Hermione stormed around the Slytherin common room in a bad mood. The rest of the second years gave her a wide berth as she stormed around, muttering to herself.

"'Not my place' indeed," she muttered beneath her breath. "Of course, because it's not my place to act when I encounter something morally reprehensible—"

Dumbledore didn't want her being friends with Harry; that much was clear. Hermione wondered if it was Dumbledore being prejudiced against Slytherins in general, or if it was a specific dislike of her.

"It's not like I'm trying to make Harry obligated to me," she muttered. "He's my friend."

Hermione had never imagined she'd face consequences or suspicion for trying to help Harry – especially when she'd helped rescue him from an awful situation. Merlin, Ron and Harry had been seen by Muggles while flying a car, and they'd gotten off with only a detention.

Dumbledore's attention was not something she wanted on her. She had no desire to attract special attention from the Headmaster. With her interests and ambition, it was one of the worst things that could happen to her.

A familiar voice drifted into her mind, a memory.

Father always said that Dumbledore was the worst thing that ever happened to Hogwarts…

Hermione bit her lip, considering, before moving decisively in the direction of some of the second years.

"Pansy," Hermione said. "Where is Draco?"

Pansy looked up from her homework at Hermione. Whatever defiance Pansy held faltered when her eyes met Hermione's.

"Quidditch Pitch," Pansy said, her voice somewhat faint. "Practice is over at noon."

Hermione gave her a sharp nod.

"Thank you," she said, and Pansy looked surprised. "If you see him, please let him know I'm looking for him."

With that, Hermione stalked back to her dormitory. No one else was inside, and Hermione kicked open her trunk of shrunken books, her eyes scanning the titles inside before pulling out Customizing Your Circles.

"Kill two birds with one stone," Hermione muttered to herself, flipping open the book and pulling out a sheet of parchment and self-inking quill. "I might not be able to protect Harry, but I can damn well protect myself."

"You were looking for me?"

Hermione looked up at Draco Malfoy. He was illuminated by the faint green light of the lake, and he took a seat at her table, the rest of the common room a dull murmur of conversation behind him.

"I was," she said simply, as she watched as Draco tried not to preen.

His hair was damp, Hermione noted. She suspected he'd taken a shower immediately before coming to see her, given his earlier Quidditch practice, and he smelled slightly of soap.

Better soap than sweat, she figured. Not that she cared either way.

"Not long ago, you agreed with me to do a ritual to set us magically as equals again," she said quietly. "Do you still hold that intention?"

Draco straightened, his eyes alert.

"I do," he said. "Did you find one?"

"I designed one," Hermione said, waving her hand dismissively. "It's an adaptation of two different ones to get the effect we need."

Draco's eyes widened. "You designed-"

"It's to protect us both from Dumbledore," Hermione interrupted, her voice low. Her eyes met Draco's. "To protect us from his Legilimency."

Draco's eyes held hers for a long moment, wide.

"Or don't you have secrets you'd rather the Headmaster not be able to see…?" Hermione asked softly, and Draco swallowed.

"That sounds like a dangerous ritual," he said slowly. "I've never heard of such a thing before."

"That's why I had to design it," Hermione told him. "Look. Here."

She scooted her chair alongside Draco's, dragging her piece of parchment over.

"So this is the circle we'll be working with," she told him. "It's a transference of energy, so it's all about the balance. You'll sit here, and I'll sit here, and we'll join hands here in the center." She pointed to the runes around the outside of the circle. "I only have the introductory volume for Ancient Runes, so I've only included runes for protection and transference. They'll help guide the energy, as well as make sure we're safe in the circle itself."

"Guide the energy?"

"We're going to be making a sort of shield in front of the others' thoughts," Hermione explained. "Think of it like a cheating way to do Occlumency until we both get better at it. I will transfer some of my magic to you, to shield your thoughts from those who would steal them, and you will transfer some of your magic to me to do the same. Because the magic is foreign, we'll be able to better detect when anyone is messing with it, and then we can react accordingly."

Draco was looking at her oddly. "You're saying it's a shield against Legilimency that will let us know when someone is trying to read our thoughts."

"A weak shield," Hermione admitted. "Neither of us have much power, compared to Dumbledore. But we can use as much as we safely can to strengthen it, and we'll at least be able to feel when someone's trying to read our minds, then — which can take tons of practice to realize with Occlumency."

Draco looked at the parchment, tracing his fingertips over the lines.

"How did you even do this?" he wondered aloud.

"Modification of a protection ritual and another ritual for clarity of thought," Hermione answered, though she didn't think he'd actually expected a response.

"No, you don't get it," he told her. "Ritual modification is difficult. Rituals are imprecise. There's a reason wizards turned to wands. But you just… you just chopped two up and combined them how you wanted."

"Ritual magic is all about asserting your will with your magic," Hermione said, frowning. "There are rules with the circles and runes and elements and whatnot, but it's not inflexible."

"I have never heard of people modifying ritual magic like this, Hermione," Draco told her seriously. "Is this... is this a New Blood thing, you being able to do this?"

"It's just logic and research," Hermione dismissed, waving him off. "Ritual magic isn't hard, it's just rare. But Draco, here's the issue – a ritual like this will require some components. Potentially expensive components."

That got Draco's attention.

"What do you need?" he asked.

Hermione bit her lip.

"We'll need powdered silver," she told him. "A lot of it. We'll need to make the circle and channels from it instead of salt or chalk—"

"Done," Draco said immediately. "What else?"

Hermione looked at him for a long moment.

"We'll need a silvered mirror and a silver ritual dagger," she said.

"That's easy enough," Draco said, nodding. He tugged the parchment over towards him and began scratching out a list. "Anything else?"

Hermione took a deep breath.

"Fire seeds and liquid silver," she finished. "Mercury. Pure, in a small silver cauldron. As much as you can get, but really, a few ounces will do."

Draco looked hesitant.

"Liquid silver is hard to get," he said slowly. "Especially because it's considered a poison most of the time…"

"We won't be touching it," Hermione assured him. "And I'll put runes down to contain its vapors, so we don't end up breathing any of the fumes in."

Draco frowned, but he nodded.

"I'll need to owl my father," he warned. "I won't be able to get all this while I'm stuck at school."

Hermione shrugged. She wasn't fond of Lucius Malfoy, but she wasn't about to refuse his help. "Do what you need to do."

"When do we need all this by?"

"We can do the ritual on either a new moon or a full moon," Hermione told him. "Full moon is in three days. New moon is about two weeks after that."

Draco nodded, tearing off part of the parchment. He folded up the list and tucked it into his robes.

"I'll see what I can do," he told her seriously.

Hermione nodded. "Good." She paused. "And Draco?"

His eyes leapt up to hers, his silver gaze holding hers for a long moment. She hesitated.

"Don't tell anyone," she said finally.

Draco smirked, his eyes glinting.

"Oh, Hermione," he drawled, and there was an amused note to his tone. "Do you really think the Malfoy family hasn't learned how to keep secrets before now?"