It was strange, and Hermione had never heard Snape call Malfoy or any student by their first name. She made a mental note to tell Harry and Ron about it later. Malfoy was indeed acting differently lately. He hadn’t even laughed when Snape had taunted her. And usually, that was one of his favorite things to do.

 “This is terrible,” Hermione whispered.

“I expected as much. Filch caught me coming back from the Room of Requirement,” Malfoy admitted.

   “He did? But then… how did he know I was there, too?”
   Malfoy was silent for a few seconds. “Well, I told him, obviously. You didn’t think I’d really take the blow, did you, Granger?"
 
 

“Dammit,” he muttered. There was a long, bloody gash near his elbow that was oozing yellowish goo and had small pieces of wood stuck in it. The same went for the wound on his leg; there was a slash that stretched from his ankle to just under his knee that was extremely deep. Too deep, he thought. Much too deep.