A rather short update today, I'm afraid. I almost didn't post it but I wanted to share something to tide you guys over with until later on this week! I'm giving a big graduate presentation that I've been prepping for all weekend, but don't worry – expect a lot more from this and my new story, "The Wonder that Keeps the Stars Apart" this weekend! Also, the beginning of a Phantom of the Opera fic may be appearing… We will see ;)

A heavy weight sat upon Hermione's chest. She coughed and tried to wiggle whatever was crushing her lungs off of her, but the weight remained. She groaned, opening her eyes, and was greeted with Crookshank's signature "Why-haven't-you-fed-me-yet-you-peasant" glare.

Hermione groaned again, picked him off up her chest and sat him down beside her. Turning her back, she hoped to get at least another hour of sleep before the big day, but Crookshanks would not be ignored. He jumped to the other side, moseyed on up to her head and swatted her face with his paw.

"Ow! Crookshanks!" Hermione clutched the side of her face and pushed him away. "FINE. You win. Just let me wake up."

Crookshanks, who looked rather pleased with himself, leapt gracefully off her bed, pranced over to her door, and began scratching. Hermione groaned again, this time much more loudly, and finally leapt out of bed and ran straight for the cat.

"MEOW!" Crookshanks shrieked. The two of them began tearing around the room and after Crooks had succeeded in knocking over her nightstand, he tripped over one of the small stacks of books in her room and Hermione was able to snatch him up.

"You love me, don't you Crookshanks? Huh, don't you?" Hermione loved to irritate him, and the more she rubbed her face into his belly and spoke to him like a baby, the angrier he got. Finally, he hissed again, and Hermione gave him one last kiss and threw him out the door. "Fine! Go find Draco, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to feed you."

And that's precisely what Crookshanks did. Draco, however, was even less of a morning person than Hermione, and threw multiple expletives at the darned cat as he trudged down the stairs and conjured up a gourmet breakfast.

"Wanker," Draco growled. Crookshanks merely ignored him and sat on his red velvet pillow, quietly munching away at his food.

Draco heard pounding down the stairs and Hermione and Luna burst into the scene. "Good morning!" Luna sang. Draco just scowled. "If I had known taking care of this bloody thing-"

"It's a cat!"

"-Would be part of the deal, I never would have signed up for this."

He heard a chuckling from the corner. Turning around, he saw Potter sitting casually in the corner clad in his Gryffindor robe, drinking something out of a mug. He wasn't sure what was in the mug, but whatever it was smelt like burned dirt. "Just have some coffee, Malfoy."

Draco scowled again. "If that tastes just like what it smells like, I'd rather snog a Basilisk."

"It's not that bad!" Hermione exclaimed. "Especially with some cream and sugar! Here, I'll fix you a cup."

Huffing, Draco shuffled over to the table. "It's the least you could do since I had to deal with that bloody-"

"DRACO."

Sighing, he didn't finish his sentence.

The roommates spent the next fifteen minutes or so in silence. Hermione whistled as she made omelets, Harry and Draco passed "The Daily Prophet" between the two of them, and Luna fluttered about the table, charming napkins to look like blobs, as far as Draco could tell.

"They look like blobs!" Draco whispered to Potter.

Harry shrugged, not raising his eyes from the paper. "Just go with it."

Hermione finally announced that breakfast was ready – not soon enough in Harry's opinion – and the four of them sat down to eat and discussed their plans for the day. Even though they had just arrived, Draco had to go out of town for the next five days to supervise the renovations at the Palais, the premiere magical opera house in the West. The others decided that they would spend the day exploring the town, buying supplies, and "gallivanting on the shoreline," which Harry begged and whined about until the girls finally gave in and said yes, they could do that too.

Breakfast didn't last much longer than that, and after cleaning the kitchen and packing a light suitcase, Draco said goodbye to the others. He shook Potter's hand, making him promise to keep an eye out on the girls – "They'll get into trouble without constant supervision, Potter" – and making Hermione promise to watch his room and make sure Harry didn't "jack any of his stuff," to which she rolled her eyes and agreed. Luna gave him a large hug, which still made Draco feel a little out of place, and ran down the hallway with Harry to write a list of everything that they would need. Draco and Hermione were left in the foyer, and after a few minutes of examining the walls and clearing their throats, Hermione came to a decision. She closed the space between her and Draco and promptly kissed him on the cheek.

Draco was stunned; about a thousand different thoughts were running through his head, but he couldn't think, he couldn't even move. He barely registered when Hermione pulled away and lectured him about being safe in a large muggle city and not trusting people who walked to close to you. He finally met her gaze, which stopped her incessant chattering. "I'll miss you too, Granger," he said, smiling smugly. And with a wink and a large crack! Draco Malfoy was gone.