Authors Notes – Hey this is a one shot that I wrote today, I thought I'd post it now. Oh and I was inspired by the book of The Notebook.
Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or The Notebook, their rightful owners are JK Rowling and Nicholas Sparks.
The Hogsmeade Old People Home's visiting hours were finally over. The young mediwitch who was on duty at reception, slumped down in her seat.
"This is the hardest shift, I can't wait to go home and put my feet up!" she called to the assistant who was stacking medicines and potions in a nearby cupboard. The assistant simply smiled and returned to her job. There was a storm a brewing out in the crisp autumn air.
"Angie, you don't suppose I could get off could you. I wouldn't normally ask, only the storm's coming and I don't want to be stuck in the rain. You know how I hate thunder." she said casually.
"No Mary-Anne. You know the rules. You're on till 2. I on the other hand get to go home in ten minutes." Angie said looking at the grandfather clock at the entrance.
"Yeah, lucky you!"
"I'm just going to go and check that Mr. Malfoy is still in his room where he belongs." She said.
Mary-Anne rolled her eyes and reclined in the office chair.
"Yes, go and check on the crazy lunatic." She called after her. Angie walked briskly down the corridor to unit 3 where Draco Malfoy stayed. Quietly she crept into his room, in case he was asleep. He wasn't there of course. He never was. She sighed deeply and made her way to the place where she knew he'd be. Hermione Granger Malfoy's room. His wife's room. They had placed them two floors apart to prevent this from happening. It never worked; he always managed to find a way to get to her. Even with arthritis. She stepped into the room to see him sitting by her bedside. It wasn't fair on them. Life hadn't been fair to them.
"Draco, come on, you have to go back to your own room." She said kindly.
"Why?" he asked. It was the one question she never knew how to answer. Why should a husband and wife be split up from one another? Why should they be made to sleep in different rooms?
"Because they're the rules, you know if I made them up you would be able to stay."
"Don't the rules also say that you have to be old to live here?" he said. He was right, they did. The advert for the home said, the age limit was 75.
"This is a special case," she whispered. He smiled back, his face still as youthful and as young as it had been when he was twenty. When he was a newlywed.
"Exactly."
Voldemort had been defeated ten years ago and yet his evil still remained. You only had to look at Draco and Hermione Malfoy to see that. Only someone who hated love and couldn't love could do something like what he had done. He had cursed them both. The curse had only ever been used twice before in all of magical history. The curse, The Edernfawk made you age much too quickly. If you were cursed, like Hermione and Draco were, when you were twenty years old, by the time you were thirty; you would have the medical problems of an eighty year old and yet still look like a twenty year old. The worst part was you would live three times as long as any normal human being. So by the time you died, at approximately 220 years of age, you would feel as if you were 600 years old. And that is what pure evil is. They'd been in Hogsmeade Old People's Home for nine years. At first they'd of course been in St Mungo's but they couldn't stay in the insanity ward. They tried living back at home but by then it was too late. They'd already aged too much. Not to mention the scars from the final battle. Most nights of those nine years, Angie had gone looking for Draco and had always found him here. Besides his wife. His wife who loved him so much. His wife who would do anything for him. His wife who up until a year ago, knew who he was.
"Alright," she said.
Angie always ended up giving in. She after all would want to be with her husband too. Though on the odd occasion when there was a different night nurse, he would be made to go back. Those nights made him go crazy. And so she left him, sitting besides his wife as she did most nights. He would of course have to return to his own room early the next day. If Hermione woke up and saw him, she would surely break his heart. Hermione had Alzheimer's. The muggle disease. Angie often wondered how a mother could watch her daughter go through that. Draco's problems were rather minor at the moment, steadily getting worse, but minor at the moment. His biggest problem was the heartbreak he had to endure everyday when he visited Hermione when she was awake. The progress he made each day with her was regularly wiped away while she slept. As she walked back into the lobby, she saw Mary-Anne, once again leaning back in her chair with her feet propped up on the desk. She was on the phone. Angie quickly wiped away the tears that she had let fall on her way back and caught part of the conversation Mary-Anne was having.
"I know, I love you too."
"…"
"I told you Sean, I want a white wedding."
"…"
"Ooh, Thankyou."
"…"
"Okay, I love you. I'll see you when I get home. Bye."
The tears were once again falling. Too many people took love for granted. She took her coat, said a hasty goodbye to the young mediwitch and made her way home. As soon as she apparated into her living room she was greeted by a wave of young children.
"Mummy, Mummy, I stayed up and made you this!" a young black haired boy cried.
"You're supposed to be in bed, what are you doing up?" She asked astonished that her husband would let the kids stay up so late.
"Daddy said, seeing as its Friday, we could stay up and wait for you Mummy." Another black haired child said.
"Did he?" she asked. She looked up to see her husband of five years standing in the kitchen doorway. He was grinning at her stupidly and despite all the tears she'd cried she laughed.
"Hi Ginny." He smiled. He walked over to her and kissed her. She took the glamour off of herself and looked in the mirror to see her appearance back to how it should be. Red hair and freckles. 'Another of Lord Voldemort's accomplishments' she thought bitterly. Ever since the final battle, she had to go into a witness protection programme. Everyday for work she had to change her name, change her appearance and check in with the programme to say she was still safe.
