CHAPTER 4

DISCLAIMER: ALL HAIL JO ROWLING

"Would it need to be charmed while during the process or would it work better when it's completed to do a blanket charm?" Hermione was mumbling aloud to herself as she scuttled into the secondary potions lab that Snape had allowed her to use for her project. The room was charmed to alert him to potential danger. If she needed assistance, he taught her how to make the winged memos the Ministry used which would fly through the floo and towards him. "Maybe I'm going about it wrong. Does it matter if the powder is charmed?"

"I'm not sure. I guess that depends on what you're using it for," a voice answered as she walked into the lab. She looked up from her notes to see Draco looking at her like she was mad while he stood over a cauldron.

"What are you doing here?"

"Brewing a potion," he drawled as he continued stirring.

Hermione rolled her eyes and stomped off to the table she normally used that had all of her supplies still on it under a statis charm.

"Yes, I guessed that much, thank you. I mean why-"

The rest of her sentence was cut off when Draco's cauldron gave a loud belch and emitted sparks.

"Evanasco. Damn it," Draco swore, vanishing the ruined potion and starting to scratch at his notebook furiously with his quill as he wrote. "I'm working on part of my project, Granger, surely that's obvious. It's what you're doing, is it not?"

Hermione started the fire under her cauldron as she began the process of building her potion base. "Sorry. I wasn't aware of what students were actually doing a project since it's not required."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, Granger, but you're not the only intelligent one in the school, nor are you the only one going to university after leaving here. I could get in on my NEWT scores and money alone, but I want to be able to prove that even without the name Malfoy on my transcripts I would still have a shot." He spoke to his notebook, eyes never leaving the pages.

"I'm sorry, again. I guess I'm still getting used to having civilized conversations with you," she said dryly and saw him smirk.

"Yes, well, remember that if I don't cooperate I'm as good as dead. So that is a better motivational factor to be civilized rather than your charming disposition," he said.

They worked in comfortable silence for a quarter hour, stirring and chopping, swearing and rewriting.

"So what is your project about?" Draco asked as he reworked some formulas in his notebook. He looked up when she didn't answer. Taking in her hesitation and narrowed eyes, he rolled his own. "I was asking from a fellow interested academic prospective, Granger. It was strictly off the Dark Lord books. He isn't even aware that you or I are working on seventh year projects, nor would he probably find it interesting."

Hermione snorted in dry amusement as she added some beetle eyes to her bubbling potion. "I'm attempting to create a scaled down personal floo." At his confused look she decided to elaborate. "Fireplaces are huge and not every house or flat come equipped with one. And owl post is great but there are so many variables in deliverance, like distance or weather, which could delay it. So I'm making a pair of small, portable floos. It's essentially a wizarding version of a muggle cell phone. The charms placed on a floo are complicated, and it's proving to be even more challenging when scaled down and portable. Now, however, I'm creating the floo powder. I'm basically done with the floos, but I wanted to create a charmed powder that could only be used on them. A security feature, you know? That way if I have it lying around, no one else could walk up to it with normal powder and throw it in and send a letter to whomever. Only I would have the powder."

Draco stared at her for a few seconds as he visibly thought through everything she said. Finally, he gave her a small, but real, smile. "Granger, that's actually quite brilliant. If you succeed, I may want one."

She laughed but looked pleased. "Thank you. Right now, however, the potion that creates the floo powder is being difficult. I believe I'll have to bother Professor Snape again. The last two times I've attempted charming it at different points has all ended up not working and just coating the table in a mess."

Draco nodded in sympathy. "I can relate. I'm also trying to combine potions with charms, which shouldn't be too surprising seeing how you know I'm applying to Salem for Charms and I'm standing in a potions lab. But you saw how my result went earlier. It's definitely the most challenging problem I've had to work on."

"What are you creating?"

"Something you might be interested in and something that I want to perfect even more after hearing of your project so I can combine them. It's an identifying potion. I want to create a potion that can be charmed to a certain person. I thought about it mainly for the post. Sure there are spells you can cast on a letter, but who knows if they will stick or not? With the potion, hopefully, I want it to work like a seal. Drip some on the envelope like you would with a wax seal then touch your wand to it and charm it. No one will be able to put their fingers near the potion mark unless allowed."

"Brilliant!"

The blonde nodded absently as he stared at his notebook. "Yes, I know. Creating a spell is extremely difficult, however. Combine that with a volatile liquid you're also creating and it becomes maddening."

"And that, Mr. Malfoy, is the beauty of potions," their Potions Master said silkily from behind them, causing both students to spin around.

"Professor Snape," Draco said, inclining his head in greeting before going back to his potion.

"Good afternoon, Professor," Hermione added as she did the same. Snape nodded to both as he swept into the room, peering into Draco's cauldron first.

"What is your next step?"

"I was going to add some monkswood, sir. I just added ashwinder eggs ten minutes ago."

"And how will you stir it?"

