Ok I know I have other works-in-progress that really do need attention, but I can't help it, when I get a sudden idea I need to run with it before I lose it. I am still writing though, so I will be completing everything I put up, all I ask for is patience and reviews! :)

Anyway, this story is set Post-War and Hogwarts - set roughly 4 years later. All events of the war happened as written in the books.

Chapter 1 – Entanglement

She threw the magazine aside staring at the patient in the hospital bed before her. A lot of things had changed since the war... and it had certainly been for the better. Muggle-borns for one were no longer considered of lower status, and she was more than proud to know that she had helped fuel that considerable change. Knowing that one of THE Golden Trio, a war hero and the smartest witch of their age, as well as long-life friend of the Boy Who Lived was a muggle-born certainly helped change most people's views. Post-war most death-eaters and minions of the Dark Lord had been put away and the magical world had slowly healed since the fall of Voldermort.

It wasn't to say everything was perfect. But things had come a long way since...

Even people.

She eyed the man in the bed, taking in his pale skin, angelic features, and scruffy blonde hair. His hair being perhaps the most distinct part of him that had changed since their school days, no longer arrogantly slicked back with way too much gel in Hermione's opinion, but floppy and free to fall gently just above his eyes.

His eyes.

His hair may have shown the visible difference between him and his younger self. But it was his eyes that held clues to the unforeseeable difference between then and now. The haunted fragile undertones to the sharp, narrowed gaze she constantly saw him bear. Usually covered smoothly by a purely arrogant smirk and challenging hawk-like look the second he noticed her glance his way. And then of course he'd follow it up with some asinine comment or other that was bound to either insult her, challenge her, simply rile her up or all three.

Just thinking about the daily crap she endured from him had her face heating up already.

Why the hell was she even here?

They had already notified his mother who was bound to be here soon. Other than that no doubt Harry would stop by at one point.

She snorted.

She still hadn't a clue how that friendship seemed to have struck up. She wasn't even sure it could be called a friendship. They still threw insults at each other, but there was some sort of civil-male-comrade undercurrent to all their conversations. Something he never seemed to bother with her.

No, he was perfectly fine pissing her off as often and as thoroughly as possible.

She would almost have been jealous of his relationship with Harry had he not be treating Ron the same way.

Though even there it wasn't exactly the same. He and Ron would trade insults but there was never any civility in their interactions. Just plain hostility. She never then got why he seemed to be so ok with Harry who was more his arch nemesis than Ron had ever been. And with her? He was happy as long as she wasn't. It was like it was his personal mission to annoy the ever-loving crap out of her until she was on the brink of hexing him off the planet!

The difference between her and her ex-boyfriend? The Slytherin never bothered with Ron until he was in his face for whatever reason and then almost as though bored he would throw barbs at him until Ron's ears were so red they simply blended with his hair. But with Hermione he would always go out of his way. He would make an effort. Wherever she was or happened to be, it was like he sought her out, found an excuse to confront her for something or other, and would battle her to the end of her wits before throwing that self-satisfying smirk her way and sauntering off – regardless of who got the last word.

Up until now she had it on a pretty even tally between the pair of them.

She shook her head. Not again Hermione.

Even thinking that Draco Malfoy would for some inexplicable reason be seeking out her company on a daily basis; whether it be for his own devilish purposes or not, was like telling a Hippogriff it was nothing more than a god-awful-ugly creature that resembled an overgrown deformed turkey!

It was just plain dangerous.

So why was she at Draco Malfoy's side right now? It's not like St Mungos couldn't take perfectly good care for him until his mother got here. And considering the way the nurses kept coming in to check his charts, he had more than his share of admirers to keep him company if he woke. She rolled her eyes as another came in to do just that. The petit blonde had barely looked at his chart; she was too busy blushing at simply being in the unconscious man's presence!

She scoffed. What an idiot.

Apparently blondie didn't appreciate the noise and gave her a dirty look.

As the girl walked out Hermione realised exactly why she hadn't moved out her seat yet.

She felt guilty.

It was partially her fault the moron was here in the first place. And partially his. And to be fair it was kind of Harry's fault too. He was the one after all who had made Draco Malfoy an auror in the first place.

A flippin' auror!

Out of an ex-Death Eater.

That had certainly made headlines for a while.

