The next day, Hermione Granger was sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating breakfast.
Soon after Ron and Harry joined her.
"So what do we have today?" Ron asked.
"Seriously Ron, look at your schedule!" Hermione said.
"I left it in the dorms!" Ron frowned.
"We have Potions with Slytherin today." Harry said, knowing Ron only wanted to know what classes they had with Slytherin.
Ron moaned, "Slimy gits, the whole lot of them!"
"Don't say that!" Hermione huffed.
"No, don't tell me that you actually like them!" Ron said with wide horror-filled eyes.
"Well, not all of them are slimy gits. A few are actually nice." Hermione said, remembering Richard.
Owls hooted as they flew into the Great Dining Hall.
One pure-black owl with green eyes flew to Hermione.
It landed on top of her head, but didn't hurt her.
It gave a hoot before it glided down onto the table.
"Why, hello! You must be Richard's owl!" Hermione smiled.
The bird gave a hoot in reply and held out its leg.
Hermione gave a small laugh and took a shrunken book out of the brown carrying bag on the owl's leg.
"Why, thank you!" Hermione smiled at the owl and gave the bird a piece of her bacon.
The owl hooted in thanks before it grabbed the bacon and flew off.
"Who's owl was that?" Ron asked.
"A friend's." Hermione smiled and unshrunk the book.
On the book, there was a blue sticky note with very neat cursive hand writing.
'Thank you for the help! Hope you haven't already read this book ;)' the note read.
The book was black with gold writing.
'The Fundamental Aspects of Wizarding Society by Alan Rickmore' the gold lettering said.
Hermione looked at the book in curiosity.
She opened the front cover.
'To Hermione- May this book help you on your quest of becoming a great wizard~ Rickmore' the book was signed by the author!
Hermione gasped.
"Wow! I heard that, that book is a rare one!" Ron said, pointing at it.
"Why would it be rare if it's so useful?" Hermione asked.
"Most people learn about wizarding society from friends and family." Ron said.
Hermione nodded her head in understanding.
"You must have a good friend there, Hermione." Harry smiled.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do." Hermione smiled, looking over to the Slytherin table.
Richard nodded his head once and raised his goblet to her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Thank you for the book, Richard." Hermione smiled.
"No problem. And if you like that, I can get some others you'd like. My manor has a big library in which I'm sure my guardian will let you borrow some books." Richard smiled.
"Oh! I've never seen a wizarding library, you know, besides Hogwarts." Hermione said.
"Well, I'm sure my guardian and your parents can set something up where you can come over and look at the books." Richard said.
"Really? Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Hermione was practically jumping in her spot.
Richard just laughed, "We should get to class."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey! Grayson!" a Slytherin boy with blonde hair, pale skin, and dark eyes yelled.
Richard and Hermione looked up, from walking to the Potions classroom.
"What are you doing hanging out with that mud-blood?" Malfoy snarled.
"I don't believe that you are the keeper of me, so what I do with this lovely girl is none of your business, Malfoy." Richard snipped back.
That caught the attention of several Gryffindors and Slytherins and a small crowd formed around them.
"You can't hang out with her!" Malfoy yelled.
"And why not?" Richard challenged.
"She's a mud-blood!" Malfoy said in disgust.
Hermione was about to leave when Richard grabbed her wrist.
"And so what? She's my friend. So, leave her alone. Or else." Richard threatened.
"My father will hear about this! A Slytherin befriending a mud-blood, Tt! You'll be put in your place, Grayson!" Malfoy threatened.
Richard rolled his eyes and walked away with Hermione.
"You didn't have to do that for me. Now you'll be the punching bag of the school." Hermione frowned.
"I don't care. Malfoy can't hurt me. And if he tries; I know people." Richard smiled in reassurance.
"Thank you." Hermione smiled.
"It's no problem. No one should be treated like that." Richard said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Excuse me everyone!" Dumbledore yelled during dinner that same evening.
Everyone quieted down quickly and turned their head towards the Headmaster.
"On Friday, we shall be having an 'Open House' from 3:00 to 9:00 in the afternoon." Dumbledore announced.
Whispers started and stopped as Dumbledore held his hand up.
"Parents and siblings are invited to join us for a night of fun, education, and food!" Dumbledore smiled, eyes twinkling like crazy.
"Letters have been sent out to the parents. Do please have them sign up by Thursday." the Headmaster said.
He sat back down and everyone broke out into chatter.
"My father will probably be dragged here by my mom." Roy said.
"I don't know if my guardian can come." Richard said, a frown on his face.
"If he doesn't, you can stay with me and my parents." Roy said.
Meanwhile, Malfoy smirked.
He could defiantly get his father and mother to put the Grayson boy into his place.
Hermione smiled, and couldn't wait to show her parents Hogwarts and the professors!
Harry knew his guardians weren't going to come to Hogwarts.
