Chapter 3, Book 1, After a War

Malfoy stared at the sign as though it was going to be the last thing he ever saw: and he absolutely hated it. Hermione rolled her eyes at him and grabbed his arm, pulling him into the fast food place.

"Hey Welcome to McDonald's." The cashier said as they approached.

"Hello, May we get two Cheeseburgers, one large fry, two large drinks and two small chocolate milkshakes?" Hermione asked, the guy working there nodded as he put everything in. Again, Malfoy was standing there like a idiot. She stomped on his foot subtly but this time he didn't glare at her, not wanting a repeat of what happened before.

The cashier gave them their receipt and sent them with their drinks to go to a table. Hermione filled the two cups with coke and sat down across from Malfoy.

"Stop looking around as though you've never been here before, people are going to think you're weird." She sipped from her drink as he glared at her.

"I didn't even want to be here-"

"-Would you rather be in Azkaban?" She questioned with a raised brow, cutting him off. His glare faltered. She had hit a soft spot once again. This time she didn't apologize. He moved his gaze to the table when the Cashier brought them their food. "Thank you." Hermione said kindly. He nodded with a smile before returning to his job.

Hermione set his food in front of him and watched as he looked at it. "This is what Muggles eat?" He questioned. She blinked several times.

"Are you telling me that you've never had a Cheeseburger before!?" She looked absolutely crazy as she looked at him but luckily the people in the McDonald's didn't care. He shrugged a bit.

"They don't serve these at Hogwarts do they?" He asked. She shook her head.

"Just try it Malfoy." She told him. He looked at her hesitantly before he sighed and tried the drink first.

She nearly spit out her own drink as he crinkled his nose in disgust, or surprise. Maybe he'd never had caffeine before either. She set her drink aside and tried some of the fries, she had set them in the middle of the table so they could both get to them.

He looked at the burger and then at her, as though he was waiting for her to take a bite first. She looked at him like he was ridiculous and then took a bite of her own burger so he would know it was safe to do so. He smirked and motioned to his mouth. She seemed confused for a moment and then she realized she had something on her mouth. She quickly used a napkin to wipe her mouth off.

"Stop avoiding it and eat Malfoy." She told him sternly so he would stop smirking at her. He grumbled a bit and took a bite out of his burger. After that he devoured it like he'd never eaten before. It took everything inside of her to not laugh at him. She ate her food like a normal person.

"Are those as good as the burger?" He questioned as he motioned to the fries. She smiled a bit and nodded, when he reached out to snatch the box she stopped him.

"They taste good alone but they taste even better with sauces." She told him. "Go up to the counter and ask for one of each sauce." He shook his head immediately.

"I'm not speaking to any muggles." He insisted. She looked at the guy behind the counter and then back at Malfoy.

"He won't bite."

"I will."

"Malfoy!"

"Fine." He got to his feet and walked over to the counter. She heard him ask in a extremely bitter voice for one of each sauce. She rubbed her temples for a moment. What an idiot. He couldn't even ask for sauces without being rude. He returned and put the sauces on the table. "Happy?" He snapped.

"Very. I definitely wanted you to probably ruin that guys night," She said Sarcastically. She opened the sauces and put them in a line in front of him. With the milkshakes on either side. She took off the lids and then looked at him. "Alright, take a fry and dip it in one at a time." She took her own fry and started with the ketchup. He repeated, he didn't seem to like the ketchup much. She did it again except with the sweet and sour. He definitely didn't like that one.

This went on until they got to the milkshakes and then she hesitated. "What? Is this one not good or something?" He looked at the milkshake hesitantly.

"No it's fine, it's just I personally don't like dipping my fries in my milkshakes. You can try it though." She told him as she ate the fry in her hand plain.

Her not trying it first threw him off because apparently she was making sure everything wasn't poisoned for him. He really didn't trust muggles, but he dipped the fry and tried it. That one seemed to be his favorite, because it was the only one he didn't look totally disgusted by. She put the lids back on the shakes. She motioned for him to try it. He picked it up and waited for her to drink hers first. Maybe he wasn't waiting to see if it was poison. Maybe he was just being nice. Wait no. Malfoy? Nice? Never. It was the poison thing.

She sipped from her milkshake slowly and carefully, not wanting to get a brain-freeze. He tried it hesitantly and then once he realized he really liked it he quickly sucked it down. It took a moment for it to settle in but he got a brain freeze. He quickly put his hand to his head.

"What the bloody hell granger!?" He whispered harshly as he glared at her.

"I didn't do that Malfoy, that's a normal thing cold stuff does when you have too much too fast. It's getting dark, we should go." She told him as she glanced outside. He moved his gaze out he window and nodded. He actually helped her throw the trash away. He sipped from the soda one more time before throwing it out. He followed her out onto the sidewalk. It was cold that night. Even if it was summer. They had a shopping bag in each hand. Hermione shivered slightly, he glanced at her and she knew he was thinking of a rude sarcastic comment.

"Here," he stopped walking and looked through one of the bags. She looked at him confusedly as he pulled out a jacket and tossed it over her shoulders. "Don't say a word, I just don't want you to get sick and complain about it all the time." He told her. He began to walk again. She moved to keep up with him.

"So you aren't a soulless freak?" She questioned jokingly. He glared at her and just kept walking, not replying.

When they reached the leaky cauldron, they had to wait for Harry and Ron to get back. Malfoy sat down in the armchair in the corner of the room and Hermione sat on her bed. Neither of them talked, they weren't friends. They weren't people who talked.

"Do you think I'm gonna end up back in Slytherin?" He asked her, breaking the silence in the room. He had clearly only asked to keep the silence from getting weird.

She shrugged a bit. "I don't know. I mean Iv only spent today with you, so I don't know if you've changed or not. But maybe you did. Because you have gone all day without calling me a mudblood." She told him as she glanced at the jacket sleeve covering her arm.

He remained silent for a long moment, then she saw him move his gaze to the floor. "I'm trying to be better Granger. If I don't clean up my act then I'll never see my mother again." He admitted.

"Malfoy-" the door opened and Harry came in with Ron. She let her hazel eyes remain on Malfoy for a moment before she looked over to her friends. Ron kissed her cheek as he sat next to her.

"So, have we changed any?" Harry asked, taking a set on the chair by the bed.

Hermione thought for a moment and looked at everyone. "Yeah, we have. I don't know if we've changed enough to have switched houses but I know we've changed. All of us have." She said. There was an eerie silence for a moment while everyone considered this.

"No matter what happens, we're friends though. Even if we're in different houses, we will still talk and hang out all the time." Ron insisted. He was pretty much pretending Malfoy wasn't there. It was obvious the Harry was the one that had wanted to help Malfoy's trial and keep him out of prison.

"Of course." Hermione agreed.