A/N: I am so sorry for the delay. The Holidays caused so much extra work that I didn't have time to write. And everyone in my family besides me got sick so I was playing nurse to my children and husband. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! This chapter was really hard to write, but I should have the next chapter up in just a few days if all goes well. Please read and review! I love all the reviews I have gotten so far on this story! Thank you for all the love.

0o0o0o Hermione

Hermione woke up feeling lighter than she had in years. She frowned at the thought and realized fourth year was the last year she felt light, free. Of course, helping Harry win the Tri-wizard Tournament was difficult but she hadn't felt so weighed down by life. Then she remembered the best date she had ever gone on last night and smiled laying on her pillow watching the sun sparkle through the gap in her curtains. She sighed and got up to begin her Saturday.

She walked to her kitchenette and saw a not floating in front of her coffee mug. It was mysteriously already full of coffee, just the way she liked it. She took the floating note out of the air and opened it. In beautiful lettering:

Hermione,

Good Morning, Beautiful. Last night was so much fun. Thank you for going on a date with me. I was wondering if you had plans for the day. If you do not, would you consider going with me to Theo's house for lunch? I need to return some books, and I know you are itching to see his library again. I would also love to take you to dinner again. Nothing formal, I promise. Write your reply at the bottom of this note. I have charmed it to show up on my parchment.

Yours

Draco

Hermione was grinning as she read Draco's letter. He was so sweet and considerate. She picked up her cup of coffee and took a sip. She looked around for a quill or a pen. Finding one on her coffee table, she sat down and wrote:

How did you get the perfect cup of coffee and a note into my room?

The paper glowed a soft purple and she waited for a second and continued writing.

Of course, I would like to go to Theo's house with you. His library is calling my name. When I die, I may want to be cremated and put on the mantle in his library. Is that weird? Anyway, I loved our date last night. Thank you for the most happily memorable night of my life. I need to grade some papers this morning, but I can meet you at 11:30 if that is ok?

She put down the parchment after it glowed purple again and drank her coffee. She needed to make a list of books she wanted to look up. She wondered if she could find her notebook with her book list in it.

Hermione sat on her couch and thought about her notebook and the many essays that she needed to grade. But the cup of coffee was amazing. Draco continued to amaze her at every turn. He was nothing like the evil prat he was growing up. It hurt her a little knowing that the boy she grew up with as best friends, could change for the worst. Ron had hurt her more than Bellatrix ever could. But the boy who was her nemesis grew up to be kind, gentle, and understanding. Tears filled her eyes, as she realized that her life could not be more different from what she had planned when she had arrived at Platform 9 ¾ at age eleven.

The parchment in front of her glowed blue.

I will take the secret to the grave…no really, I asked a house elf, who very kindly delivered the note and coffee. I'm glad you want to go with me to Theo's. He has been bugging me to bring you for days. He evidently has a new rare book he thinks we will love. The man has very little in his life that he looks forward too.

Hermione frowned at his words. She wasn't worried about the house elf, she was worried about Theo. She wrote back:

What do you mean he has very little in his life that he looks forward too? What does he do? I thought he was a chef or something.

She got up and put the coffee cup in the sink. She walked to the bathroom, removing her pajamas and placing them in the laundry basket. She waved her hand to use wandless magic to turn on the faucet in the shower. She got into the shower and washed her hair.

After showering, she dressed in comfortable clothing-jeans, button-down checked blue and white shirt with a white cardigan over it. She slipped on her blue flats and walked back into the kitchenette. She looked at the parchment and saw that Draco had replied to her:

He is. But he is still a pariah to the wizarding world, so he stays in the Muggle world most of the time. Books are his escape. To now have two friends he can safely share that escape helps him. Theo is one of those people who are most happy around people but will rarely show that happiness. The fact that he has asked me repeatedly to bring you by means he trusts you. Not sure how you did it, he is a hard nut to crack. Besides you, he is my closest friend. If you are amenable, we should make a weekly trip to see Theo.

Hermione was frowning at the loneliness that was seeping through the page of the parchment. The two men she planned on spending the afternoon with had had such lonely lives. She had been surrounded by friends for most of her Hogwarts life. But she could read between the lines, and she knew Draco enough by now to know that trusting her was a big deal. She was effectively an outsider to Theo, but he had accepted her. Tears filled her eyes. She wrote back:

I think it would be great to see Theo each week. Let's make it happen.

