Swallow it down (what a jagged little pill)…Wait until the dust settles: You live, you learn; you lose, you learn; you scream, you learn…

-Alanis Morissette

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If it weren't for the subject matter she was trying to teach, Draco might have thought Mrs. Robinson was a very attractive witch. Unfortunately, there was nothing more repulsive to Draco than a woman trying to teach him how to operate muggle contraptions like microwaves, electric shavers, irons, and washing machines. She was so enthusiastic about it too, like she really enjoyed talking about muggles all day. It didn't make any sense to him.

Draco placed a piece of bread into the slot and pressed down a large button located at the end of the small contraption in front of him. Blaise was across the room from him using a giant basin that mixed around clothing until they were clean and another that tumbled them until they were dry. Draco folded his arms and waited. Mrs. Robinson made her way across the room and peered over his shoulder.

"Oh no, no, no, Mr. Malfoy! Look this scenario over and tell me what you did wrong here," she critiqued.

"I didn't do anything wrong. I put the bread inside of the toter-"

"Toaster, it's called a toaster Mr. Malfoy," corrected Mrs. Robinson.

Draco's teeth clenched, "Toaster" Draco corrected himself as his teeth began to grind in irritation. "and then I pressed the button just like you showed us."

"Yes but you forgot to set it first. See?" She reached in and turned a few knobs.

"This button that you have selected is for bagels. We're just making toast. So turn this here…and then if you have it set this high you're going to burn it because this bread is quite thin, isn't it?"

The one thing he hated more than a muggle studies teacher was an instructor that taught in questions. Draco took a deep breath and tried to remain calm.

"What's say you try this again, okay? Now, go take that box over there that says pop-tarts. Read the directions and prepare one for me. I'll be over in a few minutes to check on your progress. So much to learn, so little time!"

Draco rolled his eyes and made his way over to the pop-tart box, hating his life the entire way over.

/

Draco and Blaise were currently roommates in a half-way house. It would be the same house they would return to upon the completion of their program.

Draco had just finished complaining about making toast and how irritating Mrs. Robinson was when there came a knock at the door.

"Come in," answered Blaise. It wasn't as if they had a choice.

Hermione peeked her head in, "How are we doing today?"

"Filled with information we never thought we'd learn or ever wanted to," replied Draco dryly.

"I can't believe how dependent these muggles are on contraptions. These classes are only confirming how far beneath us they are," explained Blaise.

"You think that now but when you're assigned your apartments you're going to need every bit of information you're learning here. Even how to make a pop tart Draco. If you get hungry when you're on your own there won't be any house elves around to make dinner for you."

'Great, Granger gets to watch all of my short-comings and down falls throughout this painful process,' thought Draco when he realized Hermione had somehow witnessed his escapade with the toaster earlier.

Hermione walked further inside, but left the door open behind her. "When you complete your programs-"

"If we complete them you mean?" corrected Blaise pessimistically.

"I prefer to stay positive Mr. Zabini," said Hermione. "When you complete your programs you will be required to attend a bi-weekly group session for three months. It will give you a chance to talk about your experiences and process what you've learned with your peers. You, of course will be able to discuss your experiences at your check-in as well but it's beneficial to talk with someone who's been in your shoes sometimes. I want you both to come down to the meeting room after classes tomorrow and sit in with some of our recent program graduates. I think it will do you good to listen in and hear about what you can expect."

"Are you asking us if we want to go or is this a requirement?" complained Blaise.

"Everything I ask of you is a requirement Mr. Zabini. It is my program after all," Hermione sharply stated before she turned and left.

/

Blaise and Draco were learning about muggle attire the next day. This included muggle hygiene. Draco was going to have to use actual skill to keep his hair meticulously in place, instead of magic. It was already starting to frizz out after just a couple days without his wand and he was starting to grow stubble on his face. He was hesitant to use the razor they gave him, but once he started to use it he found he quickly got the hang of it.

The muggle hair products weren't the best but they were sufficient. What Draco found to be the most annoying about muggle living was all the different tools he had to use each day to accomplish things. Typically, he only had to use his wand for majority of the tasks he encountered in the day. In the muggle world every item you encountered did something different and held a unique purpose. For example, you couldn't use an iron to heat a pop-tart.

"Or could you?" wondered Draco accidently out loud.

"Could you what?" asked Blaise, who was trying to put on a tie.

"What? Nothing. What are you doing?" Blaise was making a mess of himself. "You've never done this by hand before?"

"No, I use a spell. Don't you?"

"No, spells don't get it as tight. Here, let me show you." Draco took hold of the tie and showed Blaise the proper way to do it.

Blaise appeared satisfied and slightly impressed with the result, "See Draco? You're going to make a great muggle."

"Don't you ever say that to me again."

Blaise gave him a cheeky smile, "Shall we move on to the next grueling station?"

