"Maybe this will also teach you some manners, Mr. Malfoy."

Those were the last words Draco heard as the world around him grew to larger proportions; or at least he grew smaller. As the hooded figure stood over him pointing at him he saw them sneer.

"I always thought that you made a better varmint."

"You said you'd help me stay out of prison!" Draco tried to shout but squeaks were the only sounds that escaped his mouth.

Draco scurried away as the person blasted spells at him, laughing all the while. As a searing charm ricocheted off the wall next to him, Draco forced himself through a space in the baseboard. He quivered in fear as he saw the boots step next to the crack.

"Just remember, Mr. Malfoy, I've saved you from spending your punishment in Azkaban."

"Wasn't that a bit overkill?" a woman said as Draco forced himself further through the space in the wall.

"Not at all. If he isn't scared, he'll never survive."

Draco crawled through the walls until he found a vent leading outside. He ran out onto the grassy knoll and hid in the bushes as the two cloaked figures exited the abandoned house.

"But... If I do see Malfoy again... I might just kill him for sport. After all, it is his family's fault the Dark Lord fell. But shhh," the man put a finger to his lips, "we don't want the ferret to know that we're conspiring against him."

Hermione kicked off her heels as she entered her flat.

"Welcome home, Hermione, " her muggle roommate, Mandy, said.

"Hiya Mandy. How was your day?" Hermione said exhausted.

"Oh you know, I was reading up on ferrets," she said.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You still want one?"

"Of course! Look how cute they are!"

Hermione looked over at Mandy who was holding up her laptop that had a picture of three ferrets wearing hats.

"They stink!" Hermione said as poured herself some tea. She began to think of a particular blonde ferret as she said, "they're positively foul."

"That's why you bathe them, silly." Mandy said shutting her computer. She grabbed her coat off the back of the chair as she said, "Do you at least want to come to the pet store with me?"

Hermione sighed, "Fine... I have to get Crookshanks some more food anyway."

Draco opened his eyes and placed a hand (paw really) on his head. He winced at the bright lights around him. Last thing he could remember was being shoved into a sack in the London Underground.

"Awww! Mummy, look at the cute ferrets!" a little girl said running over to him.

Draco scowled as the girl pressed her nose up against the glass.

"Bugger off!" he tried to say but what came out was a bunch of chittering. As she giggled, he huffed and turned. Behind him was a pile of other ferrets sleeping. He rolled his eyes as one yawned cutely.

"Give me a break," he grumbled.

At that moment, Draco heard a bell ring somewhere in the store. He stood up on his hindlegs as he heard a familiar voice.

Hermione and Mandy stepped into the pet shop.

"Ok, I'm going to go get cat food."

"Alright, I'm going find a ferret."

Hermione went down an aisle full of cat food. Walking into this pet shop always reminded her of the owl emporium in Diagon Alley. It had already been three months since she decided to leave the Wizarding world after helping with the reconstruction of Hogwarts. As she had told Harry and Ron, she just wanted a break from being publicly known as a war hero. Naturally, none of her muggle friends knew the truth about her life. She had ran into Mandy on the train and was surprised to find out that they had gone to the same primary school.

Hermione kept in touch with Harry and Ginny (Harry had taught his now wife how to use a telephone and muggle post). However, Ron took her leave harder than her other friends and she only heard about him from what the Potters told her.

"Hermione! Come look at this ferret!" Mandy called.

Hermione tore herself away from her thoughts and walked over to her roommate. When she saw the ferret that Mandy was pointing to her jaw dropped. It looked exactly like Malfoy when Professor Moody - well Barty Crouch Jr. - had transfigured him in their fourth year.

"Isn't he adorable? Look at him try to stand like he's a person!" Mandy said, "I think he's the one I'm going to get."

The ferret chittered as it wobbled on its hindlegs. The shopkeeper came over with a pet carrier.

"Let me help you with that, miss."

As they walked out of the store with their purchases, Mandy held up her new ferret in its box.

"What should I call him do you think?"

Hermione looked at the blonde ferret that almost seemed to be glaring at her.

"Malfoy seems like an appropriately foul name."

Mandy rolled her eyes, "You come up with really strange names, Hermione."

"What's that supposed to mean? I knew someone called Malfoy!"

Mandy looked at her skeptically, "Who would name their kid 'Malfoy?'"

"That was his last name. His first name was Draco."

Mandy puckered her lips as she grumbled, "Well... You still come up with weird names. Like Crookshanks..."

"What's wrong with Crookshanks?" Hermione asked offended.

Draco watched Hermione from his cage in the her living room as she read her book.

"Listen to me you stupid mudblood! It's me! Draco Malfoy!"

Hermione looked up at him from her book.

"Mandy, I think your ferret is hungry. He won't stop crying."

"I'm not crying!"

Mandy came into the living room with her hair wrapped in a towel, "he shouldn't be, I put food in his dish."

"You call that food, Muggle?" Draco snapped as she opened his cage. Once again his words came out as chirps and squeaks.

He pressed himself against the opposite side of the cage as she reach inside. He tried to fight as she picked him up.

"If you squirm too much, I'll drop you. Ouch!"

Draco had just sunk his teeth into her finger causing her to drop him. He scampered away but skidded to a stop when a large orange cat jumped down from the top of a bookshelf.

Very quickly, he was scooped up off the ground.

"You might want to be careful," Hermione said looking at him sitting in her hands.

He looked at her surprised from how gently she spoke to him. He blinked as he remembered who it was that was holding him.

"Unhand me, Granger!"

She handed him back to Mandy.

"I'm going to bed. Let me know what you decide to call him."

Draco watched the witch pick up the fat orange beast and walk down a hallway. The muggle, Mandy, placed him back in the cage. She looked down at the bite mark he had left on her finger and then shook it at him.

"No more biting, you!"

He hissed at her angrily, then watched as she walked away nursing her injury and shut off the light. Draco's shoulders slumped as he wrapped his tiny paws around the the bars of his cage.

"I want to go home..."