Unusual was an understatement. The words bizarre and perplexing floated into her mind, battling for attention as she stared at the apple-scented snake beside her.

If someone had told Hermione just a couple of weeks ago that Malfoy - of all people - not only supported her idea but helped it become reality, she would've laughed so hard she'd risk admission to the Janus Thickey Ward.

Yet now, she stood in the heart of Slytherin, under the weighty gazes of its students, the joke became reality. She gathered up every bit of courage to continue.

"Thank you Malfoy," she gave a fake smile, deciding she was too far gone in the rabbit hole to back out now. She will teach someone, something about Muggles today, even if she has to Incarcerous the lot of them. With that absurd mental image, she pushed on.

"Would you like to know how not to get completely lost on the Tube?"

Hermione expected the question to throw Malfoy off, but a genuine smile lit up his whole face, travelling from the corners of his lip all the way to his brilliant grey eyes.

"Definitely."

She knew she'd excessively overthink this single word after the lesson, but right now he set her up with a rare opportunity she would not waste.

"Good, because that is the subject of our first lesson." She marched back to the table she previously stood on and climbed back up. The vantage point gave her a better view, and she could count about thirty people in the room, including her brother, who took up a leather armchair by the fireplace. He smirked at her, no doubt enjoying the show.

"Hello everyone, I am Hermione. I will be giving lessons about Muggles every other Saturday, as an addendum to the Muggle Studies class some of you are taking. Its main focus is to help prepare for N.E.W.T.s, but everyone with a willingness to learn is welcome." She glowered at Parkinson, who surprisingly stayed, although hidden in a shadowy corner.

"I will not expect you to go out and hug every Muggle you meet on the street."

Some students were visibly appalled by the mere thought. Oh, Merlin, this will be a challenge.

"I will not expect you to change any of your opinions about them, or me, or anyone. But-"

Hermione enlarged a small blackboard she brought with her, letting it float, and scribbled the main objective on it as she spoke.

"I will expect you to be able to survive for a month without magic in the Muggle world."

She underlined the whole thing twice, just to make sure everyone got the point. She then jumped back down, a job well done.

A small voice called from the back "So we won't be learning about the telly then?"

Hermione looked at the girl. She was about third year, with a look of genuine surprise on her face. Hermione straightened her back. She had to set the plan in motion.

"You are wandless in the middle of a Muggle city with nine million strangers around you and a Portkey as your only backup set to activate a month from now. The rain is pouring down, your cloak had already soaked through, and you're famished as you've skipped your last two meals to catch up on the latest gossip." Hermione crossed her arms and leaned against the wooden furniture. "Would you like to learn about the telly?" The girl blanched and shook her head.

"I'm glad we agree."

This little conversation was all it took to push the snakes into self-preservation mode, as she suspected. The room quieted as they all thought about the best ways to escape the proposed scenario. Hermione waited for a few minutes, quietly, trying her best not to smirk when none of them found a solution. Even her brother looked nonplussed.

"Well then, now that we have our objective, what do you suppose we start with?" she asked.

"Shelter, food, water." To her surprise, it was Goyle who answered. She nodded.

"Not a bad answer. A bit more suited for wilderness survival, but it's a good starting point. For now, we'll focus on shelter, as that requires the most knowledge to get."

She adjusted the blackboard so she could reach it, and wrote down todays' topic: 'Locomotion and lodging'.

"For simplicity's sake, I will assume that all of you had the foresight to set up a joint Muggle bank account to your vault in Gringotts, as it is a service they have been offering since 1984."

Each and every one of them was surprised. She noticed Malfoy with a contemplative look on his face. Is it possible, that even the Malfoys did not know about this? Did they not have any sort of connection to the Muggle world? Has Draco ever been in Muggle London?

She shook the questions out of her head, giving a disapproving look to the room.

"Or, at the very least you will all have it done by our next lesson. So money won't be an issue."

Many students nodded, and she settled in, to begin her lesson in earnest.

"So about the Tube…"

—

It took her until lunch to finish everything she planned to say, and to her surprise, by the end, many of the students took out some parchment and ink to take notes. However, she wasn't completely satisfied, as they did not seem to know enough about the Muggle world to even have any questions of their own. She would have to look into that later.

As most people left for lunch, she had one more matter to solve. She stalked Malfoy back to his room, and before he could enter, she dug the tip of her wand between his shoulder blades, making him stop dead in his tracks.

"Are you Imperiused?" she whispered.

"No," he breathed.

"Polyjuiced?"

"No."

"Lying?"

Draco called on her bluff by now, and turned around, with an oh-so-familiar smirk. He looked her up and down, before pushing her wand away with a single finger. When she did not resist, the corner of his lip twisted further up.

"Generally, or right now?"

With an undignified huff, she fled. It was still Malfoy, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

—

"I'd appreciate if you kept your sister from pointing her wand at me. It is getting a bit old."

Theo found himself in his best friend's room, with Hermione as the topic of the night once again. They were supposed to be discussing the issues from yesterday's meeting, but Hermione's reckless actions got the jump on them.

"I'm sure she had a good reason," he shrugged, at least he tried, as he lay on his side on the couch, with his head propped up.

"She thought I was under Imperius." Draco sat on the edge of his bed, tossing a Snitch between his hands.

"I'm not surprised, you were being weird." He admitted.

"I was being friendly-"

"Exactly. Ouch!"

Draco threw the Snitch at him, hitting him in the stomach. He took the ball to get revenge, but by that time, the blond hid behind his bed, with only a couple strands of his tousled hair giving away his location.

Two can play this game.

Theo grabbed his wand and flung an inkwell at Draco. He did not have the same idea as Hermione, as instead of casting a barrier, he caught it with his bare hand. Fortunately, the glass was hard enough not to shatter, but Theo had thought a step ahead and had removed the stopper.

As Draco cursed, now covered ink, Theo said "I bet you didn't even apologize to her. What did you expect playing the valiant knight all of the sudden? I'm actually amazed she did not test you for Amortentia."

Instead of an answer, Draco tackled his friend, covering him with black splotches. They wrestled for a while before Theo gave up, laying flat on the floor, trying to catch his breath. Draco hovered over him with a shite-eating grin for a moment before getting up to grab his wand. The bastard wasn't even winded, Seeker training and all.

"What I am supposed to do then? It's not like I can just ask her on a date. She nearly hexed me for smiling." Draco asked as he dug through his robes, his back turned.

"I'll see what I can do."

Theo spotted the Snitch rolling near his hand. He snagged it and with deadly aim, he threw the ball straight at Draco, huffing victoriously as it hit the blond right in the bum.

A/N:

Thank you all very much for the reviews, they make my day and help me keep this going. :)

Next time, we'll have some death threats and revelations. As per usual.

Love,

LydieBerry