My only love sprung from my only hate
Disclaimer: I don't owe any of the characters.
Chapter 1Her legs didn't seem to be working. She stumbled around, and the only coherent thought in her head was to run. Run from the devil, run as fast as she could. No, no, no, he was catching up. She was helpless against him. She tripped and fell. The monster was on her now. No! She struggled, and flailed her arms wildly, but it was no use. The monster was ripping her clothes apart. She shrieked as loudly as she could, before falling into a dead faint when a hard object struck her.
Draco carried the frail Hermione up to their common room, which they shared because they were head prefects. She was whimpering along the way up, and shouts of "No!" burst out of her occasionally. He told the Princess in the picture outside their dorm the password, and carried her in and laid her on her bed. He was fuming mad. How could anyone be so beastly? He transfigured new clothes for Hermione as hers was tattered and torn, and murmured a charm to make Hermione's wounds heal. There was just one wound that could not be healed completely – the wound on her head. It would become a scar and serve as an ugly reminder of what had happened. Sighing, he sat down on a chair beside her bed and looked at her delicate features while waiting for her to wake up.
He had been in Diagon Alley, on his way back to Hogwarts, when he heard a faint scream somewhere. He had tried to ignore it, telling himself that it was probably some loony, but in the end, instinct guided him to where the scream had come from. Horrified and red with rage, he pounced on a surprised Rach who was in the middle of ripping an unconscious Hermione's clothes off. A haze of red had covered his eyes, and he could think of nothing but killing him. He had punched Rach until his fists were bleeding. He hadn't realized it just then, but underneath the anger was plain bone chilling fear. Fear for Hermione.
He had left Rach bleeding and unconscious at a drain, and carried her towards the direction of Hogwarts, walking with long fast strides. His heart broke at the sight of a whimpering Hermione. This was a fragile and delicate side to her that he had never seen before, and never wanted to see again.
Hermione was floating, floating in a dark area. She was so sleepy. She wanted to close her eyes and rest, but a tiny voice in her told her to go on, go on and find that tiny ray of light that would guide her out of the endless darkness. "But I am tired!" She told the voice. "You still have to go on, Herm." Pouting like a six-year-old child, she reluctantly obeyed. She was walking aimlessly, when suddenly she saw that ray of light. Like a child that had found a sweet, she jumped up and down with excitement and headed towards the light.
Hermione opened her eyes slowly, and the first thing that came into view was a pale boy with shockingly blue eyes. She giggled. "Who are you?" she asked him. He was really quite familiar to her, but she couldn't really placed him anywhere. He was the only person she could remember though, as she searched her memory. Yet she didn't know his name. How strange.
Draco was so relieved when Hermione finally woke up that he wanted to jump with joy. However, there was something wrong with her. When she asked who he was, he realized with a sinking heart that she had lost her memory and was behaving like a child. Grasping her hand as if his life was dependant on it, he asked her urgently, "Do you remember me, Hermione? Do you remember anything?"
"I remember you! But I cannot remember your name... don't you think it's strange?" she giggled, one thing Hermione would never have done in front of him.
"You know, I think I can remember your name. But that's the only thing I can remember though... Is your name Draco?"
Draco wanted to dance when she recalled his name. The only thing bad was that... well, Hermione had forgotten everything else. He wondered why she only remembered him, since he had been her worst enemy for as long as they could remember. For the first time in his life, he felt helpless. He decided to go to the only person who could help – Dumbledore – the first thing next morning.
"You see, Mr Dumbledore, Hermione can't remember anything now..." Draco had told Dumbledore the entire account of how he had found her, how she had fainted, and how when she woke up she did not remember anything. That is, anything but his face and name.
Dumbledore glanced at Draco. Draco looked utterly miserable. Utterly helpless. And scared. This was the first time that Dumbledore had ever seen him like that. Draco had always a sneer on his cold face whenever Dumbledore was around, and he knew he was always insulting him behind his back. This time, however, he had found another side to Draco. His soft side. The side not protected by a strong wall of ice.
Dumbledore examined Hermione and sighed. Her eyes had this blank look in them, and she was smiling happily and innocently away. She really looked like a child trapped inside an eighteen-year-old woman's body.
