Draco's left hand twitched murderously on the armrest. Leave it to Blaise to think this wretched airplame would be a bloody adventure. Zambini was never making travel plans again. Draco tried to drown out the sound of the flight attendant's high-pitched giggling as Blaise turned up the charm. Trust Blaise to try something on a mad muggle contraption. They were flying across an ocean in a scrap of metal that, according to Blaise, was holding them and a hundred other people in the air by something that was not magic.

The girl's easy on the eyes, but her voice could derust pipes. Having made his judgment, Draco fidgeted in his seat, shifting his too long legs against the seat in front of him. Hearing the middle-aged Muggle woman in front of him sigh loudly, he gritted his teeth and resisted shoving his feet as far as he could into the compressed space.

Blaise and him were returning to London after a fairly successful business trip to Italy. He should've Portkeyed back.

The flight attendant tittered and Draco's hand twitched again—this time for his wand, which was concealed in his carry-on. The Muggles would notice if the girl lost her voice suddenly though, and Draco was loathe to cause a scene—though the stupid bint deserved it, in his opinion.

"Sir!" The girl gasped, patting her bun self-consciously. "I assure you that is entirely indecent. I'm shocked you would ask such a thing."

"Love, the only thing indecent between the two of us is how you're teasing me." Blaise flashed his grin.

I could put him out of his misery as well. He reminded himself that Malfoys did not stoop to acknowledge infantile behavior.

The girl whispered something into Blaise's ear before turning to the people seated across the aisle, giving Blaise an eyeful while she bent over to check on the other passengers. Draco rolled his eyes, inwardly of course, at her brazenness. As she wandered off back down the aisle, Blaise elbowed Draco.

"I'm about to join the 'Mile High Club,' my friend."

"What are you prattling on about?" Draco really didn't understand where Blaise was getting all of these Muggle terms.

"Sex on a plane. It's a Muggle cultural taboo. Mate, this flying thing is fantastic. I'm a genius for setting this up." Blaise sat up in his seat to glance back at the flight attendant, who was slipping into one of the toilets. "Don't wait up."

Malfoy grunted to acknowledge his friend's departure.

There's a lad who lets the second head drive.

Five minutes later, Draco moved over to the aisle and turned back to see where Blaise had gone off to. Really. Sex in a toilet. At least he'd get to stretch is legs out in the aisle.

Fifteen minutes later, he decided that airplames were torture devices. The boredom was killing him. He almost wished for an over-friendly flight attendant of his own, but he really wasn't that desperate. He flicked through the magazines in the seat in from of him. No moving pictures. Muggles really are quite primitive.

Just as he was considering going for his wand to help the plane along, something across the aisle caught his eye.

A Muggle's Guide to Magical Maladies and Practice.

The man holding the book was decidedly Muggle, Draco thought. No doubt about that. He was pointing excitedly at the pages and talking in low tones to what Draco assumed to be his Muggle wife. Startled, Draco looked around to see if anyone else had noticed this decidedly ordinary couple reading an extraordinary book. He wasn't opposed to a little bending of Magic law, but wasn't this a security issue? Aren't there people for this?

"Dear, look at what they've done here. They have some sort of magical sealant that they apply to all newborns. No cavities! Think of it! A world without root canals! Well that'd put me out of business!"

Draco had no idea what this Muggle was talking about, but he had said "magical" which prompted him to interject.

"Pardon me for the intrusion, but I couldn't help but notice your book." The couple bristled. "What I mean to say is that you'd be hard pressed to find a book like that in an airplame."

The couple stared at Draco. He felt the silent tension in their appraising gaze. The Muggle man's bushy eyebrows had all but disappeared into his hairline. The woman seemed familiar to Draco, despite the fact that she looked just like every other brown-haired Muggle woman. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The man finally broke the silence.

"Dear man, did you say airplame?"

"Well, yes. A flying airplame. My friend convinced me this was a sane mode of transportation. I honestly don't know how people do this."

"Dear." The woman put her hand on her husband's arm, smiling. "He's a wizard."

The man's brow relaxed, and he lot out a hearty guffaw.

"Well, that's a relief. For a moment there I thought we had blown our cover."

Draco put on his most charming smile.

"Your secret is safe with me. But if I could ask, how did you come across such a book?"

The couple smiled at each other.

"Well, you see, our daughter sent us this book as a gift, and we haven't quite found the time to read it. She's a wizard, you see." The woman smiled proudly.

"How charming." The couple beamed. "You must be very proud of your daughter."

Draco's brow creased in thought. How odd that he would meet a muggleborn wizard's parents in an airplame of all places. Was this sort of thing commonplace with such types of transportation?

The woman leaned over her husband.

"Well she's just about your age it seems. Maybe you know her…"

"Mum, you're not trying to set me up some poor bloke on a plane."

Draco froze. He knew that voice. It'd been five years since he had heard it. The person sleeping in the window seat past the couple shifted and turned to face the conversation, pulling a sleeping mask over a headfull of bushy brown hair.

"I'm so sorry. They really mean well—" Hermione Granger choked on her words as she saw the person who her parents had been chatting with. She rubbed her eyes, trying to blink away the image of Draco Malfoy chatting with her parents on an airplane of all places.

Draco thought she looked rather harmless, cute even, with her sleepy-eyes-but he knew better.

"Chipmunk, this charming young man noticed the book you gave us. He's a wizard too. Actually we didn't get your name, darling." Hermione's mother looked expectantly at Draco, who opened his mouth.

"Draco Malfoy." Hermione had passed from shock to seething in the span of a few seconds.

"Granger," Draco smirked at his former classmate. Well, this is interesting.