Brave New World

Title: Brave New World

Author: Maggie Fields ([email protected])

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Draco set his new fake I.D. down on the tiny bedside table and sat on the bed. He held his head in his hands, trying to process everything that had happened in the past few days. His life had changed. Irrevocably. Instead of being at Hogwarts, torturing the annoying Gryffindors, he was in a Muggle house, surrounded to the breaking point by those very same Gryffindors. On second thought, maybe dwelling on...all that was not such a good idea he thought as he felt himself start to hyperventilate. Better to start looking towards the future...like what he was going to do with all his free time, now that going to classes was no longer an option. No way was he going to hang around here all day, surrounded by the stupid Gryffindors. Another voice in his head chastised him. You know, you have to live with them now--you might as well as least get used to using their names. And if you have to call them by a last name, it better be the right fake one. So just stick to first names.

Even their names were different. He looked at his Muggle driving license. Yah right, I barely know what a car is, let alone how to drive it. But, it is a valid form of I.D. in this strange Muggle world. That was something else he was going to have to do--forget he even knew the word 'Muggle.' As Drake Stewart, he would have no knowledge of things magical. Nor would he mention said unknown things to anyone else who would fit the unimagined category of 'Muggle.' He could almost hear Granger's voice in his head, wryly saying Well, think of it as a learning experience, Malfoy. And an experience it was sure to be.

As luck would have it, at least he got his own room. It was a bit smaller than the rest, but at least he wouldn't have to put up with stupid Potter and Weasley quite as much. Harold Johnson and Ronald O'Brien now...this is going to be SO annoying! A faint sound of laughter from the room next door confirmed that the two boys would be even more unbearable in the following weeks...months...years? Years? The depth of the trouble they were in slowly sank into his consciousness. Hopefully, something would change, and soon, but as He-Who...Voldemort showed no signs of falling over dead in the next decade, Draco guessed he'd just have to adjust. And make a truce. He sighed. He was entirely too tired to worry about that...but tomorrow would be soon enough.

Hermione Granger--no, now I'm Hermione Archer, better get used to it--sat at the kitchen table, reading the Muggle paper and sipping a cup of tea. She was the only one up, as far as she could tell--Ginny...now Virginia O'Brien...was still sleeping when Hermione got up, and as she walked past the boys' room she heard two sets of faint snores. She was enjoying the quiet. It was something like the library early in the morning, except she could also have tea here.

On a sudden thought, she flipped to the classified section and began scanning the job openings. They would, after all, need some way to support themselves, they couldn't just sit around for who knows how long. She noticed one that looked perfect for her--shelving at the local library--and was reaching for a pen to circle it without looking up. She felt someone place one in her hand, and she started to speak without even looking up. "Thanks Harry...listen to this, its at the--" she looked up, and stopped. "Malfoy." It was neither a greeting nor a warning, just a statement.

The boy gave a half-hearted trademark sneer. "And who, Ms. Archer, would that be? Now where is the coffee?" He looked around as if expecting it to appear in front of him.

Hermione started. She seriously doubted that Malfoy--Drake, call him Drake--had ever been in a Muggle household before yesterday. She had entirely forgotten that for him, and to some extent Ginny and Ron, this whole 'hiding out in the Muggle world' thing was going to be much more challenging than for her and Harry. They would have to learn an entirely new world. For a moment, she wanted to help him as she would Neville, showing him the ropes, but then remembered that this was Malfoy. Even if she wanted to do such a thing, it was highly unlikely he'd accept help from her. Or anyone else. She'd just have to keep an eye on him, so that she could intervene before he blew anything up.

"Granger, where's the coffee? I cannot function in the mornings without it." He looked like a combination between a sleepy teddy bear and a ferocious lion.

Hermione decided to play it natural and not help until he asked. "Oh, I didn't make any yet, but you can. The coffeemaker's on the counter, and the coffee beans and filters are in the pantry." She then glanced back down at the paper, although she didn't read a word. Draco just looked at her for a moment, then walked slowly towards the counter. He stopped at the coffee machine, but he didn't know what to do with it. He tried taking the pot, hoping it would automatically fill itself. That didn't work; next, he tried ordering coffee, 'with milk, one lump of sugar.' Still nothing. He glared at Hermione, who pretended to be absorbed in the paper and just barely managed to keep a straight face. Draco opened the pantry, and after about five minutes of searching, found a bag labeled 'coffee beans;' he took that out, but remained puzzled about the filters. He opened the bag, saw the beans, but had no idea what to do with them. After a moment, his face lit up into a brilliant smile, and he quickly poured the beans into the pot until it was brimming full. However, it still failed to produce any coffee.

