The Muggle Project

Confessions

The house was beyond amazing. The upstairs had three bedrooms, four if you counted the nursery. Each bedroom had an attached bathroom, thank goodness as I wasn't up to sharing one with Draco. The largest room was the one I claimed since it had the only bathroom with an actual bathtub. The others had showers, except the nursery.

The main floor had a living room, formal dining room, sunroom, library and combined study area and a massive kitchen. We even had a small back yard that had a small play area that consisted of a jungle gym, play house, sand box and swing set. We even had a indoor pool.

I was currently in my room, sitting on the chaise lounge that rested at the food of my bed. In my hand was the paper that Professor Tonks had given to me. I read over all the details and then flipped the page to read a few of the other rules.

All students must dress in muggle attire except while inside the Hogwarts Castle for classes.

Lights out is at 11pm

Infant's and children are not allowed to be left alone

Guests must leave by 9pm

No magic allowed

Those were just a couple of the rules, though there weren't many.

After I put away the paper in my bedside table I went in search of something to change into. It was just after 2pm meaning right now it was study time. Since I didn't really have anything to study that left me with 2 1/2 hours of free time before I began starting dinner.

In the closet I found my muggle clothes hung neatly. I searched through my clothes until I found what I was looking for, my grey, off the shoulder sweater dress. I quickly stripped from my robes, hanging them in the closet, before I pulled the dress on. It was form fitting, hanging just at mid thigh. With it I added my black sheer leggings before I stepped into a pair of Then I stepped into a pair of white book socks before I slid my feet into my brown frye's riding boots. After pulling my hair back into a pony tail, leaving a few trendils to frame my face, I headed down stairs to check out the library.

As I was coming around the corner I stopped suddenly as I came face to face with Draco. I gasped, slightly shocked, and took a couple steps back.

He just stood, staring at me.

I took a deep breath, tucking my trendils behind me ears, out of nervous habit.

Maybe I could call a truce and suggest we start anew. Would he be willing to do that? To put the past behind us and make a fresh start. Well, it was now or never.

"Draco-" I began before he held up his hand to silence me. I closed my mouth to let him speak.

"You probably know that taking this class is going against everything my family stands for. If it wasn't for the ultimatum, I probably wouldn't be here right now to begin with."

"Ultimatum?" I repeated.

He ignored the question, not bothering to delve into that subject and continued. "When I called you to my room at the Leaky Cauldron I wanted to apologize for everything."

I was at a loss for words. He had called me to apologize.

"Wait... you said I ruined everything."

He nodded his head, crossing his arms, apparently uncomfortable with apologizing -or just expressing this side of him in general. "I wanted to apologize and you came at me, prepared to fight."

"Well do you happen to remember the last time you and I were in the same room? I was tortured and almost killed by your aunt." I hissed.

He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply to calm himself. Then he opened his eyes to look at me. In his eyes I saw a burning desire, only I couldn't understand what it was for.

"This past year, being in Voldemort's inner circle and seeing what he did. It set me straight. I didn't want to fight, I didn't want that lifestyle. But it took me a while to actually realize it."

"That doesn't excuse a thing that you did, Draco."

"If I'm not mistaken, I helped save you all when the Snatchers brought you to my families home."

I laughed, amused at his words. "Draco, don't be silly."

"I did. I knew it was Harry, I knew but I didn't say anything. I could've, but I didn't."

I went to open my mouth but it dawned on me that he was right. He knew my face, he knew Ron's too and he knew that the third person was Harry by default. Draco was right, he did help save us. If it wasn't for him Voldemort would've been summoned and the three of us would've never made it out of Malfoy Manor alive.

When I finally managed to find my voice I spoke again. "Why?"

"Because I like you Hermione. But none of that matters now, since you are with Potter."

I froze. Malfoy, the boy who was so bent on wreacking havoc on those that are of my blood status, liked me?

Then it hit me. He had said I was with Harry.

"I'm not with Harry, Draco." I replied, my voice soft.

"But I saw you kissing-"

"Harry is nothing but a brother."

"Then Weasley?"

I slowly shook my head. "It's just me, has been for a while now." I gave him a slight smile before I turned and walked off towards the library, leaving him standing there.

As I was walking down the hall towards the library I heard the doorbell ring. It was a series of chimes that filled the house in an elegant short-lived song. I doubled back to the small foyer and opened the door.

"Hi Hermione!" It was Faye and her partner Seamus Finnigan. Standing behind her was Parvati and Dean and with them Neville and Luna.

"We were just stopping by to say hi and see how you were settling in." Faye continued.

"They were but Luna and myself were just making sure Malfoy hadn't killed you off." Neville whispered as he leaned towards me. "Where is the bloke anyways?"

"Right here, and no I haven't killed Hermione, nor am I plotting to." Draco said, leaning casually against the open door and a smug look on his face.

I had to fight back the urge to smile at him.

Only now did I realize what he was wearing. He had on deep blue straight fit jeans and a white button down that I could almost see through. He looked... different.

"Would you guys like to come in?" He said, guesturing inside of our house with his hand.

The three couples looked at me and I gave them a smile before standing back to allow them in. They hesitated for a moment but entered.

We began with a tour of the main floor of the house and the back yard and pool. When we finished we moved into the living room to talk.

