, Draco thought, smirking. Dark Arts had gone by without a hitch, but Draco had half-hoped that Larry would squeak, at least that would have been a sign that he was okay. Now the fuzzball was curled peacefully against Draco's chest and making squeaky-snoring noises.

            Draco glanced at his silver watch. Dark green smoke swirled stormily beneath the glass and the time flashed like bright green lightning across the center. 11:48. Draco carefully scooped up the sleeping Larry from his chest, trying not to arouse him. As Draco stood up the little creature rolled over in his hands and sighed, but stayed asleep. Draco slipped through the curtains and dropped the Pidwink into his pocket. To think it was only last night that I found him, Draco thought as he crept quietly to the door. Well, he thought as he made his way down the stairway and through the common room, Here I go again…

* * *

Draco was leaning casually against the wall in the corner near the front door. It was five minutes after midnight: Hermione was late. You'd think Little Miss Perfect would be on time, Draco thought as he checked his well-manicured nails for dirt. Then a horrible thought flitted across his mind: She's not coming. She's set me up and Filch will jump around the corner any minute, grab me by the ear and drag me straight to the Headmaster. Draco stopped rubbing his nails and peered nervously down the hall. His body stiffened as he heard a soft scraping sound. A footstep. The sound had been close-by. Draco scanned the dark hallway with his eyes, searching for any sign that someone was approaching. He stood completely still and silence seemed to ring in his ears.

"…Boo!"

Someone had whispered in his ear. Draco nearly jumped out of his skin and slid quickly sideways along the wall, his eyes darting around for the source of the disembodied voice. The giggling was a dead give-away.

"Hermione! Where are you?" Draco hissed into the emptiness. Suddenly Hermione's grinning face shimmered into view inches from Draco. He watched in amazement as the rest of her body appeared out of nowhere.

"What… how?" Draco whispered. Then he saw the silvery cloak hanging from Hermione's hand. "You have an invisibility cloak?! How did you ever get one! You're a muggle-born…"

"You say it like it's a bad thing," Hermione said, placing one hand on her hip. "Anyway it's not mine, I borrowed it from a friend."

Well that would mean Potter or Weasley. Weasley certainly can't afford one so it would have to be…

"Potter?" Suddenly it all made sense to Draco. "Oooooh…"

"What are you 'Oooooh'ing about?" Hermione asked, mocking his tone and waving her hands in the air.

"Third year -- Hogsmeade, the mud… ah nevermind…" Draco replied, running a slender hand through his hair. Hermione smirked at him knowingly.

Draco collected himself. "Alright then, let's go." Hermione pulled up the invisibility cloak and started to pull half of it over her head. She held the other half out beside her with one long, slender arm. Draco stood staring at her. "What?" He asked.

"Come on," Hermione replied a bit impatiently, "do you want to be seen or not?" Draco eyed her suspiciously.

"You mean we can both fit under there?" He asked.

"Yep, I've done it before. Come on, if I have to break the rules I refuse to get caught."

Draco glanced at Hermione's fingers holding the edge of the cloak near his shoulder. He sighed and ducked down next to her, staying as far away from her as possible. Hermione put her arm down across Draco's back.

"You have to get in closer, your side is sticking out." Hermione told him. Draco looked over and saw the disturbing sight of his arm suspended in mid-air. He quickly scooted in next to Hermione. She smells like lavender, Draco thought, or is that the cloak? Hmm…

As Hermione slid her arm across Draco's back and to her side, Draco stuck his pointed nose against the folds of cloak over his face. Ew, nope, definitely not… He turned his head and sniffed Hermione's abundance of curly hair that spilled across his shoulder. Ah, that's it.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked curiously.

Draco met her eyes and was momentarily speechless. What exactly in God's name AM I doing? Draco thought incredulously. "It's just…" he started, "…this nasty old cloak, it smells musty."

Hermione scowled. "It was Harry's father's," she whispered.

"What, was he buried in it?" Draco asked with a disgusted look on his face.

Hermione's scowl deepened. "Don't even joke about that Draco. There weren't any pieces left to bury, you know that." Draco could see that he had upset her, and his insides squirmed with discomfort.

"I'm sorry," he whispered before thinking.

Hermione's eyes widened. "You are?" Hermione's amber eyes narrowed as she searched Draco's silver ones. "My, my, Master Malfoy, was that a bit of compassion I saw slip out of you? I think little Larry has softened you up."

Draco scowled indignantly. "Speaking of little Larry, he's awfully hungry for some Fuzzbonk leaves," he said, purposely trying to lighten the mood.

"Fozwonk," Hermione corrected him. "Alright, now let's go."

Draco sighed as Hermione began to walk forward. He realized that he would have to keep pace with her and quickly shuffled his feet to match her steps. Draco glanced over his shoulder once more to check for Filch as Hermione slowly pulled the door open.

* * *

The pair crept silently across the moonlit lawn towards to greenhouses at the corner of the building.

"Which one is it?" Draco whispered.

"That third one there," Hermione replied, her voice even more quiet than Draco's.

Hermione stepped boldly up to the door and pulled her wand out of her pocket. "Alohomora," she whispered. Together the two young wizards sidled into the greenhouse. Hermione pulled the cloak off of them both and hung it on a hook near the door.

"Done this before?" Draco asked as he raised one eyebrow at Hermione. She only smiled and turned to gaze at a row of plants next to her.

"We have to be careful, these are some of Professor Sprout's rarest plants. And strangest…" Hermione was eyeing a thick orange plant that was oozing blue blobs of liquid down its leaves.

"So where's the Fuzzbonk?" Draco asked.

