'Mom, Dad!' Hermione cried as she jumped out of the train before it had even stopped moving, leaving her trunk behind. Her feet hit the ground and she ran towards her parents' outstretched arms.

'Hermione, be careful!' Draco yelled out of the window in reflex, before noticing the odd looks the other occupants of the carriage was giving him. 'What, can't a man show some concern for his girlfriend?' he snapped. Harry and Blaise exchanged a look and seemed to be biting on their tongues to refrain from laughing. Ginny, for once in the entire ride, tore her gaze from Blaise and Harry and laughed openly, only to be joined by her brother.

I'm sharing a bloody train carriage with not one, but TWO bloody Weasleys and the one and only Potter. My, I must be going mad.

Finally the train pulled to a gradual stop, and when they got off, Hermione was already waiting for them. She beamed as Draco walked down and he entwined his fingers around her.

'You almost gave me a heart attack back there,' he said. Her grin widened even more.

'Ah, just like your Father.' She teased. He scowled as he handed her trunk to her, and she staggered under the weight. How did he manage to carry my trunk and his and act like they're just two feathers?

'Here, let me do it.' He offered, and took the trunk from her without another word. They continued their pace to her parents, and he started to actually get a tinsy bit nervous. He usually didn't bother if people liked him or not, but they mostly do, due to his usual charm and looks, but these were Hermione's parents. They could forbid Hermione from seeing Draco if they wanted, and although he was sure that wouldn't stop Hermione; he still wanted them to get along. Funny, Hermione really had changed me.

He approached them with his usual smile that he plastered on his face at the dead-boring tie-events his Father forced him to go, knowing it could charm anybody. It seemed to work; her parents relaxed into their easy smiles as well.

'Hello! You must be Draco!' Hermione's mother was the first to speak. Draco put down the trunks and shook her extended hand.

'Nice to meet you, Mrs. Granger.' He said dutifully. 'You too, Mr. Granger.' He extended his hand, which Hermione's father accepted good-naturedly.

'Call me Anna, Draco. You can call my husband Will. Let's do away with all the formalities, shall we?' Anna asked, giving a knowing smile to the blushing Hermione, hinting at the subject that Draco had been avoiding for the past 3 weeks. Draco groaned inside, but he kept his smile on his face natural.

'Draco!'

Oh bloody hell, Draco would recognize the voice anywhere. How can he ever forget how the voice barked at him when he lost his first Quidditch match to Potter; and neither could he forget how the voice had yelled at him for running around the house in his muddy boots. 'Have you any shame, should a visitor be here?' the voice had boomed. Draco turned around with a determined look; if his father would rather they come to blows in public, so be it. It wasn't Draco's pride that was going to be hurt, that's for sure.

'Excuse me for a moment,' he said to his confused welcoming party, before stalking off to his father with a swift turn.

'Father, did you not receive my letter?' Draco inquired in an indignant tone as he reached his Father. 'Mother,' he softened his tone visibly as he kissed her hand, bowing. His Mother gave him a loving smile, 'Draco.'

'Yes, and didn't you receive my reply?' Lucius interrupted their little mother-son bonding session, much to Draco's annoyance. Lucius was too busy rattling on to notice the scowl on Draco's features.

'What's this about this silly visitation? No matter, you are not going anywhere except for home where I have enough doctors on your case. Rest assured we will find a cure for whatever befuddled spell the Mudblood has cast on you. Now come along.' Lucius turned and walked off, expecting Draco to follow him, but Draco stood rooted in his spot, with a defiant glare directed at Lucius.

'Draco?' Lucius turned around with a pleased smile, thinking that Draco had been following him, but his smile dropped off his face as he saw that Draco was still where he was a few moments ago. His eyes bulged out as he stalked to Draco, and they were practically nose-to-nose, except that Draco was taller. 'You are following me, young man. Now.'

'I don't think so, Father, and don't ever call her a Mudblood.' Draco spat the word acidly. 'And I already told you, I have plans after school.'

'And those plans will be cancelled because this is more important!' Lucius seemed to have a hard time restraining his voice, but nonetheless, people were already looking. 'And I will call her a Mudblood as and when I like!'

'Come on, dear, everyone is looking. Let Draco be, he'll come back later.' Narcissa said in a soft but firm tone. She squeezed Lucius' arm, trying to get him to walk away, but Lucius shook her off.

'No, I'll only go when Draco accompanies us back.' He said through gritted teeth.

