Dream

~*~

"Allow me to get this straight - you want us to create a magical map, a blue print, as it were, of a building, that can show the actual location of people we are interested in, in real time?" Draco Malfoy asked with a frown. "Well, I've never heard of a magical artefact like that. That's just impossible - it simply cannot be done!" he shook his head.

Hermione was not put off by Draco's protest.

"Remember 5^th Year Arithmancy when Professor Vector taught us about Cartographical Calculus?"

Draco leaned back into his chair, looked off into the distance and raked the back of his right hand across his mouth before he answered her. "Yes, but as I recall, what we did then was to create a detailed map of Hogsmeade, using data we've already collected." He paused and turned towards Hermione. "Don't you remember the class having to fly over the town with those magical tape measures? Don't you remember how, in order to measure the curvature of the High Street, MacDougal lost control of both his broom and tape measure and ended up in the Kissing Oak? He was lip-locked to that tree until Professor Spout managed to persuade the Oak to release him with a bribe of Mooncalf dung," he grinned.

Hermione chuckled, "It certainly was a sight to remember."

"But I'm digressing. I do remember Cartographical Calculus. After we had completed our field practicum, with the data gathered of the distances between landmarks, we transferred the data onto a parchment using Crochet's Calculus. It took a whole term to complete that assignment. As you well know, you oh studious one," he teased, "the key to getting the map right is in the data collected." He turned serious, "What you're asking us to do is beyond that - we'll need to add in some sort of Charm to allow the map to 'come alive' as it were, in order for it to locate people in it. And what if the area we map out changes? What then? Won't we have to create another map? What you're asking is impossible to create."

Hermione just gave Draco a patronising smile, which he did not particularly like.

"What if I tell you that not only is it possible to create such a map, but that one such map exists of Hogwarts?" she folded her arms, raised her eyebrows and leaned back in her chair, mirroring Draco's posture.

It had all started with a simple question. How on earth did Messers Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail and Prongs come up with the Marauder's Map? In Hermione's 3^rd Year when the Map first made its appearance, that question did not even occur to her. Like the various electrical appliances she had at home, she took it for granted that a magical item worked and hardly gave it a second thought to how it worked. She knew that Professor Lupin had helped write it, but she did not know of its particulars, nor at the time did she care about it. Much later, when she was in her 5th Year studying Cartographical Calculus in Arithmancy, the Marauder's Map was brought to the top of her magical mind. Obviously, some Arithmancy was involved in the creation of such a map.

That idea sparked a whole fortnight's worth of staking out in the library - time that should have been better spent preparing for her OWLs. However, the idea, once taken root in her, nagged at her so much that she knew that she could not rest until the secret of the Map was revealed. Arithmancy, of course, was one part of the puzzle. But what other Magical Arts were involved? She was attempting to do what four competent wizards were doing. Powerful wizards even, for did not three of them achieve their Animagus state by their 5^th Year? Without proper supervision, even!

As far as she could figure the Marauder's Map out on her own, Arithmancy was needed to create the blueprint of Hogwarts. But the key question was how did the Marauders get such accurate data to create the blueprint in the first place? Draco was right - the Crochet's Calculus only worked when the data used was accurate. But how was it Charmed that when the areas depicted by the map changed in real life, the Marauder's Map changed as well?

She had sent many owls to Professor Lupin about the creation of the Marauder's Map, but to no avail. All her letters were sent back by confused, apologetic owls, leaving her to suspect that Lupin was working as an Unspeakable or under a shielding Charm, rendering him uncontactable. She had thought to approach Harry to send a note to Sirius regarding the map, but the information that she received was merely a Potions recipe for the ink used in the Map and a note telling her that it was an obscure Charm Harry's father, James, had used which animated the map at the final stage. Unfortunately, without the Arithmantic code and the Charm to tie them all together, the ink was virtually useless. Sadly, after the two unfruitful weeks in the library, she had to abandon the project in the light of the OWLs. Once the OWLs were over, she considered the wisdom of continuing the project, and since there was neither need nor resource, she had allowed the project to fallow, just as she had done for SPEW.

It was another one of her many ongoing projects that she had listed in her "Keep In View" notebook. She knew that although she had not succeeded in some of her ideas, there will come a time when circumstances would be in place for some of her abandoned projects to follow through. Meanwhile, she would focus her time on other projects needing her attention.

