*THUMP*

There was someone there. Someone was hiding from him. He could hear them.

*THUMP*

He'd never heard a heart so loud before. Maybe because it had never been this silent.

*THUMP*

Awake. Breathing. Kn- wandcurTAINCURS- Pupil.

*THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP*

Simon Jones lowered the thin, breakable stick of wood and looked Draco Malfoy hard in the eye.

"It is past curfew," he said, blankly.

Draco Malfoy blinked.

"The Slytherin dormitories are not located on the 6th floor. You cannot enter them through that alcove. There is also no shortcut through that alcove. There is no shortcut on this floor. Why are you here."

Draco Malfoy just looked up at him, trembling. Sai slipped his wand back up his left sleeve (to make itself at home with 26 poisoned senbon, a spool of wire and a lock-pick) and put his wand hand (his right, apparently) onto Draco's forehead.

"You are shivering but you do not have a fever," he said, conversationally. "Your eyes are wide and your faculties are impeded. You cannot answer simple questions even at wand point. I detect fear."

The pale-faced, shaking Slytherin blushed, straightened up, and scowled.

"It's none of your business why I'm here," he said.

Sai looked him directly in the eye.

"I have a lot of business," he said, "so I am busy. I do not want to waste time, but we are currently wasting time. Please tell me why you are here so we can stop wasting time and I can get on with my business."

Draco's eyes slipped off to focus on the alcove wall.

"What is your business?" he asked, quietly.

"None of your business," said Sai.

"You don't look busy," said Draco.

Sai frowned. It was true that it was not obvious he was busy... nor was he actually very busy... it was just that sleep was a very important thing that most people did, and he was technically busy with walking to it.

Then he remembered the newspaper.

"I am going to read this newspaper," he said, seriously. "I am also out past curfew. This is not because I intended to be out past curfew, but because I was delayed and therefore returned much later than expected, after the curfew. This is the newspaper. It is very factual. I have not read it yet, but I was told that it was very good and very factual. Go back to bed."

He held up the newspaper. Draco looked at it.

Then he looked at it some more. He did not say a word for a few minutes. Then he started to open his mouth.

Sai cut him off.

"I am busy. Go back to bed," he said. "It is past curfew. I am late for bed. I wish to read this newspaper before bed. This is a very factual newspaper that I wish to read before bed. I do not want to be tired tomorrow. Tiredness is restrictive. I am going to bed. Go to bed."

And he gave Draco a once-over, slid quietly along the corridor to the door, unlocked it with his wand just enough to slip through, entered, and shut the door.

o

Outside the door, Draco could do nothing but blink. It was very hard to believe these days what was actually true.

o

On the other side of the door, Simon Jones opened up the page to the first article...

( 'Muggles Mount at Malfoy Manor'

The Hogwart's Governor, suspected death eater, and ministry employee, Lucius Malfoy Senior, (aged 'no comment' - pureblood), has recently been discovered to have been smuggling illegal muggle refugees into the country through use of an ingenious system of automatic portkeys.)

...and started to take notes.

o

A/N: So there you go. Chapter 14. If you have a bayonet, please do not run in my direction; I tried to get over my laziness. I really did. Anyway, I'm not too pleased with this - I wanted to include the whole Quibbler article - but oh well.

No spells, because nobody mentioned any spells to hex with. I know, slightly unfair on you lot, but... Anyway, non-confrontational works better, I think.

Next chapter updates will be sporadic, but I don't hate this story, and I do keep coming back to it, so... it will arrive. Promise.

Just, not on cue.

If you want to see anything specific happen in the story (like, I don't know, a certain pair of twins stumbling across a certain hostage) I'll try very hard to include it. I've got the bare bones of an ending, but, at the moment, I'm just sort of making it up as I go along.

Alibi

PS. If you review, you get to give Draco a clue as to who Simon Jones is. As in, suggest it in the review. You don't have to, but... Draco is very confused here...