Draco.
Draco definitely found living with Hermione extremely awkward. He didn't exactly know the title of their relationship. Were they friends or close friends?
They were able to talk about things with each other that only good friends would discuss, but there was certainly a boundary to this.
However Draco was constantly worried on walking in on Hermione while she was doing something private such as getting dressed or bathing. He had to adapt to the idea that he was no longer alone in his home and that he shared it with a women. He had to be cautious.
He did find her to be slightly irritating sometimes, especially when she asked many questions like,
"Why would you decorate a room for someone you didn't like?" or "Why do you think your parents haven't visited you?"
He didn't know the answers to either of those questions. He supposed he had decorated Astoria's room in such a way because his parents had been insistent that he impress her. They didn't want her to be displeased as she was so wealthy and well-liked.
So abandoning her meant that his parents probably resented him thoroughly which would be the reason they hadn't visited. Of course, they knew he would be at his house. They just ignored that fact and didn't want anything to do with him because he had disgraced the whole family, this didn't faze him much. He had never had a strong relationship with either of his parents, so he didn't care.
Draco didn't need them. He had utterly content with his simple life with Hermione in his home.
"I was thinking of going to Diagon Alley…" she suggested one morning once they had sat down to eat breakfast which Hermione had happily made.
Draco nodded, picking up a slice of toast and biting into it.
"Yeah, I just wanted to get some more books…" She admitted.
His eyebrows rose in surprise. She had already read all the ones he had got for her? But that wasn't possible.
"Bloody hell Granger, you're insane to have read them all so quick!" he smirked, crunching into another piece of golden brown toast.
She blushed slightly and smiled, "Well I love reading and there's not much to do around here…"
Hermione had spent most of her time in his house, only leaving to go to work which she began very early in the morning and finished at around one. She was a Healer at St Mungos, a noble profession even by Draco's standards. He respected her greatly for it. But working early shifts meant she was home for a long period of time by herself as he didn't finish until six.
"When do you want to go?" He asked, sipping some orange juice to wash down the toast he had just devoured.
"How about now?" She chirped with a gleeful look on her face.
"Wow, you really are eager to get those books" He joked, "C'mon then."
Upon apparating to the Leaky Cauldron, they paced out the back and tapped the correct code into the familiar brick wall. It opened up slowly to reveal the wonder that was Diagon Alley.
Draco remembered the very first time he had been here, shopping for his Hogwarts supplies with his mother and meeting Potter for the first time in Madam Malkin's robe shop.
The streets were now crammed with bustling witches and wizards. Draco remembered that it was almost September and the children would most likely be shopping for all their school stuff.
For a short moment, Draco sourly missed Hogwarts. Much against people's perception, he actually really enjoyed his time at the famous school, it was his home.
"Where to?" He queried Hermione, who was glancing around with a worried expression etched upon her face.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh… just err… making sure there aren't any of my friends about" she mumbled. He had forgotten that she also in hiding. Hiding away from all her problems and mistakes, much like him she was desperately trying to swerve away from what she had done.
After checking no one they knew was near, they both slipped into Flourish and Blotts, so that Hermione could buy a hundred new books. He was going to be in there for an awfully long time.
"Mind if I go into Sugarplum's Sweet shop?" Draco wondered, wanting to escape from the agony of searching through books.
"Sure, go ahead" she smiled before diving into shelves of books.
Draco smirked to himself. She really was a nerdy, little book-worm but one that he was growing increasingly fond of…
Hermione.
She was in heaven. Reading books was something she could do that would allow her to fly away to her own little world. Forget all about her issues and simply think of an unknown world. Hermione had adored reading since she was a little kid and nothing had changed.
Rummaging through all the shelves of books was her idea of fun; she could be here for hours and not get bored at all.
It would have been a lot more fun if Draco had stayed here as well, then she would be able to talk to him about books although that would probably bore him to death. She had to remind herself that not everyone possessed her love of reading and Draco was certainly one of them.
From living with him, she discovered that he owned many books but did not read any of them. At first, she thought this was very odd but soon realised that they were there to impress Astoria. To make her think he was intellectual and interesting, which he was.
Draco was very smart and fun to be around. They had rather similar personalities apart from the reading aspect. And Hermione had grown to really like him over the past few weeks she had spent with him. She never thought she would ever say it, but she and Draco were actually friends. Her life had changed so much.
If someone would have told her a month ago that she would be living and be good friends with Draco Malfoy, she would have slapped them and laughed in their faces. The idea of it was absurd. But here they were and Hermione was extremely happy with how her life was.
She pushed all her regrets about Ron to the back of her mind, moving forward was for the best. Now that she could actually move forward after her leg was healed. It had taken her and Draco a whole day to realise that they were in fact wizards and could merely use magic to heal her leg. They assumed being around muggles for so long had turned their brains to mush.
After collecting a very wide range of books, Hermione emerged from the forest of shelves and paid the woman at the desk.
"My, my!" She commented, her eyes widening by the heaps of books, "That's a hell of a lot of books!"
Hermione laughed softly, "I know… I do love my books" She then paid before shrinking all the books and placing them into her bag. There was no way she would be able to carry them at their normal size.
As she exited Flourish and Blotts, she immediately noticed the streets were much quieter and the sky was turning darker. Oh god, how long had she been in there? She had to go and find Draco quickly, he might be worried.
She began power walking down the street to shops that he was likely to be in. The air was cold as it whipped around her face making her shiver.
She glanced into the shop windows but failed to find him.
Suddenly her body collided with something hard, which she soon found out was another person.
She fell backwards and landed her on her bum. Moaning in pain Hermione hauled herself back on her feet.
"Sorry, I-" She instantly ceased talking as she stared up to the man she had bumped into.
Her eyes widened in horror, "R-Ron?"
A/N: Uh oh! I wonder what Ron's gonna do? Hope you are enjoying the story and thanks for the reviews!