Draco woke to the unfamiliar ceiling above him, and it took him a few disorientated moments to realise where he was. Rising from the sofa, he ritually straightened the pillow and blanket and sat back down on it, looking forward at Granger's fire-place as he got himself straight as his brain unclogged, and reality deepened through-along with a splitting headache; one that would have knocked him off balance five months ago, but it was a pain he had gotten used to now, and nothing tablets wouldn't dim.

Swallowing two of the pink painkillers, the objects on the mantelpiece became clearer; there were only three framed images on the shelf above the tall fireplace, as well as an assortment of 'nick-nacks'. The first and largest photo, on the far left, was of Granger, Weasley and Potter all together, taken on a day out somewhere sunny, as they wave at the camera, faces smiling and laughing as the image showed The Ginger saying a remark to Hermione which made her double over and hide her face from the camera. It couldn't have been taken long after they left school, as there was an obvious age difference with the photo Hermione and the Hermione that came in to give him a cup of tea with a curt smile.

The middle photo-as Draco realised after much scrutinising-was an unmoving portrait of Hermione with what must be her parents, Draco was about to ask this theory out loud to the women but she had already vacated the room.

The last photo was another wizard one, showing a field full of happy wedding guests, and then Granger, Weasley, the Girl Weasley, and Potter all moving to the camera and showing off. The younger Weasley was wearing a wedding dress, and Malfoy assumed that by Potter's costume he was the groom. But it wasn't really the happy couple that caught his eye, it was Hermione. Her messy-as he remembered it-brown hair had been neatly pinned back into a bun, with curled strands coming down to shape her face and highlight her solid features. She was wearing only a cheap, thin, red, braidsmade dress-but it looked perfect on her. She looked younger than she did now, but older than the far left photo. Draco swapped his stare from either moving frames as he made sure he was right about an age gap.

"That was Harry and Ginny's wedding a few years ago," coming back into the room silently, Hermione smiled, following Malfoy's gaze to the photograph and picking it up and looking at it herself, a reminiscent smile on her pale lips as she lifted her mug to her mouth and setting the frame back down.
Ginny, so that was the name of Weasley's sister-Draco made a mental note to forget it again. Pointless facts like that hurt his head.
"How old are you in that one?" Draco was pointing at the picture of her and her parents, and Hermione smiled again as she sat down beside him on the couch, looking at the photograph from afar.
"About 19, 20? It was just after The Battle." She didn't say the words with any particular meaning, but the words sunk deep into Draco; it was the first time either of them had spoken about what had happened on May 2nd 1998. It was twelve years ago, but the memory of that year will forever be imprinted in Draco's mind-no brain cancer was going to get rid of that darkness.

The silence was prominent between the two as they both thought about the picture, and what it meant. Draco was staring at her mother; she was actually quite attractive-but nowhere near as much as his own mother. He had almost forgotten that the pair in the still picture were muggles. They looked so...normal. Except for the clothes. His mother wore nicer dresses; and father would never be seen in that...what do they call them? T-Shirts? Draco realised that he would soon have to wear one of them if he were to associate himself with them; voicing these thoughts out loud, but without turning to Hermione, he broke the silence:

"I'll need to buy muggle clothes. I've been putting it off for too long, but I just have no idea..." The man trailed off, his eyes bearing into the unmoving eyes of the man in the frame.
"We can go today?" Hermione suggested softly, glancing towards Draco nervously, "I'm not in work until this afternoon, but would you be okay here? You can tidy the spare room and sleep in there tonight?" Hermione's voice waved as she thought about the implications of leaving Draco Malfoy in the house on his own, but she had given him her word.
And besides, she had spent the rest of the night before lying awake in bed thinking things over; and she never wasted that precious sleep for anything.
"Sure." Malfoy shrugged off, knowing that the job was better done sooner than later.
"Have you got muggle money?" Hermione inquired suddenly, the thought only just striking her.
"Erm...no..." Draco admitted, "I was hoping you would help out with that one too..." And for the first time that morning, the man chanced a quick smile at the woman sitting beside him.
The Gryffindor returned the smile and placed her mug to her lips, "Sure."

A.N: Yes, I know this was terrible and short and I'm sorry but I wanted to update