! This chapter is written from Hermione's perspective !
- The Dungeons, 22nd of December 1992 –
Even though Harry had made his vow the day after that idiot Justin got petrified, swearing on his life and magic that he had not been the one responsible for any of the petrifications going on in the castle, not a lot of the Hogwarts population seemed to care. Idiots, the whole lot of them. Honestly, Hermione still couldn't believe how their so-called friends could betray Harry like this. Hopefully, they would come to their senses soon.
Hermione shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She should be focusing right now instead of letting her thoughts drift off and get angry at the injustice that was being done to one of her best friends.
Daphne and her had spent the day finishing their Polyjuice Potion, Professor Snape overseeing their work as he used his time to grade some papers before Yule.
A small smile tugged at her lips after the brunette Slytherin added an extra scoop of lacewings to her cauldron and stirred her potion counterclockwise three times. So far, it seemed like this batch would turn out perfect. Good. After all, all Hermione Granger ever did was aim for perfection. She supposed that was the Slytherin in her, always overly ambitious to achieve the results she wanted.
"It was nice of the twins to come and sit with us earlier today," Daphne whispered, not wanting to disturb their head of House.
Hermione hummed in agreement and sat down on the stool next to her work bench, letting out a deep sigh as she waited for the potion to finish.
Fred and George had waltzed over to the Slytherin table during lunch, sitting down on either side of Harry. The twins acted as if nothing had happened, and Harry hadn't been ostracised by the majority of the Hogwarts population. Instead, they were consulting him on some new prank that they wanted to play on Filch and asked if they could lend the Marauder's Map for the occasion.
Draco had knowingly smiled at her as he finished up his fish pie, he too realising that the twins were doing this to show their support for Harry.
The witch frowned. True, at least someone was showing Harry that they believed him. Sadly, neither Neville nor Ginny had shown up to do the same, even if Draco had confided in her that he'd seen both of them steal glances at Harry in the Great Hall and in the library.
"Outstanding work, Miss Greengrass, Miss Dagworth-Granger." Severus Snape suddenly complimented them, making Hermione nearly jump off her chair and stop her musing. "Ten points each to Slytherin."
"Professor, you can't just give us points for this extra credit work we're doing. Some would consider that being biassed." Hermione teasingly scolded him, a small smirk playing at the potions master's lips.
Somehow, the two of them had come to an understanding. She was unsure if it was because technically, she too belonged to the family of his godson by being Celeste Malfoy's descendant and Lady Malfoy had ended up telling professor Snape, or if it was simply because he'd taken a liking to her and her intellect.
According to Draco, it was both. Anyone who was interested in potion making always was a step ahead in his godfather's eyes. She supposed her best friend was right. After all, Professor Snape was friendly to Daphne as well, subtly encouraging the both of them to take up a Potions Mastery once they graduated from Hogwarts.
"Professor, would it be possible for us to test the potion ourselves?" Daphne asked.
"And who, may I ask, would you two be impersonating?" Snape inquired, his arms crossed over one another as he raised an eyebrow at his two second-year Slytherins.
"Each other, of course." Hermione quipped. "If you would permit us to, we could even play a prank on the boys."
Both girls squealed when their Professor gave them permission to do so. Instant regret covered his face when he heard the two girls talking once they had transformed into one another. What had he done?
"My front teeth look awful!" Hermione commented as she stared at her best friend who had added one of the brunette's hairs to her own concoction, making her look exactly like the frizzy haired Slytherin. This was definitely weird, talking to herself. Or rather, what looked to be her.
"Can't your mum and dad fix it if it bothers you so much, Mione?" Daphne inquired as she studied her own body which was now seemingly occupied by Hermione. "Are my arms really that long?" She wondered out loud.
As the girls both kept admiring each other, yet scrutinising themselves, Snape shook his head. Dear Merlin, why had he thought it was a wise idea to teach these two how to brew a polyjuice potion? Even if they were two of his most skilled snakes, they were still teenage girls. A shiver ran down his spine, and he left the two of them alone to go to his storage room for a few minutes. He decided that cleaning up the potions classroom was better than continuing to grade papers and having to witness this.
"Professor, where are you going?" Daphne asked quickly, making Hermione's voice sound quite shrill. Both girls made a face at that. Looking alike was one thing. Actually acting the same and even using each other's voice was not as easy it seemed.
Hermione had to stop herself from giggling as she saw her head of House twitch the edge of his mouth, clearly counting to ten in his mind before he snapped at them.
"I will be cleaning up this mess." the Professor drawled. "You two have done enough for today. Even if I am proud to see two of my younger snakes succeed in brewing a potion as difficult as this, girlish teenage drama is too much for me to hear. Now, out with you! I thought you were planning on pranking Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy?" he said as he waved them away.
It only took one look between the two best friends to come up with some sort of prank as they walked towards the common room.
