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A/N Thankyou all for the follows, likes and reviews! It might not be much to some but it means a lot to me how much interest this story is already getting! Thanks so much lovelies!Also, it's my birthday today!

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Another nightmare had forced her awake at stupid o'clock in the morning.

Hermione's eyes snapped open as she bolted upright in her bed. Her eyelids pulsed with unshed tears and her heart was beating wildly in her chest. She could still see it all; smell it, hear it, feel it.

She panted fervently, trying to stop her body from shaking as she darted her eyes about the room, illogically checking for danger, and finally landing them on the alarm clock on her bedside table. Her fear quickly turned into exasperation as she noted it was only five in the morning. For God's sake.

Flinging away the covers angrily, still reeling from the aftershocks of her nightmare, she padded from her bedroom into the bathroom to run the shower. Leaning up against the sink, she allowed the water to heat up and breathed in the heat of shower steam as she began to truly calm down.

It was then that she remembered. In a few hours time, she would be sharing her home with the ruddy ferret for a whole flipping year.

Great.

She rolled her eyes, scoffing out her displeasure at the stark white tiles as she stepped into her shower, willing the spray of water to pummel away the new thrum of anxiety that was developing in her chest. A Ministry official would be dropping him off very soon, and she realised then that she wasn't all that prepared.

Whilst The Ministry had placed an extension charm on her one-bedroom property last night, making it a two-bed, and placed several wards that prevented him from leaving and permitting no-one to enter that she doesn't invite in, alongside a plethora of other protective enchantments, they hadn't done her the express favour of tidying up for her. Damn them.

She would have to clean up. Not that she cared, but knowing the little rodent, he would come up with some jab about the disarray of her flat and she was really not in the right frame to deal with his petty taunts. It was already bound to be an unpleasant encounter. No need to fuel the fire.

She also had not been shopping, and so her cupboards were practically barren

Perhaps I shouldn't go shopping. Then the prick will just starve.

Impractical as that notion may be, she still tittered lightly at the thought. She obviously would have to get some food in.

She stepped out of the shower, turning off the tap and towelling her hair. She then turned to face her mirror, swiping away the condensation so she could study her reflection. She fingered at the dark circles under her eyes and sighed. Sleeping tablets clearly weren't cutting it anymore. She might have to concede to some Dreamless Sleep potion soon if she were to have any hope of a decent sleep this week.

Though, she was running out of that too. She would really rather not venture to Diagon Alley, but she supposed that she could stock up, and at least she wouldn't need to go there again for a few months.

Wrapping the towel around herself, she left her bathroom and surveyed her open-plan living area. There was an awful lot of cleaning to do. Books, empty glasses and takeaway boxes were strewn about the coffee table and all around the foot of the sofa, dust settled on damn near every surface, the kitchen sink and counter-top were piled up with almost every dish she owned and her carpet was in dire need of a good vacuum. She had just been so busy this last week that cleaning up her flat hadn't even crossed her mind. Glancing at the clock over her mantle, she realised she had taken so long in the shower that she wouldn't have time to do both the cleaning and the shopping before Malfoy arrived.

She huffed out another exasperated sigh as she walked back into her bedroom, grabbing her wand from her nightstand She felt the warm, unsettling tingle of magic creep up through her fingers and it made her want to drop the damned thing. She held the ends delicately in her fingers for a moment as she examined the intricate vine wrapping carved into the woodwork. It really was a beautiful wand to look at. It's just that, to her, it felt so... uninviting.

Deciding though, that using magic really was the best solution to her current predicament and that it would just be this one time, she shoved her insecurity aside, puffed out a harsh breath and clasped the handle, walking back to her living room. She cast a silent spell into the air and watched as the mess began set itself right.

Now that that was over with, feeling relieved, she strode back into her room, tucking her wand into her nightstand drawer and began dressing herself for a trip to the supermarket.

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"Ready to go, Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco didn't answer as he adjusted the strap of the heavy bag on his shoulder, but instead, scoffed disapprovingly at him.

The same bumbling idiot from yesterday stood on his porch smiling goofily at him. The sandy-haired young man was far to enthusiatic for Draco's current mood. He was anxious, irritable, tired and frankly he was hanging out of his arse. But this... boy... was oozing an odd air of excitement - Merlin only knows why. Perhaps it was the prospect of performing the menial task of escorting Draco to his new home.

Prison would be a better fit, thought Draco.

"We will be Apparating directly into the building. You know the address, yes?" said the boy, undeterred by Draco's scowl. "Wand at the ready?" he asked as he retrieved his own wand from a hip-holster.

Well, clearly this twat is totally inexperienced with escorting criminals.

"I don't have a fucking wand, do I? You incompetent dullard." Draco snapped. As if he needed another reminder of the pathetic existence he was being forced to live in. A wizard without his wand wasn't really a wizard at all. It felt horrible. Like he was missing a limb.

The boys eyes widened briefly as he stuttered over his words. "Oh! Oh, n-no... of course not... W-well, I'll be taking you by side-along to-"

"Just get it over with" he growled, raising his left arm.

The boy nodded, clasping his hand around Draco's forearm and Apparating them both from the door of Malfoy Manor with a pop.

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As soon as Draco's feet touched down on the unfamiliar ground, a powerful sense of dread filled him. This, combined with the hangover and the tug of Apparition was really not a good combination and he gagged a few times, leaning over to rest his hands on his knees and taking greedy lungfuls of air.

"Woah, you okay Malfoy?" asked the escort.

"Peachy." he straightened up, taking slower breaths now. "Let's just go."

