A/N: I'm giving and marking exams at the moment so the next few chapter might take a little longer to get out than I hoped. I usually write while on busses etc so I have a bit written it's just getting it all typed out. LOL

CH 6: Muggle Studies

Draco had never really struggled with a class before as he was doing so with this one and it frustrated him beyond belief. While some aspects of it like literature were easy, other aspects of the muggle life were not and that was what he was endeavouring to catch up on in his Muggle Studies class.

He was required by order of professor McGonagall that it was in his best interests to take the course if he wanted to change sides as it were and join 'The Order of the Phoenix', at first he hadn't really been pleased with the idea, for a start as far as he knew all those who took the class had something/some link or connection to muggles and or the muggle world, he had nothing that he knew of anyway, knew nothing except that of which his father told him like how dirty they were, they were diseased, unworthy of magic and the list went on some of this he now knew to be entirely untrue but still. He didn't know anyone that did have relations with the muggle world, well actually he did he just wasn't friends or even on speaking terms with any of them. The truth was he was probably civil at least some what to some of them but the main one he was going to be in close quarters with so to speak was the one he had been ridiculing for the past six years, what made things worse was since he wouldn't be attending classes he was paired up with said person the only one he persecuted the most in the entire school; Oh life's irony he guessed it was karma, but then again she certainly seemed to give as good as she got, after all she'd punched him back in third year, the point was she hated him and him her and that was who he had to work alongside to complete this class amongst others.

They'd been back at school a few months now, while he was able to catch up the literature component easy enough it was about poets, playwrights and other writers etc Granger had been rather helpful of course after all she wasn't called the know-it-all bookworm for nothing though he was starting to get the feeling calling her that was a bit harsh, just because she actually took notes, was able to retain any information in her head unlike so many others and took her studies seriously, she wasn't the only one who did. In fact besides himself he didn't really know anyone else besides her that seemed to be able to remember everything that they were told, seen or read and he thought that it was a good thing about himself, he guessed it just irked him so badly because of what his father had been drumming into him over and over throughout the years and everything he'd said about muggle-borns she seemed to prove the opposite in the most extreme way. She was certainly an interesting specimen of muggle-born, that was for sure and she confused him greatly, but he still didn't like her. He found much of the muggle literature quite good actually. There was a fair bit he had to catch up on as well as keep on top of this years studies, at least with the Christmas holidays just around the corner he'd be able to do some more catching up at least staying had it's advantages, he'd be staying out of trouble for a start and with no-one hopefully around he'd be able to get outside. He still had to get through education, medical aspects and life styles from the previous year which he figured would all be pretty easy, well maybe not easy thinking about it now but easier than his current topic of study they were covering law and he had no idea there were so many facets that they covered. Muggles sure had a lot of rules to live by and oddly many were similar to those in the wizarding world, unfortunately he was struggling a bit with this discrimination thing, they didn't have that in the magical community as far as he could see and that is how he came to where he currently was arguing or debating if you will with Granger over the issue.

"Granger, I'm telling you we don't have discrimination problems in the wizarding world" Malfoy said sounding rather incensed.

"Malfoy…how can you say that? What have you learnt of discrimination so far? Think real hard about it!" Hermione replied gruffly and saying the last bit sarcastically.

"Well…." He said thinking about it "discrimination is the prejudices one has against another over race, religion, gender and ability. Not liking someone for who they are or their beliefs basically" he said shrugging.

'And they tease me because I sometimes sound like a dictionary; I'm not the only one'

Hermione thought bitterly before replying "and you don't see that here in the wizarding world?" she asked incredulously "the Pattil twins, Zabini, Dean Thomas people like them in the muggle world would be discriminated against because of their skin colour and or their race- where they come from, Harry would get teased for wearing glasses…" she held up a hand to stop him talking "many females are treated as either being worthless all together or as not being able to do things as well as their male counterparts even when they have proven otherwise, just being different in your interests or abilities can mean you are treated differently, for years you yourself have treated me as though I'm worthless, below you, not as good as you and that's exactly the same as many men and women are treated in the muggle world…" she was almost crying now, her face was flushed and she had a tinge of anger in her rising voice. Draco just frowned while she continued to vent "…you told me I didn't belong in this world, but do you really believe that people like me are accepted in the muggle world? Being magical has those that are like me persecuted because of what we can do, Harry was punished by his uncle every time he performed accidental magic as a child, did you ever think that maybe we'd be better accepted here, we're normal in the magical world, in the muggle world we're freaks to be isolated because you're different" her eyes danced with passion trying to get him to understand though she was so close to tears.

