Chapter 14: Draco's Excitement

As the days went by and things seemed to return to normal. Ron apologized to Hermione repeatedly when they were not within ear shot of others.

Draco came and went from the Head's dorm, visiting Blaise. Most of his belongings were slowly making it up from the dungeon so he did not have to worry about the others destroying them. But the time was growing closer for his first lesson with Granger.

He had been learning a few things in his Muggle Studies class, but he had this nagging feeling that everything he was being taught would only scratch the surface of what needed to be covered on the topic. Their first lesson was on muggle currency. The muggles use a pound and pence to pay for everything. Wood tried to explain, but he just kept saying the pence was like a knut and the pounds were like sickles. But what about galleons? And what was a dollar?

Hermione met him in her common area. It would be easier if Ron didn't see them studying together. They started off awkwardly. Hermione started trying to explain muggle currency. He just couldn't get it threw his head.

Hermione decided to make a game out of it. She pulled out the little money she already had in her purse and charmed more paper to represent the larger values that she did not have. She used the actual bills and coins to explain the values of items and made him pretend to pay for things. Gradually he seemed to understand better and seemed to have fun with guessing the values of things.

"So muggles use paper like our galleons? That's odd."

"Some muggles use a credit card instead of carrying the paper around with them."

"What's a credit card?"

"It's a piece of plastic that has a special band in it that tells the register what bank and account to take money out."

"That's wicked!"

Hermione was surprised at how quickly the lesson went and how interested Malfoy became. The look on his face when he finally understood a concept made her smile. Despite her reservations, he really was not too bad. He dutifully took notes and asked more questions than he probably needed. Maybe this arrangement would work out.

Blaise entered their dorm shortly after Hermione and Draco were finished.

"Mate! Did you know muggles use plastic to pay for things?"

Blaise looked at him incredulously. Who was this?

"Umm… No I did not…."

Draco followed Blaise into his room where they stayed for the evening. Hermione smiled at his excitement as she finited the charms on the slips parchment. She put her things away and prepared for dinner.

Draco could not believe how excited he got at learning about the muggle world from the most well-known muggle-born in all of Britain. Of course she knew what he needed to know, but she was willing to answer all of his questions and help him understand the concepts. Why would different countries use different currency? Different economies and a tax to keep some of the money to those that transferred the bills. Muggles were just as business savvy as any wizard.

"Granger's got you jumping. Anymore than just the lesson?"

"No! It's just interesting to understand how wrong my father and his cronies could be about muggles."

"Glad you see it that way. So tell me… Why do you seem to stay here so often?"

Draco clammed up. He wouldn't tell Blaise. He couldn't. "Just don't feel like climbing all of those stairs."

Blaise nodded but knew something else was going on. Draco would have responded faster than he did if it were merely laziness. He had heard rumors that the seventh year boys were not so welcoming to their fallen prince. Maybe they lashed out. "Well you're welcome here anytime."

A/N: I found all of my previously written stuff! Hopefully updates should be more regular from now on. As always, I own nothing. Please review! I love hearing everyone's opinions of my writing. Maybe you can even guess where this fic is leading. I try to respond to all reviews. Thank you for reading!