Hermione half-smiled. "I'm not sure, but I know what it looks like." She straightened up and looked Draco in the eye. "It's a green plant with little star-shaped purple flowers sprouting out of the top. The ends of the leaves are all frayed-looking, like fringe." Draco suddenly felt like he was the student and Hermione was lecturing him. She continued, "You start on that side, and I'll start over here." She pointed across a long center table to an aisle on the other side. "Let's not use our wands for light, the moonlight is enough."

"Okay…" Draco couldn't think of anything else to say. He was used to being the one to take charge. Hermione leaned back over the table on her side, gazing closely at the odd assortment of plants. Draco shuffled around the center table, tugging on his cloak as it caught the edge. He looked down at the task before him.

Plants such as Draco had never seen were sprawled randomly across the table. There was a bright yellow one that had millions of tiny orange hairs across its leaves. Another blue one had what appeared to be purple feathers sprouting out of its base. Draco shuffled slowly down the aisle, searching for a green plant. A fire-red plant caught his eye. It had a long slender stem and a thick round growth at the top. There were little black spikes hanging across the seam of the head of the plant, and Draco thought they looked suspiciously like teeth.

"Erm, Hermione?" Draco asked uneasily. "Are any of these plants, well, dangerous?"

Hermione peered across the center table at Draco, glancing down at his plant. "Yes, I suppose so. Just don't get too close to them. The ones that bite should be sleeping anyway." She returned to her search.

Should be… Draco thought as he quickly shuffled away from the black-toothed plant. Draco stopped abruptly when he came across a green plant. It had long green leaves that ended in soft fringe and little purple balls stuck out from tendrils at the top. "Hey Hermione," Draco whispered excitedly, "is this it?" Hermione turned around and leaned over the center work table to get a closer look at the plant.

"Hmmm, no, but close. The little things at the ends of the tendrils should be star-shaped, not balls. That plant is called Fourwank."

Draco smirked, "Four-wank?! What kind of pervert named that plant?"

Hermione scowled but a grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Malfoy," she said, rolling her eyes.

Draco laughed under his breath and kept on searching. A few plants down from the Fourwank, Draco spied one that looked similar. He checked it out thoroughly; he wanted to be right this time. Fringed leaves, purple star-shaped thingies on tendrils, green, yeah that's gotta be it. "Hermione, I think I found it!"

Hermione leaned back over. Her face lit up. "Yeah, Draco, you did!"

Draco beamed proudly.

There were three of the plants clustered closely together but in separate pots. Draco picked one up and pulled it under his arm. Hermione was making her way back down along the work table to the door. At the end of the table, she began to clear off a space, shoving gloves and trowels aside.

"Here," she said, "take Larry and set him down here. Let's see if we can get him to eat now."

Draco set down his plant and carefully pulled the sleeping Pidwink out of his pocket. Hermione watched curiously, the moonlight glinting off her eyes. Draco set the fuzzball down next to the plant as Hermione plucked a few leaves off of it. Larry was sound asleep. Draco poked Larry's belly with one finger and the little creature squirmed awake.

"Here, little guy," Hermione prodded, holding a Fozwonk leaf under Larry's nose. Larry's sleepy eyes snapped to attention when he saw the leaf. He let out a squeal of joy and pulled the leaf into his little paws. Draco and Hermione laughed with delight as Larry sat back in his hind legs and chewed quickly on the leaf.

"He looks like a hamster or something," Draco laughed.

Hermione sighed with relief. Larry had already devoured the leaf and was searching for another one. Draco handed it to him. "Good thing this plant has lots of leaves," Draco said.

Hermione beamed down at the happy little creature. "He's gonna be okay!" She said happily.

Draco ran his fingers through Larry's fur. Keeping his gaze on the Pidwink, he said quietly, "Thank you, Hermione."

Hermione grinned and stared at the side of Draco's head. She found herself entranced with a lock of silver hair that curled under his ear. The moonlight shone on his grey eyelashes as he blinked down at his little creature.

"Anytime, Draco…" She replied. Draco's gaze shifted to Hermione's hand, which was now softly fingering Larry's fur as well. He stared as her thumb ran the fur between her slender fingers. Hermione noticed Draco's gaze, and her hand became still. Draco shifted his eyes up to Hermione's face and he stared into her eyes. Both of them were holding their breath.

Suddenly Hermione gasped, breaking the silence. Draco tore his gaze away and stared at a spot of dirt on the table.

"We'd better, go ba…" Hermione started.
            "Yeah," Draco cut her off. He reached to pick up Larry, and found that the little creature was sitting quite still, glancing curiously back and forth between Draco and Hermione. "Come on, fuzzball," Draco muttered, "Bedtime."

Hermione already had the cloak in her hand as Draco scooped up Larry from the table. He started to walk towards the door but Hermione stopped him. "Don't forget the Fuzzbonk," she started, but then faltered, "I mean,… oh now you've got me calling it that!" Hermione appeared flustered and shook her head in exasperation. Draco let out a short laugh and reached back for the plant. He pulled out the end of the invisibility cloak and ducked under it. Hermione ducked in beside him. Two wizards, one "Fuzzbonk" plant, and one happy little Pidwink made their way quietly across the lawn and back into the school.

* * *

 tbc

A/N: Alrighty, there you have it. See how quickly I updated this time? That probably won't happen often, so take it as a special treat! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I like how you all say my story is cute, cuz I just love cute things, case ya didn't notice. Man, you Draco lovers are vicious! Bashing poor Harry and Ron. Well whatever, lol. I personally love Harry and Ron… and Draco. I just wanna cuddle up with all three of 'em. Whoa, did I just say that? Heh… anyway, REVIEW! ß (quick change of subject, that…)

Love always,

But Siriusly