"I…" he wasn't sure what to say but before he could continue she interrupted saying,

"It's attitudes like yours that have people like me working so hard to try and prove ourselves, that we do belong, we're so far behind when we start in the wizarding world, I had to catch up 12yrs worth"

He looked at her "12yrs?" he asked

"Yes" she replied "because when you start you are to be 11yrs of age and since my birthday is September then I didn't turn 11 till after the school year started so I had to start a year later with the rest of you which meant that I was a year older" she explained.

"So your birthday is?" he asked her not really sure why.

"September 19th" she answered before realizing it.

They sat there in silence; Hermione looked at Draco before getting up to get a drink. Draco sat there going over what she just said, he'd never really thought about it but discrimination was rampant in the wizarding world especially with witches and wizards like Voldemort around. He couldn't imagine what it would have been like to be punished for using magic nor could he imagine what it would be like to be isolated and treated differently because you were magic, he guessed it would be pretty lonely. He was now feeling a bit bad but how to fix that he wasn't sure, he'd never really apologised to anyone before but he figured there's always a first time for everything and if he was to turn his life around well he might as well start with the lioness herself, she'd be easier to win over than her friends any way, so he got up going to the kitchenette and hesitantly said "umm…Hermione…"

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow "yes?"

"AhhhI just want to say I'm sorry, I thought about what you said and it's not something that ever occurred to me"

"What's that Malfoy…?" she asked bitingly "…that you'd be seen just as different if not more so, being magical in a non magical environment" she looked at him in the eyes before he looked away to see if he was sincere, he seemed it though she'd play it by ear, "…and what's with you calling me Hermione? Only my friends call me Hermione so you can stick with calling me Granger!" she stated scathingly before walking off to her room.

She never saw the flash of hurt that crossed his eyes. He felt a pang of something before uttering to himself "ouch that hurt" as she left the room. He heard her call if you need anymore help I'll be in my room. He returned to the common room to write his essay.

He never realised until doing this subject just how much the muggle and magical worlds actually did have in common, it was scary, exciting and confusing, and everything he had believed in was being proved wrong, it was disintegrating before his very eyes, he felt like he was drowning, there was a muggle saying what was it he thought 'something about building bridges and mending fences or something along those lines' well that's what he'll have to do starting with Hermione. He wasn't sure why it hurt so much being told he wasn't a friend but he was determined to fix that.

After spoking to Hermione (that's what he'd call her to himself anyway) the writing of the essay became that much easier along with all the muggle studies reference books that had been included in the heads personal library, he figured that was all McGonagall's doing along with the Order. Still if it meant he could pass the subject he wasn't going to complain at that moment he had an epiphany. He wasn't going to complain. WOW! That was new for him maybe this changing thing wouldn't be so hard after all.

Having finished his essay he decided to get started on lifestyles at least he was able to do this catch up in any order he so desired and figured it'd be an easy enough to write about as well and being Friday he didn't have much else on he'd just started reading the chapter 'The Muggle Way' when he read the words that had his stomach dropping and him paling even further if at all possible "…for this chapter and in order for you to have a proper understanding you will be expected to experience a weekend without magic to aid you and therefore will live as a muggle in an environment deemed suitable by your professor for the duration of the assignment". It was then that there was a knock at the portrait, he quickly got up knocking on Hermione's door to let her know while he hid, she opened the entrance only to let in their muggle studies professor; Professor Midge.

"Mr Malfoy" said the professor "I've decided that this weekend you can conduct your 'Muggle life' assignment, Miss Granger here can show you how things work", he explained further having noticed Draco's furrowed brow "you will be required to cook; clean and use other devices as you would living in your own apartment if you were a muggle. I will come over for dinner on Sunday night to inspect the 'House', have dinner which of course you will be cooking and give you your assessment. You will also be required to write a 4ft paper on the experience. The House Elves will not be attending to the heads house from now until Monday morning though they will stock the kitchenette with the required supplies that you will need. Now you won't get the whole experience that those in class obtained last year, but it will do for now. There will be a chance for you to experience other aspects of this later next term" with that said the professor got up to leave, "Oh I almost forgot;

From magic to muggle let this one understand,

Remove his magic the best you can.

For two nights and two days

Let this wizard live the muggle way"

Said the professor while pointing his wand at Draco. Draco felt a cold wave wash over him shocking him into the realization that the professor was about to walk out, he hurriedly grabbed his finished essay to hand to him before he disappeared out the port hole.

Turning around he found Hermione standing there with a gleam upon her features, he was starting to think that as much as she had Gryffindor qualities she also seemed to possess quite a few Slytherin traits as well, watching her he thought 'our kids would probably end up in Ravenclaw though with both our smarts, WOW! Where did that thought come from, very bad thought; get out you evil thought putterer' (A/N: I know it's not a word but work with me here) quirking an eyebrow he asked her "what" shaking her head "this is going to be so funny to see Malfoy", she then turned towards the kitchenette curling her finger in a come hither follow me action to which he complied.