Draco was quite enjoying this. He had never gotten his Father this angry before. Only Dil had succeeded. Ah, wouldn't she be so proud of me.

'Well, then, happy waiting. I plan to be staying with them for a long time.' Draco offered a smug smile. His Mother gave him the quickest wink, telling him she approved of it, but straightened before his Father could notice.

'Enough. Of. This. Nonsense!' Lucius grabbed Draco by the collar. 'You're either coming back home now, or you'll never come back!' he threatened.

'Fine by me!' Draco said impulsively. Did his Father honestly think that threatening him with his inheritance could scare him?

'All right then, you've said it, do not regret it! Let's leave, Narcissa!' Lucius barked, Apparating. Draco turned on his heel and walked back to Hermione and her parents, forming an excuse already.Sorry about that, my Father's a bit mental. Heavy work, he does... Nothing hereditary, no worries...

'Everything all right, Draco?' Hermione asked cautiously.

'Yeah, Father was a bit...' he furrowed his eyebrow, wondering how to say it without causing Anna and Will to think badly of Draco, the son Lucius supposedly brought up. 'You know.'

'Ah, right.' Anna gave a knowing smile, and gestured for them to start walking.

'Oh, wait, Mom! I have yet to say goodbye to Harry and Ron! Be right back!' Hermione dashed off. Draco stared after her, an affectionate smile tugging on his lips without his knowing, as he folded his arms, relaxing.

'You really do like her, don't you, Draco?' Anna laughed, twining her arm around Will's.

Draco turned around to face them. 'How can I not? Hermione's the most honest girl I've known. Not to mention selfless. And smart. Oh, she's very smart.' He offered another easy smile.

'Ah, that sounds like our Hermione.' Will said, his eyes twinkling.

'So what house were you in, Draco?' Anna asked interestedly.

'Slytherin.' Draco said, before mentally biting his lip. Should he have told them? He would have bet Hermione had told them countless of stories concerning the Slytherins, and if anyone of them were praising, Draco would abstain for the rest of his life.

'Ah, Hermione's told us a lot of stories about you Slytherins.' Anna laughed, giving Will a knowing smile.

'Ah, figures. We Slytherins don't have a very good reputation with others from different houses. In fact in Slytherin we're all quite isolated as well. It's mostly a small group, no more than five. We even have to fend ourselves from our housemates.' Draco said.

'That sounds pretty tough. Where did you grow up, Draco?' Will asked. Ah, so this must be the minor interrogation Hermione had warned Draco of.

'I grew up in the Malfoy Manor; it's been housing my family for generations. I grew up mostly without my Father, my Mother's always been the one there for me, along with the house-elves.' Draco said, telling the rehearsed truth he and Hermione had come up with. Hermione said her parents weren't picky, but they were protective of their only daughter, so when it came to the first interrogation, Draco had to pass it with flying colours.

'Ah, that was your father just now, wasn't it? Both of you look almost the same! Except that...

'You're a bit taller.'

'I'm a bit taller,' they finished together. Everyone commented on the two splitting images, and they always noted that Draco was taller, much to his delight.

'Yeah, you're a fine looking man, Draco. Hermione must be so lucky to have you.' Anna smiled warmly. Draco smiled back, but his mind was reeling. Weren't three quarters of the Slytherin stories she told about him?

'No, I'm lucky to have her.' Draco corrected her, gaining a smile from both parents. Ah, score! Draco Malfoy passes the test, hands down!

'Back! We can leave now!' Hermione cheered as she jumped to Draco's side. Draco gave her an amused smile. Never had he seen Hermione this excited.

'Calm down, Hermione, you're jumping around like a mad-hatter.' Will laughed, placing a hand on his daughter's bushy head, trying to stop her from jumping.

'Sorry Dad, but I can't help it! This is just going to be so wonderful, you'll see!' She promised, as she twirled around, still holding on to Draco. People were giving them weird looks again, mostly to Hermione.

Draco saw Pansy's malicious sneer and saw her open her mouth. Almost immediately he yelled to her, 'Don't even dare say a word about her, Parkinson! I'm not afraid to use my wand on you!'

Pansy recoiled looked at Draco, suddenly feeling quite threatened. After all, her Father wasn't here to help threaten him with his Father's position being at stake, and she wasn't that adept with her wand, even though she had scraped a Pass in her examinations (of course, with a little help from her ever-wealthy, ever-influential Father). She bit her lip, and huffed away.

