Millie instinctively ducked as the older girl's appraising eye looked her over. She was hardly comfortable with her own height, between her boots and the stool she now stood at a dizzying distance from the floor. Many boys and men were taller, and the young witch couldn't fathom how they managed it. What the world might be like to a giant of a man, or a true giant for that matter, sent her thoughts reeling.

Somehow she stayed upright, much to her own surprise. There was a thrill to this height as well, which buoyed the young witch against her own misspoken inquiry to Mattie. She needn't have even fretted so, the older girl gave an easy answer to her question as if it was nothing more than misread weather. Millie happily settled in for more pleasant chatter, especially concerning more interesting books for reading.

"Oh, I did," Millie nodded, eager to share with someone who wasn't a mousy-haired miscreant at least. "I just finished a Muggle novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Have you read it?"

Now that she said it, Millie wasn't entirely sure how thrilled she should be about the book. It wasn't the sort of thing her parents thought was enriching for a young lady of her age, particularly Muggle stories. Not that they supervised her reading anymore like they used to. Perhaps Mattie would think it a bit uncouth, and she added hastily, "It is quite the peculiar book. I might not have read it if I had known, though I am glad I did."

That seemed like a safe enough comment to make, particularly here where others could overhear. Millie longed for the sanctity of their book club meetings again, where opinions and deeper discussion flourished. The young witch knew that she might only blink and school would be here again, yet she still willed it to come faster still.

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