Although considering it was a decision made by Harry Potter – who in all fairness, carried more weight under his name than a king, prime minister and minister of magic put together. It was eventually accepted and chaos died down. Harry had made some strong arguments in his case for Malfoy. Not that she could remember any of them for the life of her. There had been a lot of other things going on with her at the time, and thinking about Draco soddin' Malfoy would never have been on the agenda at the time.

No sooner had the man been made an auror, she found that the Golden Trio now had a fully-fledged new member. She would never in her dreams have pictured her life to be like this now, or her career to involve him. And now their lives seemed to be hopelessly entangled. Malfoy seemed to have fast become a valuable and solid member of the department, his intellect almost rivalled hers, his skill in the dark arts proved invaluable, and his experience in magic was more powerful than she would have first wagered.

Of course if only his personality wasn't that of an arrogantly pampered pure-blood git, she could have almost been happy to have the help he'd provided on numerous cases the past two years.

And have avoided being in the current situation she was in.

She'd gotten used to his dominant chauvinistic attitude, his crude inappropriate comments, his sarcastic humour and dry wit. But that was while she had Ron and Harry around and only had to deal with him in small doses per day. Their jobs meant always seeing each other while working through cases. They tended to work in a group and branch off taking different parts to look over in the case individually, then meeting again to put together research and results they'd found, look over evidence and eventually go after and catch the bad guy. Harry had been made Head Auror and they were his own personal team. And if they ever went off in pairs, Harry would see to it that she and Ron would work together and he and Malfoy. Smart boy knew that was the only way it would work.

So when the hell he lost those smarts Hermione would never know.

But for some stupidly and no doubt insane reason, he'd insisted earlier that day that she and Malfoy track down a couple of Snatchers that had been spotted by Knockturn Alley. She almost attacked her best friend there and then for even suggesting something so disastrous, before he grabbed Ron and apparated away within seconds of his little announcement.

Hmm...maybe he hadn't lost his smarts after all.

Malfoy had simply jeered at her for being such a coward at the thought of being left alone with the big bad wolf – quite a muggle reference she hadn't expected from his mouth yet he hadn't noticed.

"Where's all that bloody Gryffindor courage you guys praise yourselves about all the time?"

She then proceeded to remind him exactly how she earned her position in that house by kneeing him well and good where it bloody well hurt the man.

When she'd heard sufficient groaning she then dragged him off to where they had to start scouting, knowing she had to watch her own back from him too, cos if it was one thing Malfoy was good at - it was getting even. Especially when it came to her.

Hours later they had the inevitable show down once they'd spotted the Snatchers trying to make off with a body down a side alley. Surprisingly, they turned out to be...competent. More than even.

They actually put up one hell of a fight!

Both her and Malfoy found themselves pitched into a duel; spells and hexes flying everywhere. She could feel the energy radiating from them; their power a lot stronger than expected. So much so that one of their hexes caught her off guard.

"Sectumsempra!"

She heard a wand slashing through the air and immediately felt the effects on her body. Mind-numbing pain shot through her as she felt bits of skin start ripping apart all over her body. It was as though a dozen knives were slashing at her body over and over again, she literally felt like she had been split open at the seams. Blood started oozing down her limbs, the cold liquid running off her quickly, pouring from what were no doubt hundreds of holes punctured into her very being. She couldn't even scream. The heavy pain rendered her own mind too inactive to react as it should. She felt itchy and prickly all over, with stinging sensations running all over her body in a staccato rhythm.

She started to feel numb. Cold. Weak.

Death would have been more merciful.

And then...

"Vulnera Sanentur!"

She heard it again.

Then a third time.

Then panicked, stormy grey eyes invaded her vision. There was a soft voice almost whispering...telling her wonderful things; she was going to be ok...she would not die...he wouldn't let her... (which she thought was mighty nice of him at the time) ...the vile cretin who did this to her was already dead...

Malfoy had killed him.

Her brain had started to kick back into gear. She knew it had the second she started thinking about the amount of paperwork that was going to cause. And the damn lecture Harry was going to end up giving them both. They were taught and trained to catch, not kill. That was on a necessity basis only.

She hoped this certainly counted as a necessity.

In all the chaos, when she finally came back out her haze, albeit her body still wracked with pain, she could've sworn she saw something incredible. For a second, she could've sworn she saw the slightest upturn of the corners of his mouth. For a moment, Draco Malfoy almost looked like he was smiling.

Not smirking. Smiling!

Of course she would never know for sure since that second the other idiot Snatcher they had completely forgotten about reminded them that they really shouldn't be ignoring him. One well placed spell right to the back of Malfoy's head had his head snap backwards and knocked him out cold on top of her.

