Chapter 2
Hermione had finally composed herself and after making quick work of her hair and makeup, via her wand, left the master bedroom and began scanning the living room for any sign of Draco. She found his sprawled out on one of her favorite lounge chairs on the upper deck. He gave a little start when he saw that she had finally emerged from the bathroom and stood up to face her. "So what happens now Granger?" She gave him a peculiar kind of smile, "Well I am supposed to be keeping you here until further notice but I suppose that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun, I mean after all we just lived through a battle and the second reign of Voldermort." Draco could hardly believe his own ears. "You want to have fun? Little miss prissy Gryffindor?" Hermione blushed a deep pink and scowled. "I do know how to have fun Malfoy and I am not prissy!" Draco didn't even know what to make of the situation so he began to chuckle. "Alright Granger, we can have 'fun' but can we eat first? I'm starving." "Oh of course, we'll have to drive into town to get some groceries but that shouldn't be a problem, I think my cousins left a car here." She hurried inside to find the car keys in the foyer and Draco followed her visibly paling. "Drive?" he asked. Hermione turned back to look at him. "You have been in a car before, haven't you?" she asked incredulously. "Of course not! What sort of self respecting witch or wizard would get in that muggle death trap?" Hermione stared at him quizzically and he could see the mirth reflected in her eyes. "This self respecting witch knows how to drive so if you are hungry I suggest you come with me in the 'death trap', I'll do my best not to kill us."
He followed her out to the garage and stood awkwardly at the driver side door unsure of what to do. "Malfoy in America the driver sits on this side, you'll have to go around." He found his way to the passenger side and tested out the door handle. The car lit up on the inside when he opened the door and he sat down in the seat trying his best not to look too nervous. Hermione settled in adjusting the seat and pulling on her seat belt when she looked over at him. "Here, you'll need to wear this." She reached across his chest and grabbed the belt and clicked it solidly into place. He just gapped at her. 'Well at least this will be interesting.' She thought as she turned the key allowing the engine to roar to life. She laughed to herself as she watched him tense up and hurriedly grab onto something steady. Draco could hardly believe that he was actually in a car and that he was trusting Granger of all people to drive him. He longed for his wand so that he could just apparate wherever they were going, hell he'd even settle for a comet360 rather than be in this metal contraption. As she eased out of the garage and driveway he felt himself relax a bit. He would never tell her but she seemed to be a decent driver. He preoccupied his mind by taking note of where they were exactly. They emerged from a long small wooded road onto a bigger one that he assumed would take them to get food.
Hermione felt wonderful driving again. It had been entirely too long and she was grateful not only for her father teaching her how to drive but for her cousins in America for teaching her how to drive on the opposite side of the road. She felt so at ease behind the wheel and she made a silent vow right then and there to never get too caught up with magical transportation and embrace the muggle way of living as well. She kept glancing over at Malfoy out of her peripherals. He was a spoiled little shit growing up but he couldn't be all that bad. She knew that he really couldn't even kill anyone. When he had been given the chance he balked and she didn't consider that cowardice like his fellow death eaters did. It meant that deep down he probably did have a good soul. He didn't sell us out when we were caught and brought to his manor. He knew exactly who we were. She thought. He was redeemable, even Dumbledore knew that so why shouldn't she give him a chance. It would be a shame to see him end up in Azkaban when he never really committed any war crimes.
A short drive later Draco had noticed more shops and buildings and houses. As the town came into view he saw a frightful sight. "Granger! Watch out!" he yelled. Hermione couldn't help but giggle as she eased on the brake. The road they were on went across a narrow channel allowing large boats to pass from one lake to the other and the bridge was up. "It's ok Malfoy, this bridge goes up every half hour to allow the large boats through." She explained. It was like trying to teach a child. Draco felt entirely stupid so he sat and sulked until she pulled the car into a parking lot of the grocery store. As they walked inside a thought struck Hermione. "Have you ever been shopping for groceries?" she wondered aloud. "Of course not, the house elves take care of that." She smiled hoping he would something like that as she let him direct the cart. "Well I suppose you're the house elf now Malfoy." Draco sneered at her as she walked a few steps away from him. "Wait now, what am I supposed to be doing?" she sighed "pick out things you like or things you want to eat and put them in the cart." She explained slowly. This turned out to be a horrible decision on her part because when it came time for them to check out the cart was full to the brim. Apparently he wanted to try everything. "How are you paying for this?" he whispered as they waited in line to be checked out. She gave him a cheeky little smile and flashed a small shiny rectangle at him. "This is a muggle credit card. I er borrowed it from the house. It allows you a certain amount of money on the card and then the credit card company bills you the amount for the month and then you pay with real cash." He looked at all the food in the cart. "And you're going to cook?" She rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, I do know how to cook." As the words left her mouth she remembered having to justify her 'cooking' to Ron and Harry when they were on the lam. Just thinking about them made her heart hurt so she instead focused on getting them out of the store and back to the house.
Once they were back at the lake house Hermione used her wand to levitate all of the bags inside and made her way into the kitchen to start preparing a late lunch. She made them some Panini's and a spinach salad along with a jug of iced tea. It was the beginning of summertime after all and this was how they drank tea in America. Draco was impressed. He watched her make the whole meal from scratch without ever once picking up her wand and it was good too. "How did you do this Granger?" he asked. She was taken aback as she turned pink. "What do you mean?" "This, you made this all without magic." "Well I am muggleborn, I should hope I picked up a thing or two." She quipped. "Maybe I should learn how." Hermione almost choked on her iced tea. "You want to learn muggle things?" Draco realizing what he just said backpedaled as fast as he could. "No, well I mean, that's ridiculous Granger, why would a grown wizard ever need to learn muggle things?" Hermione gave him a small smile. "Because maybe a grown wizard might find himself in a muggle area without his wand, now wouldn't you agree?" Draco tried to back out of the predicament for the sake of his reputation but he really was in awe of how muggles got on without any magic. The little seedling of an idea had already blossomed in Hermione's head. "I can teach you, you know, how to do muggle things. In fact I think that is the perfect way to spend our time here waiting for the ministry." Draco didn't like the way she said it like it was already a fact but he really had no say in the matter. He didn't know wand less magic so he was as good as a squib here without his wand. "Whatever makes you happy Granger." He muttered petulantly. "It's Hermione." She said. "My name is Hermione, yours is Draco, we aren't at Hogwarts anymore and we are stuck together so we might as well call each other by our first names." Hermione noticed he looked a little scared at her outburst but it needed to be said. He shot her a sarcastic smirk, "Where do we begin Hermione?"