So what had changed to cause her to pick up this project again? The short of it was that in the two years since she'd last written to Professor Lupin, he had somehow come out of hiding once again, and since the start of 7^th Year, was reinstated to his former teaching position as the DADA Professor. Although there were some parental objections regarding a werewolf teaching the children, with the recent Mediwizardry patent taken out for a werewolf cure, the objections were muted. The word "cure" was actually an inaccurate description of the potion. The potion did not "cure" werewolves in the sense that they would not have to undergo that involuntary change, but once taken, the potion allowed werewolves to retain their human mind every time they transformed under the Luna influence and behave somewhat like what Animagi would do in their animal forms.

In addition to the werewolf cure, the position of DADA Professor had to be replaced yet again, but this time for a reason not of Voldemort's doing. Professor McKenzie-Wu, DADA Professor since Hermione's 5^th Year, was to join her husband, who was headhunted for the position of Headmaster of the Hong Kong Academy of Magical Arts. Leo Wu had felt the need to return to his alma mater, especially in the present uncertain political climate of the British handover of the territories to China. Professor McKenzie-Wu had not seen her husband for a year, as he had left earlier to deal with the unenviable task of dealing with the school's dwindling enrolment, because of the school's students and staff migrating for more stable political climates in the UK, Canada or Australia. Since the Chinese clampdown on Magical Institutions during the Cultural Revolution in China, many Hong Kong wizarding families were unsure of how the Communist government would deal with HKAMA once the Handover took place. The One Country-Two Systems policy mooted by China was well and good, but until the transition was underway, some families would rather leave the area until stability returned to the area. Fortunately, the wizarding community in China was still thriving, albeit in greater hiding, and Leo was able to link up with the other schools of Magic in China to staff HKAMA. The latest report about the HKAMA in the Daily Prophet had depicted the situation in Hong Kong as stable, and Hermione had felt a sense of relief for the petite but very strict DADA Professor, who was also the teacher in charge of the mandatory Wizard Duel classes.

Despite Professor McKenzie-Wu's excellent teaching, Harry was especially glad for Professor Lupin's return, as Remus Lupin was one of his father's best friends, and whom Harry automatically viewed as a family member. With Lupin's return, Hermione was able to pick his brains for the Arithmantic code, which he wrote almost 20 years ago for the Marauder's Map. Hermione was not able to get the exact formula, but it was a greater progress than what she had had. The Code enabled the Charm to fused the ink and Code, but Lupin was not able to enlighten her further about the Charm James had used.

There was another problem she had not foreseen about creating the Map was the use of Ancient Runes, a speciality of Peter Pettigrew, which Lupin pointed out to her. "I'm not sure what Wormtail did, but after the three of us did our parts, Wormtail was able to stabilise the Map using a Runic code. I'm sorry I'm not able to tell you more about it," he had told her. Despite that new set of problems, Hermione decided to tackle what she could first - Charms.

"I don't believe you," the young man sitting before her shook his head. "If there is such a Map, where is it now?" he asked in disbelief. His eyes suddenly widened, "Don't tell me that Potter has it in his possession?"

At his stunned look, Hermione gave an uncharacteristic smirk. "Fred and George Weasley were in possession of the Map--"

"They'd never be able to afford a Map like that!" he interrupted.

Hermione huffed in irritation. "They found the Map," she clarified. No, she would not tell Draco just how they "found" it in Filch's office. "Apparently, the Map was created by four Gryffindors--" Draco tactfully kept his lips sealed with Hermione's a pointed look "--whilst they were studying in Hogwarts in the '70s. Fred and George gave the map to Harry in our 3^rd Year--"

"Figures!" he interrupted with a snort, "Prince of Gryffindor would inherit such a magical artefact. With all your sneaking around after curfew, that map would be quite useful... I'm assuming, of course, that the Map shows the real time location of Filch and Mrs. Norris quite clearly?"

"Yes, yes. Anyway, " she replied with a roll of her eyes, "the Map was taken away by Moody in our 4^th Year. We don't know where it is now."

Draco was silent for a while, digesting the information.

"What does the Map look like?" he asked.

"Just like a normal old parchment," she shrugged. "It's blank, until a verbal code is given to activate it and another verbal code is used to deactivate it. The codes are a security measure to make sure that the Map doesn't get used when in the wrong hand."