She looked at the clock and saw she still had almost two hours before she needed to meet Draco. Deciding to do the responsible thing and work on grading essays, she walked to her desk and pulled the stack of first-year essays toward her.

Later

A knock at the door stirred her from her position at her desk grading third-year essays. This was going to take ages. She looked at her watch and saw that it was 11:30. She put down the pen and rubbed her neck. Picking up her wand, she waved it and the door opened to Draco.

"I wrote on the parchment, but you didn't respond, so I decided to come up and see if you had gotten buried under essays," Draco said with a grin.

Hermione groaned, "Yes, first and second years are hopeless at writing essays. I think I'm going to have to cover everything we have already covered all over again. They just don't seem to understand the material." She stood up and walked to the bookshelf looking it over for her notebook with her booklist. Not finding it after a few moments, she gave up and decided to just wing it.

"They will get it. Maybe review on Monday and Tuesday. Charms is a hard class to understand at first. You are doing a great job, don't worry so much. I know it is hard when you first start out, but it will get better." Draco said turning her toward him and holding her shoulders.

"I know. I will review on Monday. I just hate feeling like a failure." Hermione said sadly.

Draco frowned at her, "You are not a failure. You are amazing, Hermione. Don't listen to the voice in your head that says you are failing, because you are not. Teaching is difficult, but you can do it. If they are still having trouble after the review, maybe hold study sessions with older students and see if they can put what you are teaching in a different way. Enough of being professors. It's time to have fun." Draco ended with a smile.

"Ok, let's go!" Hermione said happily. She followed him to his office and flooed to Theo's house. Stepping out of the floo, she saw they had arrived in the library. Theo was waiting for them.

"Hello Hermione, Draco! Come take a look at this!" He said looking at a scroll in front of him on the table. He was wearing gloves to protect the scroll from the oils and dirt that may be on his hands.

Hermione walked toward him and gazed at the scroll. It was about two feet long by one foot wide and covered in writing. She saw the extra gloves to the side of the scroll and put them on. Draco followed suit. "How old is this scroll?" she whispered excitedly.

"It is dated to the Roman Empire, close to the close of the second century. It is written in Latin, so I am trying to translate it. Do you happen to know anything about Latin?" Theo asked stepping back and allowing Draco and Hermione to look over the scroll. He took the notebook and pen he had been writing the translation down in around the table with him.

"I don't know much Latin, but I have books that can help. I also know a spell that may help with some of the more obscure words. What is the subject of the scroll?" Draco asked gazing at the edges of the scroll. "This was torn at some point. It is only a partial scroll." He pointed to the tears at the end of the scroll.

"I know. It is supposed to be on early magic in the Roman world, but the little I have translated has not been about magic at all. It's been mostly riddles and philosophy." Theo said looking over what he had translated.

Hermione was staring at the scroll and had picked up the pen and notebook that had been near the gloves. She started writing quickly.

Draco and Theo shared a look and turned back to watch Hermione writing furiously. She worked for about five minutes before saying, "Draco, can you get me the books that you have on translating Latin? I don't know every word in Latin and am having a hard time translating a few of these words. I think they are the more obscure words that weren't used often. Theo, why do you think it was riddles and philosophy?" She said turning to Theo. Draco nodded and flooed to his office to get the books.

"Mostly because it didn't make sense, but I am not as fluent in Latin as you seem to be, and I may have mistranslated," Theo said meekly.

"Oh, I'm not fluent in Latin, but I have memorized most of the common words. I think you may have mistranslated. I will wait until Draco returns to explain." Hermione said picking up her pen and skipping a few lines and continued to translate.

Draco returned a few minutes later with the books on Latin in his hand. "This is all I have on Latin. What is this scroll, Hermione?" He put the books down next to the scroll.

Hermione nodded and took off her gloves to look through the book in front of her. She flipped a few pages and started writing again in the notebook. By the time she spoke again, she had three pages of translations.

"Ok, so how much did you pay for this scroll?" Hermione asked quietly.

Theo looked at her with questioning eyes, "700 Galleons. I talked them down from 1000 Galleons since the sellers didn't have it translated, only dated to the end of the second century. Why?"