"If we must," grumbled Draco as the moved on to the next station.

/

As instructed, Blaise and Draco made their way to the meeting room after their classes finished. There were five other people sitting in a circle and four open chairs among them.

Blaise and Draco took a seat and looked around the room. Two of the people sitting in the circle were women and three were men. Two of the men and one of women had markings all along their arms, including but not limited to the Dark Mark. Draco felt himself pulling his sleeve down a bit.

"We don't hide anything in this room boy," scolded one of the older, tattooed men. The man had ruffled dark brown hair, wrinkles all over his face even though he couldn't possibly be as old as he looked, and it appeared that it had been months since he last shaved. He probably hadn't paid attention to the part of class that showed how to use a razor. Draco was grateful in that moment that he'd figured out how to use a muggle razor; he couldn't imagine what he'd look like with a beard like that. "Don't try to pretend that we don't know what's under that," the man continued.

"I just had an itch," Draco lied.

"Keep lying. You won't make it through the program long if you do," interjected a woman with no markings and long black hair that she had rested over her left shoulder.

Two others came into the room; a young witch and an older wizard. They looked as nervous as Draco and Blaise so they assumed they were new as well.

The door opened a final time and the facilitator entered the room. Draco recognized her the moment he saw eccentric yellow feathers sticking out of her hair band.

"Hello, hello group! As you can see, we have four visitors joining us today! They're just beginning their program. Please welcome Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, Vanessa Taurus, and Ares Hamilton," she introduced them and pulled another seat up into the circle for herself. "My name is Luna LoveGood for those of you who don't know me. Since we have some new faces today, can we all go around and introduce ourselves? For those of you who have completed the program; say your name, the offense that brought you here and a word of advice for our new comers. For those of you joining us for the first time just state your name and offense for the group. I want you all to realize that we all have done things we regret, we understand you and together we're going to move past those actions in exchange for a healthy and positive mentality towards muggles! Leo, would you like to begin?"

"Sure," gruffed the man who had called out Draco. He scratched his arm, running his dirty nails across his dark mark. "My name is Leo Briggs…I have two weeks left of group before my program is over and I'm here because I planted some dittany on the lawns of some muggles I didn't like…didn't know 'em but I didn't like 'em," Draco noticed he resisted a smile as he said it. "And for those of you who don't know what dittany is, you only need to know that it's pretty flammable. Guess I did some serious damage to all of their lawns."

"To their lawns Mr. Briggs?" said Luna.

"…and their houses," he reluctantly continued. " 'spose if the ministry hadn't arrived when they did I probably would've burned 'em all down. And what else was it? Er…yea…some advice 'fer ya…uh…I guess, Don't think about everything you're leaving behind. Your friends, family, magic, your wand, all of that. You have to forget who you are right now or else you'll drive yourself crazy believing nothing is good enough for you. Enter this program as if you have nothing because that's exactly what you have."

Leo folded his arms and leaned back in his chair as he finished speaking. Luna smiled at him and looked encouragingly to the person sitting next to him.

This woman had short hair that had been badly died a shade of burgundy. She had markings on her arms that were similar to Leo's, including the dark mark; which she made no attempt to hide.

"My name is Serenity Ivy and I'm here because I sent a Dark Mark into the sky during a muggle festival. My advice to you is to make friends while you're out there because if you don't appear social, they're going to assume you're plotting something. If they think that you're plotting, they watch you more and you increase your chances of getting kicked out of the program. You may think you don't want to be here now, but believe me; you don't want to get kicked out because things will only be worse off for you."

She said her peace and Luna didn't press her to say anymore.

The next man was named Terrance Yules. He was small but covered in scars, markings and an array of tattoos. From the look of it, half were muggle tattoos. Maybe it had been his way to cope with his severance from the wizarding world during his program? He told the group he was an animagus. He could transform into a lion and had purposely transformed himself in the middle of a popular zoo, terrifying the muggles who thought that the animals were escaping when he chased them around, biting at their ankles. His advice was to find a hobby to pass the time to keep out of trouble.

The woman with long black hair eyed Draco up before speaking, "My first piece of advice would be to lose the attitude," she said directly to him. "None of your enemies are in this room, and none of them will be out there. They reside in the Wizengamont and there is nothing you can do about the sentence you've received so get over it." Draco felt his face twitch as he did his best not to glare at the woman. "My name is Georgia Reeves and I'm here because I tried to get the Dark Mark after the war." She showed her bare arm, "Obviously I wasn't successful in obtaining it."

That explained why she had snapped at him. She didn't care about his honesty or success. She was jealous that Draco had the mark and she didn't. She was upset because he had been trying to conceal it instead of flaunting it around like she would have if she'd been given one. Draco couldn't help the proud smirk that overcame his features as he inched his sleeve up, barely showing off the mark underneath. He let his arm casually drop and turn towards her direction and could feel Georgia scowl at him.

