I promise I was n't lying when I said this was mostly done, but then I went and spilled lemonade on my laptop. RIP laptop. SO here it is, finally.

Soon it was Friday. Draco woke up early that morning, excited despite himself. That evening they would be going to Hogsmeade, where they would board the Knight Bus to the Muggle Airport. Classes that day seemed to drag by slowly. As soon as Flitwick dismissed his class, Draco was out the door. He double checked that his Muggle suitcase was packed and headed down to the Great Hall, where Goldlord was waiting with a small number of Muggle Studies students near her.

Some younger students were enjoying an early dinner and were staring at them enviously. Draco smiled a bit, glad he wouldn't have to put up with the boring routine of school they would for the next few months. Sure he would be going to school, but it wouldn't be the same boring one.

He joined the group and waited impatiently for the rest to show up. When Granger appeared she stood silently near him, PotHead and Ginger trailing behind her like lost puppies. Finally the last student arrived and they were off.

The group made their way out the front doors and loaded into carriages. Because the students were encouraged to stay with their partner, Draco ended up in a carriage with the Golden Trio. It wasn't too bad, the boys mostly ignored him. Granger made an effort to incorporate him in the conversation once or twice.

When they got to Hogsmeade they all boarded the Knight Bus. Draco sat down on one of the seats and gripped tight to the railing while squeezing his eyes shut and hoping it would end soon. Finally, the bus squealed to the stop in front of a large building. Draco had studied enough to know that the building was the airport they would be using to get to the schools, but that didn't make it any less foreign to him.

All the students split up into partners and were handed their boarding passes by Professor Goldlord. As they were all going to different schools around various countries, they would all be taking different flights. The first part of passing the practical exam was being able to actually get yourself there.

Professor Goldlord waved goodbye and boarded the Knight Bus again. The group of students watched the purple bus drive into the distance before turning and heading inside. Granger claimed she had been in this airport, the Heathrow according to the sign, before when she had traveled with her family and claimed the position of group leader.

Granger led them all inside and to a place where they left their suitcases so they could be loaded onto the airplane. Granger navigated them through security, although it took a lot of effort to try to explain why they had to take off their shoes and jackets. Draco walked by Granger as she led each pair to their gate and made sure they knew what time their flight was and how to board.

Draco couldn't help but mentally compare her to a very efficient teacher or law enforcement officer. Potter and Weasley were their last drop-offs. Draco stood awkwardly to the side as Granger hugged her friends and made Potter promise to stay out of danger. That made him chuckle a little but he covered it as a cough. Finally, Draco and Granger made it back to their own gate. Their flight didn't actually leave for another two hours.

"Granger, what am I supposed to do for a whole two hours?" To his annoyance, she laughed.

"Well, there are places to eat in the airport, as well as some bookstores. You might want to get a book for the flight, it is seven hours after all. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah actually, I think I am. But what sort of place to eat would be an an airport?"

She laughed again. "What are you in the mood for? In our terminal there's pastries, coffee, Lebanese, a bar and seafood."

"Seafood? In an airport? That doesn't sound very good. Lead me to the pastries and coffee."

Granger rolled her eyes but grabbed her carry on bag and started to walk away anyways. Draco picked up his bag and followed her. She led him to a small counter with a very long line. There was a sign that said "Costa". She stepped into line and he followed her.

"So, what kind of coffee do you drink?"

"Um, just normal coffee. Do they make other kinds?" Granger yet again laughed at him, which would have been annoying coming from anyone else but from her he didn't seem to mind as much. She pointed to a big sign over the counter listing many different possible drinks.

"It's time for you to join this century, Malfoy," she chuckled. He just huffed. They waited for their turn to order in silence. It wasn't awkward silence either, but rather companionable. Draco tried to observe the people that went past.

When it was their turn to order, Draco insisted on paying for both his medium black coffee and Granger's large as well as two blueberry muffins. When she protested all Draco responded with was, "Which one of us lives in a mansion? It would take more time to pay separately and I'm hungry," before taking the receipt from the smiling lady and settling in for more waiting.

When they got their coffees and pastries they settled down at a table to eat and discuss what they would need to buy once they got there. They would be arriving on Saturday, which gave them all day Sunday to beat jet lag and get prepared before they would be starting school on Monday. Granger had plenty of muggle clothes, but Draco would definitely need more than the one outfit he possessed and was currently wearing. They decided to go shopping Sunday morning and then spend the rest of the day preparing for their classes.

When they finished their coffee, Draco allowed Granger to usher him into the small bookshop. He quietly browsed, not really interested in anything he saw. The bookshop was pleasant though. Quiet and still, a far cry from the fast paced Flourish and Blott's. He planned on browsing his course books provided for him by Hogwarts on the plane.

Granger picked up two books from where she had finished paying for them and thanked the cashier. He waited for her before following her out the door and back to their gate. As they settled down, Draco pulled out his mathematics book and began studying it from chapter one. He noticed Granger doing the same. He opened it up to the first chapter.

