"No"
"I'll owe you one."
"It would have to be a pretty big one. Do you not remember the HELL that he put me through in school?"
"That was in school. He has changed."
"Yeah yeah yeah, and since when are the two of you so chummy? Its almost unnatural for the two of you to be friends."
"It just sort of happened. Any way will you do it?"
"Does he know about your 'wonderful' plan?"
"Well...umm…"
"I'll take that as a no. If he hasn't agreed to this I won't either."
"Hermione. Come on."
"Harry...No. if he hasn't agreed to this than no."
"Can't you be the bigger person and extend the hand of friendship?"
"No."
"Hermione…"
"We have you to be friends with him, I don't want to talk to him."
"You don't have to talk to him, you just...have to let him sleep in your spare room"
"Dear sweet Circe, you are so infuriating."
"I could have sent Ron to ask you. On second thought I could still send Ron to ask you."
"Oh dear sweet Godrick. I would and will still hex you if you bring that twat around."
"He really is sorry about everything."
"I don't want to hear it."
"So can Draco come and hide out in your spare room?"
"Will it get you to leave me the hell alone…"
"yes!"
"And owe me unlimited favors, until I decide that we are paid back in full."
"Yes"
"I guess that you have a place to hide your boyfriend."
"You won't be sorry thank you… thank you… thank you." he kissed my cheek and apparated away.
A few minutes later there was knock Hermione's front door. She didn't even get to the door before Harry walked through the door with Malfoy. Standing in her foyer was an extremely happy Harry and an uncomfortable Malfoy, standing there waiting for Hermione to invite them in.
"I didn't think that you would be back so soon."
"Well I didn't want to give you time to reconsider." Harry shrugged.
"Is there anything else that you are going to con me into today?" Hermione snarked.
"No…" he started.
" Good. I might see you Sunday at the Burrow." she cut him off.
"Alright I'm going. Here you are going to need this." Harry handed her a thick packet that outlined the terms and conditions of Draco Malfoy's stay in the Muggle world. Harry had turned to Malfoy. "If she tries to kill you use this it will contact me and I'll try to save you." All Draco did was nod as he took the charm that Harry handed to him.
"Be nice." Harry stated flatly as he exited the front door.
"Fuck You!" Hermione chimed after him. Turning toward Malfoy she started to lay into him. "Let's get this straight. I have some ground rules that you are going to follow or you're out of here. I have a very strict 1 strike policy."
"I wouldn't expect anything less." Malfoy mumbled.
"Really if you're going to be a smart ass, you can leave now and stay with Won Won and Lav Lav." Hermione glared
"Oh God. You wouldn't do that." Malfoy mocked
"Try me. Now shut it and listen." she challenged
"Bossy bint" he mumbled.
"Can we continue?"
"Yes, sorry keep going with your rules. I know how important they are to you."
glaring Hermione started in on a few of the finer points of the rules. these of course sadly where a mixture of rules that she kept in general for guests and others that were made on the spot. If given the time there most definitely would have been more and better detailed rules.
"Alright. All food must be marked food not marked will be disposed of, food clearly marked is not for others in the house. You must follow the shower schedule and cleaning schedule. You are confined to your room whenever I have guests over. My office is out of bounds. My books are off limits. All contact with the outside world has to go through and be approved by me. this really is a ministry stipulation and the repercussions for not following will come from them and not me. As per your agreement with the Ministry you are not allowed outside without me or another authorized person to go with you. Also you are not permitted to use magic of any sort. These are just the surface of the worlds. There is a full list including your copy of the schedules in your room. If you will follow me I will show you the rest of the house and to your room. After you have settled I have made dinner. This will be the first and the last time that I make food for you so don't get used to it."
"Oh my Godric Hermione, I didn't think it was possible but the stick in your ass at school some how managed to lodge itself high into your ass."
"Fuck you Malfoy." Hermione bit back as she hit him with a stinging curse. "Now shut up and follow."
"This as you can see is the entry way. Down here is the living room/dining kitchen area. Now if you will follow me up the stairs." Surprisingly Malfoy kept his mouth shut to this point of the tour. "Here at the top is the bathroom. Down the hall to the right is my room and office. I ever catch you in there and I will not hesitate to hex your balls off. Down here are my two spare rooms. The one on the left is yours."
