Between Us - Dramione/Blinny

Ch. 37

The air grew steadily colder throughout the castle as November dragged on. The group of six were practically inseparable outside of their classes, and their closeness drew a lot of whispers from the other students. It was no longer a secret that Hermione and Ginny were dating Draco and Blaise and while some students frowned upon it, others were actually very supportive of them. By the end of November, the whispers no longer happened as the group would walk by, and by about halfway through December, everyone had just accepted it.

Hermione was pulling everyone to the library for study sessions, which of course no one minded as after about ten minutes of being in the library she was entirely focused on whatever she needed to do and didn't pay attention to what they were doing.

Draco was usually the only one who would study with her though, seeing as he was just behind her in grades. Blaise, Pansy, and Theo were all convinced that he was trying to best Hermione in every subject, and after the first couple of study sessions Ginny was on board with that theory.

"Hermione," Pansy started quietly as they sat down in the corner of the library. "You realize that you already know all of this?"

"I do not," Hermione retorted, opening one of her many books and flipping to the page she wanted. "And even if I did, brushing up on things doesn't hurt."

Pansy simply shook her head and smiled, opening her own book. Since they had all started the study sessions, everyone had veered towards their own interests; Pansy's happened to be astrology and studying the planets.

"It's amazing what all we know about the planets," Pansy said quietly as she flipped through the pages. "I mean, we haven't even been to any of them! How do we even know what they look like?"

Hermione looked up and gave Pansy an odd look. "Um...Pans, you realize that muggles have known for years what the planets have all looked like?"

"What?"

"Yeah." Hermione leaned over and lowered her voice slightly. "Scientists have been sending little machines out into space since the forties to take pictures of everything. You won't believe how many galaxies and stars have been discovered."

Pansy's eyes went wide as her mouth dropped. Hermione grinned and reached over to pat her friend's hand. "I'll take you to a muggle bookshop soon and you'll see. There's so much research done on the subject, you're going to love it."

"Where are you taking my girlfriend?" Theo sat down next to Pansy with a few books on Ancient Runes in his arms, which was the last subject Hermione would ever think he'd be interested in.

"How long have muggles been exploring space?" Pansy asked then, ignoring her boyfriend.

Hermione giggled at Pansy's enthusiasm and said, "Honestly, it's been an on-going subject for hundreds, if not thousands of years. There's so much, I can't even begin to tell you everything."

Pansy bounced up and down in her seat excitedly and looked at Theo, who was grinning at her excitement. Draco sat down next to Hermione and asked quietly, "What's gotten into Pansy?"

"I just told her some stuff about space and she's excited about learning more," Hermione said with a grin. "I think she's even willing to read some muggle books about the subject."

"Don't let your mother find out," Draco warned, nodding over to Pansy.

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Mother doesn't need to know."

Blaise and Ginny soon joined them as well with their own books, and everyone fell silent as they each got lost in their own worlds. Hermione and Draco were both writing down notes on their studies as that corner of the library filled with the sounds of quill tips scratching on the parchment and pages being flipped every now and then. The random 'shush' from Madam Pince could be heard now and then, but other than that everything was peaceful.