A Moment Lost in Time
Chapter 1: And So it Begins
Draco Malfoy's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched with slight interest as the tired and haggard looking young woman ducked into the café to avoid the chilling winter air that had slowly started to creep upon London as the holiday season quickly approached. As he nodded in feigned interest at his mother's recount of the shopping excursion she had had the day before where the saleslady had been particularly rude to her, telling her that blue was not her color – "As if there's a color that isn't in my color scheme!" she had huffed – his grey eyes watched in speculative calculation at the familiar face he had not seen in quite awhile.
He saw her exchange a few words with the hostess at the front of the café before she was led to a small table, close to where he was sitting at with his mother for their afternoon tea, near a warm magically charmed fireplace near the back of the restaurant. Hermione Granger, he mused under his breath. He hadn't seen her face since the Great War. His thoughts seemed to become muddled as he tried to recall her face alongside the Golden Duo. Draco frowned, but was quickly brought out of his thoughts as he closely watched her actions, finding something incredibly off about her. Something was missing, something important, and Draco couldn't figure out what it was. As she fidgeted nervously at her one person table, he noticed that her eyes kept darting back and forth from corner to corner. She looked smaller, gaunter than ever. Her shoulders were hunched together as she leaned over the piece of paper that served as the café's menu, and despite the fact that she was wearing a shirt that was obviously too big for her, he could tell that she had grown much thinner than a woman of her age was supposed to look.
"Draco! Are you listening to me?"
Draco's eyes immediately snapped from staring at Hermione Granger to meet the impatient eyes of his mother. "Sorry, mother. You were saying about your trip to Gladrags?"
"I was finished with that story ages ago, dear. Is this what you do whenever I talk to you? Tune me out?" Narcissa Malfoy asked him before she took a sip of her Earl Grey tea with one lump of sugar. "No wonder you're still single!" She shook her head as if berating him before reaching over to pluck some lint off of his expensive monogrammed robes.
Draco frowned, but he didn't make a comment, knowing that once she started on her marriage reel, she would be hard-pressed to stop and change the subject.
"My goodness, if only you were still seeing that wonderful, wonderful witch Daphne Greengrass. Or if things had worked out with Pansy, seeing as how you two go far back. You know, dear, your father and I just want you to be happy…"
Draco tuned his mother out, returning his attention to the Muggle-born witch who was now warming up her mitten covered hands by blowing air on them. It was rather surprising seeing her at Scones and Cones when he hadn't seen her for the longest time. It was as if she had slipped out of the Wizarding World's radar. The Daily Prophet continued to blast news about Harry Rather-Notter and Ron Weasel, but there was never any news about Hermione Granger. It never struck Draco as odd because he simply hadn't cared. Any news regarding Potter and Weasley made him immediately want to retch, so he had his personal assistant throw away any articles about the two before giving the newspapers over for him to read. It worked well that way.
He noticed his mother take a moment's pause, and he turned to look back at her. "You're ready to leave, Mother?" he asked her. She had already finished her tea and blueberry scone, and was currently in the process of placing all her dirty dishes in a neat pile in front of her.
"Yes, dear, but like I said to you last night, I have to run to the salon. I have an appointment with Madeline and I'm already fifteen minutes late. All that talking about you and marriage always makes me lose track of time. I think Rose is already there, and you know how Pansy's mother hates it when anybody is late." She paused to dab a handkerchief daintily at her lips. "I don't know how she functions knowing that her husband is in Azkaban. It's best if I'm there for her as much as possible."
Draco nodded, taking his napkin from his lap to wipe his lips as well. His friend's father hadn't managed to escape the "Wanted Death Eater" list and was sentenced to life in Azkaban, while Pansy and her mother had managed to stay out of the spotlight, donating a generous sum to the Ministry to keep their name from being associated with the Dark Arts. "I suppose I'll see you back at the Manor for dinner, then?"
Narcissa smiled, "Of course, dear." She bent down to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I hate to leave you here by yourself."
"That's all right mother. I'll be fine."
Narcissa smiled affectionately at her son before she walked out of the restaurant to Apparate to the salon.
"Finally, a moment of peace," thought Draco as he sat back in his chair.
