Chapter Six.

Making Strides

Draco stayed still for a long time, looking at the place that she just disapparated. A part of him felt sick from the display of the magic that he no longer possessed, and the other part felt sick because she hadn't even glanced at him before she left.

Why did you even want her to glance back at you? He tried to scoff at his own thoughts, but his heart really wasn't in it, so he went into the kitchen trying not to look dejected.

Jane had known better than to interrupt him. The whole internal conflict thing he had going on had taken on a whole new meaning the second that Hermione Granger had left the study. Jane knew that he missed his magic, she supposed if she had magic her whole life and lost it that she would miss it too. But the hurt on his face looked like it was more than just the magic bothering him. She had peaked around the corner at him to find him standing frozen, staring at the study as if he could will the witch back. She quietly went back into the kitchen and started cooking dinner. He still looked dazed when he joined her and she could tell by his expression that he was shocked to see her almost finished with the meal prep.

"I'm not happy with you," Jane said. Draco looked at the back of her head, confused.

"What did I do?"

She smiled to herself at the defensiveness of his voice. "You…" she turned around and pointed at him with the spoon that she had been using to stir the soup, "You didn't tell me you were interested in someone!"

Draco let out a laugh that sounded vaguely like he had been punched in the stomach.

"Interested in… Granger… her…" he waved his hands in front of him and shook his head. "You think that I'm interested in Granger?"

She smiled in victory as his whole face turned a bright shade of red.

"I don't think anything, Draco Malfoy. I know that you are interested in her." She turned her back to him and started stirring in the soup again. "And I think that she's interested in you too."

As soon as Hermione appeared on the street outside of Mason's house she felt a pang in her chest. She should've turned around and at least given him a smile, she still wasn't sure why she hadn't. All three of them had had a wonderful day together, and Draco did seem to be changing for the better. If he had been like the man she was with today all those years at Hogwarts, they probably would have been friends. Maybe even good friends.

She reached down and straightened her shirt before approaching the door to knock. Narcissa's host, Mason Hallworth was a lot like Jane on paper. One of his parents was a squib, the other a muggle. Neither Jane nor Mason inherited any of the magical powers that were hidden somewhere in their genes. But where Jane was young, energetic and bubbly, Mason was older than his years, often grumpy and had little patience. How he had been chosen to be a part of the rehabilitation project was beside her. He seemed to spend most of his time complaining about Narcissa under his breath instead of encouraging her to embrace her new lifestyle.

When he slammed the door open and scowled down at her. "You're late."

"The shopping trip went over a little." Hermione kept her voice light, choosing to ignore his rudeness. "I assume that you didn't have somewhere else that you needed to be?"

He grunted at her before looking over his shoulder into the living room. "No." he conceded as he gestured for Hermione to follow him through the entryway and into his large, homey living room. There was a tv on and a regal looking woman sitting stiff-backed on the couch. Even though the room looked like somewhere anyone could be comfortable, it was overly obvious that Narcissa Malfoy was not.

"You're here!" Narcissa jumped to her feet as soon as Hermione was in view. "How is he?" Hermione couldn't imagine what the woman thought was happening to her son. She could see and feel the worry rolling off of her.

"He's good." She said with a smile. "Actually, he's really good. He's adjusting beautifully to the new lifestyle. He seemed to enjoy the day out today too, he helped pick out some of your things." She raised her arms to draw attention to the mass of shopping bags hanging off of them.

"He's good." Narcissa looked on the verge of tears and she nodded at Hermione. "You have to tell me everything!" she reached out and guided the little witch to the couch. Hermione started at the beginning, going through all the details that she thought a mother would like to hear, and left out the ones that she didn't think that would like to. Hermione smiled to herself at the thought of him catching her checking him out.

"I miss him," Narcissa said sadly as she held up one of the new dresses that Draco had said she would like. He seemed to know his mother well, she did seem to like everything that was purchased for her.

"I know you do. I'm going to talk to the Ministry and see if…" She stopped, wondering if she should actually put a voice to her thoughts.

"To see what?" Narcissa dropped her arms, letting the silky dress pool on her lap.

Taking a deep breath Hermione went on. "He's adjusting so well. I'm going to see if maybe you two could visit one another, or maybe start sending one another post if nothing else."

Narcissa's face broke out into a wide grin, and her eyes shone more. Hermione hoped that she hadn't just given her false hope.

"I can't guarantee anything." She added quickly. "And if you started putting in more of an effort with things here it would make it easier for me to convince them."

Narcissa was already nodding at her. "Anything. I'll do anything."

Hermione gave her a small smile before telling her to go try on all the clothing. She wasn't supposed to use magic with her visits, but without Narcissa going with them today she couldn't be positive of her sizes… and she wasn't going to leave her with a new wardrobe that didn't fit.

It had been 3 weeks since their shopping trip, and Draco stood at the sink as he finished cleaning the last of the dishes. Jane sat at the counter absently eating grapes and watching the muggle device hanging on the wall. The phone. He shook his head as he corrected his thinking. He had to stop thinking about everything as just muggle devices, he was one of them for the time being.

"Does watching it help it do something?" He asked.

She jumped at a little at the sound of his voice. "No, I wish it did though."

"Who's supposed to be calling?" he dried his hands off on the towel and went to stand on the other side of the counter from her.

"Noone." She said too fast for it to be the truth.

He smirked at her. "I'm not happy with you." He mocked in a close imitation of her voice. "You didn't tell me you were interested in someone."

"Shut up." She laughed as she threw a grape at him. He laughed as she blushed. "He's just someone I met the other day while I was grocery shopping. He seemed nice, but I don't know if he'll call."

"He would be stupid not to." He added as he stole one of her grapes and popped it in his mouth.

"Thanks." She gave him a sincere smile as she walked towards to study. "I'm going to get some work done. I have to send some memos about how muggle like you are today."

Draco grunted. He knew that she had to do constant reports about him, and he felt she had become fairly comfortable with him by now. Ever since their shopping trip she had been much more relaxed around him, he would even go as far to say that they were becoming friends. Even with the knowledge that she wasn't saying anything bad about him, he hated the reports. They made him nervous.

The two of them laughed more now, he found himself coming out of his room more during the day too. She had introduced him to television, and they had a good time watching marathons of her favorite shows while eating junk food. He had to admit that they weren't that bad. He ventured out of the kitchen with his chores too. Learning how to mow the grass, vacuum, and use the washing machine. He allowed himself to be proud of himself after every new thing he learned. It was small accomplishments, but at least he wasn't just sitting idle twiddling his thumbs.

She had just left the room when the phone on the wall started to ring. Draco couldn't remember seeing her move so fast before as she whipped back around the corner to pick it up.

"Hello?" she smiled as someone talked on the other end of the phone. "Oh hey! Yes!" She gave Draco a wink before shooing him out of the kitchen. He went back to the living room chucking to himself. She deserved someone to be there for her.

He grabbed a book off of the end table and settled down on the couch, stretching his legs out over the length of the couch. Jane had already given up at telling him to keep his feet off the couch, and she didn't say anything to him about it when she came up the hallway a few minutes later.

"Get dressed! We're all going out!" She twirled her way to the stairs and disappeared up them laughing giddily.