Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling's world, not mine.

She sat down on the same stool as the day before; there was a drink waiting for her there that she eyed cautiously. Hermione looked over towards Dra–er Malfoy as he took a drink from his glass. Scotch again; the man's consistent at least.

Sensing her eyes on him, he smirked. "I knew you'd be back," he said as he set his glass down and turned to face her. He noticed she hadn't touched her drink.

"I didn't poison it, Granger," he said rolling his eyes, "whiskey sour, right?" She nodded and cautiously took a sip. "See, you're not dead."

"I'm also not ten inches tall either," she said smiling wryly and took a larger sip.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "Why would you be ten inches tall from a drink?" he asked.

She laughed, "it's from a Muggle children's story."

He looked intrigued. "Pray tell, Granger. How does one end up ten inches tall in this Muggle children's story?"

Hermione very simply explained to him that, "the bottle said 'drink me' so Alice did and it shrunk her down to ten inches."

"She just drank it? She didn't know what the hell she was drinking, it could have been poison for all she knew."

Hermione shook her head, "No, Alice checked the bottle and it wasn't marked poison so she reckoned it safe to drink. Besides, she couldn't get out of the rabbit hole any other way."

"Get out of where?" He looked confused.

"Well I guess I should start from the beginning, eh?"

"That's generally the best place, Granger," he said as he ordered another scotch from Paulie.

"Well, Alice saw this rabbit and followed him down his rabbit hole one day."

"Why would she follow a rabbit?"

"She was bored and had nothing to do. Besides," she added, "he was wearing a waist coat and kept on saying how late he was."

"Late for what?" he interrupted.

"I'll get to that later," she said brushing him off. She took another drink and continued, "so she fell down the rabbit hole and couldn't get out the way she came, of course–"

"Down the rabbit hole?"

"Yes. Anyway, Alice came to a room with all these doors but she couldn't open them. The only one that would open was much too small but then she noticed a vial on this table that said 'drink me' on it. Yes, she checked to see if it was marked poison first. So after she gets small and fits under the door she makes her way into Wonderland."

"Wonderland?" he said skeptically.

"That's right."

"And what did she do in Wonderland?"

"Well, she wandered around a bit talking to different creatures."

"Such as..."

"Well, there was the caterpillar smoking a hookah on a mushroom, and there was the Cheshire cat."

"Alright," he responded. She could tell he was interested.

"She found the white rabbit's house and when she was inside she accidentally grew to the ceiling."

"Why does she keep on changing heights?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. It just seems to happen a lot in Wonderland."

"Is that all she did? Grow abnormally?"

"No! There were loads of other things. She went to a mad tea party."

He scoffed. "Why would she go to a mad tea party?"

"She didn't know the hatter was mad at first."

"Oh."

"What else," she said to herself as she fiddled with her glass. "Of course! How could I forget. There was a croquet game."

"Croquet?" he asked. Of course he wouldn't know what croquet was.

"Yes, it's a Muggle sport. You use mallets to hit balls through arches on the ground."

"So Alice played this croquet game?"

"Yes, only in Wonderland they used live flamingos ("they're a type of–" he interrupted "yes Granger, I know flamingos are birds!") as the mallets, hedgehogs as the balls, and soldiers on their hands and knees as the arches," she explained. Taking a long drink, she emptied her glass. As she continued, Draco ordered her another drink from Paulie. "Well, you can imagine what playing with live animals would be like–it was chaos." She wasn't sure if he understood her meaning and tried to clarify, "it'd be like playing Quidditch, with a small bird as the Snitch."

"That's ridiculous," he responded.

"That's what Alice thought too."

"So then what happened?"

"Well," she started, trying to remember the rest of the story, "then there was a trial."

"A trial? For what?"

She explained, "someone stole the Queen of Hearts' tarts," to which, he cracked a smile. "No, I'm serious. It's a Muggle nursery rhyme," she assured him.

"How does it go?"

"The nursery rhyme?" He nodded and Hermione sighed fondly, remembering the rhymes of her childhood, "The queen of hearts, She made some tarts, All on a summer's day; The knave of hearts, He stole those tarts, And with them ran away: The king of hearts Called for those tarts, And beat the knave full sore; The knave of hearts Brought back those tarts, And said he'd ne'er steal more."

"So the knave of hearts stole them?"

"Yes and there was a trial and they put Alice on the stand to testify."

"But what did she have to do with it?"

"Nothing, so of course she was no help whatsoever which made the Queen really angry and ordered Alice off with her head."

"What?" he said, "that makes no sense!"

"It's not supposed to make sense. The whole entire story is nonsensical."

"So they beheaded Alice?"

"No, you see," she said taking a drink, "when Alice was in the court house she began growing again."

"Like before in the rabbit's house?"

"Exactly. So she wasn't afraid, naturally, because she was so much bigger."

"Makes sense," he said sipping another bit of scotch.

"And then..." she started but paused. He didn't seem to appreciate that.

"And then what? How does it end!" he asked with curiosity.

"And then Alice woke up, under the tree where she had fallen asleep in the beginning of the story." He looked somewhat puzzled and somewhat annoyed.

"So let me get this straight, Granger. The entire thing was nothing more than a dream?"

"Yup," she assured him as she polished off her second glass.

"But that's such a waste of time!"

"Is it? The whole story is about a little girl wasting time because she was bored and had nothing better to do," she explained. "Some people would argue that sitting in a pub all day is a waste of time too," she said to him, lifting up an eyebrow knowingly.

"Well Granger," he said finishing off his drink as well, "you certainly have given me some food for thought."

They sat in a surprisingly comfortable silence for a moment before Hermione spoke up. "It's getting late," she said checking her watch, "I should probably get going." She got up from her stool and started digging through her bag for some Muggle money when he stopped her.

"I got it, Granger."

"But–"

"As you said, it's getting late. You should be going," he said looking over at her. He held her gaze for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Whatever it is you're going to ask me," he said, "I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow?" She nodded.

"Thank you for the drinks, Malfoy," she said with a shy smile.

"Thank you for the company," he said genuinely. "Until tomorrow then."

"Until tomorrow," she replied.

Hermione left the Paradise Lost feeling slightly more confused than when she had arrived. She never meant to spend the night telling Draco the story of Alice in Wonderland; why was he so intrigued by a Muggle children's tale anyway? She had intended to ask him questions. How did he get there? Why was he there? What happened with the Death Eaters and how did he leave? What else did he do during the day, or was he at the pub the whole time? Where did he get Muggle money from? And why did he pay for her drinks anyway? The most important question on Hermione's mind though, was why did it feel like her heart had skipped a beat when she saw him again? She'd just have to wait until tomorrow.

"After all, tomorrow is another day," she said, fondly quoting Scarlett O'Hara.

Author's Note–I know this chapter doesn't do much but I kind of liked the idea of Hermione telling Malfoy a Muggle story. I wrote two more chapters today, but they are later chapters. I wish I could write in sequential order but it never works out that way, so I have these two chapters that will come later that I think you guys will enjoy (questions will be answered eventually, promise!), I just need to figure out the chapters between now and then. I'll try to have the next chapter up later this week or early next week.

Oh, and someone commented on the Dra-er Malfoy thing. That's Hermione starting to call him Draco, but then catching herself. In this chapter she kind of switches off and on when she's alone and thinking. If annoys you guys as you read let me know and I'll stop doing it, but I thought it would be something that she might do. Okay, this AN is now too long. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think and what I can do to improve (or do you like where I am going?).