Chapter Four

Hermione jolted awake from her sleep, her hair sticking to the sweat on her face and neck as her hands slowly released the sheets she had just been desperately grabbing at. Sitting up, she pulled back her hair into a ponytail and made her way out of bed and into the kitchen. After filling a glass with water from the tap, she sat crisscrossed on the cool, tiled floor and leaned back on the cabinets, remembering what had awoken her.

Distant images flashed through her mind. The one that stuck out the most was of the man she feared more than anyone, Callum Baines. Hermione sat in a daze, sipping some water. Eventually she closed her eyes and pressed her hands over her face. Shaking her head and downing the last of her water, she forced herself to push him away from her thoughts. Hermione subconsciously double checked the doors and windows to be certain they were locked. Once finished, she felt foolish, and laid back down. She concentrated on making her muscles relax throughout her body, one area at a time. Eventually, the exhaustion became too much and she fell back into her previous slumber.

Those next few hours of sleep felt merely like minutes. Her phone sang it's ringtone and she couldn't bring herself to ignore it. Looking at the clock, it was already seven in the morning. Checking the ID with a roll of her eyes, she answered a frantic Alice.

"Where in the hell have you been?!" Alice complained.

Hermione knit her eyebrows and rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "What do you mean? I'm just at home."

"I mean, I called you probably a dozen times yesterday. If you hadn't of answered your phone just now I'd be banging on your front door any moment," she huffed.

"My phone died yesterday shortly after lunch, and I went straight to bed after I put it on the charger. I'm okay, no need to send out a search party," Hermione lightly laughed.

"Whatever... So are you going to tell me? What happened? Did you go to that guy's house?" Impatience and excitement mixing in her voice.

Hermione paused, "Why don't I just tell you in person? I'll be out for coffee in about in hour."

"Okay! See you then!" Then the phone line went dead.

Hermione sighed and thought about what exactly she planned on telling Alice about who he was and what had happened. He was from her "high school", but if she pressed for information she had to keep it light and indirect. She couldn't tell her about all the bullying, the war, or why he was even there in the first place for goodness sake. She considered Alice her best friend and yet she couldn't indulge her into her real life.

My old life, she corrected sorrowfully. It was for the best. The magical world and her safety wasn't worth jeopardizing for a few hours of ranting or confiding.

After a hot shower, Hermione took her time getting ready, pulling on her clothes and a jacket. Once she finished a bowl of cereal, she was the out the door, her mind wandering to Malfoy. Would he be out? Would they see each other? He said now that she knew he was here he didn't have to hide anymore. Her insides flip flopped with a bit of nervousness. She hoped he'd behave in front of her friends and neighbors.

Without a sign of him during her entire walk, she came up to her destination and went inside. Spotting Alice immediately sitting at the small, round table by a window.

"Here's your coffee," Alice pushed the cup the short distance to Hermione. "So, now that that's settled, tell me what happened!"

Hermione laughed at her friends excitement. "Honestly it's not all that juicy. It turns out he was the guy that I thought he was. We went to high school together and it was just very, very surreal to see someone I haven't seen in so many years."

"What did you do once you got to his house? Was it awkward? Did you ask him why he stays home all the time?"

"Alice," Hermione said, interrupting the bombard of questions. "I promise, it's not that interesting, but I'll give you a play by play if you want." She glanced down at her cup of coffee for a pregnant pause before looking back up to continue. "I knocked on the door, he answered. He invited me in for something to drink, we caught up a bit. That was pretty much the entirety of it."

Alice didn't look impressed. "That's it? Why have we never seen him around then?"

"I- well, he said he felt like an outsider, and, um, he had a hard time putting himself out there in a town full of strangers..."

"Well now he knows you! What's his name? Is he cute?"

Hermione breathed out a sigh of relief when Alice didn't think twice about her response, but quickly turned red in awkward embarrassment. "His name is Draco... and I don't know, not particularly I don't believe. I wasn't paying attention to that."

Alice giggled at Hermione becoming so flustered. "Hmm, Draco... I like his name. It sounds very sexy."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "That's preposterous. You can't judge a person's attractiveness based on their name."

"Oh lighten up, Hermione," she poked. "I expect you to invite him to drinks on Wednesday so we can all properly meet him."

"We?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at her. "And why do I have to invite him? It's not an invite only, anyone can walk in and buy a drink."

"But he doesn't know we're going to be there. And yes, we! We as in everyone who's going to be there. You have to invite him because you are the only one who actually knows him," Alice said sternly.

"Okay, fine. I'll invite him."

"I mean it. Follow through with it. Even if you don't consider him a 'friend-friend', be a good neighbor!"

"When have I not followed through on something?" Hermione playfully questioned.

"Point taken." Alice replied, sipping her coffee and looking satisfied.

It was Tuesday evening and Hermione was running out of time to extend Malfoy an invitation for Wednesday. While she could put it off until Wednesday afternoon, that felt last minute and a bit rude. Hermione stood up from the laptop in front of her and huffed as she grabbed her purse.

Once again she found herself at his front door. Taking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes and rapped on the door. It opened much sooner than she anticipated and caught her slightly off guard. When Hermione didn't say anything immediately, Draco raised an eyebrow at her.

"Did you know that today is not Sunday?" He remarked.

"Yes I am aware what day it is, thank you very much," said Hermione, gathering her wits.

"Then why are you here? You must have better things to do with your time than show up here," Draco questioned. "I know I do at least."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Be quiet a second, would you? My friend Alice told me to invite you to drinks on Wednesday. Tomorrow. You have no obligation to come. I invited you, that's all. Have a good night." She turned to leave.

"Now wait there a second. You want me to meet your friends? I'm touched," Draco said with false sincerity, placing his hands on his chest.

"I personally could care less of you came. In fact, make it easy on me and don't show up." Hermione avoided his gaze and picked at her nails, trying to emphasize her indifference.

A smirk grew on his face. "Oh, I'll be there. You can count on that."

"Okay. Great. I'll see you then," Hermione replied with a lack of enthusiasm. She began to walk away when he called out to her.

"Are you going to tell me a time or am I just supposed to read your mind?" Draco shouted.

Hermione rolled her eyes again and looked back over her shoulder. "Be there around nine."

She heard his front door shut behind her and she couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes once more. Tomorrow would be interesting in the least, that was for sure. She hoped it would all go rather smoothly, that everyone would accept him without asking too many personal questions and, most of all, that he wouldn't act his usual git self and embarrass her. This was her life, she had been building it over the past few years and Draco couldn't just appear and mess everything up.

Hermione shook her head and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She was being silly. Draco was supposed to be there to protect her, he wouldn't jeopardize his job here when he'd worked so hard to gain the Ministry's trust. There was no need to overreact, at least not yet.