The Thunder in My Heart

A Date in the Library

'I wish I knew where they were,' Hermione sighed for the umpteenth time since she and Blaise had got back to the common room. They were slumped in the comfy armchairs by the fire, waiting for Harry and Draco to turn up, either separately or together, though they assumed it was the latter. The rest of the year had agreed to the idea of a Secret Santa and now they needed to assign names.

'Perhaps we should put a tracker on them,' Blaise muttered.

Hermione looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, not really taking in the features of the tall dark man sitting opposite her but thinking about how to track their two errant friends. It was now gone nine, an hour and a half since Draco had left the library, and they still hadn't turned up. She was in a frustrating quandary between worrying that something had happened to Draco and not wanting to get her hopes up that the two men were together, she was fairly certain that Harry was waiting for something before he made a move on Draco. She just wasn't sure what. What they needed was a map, a bit like the Marauder's Map but tailored to their needs.

'Hmmm!' She absentmindedly stroked Crookshanks who was curled up on her knee, snoring contentedly.

'You've got that look in your eyes,' Blaise said. 'You're thinking about something far too clever.'

'Well, if James, Sirius, and Remus could do it—I doubt Peter had much of an input—I don't see why I can't...'

'You're not making sense, Hermione.'

'We just need to know where they are. It doesn't need to be as complex as the Marauder's Map of course, so if I can just make it to show where they are...

'Hermione, please, explain yourself, you're making no more sense than Hagrid talking about Flobberworms or whatever his latest animal-crush is.'

'Sorry,' she smiled at him and saw his sharp features relax. She looked at him for a while, this time truly considering the man in front of her. Of course, it wasn't the first time she recognised that he was incredibly handsome with his high cheekbones and angular jaw; she's seen that back on the Hogwarts Express, but now, well ever since the Halloween Ball, she was seeing something beyond just the face that belonged on magazine covers. His rich-brown eyes always sparkled with a measure of humour as he teased her but there was something else, something underlying which she wasn't quite ready to admit to herself yet even though all the signs were there. She pushed the thoughts away. 'I think I have an idea. You see, Harry's father, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew made a map of Hogwarts, it shows absolutely everything, every room, secret tunnel, and every floor. The only things not shown are the Room of Requirement and the Forbidden Forest. The ingenuous thing is they enchanted it to show the location of every person who was in the school, that way, they could slip around Hogwarts, avoiding teachers and thus trouble.'

'And I suppose Harry inherited said map from his father?'

'Sort of, long story for another time which involves Fred and George Weasley, but yes, Harry has the map.'

'So that's how the sneaky bastard always knew where Draco was in the sixth year. It was truly driving Draco up the wall, he wouldn't stop ranting about Potter always being there every time he walked around a corner.'

'Yes, well, Harry was a bit obsessed in the sixth year.'

'They're both as bad as each other, aren't they? But what do you plan to do about this map, are you going to steal it from Potter?'

'No, Harry has that one securely shut away, if he's not carrying it about his person, and there is no way I would steal it even if I could. No. We need to make another one.'

Crookshanks opened an eye and looked at her suspiciously.

'But surely that will take months.'

'Actually, I'm not so sure. James and co made their map fairly early on in their Hogwarts days and Remus aside, I don't think they were that high in the genius stakes, although they were certainly cunning and very inventive. Plus, we have two advantages, the first is I know exactly what I want to achieve based on their success and second, if you and I combine forces, well, I reckon between us we've probably got the smartest brainpower in the entire school, not including McGonagall, of course, but we could crack this easily.' Hermione saw Blaise bristle with pride, but she could also tell his interest was piqued. His dark-brown eyes were glistening with excitement.