"Why won't this bloody thing work!" Hermione burst into giggles. Draco glared at her again, this time more fiercely. She got up, walked over to him, and poured all the beans back into the bag. Then she handed him the pot.

"Here, fill this with water." He continued glaring, then walked over to the sink. He placed the pot under the faucet. Nothing. Hermione's giggles turned into a full-fledged laugh. "No, silly, it's not magic--you have to turn the faucet on." Draco, who had yet to stop giving her a look which even McGonagall could be proud of, did so, gasping slightly as water gushed out as soon as he turned the faucet. As he was doing this, Hermione got a filter out of the pantry and poured some beans into the grinder. Draco brought the pot over to her, set it on the counter, and crossed his arms.

"I'm not a house-elf, you know."

Hermione turned to him suddenly, her face full of emotion. "Well, you aren't bloody well going to see another house-elf for a long time, possibly ever, so you might as well learn how to make your own damn coffee." The look on her face assured his sleep-clouded brain that most of the anger wasn't really directed at him but at their forced exile. She took a deep breath, then turned to the grinder. "This is the grinder. You press this button to grind the beans. Then you open this, put in the filter, and pour in the grounds. Close it, and pour the water in here. Put the pot back, then hit this button. The machine heats the water and pours it over the grounds. The resulting juice is your precious coffee. Now we just have to sit and wait a few minutes." She turned and sat down at the table. Draco, suddenly understanding what Longbottom must feel like, somewhat slowly followed her to the table, sitting in the chair to her right. He paused, then decided that Granger was the best place to start as far as truces went.

"Hermione, I...I realize that we're all in this together, and that squabbling is not going to help us avoid You-Know-Who. But...there's seven years enmity between me and the rest of you. I'm going to do my best NOT to punch Weasley in the face every time I see him, but I'm the one who's outnumbered here. I'm just wondering...do you have any idea how we can manage to live in relative peace?" It was somewhat rambling, but Draco felt that it was a good effort, considering he had yet to have any coffee. Speaking of, he could smell it now--a glance at the pot showed it almost half full.

Hermione glanced at him, realized that it really was an olive branch, and took a sip of her tea. "Well. You could start by not being an arrogant git." She smiled slightly to show she was partially kidding. "Draco, it's not going to be easy for us either. Until...well, until IT, we all thought you were a Death Eater, in practice if not yet in name. I think that as long as we all remember that we have bigger things to worry about than petty fights, we should be okay...although I'm sure there will be several...spats before we settle down and form some nice big happy community. But you DO have Snape as an ally in this House divide, you know."

Draco paused. He still didn't know what to think about the three adults "heading" this little expedition into Muggledom. Snape had almost always been a puzzle to him--while he always favored those in his own House, Draco in particular, he also would assist Potter and friends at the strangest moments. Seeing him with You-Know-Who, suffering one of the Unforgivables despite the Dark Mark branded onto his arm, still sent shudders through Draco. And he definitely did not want to be around Sirius Black, who Draco considered a traitor and murderer until yesterday, and whom he still considered something of a danger. However, he could appreciate the benefits of having a 'trained' fugitive among them. Lupin, though, made Draco VERY nervous. He did NOT want a werewolf living in the same house as him. End of story. However, that argument wasn't enough to sway any of the others, although Lupin himself did look uncomfortable when Draco brought this up rather loudly last afternoon.

"Yes, well, what are we going to do about...well, about everything? I for one don't want to let the 'grownups' make all the decisions. Their track records aren't exactly sterling, you know." The coffeemaker gurgled, and Draco saw that the pot was now full. He got up, opened a cupboard, grabbed a mug and soon had a steaming cup. Without being asked, Hermione got up, pulled the milk out of the fridge and handed it to him then found the sugar bowl. He smiled at her in thanks. Maybe things would be bearable after all.

"And what about me? Doesn't my decision count for anything?" Potter yawned as he stood in the doorway. His hair was even more unruly than usual, and his pajamas were about a quarter-inch too short for him. Hermione walked over quickly and gave him a hug.

