A/N: Sheesh. Haven't updated in a while. I think...I've had this sitting alone and dusty in my laptop (is that possible...? They should have some sort of application on computers or something that changes files that haven't been opened in a while to look all dusty and old and everything, then all polished and clean when they have been) still unedited. Wow, rereading this chapter I realized how silly it sounded. Hopefully, I edited correctly. ;)

Yes, I realized that my prophecy looks rather see-through, reason why I wanted so badly to rewrite it. But looking over it again, it actually turned out well for future events. So, I won't be changing any future plans for the story, whether people think they know the ending or not.

Read and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling, the song "This Notebook" is by Dropout Year. All I own is the (ADDED) plot and the Ocs.

This Notebook

Chapter 11

"I'm gonna write in this notebook you never get to read through,

With phrases that I took from conversation with you,

And throw them in the air with the possibility these will be the words that you'll someday sing.

I only hope you're listening..."

-This Notebook, Dropout Year

Hermione was walking toward the Great Hall the next morning. Saturday. No classes. She began to go through a run through of things she could do that day. Homework...Library...watch the Gryffindor Quidditch Tryouts... Quidditch Tryouts! She completely forgot!

She still groaned slightly however. Quidditch. Definitely not her favourite sport. Not even in the running. But she had to go. For her friends.

Hermione walked into the Great Hall and met up with Harry, Ginny, Ron... Foster.

"Hullo, Hermione," said Foster, smiling broadly. Hermione managed a stiff nod and sat across from Ron and Foster, beside Ginny. Harry was on the other side of her redhead best friend.

"Hey guys," said Hermione, grabbing a piece of toast. Ginny greeted with a "Hi, Hermione!" and Ron looked quite jittery. She had a feeling why.

"Don't worry, Ron, you'll do fine." Ron gave Foster a smile, then dug right into his food.

Foster beat her to say what she was thinking. Hermione had to look away before she screamed in frustration. Who did this girl think she was? Trying to replace her or something?

Mistake.

Hermione's eyes ended up drifting off toward the Slytherin table, where they met with-

Green? She squinted to grasp a better look at them, but Malfoy blinked and – once again – they went back to their silver appearance. She tilted her head and he gave one of his signature smirks, but without the malice. He was sitting beside Zabini, who had watched their eye exchange with...either amusement or confusion. Or both. Annoying pricks.

Hermione shook her head and went through her bag, pulling out her Arithmancy book and opening it up to page 246 – where her Note-Passer lay. She took her quill and began to scribble on it.

What are YOU smirking at?

She watched as the ink bled away. When Hermione looked up, Malfoy already had his Note-Passer out. He raised his eyebrows, the smirk widening. He took out his own quill and began to write in it. When he stopped, she waited a few seconds before looking down.

You're going to watch the Gryffindor Quidditch Tryouts, right? The Slytherin Tryouts are afterwards, so we can talk there. Bring the notebook and the pendant.

She looked up in confusion, but he seemed to have already put his Note-Passer away and was talking with Zabini, who kept turning his gaze toward her and her friends. Still, I stand corrected – annoying pricks.

She closed her Arithmancy book and turned back to her friends, attempting to get into their conversation.

...***...! #$%^&*()_+...***...

Hermione was watching the Gryffindor tryouts when she felt someone tap her elbow. It was odd to have someone poke there, and not the shoulder, so when it happened, Hermione jumped and spun around to see a grinning Draco Malfoy.

"Malfoy! What-"

"Do you have the notebook?" he asked. "And the pendant?"

Hermione nodded slowly, a little taken aback. She reached into her bag, taking out the notebook and handing it to him. He took it gingerly and began flipping through the book. He didn't seem all too surprised that there was nothing in it.

Next, she took out the pendant from her pocket, but when she went to hand it to him, he didn't take it. "I think it's best if you held it," he said, motioning with his head that she should keep it in her hand. She was puzzled for a moment, but shook it off.

"So, what am I supposed to do, Malfoy?" she asked, tilting her head ever so slightly. He smirked at that.

"You think it'll be that easy?" Hermione crossed her arms and looked at Malfoy with a raised eyebrow. His smirk widened. "It will be, but riling you up before doing something like this is always fun."

"Just...help me out here."

