CHAPTER 20: IN WHICH DRACO DISCOVERS THE WONDERS OF MUGGLE FOOD 

Hermione ran a hand through her tousled hair, leaving them ruffled. A curl fell into her eyes, and Draco had to fight the urge to push it behind her ears, instead he swallowed nervously.

What was she hiding from him?

"Granger-"

"Draco! As much as I want to talk about all this and figure it all out, now is not the time or the place. I can't, not right now." She sighed and leaned back against the bed, her shoulders slouching in tiredness. "I'm going to order us some food and then we both need to rest, we're going to be travelling a lot from now on, and I don't want either one of us to lose focus and get into trouble, okay?" she didn't wait for an answer, instead went to the little square box thing that was attached next to the door and pressed a button and began talking into it.

Draco watched her talk to the box and wondered which part of that statement he was supposed to be okay with. Not only was she hiding something from him, but now she'd gone crazy and started talking to inanimate objects too?

But he knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't do anything without a reason. Plus, he didn't want to push her too far. She didn't deal with anger towards him well. The last time he'd done something stupid, she'd almost broken his nose.

He sighed and turned the belly-pinion back on and continued watching people beat each other up without really beating each other up.

Hermione ordered food absentmindedly; her mind occupied by the theories filling up her head. If the news was covering the story, then it couldn't have just been wizards and witches that were taken, but muggles too. If any of this led back to her, then she really would be trapped, unable to live as herself, in either world.

"Thank you for your order, we'll send up your food immediately. Enjoy your stay here." The intercom buzzed out and Hermione turned around to watch Draco as he switched the channel and started watching The Simpsons, trying to figure out what it was exactly it was.

His face was lit up in child-like amazement. Her stomach did back flips as she watched him laugh, and her face flushed in embarrassment when she realised that she was staring at him.

Hermione blamed the ring, and whatever power it had.

She sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed and watched Homer try and kill Bart, and Draco turned to her and motioned to the T.V excitedly. He really was like a child. Hermione wondered if this was how all Purebloods would react to common muggle appliances, but the thought of some of the others she'd known acting like this was far too much and a headache began to gnaw at her brain.

She fought through the pain, trying instead to figure out a way to make sure that no matter how unprecedented the attacks against them were going to be, no matter how unpredictable, she could make sure that they would both make it out alive. She needed a fool-proof strategy to keep them both alive no matter who managed to catch up to them first.

Draco wasn't stupid, but he wasn't trained like her either, so no matter how fast he could defend himself or throw hexes, she had to assume the worst and that she couldn't leave him alone for too long. He and Harry had been around the same level during school, and obviously Harry had improved much over the years, but unlike Draco, Harry was always hesitant to throw hexes at anyone. He didn't have it in him to get serious until things were that bad, and even against her, Harry had always been hesitant to attack first.

Plus, there was the issue with the man after her who enjoyed killing people and blaming her. If her assumptions were correct, then he'd been waiting for this precise moment to occur before doing anything different. Now that she and Draco were out in the world, on the run from the Ministry, he'd decided to make a move, meaning that that was what he'd needed to happen from the beginning. He needed her and Draco to be together for some reason, either that, or there was something else he needed that she couldn't think of.

"Granger?" Draco's voice broke her out of her thoughts and she flinched at the noise. He held up a hand in apology and sat up, stretching, the volume of the TV, low. "I was just thinking, about Blaise. He knew that you were you, do you think Potter's going to question him about it? Shouldn't we have sent him a warning or something?" he asked.

Hermione smiled. About time he worried about someone else. "Don't worry, I sent Blaise a notice the moment I realised that they were coming after us. As a precaution, I sent him three or four vials of potion that stops the truth serum from working too, just in case. Even if they question him, they won't find anything. Blaise won't tell anyone about me, at least on that topic, I can trust him."

"Right, I forgot. That's your superpower, isn't it?" Draco muttered, turning his attention back to the screen. Hermione scowled, and crossed her arms in irritation, not liking his tone. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know; you make anyone you meet want to get along with you. You could probably make cats and dogs get along like best friends if you tried. It's your magical power to make people get along with anyone."

"That's ridiculous." She muttered. Where did he get such an idea from?

Draco held up his hands in surrender, glad that she wasn't frowning in deep thought anymore. "Okay, relax Granger! It wasn't an insult."

Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by the abrupt knocking on the door. Draco stood up and grabbed his wand immediately, his expression serious and his posture tense. Hermione blinked, amazed at how fast he moved. Had he done any training after school then? Maybe Qudditch or something to keep his reflexes sharp? She entered that information into her head for later, keen to find out what else he knew.

