The Internal Devices

Chapter 24

Hermione groaned and leaned her head on her lab station, and Draco chuckled behind her.

"You know, you wouldn't feel so bad if you hadn't drunk so much last night."

"Oh shut up, Malfoy. No one asked your opinion."

"Touchy, touchy." He tsked from a few feet away. After a second, something cold thwacked her in the arm. She was about to snap at him again when she realized he had floated over a hangover potion. She gruffed out a 'thank you' and downed it in one go. Merlin, magic was a godsend.

When she felt the raging migraine finally seep away, she smoothed out her lab coat and began setting up equipment. "I spoke with Charlie."

"Umphm?" Draco's response was muddled by the wand he held between his teeth. In each hand was a stack of cell culture plates, tipping precariously. Hermione straightened the towering plates with a flick of her wand and continued. "Yes. He said he has some dragons that might be showing the symptoms we're looking for, dragons he believes were cursed under suspicious circumstances. There's just one issue."

"Oh?" Now Draco was using his wand to levitate himself upside down to look into the microscope. Sure, it was probably easier to see through the lenses that way, but the sheer impracticality of it equally amazed and vexed her. She shook her head to clear it.

"Yes, well," she rushed, "the issue is we have to sneak out of school and apparate to Romania to obtain the samples."

Draco twirled back down to his feet and scowled at her. "You're worried about skipping school? What about the greater good, and all that other Gryffindor nonsense you love so much?"

She frowned back at him, crossing her arms. "I just don't like breaking the rules! When Charlie explained it, it sounded exciting, but now I'm not so sure."

"Granger," he spoke slowly, "correct me if I am wrong, but I think you've broken more rules singlehandedly than anyone in the history of Hogwarts."

"Well–"

"Chamber of Secrets ring a bell?"

"Yes, I suppose that did require a bit of sneaking–"

"Dumbledore's Army?"

"That was to fight against injustice–"

"Oh! I know," he interrupted sarcastically, "breaking into the Ministry of Magic?"

Here she paused. "Alright, yes I see your point. From start to finish, that particular escapade was a lot of rule-breaking."

"And my personal favorite, when you used the confundus charm on McLaggen."

"I–" she stopped abruptly. "Wait, how do you know about that?" He smirked and grabbed a chair, sinking into it gracefully. "You're not the only one who sneaks around. I saw you. At the time, I only meant to see Weasleby embarrass himself, but watching you do exactly what you accused me of doing in second year was an added bonus."

Her mouth opened and shut a few times before settling on an intelligent, "Huh?"

Draco gave her a pointed look and crossed his arms primly, giving an exaggerated impression of second-year Hermione. "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in."

She rolled her eyes, even though it was a good impression. "Fine. I get it. You joined quidditch unfairly, and I helped Ron join unfairly. We're both liars and cheaters and rule-breakers. Happy?"

He grinned. "Very. When do we leave?"

***

The two of them apparated in jumps. The first jump was the most tiring–from Scotland to Belgium. After that, Hermione insisted they pop into the eastern tip of France before stopping in Austria. Draco argued for a good ten minutes that it was more fitting to go through Germany rather than France, and it was only after he admitted his favorite bakery was in Munich that she shut down the idea.