The Road

Molly and A Malfoy

It's been a few days living in Cherrywood, and it wasn't easy getting used to the same routine every single day. Living in the city, everything bustled and moved and nothing was permanent. Here, just about everything was the same. She'd walk to work every morning, find something new to dust off, give Draco his morning paper, talk to Abby for a bit, spend many hours sitting behind the register with only a few customers a day, then getting picked up by Draco (at exactly 9:02 every night. Man, was he punctual), eating whatever food he made or bought (the latter usually), and going to bed.

Not that she didn't like it. Cherrywood was like a vacation spot, but who knows how long she was staying there for.

One day, when the shop was particularly more quiet than usual (which said a lot), Abby was feeling hyper and told her to go home early while she looked after the shop. This gave Hermione time to browse the little shops lined up around the Town Square. Cute boutiques sold clothing, jewelery, shoes . Unfortanately, Hermione was saving up all her money and spending it entirely on this bloody car.

When she got back to the house, she heard babbling coming from the garage. She walked over and the same little girl from days before sat on her Volkwagen chatting away to seemingly nothing.

"Then Sally said she was allowed to go wherever she wanted, even though she's younger than me. I asked my daddy if I could visit Niagra like she did, but he said no."

"Your dad is probably really busy," a voice came from underneath her car. Draco rolled out from underneath and stood up, wiping his greasy hands on his jeans. "Like I am, Molly. Now, go home, you're distracting me."

Suddenly Molly spotted Hermione and she pointed at her, "Look, Drake! It's the pretty lady!" Hermione blushed as Draco saw her too and waved. She walked over to the two of them and Molly jumped off the hood of her car. Molly ran up to Hermione and hugged her legs, squeezing as hard as she could.

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, "Hello again, Molly."

"I'm glad you're okay! I thought you were sick or something!"

"No, I'm alright, Molly. Thank you, though," she bent down to her knees and looked at her. She was a beautiful little girl with the same blue eyes and curly blond locks she remembered the day she came here. Molly put her little hand in Hermione's hair and said, "You're hair is just like Mary's! Drake, come here!"

"Oh no, that's alright." she pushed her little hand down and looked behind her. Draco went back under the hood, tinkering away.

"I think he's a little busy, right now," she told Molly.

"Yeah, you're right. He doesn't like to talk about her anyway."

Hermione gave an understanding nod and stood back up. "So, do you come and visit Drake often?"

Molly nodded and told her, "He's my best friend, whether he likes it or not."

Hermione laughed and looked over at Draco, who glanced at Hermione once and rolled back under the car to hide. "Are your parents here too?" Hermione asked.

"No, my mommy's dead and daddy's busy," Hermione looked down at her sympathetically.

But Little Molly bounced back quickly and said, "Hey, you got any mac and cheese?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm kinda hungry and I didn't have breakfast."

"Oh, well," she looked back at Draco, who seemed to preoccupied to listen, "I guess, it wouldn't hurt to look."

_____

Before she knew it, Hermione was making out of the box macaroni and cheese for a little girl she barely knew. And the worst part of it was that the mac and cheese wasn't actually hers to make.

Little Molly and Hermione ate their mac and cheese in peace, at least until Draco walked in on them. "What are you doing?" he looked at Molly, then Hermione. Molly was scraping the last of the cheese from her bowl and licked the spoon. "She wanted mac and cheese," Hermione explained.

"And you made it for her?!"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Molly," Draco turned to the little girl, "I told you to stop eating all of my food."

"Draco- Drake, it was just a box. And look, I had some too!" She showed him her bowl and Draco rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Drake," Molly agreed, "Lighten up."

Draco shut his eyes and put his palm against his forehead. "That's the last bowl of mac and cheese you're getting from this house," he told Molly. Molly finished her plate and looked at the cooled down pot on the stove. With one final look at Hermione and Draco, she snatched the pot off the stove and ran out of the kitchen.

"Molly!" he yelled and followed her out. The little girl was already out the door by the time Hermione stood. "Little Molly is always taking my food," Draco spoke to her.

"Draco, maybe she's just hungry..."

"Or maybe she's a mooch," his face softened, "But I suppose I can understand why." He sat on the couch just as Hermione did. "Molly and her dad live in that god forsaken trailer park. When she says he's busy, she means he's drinking and he tells her to leave so she doesn't have to look at him. It explains why she's always eating other peoples' food at mealtimes."

"That poor little girl," Hermione mumbled.

"I feel sorry for her..." Draco mumbled but his expression changed as reality set in. "She took my pot! Again!"

_____

Hermione sat down on the porch and read a book she picked up from the shop. It was all she could do since she could get books for free now. But reading sort of gave her peace of mind, and reminded her of who she once was. She recalled her many days at Hogwarts where she could read an entire book from the Hogwarts library in just a day. In the city, she barely had time at all to sit down and relax.

Two heavy footsteps came from behind her and sat down next to her on the porchsteps. Draco spoke, "As you already know, I have an alias."

"Great way to start the conversation, Malfoy."

He ignored her and continued, "My last name is Thompson in this world. Drake Andrew Thompson."

"Original," she said sarcastically, "Now are you going to tell me why you have an alias in the first place?"

"Listen, I've lived in this town for three years and I'm not going to let a girl from my past start calling me by my old name."

"Forgetting the past is hard when you remind youself of it," she spoke.

"It's not just the past anymore, Granger," he explained, "I'm not Draco Malfoy, that pompous, imbecile who let his family's wishes define his life."

"I know you're not. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here right now," she reminded, "But I'm not going to start calling you by your fake name to go with your fake life."

"It's not fake," he snapped, "Everything I've done here hasn't been some sort of cover-up, okay? This is what I'm actually doing with my life, just under a false name." He was honest, and god did she hate that he was actually being honest.

"Fine," she stood from the step and looked down at him, "You're not the same person you were, but your name will always be Malfoy. Let me be the one to remind you of that." And with that, Hermione strolled off the porch and back to the garage.