"Are there any ways to contact the original makers of the Map?" he questioned.

"Well, I've talked to Professor Lupin--"

"Professor Lupin? He had a hand in creating the Map?"

Hermione couldn't decide if Draco's intrusion was a sign of admiration or an affront to the often shabbily dressed Professor. All the same she gave him a warning look. "Yes... yes, he did. He wrote the Arithmantic code, and based it on Crochet's Calculus, so that it was able to transfer the data far more logically, or at least was able to combine itself better with Charms - you know how difficult it is to write codes that combine well with the other Magical Arts, remember the Tranfigurative Codes we had to learn last year in Arithmancy? Anyway, I did a check in the library's archives and found out that of the four, he was the only one to study Arithmancy at S-paper level."

Draco was impressed. He knew Hermione was thorough when she got involved with research; but to go to such lengths checking up the very haphazard Hogwarts Archive was no laughing matter. It must have taken her weeks just to ferret the information about Lupin's academic career merely to get some direction to the creation of such a fantastical magical artefact is just...just pure Hermione.

"From the records and my discussions with Professor Lupin, each of the other three wizards specialised in a different Magical Art, and that combination of their specialities was how they came up with the Map," she continued her lecture.

"And who were the other three wizards?"

"Well, that's unimportant," she fudged, "but their specialities were Charms, Potions, and Ancient Runes."

Draco silently ruminated on her statement.

"Well, if you say you've seen this Map--" he considered.

Hermione nodded her head.

"I suppose there is a possibility then for us to recreate it," he sighed.

Hermione flashed a brilliant grin. "Oh I could kiss you Draco!" she exclaimed, "but I won't," she wrinkled her nose in jest.

Draco merely shook his head and rolled his eyes at her antics; "So, where do we start?"

Hermione brought out a thick stack of parchments and pushed it across the table towards the amused boy. "Here's some ideas I had about the direction we should take--"

~*~

Hermione had had a long day. As she leaned into her fluffy pillows, she replayed the scene in the unused Charms classroom over in her mind.

When they met in the classroom, she had Draco sign an Official Secrets contract that was as magically binding as their Memorandum of Understanding in their 6^th Year.

I suppose I should thank Draco for that inspiration, she thought impishly.

By signing the parchment, Draco had to keep all the details of their project strictly between the two of them. He was not able to breathe a word about what they did together, and only the administration of Veritaserum would allow Draco to confess the workings of their project. Fortunately, Veritaserum was hard to come by, and it was no use for Draco to try asking for it in order to tell another soul about the project he was working on - he was magically bound not to ask for Veritaserum, since in asking for it meant that he had intentions to reveal the secrets about the project to another.

A fantastic Catch-22 situation if ever there was one, Hermione grinned.

Of course, she needed to make sure that Draco was not working for Voldemort. Hermione knew that Draco had reformed, especially since he was the one who had orchestrated the magical contract between the two of them the year before, and allowed her to take credit for it. She had always suspected that the whole 'civil interaction' act he put on was merely to satisfy the Death Eater supporters that were in the school, but she had never discussed his role with him before. It did not take a rocket scientist to know that Draco, being a Malfoy and Slytherin, ward and godson to the Slytherin Head of House, was somehow still involved in the upper echelons of Slytherin politics, and therefore had to provide a plausible excuse for his less than desultory behaviour towards Mudblood Granger. She did not know what the Slytherins thought about Draco's 6^th Year behaviour behind her back - the magical contract allowed Draco free expression as long as she wasn't in his presence, but she knew that the Slytherin would have used that loophole to his advantage.

Her suspicions about Draco's role in the war was proved true that evening, when Draco signed the parchment with little persuasion.

Truth be told, Hermione wasn't a hundred percent sure that Draco wasn't working for Voldemort until his signature was on the dotted line. After all, she had heard from Harry that the Order knew that there were a number of spies amongst the students at Hogwarts, but they had difficulty identifying who they were. She would never compromise her project, but she felt that she needed to take the risk of having a Charms expert on board the Map project.

And who better than the egoistical Prince Charming himself? She snorted. Charms expert, indeed.