And then Hermione realised two of the strangest things about the whole encounter.

One the guy turned and ran from the scene, not even bothering to stick around and finish them off despite that he clearly had the advantage there. Hell Hermione didn't even have her wand on her – it was lying uselessly ten feet from her and couldn't be missed. And second, for she would never be able to figure this out. But why the hell would a Snatcher hit an auror – and Draco Malfoy at that, with a friggin' memory spell? Not seconds before he ran, he had sent a powerful surge of power into his last spell, yelling an unmistakable "Obliviate!" before turning tail.

And now here she was.

St Mungos, sitting next to the guy who saved her life and may possibly not even remember. She'd told the doctors right before she owled Harry about what had happened. They'd told her that he seemed to have taken a hard hit and it would definitely have an impact, but they weren't sure as to how far the damage would have spread. It was definitely a cause for concern.

And dare she ever say it out loud. Hermione Granger was concerned.

About Draco Malfoy.

She chewed on her lower lip. And tried to distract herself from the thought. She felt a little itchy with the dittany lotion she'd had to apply over her wounds. The doctor had looked her over, telling her the whole time how lucky she was, and ensured she'd used the cream in order to prevent any scarring. She'd managed to get off easily thanks to Malfoy.

And he took the hit instead.

And as much as she really didn't like the guy, she wouldn't want anyone taking that kind of hit for her. She could only hope that there wasn't any irrevocable damage done to him.

She almost chuckled.

Usually she was wishing exactly that kind of thing on him.

"Hermione?"

She turned at the soft sound of her name, surprised to see the owner of the voice being none other than Narcissa Malfoy.

"Mrs Malfoy" she smiled as she got up to greet the woman.

"What have I told you Hermione, call me Narcissa" she said as they hugged.

"Sorry, habits" Hermione grinned. She truly did like Draco's mum. The woman was the only redeeming quality about the man as far as she was concerned. They had met several times before the past couple of years, beginning when she had approached the golden trio for their help in appealing for her husband and son. She had sought Hermione in particular knowing she would be able to understand her most, woman to woman. Since then after managing to save both Draco from Azkaban and Lucius from lifetime sentencing, she and Narcissa would meet up regularly for lunch, having forged a bond through the whole experience that wouldn't be broken.

"How is he? What happened?"

The worried mother immediately started fussing with the cushions and blanket, trying to make the bed as comfortable as possible for her only son while Hermione explained what happened.

"He saved my life" she looked at the older woman, whose beauty had most definitely not faded over the years, but heightened.

She smiled down at her son, holding his hand. "He's always had a soft spot for you"

Er...What?!

Hermione's face must have shown her disbelief.

"Oh don't be so naive Hermione. You have to have known that my son has had a thing for you for a while now. Perhaps longer than either of us even realise."

"Narcissa, to be frank, the only thing Malfoy has for me is disdain. And no offence to yourself but that feeling is quite mutual"

The woman chuckled.

"We'll see"

Hermione was just confused. Where the heck did Narcissa get these ideas?

She was so stuck in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the movement of the man's hand. Slowly but surely, he opened his eyes blinking confusedly as his eyes adjusted to the light. What finally caught her attention was the slight sigh that escaped his mouth.

Startled she sat up staring directly at him, while Narcissa leaned close to him addressing him softly.

"Draco, honey, it's me"

Hermione had explained to her about the memory issue.

Narcissa was hoping against hope that somehow the spell had misfired, backfired or just not worked at all. Once he'd adjusted to his surroundings his gaze seemed to fall on her and his eyes suddenly widened for a second, before his face crumpled into a confused gaze.

There was a pregnant pause as neither mother nor son said anything. Seconds seem to stretch for hours. Complete silence.

"I'm sorry" he uttered

She looked at him confused. "For what dear?"

"Who are you?"

Narcissa's face became concerned.

Draco backed up from her, his confused gaze hadn't lifted.

Hermione sat there unable to move.

Oh bloody crap.

Hermione had slipped away quietly while Narcissa tried to talk reason into her son.

Although how do you reason someone into remembering your existence?

Neither had noticed her presence or absence the second Draco had opened his eyes. She figured it be best to get a Healer in there stat. She found the doctor on his case and asked him to see to Malfoy immediately, confirming the worst had happened.

"Is he dead?!"

Her head whipped round to see both Harry and Ron standing behind her. Of course that ever-so-tactful response came from the latter.

"No Ronald he's not dead."

