Author's Note: To 'The Butterfly Dreamer': don't worry; we'll see more of Crookshanks soon! And thanks for the review! I appreciate it!

Chapter 3 – The Unexpected

Malfoy's house was not how Hermione expected it to be. It was light and open, with neutral colours and modern decor. They had apparated into the hallway of the house, with a staircase to the right that had beautiful paintings following it up, some magical and some muggle. There were large windows, which in daylight, would light up the room vibrantly. The gorgeous hallway had a chandelier right above her head that was currently shining brilliantly. It looked more expensive than all the belongings in hers and Ron's flat, typical Malfoy.

"You, erm, do realize that you're in muggle London, don't you?"

"Yes Granger, I do. Muggles have done some good things you know."

She blushed quickly at her judgemental comment. "Well, you have a lovely house."

"Thank you." He briefly looked at the floor, wondering what to say next. What on earth are you supposed to do in these situations? "Do you want a drink? You look like you could use one." She pulled a face. "No offence."

"None taken. But Yes, Please." Hermione followed him through to the kitchen. She looked around the large, magnificent kitchen in awe. She had never expected Malfoy's houd to look like this, especially his kitchen. It was pristine with white, wooden cupboards and marble work surfaces; it was like Hermione's perfect kitchen, except it had Malfoy in it. It was still too weird that she was in his house (almost) willingly and on friendly terms. He poured her a firewhiskey and handed it over to her.

"Thank You." She hesitated before taking a sip.

"It's not poisoned you know." He said dryly, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry, it's just that I never expected to be drinking firewhiskey with Draco Malfoy."

"Fair point." He responded, he then pointed towards one of the seats at the breakfast bar opposite him. "Please, take a seat."

Now that Hermione looked at Draco properly, she noticed that time had been in Draco's favour and his looks, even though good before, had improved greatly. He was still rather slender but he had great muscles, probably from the Quidditch he sometimes did with his friends. His sleek, white blonde hair was still pretty much the same as it had been during his final few years at Hogwarts. His once cold grey eyes now had a slight warm depth to them that any other girl would melt into. His pale complexion set of his pointed features perfectly. Not that Hermione found him attractive of course. She didn't hit him in third year for nothing.

Hermione took the seat facing Malfoy and gulped down her firewhiskey whilst he watched with amusement. She looked down at her now empty glass and her eyes filled with tears. Malfoy's amused face dropped when he saw; he didn't know how to react around crying girls. They got angry at anything you said, cried harder when you didn't do things for them that they never even ask you to do then cried harder than that when you did do things for them. He just didn't understand.

"Sorry, it's just-"

"You need to stop saying sorry." Malfoy interrupted.

"Sorry, I mean, wait, yeah okay. Anyway, I just- I'm not upset that it's over, I'm relieved more than anything, I hate him. But Malfoy... Malfoy, you just don't realize, no one realizes, what Ron will do to me. He already took all of my money, everything I own and my friends. He never lets me leave our apartment except for work. The only other place I'm allowed is his parents. I didn't want to be a curse breaker at the ministry; it was the only job at the ministry that was slightly interesting to me because I'm only allowed to work there because he can get people to keep an eye on me. Whereas he's always off cheating with random girls, spending my money and making me look like a fool."

Draco didn't know what to say to the tear-stricken girl in front of him. "Was this the first time he hit you?" He asked, almost dreading the answer.

"Yes, but he has wanted to before. You can tell, you know?" He nodded. "He would just get mad at anything I did."

"Why did you stay with him?"

"I wanted to leave, every single day. But he threatened to do so much to me. He would threaten to spread rumours about me, kick me out, some things even worse than that."

"What did you want to do, I mean, instead of working at the ministry? You're partners with Tracey Davis aren't you?"

Hermione had forgotten that Tracey was friends with Malfoy. "Tracey is a great friend of mine, one of the only good things about my work, and I know that she suspects something about my relationship with Ron. But curse breaking isn't really for me, it isn't fulfilling enough really." She looked up to meet Malfoy's eyes. "I want to work with children, magical children. I want to open a playgroup for them; children have nowhere to go before Hogwarts so it's a complete and utter shock for them when they start there. I want to help young witches and wizards prepare for Hogwarts, let them know what to expect there. They can also make new friends before they start so they can have friends in all houses because there wouldn't be the pressure of the four houses."

Malfoy watched Hermione as she got lost in her idea of the playgroup in amazement. She was passionate about it, yet the ginger bastard had stopped her from doing what she wanted. "I think it's a great idea, honestly. I remember when I was a child I knew I had this magic, yet I never knew how to control it. My parents could teach me only so much but I remember getting so frustrated because I felt like the only one." He laughed at his memory. "Which is why this is such a good idea, kids wouldn't feel like they were alone with controlling their magic."

"Exactly." Hermione smiled at him.

"You have to do it Granger, it wouldn't be right if you didn't."

"But with what money? He has taken all of mine."

"He took all of your money?"

"Yeah, I didn't have a great amount of money after my parents were killed because I'd erased their memories of me so they didn't leave me any money. I got quite a large sum of galleons for my help in the defeat of Voldemort, but then Ron took it away from me saying 'what's mine is yours' but it only seems to work one way with him. He spent most of his money so he took mine to spend as well. The money I get working at the ministry pays the rent, so I don't have anything else."

"He can't just do that, it's your money. You rightfully got that money from the war, if it wasn't for you, Potter and Weasel wouldn't have been able to defeat Voldemort, it obviously required some brains and since Weasley doesn't have any, he'd be dead if it wasn't for you. And why do you have to pay the rent? If you're not married, you should pay half each. You both live there. Merlin, he frustrates me."

"Tell me about it. I've now got nowhere to live and I'm so incredibly exhausted." She sighed.

"Come on; let me show you to the guest room." Malfoy stood up straight and walked towards the hallway, gesturing for Hermione to follow.

"Malfoy, I really don't want to impose. You don't need to get involved in this. It's my problem, not yours. I've probably ruined a perfectly good Saturday night for you."

"Seriously Granger, it's fine. I don't mind. I hate Weasel anyway."

Hermione eventually reluctantly followed Malfoy up the stairs to one of many doors. She followed him into the guest room that had gold walls and thick, fluffy carpet. There was a huge, King size bed in the middle with thick quilts and plush cushions covering it. The room was warmly lit and there was a door leading off to an en suite and another to a huge closet.

Hermione put her bags down on the foot of the bed and turned to look at Malfoy as she absentmindedly toyed with the soft bed covers. "Thank you for doing this Malfoy."

"It's fine, Night Granger."

"Night Malfoy."

Author's Note: Sorry it was a bit of a short chapter, we'll be seeing some of Lucius and Narcissa very shortly! Thanks to Hayley ('travellingendlessly') for helping me edit this! So if there were any grammar problems, blame her, she was supposed to point them out haha!

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