His hostess was sleeping. He was in a strange town. In a strange house, and he had no idea where to even start. He started by checking out the kitchen. That seemed somewhat less invasive that exploring the rest of her house, besides, he was hungry. The kitchen yielded enough to make a decent sandwich as well as some wonderful, straight from home, tea. Feeling somewhat better about his situation, he was fed after all. He began to explore the rest of the house. There had to be a telly somewhere. He had gotten used to the muggle world while he was on his own, but he still had a hard time understanding why someone would voluntarily live in it.
There were family pictures everywhere; her surrounded by all those red heads. He could remember the twins well enough. They certainly left their mark on Hogwarts- scorch marks if you listened to Filch. The Weasel King was off with Potter these days, still trying to do away with You-Know-Who. Hopefully they got around to it soon. Two other brothers were in the picture, One dressed almost completely in leather, the other was badly scarred but holding a beautiful blond woman who looked familiar. Potter and Granger were there too. The still frizzy haired Granger was standing next to the Weasel King and Potter had his grubby paws on his sleeping hostess. Looking for the entire world like a happy family. It reminded him of the portraits his father always had done; there were so much more formal then this one. The last one taken of his whole family was before his father was put in Azkaban; he was still a young boy. They had their perfect robes and flawless hair, standing proudly with him.
Her name was Ginny. He remembered it now. Blaise had had a crush on the girl for awhile in sixth year. Pretty and powerful was always attractive to a Sytherin. He had been seeing Pansy Parkinson and had expected to marry her eventually so he'd not paid much attention to the littlest Weasley. He had so many other problems that year; she was barely a blip on the radar.
Finding the TV, he settled down into a very cozy couch and flipped on the telly. Feeling warm and well fed, it didn't take long before he drifted of into a deep sleep. Since the death eaters had started looking for him again, he hadn't been sleeping.
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Returning to consciousness was never fun, she'd never been one to wake up cheerfully—they had Ron for that. She couldn't help but smile as she remembered waking up with her brothers. Ron was always so ungodly cheerful in the mornings- even Harry and Hermione agreed. It drove her and the twins nutters. It was unnatural, really. Remembering she had company, she pulled on some clothes and headed down to make some coffee.
Harry would have a fit when if he found out Draco was living with her. Ron would turn bright red and get all twitchy and loud. Ok, so she would need some way to disguise him when they came for a visit. Polyjuice would work, she would just need to find some hair and brew it. She had a small potions lab in the basement. It was do-able. Her brain was going full speed as she headed into the kitchen.
Her house was quiet. Not really a good thing considering she had company and had just abandoned him in the living room. He'd apparently had lunch, and some tea, judging by the dishes left in the sink. Listening some more, she heard the TV in the other room. Walking in she found her grade school bully, the obnoxious git, sleeping soundly on her couch. Looking closely, she realized something else. Not only was the boy who make looking perfect an art form in school snoring, he was drooling. So much for hating him on sight, she'd have to listen to her dad and keep him safe. Any one who drooled had to be human.
Draco woke up slowly, stretching out and then looking up, only to realize that a pair of amused brown eyes were staring at him.
"You drool" she announced, barely controlling her giggle.
"Do not" he said with as imperious a tone as he could come up with, eyebrow raised in what he hoped looked like a truly 'superior' expression "Malfoy's do not drool—ever." It was really hard to keep up the 'bored and better then you' expression when you could feel said drool hardening in the corners of your mouth.
"Really, cause I could swear that's dried drool clinging to your chin." She said it with such a sarcastic tone and such a prefect smirk that it made one wonder.
"Come on Draco, let's go grab some stuff at the grocers and talk in the car. There's coffee made in the kitchen if you'd like some."
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Those first few days had been challenging, but they had settled into somewhat of a routine. They stayed out of each other's way for the most part. She had helped him buy some appropriate clothing and helped him find a nice job in a small potions and apothecary shop.
Slowly they started actually talking to each other and eventually it turned into actually cooking dinner together when they were both home and debating anything, loudly, over wine. She had introduced him to the wonders of the western United States. Super-sized grocery stores and drive- through coffee houses. He learned how to adapt. He was a Malfoy, his parents had given their lives to make sure he survived, he'd be damned if he gave up just because he got lost every time he went into the grocery store.
Which is why it seemed odd when she asked him to make a batch of polyjuice potion for himself.
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As much as she adored her brother and his two best friends and normally enjoyed their infrequent visits, no was not really the best time. They had no idea about the underground. Really, they did have quite a lot on their plates these days and they were still looking for the last horcrux. That damn locket was still with who ever R.A.B was. Frankly, she was ok with keeping this secret. They had kept several from her over the years- it was just a minor white lie, nothing to worry about. They just though she went through roommates rather quickly. Just because she was hiding Draco Malfoy (who Ron still hated with a passion not to be rivaled), it wasn't something to be worried about. Right?
She had borrowed some hair from a friend at work ho had helped in the past when she had needed to place a few extra people or some extra help with her 'side projects' as he called it. Now she just needed to tell Draco. He would understand, eventually. He still had that proud bearing and had regained some of his arrogance working in a field that he so clearly excelled in.
"Well, it's either the polyjuice or a muggle hotel—he'll understand" She mumbled to herself as she pulled into the house. Yup, she was going to be glad she'd bought home some wine.
Apparently, the Griffindor Gits were coming for a visit, and in order to stay in what had become his nice comfortable bedroom, he got to drink a foul tasting potion and pretend to be a gay man so that Ginny's brother didn't kill him. (He had no doubt Ron would kill him on sight, just because, and Potter would help him hide the body.) He could torment the Weasel King and Potter (within reason she amended- how was that fair), but there would be no use of the word 'mudblood' and he would have to pretend to be gay. How the fuck was this fair, he griped the entire time they were making the potion.