Incident
Hermione smiled widely over at her new husband, she couldn't believe today had been the day she had married Ronald Weasley, and she was no longer Hermione Granger, it was Hermione Granger-Weasley now. The very idea excited her; it filled her stomach with a bubble of happiness she felt that nothing could pop. "He looks so happy, you know." Harry leaned over and said to her; both their eyes were on Ron. He was chatting animatedly to his mother and suddenly looked up and caught Hermione's eyes, returning her smile with his own.
"Yeah, I know." Hermione replied and Harry held out his glass to her, she clinked hers against it and they both took a sip of the champagne.
The wedding had been absolutely fantastic, she and Ron had been planning it for just over a year and Hermione was sure she hadn't turned into a bridezilla, although she was sure Ron, Harry and Ginny would probably disagree with her. But nevertheless they were here now and Hermione didn't want to toot her own trumpet but she knew she looked very beautiful in her wedding dress. Her parents were here as well as a couple of her family members from home who knew she was a witch, but they still seemed somewhat bewildered and amazed by all the floating candles and the way the food had just magically appeared on the tables. She and Ron had agreed to do it that way as it reminded all of them of Hogwarts and their time there.
"Oh Hermione!" Molly Weasley rushed over to her and threw her arms around her; Hermione laughed and hugged her new mother-in-law back. "Now, I've always thought of you as a daughter to me but it's so great to officially say you are my daughter-in-law!" The woman said happily, but her expression turned solemn for a few moments, "if only Fred were here…" She lamented.
"Mum if Fred was here, he and George would have gone out of their way to pull a prank during the ceremony and you know it." Ron said which brought a smile to Molly's eyes which were now sparkling with tears.
"Yes, yes he would have." She agreed.
The night went by quickly, too quickly for Hermione's liking as she did not want this wedding to be over, she had spent so long planning it that it would be lovely if it could just last forever. Later she found herself dancing with her father when she heard her new husband ask, "Can I cut in?"
Her father kissed her on the cheek and left, likely to go and find her mother, as Ron put his arm around her waist and held her hand, leading her rather clumsily in a waltz on the floor. She didn't mind that he was a clumsy dancer; it was just part of the package that came with Ron. "So, how does it feel to be Mrs Weasley?" He asked her and Hermione smiled as she felt a flush rise to her cheeks.
"Absolutely wonderful." Hermione replied with a wide grin and leaned up to kiss her new husband.
The end of the night came too soon and she and Ron were walking through the aisle made by all their guests, they were throwing confetti at them (the Weasley family and any wizard guests seemed very confused by this, as it was a muggle tradition).
"I don't see why we have to do this silly car thing when we could just disapparate to Venice." He said and Hermione shushed him, she had wanted to do it ever since she was a little girl, be driven in a car with 'Just Married' written on the back as they drove off together into the sunset. Finally she was getting her very own happy ending.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "We'll get driven so far and then we'll disapparate from there." She said, "It's important to me that's why."
It was as good a reason as any and they settled in the back of the limo, cuddling together and kissed fervently. The driver had put up a screen between the front and back so they couldn't be seen by him and that suited them just fine. She tangled her hands in Ron's hair before they pulled apart and breathed deeply, trying to catch their breath. "I love you Hermione." He said to her and she grinned.
"I love you too."
That was the last thing she could remember properly, there was the loud scrape of metal grating against metal, a howl of pain and a scream that sounded very much like her own before everything went black.
DMHGDMHGDMHGDMHGDMHG
Coming back to consciousness was very much like waking from a deep sleep, she felt like she was rising from deep water back to the surface to take her first gasp of air and while her lungs were crying out for that, at the same time she felt like all she wanted to do was lie down back at the bottom of the ocean, she didn't want to come up to the surface.
But inevitably, she did. The pain was unbearable, everything hurt and she was able to deduce quickly that she was in a hospital; it had to be a muggle hospital from the doctors and nurses and the IV drips, she had no idea which hospital though, or why she was even there in the first place. Before she could ask Hermione felt the darkness loom over her again and pull her down, which she easily gave into yet again, she just felt so tired.
When she came to again with no idea how much time had passed she could feel a pounding in her head, there was a beeping from a machine that was attached to her, possibly with her heart rate? Everything felt too hazy for Hermione to begin analysing her surroundings.
"Good morning there, you've been out for quite a while." One of the nurses said, there were two of them, and a doctor. It all seemed very strange.
"Could you please tell me your name miss?" The doctor asked and Hermione tried to speak but her throat was extremely sore.
"Hermione Jean Granger-Weasley." She replied and the doctor seemed satisfied with that.
