Author's Note: A gift for Partylines. Love and light xo
Alpha love to Kyonomiko.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise.
Her heart was heavy. It was the anniversary of the day her parents had moved to Brisbane to begin their new life, and it clanged through Hermione's brain with a resounding insistence.
Harry and Ron flew around, high above with the others, oblivious.
She turned the page in her book but the words refused to settle. Her eyes scanned them without the necessary focus, her mind glazed and overrun with thoughts.
Feeling eyes on her, Hermione lifted her gaze. Across the park, Malfoy and Nott were seated on a bench. She hadn't had anything to do with either of them in years, and she wondered why Malfoy was watching her.
His stare lacked the animosity she remembered, but her own eyes narrowed on instinct. She turned back to her book, wishing he would leave her alone.
"Theo." Draco frowned, sweeping his hair out of his eyes. "Who is that girl? With the curly hair."
Theo looked up, squinting in the brightness of the sun. It was a beautiful afternoon, though a touch windier than Draco liked. "Her name is Hermione Granger."
"Hermione." Draco tested the word on his tongue. His gaze fell to the girl, her chocolate hair swirling about her face as a gust blew past. "She looks… sad."
Theo hesitated, measuring his words. "She's sad quite a lot, or so I hear."
"A lot? Are those her friends with her?" Something stirred in Draco's chest at the thought of her being sad. "Don't they realize?"
"I imagine they do," Theo said with a shrug. "What are you thinking, Draco?"
With a flicker of his brows, Draco turned to watch her again. As if feeling his gaze, the girl – Hermione – shifted and her eyes lifted to meet his, and then narrowed. "I'm wondering… why she looks so sad. Perhaps I should walk over and say hello."
Theo gave him an apologetic smile. "That might not be the best idea. You and Hermione went to school together. Before your accident."
"Hogwarts." The word fell from Draco's tongue with a practiced familiarity and he brightened as Theo nodded. "Were we not friends?"
Theo's fingers tapped an anxious rhythm against the wood of the bench. "No, Draco, you weren't friends." His hazel eyes flickered to meet Draco's. "In fact, you… you weren't kind to her, Draco."
His heart fell at the thought. "In what way?"
Picking at the worn wood of the bench, Theo said, "Her parents are Muggles, Draco. You treated her poorly because her blood isn't as pure as yours."
"Muggles." Draco continued to watch the girl with a tilt to his head. She turned the page in her book, a downwards turn to her lips. "But isn't that why the war was fought?"
"That's right."
Swallowing a lump in his throat, he glanced away. "So you'd suggest she wouldn't like to speak with me."
More tapping. "Probably not."
There was something in her eyes – something in the way she watched from the ground as her friends flew about on their brooms – and he could see it from across the park. He could hear the raucous laughter high above, and a musing smile curved her lips. A furrow lifted into Draco's brow.
"She's lovely."
Theo followed his gaze. "Indeed, she is. She's courageous, too, Draco. She faced a lot, during the war."
His voice was soft. "I'd like to get to know her."
Shifting on the bench, Theo offered him a grimace. "You can try – but she might not be willing to give you a chance."
"Because of how I treated her, before." His heart was full of sorrow at the thought. Draco wasn't certain, exactly, how he'd behaved before, but Theo had made mentions of it. Before his mother's last act had been one to protect him from a force he couldn't remember.
Before the day he'd lost both of his parents – two attractive people he knew only by their photographs.
He didn't know how he had been like, prior to that day. He didn't remember Theo, either, although Theo said they'd been friends, before he'd taken him on as a patient. Theo always wore bright green.
The fire in Hermione's eyes flickered up to him again, and her eyes narrowed. Her lips pursed as she marked her page in her book and set it in her lap, folding her arms across her front. Draco grimaced. "I think you might be right."
"I imagine she doesn't know," Theo mused with an idle stare into the sparse clouds. "It isn't common knowledge, about the spell that went wrong in your mind."
