Hi! I'm back with a small fic! I plan to write two parts with the first one being published in December (four chapters, one every week), but I'm not sure when the second one will be published as I still have to figure out a few things. Hope you enjoy it!

Each chapter covers a small part of Draco's summer. This fic popped in my head after I read Colubrina's 'Without Her Letter' but, as you imagine, it doesn't have a lot in common with that story (if you've never read it please check it out! It's wonderful and I love it very much!).

What you need to know about that Universe:
- Harry was raised by the Weasleys,
- Voldemort disappeared in 1981 but this time, his followers retained a lot of power and were able to push Muggle-borns out of their world.
- Hermione is a very independant girl, her parents work a lot and she spends a lot of time on her own.

- Draco was raised by an elf. As soon as he was 11, he was almost considered an adult and left alone in the Manor during school holidays.

"I won't do it."

"Why not?"

"It's forbidden."

"Everyone goes there."

"Clearly, we don't socialize with the same wizards."

"Please, even your father goes."

"For business, only."

"AH, business."

"What's so funny?"

"You know very well what he does."

"He's not the only one. Your father goes too."

"Of course. Why let the others have all the fun?"

"I'm not old enough to have fun there."

"You could still go and explore."

"Explore? What is there to explore? You know they're just savages."

"Think of yourself as a scholar, studying a new specie."

"They're not a new specie. They've polluted our air for Merlin knows how long."

"Come on, one hour."

"Are you out of your mind? I won't go there alone, and certainly not for one hour. What if I catch something?"

"Don't touch anything?"

"You want me to stand like an idiot in front of the Leaky, for one hour? No, thank you."

Sitting in a corner of the pub, two teenagers were arguing quietly, butterbeers long forgotten. Summer holidays had just begun and they were bored out of their mind. For the third time in five days, they had been kicked out of their respective manors – important business, their fathers had said – and had been given a few galleons to spend in Diagon Alley. They had visited most of the shops already and were not in the mood to do their homework just yet. This was why, about two hours after they had entered the pub, they had decided to play truth or dare.

"Coward," a third voice said from the other side of the table.

The two boys stopped bickering, suddenly remembering that they were not alone. The last member of their group, a dark-skinned boy with a book laid between him and his drink, was looking at them, clearly irritated by the fact that they had just ruined what was supposedly the best moment in his novel.

"What did you just say?" Draco asked, clenching his jaws.

"I said, coward."

Draco's face screwed into a grimace.

"It's not cowardice," he answered, "it's self-preservation. I don't want the Malfoy line to end because of a stupid bet."

"Whatever you say", his other friend replied, taking a long sip from his butterbeer. "If you don't accept your challenge, then I'll tell Pansy you want to go out with her but are too shy to admit it."

"You wouldn't!" Draco cried, a disgusted look on his face. "You know she's got a big crush on me!"

"I like your idea, Theo," the third boy declared, turning a page with caution (it was an old volume).

"Blaise, you're not part of the game," Draco snapped.

"I can still give him my opinion on the subject."

"So…" Theo begun, looking at Draco. "Are you going to do it?"

He had been standing in front of the Leaky Cauldron for ten long minutes, wondering why on Earth he had accepted this. Once he had said yes, Theo and Blaise had taken him from his chair and dragged him in front of the door before opening it and pushing him in the Muggle side of London. He had been so surprised by their sudden move that he had almost lost his balance and fallen on the ground.

He did not like it here. It stunk, it was noisy, people were not looking in front of them when they were walking and had already pushed him twice. Alright, he should not have stood in the middle of the street, but still. Maybe he should just rest against the wall and wait until he was finally allowed back in? Wait, no, what was he thinking? He was a Malfoy and those filthy Muggles should know better than to provoke him by touching him.

Eeeew, he thought, disgusted, Muggle germs everywhere. He was sure to be contaminated, now. Not only had he been touched by those men, but his shoes were in contact with the ground, and it looked dirty. He would have to burn all of his clothes. And to take a long shower. Or a bath. Yes, a bath would be better. Maybe he could use that shampoo his mother had bought for him yesterday?

"Are you lost?"

Startled, Draco jumped backwards. He had been so lost in his thought that he had not seen that a girl had stopped in front of him, looking at him with a quizzical look. He regained control of his heart's speed quickly and stared at her coldly, hoping it would be enough to make her leave. Apparently, it was not, because she decided to open her mouth once again after a few blessed seconds of silence.

"You don't have to be ashamed if you are. I've been lost before."

"I'm not lost," he said, trying to sound bored.

"Then why are you staying here like an idiot? Are you waiting for someone?"

The nerve of this girl, he thought, narrowing his eyes at her. She was small and had hairs like he had never seen before. He snorted. She must be at least two years younger than him. Had she not something better to do than to annoy him?

"Look, kiddo, why don't you go find your parents and leave me alone?" he asked, waving her away.

Her smiled only faltered a little, and he saw her biting the inside of her cheek, clearly annoyed by his remark.

"Please, you're at least my age. And my parents are at work, that's why I came here."

"Your age? What are you, ten?" he asked smugly, clearly enjoying the anger on her face.

"I'm 14, you arse. And I'll be 15 in September. How old are you? And I'm not talking about your mental age," she added with a sarcastic smile.

"I'm 14 too."

They glared at each other, both trying to intimidate the other one.

"What's in your hand?" asked Draco suddenly, looking at what looked like a bowl made of paper with strange food.

"That?" she said, clearly surprised, looking at it. "That's takeaway. Curry, to be more specific."

"Takeaway? Curry?" he had no idea what she was talking about. Maybe it was some Muggle traditional dish?

"Wait, you don't know what a takeaway is?" she asked, fighting back a grin.

