A/N: Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed! It's very much appreciated! Here's chapter two of Rememory!

CHAPTER TWO

Day Two

Happiness. Happiness. Happiness.

The word infested itself into my every thought, yet brought forth no such memory pertaining to it. It seemed like the entirety of my thoughts and memories recently had been borderline miserable. Understandable to a certain extent, seeing as how a blood-crazed monster lived in my house for several months and threatened to kill me and my family if we so much as spoke out of turn.

"Drake," Daphne's voice brought me back to reality, "You've been stabbing that biscuit for a solid five minutes now."

I looked down at my plate to see a mutilated biscuit and a fork clenched in my fist. Sighing, I set the fork down and rested my head on the table.

"What's wrong, love?" Daphne asked sweetly, as she said almost everything. Contrary to popular belief, Daphne Greengrass is arguably the nicest person currently residing in Hogwarts. People don't seem to recognize what a wonderful person she is simply because of the green and silver emblem on her cloaks. I always wondered why I'd never conjured any romantic feelings for her. She's absolutely beautiful, with her long blonde hair, bright green eyes, and elegant curves. We'd kissed a few times, mostly at Slytherin parties when we played Spin-the-Bottle or Truth-or-Dare, but neither of us had ever wanted anything more. Part of me felt like she was pining after Blaise, even after he'd broken her heart in fifth year by cheating on her with Tracy Davis.

I looked into her emerald eyes, which shone with concern, "I honestly don't know what memory to use for Franklin's dumbass assignment."

"I don't think it's dumb at all." Theodore Nott, another good friend of mine, retorted. "I mean she's asking us to open up to each other, which is kind of a Gryffindor thing to do, but she's also giving us the easiest assignments ever. Easy assignments mean good grades which means easy last year at Hogwarts."

Daphne's nose scrunched up in annoyance, "Okay, Nott, I don't think that's what we should be getting out of this whole assignment. I think Professor Franklin genuinely wants to help us all cope with what happened in the war," she turned to me, "As for you, Draco, just think about a time before the war when you felt carefree. Better yet, think about your mum. I know how much she means to you."

Mother.

I should have thought of that sooner. While our relationship had never been perfect and she was never really the mothering type, she was my rock throughout the war and I loved her dearly.

"Thanks, Daph." I gave her a small grin before patting her hand that rested on the table. "You're the best."

"Don't I know it," She huffed before taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Good morning, my fellow snakes!" Blaise said cheerily before sitting beside Daphne and throwing an arm around her. "How is everyone this absolutely fine morning?"

We all just stared at him blankly, confused at his over-the-top behavior.

"What's got you so bloody filled with sunshine?" Theo asked before shoving a whole biscuit into his mouth.

Blaise's face lit up even more so, "Well, as I was walking up from the dungeons, I may or may not have seen Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan stumbling out of a broom closet, looking completely rumpled and thoroughly shagged!"

"WHAT!"

"Did they see you?" I asked immediately, seeing the limitless blackmail potential.

"Now Drake," Blaise shot me a proud look, "You know I'm much too stealthy for some obnoxious, clumsy ole Gryffindors to spot me."

"Well," I replied, feeling better than I had all morning, "It looks like Finnegan won't be making any more snide comments to me, or else everyone finds out that he's sucking Thomas' dick."

"You all are disgusting!" Daphne glared at us, "So what if they're gay?"

"Daph, love, it's not the fact that they're gay that we're mocking. It's the fact that Finnegan thinks he's tough shit and basically called Draco out in front of everyone yesterday. If he continues, the secret's out of the bag and then everyone knows even though they wanted to keep it a secret." Blaise reasoned with her.

He was right. It had nothing to do with their sexual orientation. It was the mere fact that he wanted to humiliate me, and therefore I would return the favor, if necessary.

"Wait," Theo butted in, "Wasn't Finnegan just bragging about all the girls he shagged over the summer on the train ride? He was surrounded by all the Gryffindorks and he was listing off names and positions."

"Now we know for sure that he's trying to keep this so far under wraps he's fabricating stories to cover it up!" Blaise practically jumped for joy.

"You all are foul." Daphne responded with crossed arms and a disapproving look.

"Watch out," Nott replied with a mouth full of food, "Keep talking like that, Daph, and you'll start to get frizzy hair and a stick up your arse like a certain bucktoothed Gryffindor."