"I'm sorry, Draco. It appears that Hermione has subconsciously decided to forget everything unpleasant that she had experienced. I can't believe there would be such an incident happening so close to Hogwarts. I will do something about it. Since Hermione has forgotten everything by herself, and not through a Memory charm, I can't do anything about it. She has to remember and accept everything. I am afraid you would have to help her, Draco. Strange as it is, she forgets everything, even her best friends of 7 years, but remembers her worst enemy. Only you can help her." Dumbledore gave Draco a piercing stare that made Draco feel as if Dumbledore knew his thoughts, then dismissed them.
Draco led Hermione back to their dorm, a desolate look on his face. He didn't know what to do. He just stared blindly at Princess YuLin and finally remembered to mutter the password. The portrait swung open and he stepped inside together with Hermione.
"Draco?"
"Yes?"
"Is my name Hermione? Cause I heard the old wizard calling me that just now.... He looks so funny, with that long white beard."
"Yes, your name is Hermione. And the funny old man is Dumbledore."
Hermione flopped down on the couch and yawned. "I'm tired Draco. I'm going to sleep." With that, her eyes closed and she began snoring lightly.
Draco looked at her, worry frowns creasing his flawless white face. She really is beautiful, he thought. He wondered why he did not see this long ago. Perhaps because they were always throwing sneers and insults at each other. Now, though, through losing her memory, the wall had been broken and her face radiated only innocence and naivety.
He carried her all the way to her room and laid her gently down on her bed. If only he had not chosen to ignore the scream...if only he had got there sooner...if only, if only. He wasn't sure why, but he planted a kiss on her cheek before leaving to go back to his own room.
"Quiet down everybody. I am going to make an important announcement." Dumbledore lowered his half-moon glasses and stared at each and every one of them seriously. The hall fell into a tense silence immediately. All eyes were at Dumbledore.
"This matter is very serious. It is regarding Hermione Granger, the head girl of our school. It appears that someone, I repeat, someone, tried to rape her." Gasps were heard everywhere. Every face, especially Harry and Ron's, looked white.
"Fortunately the person failed in his attempt. His attempt was stopped by none other than the head boy of our school, Draco Malfoy. His actions very brave and courageous. I hope all of you would be like him if you ever meet such a situation.
"Now, Hermione has lost her memory. I suspect it is because of the traumatic experience. We can do nothing about it, except to lend our support and encouragement to her. The only person that she can remember, strange as it is, is Draco. That is why I believe he is the only person that can help her the most right now. Due to this unfortunate incident, she is excused from classes for a short period of time. This matter is well under investigation. If I ever find out who tried to rape her and if he is from this school," Dumbledore looked at every boy's face. "I will personally make sure that person will be expelled from Hogwarts and imprisoned in Azkaban."
He stared at them again, and walked off the stage.
Draco was on his way to the Transfiguration classroom. His mind was however on Hermione. He wondered how she was. He sincerely hoped that she would not wander out of their common room out of curiosity. He snapped back to attention. What the hell was he doing, worrying about Granger? That filthy mudblood. Fine, he was pretty worried the past few days, but that was because he had been shaken by the experience that there were such beastly people near Hogwarts. Not because the victim was Granger. No way. He shook his head and continued on his way to the Transfiguration classroom.
Just then, he was stopped by the two most irritating pests in the whole wide world. One with that bright red hair, and another one with that raven black. A sneer danced across his face.
"Malfoy, why is it that Hermione can only remember you?" the one with the ebony black hair asked him, worry written over his face.
"How would I know? Maybe because you weren't that good to her as you think..." Draco smirked.
"Oh, so you were very good to her... I didn't know that throwing insults and hexing her were ways of concerning about her. The world is changing too fast for me," Ron stared at Draco with an accusing look on his face.
"Look, I don't understand why either. You can go and visit her if you like. The password's 'Ocean blue', and stop bothering me." Draco turned and walked past them irritably.
Harry and Ron looked at each other with identical gaping looks on their faces. They saw the mix of emotions on his face, and that mix included worry. So Malfoy was human after all, both of them thought, and smiled as they knew what each other was thinking. They rushed off to their next class, eager for school to end so they could visit Hermione sooner.
Author's note: This is my first attempt... tell me what u think and help me improve! Though try not to pressurize me for my second chapter cos I can only work when my inspiration comes... :D