"Alright, alright..." replied Malfoy, shaking his head. He held the notebook, examining it like it was some sort of treasure he found. Hermione watched him. After about a minute, he began to run his index finger across the head of the phoenix. For a second, Hermione thought it glowed yellow, but it was gone as quick as it came, turning to green once more.

"Right there," whispered Malfoy, sounding slightly awestruck. He wasn't talking to Hermione. More to himself it sounded.

"Right where?" asked Hermione. Translation: Explain.

"Right here. C'mon," he said, sitting down and patting the seat beside him. Hermione followed. Malfoy held the notebook, not by the sides, but underneath. If Hermione decided to flip the book of his hands, it would be an easy task. He motioned with his head. "Put the otter on the head."

Hermione hesitantly placed the otter on the top of the notebook. The phoenix's head glowed yellow, and Hermione gazed with amazement as the otter came to life, placing the pearl on the forehead of the phoenix. The pearl glowed gold, and sank in (yes, as in, inside) the notebook. The otter, looking satisfied with the effect, coiled itself back into its original form. Hermione's eyes widened, and she looked at Malfoy. It seemed to have the same effect on him. But, as per usual, the look of astonishment – if it was even there in the first place, now that she thought about it – was gone as quick as it came.

Malfoy ran his hand over the cover, noticing that now only the body seemed to turn green at his touch, not the head. It was as if the yellow was now permanently etched on the head. He gingerly opened the book, and now in the place of the blank parchment, was now blue-lined and quite fancy. A sketched, Ravenclaw emblem was in the bottom right corner.

The rest of the pages were now blue with the Ravenclaw emblem at the bottom. As small as the book seemed to be, it looked to have an unlimited amount of paper as Malfoy flipped through it. As complete as it looked, Hermione couldn't fathom the fact that there was most likely more to it.

Text showed up on the first page, and Hermione noticed it was the same handwriting from the two beginning letters:

Ah! What beautiful wonders come across this extremely exuberant and jolly old scribbler! Greetings, young Otter.

"Who is that?" she asked him. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged.

"I've no clue. Maybe...do you have a quill?"

"Yeah..."

"Write something. Ask it who it is."

She furrowed her brows. "Why can't you?"

"The quill won't work if I do it. Look, give me that." He stuck his hand in her cloak pocket, giving a satisfied grin when he found a quill in there. He began turning it over a few times, pulling out a scrap piece of parchment from his own pocket and nodding when he figured the quill didn't need ink to work. He then began to make an attempt at drawing a line on the blue parchment, only to find nothing come out of the quill.

Hermione took her quill back from Malfoy, (a little suspiciously) the same time he gave back the quill. Their hands momentarily touched and Hermione felt...extremely odd. She wasn't sure what it was. Ignoring it (albeit wondering if Malfoy felt it too) she began to write her reply.

Who are you?

It was a moment before she got an answer.

Bah! Where, pray tell, are my manners? The appellation, to which I am normally referred to by the Master himself, is Eagle, my dear.

"Eagle?"

"Ravenclaw animal. Merlin Granger, haven't you read Hogwarts, a History, what...a hundred times?"

"One hundred and one. And I knew that! It just took a moment to sink in, that's all..."

"Sure, Granger, sure..."

I descry an...acquaintance in your miniature party.

Malfoy, either not noticing what the notebook had written, (or completely ignoring it) fished through his pockets, pulling out a vial. Written on the label was, "Life's a game. Advice comes in riddles, but that's why it's such a difficult game. The riddle contains the instructions."

"I found this," he said, handing it to Hermione, his face troubled. "I think it's Black's memory." What was he...?

Hermione widened her eyes and was about to open her mouth to speak but Malfoy put a hand up to silence her. "No questions. I just know and I had my ways." His hand lowered, and his eyes drifted over to her. They were green again for a moment, but they changed back to grey as quick as they came. He changed the subject, and it scared her by how...off topic his choice was.

"Gryffindor plays Ravenclaw first this year, correct?" She was also surprised with his topic. What an odd question to come from a Slytherin.

"I'm pretty sure..."

He looked off onto the pitch, watching the Gryffindor players soar through the air. "Ravenclaw's got a new Seeker," he stated plainly. Hermione was about to say something again, but he cut her off. "Tell Potter to watch his back." He turned and left her there in the stands without another word, nor another glance back behind him.

