A/N: Just before the story, I'd like to reply to a review. Unfortunately, it was written by a guest. I'm really sorry for the character loopholes in this story, and I know several students are actually in younger years, but I really wanted to pair the characters with other familiar ones, and keep it within the characters we know. I'm sorry for any inconsistencies in this story! D:
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"This is where you buy your clothes?" Draco asked incredulously, looking around the shop. In the shopping centre, there was a great variety of clothes shops.

"Obviously. Where do you get your clothes?" Hermione asked, and held up a fitted black t-shirt into the light.

"The tailors, usually. And I can't believe that you of all people are buying me clothes." He mumbled. Hermione sighed.

"Well, it's this, or you can just continue wearing the fancy suits you have." Hermione said, holding up a maroon coloured shirt with a sun emblem on it. "Wait a second, let me just see how this looks on you." Hermione said, holding up the shirt against him lightly.

"Is she actually buying clothes for him? Possessive or what?" A snide girl's voice rang out from across the shop. Another girl grunted her agreement. Hermione exhaled loudly and narrowed her eyes at Draco's chest, but ignored the girl. Draco gave a small smile below him.

"I'm surprised that you didn't slap her or something and ignored her. You're learning, Granger." Draco murmured. Hermione flicked his arm and put the shirt into her cart of rapidly piling clothes.

"Why shouldn't I ignore her?" Hermione said, looking up at him.

"Well, I would think you wouldn't like the idea of looking like my girlfriend." Draco said to her. Hermione's features stilled for a moment, and then she shrugged.

"It's not like I am. I don't really care what other people think as long as I know what I actually am." Hermione said quietly. Draco looked at her with a surprised face. "Now come on, we've got to pay for this. I've nearly got you a whole wardrobe!" Hermione said. She turned away and started walking, before Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Hermione's back was still turned but she stayed stock still, while Draco leaned down to her ear.

"So you're saying you don't mind looking like my girlfriend?" He murmured, his lips just brushing her ear lobe. Hermione rolled the uneasy feeling off her and turned around to meet his eyes.

"That's my point. I might look like your girlfriend, but I know I'm not." Hermione said slowly and deliberately. Draco looked like he was going to say something, but he closed his mouth and shrugged.

"So, you've got the money, right? Let's go pay." Draco said, and they both walked to the counter. On the way, they passed the two girls that had made a comment on Hermione buying Draco's clothes. While Hermione ignored them, Draco swept a cold glance over them, yet they still seemed to swoon at him. Draco rolled his eyes.

After they'd paid, they walked out and into the shopping centre. Draco looked around at the vast space.

"So, are we going to eat somewhere?" Draco asked, and Hermione turned to him.

"Well, it's pretty expensive buying something here. I could just make something for us at home." Hermione said shrugging. She kept walking, and looked back to see Draco standing still. She groaned and walked back to him. "What is it now, Malfoy?" Draco blinked at her.

"You're saying you're going to cook for me?" Draco said to her in shock. Hermione looked at him.

"It's not like I'm going to cook a feast, you know." She replied, rolling her eyes. "Just some pasta or something. Merlin, stop overreacting over such a small stuff!" Draco bit his lip, and they carried on walking.

~.~.~

Hermione set the bags down in the hallway with a huff, and went into the kitchen, Draco following curiously. Opposed to what Draco was expecting, the kitchen was quite spacious. It seemed like the kitchen and dining room were mixed as one. Roughly a third of the room was taken up with the kitchen, gas stove, counters, cabinets and all. In another section, there was a small oak table fit for two. The floor was smooth wooden boards, and the walls were painted a lovely warm red and cappuccino colour to match the cabinets and cream counters.

"It's nice." Draco smiled, and Hermione showed a quick smile back before setting the bags down. He walked over to her and leaned against the clean counters. "Have you got enough food to cook with?" Hermione looked up.

"Luckily for me, cooking is one of my mother's favourite hobbies." She said, and Draco nodded. "We've got a larder, and I'm guessing Mum stocked it full for me, knowing the trip in advance." Draco walked past her, and as Hermione said there was a wooden door. He swung it open and walked in. Shelves filled with food lined the walls, and a mini fridge obviously had lots of dairy in it, even though there was already a fridge in the kitchen. Draco walked back out again to see Hermione peeking in the cabinets to check everything was as normal, and she looked up when she heard him approaching.

"Oh, you can change out of that if you want." She said, gesturing to the suit, which was apparently the most casual thing in his wardrobe. "Lunch will be ready soon, so you can change into some new clothes. Your room is the last one on the right. If you can, can you put the clothes away? It'll save me a lot of work." Draco fixed her with another calculating stare, before he went upstairs.

