Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.
The Difference Between a Metal and a House
Promethium shared so many of its properties with the "serpent's silver" described in Thirty Seven Magical Items For a Charmed Life by Gideon Derwinkle. If only she could remember the book she'd read about-
"Weasel stood you up for a study date, Granger? Or did you finally decide that he and Scarhead weren't worth your time?"
Hermione looked up from her notes and straight into the cold gray eyes of Draco Malfoy. He was smirking, which was usual for him, but he wasn't flanked by his two best friends, which was unusual.
"Speaking of people not worth my time, why are you speaking to me, Malfoy?" She tried to force as much malice as she could into those words, but despite this the reply implied that he'd taken her words as expressing genuine curiosity.
"I should really be asking myself that, you know," he stated, airily. Hermione frowned when she saw he'd taken the seat across from her. He was obviously trying to bother her. She decided to ignore him, and looked back down at her notes.
"Was it something I said?" he inquired sarcastically.
She glared up at him. "Try everything you've ever said. I don't think you could manage an intelligent conversation if it killed you."
He was still smirking. He has such an annoying smirk. He was still sitting across from her at the little wooden table.
"Try me."
"You know, as much as I'd honestly like to see you killing yourself in an attempt to be intelligent, I really do have better things to do." She looked down at her notes and became once again engrossed in them. The minutes flew by, and though she didn't give him much thought, she was sure the Slytherin had already left. That is, until he spoke again.
"Serpent's Silver, eh?"
She sighed, not bothering to look up this time. "Why, exactly, are you still here?"
"I can have an intelligent conversation."
"You've yet to prove that, Malfoy."
"You've yet to let me."
She couldn't help but look up to glare at him now. "Oh, you have had ample opportunity throughout our entire acquaintance to express even a semblance of anything besides ignorant, childish animosity, but you have chosen not to."
"Yeah, but you didn't let me, just now." She stared at him for a second. What had she been expecting? An actual, decent retort? No, she should have known—she did know—that all he could do was reply with pretty defenses.
"Just sod off, Malfoy." She looked back down at her notes, and read for a while from a muggle book about chemicals that she had out on loan from the library in her home town. There was a particularly in-depth chapter she was reading about synthetic metals when she came upon a particular detail about Promethium that she simply had to jot down. Soon, she was frantically going through all of the pieces of parchment in front of her, turning through the pages of the books half open around her, looking for one small scrap of parchment.
"Looking for this?" There was no bloody way...
"Malfoy, I told you to sod off."
"Well, obviously, I didn't take your advice, Granger, did I?"
"Accio parchment."
"All you had to do was ask, Granger."
"Yes, because you're renowned for being such a good sharer, Malfoy."
"Naturally, Granger."
"Go away, Malfoy."
"I will if you answer one question, Granger."
"This isn't up for negotiation." It bothered her that he was still smirking, his eyes lighting up as he watched her become more and more irritated.
"Oh, but it is, because when it comes to wizard interaction, it's always negotiation, because when it comes down to it, all we have it control of ourselves, and if we try to take away the will of someone else, it will only result in us loosing something." She was silent for a moment, and he smiled broadly, clearly thinking he had triumphed in some way.
"But if we can strip others of their will, then we don't have our will in the end, necessarily. You're contradicting yourself, Malfoy." Now she found that she was smirking, while he wore a haughty, but admittedly less broad, smile.
"I only said if we try to take their will away, Granger, not that it was possible to ever do so."
"I hate to be literal, Malfoy, but what of the imperious curse?"
"Just because you're overpowered doesn't mean you lack willpower, it means you lack the means to carry out your will."
She knew he was right. She'd agreed with him, a little, the whole time. It was obvious that she was arguing for the sake of arguing, but she didn't like being on the losing side.
"Sometimes," she admitted, rolling her eyes as she turned back to her work. But before she could get very far in her work, he spoke again.
"You know, I still think it's funny."
She looked up as him, but didn't ask the obvious, 'What's funny?' because he obviously had some reply carried out. She watched him for a moment with a look of utter loathing before he continued, seemingly undeterred.
"I mean, Serpent's Silver. That's rather Slytherin-y, isn't it, Granger?"
"It was discovered before Salazaar Slytherin was born, so I figure Slytherin is more like the metal than the metal is like the house."
"But you admit that they're similar."
"This sounds like a bad joke, Malfoy. How is an ancient magical metal like a cunning Hogwart's house?"
The boy across the table from her pretended to give it serious thought, before replying, "Hermione Granger is fascinated with both of them?"
She gave him a look of utter contempt, and he looked like he was about to burst into laughter. "Wrong answer," she replied dryly.
"Both of them are unknown to the muggle world?"
It was Malfoy. It wasn't like he cared, but not one besides her cared, really, and she'd wanted to tell someone her suspicions for days, except no one wanted to listen, and Malfoy seemed to want to talk with her for whatever reason, so she began explaining to him why that might be a wrong answer.
"Well, actually, there's this element—er, basic material of our world-that muggles know of, called Promethium. It shares a lot of chemical and physical traits with serpent's silver, and the more I've been able to read about it, the more I think it's the same thing. Except, seeing as it's a really old discovery, and rather dangerous, I haven't been able to find a lot on serpent's silver. But I think if I can find explicit instructions on how it's made, and compare that to the process through which it's synthesized by muggle scientists, I could be able to make some valuable connections between magic and science." By the time she was finished explaining, she was smiling, a little flushed, and there was a far off look in her dark brown eyes. It was as if she'd forgotten who she was talking to. She didn't even seem to notice Madam Pince glaring in her direction.
When, finally, she looked at Malfoy, she was surprised to find that he was looking back at her, apparently expecting her to continue. "That's all," she added, a little sheepishly.
"Well, I suppose that makes sense, Granger. Except, how do you know that magic runs on the same laws as your science? I mean, how do you know that when you do Action A, it results in Effect B with science and with magic for the same reasons both time?"
"Obviously, Malfoy," she said, rolling her eyes at him, "If things react the same way every time then the same rules probably apply to each, because it's through those actions and results we get our rules."
"But what if it's not the same every time?"
"Then we find the difference."
"Correlation does not imply causation."
She let out an exasperated sigh, "Honestly, Malfoy, you're arguing with me just to bother me, and it's working, so please, I want to finish this, go pick on a first year, or something."
Her heart lifted with hope when he got out of his chair, but sank just as quickly when he slid in to the one beside her. "If you want to finish it, Granger, then let me help."
"I'd rather eat a flubberworm, Malfoy. You'll sabotage the whole thing."
"You owe me, Granger." She glared at him, noticing when she did so that she was uncomfortably close to him, but deciding to ignore it.
"And with what pretense, exactly, have you fooled yourself into thinking I owe you anything besides a good hex?" She almost laughed. The idea was, in fact, laughable.
"You said I couldn't carry out an intelligent conversation. Well, I just did."
"Is that honestly why you're still here? Merlin's shorts, if I'd've known... Yes, yes, very intelligent, now buzz off."
"Let me help you research, Granger."
"No."
"Please?"
"Fine."
~x~