"Because this is worth everything in your vaults. Possibly everything in Draco's vaults as well. This scroll covers the beginning of the discovery of magic and the nature of who had it first. This dates before the founders of Hogwarts, obviously, by about 800 years. If I can translate this, it will be invaluable to the history of magic as we know it. That period doesn't have much written about magic because so much was hushed up. Or it was attributed to the various gods." Hermione was speaking fast and translating at the same time. She stopped and looked up at the men in front of her. Both their mouths were hanging open in shock.

"800 years before the founders of Hogwarts? But…but…we don't have a history much further back than that." Theo said in an unbelieving voice.

Hermione smirked at him, "Until now. I wouldn't say anything to anyone about this until we can get it translated."

"Hermione, are you sure you can translate it?" Theo asked.

Hermione gave him a look of pure joy, "Yes, I can translate it. I have studied languages since I was a little girl. Latin is an easy language since our own language derived from Latin. It could take a few hours though."

0o0o0o0o Draco

Theo and I watched Hermione work in awe of her brilliance. She wrote furiously in the notebook, pausing occasionally to check a word. After two hours of watching her, Theo said, "I'm going to make lunch, Draco, so you want to help?" I nodded and followed him from the room.

"Who did you buy that scroll from?" I asked him quietly.

"A rare dealer in Prague. I took a trip this week. I wasn't sure what I was buying, but it was worth it due to the age." Theo said pulling items from the refrigerator and set them on the counter.

"I didn't know Hermione knew so many languages. She is amazing." I said in awe.

Theo nodded as he handed me a knife to cut cheese into slices for sandwiches. We worked in silence for a few minutes. "Do you know what kind of sandwich Hermione likes?" Theo finally asked.

"Yes, I will make it for her," I said taking the plate he held out to me and made her plate. Theo left the kitchen to get Hermione for lunch.

She came out of the library reluctantly. I could tell by the way she kept glancing back at the library door. "Hermione, you need to eat. You haven't had lunch." Theo was saying as he led her to the kitchen. I put the plate with her sandwich and some crisps in front of her.

"But there is still so much to translate. It is really fascinating. You have no idea. Thank you for lunch." She nodded to Draco. "What are you planning on doing with the scroll when we have finished translating it?"

"I'm not sure. Put it on display maybe? I will have it protected." Theo said taking a bite of his sandwich.

Hermione nodded, "It may behoove you to allow a historian to look at the scroll. I know this scroll could change the way Muggleborns are viewed. From what I have read, magic just appeared in a few families and grew from there. In essence, everyone is originally Muggleborn if you can trace your heritage far enough back. The person who wrote the scroll put his observations of who had magic and who didn't." Hermione said looking at both men.

"Fascinating isn't really a strong enough word," Draco said coming around to stand next to Hermione. "You are brilliant, Hermione. Who would you suggest talking to about the scroll?"

"I think Kingsley would be a good place to start. He can get us in contact with the correct people. I don't know any historians personally. If Kingsley can't help, then I don't know who can. But I really want to finish translating before we get anyone else involved. Can you imagine how this is going to change the way people see Muggleborns like me? I have always fought to have the right to be in this world. But now there is proof that I am a valid member of wizarding society." She finished angrily, wiping tears from her eyes. I took her in my arms and held her. She had started shaking as she spoke.

"I can't think of life without Hermione Granger in it. You belong in both the wizarding and Muggle world. You are a rare gem of a person Hermione." I whisper in her ear. "I'm sorry I ever made you feel inferior."

"I know Draco. I just hate that even with the truth of the scroll, we won't change everyone's mind. I know I will always fight for my right to be in the wizarding world." She said wiping her eyes and pulling away from me.

I kissed her forehead, "I know, and I'm sorry. But I will be with you every step of the way to show that you belong."

Theo cleared his throat, "Hermione, you belong in the wizarding world. I'm glad to know you. Thank you for translating the scroll for me. If it helps at all, I never wanted to believe that Muggleborns were less than wizards, but my father made me spout off the stupidity of it."

Hermione nodded and stood up. "I need the loo." And walked down the hall.

I looked at Theo and spoke, "I hate every horrible thing I ever said to her." Theo nodded and walked toward the kitchen to make coffee.