The boy nodded, walking five paces up the hall and stopping in front of an ugly, brown door, numbered 67. That feeling of dread didn't subside as Draco followed him down the plain, brightly lit corridor painted a sickly cream-colour, inlaid with an equally ugly navy-blue carpet.

"Here we are" he pointed to the door when a loud ringing sounded from the boys pocket. "And right on time!" he said, pulling out a pocket-watch turning another cheesey smile to Draco who only quirked an eyebrow in response.

"Right then..." the corners of the boys mouth dropped a fraction and he turned to rap thrice on the door.

A few moments passed in silence before a Draco heard a shuffling and a rustle of keys from beyond the door. It swung open and his eyes doubled in size at the sight that met him.

It became clear then that his punishment had not been truly lessened from a sentence to Azkaban as he met the disapproving eyes of Hermione Granger.

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"No. No fucking way-"

"Ernie? Ernie Macmillan!" Hermione cut Malfoy off as her eyes darted towards the boy escort next to him. She quickly forgot the snarky blonde as a wide grin spread across her face. "What are you doing here?"

"I work for the Auror Department now!" he grinned back, excitedly. "Harry actually helped me and Justin get in just a month ago."

She noted Malfoy rolling his eyes at the mention of Harry.

"I haven't been given any proper assignments yet, but I was just escorting Malfoy here-"

"Touching as this little Mudblood family reunion is, I'm not fucking staying here, so you can cease whatever ramblings you had in mind, Macmillan, and take me elsewhere."

Ernie turned his confused frown toward Malfoy and surveyed him carefully before addressing him sharply. "This is where you're staying, Malfoy. There are no other options except prison. I can apparate us straight there if you'd prefer?"

Hermione could tell Malfoy was utterly vexxed by his tensed posture. His lips twitched, no doubt with some spoiled-brat retort poised to tumble from his vile aristocrat mouth. But he merely continued to stare Ernie down, rolling his eyes and scoffing instead.

"Whatever. If you and the other Mudblood could wrap this up then, because I'm bloody shattered and I want to get some sleep, so could we move this along?" he spat, his words dripping with obvious disdain for them both.

"Firstly, I'm actually a Pureblood, Malfoy." Ernie spat back in disgust, "You aren't the only one y'know, and-"

"Good for you."

"Secondly, don't you dare speak about Hermione like that either! She's-"

"It's okay Ernie." she conciliated "I would expect nothing less from him." she set her eyes back on him with a cold sneer.

"Contrary to what you may believe, I don't give a Murtlap's ballsack what you, or anyone else thinks of me" Malfoy's cold sneer flitted between the two of them.

She let out a small puff of air in response, fixing her disapproval in place.

He moved then to push past Hermione, but suddenly stopped and turned to face Ernie, whom she now noticed was flicking his wand over Malfoy's form.

"Hand it over Mr. Malfoy." Ernie said authoratarianly, holding out his hand and fixing him with an expression worthy to rival that of Minerva McGonagall.

Malfoy paused a moment before huffing and thumping his bag to the floor. "Fucking fine!"

As he bent to unfasten his bag, Hermione sniggered at his petulant behaviour. Though her mirth changed rapidly to shock as Malfoy began pulling out a freightage of alcohol. Two bottles of Odgen's Old, one bottle of Campbell's finest, three of Bungbarrel Spiced Mead and a bottle of Elven Wine.

"Happy?" he spat, pulling his now near-empty bag back over his shoulder as he came upright, sending him a Malfoy-practiced sneer.

"Very much so." replied Ernie, smugly.

"Whatever." he turned, barging past Hermione harder than necessary.

"Tosser." she hissed under her breath, twisting her head back to give Ernie a drained look. "He's been like this the whole time? "

It wasn't really a question but more a statement. She knew fully well he'd probably been a complete prat to Ernie.

"It's fine." the corner of his lip quirked upwards as he cast a non-verbal Reducio on the bottles and pocketed them. "If I'm gonna become a proper Auror one day, I best get used to being abused to a certain degree."

"I suppose so." She smiled wanly. "It was nice seeing you again, Ernie." she made to close the door.

"Actually, Hermione-"

She paused on the handle, trying hard not to show her irritation. She was on edge right now and was anxious to get the first awkward part of this ordeal over with, but she didn't want to be rude to Ernie so she forced a neutral mask onto her face.

"I heard about you and Ron," he said quietly. "I don't want to be presumptuous, but if you are single I was wondering-"

"Oh, Ernie... that's very nice of you but I'm just not really looking for anything at the moment... I'm really very sorry-"

"No, no it's fine." it was plain that he was trying hard to hide his feeling of rejection. "Would it be okay if I owled you sometime then? No pressure or anything... just as friends?"

Hermione was still emotionally stumbling over the shock of being asked out by Ernie, and that hopeful look in his eye prevented her from turning him down further, so she concede with a too-enthusiastic "Yes, of course!"

"Great!" he beamed. "Well, see you Hermione! Good luck!"

She nodded her goodbye and closed the door, cringing slightly at her over-zealous reaction to his suggestion for friendship. She wasn't exactly interested in having friends. When she turned around, she physically jumped at the sight of Malfoy staring at her, bag still atop his shoulder, giving her a thin-lipped look of condescension.

"Now that you've finished flirting, care to tell me where my room is?" he deadpanned.

"It's the door to the right," she replied, "the bathroom is in the middle, but Malfoy can we-"

He had already turned and stalked over to his new bedroom door, flinging it open and then slamming it behind him so hard that the reverberating sound rattled her windows and she flinched.

Well. That went well.