Disclaimer: I do not own "Harry Potter" or any of its characters, nor do I profit in any way from the use of said characters and situations in this writing.

Timeline: Summer 1999 until mid-February 2000

Main Characters: Draco Malfoy, Helen Fawley (Muggle), Tom Fawley (Muggle), Hermione Granger

Summary: One Year after the Second War, Draco wants out, even leave the wizarding community where his family has been put under close scrutiny and supervision. Hermione becomes his new supervisor, and helps him settle in the muggle world. His life is turned upside down when he meets his neighbour...

NOT a Dramione story.

Extra: I started writing this FF because I wanted to elaborate on the idea what happened to Draco after the War, because in my opinion, he is not the confident and cocky character at that point that he is described as in many other stories - he is confused, lost, and still haunted by his war memories. I was interested in writing a story that tries to tell how he found back on his feet, with all the good things and the bad. I tried to keep it believable, and many things I use to portray characters in the story are rather personal experiences, so the story itself is also a rather personal project. And to anyone who will say that Draco would never do that - how would you react if you had your world view destroyed and need to find something new to believe in?

Thanks to both my betas—Diana who covered the first six chapters very thoroughly; and now to thewaterfalcon who took over and who is just as thorough while being a complete sweetheart about it! :)

In addition, this is the first part of a two-part story; both parts will cover the time frame of about a year. You will see why it is done this way when you reach the end of the first part. ;-)

Rating: NC-17 (very explicit sexual situations later on—making out, snogging, oral sex, profanity, and more)

Prologue

"Granger," Draco growled when he saw who entered the room he was waiting in. He had been in a bad mood ever since they had demanded his presence at the Ministry for this meeting, but to avoid further problems halfway through his request to leave his home, where he had been stuck under house arrest with his parents until recently, he better did as required. Today was supposed to be the day he would meet his new supervisor to further discuss his request – he just didn't expect it to be her.

"Malfoy," she replied sternly, closed the door behind her and finally sat down on the other side of the table.

"Why does it have to be you of all people? Is the universe playing some sort of sick joke on me?"

In response to his cynical remark about the situation, she looked him straight in the eye, but didn't grace him with a verbal response just yet.

Great. She wasn't in a good mood either, and she wasn't going to put up with any nonsense from him, this much Draco understood from her stare in that moment. He sighed in frustration.

"Because someone had to after the Ministry decided to grant your request," she finally replied, her voice still sounding stern and calm, and opened the file she had brought along, containing everything regarding his request. "You can call yourself lucky that your former supervisor let you move out of the Manor prior to that decision..."

Her calm exterior annoyed him further; he wanted some reaction out of her, even if it only was for some relief. It seemed he just couldn't escape her, neither in his nightmares, where he repeatedly dreamed about her torture in the Manor, nor in reality, where she was now his supervisor. He wanted to bang his head on the table, maybe she might go away then, and leave him alone. "And the Ministry thought it was a good joke to appoint you to be my probation officer?" He didn't even try to hide his annoyance.

"I wasn't appointed," she said matter-of-factly, without looking up from the file. She was apparently checking one more time whether she had all the necessary documents. "I volunteered."

That was even worse, she did this on purpose. Draco sighed. "Why? I just want to leave, I'm not a charity case–"

"You don't have a choice." Her voice was still calm, but now changed to a stricter tone. "Believe me, you're lucky that I could manage to keep them from putting the Trace on you, they are that paranoid. And you know that your parents are Traced..."

Draco growled. She was helping him, and it still annoyed him to no end. Maybe it was more because he couldn't get those images from her torture out of his head; the barely hidden scar on her wrist didn't really help either. Beneath his annoyance, however, he was glad that she could avoid the Trace, so that he could have some anonymity and privacy. It just didn't have to be her! What if she would use this opportunity to get back at him for not helping her when he could have? All he wanted right now was to disappear from the wizarding community, to be left alone, and not being put at the mercy of someone who had all the right to hate him and his family. This was going to be a bad day, and probably an even worse night. He sighed when he realised that she was still watching him, but he refused to say a word.

"You asked why I volunteered," she continued after a few long moments of rather awkward silence between them. "I did it because everyone else in the department would've had a field day with you at their mercy. I wasn't going to let them have it."

"But-"

"Let me finish, Malfoy. Then we can establish the rest." She glared at him, not hiding her dislike for him.

She and her bloody sense of justice. Draco just plain glared back, waiting for her to continue.

"We've had our disputes back then at Hogwarts, to put it nicely. But you are just as much a victim of that bloody war as I was, as Harry was-"

"Leave Golden Boy out of it," he groaned, not liking being put in the same category as his old rival, though he had grudgingly acknowledged before that he owed Potter quite a lot for being kept out of Azkaban. "Just get to the point, will you?"

She breathed in deeply, her first acknowledgement of another emotion other than calmness. "I know the whole story, Malfoy. I was at every single hearing and trial concerning your family. Harry testified, I testified-"

"Granger, please!"

"All I want to say is that you didn't have a choice back then, and that's what Harry and I testified to."

He sighed again. Bloody Gryffindors! "Keep your pity. I don't want it."

"I don't pity you. You do that perfectly well yourself," she retorted, in a still calm, but now rather icy voice. "All I want is to make sure you get a chance to get out. Because I think you finally understand what it's like to be at the receiving end of insults and threats, a thing Muggle-borns had to live with for a long time and especially under Voldemort."

He winced at the name of the Dark Lord and she was all so matter-of-fact about it. But yes, he did finally understand what it's like to be at the receiving end and he hated it.

