Mistaken Identities

Draco sighed as the potion turned a rather nasty shade of green. He rubbed his hand through his now short hair and cursed under his breath.

"Hey Hermione... come take a look at this. It doesn't make any sense." He looked up and took a moment to enjoy Hermione's saunter. Her heels clicked across the floor and the scent of her perfume tickled his nose as she knelt by him and peered at the beaker.

"You're right. I don't get it. The readings for the detection charms are just as erratic. Though, the deeper we go underground the less erratic the readings get." She pressed her lips together and looked around. They waited until late into the night to do their work to cut down on the number of people around, though it was never really quiet anywhere in New York.

Draco curled his lip. Hanging out with Hermione had been an introduction in the dirtiest streets, allies, and buildings in New York. They were currently hunched in a dirty subway that smelled suspiciously of urine.

"Don't make that face at me." Hermione replied to his scrunched up face. "I'm just going where the readings lead me." He just snorted in response. She winked at him and stood. "Keep up the work." She grinned as she said it and vanished.

Another twenty minutes of kneeling next to a dirty puddle and Draco had had enough. The readings weren’t making any sense and he was hungry and... hungry. He grinned to himself and stood, stretching his arms over his head. He picked up the potion kit and headed back towards the platform. Hopefully Hermione felt the same way he did.

As he peeked his head over the edge of the platform, terror knifed through his heart. Hermione was standing, hands spread, across from an angry looking man in a leather jacket who happened to be holding a gun. He swallowed hard and pulled himself up, mentally scrambling for a plan. He was already prowling across the dirty linoleum by the time his brain caught up with him. It was absurdly easy to slide back into the cold, snobby brat persona and he felt a momentary pang of loss. He shook himself mentally and focused on Hermione, pleased to see she at least looked outwardly calm.

"Well, well, well... what do we have here?" Draco sneered as he said it, positioning himself slightly behind the taller man. "Introduce me to your friend, 'Mya."

"Haven't really gotten around to names, just yet." Hermione smiled at him.

"Looks a bit like an 80's movie reject." Draco looked the boy up and down, taking in his torn jeans with a small tsk.

"You watch movies? How unexpected of you." Hermione replied, her voice as conversational as if they'd been standing in the halls of Hogwart's. *Well, maybe a little friendlier. We did just stop being mortal enemies with one another several days ago.*

"But of course. It drives my father nuts." Draco said. Hermione laughed delightedly.

"HELLO! Man with a gun here!" The young punk shouted, waving his gun menacingly at Hermione to reinforce his statement.

"I can see that idiot. I’m standing right here!” Draco crossed his arms over his chest and pursed his lips. "Nasty muggle thing anyway. You should really put it away and find something useful to do with your time. Like shagging your sister or something."

"Shut up you asshole and get the fuck over next to the girl." The gun wavered between Hermione and Draco and punk looked a little panicked. One woman alone was not the same thing as two people, one of the male. It made him look much younger.

"You do know how to show a boy a good time." Draco aimed his comment at Hermione, not moving an inch.

"Are you deaf!? Get the fuck over there!" The boy was sweating now, eyes flicking nervously. Deciding Draco was the more immediate threat he pointed the gun at him. Draco rolled his eyes at him and shook his head. *How very foolish of him.* He'd barely got the thought out when he saw Hermione's hand shimmer, a long, wicked looking knife appearing in it. Deciding that intelligence was the better part of valor he dove for the floor.

"What the -" The punk never finished his sentence. Hermione's foot snapped out and there was a sickening crunch. The punk screeched in pain and dropped the gun. She lunged forward wrapping one arm around his chest, the other pressing the knife to his throat.

"Did we win?" Draco mumbled from the floor. *I thought she'd be fast but that was almost frightening.*

"Looks that way." She asked conversationally, ignoring the sweating man she was threatening.

"What are we going to do with our little Judd Nelson reject?" Draco asked as he stood, brushing dirt from his shirt with a grimace.

"I don't know... I was thinking about slitting his throat." Hermione purred. The punk made a strangled sound.

Draco looked at her in shock and felt his surprise recede when she winked at him. Hmm...so they were going play good wizard, bad wizard. He suppressed a grin. He never got to play good wizard. *I wonder if I’ll be any good at it.*

"Do you really think that's wise? I mean, where are we going to put the body?" Draco frowned. The punk squirmed uncomfortably.