"Hi Harry." She said tiredly. Harry obviously noticed this and rounded the kids up.
"Alright kids, Mum's back and now it's time for bed." He told them clapping his hands together.
"But dad…" his youngest son, Jimmy pouted.
"No buts, Jimmy, Bed!" he said shooing him and his daughter, Lillian up the stairs; "I'll be up in a minute to say goodnight." He turned back to his eldest children. Kara, a carbon copy of her redhead mother stood talking to his daughter, Sarah. Sarah had curly brown hair just like her mother too only she had blue eyes just like her Fathers. Next to them a boy of the same age stood watching them. His hair was just like his fathers, white blond, and he had him Mother's eyes, chestnut brown. His wife caught him looking; she smiled at him as tears welled up in her eyes as she looked upon the two children she had come to love as if they were her own. Harry could tell that she'd had a bad night with Draco. His wife did something he could never do. He visited them on occasion but it was just too painful to sit and watch his best friend try as hard as she could to remember him. But she couldn't, she never could. Draco was the only one who remembered. Who remembered their wedding day, who remembered the birth of his twins? The twins he could never see. The children who looked just like him and yet had been told that they had a different set of parents. Harry and Ginny had stopped taking Sarah and Luke to see them. It really was too hard on Draco.
"Come on Sarah, Luke, Kara, time for bed" he said.
"WHAT!" Kara cried, she had the temper that her mother had and it made Harry swell with pride.
"Come on Dad, it's only ten thirty." Luke argued.
"Alright, just go upstairs then." He told them. Sarah being as quiet as she always was, she was just like her Mother. It was a wonder that they hadn't realized. They made their way upstairs and only when they heard the door close did Ginny break down crying. Her shoulders slumped over and she sunk to the floor crying. Harry ran over and sat down besides her trying his best to comfort her.
"Come on, it's alright." He said soothingly. Ginny fell against his chest still sobbing.
"He loves her so much Harry, so much, they didn't deserve this." She said. Harry realized that she must have had a really hard day.
"I know he does. I know he does."
"Anyone with problems should just take a look at him. They'd get over it straight away. God, people take too much for granted these days."
In the end Harry realized there wasn't anything he could say or do to make the situation better. He just sat there rubbing her back.
"The next morning Ginny went back to work, she changed her appearance back to the one she had come to recognize in the mirror. It was completely different from 'Ginny's' look. Curly blonde hair halfway down her back and Green eyes. She looked about the same age perhaps a bit older than she actually was but still around the same.
"Hi Angie," a different mediwitch on the front desk said. Ginny liked this one a whole lot more than Mary-Anne.
"Hi Susie," she replied hanging her bag and coat in the staff room. She poured a cup of the coffee and walked back out to the lobby.
"Have you checked on Mr. Malfoy?" she asked her. The bubbly receptionist looked up and smiled.
"Yes, fast asleep when I went in there." She said. Ginny nodded and took another sip of the coffee that had a special 'Stay-Awake' potion in it.
"Good," she said, "I'm just going to go and check up on him."
Walking straight to Hermione's room this time she found the two of them talking. She smiled at the scene and walked straight to the medicine and potion stash and got out their potions.
"Professor Snape personally delivered these yesterday," she told them, "he asked about you Draco, I told him he could come and see you but he needed to get back, had a class of first years to terrify."
Draco grinned and took the potion Ginny was offering him. He quickly swallowed it and gave her back the vial.
"Excuse me, who's Professor Snape?" Hermione asked looking confused.
"Potions Master at Hogwarts." Ginny told her. Hermione's face lit up.
"Oh, Drayden was just telling me about that." She said happily. Ginny looked away sadly, made up names were an everyday chore to Draco.
"Angie?" Draco asked. Ginny looked up smiling blinking away any unshed tears.
"Yes?" she asked brightly.
"Do you mind me asking who's first in the Quidditch Championship?"
She laughed and ran out to get Susie's newspaper. Newspapers were banned for all patients but Draco and Hermione were a special case.
"Here," she said handing him the paper and returning to work on the potion for her former colleague. She looked up to see Hermione looking strangely at her.
"You look familiar, what did you say your name was?" she questioned. Ginny glanced at Draco who was looking at Hermione hopefully.
"Angie," Ginny whispered, Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment and then shook her head.
"No, sorry I don't know any Angie's."
"Who do you know?" Ginny said looking disappointed.
"Um, well, Drayden."
"Yes you do." Ginny said smiling.
