CHAPTER 1

Hermione's POV:

"God! I didn't know you'd have such courage to run away from home. What would you have done, if I wasn't here? Ginny asked worriedly.

"I didn't think about all that at that time. All I knew was that my parents wanted me to go the medical college, which I obviously won't cause I'm interested in computer engineering. So they decided not to pay for my college and I didn't see any point to live with them anymore. I knew they wouldn't at all help me get through my engineering course, instead they'll just discourage me." I explained. "Besides I'm an adult now, I can take care of myself." I said this more to myself than to assure Ginny.

"So what will you do now?"

"Well, I need to get a job to pay for my college expenses and a place to live temporarily, till college starts and then I'll shift to my dorm."

"When will your college start?"

"A week later."

"Good! Then you can live with me for this week and I'll help you get a job." Ginny said as we entered her apartment.

"Thanks Ginny" I said gratefully, "who knows what would have happened to me, if you were not there."

Today was completely not my day. I had a headache when I woke up in the morning, my omelet burned during breakfast and I got late for my job interview. The interview also went badly. Because of my late coming, the interviewer was predisposed of not liking me, and apparently, I irritated the hell out of him. This of course set my mood off. Not that it wasn't already off. In addition to all these, the nature also joined to make my day bad.

It started raining all of a sudden, in the midst of the brightest sunny day! Also, I didn't have an umbrella and therefore, I'd to walk all the way to Ginny's house in the rain. In addition to all these, to make my day even bad, some crazy person pushed me into the mud and my already wet dress now got ruined.

"What the hell! Why did you push me?" I asked fiercely.

"When did I push you?" replied a masculine voice. "You're the one who ran into me."

I looked up to see, a tall lanky man in his early twenties, standing in front of me. He had unnatural whitish blonde hair, neatly brushed to one side of his head and stone grey eyes.

"Don't you have any manners? First you deliberately bumped into me, and now instead of saying sorry, you're talking back!" I said.

"Excuse me? Why should I say sorry to you? What did I do?"

"What did you do? You're asking me 'what did you do'?"

"Yes, that's what I'm asking. Can't you hear? Looks like you're deaf as well as blind." He chuckled to himself.

"Listen Mr. Neither am I deaf, nor am I blind. If anyone's blind then, it's you. Cause you bumped into me. Now say sorry." I ordered.

"Like I said, I didn't do anything; so I'm not saying sorry. Actually, you should say sorry to me."

"And why should I say sorry?"

"Because number one YOU pushed me into the puddle and number two you ripped off my shirt button." He said matter of factly. "Now from where will I get the same button?"

"And what about these jeans, which you spoiled? These marks won't go away easily." I accused him.

"I didn't…. Don't get me started again. I'm a busy person, unlike you and I don't want to miss my bus because of your stupid quarrel." He said scowling.

"My quarrel? Like I started it. And for you information, I'm also a very busy person and I also have work to do." I replied.

"Whatever…just get lost." He said, sounding disgusted.

"YOU get lost."

"Yeah yeah…I've to go anyways."

"I've to go also."

"So, why are you standing here? Just go."

"Gosh, I'm going, I'm going." And we went in our own way.

That night, after dinner, I went to my room (which is actually Ginny's cranky roommate's room) to finish up my 'college expenses' calculation.

"What are you doing, with a paper on one hand and a calculator on the other?" Ginny asked.

"Umm…I'm making an estimation of my college expenses." I said absent-mindedly.

"So, do you think you can handle all of it, by yourself?" She asked concerned.

"I think I can…if I get a job and if my dorm cost a bit less."

"Don't worry about getting a job. This was only the first interview. There'll be lots of interviews in the future, and I'm sure you'll get a job."

"Hopefully.!"I replied. "The other thing is my dorm."

"That's a problem." She said thoughtfully. "Well, what you can do is, you can rent an apartment with someone less, like I did, and pay only half the money." Ginny said after a minute.

"That's a good idea. I can do that." I said excitedly."But were will I find an apartment and an apartment partner or whatever you call them."

"Leave that to me. I know someone, who can find you a nice apartment." Ginny said blushing.

I raised one eyebrow.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"You were blushing?" I said more like a question than a statement.

"No, I was not!" she said giggling.

"Yes, You're blushing again. Looks like I've to soon meet your 'someone'." I said poking her.

"It's nothing like that."

"Oh yeah? Then why are your cheeks red?" I questioned.

