The Silver Envelope

Elfish Magic and Elfish Lies

At first, Draco felt only the slimy sensation of the oily polish on his hand, but the longer he focused, the more he thought he could feel the difference. Something about the polish felt off to him, as if some fundamental source of knowledge inside of him could recognize the foreign magic.
The more he focused on that difference, the more he learned about it.
It was clever, sneaky, and ancient, with an almost imperceptibly different charge to it, like an ion that was ever so slightly positive, where all his were negative. His mind reached for it, and was startled when he felt it snap into him like a magnet.
Draco willed it to break open his cuff. The elf magic recoiled, flipping its polarity and pushing away from him, as slippery as the substance it was bound to. He took a deep breath and tried to reach for the connection again. This would be a slow process, he could already tell.
Hermione shifted away from him, breaking his focus. He looked to her, then to the gap between them where she was focusing her eyes. The chain attached to her cuff was beginning to glow with
heat. Draco felt his eves widen in amazement.
She was incredible. Only a few moments of silence and focus and the witch had figured out how to wield foreign magic without a wand.
For the first time, Draco wondered if Hermione might actually be out of his league. Pureblood supremacy, Voldemort's arse.
Careful not to make any noise, Draco shifted away from her as well, widening the space between them and laying out his own chain on the stone. Boone shouldn't be able to see the chain links from this angle; if he looked over, he would only see Hermione's legs curled up on the floor.
Hermione had the right idea; melting one link of the chain was much simpler magic than breaking the spell that bound the cuffs around their wrists, even if the process took longer. He settled back
into his mind, this time focusing on the chain
After several more tries, Draco began to feel frustrated. It would connect with him, but the moment he told it to do something, it snapped away again. The last attempt produced a hot spark of angry power, leaving him with tingling, singed skin at the inside of his wrist. Draco flinched and bit down on his lip, stopping himself from yelping in surprise.
Hermione looked over at him, curious. The glow of her chain subsided as she did. Draco shot a glance past Hermione at Boone. Good. The man looked half asleep.
He leaned down to Hermione's ear to whisper, "I can't get it to obey me the magic. It keeps snapping away."
Hermione looked confused. She leaned closer, her lips lightly brushed his ear as she breathed,
"Obey? You're not its master. Try asking nicely."
Ah. Right. He had been commanding it to follow his directions, his impatience growing each time.
This magic was not a part of him, did not belong to him. It was not obligated to do as he said. Of course Hermione would have understood that right away.
Draco closed his eyes again, reaching for the magic once more, this time in the manner of a gentle (if somewhat impatient) request. The skin on the back of his hand tickled faintly. He found it
unsettling to know that the magic was curious about him. It waited, listening for the slightest reason to bolt.
He'd seen the way the elves here were treated, knew how much they must crave kindness and rest and freedom. Hermione had approached their magic the same way she spoke to actual elves: with polite care. Draco, who was accustomed to ordering around even his closest companion, had nc experience adopting that attitude
How would Hermione ask an elf for help?
He modeled the voice inside his head after her pleasant, swotty cadence.
Hello, magic. Might you be willing to help me for a moment? I would be very grateful.
His hand tingled again, as if to say, Help with what? Draco got the impression it was suspicious of him.
I need to break the chain fastened to my wrist. Help me escape. Please.
He added the last word as an afterthought, and the magic seemed to know. He felt the connection dimming again as the elf magic cautiously recoiled. Frantically, Draco tried to think of something to convince it to stay.
I'm going to free the elves! When I escape, I'm going to take down their captors and break all the elves out!
He waited, holding his breath. The elf magic was silent for a while, perhaps considering his words.
Finally, he felt a questioning probe.
Do you promise?
Something about the inquiry sat heavy in Draco's gut. It was important to the magic, and therefore
equally important for him to answer honestly.
Draco thought of Ignoma as he answered, Yes. I promise.
The connection roared to life then, and he felt an odd sparkling, sizzling sensation in his veins as
his wrist was gripped hard by an unseen force
A weighty sense of significance settled upon him as Draco realized that his promise could not be taken lightly. He was familiar enough with bargain magic to recognize the feeling. He had just made a Vow with the elf magic. Breaking it would come with consequences.
As soon as that thought registered, Draco's chain became warm, then red-hot. He gritted his teeth, unable to withdraw his hand from the blistering heat of the shackle as the magic worked to break
him free. It only lasted a moment, however. With one last flash of heat, he was free, the mangled, melted chain link rapidly cooling as it hung loosely from his wrist.
Hermione was momentarily distracted from her own magic, looking up at Draco as he sucked in a pained breath through his teeth. He smoothed his features for her, nodding at her chain to indicate she should keep going.
Her progress was slower but much safer. She seemed to have a gentle command over the elf magic, as it was far less volatile with her. No magically binding contracts needed on her end. Soon
enough, a link on her chain had liquified, allowing her to tug her arm free from the wall. She cast a worried glance over her shoulder at Boone then. Though the angle of his seat would not allow him to see the broken chains between Draco and Hermione, he might have seen the light from the glowing metal or heard Draco's pained gasp. Fortunately, he was still asleep, head lolling to the side and snoring softly through his nose. Unfortunately, it would be difficult to sneak past him and out the door without waking him.
