Chapter 11: Friendship


Figuring that if she was going to wait for Draco to wake, Hermione decided she might as well read. Quietly, she grabbed her bag to search for a book, but managed to pull out his letter instead. She reviewed it again, smiling to herself, then put it back into a safe place before eventually selecting something else to read.

Even asleep, Draco must have sensed a change in the room because he stirred and began to open his eyes. He looked up to find Hermione with a large book in front of her. Stretching, he spoke a low, grumbly voice, "Granger, if you ever make it onto a chocolate frog card, your picture will be of you reading a book."

She smiled, "Good morning to you, too. Sleep well?"

Draco slowly sat up, half-facing the outside edge of the bed, "Actually, I did. I'm convinced your bed is a lot more comfortable than mine. But I gather that you knew that."

She laughed, "It is, and you better not tell Harry or Ron."

He understood that she only meant she had cheated them out of a more comfortable bed during their travels, but it gave him more information than she probably realized. First, it meant that neither Potter or Weasley had slept in her bed. Second, maybe she did not want her friends to find out that he had been there.

"Legs any good?"

She hesitated, Should I lie? I would probably mess it up if I did.

"Actually, they seem to be better. I haven't had to take any potion this morning." To prove it, she wiggled her toes and showed him the vials she had not used.

"Good to know. No potion so far… this can count as day one. Maybe we'll be leaving sooner than we thought." He began to leave her bed, but before he made it too far, he realized he had both their wands and handed hers back.

"Thanks."

Draco gave her a soft smile, "Do you mind if I use the shower? Or did you want to use it first?"

She shook her head, "No, go ahead."

She sensed the awkwardness that had arisen between them, as they were both responding politely toward one another, too politely. Something had clearly changed, and Hermione was trying to remember how to act natural around him.

If her legs did begin working for good, or even just for longer periods of time, Hermione knew she should really start preparing to meet up with the Order, or better yet, Harry and Ron. So, she changed, got out of bed, and set up some parchment and a quill on the table. After making some toast, plus tea for her and coffee for Draco, she brought everything to the table and sipped her tea while she thought. I should put together a list of what we know, see if Draco can help with things he knows about Voldemort, how to meet up if we are separated…

Hermione took this time to write down all her thoughts on a list so that she could review it with him. Then she became distracted by other thoughts, namely those along the lines of Draco in the shower.

After his shower, Draco emerged from the back of the tent and smelled coffee. Looking over at Hermione, he found her seated in front of a mug of tea and a plate of toast. At the table across from her was a cup of coffee and a plate of toast for him. It might have seemed a simple thing, but he enjoyed the small gesture as it revealed that she was actually considering of him. He had never had that kind of relationship with someone before.

As she sat, she looked up at him, "We should be prepared for when it's time to leave. I was hoping you would go over my notes, see if you have anything to add..."

After taking his first sip of coffee, Draco glanced down at the old parchment paper. On it was her list of ideas, questions, and possible strategies for finding horcruxes. Her handwriting stopped just short of cursive, but with a softness around the edges of her letters. She had crossed-out a lot of things and replaced them with other words, and it struck him that her handwriting reflected how her brain worked: purposeful, yet brave, and honest when it came to not to hiding her mistakes.

"Yeah, I can add to this. Are you sure you don't mind?"

Hermione handed over the quill and he began to write. As the first silk of ink bled into the paper, she suddenly felt like their truce had finally been solidified. The parchment now contained an alliance of ideas and she noted again how his script personified his character, watching as it intertwined around hers.

When he came to her note for contacting and finding one another if separated, he said, "Oh I have something for this..."

Draco went to find the items from the other night that he planned to show her. Holding them up into the light, he felt a small flutter of excitement to finally be able to use them. When he came back, he presented two long, silver chains with disk-like medallions dangling off of each.

"These are secreto gemellus epistula medallions. I picked them up at a magic antique collector's store before we started at Hogwarts. I was foolish enough to think that I would find a friend I'd want to share them with, but once you set them up, you can't change the users."

Hermione examined one of them closely. "It means 'secret twin' or 'matching messages'?"

Draco nodded.

There were a number of archaic etchings around the metal and she recalled reading about such items. "Are these from the era when people had to hide their magic?"

Draco looked pleased that she knew the history and nodded again.

"So how do they work exactly?"