"I don't want it anymore," she added. "I'm grateful I don't have it because of all the judgment that comes with it. I can live a normal life now. I know that muggles don't know what it means but wizards do and if you have it, it's like being branded. It says: I was once someone's property, like an animal. And I am not an animal."

Terrance laughed, looking eerily like a Cheshire cat only more vicious and with larger canines.

Draco only smirked harder at her jealous envy.

"Shut up! Both of you," Georgia yelled as she crossed her arms.

"Riley," Luna tried to calm the tension building in the room by continuing down the circle to the next person.

The last speaker was a young man, a couple years older than Draco. His name was Riley Crevice and he had given a group of muggle children ton-tongue-toffees on Halloween. The medical recovery the wizarding world had to provide for the children who received them was extensive and so he was sentenced to the program to ensure he would never try something like that again.

Blaise introduced himself and told the group that he and Draco had used magic in front of a muggle and almost hurt in the process. They didn't like muggles per say but they had never intended to hurt or scare anyone. It had been Officer Potter who had made the situation turn from amusing to dangerous. The group seemed to enjoy hearing that an officer was finally to blame for something, even if it wasn't true.

Draco simply told them who he was and looked to the person beside him to speak figuring Blaise's testament was sufficient for him as well.

"Since you didn't get to tell your story yourself why don't you tell us why you got that Dark Mark there?" suggested Georgia with a snide little smile on her lips.

"What a great idea!" agreed Luna, "Thank you Georgia!"

"Happy to help," smiled Georgia.

"Fine," pressed Draco as he glared at her. "I got the Dark Mark at my family's request. I fought alongside He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in the Battle of Hogwarts and-"

"Then why ain't you in Azkaban with the rest?" interrupted Terrance.

"Because of something my mother did. Anyway-"

"Oh okay. Mama's boy. She saved you from that but she couldn't keep you from this?" provoked Georgia.

"Actually, the Dark Lord entrusted me during the war to carry out some of his most sensitive missions," bragged Draco. "The fact that I was granted clemency was a happy accident that is none of your concern."

Leo was smiling as if he'd won something, "Keep being proud of your past boy and see how fast you end up in a cell alongside your friends. Georgia's right; you ain't gonna last long around here until you get your act together. A little more remorse; a lot less arrogance. That's what you need to get through this."

"Okay then, let's move eon to the next person," suggested Luna with a smile, sensing the tension re-growing between Draco and Georgia and Leo.

The person sitting beside Draco was named Pyros Xavier and he had gotten into a bar fight at muggle bar and used his wand on his opponent. The young girl next to him was name Catherine Sage and she had used illegal memory charms on muggle merchants in order to steal merchandise.

After introductions were made, Luna invited the veterans of the group to share some of their experiences within the muggle world. They talked about the difficulty they had learning the train and bus systems, the different jobs they were able to obtain, the ridiculousness of some muggle laws and even the things they missed about muggle life.

They were honest about the program, saying that some of the things they were expected to learn were unrealistic and stupid but some of the learning experiences had points to them. They didn't have to walk out of this experiences loving and advocating muggles. They had to just grow a respect for them. In order to that they had to let go of the hate and bigotry within their hearts. That was the requirement to graduate and sometimes that was easier said than done.

Living amongst muggles made them respect their way of life and sometimes brought out the hate in them. At the end of the day, they realized muggles were just like wizards; some were good people and others were scum. They couldn't be generalized. No one had to leave the program believing that marriage between muggles and wizards was right either, but realize that they shouldn't change the way they treated someone over it. Judge people on their character, wizard and muggle alike; that was the lesson to be lived and learned.

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A/N: First of all, for those of you who don't already know, I just finished a story this week. It's called Prohibited Behavior and it's the prequel to The Possibility. Check it out if you haven't already!

Secondly, Shout out to Kermit 304, .g-baby, and IridescentInTheDark for the consistent reviews. I look for your feedback every chapter along with 23Nelly, JaspersEmotionalGirl, and who I thanked back in chapter 2. You keep my muse functioning! Thank You!

Third, Remember to Review and let me know what you thought of this chapter because it gives me ideas for my upcoming chapter and it's a nice thing to do.

And Lastly, some good/bad news. If you followed along with Torn then you know that I recently completed a weightloss challenge and lost 59 pounds. My weight loss goal was to lose 100 pounds by my birthday and since I finished the last challenge the scale has already started to come up a bit. SO...I have signed up for another weight loss challenge. It's less demanding than the first but it will still take up sometime. So updates may slowdown but I'm going to do my best to stay on top of them. I have the next five chapters completed and I'm just tweaking them around so don't worry about me dropping out anytime soon. Just wanted to update you in case you notice my updates slow down in pace. Thanks!