"Okay, so I can hear you thinking even above the snap of my rice crispies." Hermione laughed to herself softly as she set down her spoon and looked at Draco, who was sat across the table from her.
"I'm just wondering what made you think of this colour scheme." Draco frowned, looking around the kitchen.
"Oh," Hermione frowned-not at the somewhat insult to her house, but disappointed that that was all he was thinking about-"is that it?"
"Yes," Draco lied, "the colour is so…cliché."
"Who are you, the new fashion editor of Witch Weekly?" Hermione giggled, picking up her spoon again.
"No…" Draco grimaced slyly, "I just have eyes."
"I know," Hermione sighed, turning around slightly to take in the grimy yellow walls, "to tell the truth, it wasn't me who chose the colour."
"Who else would ever have this little taste?" Draco rasped disdainfully, pushing all other thoughts to the back of his mind as he took another bite of his toast.
"Ginny…well, mainly Ron-they went to get it together, but-"
Hermione didn't even have time to tell Draco she actually liked the walls before he made a small leap from his chair, "Don't tell me you used to live here with Weasley!"
"Erm…maybe…" Hermione trailed off, feeling her cheeks burning up as she realised Malfoy had every right to jump from his seat, if he knew the things they'd done on that very spot…
"I didn't even realise you guys finally got your act together? Wow." He sat down again, both looking and sounded impressed as he remembered back to the two squabbling school kids.
"Hmm…" Hermione mused, rolling her eyes and shaking her head slightly, the colour subsiding from her cheeks.
"What happened? I presume he doesn't live here anymore?" Draco asked through a mouthful of toast
"Er, no." Hermione laughed facedly, standing up suddenly and refilling her cup of tea at the counter behind her.
"Woke up one day and realised he was too ugly for you?" Draco smirked to her back, unaware of the tears starting to brim in Hermione's eyes.
"Too ugly for me?" Hermione questioned, trying to keep her voice steady.
"Yeah, you know." He answered nonchalantly, taking another bite of his toast.
Wiping her eyes quickly with the cuff of her sleeve, Hermione laughed gently to herself, "No, I don't know Malfoy," she turned herself around and smiled, leaning against the counter, "please, enlighten me on how anyone could be too ugly for me."
"Well, you know…" It was Draco's turn to trail off as he felt his cheeks turn pink, looking down at his crumb covered plate.
Hermione laughed, "No, I still don't. But anyway, it wasn't anything to do with him-or me-we just came to a mutual end, I guess," Hermione lied, her voice wavering as tears threated to come back, but she busied herself with collecting Draco's empty plate, "More toast?"
"No, no, just a glass of water please." said Draco, who was glad for the change of topic.
Unlike Granger and Weasley, he and Astoria hadn't ended smoothly, and it wasn't a mutual agreement. She'd left him brutally once he had started getting memory loss and mixing up his words, when he had started getting frequent nose bleeds and bouts of sweating. Too much to deal with, she had said. Draco let out an audible sigh as the memory flooded back to him, of the argument that had led her to leave with a mountain of his inheritance and pride.
To Draco, Hermione had obviously had it easy, neither she nor Ron had kicked out the other, and that's the way he had wished it had been for him. No ugliness. No illness. No quick escape.
It's not like they had even been truthfully happy-arranged marriages never were-but they got on, and they loved each other. She was beautiful, and what more could a man want?
Draco mutted silently to himself as he swallowed his daily dose of tablets, grimacing slightly at the pain of gulping down too much water too fast.
"You alright?" Hermione asked softly, noticing Malfoy's wince.
"Yep." Draco grunted in response, sipping more of the ice cold liquid, soothing the sickly feeling rising in his stomach.
"I'm in work today, by the way." Hermione told him as she set back the jug of water in the fridge.
"Alright."
"I'll leave in an hour and won't be back until late, will you be okay?"
"Yeah, I don't need a baby sitter," Malfoy scoffed, pushing his chair away from the table, "believe it or not, I've been on my own in a house before."
"I know," Hermione muttered defensively, charming the morning's cutlery to wash itself, "You know what I mean."
"Yes, I'll be fine. I'll just stay in bed again." Draco smiled facedly, watching the woman as she walked out the room.
"Don't get too used to it!" Hermione called from the living room.
"Believe me, I won't." Draco called back, listening to her light footsteps disappear up the stairs.
In truth, Draco hated lying in bed, cooped up to be felt sorry for. Yes, although in school he spent most of his time brooding to himself in the confinements of his cold dormitory most days, that was only because he couldn't actually face going out and having to face the most annoying people he could ever imagine in his mind, even if he wanted to.
As the man lifted himself from his chair with a groan, his mind wanded again to his past life, images coming back to him in faded colours, of days long gone and times not so well spent.
His mother would always give him a hiding if he spent any day in bed for longer than necessary, and so he had taken the opportunity to do so at Hogwarts-where no one actually missed him if he didn't come out from behind the dark satin curtains.