"I…I've to go. Good night." And she left quickly my room.

Draco's POV:

I stepped out of the bus. It has stopped raining by now, but the sky's still cloudy. I walked straight down the lane, till I reached the second last house. The went up the front steps and knocked on the door.

"Coming" I heard his footsteps coming near.

"Hey Harry, sorry I'm late" I said, when he opened the door.

"You're sorry that you're late? I've been waiting for you all day man" Harry replied. "Anyway come on in, Draco."

"I said I'm sorry" I walked in the living room.

"What happened to your shirt?" Harry asked curiously, pointing to the one place, where the button was missing.

"Don't even ask," I sighed, "There was this insane woman who did this and then started to quarrel with me, saying that I pushed her or something. And she's the reason I'm late anyways." I sat in a nearby sofa.

"So, I heard you lost your job!" Harry said, sitting in another one.

"Not only my job, but also my apartment and my car."

"Why, what did you do?"

"What should I do, if my boss's daughter is so into me? It's not my fault that she likes me." I said disgusted.

"Your boss's daughter liked you?" he said laughing.

"Yeah..and my boss asked me to go on a date with his daughter. What's her name? Pansy most probably." I answered my own question.

"Then?"

"So I went on a date with…Pansy and she irritated the hell out of me. But she wasn't contented with that. She wanted to have another date, apparently she really enjoyed our first one and I agreed for the sake of my job. And then we went on a third and a fourth one."

"Wow! This is getting interesting. Please continue," Harry said.

"Interesting my foot! But, finally yesterday, I told her that, I never liked her and Ms. Bitch told that to her dad. And he fired me." I said.

"And with your job, you also lost the apartment and the car that company gave you, right?" Harry concluded. "So, what will you do now?"

"Well, I've already applied for another computer engineering job and I think I'll get the it. But the problem is, that job doesn't give either a car or a house."

"Where will you live then?"

"That's why I've come here. Harry, can you please find me an apartment?" I pleaded.

"For rent?"

"Well duh…why will I want to buy an apartment, at this condition?"

"Well, I know a nice, cheap apartment. It's not really an apartment. It's kind of like a two storied house. So basically the owner of the house, Mr. White, lives in the upper one, while he rents the lower one. So, do you think that will do?"

"Yeah yeah..anything will do for now." I replied.

"But you need a wife for that."

"Wife? Why?"

"It's kind of funny actually. Mr. White is suspicious of his own wife. He's always in fear that his wife's cheating on him or something. So he only rents the apartment to married people."

"That's kind of weird, but anyways from where will I get a wife now?"

"Why, don't you have Pansy? Ask her, I'm sure she'll be very happy with the offer." Harry teased.

"Not funny."

"Okay okay. Don't worry! I'll find you a nice wife."

"Fake wife, you mean." I corrected. "Thanks buddy!

"No problem."

"I better be going now" I said, standing up. "I still have the packing left, before emptying the apartment tomorrow."

"Bye" Harry yelled.

I was packing the next day, when I heard my phone ringing. It was Harry.

"Hello" I said.

"Draco, I've news for you."

"Good or bad?" I asked tensely.

"Why good of course." Harry replied.

"Did you find a wife?"

"Yeah, I found you a wife. At first she hesitated, but like you, she was also in desperate need of a shelter and she finally agreed." Harry said.

"Why are you so pleased by finding me a fake wife?" Even though I couldn't see him, I can feel the happiness in his tone.

"Eww…no. I'm not pleased because of that." he said. "Umm…we can talk about it later. Right now, I'm coming to your apartment to pick you up and do you want to shift to your new house today?"

"Yeah, I have to. I'm suppose to empty this apartment today only."

"Nice! I'm coming and then you can move to your apartment and see your wife also." Harry said.

"Fake wife" I corrected.

"Yeah yeah fake wife." Harry said. "See you in ten minutes then."

"See ya." I hung up.

Like he said, Harry was up in my apartment in ten minutes. By then, I already finished my packing and all that, so we just went straight to his car.

"Just for you info Draco, you have a really nice wife." Harry said, while getting into the driver's seat.

"Fake wife." I corrected automatically. "How can you say that though?"

"Well, she's….Ginny's friend." Harry said, smiling "And like her, all of Ginny's friends are nice."

"So you met Ginny, no wonder you sounded so pleased on the phone." I concluded. "Did you ask her out or something, or are you guys still good friends?"

