A/N: Thank you to old and new reviewers. I'm sorry to say this chapter may not be quite as eventful as people may like but for some reason I'm having a slow start on things… Anyways, I'm working up to the good stuff and it's safe to say the next chapter won't revolve around the same exact thing. I'll probably give you the next chapter right away because I'm trying to get myself out of the hole I am in! Love to all:D

A Mudblood's Slave?

Draco looked at his face all covered in foam. Shaving cream? He'd never actually heard of this strange product but he found it fun to play with.

He picked up the razor and ran it down his cheek, wishing Granger would just come in and zap him again, so that the hair was just magically gone. He rinsed the razor off in the water in the small sink, turning it cloudy and continued. It took him a good half an hour and when it was over he hadn't nicked himself once. He was slowly starting to look like his old self again, even though he was much to thin and skeletal like. His pale skin didn't help with his lively look either.

He picked up the brush that was on the sink and ran it through his wet hair, which had returned to its shiny platinum blonde color again, after the dirt was thoroughly removed. It took three washes to make Draco feel like he was truly clean again.

His reflection was strange to him. He found that he looked very much like his father, with his hair having grown right below his shoulders, even though his nose wasn't quite as big as Lucius'. He then understood why he'd always kept it short.

"Granger?" he called.

In the small kitchen, Hermione looked up from stirring the stew.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Would you come in here for a moment?" he asked. Hermione was slightly curious as to what he may need. She opened the door to find him standing there with a towel wrapped around his waist. She looked away awkwardly, not wanting it to seem as if she was staring at him.

"What do you need?" she asked.

"Do you have some scissors?" Draco inquired.

"What for?" she asked.

Draco raised his eyebrows, staring at her. "To cut my hair," he said.

"Oh, right," she muttered. She quickly conjured the scissors for him and turned to leave him to himself.

"Can you help me?" he asked.

Hermione sighed. "You can't do it by yourself?" she muttered.

"I still care about my appearance!" Draco said. "I don't want to look as if I was tossed through a weed hacker! I don't have eyes on the back of my head."

"Alright," Hermione said holding up her hands. "Calm down!"

Draco sat down on the small toilet with his back to her. She approached him almost cautiously, as if Malfoy would turn around a lash out at her. She picked up her brush and noticed that there were a few blonde strands of hair weaved in with her brown ones. She shrugged and began running it through his hair, to get any tangles out.

She grasped his silky hair in a ponytail and snipped it off right above her hand. The light blonde strands fell to the floor around the base of the toilet. She evened it out at the base of his neck.

"There," she said putting him in front of the mirror. He smiled, slicking it back with his hand. Now he looked like his old self again.

"Dinner's ready," she said, before leaving the bathroom.

Draco pulled on the robes and followed her out.

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Draco lay in the small bed Hermione had conjured up for him that night, with his hands behind his head. The mattress was slightly stiff but it was better than anything he'd slept on in awhile. The sheets smelled clean and fresh to him and that was more than he'd hoped for.

He couldn't help but wonder where he would've been if Granger hadn't come for him. He knew that wherever it was it would have been worse. He imagined he would've been living in some wizard's basement where it was dark and cold all the time. Sort of like the holding cell he was kept in at the slave shop. He would probably of had stale bread to eat and a moldy blanket to sleep with and no companionship. He imagined his master or mistress would have worked him until he dropped and then let him have a few hours of sleep before waking him up at dawn to do it all over again.

He thought it would have been this way, because that's what his father did to the house elves. He knew that was a hard life to have to live, and it had truly scared him when he thought that might be what he was going to go through.

He smiled at a new thought that occurred to him.

Potter and Weasley had done him a favor. It made him smile because he knew that if they were aware they'd helped him instead of hurting him, they would promptly die of shame. Plus Granger could make a bitchin' groovy stew. (A/N: Had too. :D)

Draco snickered to himself in the dark, his mouth over his hand, yet at the same time he felt like weeping. He knew it was only because he was so thankful to be back in a warm bed, with a full stomach. He sighed and suddenly felt very tired. The last thing he saw that night was the moon shining outside of the cottage, before his eyelids grew heavy and finally drew him into deep sleep.

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"Malfoy!" Granger called from the kitchen. He woke to the smell of pancakes. "Get in here! It's ten thirty and we have to get started today!"

Draco groaned but got up, pulling on his robes that he'd worn from last night. There was something in the corner of his room that hadn't been there when he'd gone to bed. It was a small wardrobe. The doors to it stood open revealing several pairs of robes in it. Below the robes were a set of drawers. In them there were boxers, and socks. They were all black and Draco figured it was so that they didn't get stained.

Below the socks and underwear there were two more drawers. Inside those were black muscle shirts and pants made out of a slightly heavy material. He read the small tag on the back pocket that said: blue jeans.

"Jeans?" he muttered.

He quickly changed out of his old robes and threw on a pair of the "blue jeans" and a black muscle shirt, along with boxers and socks under everything. It was then that he noticed two pairs of shoes on top of the drawers. There was a pair of work boots, and a pair for casual wear. He laced up the work boots and went through the small living area to find Granger already eating.

"Dig in," she said through a mouth full of pancakes. Her hair was tied back into a tight ponytail, and she wore a T-shirt with the same type of blue jeans that Draco wore.

He sat down and served himself some pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast, with orange juice. He cleared the plate before Hermione even had time to start on her eggs and sat back with a hand on his stomach looking satisfied. He looked up to find Granger staring at him with her mouth open, holding her fork up poised to shovel some eggs in her mouth.

"Wow," she said in awe. Draco burped loudly, and held up a hand looking quite embarrassed.

"Holy be Jesus!" he whispered looking shocked. "Did you hear that!" he asked astounded. Of course he knew she had but he had to ask. Hermione stared at him a moment longer before she snorted loudly, dropped her fork, and began laughing hysterically.

Draco pushed a strand of hair out of his eyes, his cheeks red.

"I never knew you had it in you!" Hermione laughed. "That was worthy enough to rival Ron's best belch!"

"Yes, well I out do him in everything," Draco muttered.

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It was eleven thirty by the time they actually got outside. Hermione smiled up at the house.

"Remind me again why you want to do this the muggle way," Draco said staring at the house and cringing.

"Because Malfoy, it's more rewarding when you do it by hand," Hermione said. "Then you have something to be proud of when you're done. I've always liked to work towards my goals so that I can feel like it's worthwhile at the end of the day. Magic is too simple for me."

"I think you're crazy," Draco grumbled.

"Maybe so," Hermione said smiling. "But you'll see what I mean."

A/N: Alright people, here it is. Hope you all enjoyed it. Any reviews are welcome! Thanks to all of you who did review again. The constructive criticism is much appreciated:D