letter 11
8 April 1996
Starboy,
I hope the reading is going well.
Bookworm
===
It wasn't like Theo to skip dinner, but Blaise was an idiot, and someone had to help Draco. He could just eat later in the kitchens. Rather than heading to the Great Hall like the rest of the school, he went down to the dungeons.
Rustling through Draco's desk drawers, he found the stash of letters. He read them and realized that this girl was funny and smart and somehow able to stand Draco's rude bluntness. Theo thought she would be perfect for his friend, if only she were pure-blood. Nevertheless, he was sick of Draco being pouty all day, so he took note of the book Bookworm thought Draco was in the process of reading. The Great Gatsby.
Theo didn't go to the library often and he certainly did not dare look at the Muggle Authors section, but he was doing this for Draco, and maybe a little bit for himself so Draco wouldn't unleash his wrath on him.
Bloody hell, Granger was in the muggle section ogling the books she had probably already read eight hundred times. She held in her hands the book Theo wanted. The book he needed. "Hand it over, mudblood," Theo towered over the girl, even with her puffy hair.
Hermione scowled up at the tall... brown-haired... boy. Partially correct, she remembered. But Starboy couldn't be Nott, right? The boy she wrote to wouldn't dare call her a mudblood. Theodore Nott was most definitely not her Starboy.
"No," she stated firmly.
"'No?'" Theo glared, "I beg your pardon?"
"I'm reading it."
Theo snatched it from her weak grip, "I can imagine you've read it already."
Hermione's face softened slightly at the comment, but hardened again when she retorted, "What do you want with a muggle book anyway?"
"Oh, I heard from a friend that The Great Gatsby is a good one," he winked before leaving the girl with her mouth agape.
Maybe it is him, Hermione thought.
Theo headed back down the dungeons, knowing Draco was definitely still eating dinner. He dropped the book in the center of Draco's desk and decided he too, was hungry.
Meanwhile, Hermione dashed across the castle from the library to the Great Hall. Panting, she took a seat next to Ginny. "You're late," the red-headed girl noted.
"You'll never believe what just happened," Hermione said between breaths, "I think I just ran into Starboy!"
Ginny spat out her pumpkin juice as Ron piped in, "What's a Starboy?"
"Piss off, Ronald," Ginny snapped at her older brother while wiping her face. She turned to face Hermione, "Tell me everything!"
"After dinner," Hermione gave Ron and Harry a pointed look, "I don't want them to know."
===
When the two Gryffindor girls finished eating, they headed to Hermione's usual table in the library.
Hermione recounted a simplified, slightly exaggerated version of the story to her younger friend, "I was in the muggle section and I saw the book still on the shelf so I was like 'why didn't Starboy check it out?' I was just skimming the book when Theodore Nott snatched it from my hands. He was like 'That's mine now! My friend told me it's a good book so I'm reading it, mudblood!' I don't know if it's him because he is tall and has brown hair, but he also called me that and I don't think Starboy would do that, but from who else would he have heard that The Great Gatsby is a good book?"
Ginny bit the inside of her cheek in thought, "Hmm, that's interesting. You should write him about it."