"We better hurry up," Daphne smirked as they neared the entrance, whipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Don't do that!" Hermione scolded her. "They will see right through us! Slouch more like I do, and don't touch your hair. Draco is too vain to not realise that's you instead of me. We might fool Harry though. He's as oblivious as can be."
Daphne seemed to contemplate this. "You really think Draco would notice? Even when I look like you?"
Hermione nodded. "He's too perceptive. I swear that sometimes when I enter the library or the Great Hall, he turns his head in my direction before I'm even near him. It's as if he feels me coming."
Seeing her own eyebrows disappear into her frizzy fringe nearly made Hermione dizzy. "What?" she asked Daphne. "What did I say?"
"Nothing," the witch quipped back, shrugging her shoulders. "I just want to conduct a little experiment if you'd let me. For science, as the muggles say."
Before Hermione could ask her friend what that was all about, she got pulled into the common room. Their 'victims' were basically the only ones in the room, huddled in a corner and lazily playing a game of chess.
Draco's back was turned towards them and Hermione scowled when she saw Daphne's smirk plastered on her own face. What was she up to?
As Hermione hurried after Daphne, Harry took one look at them and their jittery ways and raised an eyebrow. "What's up, Mione?" He asked.
Daphne now imitated Hermione's voice perfectly. "Nothing," she said. "Me and Daphne just came back from our last potions lesson with Professor Snape this year. We thought we could hang out before we leave for the holidays, didn't we, Daph?"
Hermione nodded dumbly, not staying in character at all. As suspected, the Boy Who Lived had no clue that the girls had switched places and said they could go outside for some last-minute snowman building once they finished their game.
The real Hermione smiled as she took in her blond best friend. Draco was clearly fully focused, hunched forward in his armchair as he put his index finger against his chin, as he usually did when he was thinking about something, or trying to solve a problem. She followed his gaze and saw him staring at the pieces intently. Hermione was surprised that his intense stare didn't cause him to wandlessly move some of the pawns.
Without noticing, she'd moved closer to his right side, studying the board as well. Then, Daphne nudged her and mouthed a 'showtime' to her before positioning herself at Draco's left.
"I think you should move your knight to E5, Draco." Daphne said calmly, trying to sound as much like Hermione as she could.
Her voice seemed to snap him back to reality and he chuckled, shaking his head.
Expecting he would turn to his left and look at Daphne who was still impersonating her, Hermione almost froze as her best friend instead absentmindedly reached out his hand towards his right, grasping hers tightly in greeting.
"Don't try and set me up, Mione. I know that if I move my knight to E5, then Harry-"
Daphne had the decency to close her mouth nearly as fast as it had formed a small o-shape, before smiling knowingly at Hermione.
Harry almost choked on his own spit when he saw Draco reaching out his hand affectionately to Daphne, a gesture he would often do with his female best friend. How could he have mistaken Daphne for Hermione?
Hermione was still too stunned to say anything, her brain working as fast as it could. What was it she'd said to Daphne just a few minutes earlier? That Draco was too perceptive? Sure, she'd noticed that he would easily find her in a crowd, and that he'd nearly always greeted her first, almost as if he'd anticipated her coming. But this? Seeing through Polyjuice? That must've been a fluke. A mistake. Right?
Confused by Harry's coughing, Draco finally looked up at her in confusion, his stormy grey eyes tracing her face. He frowned, almost as if he didn't believe that he'd actually mistaken Daphne for his best friend. Determination filling his face, seemingly sure that he couldn't be wrong, he grasped her hand more tightly, sending a tingle down Hermione's spine.
He had the audacity to smirk as he said: "Polyjuice? Blimey! That's impressive you two! What's less impressive is that the two of you thought you could fool me."
Before she could quip something back about anyone being able to be fooled by Polyjuice, Hermione could feel that same tingle she'd felt earlier, running all the way from his fingertips to her palm until it reached her shoulder. A giggle escaped her lips as he let go of her, the ticklish tingle disappearing. Merlin. Had he just used his magic to recognise her? Had he always been using his magic to recognise hers? Was that how it was so easy for him to find her in a crowd? Every quidditch match, his eyes would find hers from the moment he entered the pitch, even if they always sat in different spots. Sure, he'd explained to her that it was easy for family members to feel each other's magic, but this? Recognising her through a polyjuice potion?
"Was that actually you?" Hermione whispered. "Was that wandless?"
"Was what wandless?" both Daphne and Harry asked at the same time, annoyed they had been left out.
"What else would that tingle be, Mione?" Draco laughed.
A blush she was desperately trying to hide heated up her entire face. There was no way in hell that she would ever tell him what most romance books described that electric tingle between two people to be. That was just rubbish. Right? Right.