"And could you tell me the year?" He asked and Hermione thought long and hard, the last thing she could remember was the wedding, and she knew the date for that was the 30th May 2003.
"2003." She said confidently. This seemed cause for concern due to the mild show of alarm in the doctors face. Hermione picked up on it but she was sure that she wasn't meant to from the way he smiled at her.
"Alright Hermione could you tell me the last thing you remember?" He asked and she nodded.
"I remember marrying Ron, I remember my wedding and then we were in the car on the way to the… airport." Well, she couldn't very well say they were on their way to disapparate could she? "And then there was a crash… I think?" She said and the doctor nodded.
"Thank you Hermione, that'll be all for now, could one of you please go and inform Mr Weasley that his wife is awake?" The doctor said and suddenly she was alone. Hermione was so confused.
However shortly after that Ron came in and seemed so relieved to see her, Hermione smiled and he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. She was surprised by the fact that he appeared older than she remembered, not by much but still, there were a few wrinkles there that hadn't been there before. She put this down to the crash being more stressful on him than she realised. "Oh Ron, it's so good to see you." She said with a smile, "How long was I out?"
He seemed surprised and laughed nervously, "You haven't called me Ron for ages…" He mused although it was said so quietly Hermione wasn't sure if she was meant to hear it. "You've been out for two days." He commented and then opened his mouth to say something before hesitating.
"What is it?" Hermione prompted.
Ron seemed nervous. "It's just, the doctor said the last thing you could remember was our wedding, is that true?"
She furrowed her brow, the last thing to remember was the wedding, wasn't it? "Yes… I remember getting into the car to go and…" She lowered her voice to a whisper, "disapparate." Ron nodded before she continued, "and then there was a crash, that's what happened isn't it?"
"Hermione…" Her husband took her hand and seemed almost sad, "That was four years ago, it's 2007." He said and she gasped aloud, the weight of it sunk in and she made to sit up but her body was still slow and sluggish from the medication she had been on, and so she didn't move far.
"What?!" The brunette asked and Ron squeezed her hand. He had a lot of filling in to do.
"The doctor said it's probably just stress of the accident and your memories should come back within the next month, possibly even in the next 24 hours." He explained, it was strange hearing this coming from Ron of all people, "but in the meantime they want to take you for an MRI – whatever that is – to see what's going on."
"An MRI is a brain scan." She stated sadly, four years of her life that she just didn't remember? It practically seemed impossible. Although Hermione was sure that all that could have happened in that time was her and Ron settling into their marriage, did they have children? How could she not remember her children? "Do we have children?" She asked.
Ron shook his head, "No we don't have kids." He responded and she nodded, well, at least there wasn't that to worry about.
The next few days went by slowly, Ron couldn't stay in the hospital with her so he came back to visit her and spent his time filling her in as much as possible. Harry and Ginny came to visit her too and they all filled her in on everything she had missed.
As far as she was aware not too much had happened, she and Ron had settled into married life and everything was going as smoothly as normal, Harry and Ginny were married now and Hermione was a little sad she couldn't remember the wedding but she knew the memories would come back to her as soon as possible. She was working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement but had been given time off in order to recover, Ron explained she worked in the Improper Use of Magic Office, while he and Harry were Aurors. She was a bit confused and overwhelmed by all this new information but she knew she needed to know. In fact Hermione had even been taking notes on her own life in order to remember, Ron, Harry, and Ginny had all laughed heartily when she had confessed that.
DMHGDMHGDMHGDMHGDMHG
A week later she woke up on what was to be her last day in hospital and her eyes fell on the last person she expected to be there. Draco Malfoy. "Malfoy?! What on earth are you doing here?!" She asked loudly.
He was holding a bouquet of flowers and it seemed so strange seeing him like that. The last time she had seen Malfoy that she remembered was the day Voldemort had been defeated, she recalled seeing his retreating back with both of his parents running away like the cowards they all were. But he seemed genuinely surprised at her confusion. "What do you mean? I'm here to see you." He said and laughed lightly, "Although you're not a very easy person to track down, it took me ages to find out you were even in a muggle hospital never mind which one."
As he spoke Hermione just stared at him dumbfounded, what the hell was he doing here? "Why did you come to see me?" She asked and he seemed genuinely hurt by the comment, it was bizarre seeing emotions so open on Draco's face considering he had been so cold and emotionless back in Hogwarts.
"What do you mean? Because I care about you, I specifically came at a time I knew Ron would be at work and—"
"You care about me?! Since when did this happen?" She screeched, reminding herself to keep her voice down so other patients wouldn't hear.
Finally Malfoy realised that she wasn't quite on the same page as him, "Did something happen to you?" He asked quietly, almost mournfully.
