The Greywitch Trials | Harry Potter AU

Storm

"I still don't think Charlie should be out there alone. There's a storm coming." Ginny grunted for the millionth time as she walked with Eloise to her doom. Or, at least, what felt like her doom. Spending time in a small room with Draco Malfoy was definitely on the list of most painful torture for most of the residents of Pendragon Castle. 

"You've also said that he can take care of himself about a million times. What's he even doing, anyway? You never said. I just assumed he was hunting or something."

"That and also gathering the odd thing for Ollivander. He's got a knack for most magical creatures, and he can better recognise plants than any of us here aside from maybe Percy or Hermione." Ginny rubbed at her arms as if warding off the chill of the impending snowstorm. Well, less of a snowstorm and more of a sleet storm. The snow they got each winter was mostly freezing rain at this point in the year. 

"I didn't know that."

"You aren't the only one. Not many people know about his little trips. They also don't know how dangerous it can be. Charlie's too brave for his own good. Gryffindor through and through."

Eloise grinned, "Where's your house pride? He'll be fine. He's as quiet as a cat. Nearly scared half of my life off the other day in the storeroom. He practically appeared out of thin air."

"Yeah," Ginny rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "He tends to do that. Drives Mum crazy."

Eloise was about to respond, but she stopped when she already heard the telltale sounds of Hermione and Malfoy arguing. 

"Christ," Eloise groaned and rubbed at her temples, trying to assuage the headache that was already forming. "Back to herding cats."

And it was like herding cats. After she'd finally managed to calm the both of them down, they'd all silently read for about an hour. But of course, Malfoy couldn't have more than an hour of peace without ruining it. 

"So," He didn't bother looking up from his copy of Warding Through the Ages. He somehow managed to make turning pages look haughty. "I bet you're just so pleased we halted our original research to waste our time on this drivel, aren't you, Thompson?"

"Positively tickled, Malfoy." She responded, trying to ignore his grating voice and focus on comparing the pages of Hermione's careful estimations with the equation she'd come up with.

"Another failure? Pity. Seems like you're very adept at wasting our time."

It was a failure. The Beelzebub Configuration had no way of covering the exact distance Hermione had carefully plotted, even with room for margin of error. Amos Nott was a talented Warding Specialist, but even he couldn't fiddle his way into covering an extra twenty thousand square kilometres. 

Eloise closed her eyes, wishing Draco Malfoy would just disappear and return tomorrow when she had more patience, but she was saved from the hassle. Hermione let out an affronted little scoff that meant it was time to prepare for war between the two. 

"How dare you treat Eloise with such disrespect! She's been working just as hard as you or I - "

"Oh, please, don't fool yourself into believing that we're actually accomplishing something - "

" -  an arrogant bastard with no sense of decency - "

" - you could never actually - "

"If the two of you don't shut it, I'm just going to yell at the top of my lungs until I drown you out," Eloise barked. When both fell mercifully silent, she added, "All I'm asking for is another two hours of uninterrupted quiet. I'll do whatever you want me to if you give me two hours."