"Hmm, it's New York. Couldn't we just leave it on the street?"

"It seems a little unwise. Maybe we should let him go."

"Yeah, yeah. Listen to him, lady." The boy squeaked.

"You never let me have any fun. Remember Vienna? I was having a wonderful time and you just had to go and be merciful." She pouted at him.

"For Merlin's sake, 'Mya... the screaming was starting to draw a crowd." Draco hissed back. The punk was gurgling in fear. "No, no. No killing. We're going to make a deal, aren't we Judd? You're going to promise to be good and my friend is going to let you go. Right?"

"Yes, yes sir. Good as good is." The punk babbled in response.

"Fine." Hermione grumbled. "Consider yourself lucky. Now get the hell out of here. Go home and kiss your mother, you ungrateful brat. And if I catch you so much as looking at a gun crosswise..." She let the threat float in the air. The punk took off at an astounding speed, vanishing in a squeal of his rubber soled shoes.

"'Mya?" She asked him as soon as they were finished laughing.

"Well, why not?" Draco replied. "Where the hell did that come from, Hermione? I would not have thought you had such a sick sense of humor."

"And hopefully he learned his lesson. He's just a kid. If he doesn't stop now he's going to end up killing someone, rot in jail, and lose any possibilities for life. Maybe he'll stop, now." Hermione replied, her face set in grim lines.

"How do you know hasn't already?" Draco looked at her, startled by her seriousness.

"Legilimancy. I was in his brain before you even showed up. He really is just a kid, trying to show off. It seemed like a good scare would be the best bet to change his behavior." She frowned, staring after the boy with empty eyes. "Maybe. It could also have pushed him in the opposite direction. It was a gamble." She shook herself slightly and refocused her eyes on Draco. "I'm done for the night. How about you?"

Draco frowned, disturbed both by her expression and by her actions. There was a lot more going on then he really understood and he had learned, the hard and painful way, that not knowing what was going on could be deadly.

"So you made a knife appear and used legilimancy without any problems at all?" Draco asked, unsure as to why any of the magic had worked. Hermione's face lit up with sudden realization.

"Yes, I did. Why did that work so easily? All the other charms have been a struggle. That was simple." She drew her brows together and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Let me try something." Draco said, almost under his breath. He focused his attention on the tip of his wand, concentrating on the tiny spark of power at the end. It grew, like a tiny soap bubble, shimmery and unstable. He felt a sweat break out on his back and small tremor begin to move up his arm. The bubble grew in fits and bursts...now it covered his hand....up part of his arm. He was sweating now and the shaking had become more obvious. He managed to get the bubble to include most of his upper body before he finally had to stop. "Dammit! I thought I was on to something there."

"What were you doing?" Hermione asked, clearly relieved at being able to ask questions.

"Creating a bubble that we could cast a spell in. The spell normally does the opposite and creates a bubble where you can’t use magic. It's a difficult spell but doing the opposite is even harder. It's taking too much out of me." Draco let out a frustrated sigh.

"What if we..." Hermione trailed off and shifted uncomfortably. "Try it together?"

Draco blinked. It was strange to hear her voice so hesitant. She did not wait for his reply, just walked over and tucked herself within the circle of his arms. Together they tried again, Hermione feeding her power into his wand. Though it was taxing, with considerable less effort they created a shimmering bubble around them.

"We need to anchor it to something," Hermione panted. Draco took a moment to enjoy the view down her shirt before nodding.

"How about the wall? Think that would work?" He asked, jerking his head towards the dirty, scuffed wall.

"Yeah, that might do it." They inched their way over until the bubble brushed against the surface, shuddering briefly before expanding to fit it. It actually took little effort to convince the bubble that it wanted to be attached to the wall. Draco and Hermione stepped back to admire their handiwork.

"Maybe we should leave a message," Draco whispered in her ear. Hermione threw her head back and laughed.

"We're a walking New York cliche. First we're almost mugged and now you want to graffiti. Be my guest." She replied, waving her hand in mock permission.

Several minutes later the two hurried up the stairs, giggling madly. Behind them in a flowing set of rainbow colors were the words 'We've been here less than two weeks and we've already found you. Now it's your turn to come and find us. P.S. HOGWART'S RULES!!'