But, as his mother had brought him up, he would much rather be up and reading a book in the dark shadows of a dusty library than lie sweaty in bed with nothing to do. However, the illness he now found himself stuck in was constantly tying him down between the sheets, tiring him out before he even had a chance to move even more than a step towards the door.
He'd been learning to overcome the weakness, especially in the mornings, but it was easy for his body to give in and conform to the fatigue his mind wanted to feel.
"Okay, do you need anything before I go?" Hermione asked, her wand at the ready by her side.
"Nope, I'm good." He smiled weakly, looking up at her from the sofa.
"Do you know how to use the DVD Player?" She asked quickly, noticing Draco's gaze fall onto the small TV set occasionally.
"Huh?" The man questioned, genuinely confused.
"Oh, doesn't matter-I'll put a film on for you now." Hermione walked over to the television and knelt down, picking up a little known about wizard film and taking it out of the case, explaining to Draco how to turn on the TV and work the buttons on the control.
"Muggles never fail to confuse me." Draco rolled his eyes, shaking his head slightly as the picture came on the screen.
"I have loads of muggle films in the box," Hermione instructed indicating to the large box she kept the films in, "most of them are romantic though, I'm afraid." Hermione admitted quietly, slightly embarrassed at her guilty pleasure.
"Right…" Draco trailed off, half baffled, half fascinated.
"You'll have to route through and find some documentaries." Hermione told herself more than Draco, who wasn't really listening.
"I'll probably forget all the buttons, but thanks."
"No problem," Hermione smiled as she stood up, "watching the screen fondly as the title credits rolled on, "enjoy the film.
"Hmm…" Draco answered, not fully listening and instead letting the woman's soft voice drown into focus as he watched,
"this isn't a mushy romantic is it?" He questioned suddenly, turning back to her.
"No, no, action." She told him somewhat defensively, standing back into position after handing Draco both TV and DVD remotes.
"Good, I can't stand any of that in books." He grimaced, his eyes fixed back onto the screen.
"Me neither to be honest," Hermione laughed, baffled at her own tastes changing.
"Anyway, goodbye. I'll see you later."
And without another word, Hermione turned her heel and was out of the room with a crack.
The day passed by relatively slowly, with Draco turning his way through film after film, fully absorbed into camera angles and narrative plot. Admittedly, he had almost been excited to put on one or two romantics, but found himself mainly going for the action and comedy, supposedly left by Ron-as he couldn't possibly imagine Hermione setting herself down with a nice cup of coffee and watching Back To The Future or Lord of the Rings-both of which he had enjoyed thoroughly (not that he would ever tell anyone but the walls).
Although he had fallen asleep a number of times at different intervals, Malfoy lost himself to the world he had never before explored-amused at how wizards both before and after him knew about this muggle sorcery but hadn't fully divulged it to him. It was a new magic of which he had never seen before, knowing just how possible it was to create such a thing, but not yet sure how muggles had been able to do it. Someone with a wand with surely involved somehow, and had just managed to keep it a secret. Somehow.
Hermione apparated into the hallway half way through his private premier screening of Saw, startling him slightly as the loud crack issued from the next room.
"Have you even moved?" Hermione laughed, coming into the living room and seeing Draco laying hunched up on the sofa.
"I don't think so." He admitted solemnly, half glad of a distraction to tear his eyes away from the film that was slightly disturbing him.
"You must be starving!" She sounded aloud, mentally clocking the time as she tutted to herself, making her way hastily to the kitchen.
"I mean, I've moved to change the disk thing." Draco commented behind her, turning his attention back to the screen.
"I can see that," She laughed again, busying herself in the kitchen.
"Oh, I've been meaning to ask," Hermione mentioned as she put a tray of hot pasta in front of Draco half an hour later, "how did you know where I live?"
"What?" Draco asked, startled slightly at the question, momentarily forgetting where he was.
"The other night, when you first came here?"
"Oh! Oh, I just looked in the Ministry files." He told her simply, starting on his pasta.
"Is that even legal?" Hermione asked, marginally shocked that Draco had gone to such lengths.
"Why, going to report me?" He smirked, some what startled by how hungry he now found himself as he was eating.
"If only." Hermione scoffed, seating herself down with a bowl of pasta beside him.
"I couldn't find the button on the remote that changed the disk for me." Draco commented,making idle chit-chat.
"Did you charm it?" Hermione tried to hide the humour in her voice as she asked the obvious question.
"Yes," Draco stated darkly, with a hint of defiance, "I just wish it would do it for me without a wand."
"Ah, well-you can't have everything."
"If only we could." Draco remarked, the conversation suddenly turning sour.
"Was it difficult to stand up?" Hermione asked softly, trying to steer the conversation away from bitterness.
"It's always difficult to stand up," Draco stated unpleasantly, "and it's not worth the hassle for only a short distance."
"I see..." Hermione trailed off, trying not to feel sympathy towards the sick man, "good job you're a wizard then." Hermione laughed, attempting to diffuse the difficult silence in the room.
"Exactly." Draco snarled with a huff, turning his attention back to the closing credits, which he enjoyed just as much as the film itself.