"See the lettering around the edges? By default, it matches the alphabet, but once you want to communicate, you adjust them to spell out your message, which is mirrored on the other."

The images on the edge of the disk were letters that started from A to Z and back full circle to it again. After studying it a moment, Hermione thought they looked adjustable, like a bike lock she once had, only this one had twenty-six letters with which to spell out words. She pushed at them with the tip of her finger and noted that some of the letters had indeed moved just like her lock.

"Okay, so you have to spin these one at a time to create words for a message?"

Draco nodded, "If I recall from the seller, once the spell is cast, you just hold the center and concentrate on a message, and it will move the letters for you. But I suppose if you were not magical, you would have to do it manually. I would imagine the magic would still work to send the message, but we should test it to be sure."

Hermione nodded, feeling thankful that they operated on magic as it could otherwise take awhile to create each message. It also meant that if her wandless magic failed, she would still be able to get a message across to him.

"This seems ideal, except, using it so often could attract attention."

Excitedly, Draco responded, "No, see that's the beauty of it: the ancients were so paranoid about being discovered, they made it so no other person, or spell, could discover it. They can communicate across far distances while only leaving the smallest traces of magic. In fact, once it's around your neck, only the owner can see it, but once it's taken off it becomes invisible, even to the owner. You would have to remember where you placed it every time!"

Hermione thought on this for a moment, "So you couldn't use magic to find it, even if you're the owner?"

"Nope, it was created to not be found if lost."

Hermione was intrigued, "So, if I have one and you have the other, no one else can see or use them?"

"Nope. Not for as long as they exist. We, as the owners, could destroy them if we wanted, I suppose..."

Hermione had never been given something like this to share before, though she did make those Protean coins for Dumbledore's army. It reminded her of the time turner entrusted to her by Professor McGonagall, and it got her wondering, "You don't have to register this with the Ministry?"

Draco shook his head, "They're only used to communicate and there aren't many left anymore. I suppose they're hardly considered a threat."

Hermione studied it, feeling the weight of it in her hands, amazed that she had such a relic in her grasp. She looked up at Draco who was untwisting the chain of his from sitting so long without use, He's had this for so long, and he wants to share this… with me?

He looked up at her, "Something wrong?"

"No. I was just thinking… we should test them."

Draco was excited to finally be able to use them with someone. Pulling out the parchment they had come with, he quickly scanned the instructions on how to activate the medallions. "It says here that each person must place their chain around their neck..." He read ahead to discover something he had forgotten. "Oh, wait. We have to draw a drop of blood to wet the center of the medallion while holding them. This allows it to recognize the owner. Then, there's a spell to speak out together at the same time."

Draco glanced up at Hermione to see if she was okay with that.

"It sounds simple enough," she said brusquely, "what's the rest say?"

Though not surprised by her interest, he was slightly taken back by her eagerness to become the sole communicator of the medallion, with him. Maybe she had not completely understood that he had waited years and years to pick someone to share it with. Maybe she assumed that he had just forgotten about it and that now was a convenient time to put it into good use. Draco wanted to let her know, but feeling pathetic, he instead tried to enjoy the moment or being able to share this prized object with someone he trusted.

"The rest are instructions for use..."

They looked up, each silently studying the other to give them chance to back out. Instead, Hermione went to get a knife from the kitchen, leaving Draco grinning to himself. Placing the knife on the table, she bravely offered her hand. He raised his eyebrows, slowly picking up the knife.

"Okay, slow down there, little lion. Only a small drop is needed." He pulled her hand closer to him, looking up at her again, "Are you sure you want me to?"

She nodded, tensing her body and scrunching her nose. She waited, but nothing happened, and looked up to see him paused in action, blade just about to touch the tip of her finger. She dropped her shoulders and sighed, "Draco, it's fine just-OW!"

"Sorry, you were just so tense…"

Hermione grimaced and took the knife from him. It still had a bit of her blood on it but he did not object when she quickly ran the knife into the pad of his forefinger. Draco winced from the short pain and Hermione puffed out a giggle.

"Shut up, Granger..."

She rolled her eyes, concentrated back on the medallion.

He picked up his, too, and looked up at her to confirm, "Okay, ready? Grab the center and we'll count down to say the spell together."

