No Body No Crime □■ Hermione Granger

Chapter 31

Arlene was such a bad influence.

"Come on 'mione." Arlene begged her friend.

Hermione bit her lip, clearly conflicted.

"You'll have a quieter place to study." She offered, knowing which buttons to push when trying to convince goody-two-shoes like Hermione and Sage to break the rules.

She stared at her for a few seconds, weighing the positives against the negatives, then she finally sighed "Okay."

Arlene grinned from ear to ear and jumped off the bed "Brilliant," she exclaimed as she clapped her hands together "Knew you'd come around."

Arlene turned and started walking away, leaving Hermione to scramble to grab her book and catch up with her.

The party was still going on strong when they entered, the Weasley twins were absolutely wasted and a couple seventh year had passed out on the couches. Nobody noticed them as they left.

It turned completely silent once the portrait closed, showing off the silencing charms.

"This way." Arlene whispered, excitement rolling off her like a waterfall.

Hermione, on the other hand, reeked of anxiety "This was a bad idea."

"Never claimed it was a good one." Arlene replied smoothly, grabbing her wrist and pulling her along.

Suddenly, she paused, then she pulled Hermione into one of the empty classrooms and signalled for her to be quiet.

Two prefects walked side by side, chatting and seemingly not noticing the two girls.

Arlene stayed in her place until the footsteps had completely vanished.

"It's safe." She declared silently as she left the classroom.

"How did you know they wouldn't check here?"

Arlene grinned "I memorized the prefect schedule, and I happen to know that the two prefects who patrol here –Jane and Felix- are absolutely balls at their job."

They walked together in silence, careful not to cause any echoes in case a prefect or Flinch was nearby.

To be quite frank, she had no idea what she was doing. If she was caught sneaking Hermione into the Slytherin common room, she would be in big trouble.

"Wait." Arlene instructed, Hermione was still wearing her red yellow stripped tie and the shirt with the Gryffindor crest.

Arlene took off her blazer and tie then handed them to the girl, instructing her to put them on and hide the other tie in her bag.

She stepped back, cocked her head to the side and looked her, "Here," she finally said, pulling her hair out of her ponytail and handing her the hair tie "pull your hair up."

Hermione did as told and Arlene was shocked at how different she look in Slytherin attire and a different hairstyle.

She smiled softly "Come on."

Hermione's reaction once they entered was instant, the sunlight reflection on the water alone was magical, if you add all the marble, roman stone and mermaids, and it looked like something out of a Fairy-tale

."Wow." Hermione whispered, her eyes wide as she took it all in.

Arlene's grin widened even more at Hermione's awe. They were alone in the room, so she wasn't worried too much about her friend acting like an excited first year.

"C'mon," she told her, sitting on a random couch that was directly under the glass and patted the empty spot beside her.

Hermione sat and took off her bag, but didn't pull her books out to study like he had been promised, she just stared at the glass.