"Well, I was actually going to suggest waiting until everyone was up and functioning before we discussed the next step. I think it's clear we can't stay here very long, though. This is Dumbledore's safe house, and we need to dissociate from everything magical for a while. Anyway, we should talk about this later. Do you want some coffee?" Hermione's face lit up as she chattered away at her friend. Draco wondered absently if he had ever made anyone light up just by his presence, then decided it was beside the point.

Another face appeared just behind Harry. It was Snape, looking nastier than Hermione had ever seen him look. "And you, Professor, would you like some coffee?" She was guessing that he was not a morning person, and the fact that he barely looked at her as he stepped by, instead heading straight to the coffee machine, confirmed it. Potter mumbled something which Hermione seemed to understand and she fetched him a cup of steaming hot java--black, Draco noticed--and then sat down next to him. Draco, who sat down to get out of Snape's way, noticed that they sat a little closer than was necessary.

After filling his cup a second time, Snape seemed to actually notice the others in the room and also sat down at the table. He gave them all, Draco included, one of his trademark sneers. "Ms. Granger is correct. We should not be making any sort of plans until everyone involved is present and functioning." So they settled in to wait, Harry and Hermione chatting softly, Draco reading (but not really understanding a good part of) the abandoned Muggle paper, and Snape looking through an old book he pulled from his pocket.

Thirty minutes Ginny trudged in, a frown upon her face and her long red hair unusually unruly. "Mia, the mirror's broken. It won't tell me anything about my appearance whatsoever." Everyone looked at her for a moment. She was the last to arrive in the kitchen.

Hermione answered her, hoping she wouldn't have to go into a long discussion right now. Later, when they had a plan, she'd be more than happy to discuss the differences between the Muggle and Magical worlds. "Ginny, it's not magical. It's not SUPPOSED to talk." Ginny just looked blank. However, she forgot the strangeness of Muggle mirrors when she saw the pot of tea on the stove. After getting herself a cup (with more apparent familiarity than Malfoy with kitchens) she sat in the only remaining seat, between Lupin and her brother.

For about one and a half minutes, no one said anything. Then, as if they had timed it, Snape, Lupin, and Malfoy all opened their mouths to speak. The three glared at each other, but reached some sort of unspoken conclusion as Snape continued alone. "We cannot remain here. In two days, we should have found another residence, not associated with the Magical world in the least."

Ron looked slightly startled. Apparently he had just assumed that they could stay in Dumbledore's safe house indefinitely. So much for that.

Lupin went next. "I agree. I think that we can remain in England, but we will not be able to associate with either the Grangers or the Dursleys. I'm sorry, Harry, Hermione, but you understand. Now, I suggest we purchase a large house and you kids can be 'boarders'--perhaps near a university. Does someone else have a better idea?" He glanced around the table.

Finally, it was Draco's turn. He cleared his throat. "Well, I suppose that's a good plan. What are we supposed to do, though? Enroll in a Muggle University, when half of us have never even seen a Muggle classroom? Get jobs in this Muggle world? We need a better plan than just 'get out of here'. This is potentially the rest of our lives, you know." Now even Ginny was glaring at him. But these were valid questions. He didn't want to be stuck just waiting around for the rest of his life.

Perhaps surprisingly, it was not one of the adults but rather Hermione who jumped in. "Mal--Draco, I know this will be strange for you. But yes, I do think a Muggle University would be one of our best options. Not just for me...you'd do well, too, if you had a crash course in Mugglehood. But we actually have lots of time to decide that." She reached her hand out as if to place it reassuringly on his arm, and then abruptly rethought and picked up her teacup. Only Ginny and Snape appeared to notice what she had intended to do.

"Fine. Whatever. I just want to emphasize that this is not a weekend fieldtrip, and we better not just try to make it an hour at a time." Draco felt underappreciated. Maybe the stupid Gryffindorks were just avoiding the reality of the situation.

Black finished the conversation. "Well, that's settled then, right? Today, a house by a Uni--Tomorrow, the world!" Hermione and Harry grinned at that, but Draco only felt uneasy at such Voldemort-like sentiments. It must be a Muggle thing. Everyone nodded their heads, though, so Draco figured he'd better go fix his hair (which could be difficult if, as the Weasel had said, the mirrors offered no opinions whatsoever). He also had to try to figure out what, of the small satchel of Muggle clothing Dumbledore had given him, he could wear that would look both normal and good in this strange new world.