Hermione was dimly aware of something touching her arm, opening her eyes lazily, she saw the top of Malfoy's head. He was crouched on the floor next to her, one hand on his knee while the other was tracing the letters on her arm. She sat still, watching him curiously, wanting to know where he was going with this. How long had he been sitting there?
After a short while, he looked up at her and almost fell back when he saw her looking back at him. She started laughing uncontrollably at the scene and when he stood up glaring at her she only laughed more.

"I would've said I'm glad you find the situation funny, but I'm not. Nothing you do makes me glad. What were you thinking sleeping here?"

"I wasn't thinking; I was trying not to." she chuckled

"When I said you could choose any room, the attic wasn't included." he frowned at her

"Who said I needed your opinion on where I could sleep?" she frowned back at him

"I thought you left." he admitted

"Why would I?" she asked, looking genuinely puzzled

"I don't know, but I could think of many reasons, one of them being the fact that you don't trust me any more than I trust you." he replied

Aggravated at the mention of that Veritaserum incident again, Hermione stood up to be at eye level with Malfoy "Listen, Malfoy. I've made myself very clear concerning that bloody question so it's pointless that you keep bringing it up all the time. I'm not a prisoner anymore; we are equals in this house. If I wanted to leave I wouldn't have taken one step in here in the first place." she snapped at him" And you'd do well to remember that I have a wand now." she warned.

"Is that a threat, Granger?" he asked "Because if we duel I think we both know who's going to win." he added smugly

"If we duel we both lose, you git!" she fumed before storming out of the attic, making a loud noise as she descended the stairs.

Draco ran his hand through his hair in frustration, Hermione Granger was so determined on infuriating him in every possible way. And he wasn't very proud of himself either. When he woke up, it took him a while to realize that she wasn't in any of the rooms, neither was she downstairs. He rushed back to his room to make sure his broomstick was still there and it was, then he went outside but she was nowhere to be found. As a final desperate attempt he went to the attic and there she was!

The way she was sleeping on the floor so carelessly with one arm over her stomach while the other was spread next to her gave her an air of fragility that was uncommon about her. In the past few days he had caught several glimpses of that side of her and he didn't like the effect that was having on him. He preferred Granger to Hermione.

He never intended to pick up a fight with her this morning, but when she was laughing so blithely he felt the need to push her back into to a safe zone, back to Granger. And you did it so well! He congratulated himself broodingly.
He needed to make peace with her, if for nothing then at least for the sake of his own sanity.

She was already having breakfast when he went down, but the quantities in the plates weren't for one person, he noted positively; this had to be a good sign. He sat down in front of her and she looked the other way. Still looking away, she reached idly for another piece of toast but before she could pick one, Draco dragged the plate away from her hand. Putting it in front of him, he chuckled at the way her hand seemed to hover aimlessly over the now empty space. Then she finally looked back at the table.

"Put that plate back where it was, Malfoy." she ordered

"I have no idea what you're talking about." he replied and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Leaning over the table, she reached for the plate but Draco caught her wrist. "I'm sorry, alright?" he apologized.

"Fine." Hermione said impatiently as she snatched her wrist from his grip.

"None of the owls came back." she said after a long silence

"It will take time." he replied nonchalantly

"I have a question." she said

"I don't like the sound of that." he pushed his plate aside.

"No, it's a good question, really." she assured

"Now I don't like it even more; you and I have very different views on what a good question is." he raised an eyebrow at her.

"If this place is so safe, then why don't you just hide your mother here?" she asked

"Your definition of a good question improved, obviously." he smirked "I can't hide my mother here because as I told you my father knows about this place, it is possible for him to find her."