Learning his way around a kitchen was not something he'd ever thought he'd be doing, but then if someone had told him a year ago he'd be doing muggle studies, changing sides, going against everything he'd been raised to believe and everything his father stood for he would have laughed before hexing them. Yet here he was with Hermione introducing him to the kitchen. The Kitchen had been set up only for the weekend for this assignment so really he had to learn fast.

"Ok this is called an oven and a stove, the stove is the top part you can cook on, once it's turned on these plates…" she said pointing "…can get extremely hot depending on the temperature they are set to and believe me they will burn you badly, the food is put into a pot or something else to cook it, I'll show you when you need it. The oven is down here and you cook in it by putting whatever it is you are cooking on one of these shelves and then closing the door. Remember to turn it on first through, it's probably best we go through things as you find you need to use them so for now read these cookbooks because you're cooking starting tonight" Leaving him to it Hermione made herself a cup of tea using a kettle this time and proceeded to the lounge to curl up with a good book, Draco just watched her curiously while she made the tea, boy was he in for a long weekend.

Draco followed soon there after getting himself comfortable before going through the books 'Breakfast made easy', Lunch you can munch' and Dinners without dying'. He decided to start with 'Dinners without dying' since dinner was his first task; he really wondered how he was going to make it through the weekend. The book was obviously made for magical folk since it went into detail about how to use each utensil and each device being his usual arrogant cocky self he figured it would be easy, so he flipped past the 'everything easy' section to the 'somewhere in the middle' and decided on something there. Wondering who he was supposed to be feeding that night he asked "Granger?"

"Mmmm"

"Who am I feeding tonight? You and the head boy, anyone else?"

"No actually, it's just you and me tonight; we don't want to send anyone to the hospital wing" Hermione answered sarcastically with a grin and returned to her book.

Ignoring the girls' remark Draco decided on making Chicken Dijon and got to work. The task at hand became frighteningly harder than expected all too soon he couldn't understand what was meant by 'combine bouillon granules' there was no mention of those anywhere else and what the hell was a 'skillet' did he even have one? He was starting to get stressed, but being who he was he wasn't going to let it beat him or ask for help so he soldiered on. An hour later Hermione heard yelling coming from the kitchen and the distinct smell of something burnt could also be smelt but what it was, was anyone's guess. Hermione got up going into the kitchen to find a rather disgruntled and flustered looking Draco standing in a rather messy kitchen, trying not to laugh she asked "what were you trying to make?"

"Chicken Dijon" was the rather pitiful reply. "I give up Herm...I mean Granger, I can't do this" he pouted.

She ignored his slip of the tongue, what else could she do with the rather pathetic looking guy in front of her.

"Oh dear, well lets see how it tastes then will we?" she gave him a small smile and told him to serve it up.

He couldn't believe she was going to risk eating it, but then neither could she. After taking only a bite they decided against eating any more and Hermione offered to whip them up something quickly, Draco would of course need to clean up the mess. Twenty minutes later they sat down to eat spaghetti with a rich tomato sauce to which Hermione had added red wine like she usually did at home and fresh herbs, she also served up some garlic bread, Draco watched the whole process closely while Hermione explained what she was doing, what she was using and why, he was determined not to ruin the next meal.

The weekend had it's ups and downs, with a lot of downs for Draco, there'd been a few burning incidents, he found he really hated cleaning and actually sympathized with the house elves but only slightly, how could they enjoy that? He could see where Hermione was coming from saying 'how do you know they like it?' maybe some of them didn't and he really couldn't blame them. He and Hermione even managed to have a few laughs over the course of the weekend, more so her though laughing at him, at first he'd been really pissed off at her laughing at him but eventually he saw the funny side too and they were both in hysterics. He was starting to realise that she really wasn't such a bad person after all, she was funny when she wanted to be, was a good conversationalist which was something rare for him, he was really enjoying her company and was determined to become friends with her. Sunday night eventually rolled around with the appearance of Professor Midge and Professor McGonagall. Draco was surprised at her appearance but successfully cooked dinner and handed in his essay before the professor's departure. Well another unit down, how many more to go? He couldn't remember; he cleaned up the kitchen before making a pot of tea and taking into the lounge room where Hermione was sitting reading a book. Looking up as he entered she asked him "so have your views on muggles changed any yet? Or are we still dirt to you?" she asked sounding harsher than she meant to.

"Actually they are changing…" 'More than you think Hermione' he thought without really realising it, "…doing everything without magic is harder, I guess it makes us look a little lazy" he replied with a shrug of his shoulders before sipping his tea and watching her at the same time. They chatted amicably for a bit longer before they both retired to their beds for the night, for tomorrow was the beginning of another school week.

A/N: Well that's another one down. Almost halfway through.