"I believe I am going to do three clockwise stirs followed by one counter, for five repetitions. When I did all clockwise it didn't end well," Draco said wryly as he shredded his next ingredient.

"No, I don't believe it would have. To stir clockwise so many times with the types of ingredients you have in there would most likely emit many sparks and some foul smells." He arched his eyebrow at Draco in question and nodded when Draco confirmed it. "It is because you have combined the ingredients too well. Some of the components in your formula were never meant to be combined, so by stirring in the same direction for too long, they come together too much. I believe you may have a shot by adding the counter stir. Very good."

Draco began writing down what Snape had said while the professor glided over to Hermione's station.

"And you, Miss Granger? I gather you do not have working powder yet. No doubt I would have heard your celebrations from the Great Hall if you had."

"No, sir. My last batch completely burnt and lined my cauldron. It's become somewhat trial and error."

"Such is the way of potions, Miss Granger. Many Potions Masters have wasted thousands of galleons on ruined potions and ingredients. What you are trying to do, by combining a spell during a potion making process, is excruciatingly difficult. You were bound to fail multiple times."

"Thank you, sir. That boosts my self esteem so much," she said dryly and he smirked. She loved seeing his more relaxed side that he only showed during these private lessons.

"As if your head needs more inflation, Miss Granger." They both ignored Draco's quiet chuckling. "Where did you attempt to charm the potion last time?"

"After I added salamander tail."

"Why?"

"The salamander tail is a crucial ingredient to making the powder. I believed that since it is one of the more important of the ingredients that the charm should follow it."

Snape nodded and circled her station, peering at her notes and in her cauldron in his passing.

"Have you considered that this may be unfeasible?" He asked.

Hermione pursed her lips unhappily for a few seconds while she composed her answer. "I have. But unfortunately I was born with an ungodly amount of optimism as well. Also, being a muggleborn, nothing seems impossible after learning that magic exists."

Snape smirked again mumbled "Gryffindors" under his breath.

"To the bone, sir."

"Have you attempted to cast the charm after the process is complete?"

"Once. It was after the powder was dried and crumbled and ready to be used."

"What happened?" he asked as he stopped to lean over her cauldron once more.

"It made the powder shoot all over the lab."

"What is your next step?"

"With this version, I want to try before I add the tail. If that is unsuccessful, then I want to try casting it on the base before the ingredients go in. Also, when the potion is done, I want to try it but right as it's finished, before it dries into powder."

"Very well, continue. I admit I look forward to seeing your results if you can pull it off. Both of you have well thought out projects. I almost find myself being impressed against my better judgment," he sneered, looking disgusted at the thought.

"Could I get you to say that in front of the class?" Draco asked while Hermione laughed.

"Not on your life, Mister Malfoy."

Draco's reply was cut short by a loud explosion from Hermione's corner. Looking over at Hermione, with her hair blown straight back from her head and face covered in black from the smoke, Draco's laugh could be heard from down the hallway, ringing throughout most of the dungeon. Even Snape gave a real smile.

Not that he would admit it.

XXX

"Seems someone has forgotten where his table is," Ron said rudely as he and Harry walked into the Great Hall that night for dinner and spotted Hermione and Draco sitting together at the end of the Gryffindor table, heads bent together over some parchment and talking quietly but rapidly.

Draco looked up and his lip curled at the sight of the redhead. "Trust me, Weasel, this isn't where I would love to be but it's useful. Sod off."

"Ron, we're working. Just stop," Hermione added, having not looked up.

Harry sat down on the bench across from Draco, Ron taking the next spot over and immediately starting a quidditch conversation with Seamus while grabbing at whatever food was in his vicinity.

"So, what are you two working on?" Harry asked while adding some food onto his plate. He was the only one other than Hermione giving a go at trying to be civilized to Draco. Ron said that he didn't care about the plan, and no one said he had to befriend him. Harry had figured that if Draco gave Voldemort reports that he was "befriending" Harry as well, it would only help him. Draco had reluctantly agreed.

Draco started to layer slices of ham onto his plate while still keeping his eyes on the paper. Finally he looked up. "Turns out we're both attempting to use charms on our potions for final projects but we're both hitting a wall, so to speak. So we're attempting to figure it out."

"Better you than me," Harry said and started eating while Draco snorted in amusement. He opened his mouth to reply but was cut short by high pitched giggling coming from a group of girls as they walked into the Hall.

"Hi Harry!" Romilda Vane said sweetly as she walked past him, fluttering her eyelashes. Her friends all giggled and Hermione just rolled her eyes. Romilda had rolled her skirt so it was shorter than normal and had popped open the top two buttons of her blouse.

Harry gave an absentminded flick of his head in her direction in greeting as he continued eating, leaving a disgruntled Romilda to shimmy off with her friends.

Draco's eyes were saucers as he stared from Romilda to Harry.

"What's wrong with you, Potter?" he asked incredulously.

Harry looked startled. "What?"

