Probably because of Draco's arrival, what should have been an ordinary breakfast slowly turned into a full spread. Mrs. Granger kept going in and out of the kitchen, and before long, the not-so-large table was crowded with all kinds of dishes.
Draco watched, the corner of his mouth twitching, yet he couldn't bring himself to refuse her kindness.
What made it worse was that Hermione showed no sign of stopping her. Instead, she kept asking how the food tasted and whether he was full, which only left Draco with a growing sense of dread.
Didn't this idiot notice the strange looks her parents were giving him from across the table?
It had to be said that even Draco, who could face a Thunderbird without breaking a sweat, felt an overwhelming sense of pressure at this moment.
Was this what people called… the unease of being watched by your future in-laws?
...
In any case.
Although the Grangers enthusiastically introduced each item on the table, wizarding food wasn't actually all that different from what you'd find on a muggle breakfast table.
To be precise, anything the muggle world had could also be found in the wizarding world.
Aside from a handful of exceptions, like chocolate that hopped around like frogs, or Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans where the joke mattered more than the taste—things muggles had never seen and couldn't get their hands on—the variety of food in the two worlds was largely the same. It wasn't nearly as special as the Grangers imagined.
And there was a reason for that.
Wizards, for the most part, didn't care much about production, let alone farming. In reality, many of the raw materials the magical world relied on came from the muggle world.
Food, clothing, housing, transportation—almost nothing was completely detached from muggles.
Put nicely, it was because wizards devoted all their time and energy to researching magic and protecting the world, leaving no room for things like farming or manual labor.
Put bluntly, they were predators standing above muggles, taking what they needed while remaining unnoticed and unquestioned.
That might also explain why, despite having the power to replace muggles as the sole rulers of the world, wizards never acted on it—and even went so far as to protect muggles instead.
After all, if you could just take what you needed, why bother doing it yourself?
Ahem.
Of course, Draco didn't voice any of this. He didn't explain, nor did he ruin the atmosphere by bringing up such harsh realities. He simply smiled and nodded, accepting the Grangers' hospitality.
Unlike many pureblood wizards who instinctively despised muggles, Draco didn't carry that kind of inherited prejudice.
Beside him, Hermione sat there in high spirits, lightly swinging her legs. Whether it was because the breakfast really was that good, or for some other reason, even she didn't seem entirely sure.
After they had more or less finished eating.
"Well then, it's about time we headed to the hospital," Mr. Granger said.
"Mmm… Hermione, you can clean up the table. And at lunchtime, you can take your friend out to the city center for a walk," Mrs. Granger added.
"We're off! And good luck, Hermione~"
Before leaving, Mrs. Granger even took the time to give Hermione a little hint. That exaggerated wink made Hermione both embarrassed and annoyed, and she quickly ushered her parents out the door.
She couldn't help sneaking a glance at Draco standing nearby.
Hermione had the distinct feeling that if she didn't stop her mother's nonsense soon, she really might end up hiding in her room again.
...
Central London.
Hermione had never imagined that one day she would be walking through muggle streets alongside Draco.
She might have once allowed herself to picture such a scene, but it definitely wasn't meant to happen now...
"So? What do you think?"
Putting on a calm front, Hermione sneaked a look at Draco's expression.
In reality, the expectation and nervousness in her eyes had already given her away. It was obvious how much she cared about what Draco thought, and just as obvious that she didn't want him to form a bad impression of muggles.
After all, before she became a witch, this had been the world Hermione lived in for eleven years...
Draco didn't answer right away. He pulled his gaze away from the shop beside them.
"It's not quite what I imagined."
Lights that worked without candles, cars that had no life yet moved along the streets, and enormous flying objects that occasionally cut across the sky. Draco silently compared all of it to what he had read in Muggle Studies.
"What do you mean by 'not quite'?"
"Well… it feels pretty different from how the books and the professors describe it."
"I've wanted to say this for a long time. Everything in those books is from over a hundred years ago."
"A hundred years ago? I see. Wizards really don't pay much attention to this sort of thing."
With Hermione's explanation, Draco finally understood what felt off. Because no one cared, the information had simply fallen behind.
The next moment, Draco suddenly stopped, as if something had caught his attention.
"That thing that looks like a black box… what is it? I heard that person talking to it."
"Hmm… I read about it in the newspapers. It should be a 'flip phone' that was developed successfully in recent years. It's used to talk to people over long distances."
Seeing the look of surprise on Draco's face, Hermione didn't know why, but she found it both funny and oddly unsettling.
It reminded her of the first time she had encountered magic. She had probably looked just the same back then.
Then Draco's muttered comment made Hermione tug at the corner of her mouth.
"I remember… it's called technology… muggle magic?"
"…If you want to think of it that way, I guess that's not wrong."
Draco blinked, of course noticing the amusement in Hermione's eyes.
Still, he didn't pay it much mind. He had already realized that muggle development had gone far beyond anyone's expectations.
Not magic, yet somehow even more impressive than magic...
But seeing how distracted Draco had become, Hermione's earlier good mood immediately soured.
Puffing out her cheeks, she nudged a small stone on the ground with her toe and muttered softly,
"So you brought me out here just so you could keep asking all these annoying questions?"
"Did you say something just now?"
"......"
"Hmph!"
Draco: ???
Had he said something wrong?
Or had his question touched on some deeply guarded secret of the muggle world?
Unlike Draco's complete confusion, to the people watching from the sidelines, the scene looked very different.
The girl who kicked the boy and ran off ahead, and the boy who shrugged before quickly chasing after her.
To them, it was nothing more than a young couple having a little spat...