The Internal Devices

Chapter 26

Hermione,

Sorry it's taken me so long to write. To be honest, I needed to process some of the things you said at the Burrow. Of course, I was angry with Ron's reaction, it was completely absurd and he deserved the beating he got, but I understand his confusion. Whatever...developments you've experienced with the Slytherins hasn't been something we've shared, which is interesting because we've shared practically everything else since we were eleven. When you defended Malfoy the other day and even claimed you loved another Slytherin boy, I'll admit I was more than shocked. I'm not angry, I just don't understand. All I know of him is cruelty, so I find it difficult to trust there's been a change worth earning your friendship over the past six months.

That being said, I remember a time in our third year when Ron and I were terrible to you, and it was all over a stupid broom. We treated you like rubbish for weeks and looking back, I wouldn't blame you if you had walked away from our friendship entirely. Instead, you offered us forgiveness. If for some reason, your compassionate heart has done the same for Malfoy and his friends, I really can't blame them for jumping at the chance. You see, you've always been the best of us, the glue that held our trio together. I know you often have felt like a third wheel, like the 'second-best' friend for me, but that isn't true. I love you and Ron equally, just in different ways. I guess what I'm trying to say is I want you to be happy, and if that means you find a home in the snake pit...I would never try to stop you. You make people better, and the Slytherins surely need it.

We're taking care of Ron. You know how he is...he'll come around. Bill, Charlie, and George gave him a piece of their mind when Ginny told them what happened, and Molly is making him eat stale toast for every meal. He's a right prat, but I can tell he at least feels badly. It's not enough, but I'm sure he'll be apologizing any day now.

Send Ginny my love,

Harry

Hermione set down Harry's letter with a sigh. It was the first thing she saw when she entered the empty room, and her curiosity won out over her exhaustion. She ignored the other correspondences and hastily ripped open the parchment to see Harry's unruly script. She didn't know what to think about Ron, but she was grateful for Harry. Once she finished reading over it three times, she placed it back on the stack of correspondences and wrote a brief thank you to send back. Later, she would need to read the one from Hagrid–perhaps he was responding to her inquiry regarding creatures in the Forbidden Forest showing symptoms of blood curses. It could wait.

Hermione drifted wearily to the prefect baths. She wasn't necessarily qualified to bathe there, but she suspected most students would be in classes now anyway. She carefully pulled off her ruined clothing and unpinned her tangled mess of curls. Cleaning charms only went so far; although the physical blood, dirt, and sweat were vanished, the spell left a grimy film on the skin. She fully intended to soak in the baths.

Hermione always had felt that the bath was a wonderful place to think. Sometimes her brightest ideas were born in the steam, and today she meant to focus her contemplations on the avensegium allegiata spell. As she lathered soap into her hair, she mused. Draco's theory was brilliant. To combine both the locating spell, avenseguim, and an allegiance spell should work, especially if they wanted to develop magic that left Theo's healthy cells alone while attacking anything foreign and malignant. So why didn't it? Perhaps the spell simply did not know what it was supposed to be allegiant to–the caster or what it was being cast on. Hermione scrubbed at her arms, her mind drifting.

They were missing a key part, she just didn't know what it was. With a pang of sadness, she realized there was someone who would know exactly what to do. Snape. Although he almost always had an intolerable attitude, he was one of the most intelligent wizards Hermione had ever met. She would love to pick his brain on this particular subject. Surely the Half-Blood Prince himself would have an idea about creating an offensive biological spell.