His eyes once again focused upon the witch sitting not far from him. Something about Granger wasn't right, but he wasn't sure what it was. As his gaze narrowed in on the witch who was now taking a sip out of the drink that she was holding in her mitten-covered hands, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that he wasn't the only one who had been curious about her reappearance. His head turned slightly as he took in the couple sitting to his left. The woman, who was sitting on a rather comfortable looking chair that faced Granger's direction, eagerly shook the hand of the man who was sitting across from her. Draco frowned as he saw – and heard - her mouth, "Hermione Granger is sitting there all by herself!" Her whisper was more of an excited shout. After she had uttered her sentence, the patrons all around her snapped their heads up, as if they were brainless puppets, to survey the scene of the lost, but now found Golden Girl. Yet despite all the whispers and excited chatters that were swirling through the air encircling Granger, she didn't seem to notice them at all. She was too caught up in her own little world and her own thoughts to even give the people around her a piece of her time.
Draco searched his memory, trying to recall the last time he had interacted or even thought of the witch. It was odd that he didn't have any of her besides the ones of them two at Hogwarts. Draco had ended up joining forces with the Order, providing to be crucial help to Harry in bringing down Voldemort. His efforts in aiding the Light side were rewarded after the battle had been over. It was partially due to Draco's act of heroism in helping bring down Voldemort that Lucius and Narcissa were spared from any sort of punishment. That didn't go unnoticed by a lot of Draco's peers in Hogwarts, as many found it unfair that they had to have family sentenced to prison while the Malfoy family got off without even a scratch. Draco spent many years working hard to expel all doubt from everybody's mind that he didn't deserve the reward that he got, and had almost gotten to the level of satisfaction that he thought was appropriate for where his family name should stand.
So it was extremely odd that Draco couldn't find any memories of himself interacting with Granger during the war, although he knew that he had fought alongside of her, Potter and Weasley. Nor did she once cross his mind while he was working hard to rebuild the Malfoy name. He would have thought her brilliant brain that she had back in Hogwarts would have put her in line for something great. But by the way she was dressed, she seemed far from it. Before he could think much further upon the matter, he noticed a big commotion in the window outside of Scones and Cones that pulled him out of his thoughts. Apparently the reporters and photographers had gotten word that the Golden Girl was back, and outside every window were photographers who had their magical cameras at their eyes, snapping pictures left to right.
Draco noticed with a growing amount of dread that Granger had finally noticed that there were others who had noticed her presence as her eyes grew wide and her mouth fell into a slight frown at the amount of paparazzi that was focused upon her. The feeling of dread settled at the bottom of his stomach, sitting there and causing the rest of his body to tense up.
He had never been one to care about others outside of his mother and his few friends. He only cared for his own interests and his own benefits. In fact, he rarely did anything that didn't help him achieve some sort of personal satisfaction or gain at the end. So just why did he feel this over encompassing need to do something to force away that frown on Granger's face? As more whispers ensued, Draco quickly made up his mind and stood up. It seemed as if his feet moved on their own, a separate entity from his brain, which was at the moment, temporarily disabled from doing any thinking. The walk over to Granger's table seemed to last an eternity, and Draco had no doubt that each and every wizarding reporter perched outside the small café was capturing each and every move Draco was making.
He finally reached his destination, and without asking for any invitation of any kind, he pulled an empty chair away from an unused table next to him, and propped it in front of the forlorn girl who was sitting in fear and shock. He plopped himself ungracefully and un-Draco like into the seat before he offered her a smirk, as if it were an everyday occurrence for him to be having tea with her.
"Hello, Granger," he said, watching as her dull and lifeless brown eyes focus upon him and her mouth drop open in a perfect "o" at the shock of seeing him.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of JK Rowling. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Note: Hello to anybody who is reading this! I haven't updated my stories in such a long time, but I was struck with the motivation to write after reading so many wonderful fanfictions in the past few years. My writing is a bit rusty, so please bear with me. I would love any positive feedback or constructive criticism!
Another important note is that this story will probably stray from the series and will not strictly follow the books. I have this idea of a story in my head with characters that I have made up and want to bring to life. Thank you for reading and I hope you'll take this journey with me!