A/N: Please see disclaimer in Chapter 1. Again please excuse any grammar or spelling errors but please feel free to point them out so I can fix them. Also, since this is my first story I am very interested in what people think of my story so far so PLEASE give me a review so I know how I am doing so far.

I promise that these letters back and forth wont last forever. Just a few more chapters of letters and eventually they will even be seeing each other in person. Anyways, here goes Chapter 3.

Chapter 3

Draco, my dear,

I due apologize for my late last response. I was just so excited to receive your letter that I didn't even realize the time when I sent my reply. From now on I will only send you letters in the morning so they may get to you during the day.

We did have a breakthrough in our project today but we still have a ton of details to take care of before we can move forward. I will certainly try and follow your advise but sleep is fleeting for me these days. Every night my brain goes round and round until the wee hours of the morning when exhaustion takes over. The nightmares are thankfully not a nightly occurrence but do happen often enough to keep me on edge.

I am glad that you like the tokens so far and hope that they do not bring you any trouble. Although why receiving jewelry from a 'girl' is to be laughed at I am not sure. Would it be better if it was from a bloke? Also how would they know if it was from a girl unless you told them?

I have heard the rumors about rounding up muggle-born and while I am not in danger from that I do know of some who are and it worries me. There is already enough on my plate without having to worry about who is going to disappear next.

As for your Q&A I will only agree to it if I get to answer a question in return. It seems only fair that I get to know you better as well. Also I will continue to keep my answers vague as to not make this too easy on you but promise to provide more detail when I can.

For your question the answer is we met at a wizarding establishment somewhere in London.

My question is: How are you doing, truly? (Since you have yet to respond the last few times I asked.)

Patiently waiting,

Henrietta P. Griffone

August 19th, 1997

P.S. Not yet.

Henrietta,

Thank you for regulating your timing on sending your letters, although I will be returning to school soon so I can not guarantee daily letters when I go back. I will try my best to write as often as I am able however since I have grown more intrigued. I would even go so far as to say that I find this mystery mildly entertaining. Although since I have very little to entertain me these days this is not saying much.

I am glad to hear that you are making progress on your project, though you still haven't even given me a clue as to what it might be. I understand how lack of sleep can take its toll on a person. We are currently hosting an assortment of guests in my home and I am up much of the night either running errands for them or to nervous to sleep in case one of them comes looking for me to send me on another errand. I am also no stranger to nightmares but I will not bore you with the details.

Your latest token of a broom stick still is now along side the others. I wonder if you really don't know me well or not. It seems that each token does fit me well and I didn't think there was anyone who would know me so well that I didn't expressly remember. I still don't see how any of these tokens would link me to another person.

As for anyone knowing the tokens are from a girl, there is sometimes strict security on incoming and outgoing letters. Malfoys are not without their enemy's who have in the past tried to send overly rude or even cursed mail. Most letters are screened before being delivered or sent and I am not sure who is in charge of screening the letters at this time.

Receiving jewelry from a girl is something I would be teased about endlessly if someone had the mind to do so. Getting jewelry from a bloke would cause even worse teasing and I am sure my father would not approve.

Since you have provided me with a vague response I will be forced to return the favor. I am doing as well as can be expected given the circumstances (and no I will not elaborate on what those circumstances might be).

My question: Did we go to school together?

Suspicious and wary,

Draco L. Malfoy

August 19th, 1997

P.S. Good god woman, what is with all these dears and darlings?

My wonderful friend Draco,

I too will not have as much time once our project is over. I do not know what my plans are exactly when we are finished either. Maybe I will try and find a way for us to be able to communicate somehow with out needing an owl. I will ask my friend about it. She is incredibly smart and ever so clever, I am sure she can come up with something.

I am glad to provide some entertainment in what I gather is a stressful and demanding time for you with all your guests. Although I will try not to say anything too embarrassing seeing as someone besides you may be reading these.

I am glad that the tokens are making it to you. I am sure when you finally remember me you will see the link between the tokens and us and in the mean time I am glad they are pleasing to you.

Yes, I did attend Hogwarts with you for some years.

You said you would be teased and your father wouldn't agree but you never did say if you would like to have jewelry from a bloke. So would you?

Your (dare I say) friend,

Henrietta P. Griffone

August 20th, 1997

P.S. At least I am not using 'idiot' and 'twat'.

Henrietta,

I look forward to hearing if your friend is able to come up with a quicker way to correspond. It would certainly take a tricky bit of magic to accomplish. She would be a very clever witch indeed to succeed.

I thank you for censoring any overly embarrassing conversations you may have wanted to start. My guest unfortunately already find plenty of things to torment me with without your instigation. Although what topics you would want to right about to embarrass me is beyond me.

I think you may be sending tokens you think I like instead of sending them as clues. What a book has to do with any of the other charms or our connection I haven't a clue. However I do like it as reading is my second favorite past time after Quidditch.

What are some of your hobbies or interests?

I like gifts of jewelry from anyone as long as its tasteful. Although I suppose it would depend on who the bloke as to whether or not I would actually like accepting it from him.

Interested and grateful,

Draco L. Malfoy

August 21st, 1997

P.S. I suppose we could be considered friends of sorts.