She nodded, grabbing the medallion already hanging around her neck, and settling her pricked finger over the center so that her blood touched the metal. They both looked at one another, both necklaces visible. Holding up the parchment with the instructions, Draco showed her the word to speak.

Nodding that she understood, Hermione thought the ancient spell looked like Latin, and was sure it meant 'to activate'.

"1, 2, 3..."

In unison they spoke, "Actuare."

Each of their medallions glowed red and began to fade in and out. Then, the glow turned green for a few seconds before fading away entirely. The letters on the edge spun like dials before coming back to rest in their original placement.

"Okay, I think that's it," Draco decided, "want to test them?"

They looked up at each other. Hermione could not see his anymore.

Draco looked at the instructions for use and began to read them aloud: "Hold medallion at center and focus on the word or phrase. Words must fit within the twenty-six-letter English alphabet. The message should then appear on both devices, and will remain there until another has been created by either user. When each message is created, the device will vibrate and hum to notify the user. Alert is only detectable by owner." He went on, "There's also a 'notes' section: Keep device around neck or place somewhere for user to find. Device will be only visible or heard by blood owner when around their neck. Device disappears to all, once removed and can only be felt by touch from blood owner." He glanced over them again, "Okay, that's it"

The next moment, Hermione could feel the medallion vibrating against her chest, while a short, but soothing, humming sound alerted her to the new message. She examined the edge of her disk. It read: 'gryffindor-nerd.'

The spaces seemed to use a dash between the letters and Hermione decided there must be more symbols on each dial, such as numbers. Smiling at his message, she focused on her reply.

Moments later, Draco could feel his own medallion vibrating and humming. He picked it up to read: '#1-slytherin-sneak.'

He grinned. "Ha! It looks like you aren't holding anything. We might look a bit loony if someone saw us."

She agreed, "It does look a bit odd... perhaps we shouldn't use them directly in front of others to avoid that."

"Think you can manage that, Granger?" As Hermione tended to be pretty transparent, Draco skeptically considered the odds of Hermione successfully hiding anything from someone. At her shocked look, he continued, "I mean will you be able to hide this from your boys?"

Looking up, she studied him to determine if he was actually worried, or just teasing her about her lack of sneakiness. "I've kept plenty of secrets in my time... still do! Besides, it's not like I have any reason to hide a communication device from my boys."

Draco stared at her, wondering if she had actually thought that through. "Yeah, a secret, one-person-only communication device with me. Did you already forget they still hate me? Your Weasel boyfriend will lose his shit..."

Hermione's eyes widened, "He's not my boyfriend… you know, romantically anyway. I have no idea how you came to that conclusion."

Draco grinned, "Alright, Granger, I was just pointing out the complications of sharing this with them. I just don't see myself and Weasley frolicking in a field together, or whatever you Gryffindors do in your downtime..."

She slapped him lightly on the arm. "I know what you mean and yes, I can keep the device a secret until we both feel that Ron and Harry have warmed up to you… and… music..."

Draco gave her a strange look.

She clarified, "I listen to music in my downtime. Sometimes while reading."

He now understood, and while there was a small silence Hermione offered an exchange.

"How about I lend you my CD player, if I can read through your little science journals. I've exhausted all my books in reach."

Draco was secretly curious on what this 'CD player' was, assuming it was some Muggle device he thought he had heard of before but never quite understood its function. He shrugged, If she feels like reading through my potion journals what would be the harm?

"Okay Granger, I could do with a bit of music."

They both got up, Draco retrieving his journals while Hermione fetched her CD player and a handful of CDs she thought he might like. Noticing him take a seat at the couch, she handed him the CD player with headphones. He looked perplexed when she piled the CD cases on the couch next to him.

While staring at the device curiously, he handed her the journals and she took them to sit at the other end of the couch. Smiling to herself, she opened one of the journals while peeking over the top to see Draco messing with the CD player. After waiting for him to swallow his pride and ask her how to use it, she wrinkled her nose when he figured it out only one minute later, though she was sure he did not know what the other CD cases were for yet.

Hermione scanned Draco's meticulous notes on multiple potion recipes while she twirled the new medallion between her fingers.

Happening to pick a journal with edits for Amortentia, she flipped through, wondering if he had actually tested it on anyone. She paused when she came across a unique note: 'DLM results: cherry, vanilla and old parchment.'

She stared at the words in disbelief.