Draco considered the thought, allowing Theo's words to settle into his mind. Sometimes it took him longer, to comprehend. He liked to be thorough with his thoughts, and he wasn't certain whether he'd always been that way.
"So she thinks I would mistreat her, still." Draco frowned, his gaze averting to her friends as they landed their brooms nearby her. "And her friends? Do they dislike me as well?"
"Yes." Theo gave an apologetic shrug. "You and I never got on with any of them, back in school."
"School is over," Draco said to himself as much as to Theo. He nodded at Theo's agreement. "Three – four years?"
"Four."
"Four years." Draco couldn't keep his eyes from landing on the girl again. "I want to say hello."
Still, his heart clenched at the thought that she might not like to see him. He wished he had never mistreated her. He wished he could remember her.
"Theo," he began. "Do you suppose I'll ever remember? My mother and father – and my old classmates?"
Hermione pushed a smile as her friends took back to the skies, and Draco wondered whether they could see through it as he could.
Theo released a long sigh, tapping the bench once more. "We aren't sure, Draco. The aim is to get you to that point. But without knowing how your mother's spell backfired, there isn't an easy fix."
Draco nodded, a frown overtaking him once more. Hermione met his gaze, and her eyes shone with the sadness in her countenance. She didn't immediately look away this time, something akin to curiosity stirring in her face.
"Maybe," Draco breathed, unable to tear his gaze away, "I don't want to remember." He swallowed, folding his hands in his lap. "Not if all of these people didn't like me."
Theo hummed at the proclamation, as if in thought. "Even if you do remember one day, Draco, there's nothing saying you can't change. You can try."
He nodded, something seizing at his chest that he didn't quite feel. "I'm going to try." He rose to his feet, sweeping his hair from his eyes.
Theo released a chuckle, with a muttered, "Good luck."
Draco gave him a grimace with a sharp intake of breath. "It sounds like I'll need it."
Hermione's stare remained on him as he paced across the park to the bench where she sat. She set her book down, raising a single, slender brow as he gestured to the empty seat beside her. When she didn't respond, he sat down on the edge of the bench.
"Hi." He shifted, pressing his lips together when she didn't respond. "My name is Draco."
"I know." Her eyes narrowed. "What do you want, Malfoy?"
Draco turned to look back at Theo; his old friend was staring at him with a smile on his lips. "Theo says you and I didn't get on, when we were at Hogwarts together." Hermione's eyes flickered with something and he went on before he could lose his nerve. "I… I'm afraid I don't remember you. Theo and his co-workers say there was an accident."
Hermione's brows raised high on her face, and something like understanding crossed her expression as her gaze landed on Theo. Maybe she recognized the green robes he wore.
Draco scratched the back of his neck. "Theo says I mistreated you in school. I wanted to say that I'm sorry for that." He paused for a moment, watching the way her lips fell open in silent surprise. "I also wanted to say, you look sad, and I wish you weren't. I hope whatever has made you distraught gets better soon."
He wished she would say something. But a curious tilt came to her head and she shook her head with a whispered, "Malfoy."
Her knuckles were white as she clenched her book. Perhaps Theo was right, and Draco shouldn't have walked over.
But to his surprise, when he looked to her face again, her eyes were glossy. After a long pause, she whispered, "Thank you, Malfoy. I appreciate that." She looked away, shaking her head. "I wasn't aware. Of your accident."
Draco gave her a shrug and a smile. "Theo says I was in St Mungo's for a long while, and it was kept quiet. I'm going outside more now. Maybe I'll see you here again, some time."
Hermione continued to stare at him, and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth. "Yes, maybe." She released a small laugh and extended her hand. "I'm Hermione. And I think I'd like that."
Draco flashed her a grin, feeling a surge of relief as he accepted her hand. Her fingers were small and he liked the way her hand felt in his.
The way her eyes met his made him feel like maybe this fresh start wasn't so bad after all.