Draco checked the clock on his office wall, wondering if it was too early to call it a day and head home. It was only Hermione's second full day back at home and he wanted to be there for her as much as possible, especially as her parents were coming to dinner that night. From her continued mentioning of them the previous night at the Potters he knew she was both excited to see them and nervous about it at the same time.
Obviously she was excited because in her head she hadn't seen her parents in over two years, when in reality she had seen them on Saturday night. The nerves factored in the equation as for Hermione it would be the first time she had spoken to her parents since she obliviated them just after sixth year. Despite Draco's reassurance that her parents had long since moved on from the incident Hermione was still worried they would hate her for what she had done.
The more Draco thought about Hermione the more he felt the urge to leave the office. Eventually he decided it was time to leave and packed up some work for him to take home with him. Making sure his secretary and the vice-president of the company knew where he was Draco flooed home. Leaving his jacket and briefcase in the floo room Draco set off to find Hermione, wondering if she had already had her lunch, if not maybe they could eat together.
Draco found Hermione in the library, her head buried in the research for her book. Over breakfast that morning she mentioned she had worked on her book the previous day and was planning on trying to do a bit work every day. Instead of immediately making his presence known Draco leant against the doorway and watched Hermione. When she was absorbed in her work like this it was easy for him to forget all the problems they were currently experiencing and just enjoy watching her so settled and not constantly looking confused or puzzled. Hermione's constant confusion was one of the things Draco found the hardest to witness, he knew how frustrating it would be for Hermione to not instantly know what people were talking about and it hurt him to see the desperation on Hermione's face as she wished she could remember. Draco continued to watch Hermione for another few minutes before he made his presence known.
"You're back early." Hermione said, looking up at the clock on the wall. "It's barely lunchtime."
"I'm the boss, I can work as little as possible and not get sacked." Draco shrugged.
"I think even bosses have to do more than three hours of work a day." Hermione laughed.
She was already quite at ease around Malfoy and while they had yet to discuss anything about their relationship she was quite happy to talk with him about other things. Hermione thought that a lot of how comfortable she was around him was due to Harry and Ginny. It was hard to view him as the haughty Slytherin from school when he interacted with her friends so easily. It also helped that nearly everything he said or did proved he was a different person to the one she remembered. Hermione was very aware that throughout this whole ordeal he had never pushed her into trying to accept they were together and since she had returned home he had been polite and courteous and given her all the space she could ask for. Hermione knew Malfoy was also hurting with what had happened but despite how hard this all must be on him he had made it clear that she was his number one priority and he would go along with whatever made her happy.
"I've worked hard for seven years, I deserve a rest." Draco said. "Do you want something to eat?"
"I was actually going to work for another half hour or so before I stopped to eat." Hermione replied. "I was also going to wait until you came home to ask about tonight, I checked earlier and I have nothing decent to make dinner for my parents. I really need to go shopping but I have no idea where the nearest shops are or if I even have any money in the house."
"Your muggle bank card will be in your purse, which is in the front hall. And as for shopping I could take you this afternoon." Draco offered, jumping at the chance to spend time with Hermione. "You can work for another half hour or so then we can maybe get some lunch as well while we're out."
Hermione didn't immediately answer, instead she sat for a minute thinking about the idea. Draco wasn't offended by the delay in answering as he knew actually going out together was a big deal for Hermione. So far she seemed to have accepted that her life was now with him but he was very aware that she had avoided dealing with their relationship and how it had happened.
"That's sounds good, thanks." Hermione eventually decided to accept Malfoy's offer as she knew eventually she would have to spend some more time with him and get to know him better. The large smile that broke out over his face at her acceptance only confirmed to Hermione she had made the right decision.
"Excellent." Draco smiled. "I'll leave you to it now, just give me a shout when you're ready to leave."
Leaving Hermione to get back on with her work Draco returned to the floo room and gathered his jacket and briefcase. He then headed upstairs and after changing into something more causal he settled in the study where he made a start on the work he had brought home with him.
…..
After Malfoy had left her, Hermione tried to continue her work but she found she couldn't concentrate. Despite the fact they had only planned to grab some lunch and do some food shopping the afternoon felt distinctively like a date. Hermione was surprised to find she wasn't dreading the thought, instead she was filled with anticipation. That afternoon would be her first opportunity to see what Malfoy was really like and to see whether they really fit together as a couple.
After nearly ten minutes of staring mindlessly at her work Hermione packed up and left the library. Heading into the hallway she found her bag and searched through it for her purse. When she looked in her purse she was relieved to find there was some money already there, it had only occurred to her a few minutes ago that her bank card would be no good to her with no memory. Unless Malfoy happened to know her pin number there was no way she could draw money from the bank and Hermione knew she wasn't the sort of person to keep her pin number written down somewhere, the second she got it she would have memorised it.
Once she was satisfied she had some money for the afternoon Hermione headed upstairs to get ready. On the way to the bedroom she poked her head into Malfoy's study and they agreed to meet in the hallway in ten minutes. After changing her top and pulling on a pair of boots Hermione headed back downstairs where she found Malfoy waiting for her, his jacket already on. Grabbing her own jacket and her bag Hermione followed Malfoy out of the front door, stopping in surprise at what she saw.