"You want to hide her even from your father?" she asked

"Not really, I'll let him know where she is eventually. I'm not worried about my father; he loves her. I'm worried that he might find her here and I'm not sure how well he would be able to hide it and for how long." he explained "Plus, I don't want her to be in the wizarding world at all." he added

"You want to hide her in the Muggle world!" Hermione's mouth fell open

"Why do you sound so surprised?" he asked

"Because..it's very unpredictable and...I never thought your mother would want to have anything to do with Muggles." she answered, but regretted saying so instantly. Malfoy was frowning at her, looking offended by what she said.

"You know nothing about my mother except her name. That and -of course- the fact that she raised a spoilt brat." he smirked at her "But you'll find her very...adaptable." he added. Taking some of the plates that were on the table, he headed to the kitchen. Hermione took the rest of the plates and followed him to the kitchen.

"I didn't mean any offense." she mumbled. "None taken." he replied impassively.

"But, how do you expect her to live in the Muggle world on her own?" she asked.

"She won't be completely on her own. You're going to help her." he replied confidently

"Me? How?" she asked in surprise

"Your parents are Muggles and you live with them so you know their world well enough. You'll tell her what to do because I don't know anybody else who can. Let's say you'll be her...guide." he explained, choosing his words carefully so he won't offend her.

"But..I can't live with her!" Hermione almost shrieked.

Malfoy gave a loud laugh "Of course not! Neither of you would survive the other's company for more than an hour." he paused for a while as if imagining the situation "You won't live with her but you will tell her how to live as a Muggle." he explained.

"Maybe your parents can help?"he asked hesitantly.

"No, I'm afraid they can't." she replied distractedly.

"Why not?" he asked. "They're...away." she said, looking down.

"Yes but when they know you need their help I'm sure they'll come back from wherever they are." he inquired.

"But they won't know." she said.

"I think I'm missing something..." his brow furrowed.

"My parents don't know about me anymore...I modified their memories earlier this year. They're in Australia now." Hermione explained as concisely as possible

Malfoy's eyes widened in shock at what he just heard. "That was..." he paused to think of a proper word.

"Foolish?" she asked, half smiling.

"Brave actually...but foolish as well." he corrected.

"Also, there's something I think you're not fully understanding." he said after a brief silence

"What's that?" she asked.

"I don't want to just hide my mother; I want people to think she's dead." he said quietly.

"Do you have any idea how hard that would be?" Hermione asked, gaping at him.

"Yes, that's why I couldn't do it all by myself." he confirmed.

The conversation seemed to die suddenly and Hermione excused herself saying she was going to have a shower. After a long relaxing shower, she started thinking about the new information Malfoy just gave her. He had obviously planned this well, but the thought of hiding Narcissa Malfoy in the Muggle world seemed impossible for her to accept. Narcissa was prejudiced against Muggles and Muggle-borns, and to think that she could live among them and keep her sanity was just bollocks.

Hermione went downstairs but Malfoy wasn't there and when it was lunchtime they chatted randomly, both of them doing an extra effort to pick neutral topics that had the least possibility of starting a new fight. It was only when Malfoy went to his room for a shower that she realized his room was right next to the one she had chosen and she instantly wished she had picked another one.

Another question ran around Hermione's mind restlessly and after fighting the urge to ask, she finally gave up. She went downstairs and he was sitting by the fireplace reading a book. He looked up at her when she sat at the opposite end of the sofa, waiting for her to say why she was here.

"I have another question." she said hesitantly.

"It's usually a bad sign when you have to say that instead of directly asking, but ask anyway." he remarked.

"Now that I know what your plan for your mother is, I can see I'm more involved in it than I initially thought." she said, looking down at her hands. "So...I'm really curious, if you had a different plan, one that didn't depend on or involve me, would you still have saved me that day at the Manor?" she finally asked, looking up at him

Yes, Draco thought. "I don't know, probably not." he said, looking back at his book, grimacing when he heard her say "I thought so". At least he didn't disappoint her. She stood up to leave when they heard a great thud coming from outside, followed by a loud shriek. Each of them grabbing his wand, they went to inspect the source of the noise.