...***...! #$%^&*()_+...***...

After the Gryffindor tryouts ended, Hermione left to wait in the Gryffindor Common Room for Harry.

It would probably be a better idea to give the flask containing Fox Black's (apparent) memory to Harry. She was quite curious (understatement!) to see what was in it, but she would be disciplined – she would wait for Harry. If this was something that could help him with defeating Voldemort once and for all, it was only fair that he be one of the first to watch it. One of the first. I have no doubt Malfoy's already seen this. Whether he says he thinks it's Fox Black's memory or not.

Malfoy. How odd he's been acting lately.

He wasn't his normal self for one. Sure, he was still an arrogant prat (or at least, she was sure that was still how his thought process continued to work) but he'd never once this year called her a Mudblood. Come to think of it, he hadn't said it much at all this year. Maybe with Zabini or something while she wasn't around.

But Malfoy would never miss an opportunity to annoy her, and calling her a Mudblood was probably the best way to do just that. What made him change? The war?

Somehow Hermione doubted that was the reason at all.

Even as she thought about his little...episode with Goyle, Parkinson and the rest, she still wasn't fully convinced that he didn't at least think about using the word.

As she held the notebook in her hand, she felt it...heat up. Not strong enough for her to recoil in shock and pain, but enough to notice it. As she looked down, the phoenix head glowed, and so did the first page in the book. Carefully, she opened the book and saw more writing on the parchment, underneath everything else that was written.

I wish to dispatch a small commentary my dear girl. An epistle of great concern. If you so desire to hearken, I will endeavour not to let you feel contrite about my ramblings.

Hermione frowned. Nevertheless, she took out a quill and wrote a reply.

Go on.

She realized there wasn't much paper left for them to write on. The next page glowed, and as she turned it she realized there was more writing on the next piece of parchment.

You keep curious company.

They continued to speak, their conversation going something like this:

Your point?

I am currently expressing my regrets while I am in possession of this information I would like to touch up on. No matter who they are now, nor who they claimed to be then, I find it drastically unwise to commend your faith in just anyone.

Pause. The grammar wasn't exact. Thinking for a moment over her conversation with Malfoy, she thought...Malfoy...

Are you talking about Malfoy?

Maybe. Perchance, I mention someone else on this lucky tome? Names are far too soon passing and transient for one, such as yourself, to truly realize who your rightful enemy is.

Just then, Harry came in. He greeted her with a pleasant "Hello", to which she gave an answer of jumping while yelping in great surprise. She slammed the book shut, mentally telling herself to apologize later. It was a book, but it still was alive...and it was a book.

Harry blinked by her, slightly taken aback by her surprise. "You alright?"

"Harry!" squealed Hermione. She was squeezing him rather hard now. It was probably to distract him from his question – and it worked, mind you – but in reality, she wasn't quite sure why she jumped at him.

"Yes?" he asked, absentmindedly rubbing his arm.

"Igotfoxblacksmemory!"

"You...what?" Harry looked genuinely confused. Hermione took a minute to realize she'd been so excited, her words had been jumbled. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

"I. Got. Fox. Black's. Memory," she said, emphasizing her words very carefully. Harry's eyes widened.

"How'd you do that? I couldn't even figure out who 'Fox Black' was, now you turn up with, what looks like, his memory."

"I..." How was she supposed to answer this? Tell him she got it from Malfoy? But then that would give away the fact that Malfoy and her had met up, and it would also state that he'd seen the tryouts. She decided to go with Malfoy's excuse. "I...I have my ways." Wow. It sounded a lot less lame coming from Malfoy.

It did. Harry looked sceptical, but nonetheless, he hesitantly took the flask from Hermione's outstretched hand. "Err...c'mon. Let's go show this to Professor Dumbledore."

A/N: Phew. This chapter was hard to...word correctly. Aye, I don't know if my grammar's right. Had to reread and reread again.

Read Hogwarts a History 101 times? I don't think it's impossible, especially for Hermione, seeing as I have a friend who read the whole Twilight series 32 times in the span of a few months.

The 12th Chapter is called "The Sound of Silence" (by Simon and Garfunkel) and the song quote is:

"And the people bowed and prayed,

To the neon god they made,

And the sign flashed out its warning,

And the sign said,

'The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls',

And whispered in the sounds of silence..."