Looking around Hermione was amazed to find they lived in a muggle street, technically it looked to be a cul-de-sac. The street was lined with cars and there was a large piece of lawn in the middle of the cul-de-sac with a few swings and a slide on it as well as several benches. Despite the fact it was October and quite chilly Hermione still spotted a few small children playing on the equipment.
"Are you alright?" Draco asked, turning back to Hermione. He had already descended the steps leading from the house and was out of the gate before he realised Hermione wasn't with him.
"Yeah, I just didn't expect to find we lived in a muggle neighbourhood." Hermione replied, finally moving off the doorstep and joining Draco in the street.
"It suits us." Draco shrugged. "Besides it's easier for your parents to visit and the house was easy enough to adapt magic into it."
Hermione was still taking in the fact that they lived amongst muggles when Malfoy shocked her even further by pulling a set of keys from his pocket and unlocking a car sitting in front of the house. While Hermione had noted the cars in the street she hadn't even thought to associate the sleek, dark blue sports car sitting in front of their house with the blond Slytherin.
"You drive?" Hermione questioned, a bit hesitant to get into a car with Malfoy.
"Yeah, I passed my test nearly three years ago." Draco responded, moving to get into the car. "Are you getting in?" He asked, leaning over and opening the passenger door for Hermione.
Hermione hesitantly got into the car and quickly fastened her seat belt. "Are you sure you really passed your test? You didn't just confound the instructor did you?"
"Of course not." Draco laughed as he started the car. "You wouldn't let me. Every time I had a lesson and when I took my test you confiscated my wand."
Hermione couldn't help but smile, confiscating someone's wand so they wouldn't do magic in the muggle world was definitely something she would do. Although she was slightly worried that she had felt the need to take Malfoy's wand when he was learning to drive, clearly she thought there was a chance he would use it. Luckily it seemed that he had managed to learn how to drive just fine without having to use magic.
The rest of the journey passed in comfortable silence and ten minutes after leaving the house Draco pulled into a large car park in front of an asda store.
"Do you want to eat or shop first?" Draco asked as they got out of the car.
"How about we eat first." Hermione replied. "But is there anywhere round here to eat?"
"There's a bar around the corner, they do lovely food." Draco said, locking the car.
Hermione nodded and followed Malfoy out of the car park. Together they walked to the bar and had lunch. Hermione was still surprised by how at ease she was around Malfoy and found that over lunch he was incredibly easy to talk to. While they steered clear of the topic of their relationship and what had recently happened to her she discovered they shared a passion for literature and they spent the majority of the meal discussing books and debating how good they were. When it was time to pay Malfoy insisted on paying, despite Hermione's protests.
"I was thinking of making a roast beef dinner tonight." Hermione said as they made their way back towards the supermarket. "Is that all right with you?"
"It sounds great." Draco said with a smile. He knew Hermione didn't remember it but one of his favourite meals was roast beef dinner.
"Good, I didn't want to make anything you didn't like." Hermione said as they arrived back at asda.
"I don't think that's possible." Draco chuckled, grabbing a trolley and following Hermione into the supermarket. "Everything you make is great."
Hermione blushed at the compliment and hurriedly changed the subject to what ingredients she would need. For a while they shopped in silence, Hermione searching for what she wanted and dropping it into the trolley Draco was pushing. The whole thing was slightly surreal for Hermione as she just couldn't get used to the fact that Malfoy was quite happily shopping in a muggle supermarket. More than once she snuck glances at him, she half expected to find him looking around in distaste but she never did.
"Are you going to tell me why you keep staring at me or do I have to guess?" Draco suddenly asked when Hermione continued to keep looking at him.
"Sorry." Hermione blushed at being caught. "It's just odd, seeing you so comfortable around muggles."
"It wasn't always this way." Draco said with a shrug. "It took me quite a while to adjust to living half in the muggle world and half in the wizarding world, but I actually like it."
"Why did you do it?" Hermione asked. "What made you learn to adapt to the muggle world?"
"You." Draco replied, looking at Hermione intently.
"Me?" Hermione questioned, trying not to be too affected by Malfoy's piercing look. "What do I have to do with anything?"
"Everything." Draco smiled. "When we first started going out you made it clear that while you might be an accomplished witch, your roots were in the muggle world and you weren't leaving that behind. It was clear that if things ever got serious between us I would have to learn to cope in the muggle world."
"Did you ever consider not trying to adapt?" Hermione asked. "Did you ever consider I wasn't worth all the hassle?"
"It wasn't a hassle." Draco insisted. "And even if it had been, you're worth it."
Once again Hermione blushed at the compliment and ducked her head, causing Draco to chuckle softly. He was so used to his normal, confident fiancée he had forgotten how insecure Hermione had been when they had first started dating. For months after they re-met Hermione would blush furiously and get flustered whenever Draco paid her a compliment, that was until she got used to the blond constantly telling her how amazing she was.
"Come on, let's finish the shopping and go home." Draco said, trying to stop Hermione from being too uncomfortable. "We've got a lot to do before your parents arrive."