To My Dearest Darling,

I am sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. We have been making inroads into our project and I have been on reconnaissance duty the last couple of days and have not had time to pen you a response. While we are excited that everything seems to be coming together it means that I may be out of touch sooner than I had hoped.

My friend has been working as much as possible on an alternative mode of communication and see may have something that will work but has not had the time to put the finishing touches on it. She was pleased to know that you were interested in her work on it and hopes to show you the process in the future.

My hobbies include Quidditch and hanging out with my friends although a little known fact is that I really enjoy cooking. My family used to make me cook all the time and actually got pretty good at it. Its funny how sometime when you are forced into something you hate it but other things you find as a secret pleasure.

If you could do anything you wanted after you graduate what would you do?

Yours truly,

Henrietta P. Griffone

August 24th, 1997

P.S. Maybe after the mystery is solved there wont still be an 'of sorts'.

Henrietta,

I had started to worry a bit but it is good to hear from you. I feel bad about my own delay in responding to you but I had to make a trip to Diagon Alley yesterday and did not have time to get back to you. My house is getting more and more crowded with guests and I am actually looking forward to school starting. I know when I go to school I will not be free of my duties to my home and guests but at least there will be classes to focus on.

I look forward to solving this mystery and being able to see you and your friends in person. Your friend must be very clever if she is already almost finished with little time to devote to it. I wish you luck with your project and hope it all goes well.

How you knew I enjoyed potions so much I suppose I will never know. The cauldron charm now hangs with the others and I have taken to wearing them all the time under a protection charm.

You are right about how being forced to do something can either be a burden and grudge or a guilty pleasure. While my family insists I get top marks on classes I found I actually enjoy the work required to achieve them.

When I graduate I will be following in my fathers footsteps and eventually I will take over as head of the family and all the responsibility that entails. However if I could be anything I think I would want to become a potions master and maybe open my own little apothecary. I have always had a knack for potions and my godfather is Professor Snape who has given me special lessons growing up.

Since you said you 'did' attend Hogwarts with me I am going to assume you already graduated so my question is what do you do for work?

Apologetic and Inquisitive,

Draco L. Malfoy

August 27, 1997

P.S. Back to 'dears' and 'darlings' I see.

Harry's life had turned into a dreary routine. Ron still wasn't happy with him about not only keeping secrets from them about Dumbledoors death but also with trying to save 'that blood ferret'. They were still stuck on what their next step should be and neither Ron or Hermione were willing to waste any more time waiting to see if the gamble they were taking with Malfoy would pay off.

After a morning of splitting up Ministry reconnaissance and scrounging for supplies duties, the Trio would talk through everything they learned so far. Since it was mostly the same every day and they still were no closer to a plan or the Horcrux their discussions didn't last very long.

Eventually Ron would storm off in a huff after no progress was made and Hermione would give Harry a small sad smile as she followed after Ron to try and calm him down. It was around this time every day that the tawny owl they had bought while disguised brought the return letter from Draco. They had trained the owl to only fly in low from behind the building so it wouldn't be seen by the Death Eaters waiting outside the front.

Harry hated to admit it but the one thing he looked forward to during these days of dreary routine was his letter from Draco. Harry had stopped thinking of him as Malfoy over the last few weeks and found himself having to be careful to call him Malfoy in front of Ron and Hermione. Not that he tried to speak of Draco too often in front of his friends. Neither of them were comfortable with the idea of allying with their long time rival and Ron usually had to leave the room after only a few minutes of discussion about him.

Hermione had a more open mind and had helped write the first few letters but even she was tired from scoping out the Ministry everyday. She didn't even help with the letters anymore and while she didn't say it, Harry was sure she thought the plan was sure to fail.

For Harry though the letters were the one thing keeping him from pulling out his hair in frustration. With no leads on how to infiltrate the ministry, the letters he exchanged with Draco kept his mind from dwelling on the lack of progress they were making. He realized that the letters were starting to reveal more and more of himself and less of the Henrietta that Hermione had helped him create. He sometimes even wished that he could write these letters truly as himself and drop the pretense but the risk was too great. They didn't know for sure that the letters were getting to Draco without getting screened first and if anyone knew that Harry was the one writing to Draco then they would all be in danger.

And so Harry did his best to try and clue Draco into who he really was without giving too much away in the process so that anyone could figure it out. He was slowly transfiguring some of the odds and ends around the house into the tokens he was sending, hoping that maybe Draco would understand the significance of them. The snitch for the sport they both shared a passion for, the dragon for both the Norbert fiasco and the Tri-Wizard tournament, the snake for the Basilisk and him being a parseltounge. So far while the tokens pleased Draco, he was unable to see any connection.

Harry knew though that time was running out and before long he would be unable to communicate by letters with Draco. He recruited Hermiones help in expanding on the nifty charm she had one used on the galleons for Dumbledoors Army. They were trying to make it so that the galleons would transfer spoken words to each other. It took some time but they were finally able to get the coins to activate after a code word was spoken. After it was activated all a person had to do was say something to his coin and the words would appear on the other.

Dracos latest letter gave Harry an idea on how to not only get the coin to him but also how to hint at how to use it without giving away that it was anything other than a standard galleon. Harry sat down with a small smile on his face and penned his return letter to Draco.