She didn't see why she had to explain to him what had happened, she hardly knew the man but since he was here and he seemed to think they were close, she felt she owed him the explanation. "I was in a car accident, I've lost my memory from the last four years, I don't remember anything after my wedding to Ron."
Malfoy's face fell, he was the epitome of crestfallen and Hermione didn't know what to do with that, she didn't know how to deal with this version of the blonde bastard, she could deal with him angry, and bullying her, but she could not work out what to do with a Draco Malfoy that looked like he might cry at any second.
"But we've been together for two years now! How can you not remember?"
The second shock of the day, her heart stopped. There was absolutely no way Hermione would have an affair, she would never cheat on Ron. No way. And with Draco Malfoy of all people?! He was deluded. "What are you talking about?!" It was only then the brunette realised he had been coming closer all the time and now was standing right beside her, she moved to the other side of her bed to get away from him as much as possible. "You must be deluded, are you under some kind of a spell? Have you been hexed? What has happened to you?" She asked, eyeing him up like he was dangerous.
"Hermione… listen to me, we have, I work with you. We didn't get along at first, we fought a lot and you were downright irritating but you have to believe me, we've been seeing each other for two years!" He said exasperatedly. Hermione merely fixed him with a stony glare.
"Look, Malfoy your being here is highly inappropriate, I think you should leave."
"You don't mean that…" He said and she nodded firmly.
"Yes. I do. Leave, I've just had an accident and I don't need you adding unnecessary stress." Hermione looked over at him and he took a step away from her bed, leaving the flowers on the bedside table he sighed.
"If you remember or… if you change your mind… I'll be… around." He said slowly, sadly, before turning and walking out the private room and heading out.
Hermione's head was reeling, she couldn't have been having an affair, why would she do that? Everything Ron had told her so far gave off the impression that they were happy and everything had been going well, why on earth would she have been cheating on him? She refused to believe it, Malfoy was just trying to stir up trouble, there was absolutely no way.
Half an hour later her husband who she had definitely never cheated on entered the room with a wide grin, he greeted her with a kiss. "How are you feeling today? Are you ready to come home?" He asked.
She smiled and nodded, "Oh yes, I can't wait."
Ron's eyes fell onto the flowers on her bedside table and he looked confused, "Who are these from?"
She shrugged as he picked them up, "I just woke up and they were there." Hermione lied.
"'Get well soon. – DM'" Ron read aloud and Hermione cringed, waiting for his outburst about Draco Malfoy sending her flowers. Surprisingly though, it didn't come. "Oh, I forgot to say. You work with Draco Malfoy in the Ministry, when you joined about three years ago so had he and they decided you two should work together and help each other find your feet, apparently it went well since you and he ended up getting along."
Her nose wrinkled, "But it's Malfoy." She said and he laughed.
"Hermione, Hogwarts was a long time ago, you told me that when I was upset at your work partner." Ron explained and Hermione felt like she had entered into some kind of a parallel universe. Nothing seemed to make sense.
A nurse came through and Hermione sat up in bed, "Are you ready to go home?" She asked and Hermione nodded, she was actually quite excited to head home.
"Oh before I forget, Ginny packed you a bunch of stuff, clothes to change in to and toiletries so you can look nice before we leave and stuff." Ron said and passed her a red leather overnight bag, she took it gratefully.
"Great." The brunette said and stepped out of the bed, Ron held out his hand for her to take to stabilise her as she was slightly wobbly on her feet but otherwise she was okay. He walked her over to the bathroom and then let her go in alone.
Hermione changed into a pair of jeans and a plain black top in order to leave, she tied her hair back and decided the first thing she did when they got home was going for a long, relaxing bath.
"You ready?" Ron asked as she emerged and she nodded, he helped her out as the nursing staff said goodbye to her and she held the bouquet of flowers Draco had brought her, she didn't feel right about having them after the things he said, but he had to be lying. She couldn't have, she would never have.
"Alright, take me home." Hermione said as they got into the car and Ron started it up, she considered asking him when he had learned how to drive but decided better of it, it must have been something she had missed in the four years of dark space she had.
Hello there! I hope you liked the first chapter to this story. I posted this up on my old account (so if you see a fic with 2 chapters that's very similar to this, that's why), but I decided to clear everything and start again, so here I am!
I don't have anyone beta-ing this story but if someone wants to please step forward and I'll be happy, please review and tell me what you think! I can't wait to hear what you say. I've been having fun writing it and hope you enjoy it.
I tried to make this so that you could get as much out of the plot in this first chapter, I hope it wasn't too long or boring, or too rushed, please tell me what you think, should I continue? Thanks!
-dramionedarling