Unintentionally, I flinched slightly. Nothing Theo said was any worse than the things I had called Granger in the past, so why did it offend me to hear him talk like that? I remained silent as Daphne and Theo bantered back and forth, something they were known to do quite often.

"Speak of the devil," Nott declared as Granger walked into the Great Hall with Weaslette by her side. The girls seemed closer than in previous years; they were always together. Granted, in previous years, the dumb-fuck duo of Pothead and Weasel King were constantly flanking Granger asking for homework answers or talking about the next way to break countless rules and still be praised for it.

Blaise broke my internal rant with a bold statement, "I don't know what happened, but Granger got drop-dead gorgeous. So, it looks like your derogatory statement to Daph no longer stands, Theo."

"She's always been attractive," Daphne rolled her eyes. "Why do you think Pansy hated her so much?"

"Probably because she's all Draco would talk about." Blaise laughed, "'Granger's beaten me on another Potions assignment. Father's going to kill me!'"

"'Did you see Granger's hair today? It looked like a bloody tumbleweed!'" Theo tagged along.

"'Why do all the teacher's love Granger so much? I'm just as smart as her, and two-hundred times better looking!'"

"'Blimey, Granger never shuts up! I just wanted to shove my dirty Quidditch socks in her fat mouth!'"

"Okay!" I exclaimed, fed up with their antics. "I get it! I used to talk about Granger a lot. She got under my skin, but I'm over it."

"Mhm, Granger gets under your skin alright." Blaise hinted with a sly look.

I glared at him, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Fourth year." Theo stated.

"Yule Ball." Blaise elaborated.

"Need we say more?" They asked in unison.

"I'm leaving. You're all twats. Have a horrible day." I grabbed my bag and another biscuit from the table and stormed out of the hall to the sound of their laughter.

As I strolled down the corridor to Transfiguration, I reasoned with myself. Of course, Granger had looked somewhat attractive at the Yule Ball; everyone had talked about it and you had to be blind not to see a difference in her appearance. That didn't mean I found her any less repulsive than usual!

Granger aside, I needed to focus on finding a memory for Franklin's class tomorrow. Happiness. Daphne was right in leading me toward my mother. Most of my happy thoughts pertained to being with her, especially when I was younger.

"Everything okay, Mr. Malfoy?" Headmistress McGonagall surprised as I almost ran into her.

"Er, yeah, everything's fine, Prof- I mean Headmistress."

"What has you so confused?"

How did she know I was confused?

"I'm just thinking about the assignment for Professor Franklin's class is all. I'm struggling to come up with a topic. No need to worry. I'll come up with something." I tried to walk into the room past her but she placed an aged hand on my shoulder to stop me.

"I know this past year has been incredibly hard on you, Mr. Malfoy." She spoke softly, as to not be overheard by any students walking by, "And I just wanted to say that I look forward to seeing the young man you become without the pressures from your father clouding your judgement."

The old me would have been beyond offended to hear a professor tell me my father was a bad influence, but post-war Draco knew better.

"Thank you, Headmistress. I hope I won't disappoint."

She let me enter the room before muttering quietly, "I don't think you will, Mr. Malfoy. I don't think you will."

I took a seat in the back row of the room, as usual. Just because I knew my shit, didn't mean I had to gloat about it nor did it mean I couldn't sleep in class sometimes, something the last row allowed for on some occasions.

Being at least ten minutes early, I was the only student present. Undoubtedly, Granger would be flitting in soon, she loved to make sure she got the front row; it was the place she had sat for all seven years at Hogwarts. Utilizing the ten minutes I had to myself, I pondered the term happiness once more. Happiness could mean vastly different things to all types of people. Maybe I would have to settle for something that made me happy, but seemed minute to others.

"May I sit here?" The last voice I ever thought to ask such a question asked from beside me.

"Um, why?" I asked quizzically.

Granger let out a short huff exasperatedly, "It's a yes or no question, Malfoy. I can go sit up front if it's a problem."

I don't know what possessed me to say yes, but I like to think it had more to do with my curiosity as to why she asked than anything else.

We sat in silence; our steady breathing was the only noise in the room. As people started milling in, we received confused, surprised looks and glances. Everyone obviously was just as perplexed as I was about the entire situation. So there must not be a new decree that declared War Heroines to mingle with ex-Death Eaters, which happened to be my number one idea as to why Granger decided to sit in the seat directly next to me in a class that housed roughly sixty stools.

"So," I began hesitantly, something I wasn't known to do, especially not around Granger, "Can I ask why you're sitting here now?"