The hallway upstairs was lined with pictures, and he chuckled at one that showed Hermione as a toddler, her eyes wide from the camera flash, seconds away from crying. When walking past the bedrooms, he saw one that he assumed was Hermione's. He knew she'd scream at him for invading her privacy, so he only took one step inside the room and scanned around. Her bed was messily made; the walls were a peach, her feature wall blue. A mix of moving posters and Muggle posters were spread around her walls, and there were several pictures of her, Harry and Ron around. Very patriotically, Gryffindor emblems and colours were streaked on several places in the wall. Draco tilted his head. It was a perfect balance between Muggle and Wizard. He walked out and pushed open the door that was his temporary room. He set the bags on the cream carpet, and looked around. The walls were an olive green and cream, the curtains a creamy grey with gold hems. Against the wall, there was a big single bed perfectly made with an oak bedside table, and a wardrobe, along with a full length mirror beside it. Draco was impressed at the sophistication of the room. Bending down, he carefully pulled the clothes out of one of the many bags. They were already folded, so he opened the draws and separated the clothes into four sections. The first one was underwear. He cringed, remembering that it was Hermione who had chosen them. The second section was shirts, jumpers and cardigans. The third one was trousers and jeans. The last section was pyjamas. He distributed the clothes from all the bags into the wardrobe, dusted his hands and stood up. Shockingly, this was actually the first housework (or anything of the sort) that he'd ever done in his life. And he'd done it all without help. He took off his own clothes; quickly slipping into the clothes he'd set aside, folding the suit and setting it down near the bedside table. He paused, and something delicious smelling was wafting towards him from downstairs. Was that Hermione's cooking..? He walked quickly downstairs and into the kitchen to see Hermione's face set in concentration, pasta cooking and sauce bubbling. He walked over to her, impressed.

"I didn't know you could cook. It smells good." He said, watching Hermione stir the pasta.

"You learn something new every day, don't you?" She said, without looking up. He leaned over to see what she was doing.

"Can I help? I've done everything." He said.

"Uhm.." Hermione said distractedly, concentrating on the food she was making, ignoring the surprising fact that Draco Malfoy actually wanted to help her with something. "You can... Set the table maybe?" She checked the sauce and spoke up again. "The plates are in the big drawer behind me, and the cutlery in the one just above it. The glasses are in the counter above the sink."

Draco first took two plates and two pairs of cutlery to the table, setting both of them. He suddenly leaned against the table. He was going to eat lunch with Hermione. Inside her house. And she's cooked. Was this actually real life? He shook his head, walking over to retrieve the glasses, and once he'd put them down he leaned against the opposite counter and watched Hermione cook.

"Malfoy, are you watching me, or is it just me?" She said with her back turned, as she turned to drain the pasta. He smiled.

"It's interesting watching you cook. It's like nothing I've seen before. Weird." He replied. He could almost sense her rolling her eyes.

"Well, you're nice. I'm finished now, mind bringing the plates for me to set the food on?" She asked. Draco stepped off the counter, and brought her the plates. With a slotted spoon, she dropped a good sized portion on each plate, but leaving enough for dinner so she wouldn't have to cook again. After, she ladled creamy and delicious smelling tomato sauce over each portions of pasta. Turning the overhead light off, she carried both plates back to the table to where Draco was sitting, setting both plates down, and quickly brought a carton of juice to the table before sitting down to see Draco's gaze.

"Well, eat then." She said, and brought her own fork to her mouth. She rolled the food around her taste buds. It wasn't bad. Draco looked down at his own food, and looked back up to the girl who'd finished cooking it just a few minutes ago.

"Hermione." Hermione stopped in surprise, hearing him say her first name.

"Yes?" She replied quietly, and looked up to see the gaze of Draco Malfoy. She looked back at him, slowly setting her fork down. His eyes were unusually soft.

"Thanks." He said to her, and Hermione was confused.

"For what?" She asked, thinking back.

"This." He said quietly and Hermione looked back up at him. He leaned forward on a propped up elbow.

"It's not that much," she replied, shrugging embarrassedly.

"Really?" He said. "First, that Tube thing. Then buying me clothes. Then this." He said in a breath, and then grinned at her. " And above all, dealing with my oversized ego." She looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"So under all that bravado, there's actually a normal person?" She said nonchalantly. He rolled his eyes and seemed to hesitate.

"Whatever, I just wanted to thank you." He replied, and finally lifted a fork to eat. There was a long pause.

"Well, you're welcome Draco." She replied, and ate.

The rest of the meal was spent in a comfortable silence.

If you have only read this chapter now, there's no need to read the text labelled 'The Edit'. Thank you! (:

The Edit; So I read this over and realised it was kinda OOC of Draco to be that sincere with thanking her, so I altered it so he seemed to pull away with 'whatever', but then Hermione seems to confirm his thanks by using his name? I'm not even sure that makes sense, but hopefully you get the jist.

A/N: So, first name basis starts! I really enjoyed describing the rooms, and writing about the food made me hungry, lol. :D Are you enjoying the story so far?