Shaking his head in exasperation, Draco said, "I heard a rumor once that you were almost sorted into Slytherin. Honestly, I don't know what the hell the hat was thinking because you obviously don't have a Slytherin bone in your body to pass that up."

"Romilda?" Harry asked, wrinkling his nose. "Never. I can't even stand speaking to her, let alone consider bedding her."

"You don't have to like her. Just sleep with her. You seem like you need a good lay."

Hermione made a noise of disgust, but continued her reading as she ate.

"I have a healthy enough sex life, thank you very much, Malfoy. I don't need help from you."

"Your left and right hand don't count as two separate partners, you know that right?"

"Have I told you yet how happy I am that you and Hermione have decided to be friends?"

"I guess if you give your hand a numbing charm it might seem like it's a different person, but it still doesn't count."

"I can't tell you how much I look forward to more conversations with you."

"I've got it!" Hermione said suddenly, startling to two men.

"What?" Harry and Draco asked together, one sounding excited, the other confused.

"With mine, I need to cast it after it's finished but immediately after. I can't wait for it to dry. See?" She showed Draco the diagram she had drawn out. "And for yours, you need to put cast at the same time you add the Thestral hair. This has to be it!" Her eyes shone with excitement as Draco reached out to grab the paper.

"Hermione, I think you're right!" Draco said, after reading through the formulas. "Let's go!"

They ran from the Hall together, leaving a bemused Harry behind, shaking his head.

XXX

A few weeks later, Hermione was finally ready to try out her floo and turn in her project. Draco stood in the corner of the Potions classroom where Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Snape had gathered. The professor whose subject your project related to was normally present along with the Headmaster. In this case, both professors showed up. Draco had turned his project in a week prior and gotten full marks.

Hermione set up her mini floo on a table in front of the classroom, giving a speech to her professors explaining the process of the project. Finally, it was time to test it.

"I have here some normal floo powder that Professor Snape has given to me and signed off on its authenticity that it is, in fact, standard floo powder."

"Professor Snape, will you confirm the validity of Miss Granger's statement?" Dumbledore asked the Potions Master who nodded and walked over to the table.

Snape picked up a pinch of the powder and peered closely at it before smelling it and nodding. "I can confirm that this is indeed the powder I gave to Miss Granger when we entered this classroom. She has not tampered with it at all."

"Thank you, Severus. Let the record show the validation," Dumbledore said to the Dicto-Quill beside him.

"In this bowl," she pointed to a glass ramekin, "is my special floo powder only meant for the mini floos I have created. I built a pair of them, but they can send messages to any floo. Draco?"

Draco nodded and stepped over to the hearth in the classroom.

"Draco is going to get the letter and send it back," she explained and her professors nodded. They had all been taking notes and she was nervous.

She turned the mini floo to face them. It looked exactly like a fireplace but scaled down. It was about as tall and wide as a textbook, and as thick as at least two.

"First, I will demonstrate that the normal floo powder does not work. Incendio," she said, as she lit the tiny fire. She picked up a pinch of the normal powder and said, "Professor Snape's classroom" then flicked it into the fire but it continued crackling merrily, the same color it had always been.

"Now I will demonstrate my powder." She picked up a pinch from the glass bowl, and a piece of parchment. "Professor Snape's classroom!" she said loudly and cast her powder into the hearth where the fire immediately turned green. She flicked the letter through, and everyone's head swiveled to look at the large hearth where the fire had suddenly turned green and a letter shot out.

Draco picked it up and snorted when he looked at what it said. He placed it against the stone to quickly jot something down on it with the quill he had ready.

When he finished, Draco grabbed some of the normal powder Snape kept on top of the floo. "Hermione's mini!" he called and threw the powder down. The fire roared green and he threw the paper into it.

On the other side of the room, the fire in Hermione's table-top floo turned green and the parchment shot out again. Hermione glanced at it and rolled her eyes, but smiled brilliantly.

Professor Flitwick started clapping enthusiastically. "Oh well done, Miss Granger!"

"Thank you! That concludes my demonstration. Please feel free to ask me anything pertaining to my project, or to come up and have a closer look!" Hermione said, and laughed when Flitwick bounded over.

Snape, too, sauntered over to have a better look while Dumbledore cancelled the dicto-quill charm.

"Can other objects go through it as well, Miss Granger?" Snape asked.

"Yes, Professor. If it fits, it should."

"Professor Snape's classroom," Snape said to the mini as he tossed in some of her powder. The fire turned green and he bent as he stuck his arm almost to his elbow through. Everyone looked over to see Snape's hand waving out of his normal sized fireplace.

Withdrawing his arm, Snape nodded and said quietly, "Well done, Hermione. Well done."

Author's note: I decided that I want to speed up her time at Hogwarts. I want the major developments to happen post-Hogwarts, as they grow. So the next couple chapters might seem like I'm rushing but bear with me, please.

Thank you all for reading and reviewing!