"Draco's magic just tickled me." Hermione answered her two friends as she felt herself slowly morphing back to her true self. The potion was clearly running its course as her long blonde hair started to become shorter and frizzier.
The real Daphne whistled, impressed at Hermione's observations, her hair becoming thinner and sleeker by the second. "Damn Malfoy, I had no clue you were that in tune with your magical core. At your age as well? That's truly impressive. But to be able to single out Hermione's as well? I thought only Luna could do that. You must be quite attuned to her specifically?"
Hermione's head snapped to Daphne's. Was this what the other Slytherin girl had been on about? Did she truly think he was attuned to her? That that was the reason he could so easily find her? But that was normal between members of the same magical families, wasn't it? Why would she need proof of that? Oh. Right. No one knew that she technically was a Malfoy. Well. How would she explain that one to Daphne?
Her saving grace came when Draco shrugged and nonchalantly said: "It takes practice to be attuned to others' magic. It helps when learning to use wandless magic."
All three of their eyes turned into saucers. "So you have been using wandless magic!" Hermione exclaimed triumphantly, Harry and Daphne still looking dumbfounded.
"Silent too." Draco smirked in response, finally letting go of Hermione's hand.
"Mate. Why haven't you told me you could do that sooner? Do you have any clue how useful that is?" Harry asked. "Professor Flitwick has been telling me it's impossible for most magicals our age to use wandless magic. He told me I shouldn't bother practising it before I'm at least sixteen!"
If Hermione didn't know Draco's secret, she would've never caught the faraway look in his eyes and realised what it was. Deandra. He was talking to her. Mhm. So she must've been the one who taught him. That was the most plausible answer after all.
"One of my ancestors got quite adept at using wandless magic," he replied. "It starts with feeling your own magical core and seeing it as an extension of yourself. Much like a muscle which needs to be conditioned and trained. Once I could feel my own, I started practising on feeling the ones of those around me. You and Hermione usually being by my side made you two the easiest to recognise."
The rest of the day, as well as the train ride home the day after, was spent practising to feel and use their own magical core. Hermione had tried to get Daphne alone to ask her why she'd wanted to test Draco's perceptiveness of her magic, but once she succeeded the blonde had just shrugged at her. "I have a theory. But both you and me, we'll have to wait and see, Mione."
Still annoyed at being left out of what seemed to be an important bit of information, Hermione couldn't help but be glad as well. Draco helping Blaise, Theo, and Harry feel their own magic clearly kept all of them distracted.
A knowing look from Draco as Harry was too focused to notice the lingering stares from Neville and Ginny as they passed the Slytherin's compartment on the Hogwarts Express, made Hermione realise what he'd been doing. Sure, teaching his friends a skill to practise their wandless magic would be beneficial for all of them in the long run, but now, in this moment, it distracted Harry. Their best friend who still felt miserable for not having heard a single word from his Gryffindor friends after the Parselmouth debacle.
As everyone left the compartment, she took Draco by the edge of his robes, pleading him to stay.
"Thank you, for taking care of Harry." She whispered as he turned around, wondering why she had stopped him.
Without thinking, she hugged him closer to her, showing how grateful she was to be his friend, and he patted her on the back lightly.
"It's alright, Mione. That's what friends are for, right?" he whispered.
She nodded into his shoulder and smiled up at him as Harry came back and poked his head into the compartment.
"What's taking you two so long?" the raven-haired boy asked. "You need help carrying your trunk, Mione? I swear, Madam Pince thinks too highly of you that she basically allows you to borrow the whole bloody Hogwarts Library home with you for Yule. It's not as if you will have a lot of time to read anyway!" He joked.
"Watch it, Potter." Draco chuckled as he noticed Hermione's scowl. "If she hits you with one of those tomes she has in her trunk, you might not recover before the Ball. My mother will be quite displeased."
Hermione swung her arms over her two best friends' shoulders as Draco had waved his hand and levitated their trunks behind them. Show off. Soon, she too would be able to wandlessly and wordlessly cast simple magic. Then she wouldn't need to worry about the trace when at home.
"You boys better behave and remember to dress up," she warned them teasingly. "As my two escorts to the Yule Ball at Malfoy Manor, I will require both of you to be dressed impeccably."
As they met their families and said their goodbyes, Hermione nervously bit her lip and took Draco's hand in hers one last time, squeezing it and sending up a tingle through his arm, using her magic as he'd been teaching them for the past two days.
He looked at her in surprise as she let go and then smiled brightly at her. "You're brilliant, you know that, Mione?"
"I have been told I am the brightest witch of my age." She answered confidently, smirking at him. "But I also had a good teacher."
All she heard when she winked at him before his mother apparated them away was his laughter.
The memory of a small tingle of magic settling in her stomach when she realised her teasing jokes made him laugh, was neatly stored away in the back of her mind. It didn't mean anything after all. Right? Right.