Hey! It's only been two weeks instead of the full month that last time was! Maybe next time I'll actually post within the promised week! Also, to those of you who left me kind reviews, thank you so much. Y'all are the best :)

Part 9

"The way magic is portrayed is completely unbelievable," one of the girls said as soon as Malfoy and Hermione sat down. There was no venom in her voice, only disbelief. "And Aslan is confusing."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh as she shifted herself in her seat. "Getting right into it, are we?" she asked, leaning on her forearms as she took stock of the people around her.

The girl who spoke was in her year, that much she knew, but she was having a hard time remembering the girl's name. Fortunately, Malfoy seemed to read her mind. "Daphne, give me time to grab my book before diving in next time, eh?"

Daphne flushed before leaning back in her seat. "Forgive me for being impatient. I want to talk about the book, not wait for your slow arse."

Hermione was a little surprised at the obvious display of friendship. Somehow, she had thought that the Slytherins could never be close—all of them seemed too cold and uppity to have proper friendships, but in the few short moments she had been around this group, she saw that she was wildly mistaken.

The realization came with a pang of guilt for stereotyping them, but she straightened her spine, intent on not making that mistake again.

Malfoy was grumbling in response to what Daphne said, but Hermione wasn't exactly paying attention. Her thoughts were back to the group and everyone in attendance. Of course, there was Malfoy, Blaise, and Daphne. That left one last person, a girl nearly a photocopy of Daphne, just slightly more petite with lighter hair and more conserved expressions.

Hermione figured she must be Astoria Greengrass, Daphne's younger sister.

"Are you ready yet?" Daphne asked Malfoy in what seemed to be a haughty tone of voice.

Malfoy grumbled something again before nodding, his book in hand. He had a second copy of it too, and he extended it out to Hermione. "I know you didn't read the book with us, and I can't assume you've read it before, but I figured you should at least have a copy."

Hermione stared at Malfoy and the book in his hand for a short moment before she smiled. "Thanks," she said as she took the book and set it in front of her, her eyes dancing over the cover. It was a different illustration than the one she had on her shelves at home, but that wasn't a big surprise. Popular books like that one were commonly released in different editions with different covers.

"Actually, I've read this book a few times. It's been a couple of years, but I remember it well enough," Hermione explained, mostly to Malfoy, but loud enough for the whole group to hear.

Blaise grinned. "Good, because we are a quick paced group. You know Daphne and Astoria?" he asked, confirming the girls' names for Hermione.

She nodded, giving each girl a slight smile. "We've met a couple of times. Hard not to at least sort of know everyone after spending seven years here," she replied simply, earning a grin from Daphne and a polite smile from Astoria.

Looking around the table, Hermione wasn't sure what she had been so nervous about. It really seemed like this was basically a book club between friends. Before she opened her copy of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, she leaned forward on her forearms, looking mostly at Blaise, since he was directly in front of her. "Before we are done today, I want to talk a little bit more about the spellwork needed to bring technology to Hogwarts."

Blaise let out a deep-bellied laugh, leaning back in his seat. "See Draco? I told you that would get her attention!"

/-|-/-|-\-|-\

By the time the group was finished talking, it was dinner time. Hermione honestly didn't know where the time went. She had fun, which she hadn't been expecting. Daphne was very passionate about storytelling. She read into every detail and seemed fascinated when Hermione told her about the parallels between The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and Christianity.

Blaise was less interested in the storytelling and more fascinated by technology. When Hermione told him about computers, his leg started bouncing in excitement.

Astoria was interested in neither. She looked at everything with a critical, yet appreciative eye. Hermione could see her becoming a reporter for the Daily Prophet one day. She seemed to want every detail of everything.

The only person she couldn't quite figure out was Malfoy. He seemed to approach every topic with a slight sense of guilt, like he should have known and understood everything they talked about. Yet, Hermione herself didn't expect him to know everything, or really even anything, about the Muggle world.

The longer she talked with Malfoy, the more she wanted to help him drop his guilt.

When they invited Hermione back to their meeting next week, she readily agreed. They decided on reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, which was exciting for Hermione. She had loved that book growing up and couldn't wait to read it again.

Then it hit her. The library wasn't stocked with Muggle Fiction.

As she watched Daphne and Astoria leave the table, going to meet up with a couple of other friends for dinner, Hermione turned her attention to Malfoy. "Where do you guys get your books?" she asked curiously, her gaze only wavering when Blaise stood up and waved goodbye.

She raised her hand in farewell before turning her attention back to Malfoy, who shrugged. As always, he looked relatively nonchalant. "Madam Rosmerta goes to a Muggle bookstore on Mondays. She picks them up for us," he replied, standing up and swinging his bag over his shoulder.

Hermione watched him for a moment, blinking before coming back to herself. "Madam Rosmerta?" she asked, her eyebrow raised.

"It's a long story," he said with a laugh. "I'll get you a copy Monday night, yeah?"

She was quiet for a moment before shrugging. "It's not necessary, actually. I'll just have my mum owl me my copy."

Hermione wasn't sure if she had imagined it, but Malfoy seemed to deflate a little. She wasn't sure what that could mean, so she purposefully pushed it into the back of her mind.

In any case, whatever hesitance Malfoy may have had disappeared in a matter of moments. "Well, even if I'm not getting you a copy, I still have to go talk to Rosmerta and get copies for the rest of us. I'll see you in class," he said with a genuine smile.

When he left, Hermione took a moment by herself to process what had happened that day, before pushing off the table and heading down to dinner. She was excited for next week's meeting.

/-|-/-|-\-|-\

After dinner, Hermione slipped back out into the forest. While she had already seen Sterlyn earlier that day, it was a nice evening, and she liked spending nice evenings with her dragon friend.

It wasn't necessarily a surprise when she arrived to an empty clearing. Quite often, Sterlyn arrived after her. However, when the sun set and Sterlyn had yet to show up, Hermione began to feel herself getting worried.

While she never had really thought about it before, Sterlyn had met her every time she had gone to the clearing. This would be the first time he had never shown up, and she wondered if it had anything to do with the human voice she had heard that morning.

Or with the way Sterlyn had been insistent on her leaving around lunch time.

Her nerves only grew as the forest around her grew darker. And finally, when moonlight began filtering through the trees, she grabbed her book and her bag, lit her wand in front of her, and made her way back to the castle.

She would try back tomorrow, and she hoped Sterlyn would show.