Recaps

After Draco stopped Peeves with an unexplained trick, the professors investigated him and punished him for unauthorized magic and deception. Draco later told Hermione that he chose Gryffindor because he wanted to become someone like her, and their growing closeness left Hermione confused and flustered.

• Draco admitted that “Evil Spirit Expulsion” was a made-up name for a trick he called “Peeves Retreat,” and McGonagall took him and several others to Dumbledore’s office.
• Draco described a resonance technique from a manuscript attributed to Abraxas, but Snape and McGonagall doubted his account while Flitwick considered it theoretically feasible.
• Dumbledore upheld the charges against Draco, McGonagall deducted fifty points from Gryffindor and assigned him three weeks of Trophy Room cleaning, and Flitwick was ordered to assess the spell.
• Madam Pomfrey found Draco healthy and free of Dark Magic or unusual spiritual sensitivity, while Hermione and Snape remained suspicious of his explanations.
• Draco offered Hermione a pancake and said the Sorting Hat had placed him in Gryffindor because he wanted to become someone like her and escape his family’s expectations.
• Draco wiped sauce from Hermione’s face, then sat beside her in History of Magic, where he defended her when Ron suggested she was under a Love Potion or Confundus Charm.
• Draco shared Hermione’s textbook during Binns’s lecture as Lavender and Parvati speculated about their closeness, while Harry startled the class by shouting during a nightmare.
• After class, Draco caught Hermione when she tripped and teased her about dropping her bag, and Hermione fled the classroom overwhelmed by shame, anger, and confusion.

After Draco apologized for humiliating Hermione, he offered her a favor in exchange for revealing the truth about Moaning Myrtle's death. Hermione learned that Hagrid had been framed by Tom Riddle, now Voldemort, and ended the night bound to Draco by a protection agreement she dreaded fulfilling.

• Hermione hid in the girls' bathroom to cry, where Moaning Myrtle comforted her, until Draco arrived with dinner and an apology.
• Draco led Hermione to the Room of Requirement, gave her space to eat, and offered to grant her one request without forcing her to accept.
• Hermione accepted Draco's offer and learned that Hagrid had been framed for opening the Chamber of Secrets, while Tom Marvolo Riddle had released the monster.
• Draco revealed that Riddle had become Voldemort, then asked Hermione to protect him and escort him to Gryffindor Tower.
• Draco held Hermione's hand on the way to the tower, and they told the Fat Lady they had gotten lost and made a bet.
• Hermione stumbled into Draco's arms in the empty common room, and they agreed to claim they had stayed late studying in the library.
• Draco kept their protection agreement and told Hermione to meet him the next day, while Hermione returned to her dormitory and broke down over facing him in class.

Hermione and Draco grew closer as they attended Charms and Transfiguration lessons, with their wager leading them to use each other’s first names. Draco’s exceptional Transfiguration earned Gryffindor a hundred points, and Professor McGonagall planned to strengthen his foundations while postponing his tutoring until he finished his Trophy Room cleaning.

• Hermione reluctantly joined Draco for breakfast, and Ron warned Draco to stay away from her.
• In Charms, Hermione mastered Lumos and Draco earned points for helping her and other students ease their aching arms.
• Draco and Hermione bet on whether he could turn a match into a needle, and Hermione won, so they agreed to use each other’s first names.
• Professor McGonagall revealed herself as the tabby cat and taught the class to transform matches into needles.
• Hermione transformed a match on her first try, and Professor McGonagall praised her needle and awarded Gryffindor points.
• Draco produced an exceptionally realistic needle, then transformed three matches into different kinds of needles at once.
• After Draco explained his approach, Professor McGonagall awarded Gryffindor a hundred points and planned to strengthen his foundations.
• Draco reminded Professor McGonagall about his evening assessment and three weeks of Trophy Room cleaning, so she postponed his tutoring until he finished the cleaning.

Draco’s Transfiguration talent and growing popularity brought him closer to Hermione, while McGonagall and Flitwick gave him advanced lessons and tests. Hermione admitted to her friends that she liked Draco, and Quirrell’s garlic-filled Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson ended with Draco explaining Jiangshi to the class.

• Draco demonstrated his Transfiguration technique to students, and rumors about his abilities spread through the Great Hall as Cho Chang and her friends came to meet him.
• When students pressed Draco to say whom he liked, he teased Hermione until she fled, then apologized and joined her for his cleaning detention.
• Draco confronted Filch when he blamed Hermione for his supposed slacking, cleaned the Trophy Room without magic, and went with her to McGonagall’s office.
• McGonagall arranged further Transfiguration practice for Draco and Hermione, while Draco demonstrated his skill and later passed Flitwick’s Banishing Charm assessment.
• Draco gave Hermione a sea otter bag with a Space Extension Charm, teased and kissed her, and Hermione later admitted to Lavender, Parvati, and Olivia that she liked him.
• Ron accepted Draco’s bet about Quirrell’s class, where Quirrell’s garlic-filled lesson prompted Draco to teach an Odour-Blocking Charm and answer questions about Jiangshi.
• Cho Chang and Emock asked Draco to teach them the charm, but he sent them to Olivia, while the others teased Hermione and Harry about their interest in Cho Chang.