"Draco," Hermione whispered in his ear. "He has my wand."
His heart surged. It made things much more complicated, but the chance at getting even one of their wands back was too important to pass up.
Hermione leaned into him, her words barely a breath.
"One of us should sneak over and grab my wand. Then we'll stun him, free the elves, steal the boat, and get out," she said.
Draco nodded. Simple plans were the best ones.
"I'll stand in front of him to distract him if he wakes up," he said. "You get the-"
"What are you two whispering about over there?" Boone called across the room. Draco nearly had a heart attack at the abrupt sound. Hermione squeaked, tensing up with terror. Draco felt his muscles contract as well, like a strung bow, ready to fire.
"I-I need to use the bathroom," Hermione said suddenly. Surreptitiously, she scooted herself closer to Draco to hide the still-warm broken chains. She shot a furtive glance at him, silently communicating the new escape plan.
Alright then. She would be the distraction. Which meant Draco would need to attack.
Boone scowled, heaving himself out of his chair and ambling over to stand in front of them.
"Like I haven't heard that one before," he said. "I ain't letting you go. You'll just have to hold it."
"Er, it's not that," she said. Her eyes darted to Draco as he readied himself to pounce. "It's, um, lady problems. Ahem, you know...of the monthly sort? I can't exactly hold it."
Boone grimaced, looking suddenly uncomfortable. Wiping his hand at the back of his neck, he looked to the door, thinking.
Now was as good as ever. Draco sprang forward, barreling into him. The wizard was knocked to
the ground as Draco clamped his hand around Boone s wrist, grappling for control over his wand While they struggled, Hermione rushed forward and groped in the pocket of Boone's robes for her wand. She withdrew her hand as Boone hurled Draco to the side and rolled on top of him, aiming his wand at Draco's face.
"Confundo!"
Hermione's spell hit Boone in the back of his head, causing him to freeze in sudden confusion.
Draco hurled Boone off of him, and Hermione followed up with a stunner. Hauling himself to his feet, Draco brushed his hands off and looked down at Boone.
"Why the Confundus Charm? Why not skip straight to stunning him?" he asked, panting.
"Stunning spells don't last as long," Hermione said. "And we still need to get the elves out."
"Ah."
Seven fucking steps ahead, as always. Draco didn't believe in a god, but he might just start worshipping Hermione.
He paid her a higher compliment
"You should have been in Slytherin," he said, marveling at her.
Hermione gave him a bemused smile.
"Usually people say Ravenclaw."
Draco shook his head, grimacing.
"No way. Those wankers don't deserve you."
"What, and Slytherin does?" she said, gaping at him. "I doubt they would have me, considering my parentage."
Draco rolled his eyes, gesturing for her to follow him as he started for the door.
"Blood purity is a scam-every one of us has ancestors who lied about their heritage. Besides, I reckon you would have fit right in with us. You're cunning, resourceful, ambitious not to mention sexy," he said with a wink. "That one's a must."
Ignoring her amused shock, he grasped her hand and led her out of the church.
The outbuilding where the elves were kept, which was more like an old and decrepit stable, wasn't far from the spot on the river where the last boat was docked. Hermione lit her wand as they stumbled along the short gravel path to the doors, which were adorned with a thick, rusty padlock through the handles. She made short work of the lock and directed her light into the darkness of the room beyond. Small bunks had been lined up along the walls. Several pairs of curious eyes blinked blearily at them from various beds, squinting at the sudden brightness.
"Ignoma? Tillo?" Hermione called, clutching the doorframe as she looked into the gloom.
"Ms. Granger?"
Tillo's excited squeak met their ears as the elf came into view. A little farther back. Hermione saw Ignoma tentatively step forward, wearing a worried frown.
"Come on!" Hermione urged. "Boone is stunned! We have to get out before he wakes! All of you!
Let's go!"
Hermione turned to leave, but Draco stopped her. Not one elf had moved.
Ignoma looked at the floor. Tillo cast a worried glance at her, then looked back at Hermione.
"Ignoma cannot leave, madam," he said. "All the elves have been instructed not to leave or try to escape. They are incapable of disobeying orders from any wizard of their Master's Bond. They cannot even step foot outside of this building at night."
Hermione took in Tillo's words with a frown of concentration. Her sharp eyes flashed briefly to
Draco
"How many wizards are you bonded to, exactly?" she asked Ignoma. "I thought you could only be bonded to one master, or rather one bloodline. But I saw several people of unrelated bloodlines ordering elves around tonight."
"They could be bonded to the land," Draco offered, but Hermione shook her head.
"No, you said that the soil of a property could be added to the Master's Bond as a way to bind the elves to the current owner of the estate, like with Harry and Grimmauld Place. But I highly doub every one of the people involved in this operation is a co-owner of this plot of land."
She had him there. Ignoma's wide eyes followed Hermione as she began to look around at the
church with a critical eye.