Carpathian

Saturday, 7:13 pm

- NOT MY WORK ALL CREDITS TO @/niffizzle on AO3 -

Hermione made sure to get to the mess hall early. And yet, Markus, Aurel, and Julia were already at the table by the time she sat down for dinner. The two wizards chatted across from each other, and the empty seat with silverware between Julia and Markus was undoubtedly Charlie's. That left two free chairs. Two free adjacent chairs.

Hesitation must have been apparent on Hermione's frozen face, for Julia promptly popped out of her seat. "Here, let me—"

"I can handle it."

She appreciated Julia's offer—especially after their conversation over breakfast—but it wasn't necessary. Charlie was already spending so much of his weekend with Hermione, she didn't want to disrupt his ability to sit next to his girlfriend just so Hermione didn't have to sit next to Malfoy.

Draco.

It was going to take practice remembering to call him that.

One quick glance across the mess hall and Hermione spotted Charlie speaking with Doru and Llewellyn. That explained how his spot had a plate and utensils. Hermione only hoped she'd arrived early enough to still get a fully functional fork.

Remembering the spot from breakfast, Hermione located the wizard handing out tableware. The queue moved quickly as, one by one, the sanctuary workers collected the necessary utensils. When she got to the front and spotted the dwindling selection of forks, an idea sparked in her mind and seized control of her tongue.

"Can I have two?"

The wizard's irritation was immediate. "You may be a friend of Charlie's, but we have a way of doing things here."

Grumbles about the hold up chorused behind her, yet that didn't diminish Hermione's determination.

"I know exceptions have been made in the past, so surely that 'way' isn't so stringent. Just this once? For a friend of Charlie?"

He slammed a single place setting into her hands.

"No."

The queue of hungry, impatient dragon keepers pushed along, forcing Hermione to step aside the moment her grasp took hold of the plate and silverware. Staring at her acquisition of a solitary four-pronged fork, the familiar stab of failure she'd been able to evade thus far this weekend pierced her insides. Could she really not get even this right? But when she swatted through the fog of self-doubt, Hermione realised she had everything she needed for the plan to still work.

It was a simple spell. An easy one. If she hadn't been so tired the night before, she would have thought of it immediately.

"Geminio," Hermione whispered, and a duplicate fork spawned from the original.

Honestly, why every dragon keeper in the sanctuary hadn't done this ages ago was a mystery, but she wasn't going to intrude. If the dragon keepers wanted to keep complaining about misshapen forks, they could go right ahead. Their oversight served to Hermione's advantage.

Nearly every seat in the mess hall was taken by the time Draco finally arrived, frown firmly set in place.

"Bloody fucking trainees," he groused. "Hector stopped me on my way over to help him re-ward the goat pen because he forgot the spell again."

Draco dropped his plate onto the table in front of the sole remaining seat. His silverware clattered as he slammed it down next to the plate.

Hermione fought a smile. His fork had only two prongs.