As you can see, I have survived 4 days of convention (if something in this chapter doesn't make sense, blame it on that.)

Anyway: the usual thanks to my beta Nantai and a huge thank you to all those who reviewed.

I hope this chapter isn't too OOC for certain characters who show up and please tell me your opinion! As you know by now I live for reviews & comments. Enjoy

Hermione walked into the living room and stopped instantly. She slowly turned around and glanced at the clock hanging above her bedroom door before turning back and walking the few steps to the sofa. She let herself fall down next to Draco, who didn't notice her.

"Have you slept at all?" she asked and Draco jumped slightly.

"Merlin. Why did you sneak up on me?" he asked and ran a hand through his hair.

"I didn't sneak up on you," Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. "But did you get any sleep?"
Draco nodded and ran a hand through his hair again. "Yeah. But had another nightmare sometime around four and didn't feel like sleeping after it so I wrote."
"You could have woken me up," Hermione said but Draco shook his head.

"You need your sleep. Besides, I managed to go over everything I wrote yesterday once again."
Hermione nodded and tucked her feet under her.

"Why are you awake?" Draco asked. "It's still early."
"Couldn't sleep," Hermione said, before yawning.

Draco shot her an unimpressed look but decided not to comment on it. Instead, he gathered the loose pieces of paper from the coffee table. "I could read this to you now, if you want to," he said.

Hermione nodded enthusiastically and snuggled into a blanket, making herself comfortable. Draco smiled at that and began to read.

"That was surprisingly good," Hermione said in awe.

"Surprisingly?" Draco rose and eyebrow. "You are doubting my writing skills?"
Hermione laughed. "Of course. Besides, have you ever read a fantasy novel before?"
Draco nodded. "I had to get at least a general idea about muggle literature before I tried to land a contract so I read through most of the famous stuff, including Tolkien. I believe he wrote fantasy?"

Hermione studied him for a moment. "You read through most of the famous stuff? What else did you read?"

"Narnia, Sherlock Holmes, Austen, Shakespeare of course, the muggle adaptation of Homer, Alice in Wonderland, several fairytale collections, Wilde, Dumas, Christie, a few biographies, history books and mythology books, Comics… I could go on forever," Draco shrugged nonchalantly as Hermione gaped at him.

"When did you have time to read all that?" she asked.

"As we waited for trial I wasn't allowed to leave the Manor as you know so I ordered books over books and read two or three a day since I had nothing better do to and felt like ignoring the reality," Draco explained.

"Why muggle books, though?"

Draco ran a hand through his hair. It seemed to be a nervous tick he had, but Hermione didn't complain. He looked way more human with tousled hair.

"Good question. It started with my mother giving me a Shakespeare collection and somehow I decided to go on with it since we weren't in danger for reading muggle literature anymore and I always enjoyed reading. Besides, those books took me as far away as possible from the horrors that had occurred in the wizarding world."

Hermione nodded in understanding. It made sense. Even though it was still a bit surprising to hear that Draco got his first muggle book from Narcissa as soon as the war ended. "How did your father react to you buying and reading muggle books?" she asked.

"Well…" Draco snickered. "When he heard that mother gave me Shakespeare he dumped a bunch of Zorro novels in my room and told me I had to read them before I bought anything else."
"Zorro? Like the masked guy?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

"That one," Draco grinned. "The guy Batman is based on. Since that day, I have this picture of my father in a Batman costume stuck in my head and can't get rid of it."
Hermione started laughing. "Maybe you should buy him a suit for Christmas," she suggested when she calmed down.

"Maybe I should," Draco said. "It's actually quite the idea. I always have trouble coming up with a present for him."
Hermione groaned. "Now I am stuck with the image too!"

Draco patted her head affectionately before standing up and stretching. "Anyway, I would appreciate it if you gave me suggestions and critique on the novel."
Hermione smiled up at him. "Of course. But I have to finally write an application for a job before I can do anything else."
Draco smiled back at her, happy that she was really feeling better than the previous days.

"Well, while you do that, I am going home and shower. I'll get in contact with Pansy and get everything ready for the move. Would you be fine with moving tomorrow?" Draco asked.

"Tomorrow? What?" Hermione gaped. "Are you serious?"
"As I've already said, I am not, my uncle was."
Hermione glared at him.

"Alright. Yes, I was not kidding. Is that too soon for you? When would you want to move?" Draco sat back down.

