Unexpected Visitors

XI

HERMIONE

The remainder of the ride was surprisingly peaceful. 

Not as peaceful as in their second year, - without Ron and Harry stirring up trouble, Hermione could read the entire ride - but it was rather close. She tried her best to explain all that had transpired, with the occasional comment or anecdote from her friends, yet it always felt unsatisfactory. As if she had left out some major holes.

The exchange students' incessant fiddling did little to calm her nerves. 

After about half an hour, she finally felt they were calm and would stay that way when she inquired about themselves. "So, do you have surnames or should we call you Nicotine and his sidekick, Wili the Chili?"

Harry attempted to stifle his laughter while Ron snorted loudly, followed by boisterous laughter.

Will rolled his eyes. "Solace. Will Solace and Nico di Angelo. Do you need our middle names too, or will you die without knowing everything?"

"Hmmm. I don't know. " Hermione looked down, faking a thoughtful expression. "Depends if I want to use Dark Witchcraft on you or not."

"Dark Witchcraft?" Will questioned, brows furrowed. He glanced at Nico. "Is that a thing? Because I feel like that's not a thing."

Nico snorted. He shook his head no and glared, appearing to berate him for his idiocy through his orbs. 

"Hey, that's just uncalled for. There are children here." Will gestured to the other four occupants. Cue a meaningful glance, as if the blond was questioning his friend's morals.

The previously mentioned friend rolled his eyes, conveying some form of screw you.

They continued bantering, occasionally gesturing some unspoken concept that Hermione could glean some sliver of a meaning from - some interpretations made her want to wash their mouths (face? hands?) out with soap.

Nico tittered like a bird, hands flying upwards dramatically.

And maybe her brain while she was at it.

It reinforced something she previously jotted down mentally: they were close. They appeared to have no trouble communicating with each other wordlessly, a feat that is much harder than it sounds. One gesture could mean clock, but it also could be substituted for a specific clock, an abstract ideal of time, or a plethora of other nouns, verbs or adjectives. 

Like she suggested: it was rather difficult. 

If - by some chance - the boys turned out to be enemies, the access point to break them was each other, as opposed to say: the snoring teen in the corner - Clover, she thought was his name. Hermione felt rather pessimistic with that thought, but she would rather be safe than sorry. She refused to lose someone simply because she wanted to be polite.

Not to mention, the boys were far from naive and, consequentially, were most likely in the same boat as her - silently running through possible weaknesses they could exploit if need be. Anyone who went through at least one war - nevertheless, two - would have been betrayed at least once. It was a depressing fact of life.

 After a couple more moments of running through ways to defend or attack against the Americans, she cleared her throat to continue her inquiry. "Sorry to break up the lovefest, but I have some questions."