She didn't glance up from her book, instead she simply shrugged her shoulders and continued reading. Obviously, it irritated me and, obviously, she was doing it to irritate me. So instead of letting her goad me, I replied, "Okay, fair enough," and rummaged through my satchel to find my notebook and quill.

That made her look up.

I felt her eyes on me as I situated all of my supplies and turned my attention to McGonagall who had just began her lecture.

"Due to some stressful relationships between the houses, I've decided to pair everyone up with someone not in their house to assimilate inter-house unity! As I call out your names, please find your partner and sit next to them! They will be your partner for the rest of the school year!"

I glanced at Granger who raised a knowing eyebrow at me.

"I shouldn't be surprised that you're always one step ahead of everyone else, should I?" I asked rhetorically.

"Ms. Granger with Mr. Malfoy." McGonagall called out and was surprised to see us already sitting next to one another.

Granger shot the Headmistress a smile before turning her gaze to me, "It was obvious what her plan was. In every class I've had so far, the teachers have been preaching about unity and inter-house relations. I figured they must be getting it drilled into their heads and who is someone that all the professors listen to? The Headmistress, who also happens to know of an incredibly strong dislike two of her star pupils, from different houses, have towards one another."

"I don't dislike you all that strongly, you know." I surprised even myself by saying.

Another raised eyebrow.

"Really?" She scoffed, "That's news to me. I could've sworn you were the one who relentlessly spat the name mudblood at me since the age of twelve, but I could have confused you with another silver-haired ponce."

"Don't call-"

"Is there an issue, Mr. Malfoy? Ms. Granger?" McGonagall's voice broke through our discussion. "Am I interrupting something?"

Before I could apologize and appease her, Granger spoke, "Actually Headmistress, you did interrupt something. Malfoy here was just about to explain to me how he's not a ponce."

A moment of silence filled the classroom before Ginny Weasley's laugh set off a chain reaction of others. McGonagall's face stayed disapproving and she quieted everyone before responding, "I would love for you to tell me more after class, Ms. Granger."

"I would love to tell you more, Headmistress, can't wait!" She replied in a sticky sweet voice with a sarcastic grin. "You can proceed with your lesson now."

McGonagall narrowed her eyes before turning back to the rest of the class and resuming her discussion. My mouth must have been hanging open because Granger reached over and pushed my chin up.

"Don't look so surprised. You aren't the only one who can be a smart ass, Malfoy." She whispered to me as she continued to take down diligent notes.

She was confusing the hell out of me! She most definitely was not the same Hermione Granger I attended all six other school years with, but she still had her academic traits and relatively the same features, so it must be her. The rest of the class period I simply sat there confused and was surprised when McGonagall dismissed everyone.

"Ms. Granger, stay back, remember?" She called as Granger motioned to get up from her chair.

"Of course, Headmistress."

Granger strolled to the front of the classroom with a confident swagger I usually saw in Slytherins. I offered one look back at the pair before exiting the classroom more confused than I'd ever been after a lecture.

Outside the doors, She-Weasley waited, twirling her wand in her hands as a sign of boredom.

Needing answers to soothe my thoughts, I marched up to her and demanded, "Weasley, what the fuck is going on with Granger?"

Startled, she gripped her wand tightly before pointing it at me.

"Relax, Red." I raised my hands in a sign of innocence, "I just want to know what's up with Granger like why she's been mouthing off to Professors."

She-Weasley lowered her wand slightly, but did not put it away, "Hermione's had an incredibly difficult time adjusting since the war and she's dead set on not pretending that nothing's happened. But, personally, I kind of like her new attitude. It makes being around her a lot more interesting, that's for sure."

"It's weird."

She smirked at my simplistic response, "I guess, yeah, it's a little weird, but it's nice to see her embracing what's always been inside her."

I thanked Weasley for offering some sort of explanation before turning to walk down the hall. Just as I strode past the Transfiguration room, Granger exited, bumping right into me causing her to lose her balance slightly. Instinctively, my hands found her waist to steady her.

Her face turned an attractive shade of pink, and without looking at me, she mumbled a thanks before quickly removing herself from my arms and pacing down the hall to an amused Ginny Weasley.

As I stared after them, I couldn't help but think this might be the most interesting year of Hogwarts yet.

A/N: Obviously Hermione still seems incredibly OOC, but all will be explained in due time. For now, enjoy sassy Hermione and very confused Draco!