"Of course, I know what it is," he snapped, feeling very offended by the way this Muggle girl was making fun of him. "I've never had curry, that's all."

"Oh. Wanna try it?" she asked, filling a transparent spoon with what looked like pumpkin soup and thin white beans.

"I…"

Merlin's beard, was she trying to poison him? She did not really think he was going to eat that, did she? Especially not with a spoon she must have used before! And wait, just in case he accepted, who knew if he wasn't going to die of food poisoning? Worst, what if he became ill and his parents discovered what he had done?

"What, you don't like spicy food?" she asked, stopping the spoon mid-air between them.

"I… I've never had it?"

Draco had never felt so stupid in his life. He was supposed to be superior to this idiotic girl and here she was, showing him her horrible front teeth while smiling at him because he had never had spicy curry before.

"Stop that," he said sharply.

"Stop what?"

"You're making fun of me."

"I'm not!" she replied, but he was not really sure she was saying the truth. "I think it's sad."

"Sad?"

What, so now she pitied him? He didn't want her pity; he should be the one pitying her. She was just a filthy and stupid Muggle, with buckled teeth.

"Yes, curry is so wonderful. Come on," she said, putting the spoon back in front of him, "taste it. I promise you'll like it."

And, for the second time this day, Draco accepted to do something he should not have.

"So, you too have parents who work all day long?"

They had been at the curry place for thirty minutes now, and Draco could still not believe he had accepted to come here. As he could not believe he had not been able to pay for his own plate. Making fun of him, pitying him, giving him money like he was some sort of beggar. He had only stayed because he wanted to prove this girl that he was her superior. He could not wait for that moment to arrive.

"Father is working with his…. associates, yes," he answered, trying to find a plausible lie to avoid breaking the Statute. "I think Mother was shopping with her friends."

"And they left you here, without money?"

"No, no, I just forgot it and I have to wait for them to bring me back home."

"Oh," she said, sounding relieved. "I mean, this is not very responsible of them."

"You're one to talk, you said both of your parents went to work."

"Yes, but they know what I do during the day. I baby-sit in the morning and I help at the bookstore during the afternoon," she explained. "And of course, I've got my preparatory class thrice a week in the evenings."

"You work during holidays?"

He gave her an odd look. Who would want to have more classes, especially during summer?

"Of course," she said, a hint of superiority in her tone. "I want to be the best, and this year curriculum is a waste of time. I mean, I had already learned half of the courses two summers ago."

"Your life sounds boring."

She shot him a dark glance. Ouch, I must have hit a nerve, he thought, proud of himself.

"I like my life very much, thank you," she snapped. "It's not my fault if people my age are stupid and don't have the same interests as I have."

"Come on, how do you want to have fun with your friends if you work all the time? You said my life sounded sad, yours seems worse."

When she did not answer he looked up from his plate, and saw that she had stopped eating, trying to hide her face behind her hairs.

"Are you… are you crying?" he asked weakly.

He was regretting wanting to make fun of her, now. A tear dropped on the table, and she sniffed loudly. What was he supposed to do? He did not know how to comfort people who were crying, especially girls. Panicking, he did the only thing he could and gave her his handkerchief. She took it without a word and blew her nose soundly.

"I'm sorry," she said, keeping the handkerchief in her hand. "I usually don't cry like that in the middle of a restaurant, but you're a perfect stranger and in less than an hour, you've basically remembered me that I'm boring and that because of that I have no friends. My life really sucks."

"I…"

"Don't be sorry," she said, wiping the rest of her tears, "it's nothing really. I've made it alone so far, and it's not like it's going to change anytime soon. I mean, I tried to talk to the new girl last year, but the only subject I found was astronomy and the origin of constellations. I think I frightened her too much, she never spoke to me again," she added, her voice dropping.

"Constellations?" asked Draco, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. "You know their name?"

She had a strange look on her face, as if she was trying to decide whether or not he was serious.

"I… I do, yes. Do you like astronomy?"

"Of course, I do! It's a big thing in my mother's family. I mean, I'm named after a constellation!"

"Really?" she seemed excited, now, and had stopped crying. "What's your name?"

"I'm Draco," he answered proudly. "Draco Malfoy."

"That's nice," she smiled. "And very original. In comparison, mine seems perfectly normal. My classmates like to make fun of it."

"They don't seem very nice," he said.

"I can't say they are, really, most of them don't like me. I'm two years younger than the rest of them but I've got better grades than everyone. I'm considered poor because I've been given a scholarship to study in my school. And that's just the beginning. But well, I've been dealing with bullies for years, now, they're not intimidating me at all," she concluded.

"I see…" he begun, feeling uncomfortable. "So, what's your name, anyway? Is it really weird?"

She smiled, a bit shyly this time.

"I'm Hermione," she told him, extending her hand so that she could shake his properly. "Hermione Granger."

"Fuck Draco, you're ten minutes late! What happened, mate? We went outside and you were not there! Do you have any idea how worried we were?"

He waved their concern off, merely raising an eyebrow when he saw the look on their faces.

"Nothing, just that stupid Muggle man asking me why I was alone. He tried to take me to the authorities and I had to fight him to come back."

"Please stop this bullshit, as if you would lower yourself to fight against a Muggle."

"You know me too well, Blaise. Alright, I found a candy shop and lost track of time."

"A candy shop?" asked Theo, surprised. "You mean… you ate some?" he added, sounding almost scared.

"Better," Draco said, taking the bag from his pocket, "I bought some."

"But… but how?"

"Well… That's my secret to keep," he answered, picking one and studying it before putting it in his mouth. "Wanna try?"

Hermione Granger was humming quietly to herself, brushing her teeth carefully.

"What's got you in such a good mood, darling?" her mother asked.

"I think," she said, smiling a little, "that I've made a friend."