She opened the door and showed him his room. There was nothing to it really it had a queen size ebony sleigh bed in the center and matching dressers and night stand . The walls where painted a light grey with Black, white and Grey accents throughout the room. It was pretty room if not just slightly depressing. Yet again most of the house had a slightly depressing feel to it. Leaving Draco to unpack Hermione moved to the kitchen to make dinner for the two of them. Having had a strict menu planned for the next two week Hermione realized that it was all be gone less than she thought and wasn't sure if she could do that. Fuck Harry. He knew that she didn't like surprises and that she couldn't say no to him. After the war Hermione had tried to make a life for herself in the wizarding world. After convincing McGonagall to do a summer session for her she achieved perfect scores on all her tests, even in divinations. With perfect in everything the world was open to her anything that she wanted she could do. Hermione picked Unspeakable. It sounded like a great idea working in the secret section of the Ministry, but all it did was isolate Hermione from everyone. Having been recruited to the Department of Time and Relative Dimensions. Hermione spent three years traveling through time observing, learning and giving the information to her supervisor that was used elsewhere in the Ministry. Whenever she had the chance Hermione, went to the moment in time that hurt her the most trying to figure out what she could have done differently. Two years, a failed relationship with Ron, and a nervous breakdown later Hermione decided that she was done with the wizarding world. She concluded that it would just be better for her to leave the world of magic and try to find something in the Muggle world. Things haven't gone so badly in the last year. Hermione owned a successful bookstore, and had little interruptions in her new life with her old one. The only exceptions being Harry popping by every once in a while, and the endless owls from Molly.
Lost in her own thoughts Hermione didn't hear Malfoy enter the kitchen. It wasn't until he asked if there was something that he could help her with that she even noticed that he was there.
"Really you want to help? Isn't that beneath you?"
"I was just trying to be nice." Hermione scoffed at that.
"Really? Since when are you nice to me."
"Sorry, don't worry it won't happen again Granger."
"Whatever. Food will be ready in minute, just go sit somewhere." Hermione directed as she finished putting the finishing touches on dinner. Without any discussion she served up dinner and placed it in front of Draco. They sat in silence for most of the meal before Hermione finally spoke up.
"I am assuming that you have little exposure to the general mechanics of muggle life. I have to pop into work for a few minutes, and don't feel too comfortable with leaving you here. I also have to go shopping. I can give you a basic rundown of how to not kill yourself with muggle appliances, as well as supply up for the next few weeks. Sound okay?"
"Can I tell you no?"
"Not really, but I understand if you don't want to wander around muggle England with me."
"I guess I better get used to it." Draco shrugged and stood from the table. "Today has been really trying if you don't mind I'm headed to bed."
"Sure, I'll just clean up no problem." Hermione smirked. "No, don't worry about it. I'll wake you up bright and early." Hermione shut down his start to offer. Draco taking it wandered out and up to his room.
Draco never would have thought that he would be housed up with Hermione. Of all the people in the Wizarding world he thought that he would be shipped off to some squib somewhere with no connections to London at all. It sort of did make sense knowing that Harry Potter was the Auror assigned to his case. Who else would Harry trust enough to send him to.
The friendship between him and Potter had been surprising to say the least. It started at the first memorial held after the war. Draco had been through some tough times. After renouncing Voldemort right before the last battle and trying to feed the information that he knew to the Order, was trying there were many times that he wished he had switched sides sooner. Or at least feed better information to help save people. Since the end of the war Draco had hidden out in the manor, really just isolating himself from the wizarding world. He was an outcast. Many in the wizarding community still didn't trust him because his father was a main founder and backer of the Dark Lord and was now serving time is Azkaban. His mother had died in a raid on the manor by former Death Eaters just a few months before. A group of former Death Eaters had taken it upon themselves to try and regroup and rebuild in their ranks. It was when many reformed members turned rejoinment up that the killings started. It wasn't just those that had refused to join the new band of Death Eaters but it was those whom they felt had betrayed the loyalty and love of Voldemort the war. The attack on the Manor had been aimed at Draco. Luckily, or really unluckily as he saw it he had let to have lunch with Potter and had left his mother alone in the Manor. The group attacked and killed her on the spot when she wouldn't tell them where he was, Draco came home to find her cold lifeless body in the hall lying over the stain of Granger's blood that just couldn't be scrubbed away. Potter was called and an investigation was started. That was mainly why he was now in Granger's spare bedroom looking over the instruction manual that she had left for guests. The tome was a couple of hundred pages thick and at points read like a choose your own adventure novel. There were so many rules and regulations it seemed like it would never end there was also no way any sane person would not only design but keep such a thing in their home muggle or wizard. Truly this was the work of somebody who had lost all sense of control and was desperately grasping at straws to bring it back.
Hermione woke to the sounds of screaming in the middle of the night. The screams of somebody in the throes of great anguish and pain. At first it startled her as to why these sounds were being made, it soon dawned on her that they must be coming from her house guest. Malfoy. Feeling not only tired but a bit bitchy Hermione for the first time since moving into her place performed magic. She place a silencing charm. Satisfied by the silence she rolled over and fell into a dreamless sleep.