Oh, she had heard all about the Draco Malfoy Fan Club, created by a group of girls in the year before, and managed by Dee Chiraz, a pretty 5^th Year Hufflepuff. The club, made up of students from all four Houses, would obsess about All Things Draco. Members were highly encouraged to vote for the blonde boy in the fortnightly 'Top Ten Heartthrobs of Hogwarts', a magical parchment that was tacked in the girls' bathroom in all the Houses, the brainchild of Lavender, Parvati and Padma. The last she checked, Harry's fans still outvoted the second place Draco, giving her best friend the lead since school started. Ron was a close third, followed by the 6^th Year Hufflepuff Chaser, Brandon Branstone and another 6^th Year boy she couldn't remember the name of.

It was an amusing distraction that Lavender and the Patil twins thought up in their 6^th Year after a particularly interesting Charms class they had with Professor Flitwick. The girls had wanted to lighten the often tense mood in the castle, especially after the dark rumours of Voldemort's return at the end of their 4^th Year. What was more fun, they thought, than boy-watching? Taking their cue from the Harry Potter Fan Club and the then just beginning Draco Malfoy Fan Club, they created the Charmed parchments, which allowed the castle's witches to vote their favourites with an 'enumerati' with their wand. The 4^th Year girls and up, were only allowed one vote each, and many of the girls belonged to more than one fan club.

Naturally, the girls, Hermione included, never told any of the boys about the TTHH - it was their sisterly secret, a means of amusement... not to swell the heads of the egoistical prats. Who knew how Ron would react if he found out that Draco's fans had outvoted him by a mere 6 votes?

The whole thing was all a silly diversion, Hermione knew, and was just the thing to engage the castle's teenage inmates' excessive youthful energy. As long as the girls did not bother her to join their various fan clubs, she did not mind the various TTHH discussions held in the castle's female domains.

She knew that not every one coped with the impending war by burying themselves in research like she did. Ron spent an inordinate amount of time in the Quidditch pitch, working off his tension and worry for Harry. Harry threw himself into his Head Boy duties, and could be seen daily in his Head Boy quarters, counselling and encouraging the younger boys who approached him with their troubles.

Harry.

She wished that she had that time-turner in her 3^rd Year again. She had barely enough time to complete her homework and do the research for the Map, much less spend time with the bespectacled Boy Who Lived.

Just then, Crookshanks leapt neatly into her bed to settle in for the night, cutting her off her rumination. Hermione tickled the half-Kneazle under his chin, murmuring nonsense to her bed companion. After a few minutes of mothering her cat, she settled more comfortably in her bed, and turned to tuck her hands under her pillow, allowing her mind free reign to wander again.

She managed to meet up with Harry last night in the Common room though. Harry said that since Blaise had alternate Sunday evening meetings with Professor McGonagall, and had business at near the Gryffindor Tower, he had accompanied her along the way. Whatever the excuse, Hermione was glad for that half an hour alone with her friend, before Ron showed up and engaged Harry with Wizard's Chess. During that half hour with Harry, she had confided her worries about the sensibility of working with Draco on her Map project. Harry had only shaken his head and teased her stubbornness in essentially carrying out a project that started in her 5^th Year. However, Harry had reassured her that Draco was unlikely to be a junior Death Eater. He was Snape's ward, after all, and Snape himself was Dumbledore's right-hand man in Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix. During one of Harry's sessions with the Headmaster, Dumbledore had instructed Harry that if anything were to befall the wizen wizard, Snape would take over the operations of the entire Order, a heavy burden indeed.

That bit of information had surprised Hermione greatly.

It was very hard to reconcile the image of the petty, ill-tempered, and caustic man as the protector of the British wizarding population.

She suddenly remembered the movie she had watched with her parents during her summer holidays just before coming back to Hogwarts for her 7^th Year. In her mind's eye, she saw the image of a dark and brooding Bruce Wayne in his underground bat cave, in his black cape and mask - the protector of the population of Gotham City. Stifling a silly giggle, that image melded with that of the original dark and brooding man, standing in front of his desk in Hogwarts' underground dungeons, cloaked in his billowing teaching robe - the protector of unsuspecting witches and wizards in the UK.

I'll never see Batman in the same light again, she stifled another burst of giggles. Snape was no George Clooney, that's for sure.

Hermione heaved a weary sigh and shook her head. It was getting late, and her musings had begun to take on a surreal quality.

"Goodnight, Crooks," she whispered to her cat and closed her eyes.

~*~