Hermione contemplated that for a moment. "Actually, there's nothing that prevents us from moving tomorrow. Except that both of us haven't packed yet."
"Magic?" Draco shrugged. "I can ask our house-elves for help if you feel like you won't be able to manage."
"That won't be necessary," Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll manage just fine."
Draco grinned. Sometimes it was too easy to make Hermione do what he wanted. He was sure she knew what he did there and was glad that she obliged so easily. He stood up again. "Great. I'll go and get everything ready. I recommend you to write a letter to your landlord while you are writing the application."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Seriously, stop treating me like a kid or I'll change my mind and stay here, without you."
"I'm not treating you like a kid," Draco protested. "I just know that you get really absorbed in your tasks and forget or don't feel like doing some necessary things."
"Says the guy who didn't notice me for two hours while writing," Hermione countered and Draco had the decency to blush.

"Now go," she shooed him away. "I want to get it done before I lose my motivation again."
"Yes ma'am," Draco said and apparated away.

Soon enough he stood freshly showered and decently dressed in front of Pansy's desk.

"Sit down," she commanded and Draco obliged. He knew better than to fight her – especially if she was doing him a favour.

"So what exactly is the thing with you and Granger?" she asked.

"We are friends as I've already told you," Draco shrugged.

Pansy rose an eyebrow. "Is it really all?"
"Yes."
"So you really aren't acting on the crush you harboured for years?" Pansy leaned forward and popped her elbows on the desk.

"What?" Draco looked at her in bewilderment. "How do you know about that?"
"Blaise and I had a bet on how long it would take you to start dating. When Voldemort came back we decided to drop the bet as the situation changed drastically but in fifth year we were sure that one day we would be invited to your wedding."

"Fuck you," Draco crossed his arms over his chest. "And there's nothing now. Yes, I had a crush on her in the past but now I just really want to be friends with her and nothing more. I am not ready to start dating again."
Pansy sighed. "Still not over Astoria, huh?"

Draco shook his head. "This is not about being over Astoria. More like… I don't think I am ready to trust enough to be in a relationship again."
"And yet you are moving in with Granger," Pansy pointed out.

"That's different," Draco sighed and let his shoulders fall. "Seriously, don't read too much into it."
Pansy snorted. "I am not supposed to read too much into it? You refused to move in with both Blaise and Theo but you are moving in with Granger?"
"I would have moved in with you, but you didn't want to. I told you I would rather live with a woman than a man. You don't snore and drink and constantly have company over like Blaise. Not that I blame him. It's just that I wouldn't want that in my flat."
Pansy held up her hands. "Stop. You are rambling again, Draco."
"Sorry," he ran a hand through his hair. "Can we get to the business part of my visit now? We are moving tomorrow."
Pansy sighed. "But promise me to go out with me and the boys sometimes next week. We haven't spend time together for way too long. Bring Granger too. If you two haven't killed each other yet, we will get along just fine."
Draco was about to refuse but decided to agree instead when Pansy stared at him. He could manage one evening.

They went over the papers once again and Draco signed the remaining contracts and checks and Pansy gave him the keys with the reminder to take down the wards from his previous flat upon moving out and setting the new ones in a way that she, Blaise and Theo could enter. They both knew that he wouldn't really go out if his friends didn't have access to his flat.

"But owl me before you drop by. I am not living alone anymore!" Draco said and Pansy waved him away.

He apparated back to Hermione's flat to find her sitting surrounded by papers.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Going over the first chapter," Hermione replied without looking up. "And yes, I've already send both the application and the letter to my landlord."

Draco smiled and walked to stand behind her. He leaned down and dangled the keys in front of her nose. "Look what I got here," he practically purred.

"Yeah, the keys," Hermione muttered after a short glance up and returned her attention right back to the paper she was scribbling on with her red pen. "Don't worry, I've made copies."
"I didn't worry. Considering that I wrote it into a notebook the papers were clearly copies. But why is there so much red?" Draco sat down next to her. "And why aren't you happier about the keys?"
"You are using wizard slang and I am translating it so muggles can understand. And I am happy. But I am busy right now as you can see."

Draco rolled his eyes and set his chin on her shoulder, watching her correct things. "You have to explain those to me," he said.

"Sure."
"Is it fine for you if I go to my flat now and pack?" Draco asked, realising that Hermione was once again absorbed in the task at hand and wouldn't talk to him.

"Go ahead," she said and looked up. "You can tell me about what went on with Pansy later."
Draco smiled and apparated away.

But before he even started packing he sat down and wrote a letter to his parents. They would kill him if he didn't tell them he was moving. They wouldn't be too happy about him not coming in person but a letter was better than nothing.