'How did you even know?' Hermione asked, with a grateful smile.

'Pansy's predictable that way.' Draco smirked, and saw from his side-view that Anna and Will were exchanging approving looks. Draco held up his wand and wiggled it for good measure.

He turned to Anna and Will. 'Should we get a move on?'

'Oh, yes, of course, of course!' Will exclaimed, reaching for the trunks.

'No, allow me,' Draco offered graciously and picked up both their trunks, following Anna and Will, with Hermione by his side; she was carrying Crookshanks and his owl.

Draco was a bit more than apprehensive to get on the black lustrous Land Rover; he had never been on a car. Hermione sensed this.

'It's all right, it's safe.' She opened the boot and patted the car. 'See?'

'I'm not worried if it's safe or not, love, it's just so... big.' Draco finished lamely. Never would he have thought he'd ever be afraid to try anything, not even any Muggle invention. But he was. Right now. Of this gargantuan piece of metal and rubber. Not that he'd admit it to Hermione though.

'Yeah, it's called a Land Rover. Dad likes big cars. And sometimes Ben borrows it as well.' Hermione said, opening the car door, hauling herself up and in. Draco followed her, trying to make his movement look as fluid as hers. Never would he have thought Hermione would be graceful than him either. Come on, did all those lessons of proper etiquette go forgotten?

'Who's Ben?' Draco asked, looking displeased.

'Oh, he works for Dad in the summers. He's about our age, and he's been a patient of Dad's since ever too. He's practically family.' Hermione smiled.

'I see. Does he have perfect teeth like I do? How about you two, are you two close?' Draco probed, leaning into Hermione.

'Silly boy,' Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco, 'He's like a brother to me. Nothing to get your boxers in a bunch about.' She kissed Draco lightly on his lips for reassurance.

'Hey hey, we're still here you know.' Will warned as he adjusted the mirror. Hermione blushed and pulled away reluctantly.

'Right, sorry Dad.' She smiled sheepishly. Draco wrinkled his nose, half annoyed. God, if Draco had done that in front of his Father, he'd simply turn the other way and continue his tea. But then again, Hermione's reaction was adorable. He turned to look at her; her cheeks were bright pink. It was so sweet that she felt embarrassed to be caught by her parents.

Oh great, did I just find that sweet? Wonderful, next I'll be thinking puppies and ribbons are the cutest things in the world.

He caught Hermione's eyes. She winked and mouthed 'Later'.

Draco smirked, before relaxing into the leather upholstery of the vehicle. He ran a finger up the car door's side, feeling the texture. He pressed a button and almost jumped when the window slid open a bit.Almost jumped. But thank God, the years of practiced controlled emotions held him in check. Instead, he brushed his hair out of his face as the wind blew into the car, acting as if nothing had happened.

'That's the button for the window. If you press it on the other side, the window will close.' Hermione informed him.

'I knew that,' Draco said, slightly miffed. Clearly he was going to have to learn a lot more about these Muggle inventions to prevent looking like a fool in front of Hermione.

'Sure you did,' Hermione exchanged a knowing look with her father from the rear-view mirror.

They were all silent throughout the entire trip, with the occasional question from Anna or Will, but the lovers mostly exchanged looks and subtle hand gestures that Will was bound to not see even from all the mirrors the car he had. Draco started to feel a bit queasy from the many bumps the car was experiencing. If we pass another bump, I am going to hex someone.

Bump!

This time the bump's impact was bigger, so Draco actually bumped his head on the car roof, while the rest stayed rooted in their seats, courtesy of their seat belts. Hermione gave him a smug 'I Told You So' look before laughing into her hands, while Anna smiled apologetically, and Will's face turned red from trying to not laugh. Draco felt his last string of patience snap.

'Is it all right if we make a stop? I need fresh air.' Draco said.

'Oh, but we're reaching already!' Hermione interjected her Father, who promptly closed his mouth and nodded, as she started to bounce uncontrollably. She pointed up ahead, where there were a dozen of attached 3-storey brick European-looking houses. Will drove up to the one nearest to the end and pulled up.

'All right kids, we're home.' He smiled at Hermione from the mirror. Hermione beamed back.

Home sweet home, it's going to be so perfect!

A/N: Alrighty, people, first chapter is UP! I hope you'd enjoy this story as much as you had enjoyed the previous!