***
Chapter 3

***

He turned away and got off the couch. Hermione tried not to sigh and wondered what she'd been doing. This was Draco Malfoy, whether he knew it or not, the one who'd constantly swore at her, who she'd punched, who was so cruel to all her friends and everyone who was weaker than him. Surely she hadn't just… if he'd… what if he had kissed her?

She shivered. "Are you hungry?" she called to Draco, who was carefully studying a book that rested on an armchair across the room. It was Hogwarts, A History.

"I suppose… What is this?"

She walked over to him. "You don't remember Hogwarts? Do you remember magic at all?" Hermione held out her wand to him. The same voice shrieked at her, reminding her that handing your own wand to Draco Malfoy was only a bit safer than dumping gasoline on an enraged skrewt. She ignored it.

He took the wand and ran his fingers down it. It was made of cedar and phoenix feather. "Yes of course, magic. I do know of it… I just can't remember, you know, spells and whatnot."

"Yes. I read a bit about amnesia in a book, years ago, you should remember some things. It might be a bit like a play. You can see the stages and remember a bit of plot, but the characters aren't there."

He nodded. "What about food, then?"

"Er, okay… I'm really not much of a chef, is cereal alright?"

"Cereal?"

She looked at him sideways. "I suppose it'll be fine," she said as they entered the kitchen. Everything was sunshine yellow and deep navy with little splotches of green. Hermione motioned to a chair and he sat down as she went about the kitchen, lugging out milk and going through a lazy Susan in the corner for cereal. She smiled a little as she handed him the bowl and he stared at the cereal in it stupidly.

"Just fish out the crunchy stuff, you'll do fine. I don't suppose big pureblood families have cereal for breakfast?"

"Er, what?"

She smiled. "When we were at school—you go to school with me in Hogwarts, it's summer holidays now—you would go on and on about how you came from a long line of wizarding families. You thought it made you better than… well, than people like me, who come from non-magic families. Mind you," she said at the look on his face, "it's not true that that makes you better. May as well start your moral education over again, seems that you didn't have much of it before." She smiled wanly.

"Cor, was I very bad?"

"Don't make me answer that."

"Yes, don't think I will." He smiled again. She smiled back as he dropped his spoonful of cereal back into the bowl as he held the spoon wrong, then yawned. "Have you ever watched TV?"

***

Lucius never liked much to search for the damned boy on his own, but he wanted Draco to know that he simply couldn't run from his father. (Of course, not much could be said for the boy's intelligence level, he never quite caught on.) So usually Lucius would send out lower ranked Death Eaters to scout areas, and if there were any sign of Draco near there, Lucius would swoop down from the Mansion and grab the boy himself.

He sighed, a sound that was a lot like a growl, and put his feet on the desk. Still no news. Sometimes he wondered why he even looked for him anymore.

***

Hermione yawned and opened her eyes. She mumbled something softly and shifted.

"'Morning," said Draco, and Hermione jumped as she realized where she was laying down. On Draco Malfoy's lap. She blushed furiously and jumped up. "What time is it? Draco, when did I fall asleep?" She looked over and saw the TV playing cartoons.

"Erm, I'd say nine or ten, and you fell asleep only a couple of minutes after you showed me this. Quite amazing, I think. See, I learned how to get different things on the screen." He demonstrated, flipping the remote to and from a news show.

"Wait, Draco, turn that back!"

He turned it to the news show again. A woman was on the screen, arranging papers while talking. "—still can't explain the strange events that have now seemed to have moved to North America with five attacks in the United States in the last month- the most recent taking place just last night in North Carolina." A screen appeared in the top left corner, showing a house with a skull and snake looming above it, casting the scene in ghastly green light.

"Oh my god… Ron's grandmother lived in North Carolina!"

"The United States CIA are now teaming up with the British Secret Sevice to try and find the cause of these phenomena." She sighed. "Back to you, Brett."

Hermione took the remote from Draco and leaned back, breathing deeply.

***

Oh noooo! *wonders if Ron's okay, because of course I never think these things out before they happen*

Thanks to Allison, Cute Sarah, Mercy, Zamber *Dracolicious, I love it ^_^*, JudgeDP, Myst Enchantress, Delphi again *runs away*, summerthyme, Draco's Queen *ponders stealing crown*, and, er… SOMEONE! for reviewing. 3 to you all, I wubboo.