"It's okay, Draco, there is no way that Harry found us already. Plus, I placed a ward around the floor, if it was someone with magic, I would've known immediately." She whispered before striding to the door. Nevertheless, she made sure that her wand was easily accessible, before unlocking and opening the wooden barrier.

A man wearing a crisp black suit smiled and bowed deeply at her, showing her the food cart, "room service, ma'am."

Hermione allowed him to push the cart inside, and handing him a heavy tip, locked the door behind him and sighing in relief. She wasn't ready to face off to Harry anytime soon, plus the prospect of eating sounded far too good to be true right now.

"Is that muggle food, Granger?" Draco came up behind her and asked curiously, poking at the dish covering.

"Does it matter if it's muggle or not, as long as its food? You should be getting hungry about now too. Don't be fussy, alright?" she muttered, wheeling the cart to the edge of the bed so that she could sit, before opening it all up.

No matter how fancy they tried to make it, cheese burgers, fries and soft drinks were always going to be greasy comfort foods that she could depend on to make her feel better. The array of sauces was poured into little dipping cups and the fries looked like they were healthy, but she didn't care. She hadn't had a burger in ages and just the smell was making her starving stomach, growl with longing.

"Granger, none of this looks edible. What it all this?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrows at the food. She grabbed her burger and took a big bite and sighed in satisfaction, "it's food," she muttered, covering her mouth with her hand, too happy to bother with politeness. "Oh cheese burger, I've missed you the most," she muttered to the bun in her hand whilst Draco watched on, confused as to whether he should start worrying about her mental state or not.

But soon enough, the smell wafted to his nose and his stomach grumbled too. Sighing in prideful exasperation, he copied what she was doing, grabbing the bun filled with stuff and taking a tentative bite. He chewed it slowly, wary of the fact that Hermione was watching him with wide eyes. She looked like a kid who'd cooked for the first time and was waiting for confirmation of its deliciousness from others.

It looked like a sandwich, but something about it was different. It was tasty in a way that no sandwich could be, and the fact that he was eating it with his hand made him feel uncivilised, yet satisfied too. Where did muggles come up with such things?

"It's good" he said finally, getting tired of the expectant eyes of the woman beside him. Hermione looked disappointed, and Draco cringed, scrambling for words to make her happy again.

"Fine, fine it's really good! You know what? What the hell is this? Why don't we have some in the wizarding world? I could live off this for the rest of my life. It's bloody amazing! Muggles are awesome for coming up with it! Why did you never introduce me to this before?"

Hermione grinned despite herself, knowing well that he was just saying all that to keep her happy, "it's called a cheeseburger, and you can get them with all different kinds of fillings and sauces! And these, these are chips, and they actually taste amazing with ice cream!"

"With ice cream? You want me to eat potato chips with ice cream?" he asked, cautious, watching her dip a fry into a small bowl of vanilla ice cream before doing the same.

Surprisingly enough, it didn't taste bad. "Who came up with something like this?" he muttered, taking another bite of the burger thing. It was somehow addictive to eat and it finished far too quickly for his liking.

Hermione watched his expression in amusement, making a note in her head to make him try pizza and other junk food like that one day and document his reactions. What would he say about sushi? About the array of abnormal flavours of ice creams out there?

"Malfoy, this is called Coca Cola. It tastes weird at first, but soon you'll grow to love it too. Try some." She poured herself and him and glass of blackish brown liquid that fizzled and bubbled dangerously. She took a sip and sighed in contentment, before motioning for him to do the same.

Draco blinked at her like she was stupid. "You want me to drink something that looks like Snape's death potion?" his voice came out strangled. He pushed the cup back and made a face when it fizzled again. "Trust me, why would I make you drink death potion? Just try it!"

"Because you secretly enjoying watching me writhe in pain." he muttered. At her serious face, he exhaled heavily and took a cautious sip, before dropping the cup and spitting it out in horror.

Hermione caught the cup just before it hit the carpet, and watched him wipe his mouth in amusement. "That is awful. It tastes awful. It even looks awful. You enjoy drinking that?" he asked, shuddering.

"I love it. When I was young, I wasn't allowed to drink it because my parents worried for my teeth since it has so much sugar. So the first time I was out of their eyesight, I drank a whole bottle for the sake of it. Of course, I got a terrible stomach ache and a cavity soon after, but it was the first time I broke a rule and it was exhilarating." She said.

For a moment, Draco didn't say anything, imagining the scene in his head before he grinned broadly. "And all this time, I thought it was your stupid friends who enjoyed getting into trouble and that you were just dragged along with them, but I see you had a mischievous bone in you too. No wonder you lot were always getting into trouble! You and your death potion drink was probably the cause of a lot of things that went wrong, huh?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "oh please, as if I would do anything wrong! Just because I broke a few rules now and then, doesn't mean that you can trace it all back to drinking coke!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night Granger," he muttered before turning up the volume to the TV and watching some drama in avid fascination. Hermione pretended not to notice the fact that he was drinking the apparent death potion now and then, and just sat beside him, enjoying the calm before the storm that was sure to come.