He tied it to his owl's leg and started packing. Conjuring a few cartons and shrinking the furniture was an easy task and Draco managed to finish a room in twenty minutes.

He was packing his clothes that he wasn't going to shrink in trunks when he heard his name being called and he groaned.

"I'm in the closet, mother," he called and continued his task.

And soon enough Narcissa Malfoy walked into the closet, Draco's letter in hand, closely followed by Lucius.

"What is this?" She asked and waved the letter in front of Draco's face.

"I am moving," Draco shrugged.

"But why didn't you tell us sooner?" Narcissa crossed her arms over her chest. "We could have send you house-elves. Hell, we can do it right now!"
"I would appreciate it if you didn't," Draco sighed and turned to face his mother. "I am glad that they are feeding my owl but Granger would kill me if she found out they helped with the move."
"About that," Lucius spoke up for the first time since entering Draco's flat.

"Yes?" Draco stuck out his chin in a challenging manner.

"Is it serious between the two of you?" Lucius asked. "Because if it is, we would like to know before you introduce us to her."
"Exactly! Why didn't you tell us you two were dating?" Narcissa glared at her son. "You deserve a smart nice woman after the fiasco with Astoria and Miss Granger is everything you could dream of!"
Draco groaned. "Why does everybody assume that we are dating?"

"Because you had a crush on her," said Lucius at the same time as Narcissa said, "Because you are moving together," and Draco groaned again.

"Does everybody know about that crush I had? Is that why the Weasel is so quick to throw accusations?" he asked and threw his arms into the air in surrender.

Lucius snorted. "It must have been pretty obvious when even a Weasley caught on."
Narcissa glared at her husband. "What did I tell you about talking like that?"
Lucius glared back. "I have dropped all acts about blood-prejudice like we have agreed but my disdain for the Weasleys was never an act and I don't plan to hold back. The least in the privacy of my home."
"This is not your home but Draco's," Narcissa said and Luciuss rolled his eyes, making Narcissa smack him on the arm with the letter she was still clutching.

Draco turned back to his packing, fully aware that his parents would make up in a few minutes. They never stayed angry at each other for long. Except that time he had been forced to get the Dark Mark and his mother had given his father the silent treatment for a week.

"But back to the point," Narcissa said. "Are you telling us there is nothing between you and Miss Granger? Are you sure?"
Draco rolled his eyes and turned around again. "Yes, there is nothing and I am sure. And no, father, I don't have a crush on her anymore."
"You are lying," Lucius and Narcissa said in union.

"You are fidgeting with your hands again," Lucius pointed out and Draco cursed inwardly. He hadn't been watching himself for too long and hat forgotten that his parents could read him like an open book. Besides, he still had the suspicion that his mother was a legilimens.

"Maybe I was lying about the crush. It came back," he replied sourly and Narcissa clapped her hands in delight.

"Good. She will be good for you. You have to bring Miss Granger to dinner sometimes."
Lucius grinned at his son from behind Narcissa so she couldn't see it and Draco had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. He had inherited the habit from his father and his mother hated it.

"I will," Draco said with annoyance and Narcissa smiled brightly. "Very well. Are you sure you don't need help?" she asked and when Draco reassured her yet again she decided to let it be.

"We will be going then," she said and Draco pecked her on the cheek before saying goodbye to his father.

"Make sure to keep us updated! And don't forget about dinner!" Narcissa added before finally leaving an annoyed Draco behind to finish the packing.

One question bothered him all the time. Did Hermione know about the crush he used to have on her? Or currently had, he added reluctantly. And did the Weasel and Potter know?

Draco's mood had considerably worsened when he returned to Hermione's flat and let himself fall on the sofa.

"What's wrong?" she asked immediately and Draco sighed.

"My parents came by after I send them a letter about us moving together."
"I can imagine they weren't too happy," Hermione muttered and put her arms around her legs.

"On the contrary. They were quite happy about us moving together and you are invited to dinner. It was more my mother being angry about me writing a letter instead of coming by. And of course they wanted to know if we were dating. Is it impossible for guys and girls to be friends? Why does everybody have to read into that?"

Hermione chuckled and patted him on the arm. "I am glad they are fine with us moving together."
"As if my father would pass up on an opportunity to tease me," Draco sighed and leaned into her and Hermione put an arm around him.

I hope you are all stuck with the wonderful picture of Lucius in a Batsuit (draw it and you'll have my eternal love forever.) Seriously, it simply doesn't want to leave my mind