The day was a glorious June afternoon and the setting was perfect, the chapel overlooked the ocean, on a cliff in Southern England. The seats were rapidly filling up. Mrs. Weasley had already begun to cry with Mr. Weasley desperately trying to get her to calm down. Blaise Zabini stood next to the blond groom who was smiling in anticipation. Ginny stood in front of the bride making any last minute adjustments to her hair and dress. Hermione was grinning like a maniac and Ginny could hardly blame her. Mr. and Mrs. Granger sat in the front row with Ron and Harry. Narcissa Malfoy had convinced her husband to attend and they were both sitting along the front row too, Narcissa dabbing her eyes every once in a while after looking at her son. The music from the organ started and Kara Potter, who was flower girl, stumbled down the aisle (she had only just learnt how to walk). She was tossing he flowers from side to side, giggling as they fell on top of the guests. When she finally reached Dumbledore, Blaise and Draco, Harry led her away and towards the seats. Next cam the bridesmaids, Lavender and Parvati had insisted on Pink dresses that made them look like meringues, but all the same they looked nice. Ginny came next wearing a slim yellow dress that reached her ankle and made her red hair, which had been curled, stand out perfectly. Harry smiled at his beautiful wife and watched her stand next to Draco and Blaise. Dumbledore smiled kindly at her. The wedding march began and Hermione came down, a vision of white floating gracefully down the aisle. Mr. Granger, who had left a sobbing Mrs. Granger at the front, was escorting his daughter. When they reached the end she kissed him on the cheek and he took his place back next to his wife and in front of Mrs. Weasley who by this time was howling. Hermione took her place opposite Draco and Dumbledore began. This was how it was supposed to be. Them side by side, for better or for worse. And it still was, only under different terms. Hermione didn't know it at the time but she was pregnant with her twins then. Married life looked easy if you saw Hermione and Draco, of course they were ecstatic about the pregnancy as was Hermione's parents, Ginny's parents and Narcissa Malfoy, even Lucius became excited when he learnt he was to grandfather twins. Hermione breezed through pregnancy, looking as beautiful as she always did. Only when the war came and she was seven months, did it become a problem. Draco was to fight with Harry, Ron and Dumbledore in the war. They did spectacular things and when it came to the final battle they were ready for victory. Only Hermione gave birth then, right in the middle of the battle. Ginny was there helping her. Draco only looked away for a second to see his newborn children when they were cursed, doomed for eternity.
Two months after Ginny came home that night crying, Draco's condition had worsened considerably. He could barely move. He could no longer sneak out to see Hermione sleep. Ginny had to push him in a wheel chair each day. One day when he was in his wheelchair watching Hermione sleep peacefully he asked Ginny for what she knew was always coming.
"Angie, can I ask you something?" he asked weakly. Ginny looked up from her potion brewing,
"Hmm?"
"If we wanted a way out, could you give us one?"
Ginny looked up startled, not quite sure if he meant what she though he meant.
"What do you mean?" she whispered.
"Death, could you help us?"
"Draco, no!"
"Please Ginny?" he pleaded, his own blue eyes filling up with tears. Just hearing him call her that again made her want to weep.
"I can't your children-"
"My children don't know who I am, that alone I can't live with."
Ginny didn't know what to say, she just stood there trembling not wanting to believe what she was hearing was true.
"Ginny, my life isn't worth living anymore." He whispered so she could barely hear him.
"Yes it is-"
"No it's not, my wife doesn't know who I am, my children don't know who I am, I am stuck in an old people's home at the age of thirty."
Ginny looked at Hermione sleeping.
"Hermione too?" she asked. He looked down.
"No, I could never do that." He said his voice breaking a little.
"Draco, I couldn't bear that. Hermione would want to go with you!"
"I can't kill her!"
"Then I can't kill you!"
"Please?"
"Hermione would want to die!" Ginny cried desperate to make him understand.
"Alright" he whispered, defeated, "please though, help us."
"I'll get Harry to come-"
"No!" he suddenly said, "tonight, please tonight."
Ginny nodded.
"Ginny, please, when my children are old enough, tell them about us."
"Of course."
"We made a pensieve" he said, "it's in the Malfoy estate, use that."
Ginny nodded, she couldn't believe she was about to help her two friends die. But in death, they could be together.
Later that night, when she had finished her shift she took her wand and walked back up to Hermione's room. Hermione was still asleep, Draco was right, her condition, like his was getting worse.
"Hey," he said softly, intent on not waking his wife. Ginny started to cry.
"Ginny, come on please don't do this." Draco said taking his friend in his arms. They cried together for half an hour.
"God, I remember when you and Hermione first started dating, well actually I don't because you didn't tell us, but I remember you telling us and Harry and Ron going ballistic." She giggled.
"Yeah, I remember that, I had a black eye and a fat lip for two weeks afterwards." He laughed.
"Tell Harry, I'll miss him."
"I will."
"And Blaise, and Mother and Father, Pansy, Ron, Lavender, Parvati, Mrs. and Mr. Granger and everyone else."
"I will."
"Ginny, I'll miss you, so much and I am so thankful to you for doing this."
"I know." She whispered. He nodded and went to sleep besides his wife for the last time.
Later that night when Ginny went home, she apparated as if she was in a trance. As soon as she walked in the door and she was attacked by five excited children, Harry knew something was wrong. He sent the kids to bed and asked his wife what was wrong. She simply smiled and said, "They're together now. Hermione and Draco Malfoy are back where they belong." And that night, two more star shone brightly in the sky, looking over their children and the Potter family.
THE END