It was only an hour or so of just sitting around watching random episodes of TV shows that Hermione realised just how tired she was. Technically speaking, she hadn't slept for more than a day and her body was aching.

Excusing herself, she filled the bathroom tub with hot water and vanilla scented bubbles and relaxed into the warmth, contemplating their next move. She'd already placed the food cart outside, and made it clear that they weren't to be disturbed, so she could presume safely that the next person unasked to come to the door could be Harry or someone else from the Ministry.

And if that was the case, where was it easiest to go next, but safest too? Her safe houses were running out and she didn't have the time or energy, or patience to invest and find more, and sure, there were people out there that were still willing to help her since they owed her a favour, but she wasn't willing to place their lives in danger too.

But that meant placing Draco's life in danger instead, what right did she have to choose who lived and died? What right did she have to place Draco's life ahead of any of the others?

Groaning in irritation, she wrapped herself in large towel and began to dry her hair, before slipping into some fresh jeans and a new button up t-shirt, comfortable and practical. Then she headed back to the bedroom, only to find her current partner in crime asleep on the bed, the TV still on.

He was in his stupid black boxers, his other clothes strewn on the floor beside him like he'd literally stripped them off and jumped into bed a moment ago. Her left eye twitched in annoyance, but she sighed when she saw the peacefulness on his face as he slept.

His face was relaxed and calm; there weren't any frown lines or thinking too hard lines that she got. Just him, sleeping soundly...looking heavenly...Hermione stopped mid-thought, clenching her fists at her sides to stop herself from entering into that realm of thought.

It's the ring. The ring is putting thoughts into your head. Pull yourself together, Granger!

She tried to pry the ring off one more time, but it didn't budge. She really was stuck with it then? A wave of tiredness washed over her, and she stumbled a bit, regaining balance before she fell. Tired was an overstatement, if she wanted to be able to function tomorrow, she needed to sleep.

She glanced at Draco in his boxers again and cringed. Why was it that he could wear...pyjamas and she couldn't? Oh, right because she had some brain cells to spare, and he had hardly any at all, and she'd given her word that she would keep him alive so she couldn't afford to be stupid.

"Screw it." she muttered to herself before crawling into bed beside him and in a manner of seconds, falling asleep.

The moment her breathing evened out, Draco opened an eye and stifled a yelp of surprise. The instant he'd heard the sound of the bathtub draining, he'd panicked and jumped into bed, haphazardly throwing his clothes everywhere from habit, and pretended to sleep, not knowing what the protocol was if she fell asleep first and he had to sleep as well.

But the idea that she would willingly get into bed with him hadn't crossed his mind. He shifted slightly, propping himself up on his elbows to get a good look at her. She looked beautiful whilst she slept, she wasn't thinking, or coming up with a plan, just peacefully sleeping.

Her face was turned towards him, one of her hands tucked involuntarily into her mass of curls the other draped across her stomach. She was curled in slightly, as if trying not to take up too much room. She smelt faintly of vanilla, but it was the familiar oranges and cinnamon that assured him that it really was Hermione Granger.

He fell back into bed, flinching when she opened her eyes from his sudden movement, "is everything okay?" she asked, trying to hide her yawn and failing. Her voice was tired and sleepy, and for a second, his heart stopped beating. How was it possible for someone to be so bloody perfect?

"Draco?" she prompted, rubbing her eyes.

And the way she said his name? He swallowed heavily, but smiled at her, trying to ignore the fact that she relaxed when he did so, like she fully trusted in him. "Yeah, everything's fine, you can go back to sleep, Granger." Hermione smiled and nodded.

She settled back, and closed her eyes, only to open them again and shift closer to him, "you don't mind do you?" she whispered before moving up so that she was directly next to him, using her arms, Hermione wrapped herself around Draco, hugging herself into his warmth and was asleep again in a manner of seconds, her arms curled into herself and around him.

Draco tensed or a moment, unfamiliar with the contact before realising that he was making it uncomfortable for her and relaxing. She was tired, and she needed sleep. Tugging he blanket around their shoulders before carefully putting an arm around her; he tugged her close.

She was cold, at least, that's what he gave himself as an excuse to hold her tightly. He shifted comfortably; she tugged him closer, so that her head was tucked under his chin, her lips pulled up slightly like she was happy and Draco sighed and fell asleep, the smell of oranges and cinnamon calming his racing heart.

He could get used to this.