"No, are you kidding me? How can I ask her out, all of a sudden?"

"All of a sudden? Oh I didn't know that it would be 'all of a sudden' to ask her out after seven years of flirting."

"It's not like that. She needs some time. And then I'll ask her out."

"Right. Seven years is not enough. Maybe seventeen years….no no. It's too less. Maybe twenty seven or thirty seven or four…."

"Whatever seven it is, shut your mouth. We're almost there. She'll hear you."

"Oh! So she's also here." I asked.

"Of course, she is. She's the one suppose to take her friend to Mr. White's apartment. Her friend is new in the city, so she doesn't know anything."

"Nice nice." I said mockingly. Who knows with what sample piece I've to deal with now?"

"I'm telling you, she's nice." Harry said, while parking the car.

"I'm counting on that."

"There they are." Harry pointed to two ladies, standing in a distant. One of them were facing side ways and the other one was standing with her back towards us, so it was impossible to see her.

"Which one's my fake wife? Is she the one facing side ways?" I asked.

"I'm gonna kill you. The one facing side ways is Ginny." Harry replied angrily.

"Sorry! It's not my fault that I've never seen Ginny before."

Ginny now saw us, and waved her hand to Harry. As we got closer, I got a nicer view of Ginny. I've heard many things about her, from Harry of course, but this is the first time I'm seeing her. She looks exactly like the girl, Harry will like.

"Hermione, we're here." Harry said, probably to the other girl, who now turned around.

"You!" We both said together. She was the same insane girl, whom I met the other day. I can't believe, that in this whole town, Harry couldn't find any other girl as my fake wife.

"So you guys know each other? That's good. There won't be any problems then" Ginny said.

"I'm not staying with this thug!" Ms. Insane said.

"You think I'm willing to move in with a witch?" I scowled.

"How dare you to call me a witch"

"Oh no. I'm so sorry! You're not a witch. You are a witch's mom, grandmother, a sister, everything. You're a family of witches." I said half laughing.

"You…." She said angrily. "Ginny let's go. I'm not stay….."

"Hermione…." Ginny followed her. "Don't act like a child. My roommate is arriving tomorrow and you know how cranky she is. So it'll be impossible for you to live there anymore."

"So what should I do? I shouldn't have agreed with this fake couple thing in the first place."

"Let's do a thing. Just adjust with him for now, and then later we'll find you another place."

"Harry I'm going. I've no intention of living with this witch." I said.

"Draco, dude. Dude wai…"

"I'm not living with her"

"Buddy, calm down. Think about it. If you don't live here now, where else will you go?"

"I'll go anywhere, even in the street, but I'll not live with her." I said angrily.

"In the street? You've to also pay to live there. And that's dangerous. If someone drives over, then you're dead and gone."

"Okay, fine!"

"Harry, she agrees to live here." Ginny said.

"So does he." I glared at Harry. "But, there's another thing."

"Now what?" Me and Herm…(whatever her name is) said together.

"Well, according to Mr. White's condition, you guys must look like a married couple."

"So, what should we do?" I said.

"Umm…here's a ring." Harry took it out from his pocket. "Draco, put it on her finger."

"Hey, I'm not letting this man wear me the ring." Herm… complained.

"What? Now what's your problem with wearing this ring?" I asked.

"NO, I don't have a problem with wearing this ring, I've a problem with wearing it from you."

"Why are you making a big deal about this ring? It's not like we're actually marrying. I've better taste to like you. So just let me put it on you."

"NO."

"Wh…." I tried to grab her hand and make her wear the ring.

"I said NO NO NO." she jerked her hand away. This girl is such a headache. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, let me put it on you then." Harry said.

Herm…(I forgot her name) glared at him.

"Leave it. She's waiting for some prince on a horseback or something to put her this silly ring and say 'Will you marry me?' or something. Just give it to her." I said.

"Oh my god! Harry give me the ring, I'll put it on her." Ginny finally said. With this she wore her the ring.

My new apartment was close to where we met. So, after Hermi...'s drama was over, we Harry drove us to my…sorry our house.

Mr. and Mrs. White came downstairs when they saw us. They looked like they were in their mid thirties. They asked us a few questions like how long we are married, whether we love each other or not, whether we'll leave each other and runaway and all sorts of dumb ass questions. And after all that, we finally got the key to the apartment! Thank god!