It didn't make much sense, but he wasn't the second best in his class for nothing. He began to study through the book, looking at examples and trying out practice problems. Because they would be coming in towards the end of the school year, the majority of the course work would have already been covered. It was up to them to make it up.

Draco was spacing out over a page on "imaginary numbers" when Granger nudged him and started to gather her things. It was time to board the airplane. As much as he hated to admit it, Draco was nervous. He had flown before, but never in something he didn't have control over.

Draco grabbed his bag and followed Granger to the small queue that had formed. They allowed the man to scan their small pieces of paper and then proceeded into a small hallway. Draco tried not to look down through the crack between the hallway and the airplane. When he got on the plane he was delightfully surprised to see the spacious seats. He moved to sit but was stopped by a miniscule shake of Granger's head. So he kept walking.

Draco was disappointed when he saw the rows of squished seats. Granger gestured to a row. "Sit down in the seat by the window," she ordered. Draco did so and Granger sat next to him.

"Why'd we have to sit here?" he complained, "There were perfectly good seats up there."

She grabbed his boarding pass. "D'you see these numbers here? They're assigned seats. The good ones are reserved for the people that pay a ton of money."

"I have a ton of money," he argued.

"Money you need to save," she answered.

Draco huffed and sat back in his seat, crossing his arms.

"Okay, answer this. Why is there a television screen in the back of the seat?" Even though Draco knew what televisions were now, they still seemed pointless to him. Why sit and watch for hours when you could be doing other things?

"So you can watch movies during the flight," Granger explained. "It's a long flight and you want to stay entertained. Also they have options for music."

"You make it sound like you've flown to this 'Florida' place before."

"I have," she said simply. As the flight filled up, they were joined in their row by an elderly couple who didn't even acknowledge them. She showed him how to plug in the hearing things, "Earbuds" and they each watched the safety briefing on their own individual screens. After it was over, Draco made to pull out his math book again but was stopped by Granger.

"It might be good for you to watch a movie or two," she told him. "I know we covered a few possible references in Muggle studies but it's going to be hard if you don't at least try to immerse yourself into the culture."

By this point Draco was starting to realize that arguing with Hermione Granger was absolutely pointless. "Okay then, which one should I watch?"

She smiled at being obeyed so easily and grabbed the controls for his screen. "Well we definitely want something popular, something everyone our age would have watched. Here, watch this one." She pulled up a movie called "The Hunger Games". Draco just shrugged and pressed play. He didn't think it would be able to hold his attention for the full duration of the movie, but he would give it a try.

Two hours later Draco was trying to wipe tears off his face without being noticed by Granger, who was deeply enraptured in the ending of her own movie. Muggle entertainment was brutal. He knew logically that the little girl was going to have to die but did they have to make it so sad?

Just then a woman walked down the aisle handing out food. He accepted the Chicken Curry from the woman with a smile, even though he had never heard of it. Granger paused her movie as the credits came on and accepted her portion as well. Draco was actually sort of shocked at just how much food their was.

"Granger," he asked, "what's with the full meal, it's only the mid afternoon."

"Well it's a long flight," she explained, "and they're trying to help us adjust to Florida time. Remember how we learned about time zones?" He nodded. "Well, when we get to Florida it will be morning. So this is our dinner, and then afterwords they will dim the lights and encourage us to sleep. You don't have to of course, but I'm going to." He nodded and opened up the food.

"And um, what is this?" He asked pointing at the meat and rice.

"Chicken curry. It's Indian food, really popular in London, not so much in Florida. It's spicy, but I think you'll like it." He nodded again and turned back to his plate. He also had a small salad, a roll, a slice of cake, and water. He hesitantly tried a bite of chicken curry. Granger was right, it was spicy but not altogether unpleasant.

Draco was woken up by Granger nudging him. He pulled his arm away. "Yeah, yeah, I'm up." After a while they grabbed their carry-ons and exited the plane. When they got to the baggage pick up they waited for their bags in silence before leaving the part of the airport you had to go through security to get through.

When they entered the main part of the airport there was a professionally dressed woman holding a sign that had both their names on it. She smiled at them as they walked over.

"Hi! You must be Draco and Hermione. How lovely it is to have you here. I'm Mrs. Kurly, I'm the principal." Draco shot Hermione a confused look.

"Headmaster," she clarified. Mrs. Kurly just smiled at them.

"Right so you have your luggage? Let's go then. I'm driving you to your hotel. On the way there we'll pass the school, I'll point out where it is to you. Your teacher, Mrs. Goldlord, was it? Was nice enough to put me up in a hotel with you so I can drive you every day, at least for the first week or so. After that I'm afraid you'll have to deal with the bus."

She led them through the parking garage and into her car. Granger snagged the passenger seat while Draco was in the back.

"Now it's an hour long drive from the airport," Mrs. Kurly informed them cheerily. Draco sighed, tired of traveling, and pulled out that damned Algebra book. He would get ahead if it was the last thing he did. With that resolution firmly set in his mind, They pulled out of the lot and set off to the hotel.

As always, give me feedback.

Next up: Draco goes to the mall. What fun.