"So, Malfoy, what are your intentions, having us here, defenseless?" Neville asked.

Luna smiled, "I don't think he is going to hurt us Neville, there is something different about him. I can feel it." She said in her childlike voice.

"I want to hear it from his mouth." Neville replied as he moved forward in his seat. "Tell us, Draco. Have you turned over a new leaf?"

Draco rose to his feet, from his spot beside me on one of our three couches and moved to stand before the window, with his backs to us. "I have." Was all he said.

"I don't believe it for a second." Neville hissed.

Then Draco turned around face us. He looked at me, holding my gaze for several seconds before he looked away. "I am different. Last year while Voldemort was in power I saw things and lived through things. During that time I realized I didn't want a life like that. I only ever wanted my fathers approval and to be safe from the persuasion of my aunt, so I did things, terrible things I will always regret."

Neville snorted, "That is a load of bullocks. Do any of you believe this horse dung he is trying to feed us?"

"Neville, enough." I snapped, raising to my feet. "Draco has changed, okay. You don't have to believe it but if you want to step foot inside this house again, you will respect me by respecting him. He is my partner for the next 9 months and I don't want any tension between my partner and my friends." I was so done with this fighting, we had enough of it last year. If Draco was for sure turning over a new leaf I was willing to accept it, more-so for the sake of our program.

"So, how about dinner?" Draco asked, our company.

"Uh I was starting to get a bit hungry. What do you have?" Seamus asked.

That was a good question.

"I don't know, but Draco and I will go and check and get dinner started while you visit amongst yourselves. Feel free to make yourselves at home." I said before I nodded for Draco to lead the way to the kitchen.

I closed the door that shut the kitchen off to the rest of the house before walking over to the freezer to see what kind of meat we had to cook.

"Okay, we have Quail, venison, peacock, duck, chicken and veal." I said, to Draco.

"Let's use the chicken. Chicken is the least expensive, and it is the meat we have the most of." Draco said as he brushed past me to grab the wrapped meat that was labled chicken. When his arm brushed against mine I felt a spark, a good spark.

What did this mean?

"Okay, so the chicken." I began, turning to look in the spice cabinet beside the pantry. "We have sun-dried tomato seasoning." I took that out and set it on the counter before I moved to the sink and began filling it with steaming hot water to help thaw out the chicken quicker.

"I got this," Draco said as he placed the meat in the sink. I felt my heart speed up as I thought for a second he had removed both the paper wrappings and the plastic that preserved the chicken, but he didn't. He only removed the paper.

I was trying to keep my mind off the thoughts of Draco and myself and what he had to do tonight for the program, all the while trying to find the ingrediants for our dinner.

I rummaged up some vegetables to go with the chicken and made a nice marinade with the sun-dried tomato seasoning. Once the chicken was thawed out I placed them in a large pan and soaked them with the marinade and let them sit while I began the desert.

"What are those?" Draco said as he began working on cutting the vegetables to go with dinner.

I smiled as I looked up at him. He had his sleeves rolled back to his elbows and a knife in his hand, cutting potatoes, onions, celery and carrots.

When I didn't answer he glanced up at me and smiled. "What?"

I shrugged my shoulders, shaking my head as I looked back down at the fruits I was preparing for the pie I was going to make.

"Oh, nothing." I smirked.

"No, really. Why did you look at me like that?"

I set the fruit down and wiped the juices on my hands off onto my apron. Then I looked at him. "It's different. I mean, you have changed so much."

Draco finished cutting the last of the potatoes before he started on the onions. "If you had feelings for someone would you change for them? Would you try and be the person they need?"

"Of course I would, but that doesn't-" then it hit me, he had told me previously that he liked me, had feelings for me. That meant only one thing, Draco changed to be with me.

But my mind was still curious. He didn't seem too eager to be paired up with me when he found out I was his partner for this class.

Then he set the knife down and walked around the island counter to stand before me. In one swift movement he pulled me against him and kissed me.

Every thought in my mind screamed no, but I didn't want him to release me. I wanted him , with me, like this.

Then the door opened and we jumped apart. I quickly wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and turned to see who had entered.

It was Dean.

"Sorry to intrude but I was wondering if I might have a glass of water." I felt my face blush at the thought of what he might had seen and quickly turned to get a glass out of the cabinet before filling it with tap water.

"Here you go." I said, handing it to him. "Um, dinner should be ready in about 45 minutes to an hour. Let everyone know for me, thank you."

I watched as he left the room and then Draco was back, his lips with mine again. Only it was short lived as he went back to working on the vegetables.

My heart was pounding rapidly as I continued preparing the fruit for the pie.

"You never did tell me what that was." Draco said as he finished the last of the vegetables.

I threw away the outer skin of the fruit and then picked up the innards and placed them in a glass bowl before working on the pie crusts.

"Pomegranates, they are really good and remind me of apples. My mother would always make pomegranate pie's during the summer, that and dandelion and hibiscus tea. Before Hogwarts, every year my parents and I would fly to Hawaii, in America and vacation for a week. While we were there we would go on hikes and my mother would harvest hibiscus flowers and preserve them so she could bring them home. Then she would make her tea and-" I paused, thinking about those simple moments that warmed my heart.

It got me to thinking about when I had my own family. What traditions would we create for them. It was for certain that the tea and pies would be one.