"Oh...damn" she whacked his head as Harry rolled his eyes.

"Are you sure you're ok Hermione?" Harry gave her a quick once-over checking for any scrapes/bruises/life-threatening wounds.

"I'm fine"

"Can't believe the git saved your life."

"Ron!"

"What? I'm just saying the one time he actually does something cool-"

"Glad to know you deem saving my life as 'cool'"

"-and the idiot won't even remember he did it"

"God could you be more insensitive!"

"Oh please, it's Malfoy."

"I swear Ron you better change that attitude when we get in there, or I won't bother holding Narcissa back when she decides to hex you into next week!"

Both Ron and Harry looked at her perplexed. It's not that they hadn't heard their fair share of scathing retorts from Hermione but they'd never before heard her be so defensive of someone she considered her nemesis.

And that was what Draco Malfoy was.

If Hermione was water, he'd be oil. If she was fire he'd be ice. Heck she was Gryffindor and he was Slytherin! They were polar opposites that could never agree on a single thing, they couldn't even agree to disagree.

"What was that?" Ron watched her storm off.

"Well the guy did say her life." Harry thought it over, "its Hermione, she's probably feeling guilty of what he's going through, and embarrassed that she needed help in the first place."

Ron just shrugged.

They followed where their friend was waiting for them at door to Malfoy's room. She hadn't entered and as they neared they could hear the raised voices stopping her.

"You need to do something!"

The trio watched from outside as the woman spoke to the doctor frantically.

"We're running tests as we speak, for now we haven't got any conclusive evidence as to how deeply the memory is affected."

"He can't remember his own mother – I think it's pretty deep!"

Ron's eyebrows rose, "Blimey!"

They'd never seen Narcissa Malfoy in such a harassed state.

Hermione hadn't noticed. She was busy looking at the melancholy young man sitting in the bed. He was looking over his own mother really hard, as if trying to discern that she was in fact his mother. She saw his face fall slightly...whatever he was looking for, he hadn't found it. His gaze instead started looking around the walls of the room, his expression being significantly bored.

Typical. She sighed.

"Harry maybe you should go in"

"Me? Why me?"

"Because out of the lot of us you're most likely to trigger some kind of reaction."

"Why would I do that?"

She huffed seeing Ron's equally clueless expression. Urgh would it kill them to try using their brains for once?!

"Well if we don't know how far this memory thing goes, it's likely that he won't remember you as a colleague now, but he could still remember his arch nemesis from school"

"I doubt that Hermione, the guy doesn't remember the woman who bloody gave birth to him!" Ron cried, a bit too loudly having caught the attention of the occupants in the room.

"Who's there?"

The fact that it was Malfoy asking the question had everyone staring at the doorway and compelled the three of them to make their entrance.

Hermione watched carefully as Malfoy's gaze rested on Harry first...

...and quickly dismissed him.

Crap.

He saw Ron enter next...

...and ignored him completely.

Then his gaze finally rested on her...

...and he smirked.

Huh?

"I wondered where you got to" his eyes appraised her from head to toe, his smirk widening.

"Great, he's still a letch...couldn't he forget that part of his personality?" Ron mumbled somewhere to her left.

As ill-timed as the comment was, she couldn't help being annoyed at him too. This was highly inappropriate. The fool had no idea who the hell is mother was... no doubt barely knew his own name... couldn't care less why he was in the hospital in the first place...and yet he was fine with acting like a complete pervert just to piss her off in present company!

Ron was right. It would seem he hadn't forgotten that much of his personality traits.

"Wait Draco, you remember them?" Narcissa asked, feeling hopeful.

"No."

"Well glad we could help" Ron turned to walk out.

"I remember her"

"You do?" "You do!" "Her?"

"Of course"

Hermione was too surprised to say anything.

"You remember this woman?" Narcissa asked again, pushing Hermione closer to the bed.

Hermione looked hard into his eyes. He stared right back.

Grey met brown and neither looked away.

She was looking for signs of dishonesty. And he was looking for...well nobody really knew.

She was so caught up in the intense staring they were stuck in, she didn't realise he'd caught hold of her hand til too late. His pale perfect hand wrapped around her soft tanned one, he raised it to his lips leaving a delicate kiss on her knuckles.

Her breath caught.

His eyes were completely sincere. His gaze did not waver. And with his next words his tone held no doubt.

"I could never forget my wife"

Silence.

Then one unmistakable Weasley tone...

"Your WHAT?!"