Summer was finally there, and for young sixteen year-old Hermione Granger that was all she looked forward to towards the end of the school year. This year she'd gotten her O.W.L.s and had gotten the highest grade possible on all of them thanks to her insistent studying. She hoped Ron and Harry got good grades. She would probably see them towards the end of the summer, but she was enjoying her life for now as a Muggle once more. Her parents were still working a lot, so she got away with using minor magic around the house and still got her subscription to the Daily Prophet. Not to mention she still had Crookshanks. He was currently sitting across her lap as she sat on the park bench with a book in hand. She was getting ahead on some books that she'd missed out on while she was at Hogwarts, and she was really enjoying it but wanted to get fresh air at the same time.

She was listening to the birds around her chirping as she quickly scanned across the pages of her book. Of course, because Crookshanks was a cat, he couldn't be left unattended by attention for very long. He gave a long meow before getting up and crawling on top of her book and lying across it. "You're such a ham," she laughed, giving in and running her hand over the orange fur. She supposed she should try to go hangout with some of her friends, but she didn't feel like talking about Hogwarts with them in fear that she would start to miss it. She missed recreational magic use, of course, but she couldn't start missing Harry and Ron now just because her friends wanted to know more about this special boarding school she went to now that nobody else could even look up let alone to go. That didn't seem to be a problem though as her phone went off with a text from one of her friends that said, We see you!

Hermione looked up and looked behind her to see two of her friends approaching. There was Mary, a girl with bright blue eyes and glasses with shoulder length black hair and bangs, and Caroline, a blonde girl who was taller than her by about two inches and who fit almost every stereotype related to blondes except that she was actually almost as smart as Hermione... almost. Crookshanks got up off her lap and ran right over to the two friends, falling at their feet and rolling over belly up in order to get pet by the newcomers. The cat had mastered the art of being a cat and getting pet for it. "How did you guys know I was here?" she asked, closing her book up and walking over to her friends, hugging each of them in turn.

"Well I said we should go to your house, but then you weren't there so we thought you'd be at the library," Caroline started.

"But you weren't there either, so we came here and here you were!" Mary finished.

"All you had to do was call," Hermione grinned. "What's the plan then?"

"You're going to buy us ice cream and tell us about what cool things happened to you at school this year."

The three friends, and Crookshanks, then got into Caroline's car and went to their favourite ice cream place in London. They spent the ride catching up and trying to keep Crookshanks from climbing out an open window or climbing down by the pedals of the car. For the duration of the ride, Hermione managed to keep the conversation towards them and not about herself. She learned that Mary got a new boyfriend and Caroline's premature acceptance to a university she wanted to go to. Hermione was kind of jealous about the latter, but then she remembered her grades at Hogwarts and smiled to herself to know that she was definitely one of the smartest people in Gryffindor house. Frankly she was probably smarter than most people in Ravenclaw, too, but she wasn't put in Ravenclaw nor did she know anyone there very well so she couldn't really say anything about that. Her Muggle knowledge, and she hated herself for using the term in reference to her friends, was probably lacking now though.

By the time they got to the ice cream parlor and got all their ice cream ordered, Hermione waited outside with Crookshanks, it had been long enough for them to exhaust all exciting things about themselves and start asking things about her. She wanted to know what ever happened to that football player, which is what she told them Viktor Krum was instead of saying Quidditch player, from Bulgaria or if she and her friend Ron finally decided to date. "Well, Ron went out with this girl Lavender Brown and was snogging her all over the place. It was ridiculous! Just throwing it in my face that he had a girlfriend."

"I hope you let him have it for that," Caroline said. "It sounds like he kind of deserved it this year."

"He did... And I did, don't worry."

"So did you have anyone special this school year?" Mary asked.

Hermione was about to answer when Crookshanks suddenly gave an unhappy noise and bolted towards a stranger, running right into him and clawing at their legs. Hermione's eyes went wide with shock and she ran towards the cat to pick him up with one arm, her ice cream in the other. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! He usually never acts like thi- Draco!?"

Well, that certainly explained why her cat had bolted the way he had. Crookshanks had gotten very used to detecting things from Hogwarts like magic or people. He missed it just like she did and didn't appreciate going back and forth between the Muggle world and the wizarding one. Looking up once she had her cat secure, Hermione looked over the tall, lean frame of Draco Malfoy. His eyes were grey and cold like always, but his expression was clouded with more disdain than usual. He was dressed in all black even though it was summer, and his blonde hair was perfectly arranged. Had it been anyone else who she didn't know Hermione would have found it attractive. Unfortunately for her, her friends did.

"Oooh! Who's this!?"

"Is he from that fancy school you go to?"

"Is this your football player?"

"Does he have a girlfriend and if not can I take the position?"

Draco regarded both of her friends with utter disgust, but he didn't walk away or turn away or ignore them. That was enough to make Hermione intrigued, curious. "Uhm... This is Draco Malfoy. He's in another, uhm, building than I'm in, but we've seen each other around and have a few classes together, and if you'll excuse us I need to talk to him." With that she grabbed Draco by the arm and dragged him about twenty feet away and stopped there. "What are you doing here? You're never in Muggle anywhere!"

"What I'm doing here isn't any of your business, Granger," he replied coldly.

"You're never without your body guards or your parents either... Seriously, what are you doing here?" she asked, getting a little impatient. She wasn't sure why she cared as much as she did, but she was assuming it had something to do with the fact that her wizarding life and Muggle life were never supposed to collide.

"I'm here because I want to be."

"That's a lie."

"Well what do you want from me?"

"I want to know why you're here when this is my time away from magic and school and your bullshit about my being a mudblood!"

"I got in trouble, alright?!" he suddenly shouted back, regaining his cool almost as soon as he lost it. "I'm punished and forced to live as a Muggle for a month... With no money and no contact with my parents." He looked as if he was fully expecting her to burst out and laugh at him. That isn't what she did though. Instead, she looked at him sadly and sighed. Confusion coloured his face with his eyebrows knitting closed. "I'm going now."

He pushed by her and continued walking on, away from her and her friends. Against her better judgment she called out, "Wait!" He made her life miserable at school over the years and was constantly hounding her about her bloodline, but Hermione in all good conscience couldn't let him go around London without anyone there who knew him. She was pretty sure he didn't even know how to survive in Muggle society. "Malfoy, you can stay with my parents and I for the month." The words were quiet, uncertain, but they were still true, true enough to make Malfoy stop and look at her confused once more. There was nothing logical about it, for either of them, but after what seemed like years Malfoy glared at her and let it soften for a brief moment before he gave a nod, accepting the offer.