"Listen," she continued, still staring at him without really blinking. "I know you don't like me at all, the feeling's mutual, believe me. But right now it is my name and my reputation as a war hero," she sneered at the last words, "and the fact that I volunteered despite our not so wonderful history together that gives you that chance."

Draco wanted to retort something to relieve some of his still lingering annoyance, but he did understand what she was actually doing for him. Instead, he sighed, and rubbed his temples for a little while, as he felt a headache coming.

"Looks like we have an understanding," she said after a few seconds, her voice as well as her face softening again.

He nodded, albeit reluctantly, and then he could see something resembling a smile on her face.

"So," she continued, looking through the documents in front of her, trying to find a specific one, "since you have very little knowledge about how to live in the Muggle world... I know you never paid attention in Muggle studies as long as you had to take it, Malfoy."

"Wasn't my favourite class."

"You might have learned something, though the class severely needs an update-"

"As I said."

"Right. I'll help you with getting a place and organising the financial aspects with Gringotts as it has neither ATM's nor a branch in the Muggle world, but works closely with a Muggle bank that serves squibs and wizards that stay outside the wizarding community." She finally found the document she was looking for while speaking. "You might want to take a close look at this small list of books I prepared."

He took the list from her, and quickly scanned it. "You call this a small list?"

"Yes. And you would do well to read them."

"Are you serious? No, I'm not going-"

"You will if you want to survive in the Muggle world without being exposed as a wizard. You know what happens if you are..."

Oh yes, he knew the consequences pretty well. Being put under house arrest with his parents again was the smallest of them, though that was the one that motivated him the most, he simply didn't want to go back to them, or they might kill each other in one of their near-constant arguments. He sighed.

"Good, I see you understand the situation. Now, my conditions-"

"I assume you're going to be just as strict as my previous supervisor," he said, going through the book list rather absent-mindedly, his previous annoyance slowly changing into a realisation that he should better cooperate with her, though he didn't really trust her yet.

"No, I don't think so." She looked at him, as if she was trying to make a decision. "From what I've read in your file, you were required to keep your family's supervisor informed almost daily, with unannounced visits and wand checks."

He nodded. The wand checks were what usually pissed him off the most whenever they came up because he could always clearly see that the supervisor didn't trust him at all, despite the fact that nothing suspicious ever showed up.

"I think that was a bit too harsh," she continued. "So I propose the following: I'll help you settle in at your new place, show you how most of the stuff works, which might take some time. After that, maybe a month of weekly check-ins from you, and when I think you're fully settled in, we might reduce it to once every two weeks, with further reduction possible depending on your behaviour."

Draco looked up from the list, surprised at the rather long leash she was willing to give him. And from her short smirk, that surprise was probably even visible on his face for a couple of split seconds. "Again, why?"

"Because I can," she replied, not quite able to hide her amusement under the still rather serious tone. "However, I will still check in on you unannounced to make sure everything's okay and you comply with the rest of the conditions, but way less than your previous supervisor."

"You do realise that you are basically letting me run loose in the Muggle world–"

"I know. I take that risk."

"Why?"

She sighed. "I may not like you, but I know you're smart enough not to muck it up. After all, you were a close second in our year–"

"Close? Granger, you're in your own league, seriously."

That remark made her smirk shortly. "Maybe."

"Will my parents know where I am?" he asked after a few seconds of less awkward silence.

"No, unless you want them to. You're an adult, and you can hence decide for yourself."

He nodded appreciatively. "I just want to get as far away as possible from that place. It drives me crazy and they drive me crazy," he finally admitted, slightly alluding to the horrors they both went through in the Manor.

Hermione nodded, but said nothing. She wasn't here for talking about that night, but she seemed to understand the feeling. "One option on my list would be a bit up north, in a suburban area of a smaller town, Hull, not too far from a school. It might be rather simple compared to what you're probably used to-"

"I take it." Simple sounded good; he wanted simple, not something that would constantly remind him of the Manor.

With a small expression of surprise she wrote something down in her notes. "Hull it is, then."

"How fast can I move in?" he asked when she was finished writing.

"I probably need a couple of days to organise everything." She fished for another document in the file, and checked it once more when she found it. "Though I need your signature under this certificate of authority, so that I can deal with Gringotts in your name to set up an account with the Muggle bank I mentioned before. I won't be able to empty your vaults, don't worry. It only grants me the right to set up those accounts and have some monthly sum transferred or however you want it."

"You will probably never come across that much money in your life as is in there," he replied with a smirk, while reading the certificate she had just handed him.

"Whatever. Sign it and I can set everything in motion."

He nodded and then took the quill she was offering to sign the certificate. There was some sort of relief in signing that document; he knew now that he would get his wish of being mostly left alone for a while, though he would never admit that to Granger.

"I'll have the books delivered to where you're staying at the moment, and you can pay the messenger." She checked his file again. "You're really staying at the Leaky Cauldron?" She looked at him rather incredulously, but no longer with an annoyed expression.

"The one. I don't want to bother anyone else."

"Okay. I'll come by as soon as everything's organised." She closed the file." That's everything so far."

"I guess I should probably say thanks," he commented, suppressing another sigh.

"Yeah, you probably should, but that's a start," she replied with a rather genuine looking smile, then got up. "See you in a couple of days, Malfoy."

He got up as well, partly glad that the meeting was finally over, and partly glad that it didn't go as bad as he had feared in the beginning, though the headache was still throbbing its way to the surface. "See you."