Draco came back to consciousness slowly, he could hear a woman's voice talking to him and although it was vaguely familiar he couldn't immediately place it. Slowly he tried moving his hand, his whole body ached and he wasn't sure how much he could move. Draco heard the mystery woman gasp and tell someone to call the healer when he moved his fingers. As Draco wondered what had happened to him, he heard his mother's voice calling his name and telling him he would be alright. He heard his father enter the room with another man, who he assumed to be the healer. The man who had entered with his father, checked him over and he heard him tell his parents that he was waking up and would soon open his eyes.
As Draco fought to wake up properly, he felt and heard the mystery woman return to his side, she was talking to him and gently stroking his hair and face. When Draco managed to open his eyes, he found the mystery woman sitting beside him on the bed, it took him a few minutes but eventually he worked out who she was.
While the hair was tamer and fell more in curls and waves than the huge bush he was familiar with and she had filled out with curves in all the right places making her very attractive, there was no doubt in Draco's mind that the woman sitting on his bed was Hermione Granger.
"Granger?" He rasped out, his throat sore from lack of use. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to see you, where else would I be when you're in here?" Hermione said, puzzled by Draco's odd reaction to her.
"Why? What's going on?" Draco asked, looking around the room at his parents.
Draco did a double take when he saw Lucius, even though he had heard his voice as he was waking up it hadn't registered at the time that his father shouldn't be there.
"Father, what are you doing here?"
"What do you mean? You're my only son of course I'm going to be here." Lucius said, also starting to worry about Draco.
Healer Dawson had been standing watching as Draco awoke and had a suspicion what was happening.
"Mr Malfoy, you've had a nasty accident and received a bump on the head." Healer Dawson explained, trying to figure out exactly what problems he was faced with. "You've been in a coma for a month. What's the last thing you remember."
Draco thought hard, he could remember catching the DA and then Granger and Potter, taking Umbridge out of the room and he could remember the rest of Potter's loser friends escaping. The last solid memory he could find was Snape telling him that his father had been arrested the next morning.
"Fifth year, Father had just been arrested." Draco said slowly, he wasn't stupid, he knew from looking at Granger and his parents that some time had passed since that incident.
"How long ago was that?" Healer Dawson asked Lucius.
"Six years." Lucius replied.
"Are you telling us Draco has lost six years of his memories?" Narcissa exclaimed, shocked by the turn of events.
"It appears so, obviously the blow to the head he suffered caused some sort of amnesia." Healer Dawson said carefully, he had never treated a patient with amnesia before so was unsure of exactly what to do or say.
"Since I've lost my memory would someone care to explain why Granger is here." Draco snapped, gesturing to the brunette who had removed herself from Draco's bed when it became obvious he didn't remember their relationship.
Hermione found she couldn't speak as she was too busy crying silently, so Lucius stepped up to explain things to his son.
"Hermione is here because she's your wife."
"Wife?" Draco exclaimed shocked. "You let me marry a mudblood."
Hermione quickly left the room at Draco's outburst, tears running down her cheeks.
"Draco, you are never to use that word again." Narcissa scolded her son harshly, before following her daughter-in-law out of the room.
"What on earth is happening has the whole world gone mad?" Draco asked, turning to his father with a sneer on his face. "Don't tell me you approve of the mudblood."
"Your mother told you to stop using that word," Lucius said glaring at his son. "If you call your wife that disgusting name one more time, I'll make sure you don't leave this bed for months."
Draco wanted to respond to his father threats, but recognised the ferocious look on Lucius' face that meant he wasn't to be argued with.
"I think, maybe Draco should get some rest, before you explain more about his life." Healer Dawson said, slightly afraid of the former Death Eater who was standing glaring at his son.
"That's a good idea. We'll be back later." Lucius said sweeping out of the room.
After Lucius had left the Healer checked Draco over and left the room, leaving the blond to lie in bed contemplating how his life had changed, how on earth had he ended up married to the annoying know-it-all, Granger.
After rushing out of Draco's room, Hermione had collapsed into the chair outside of the room. She had only been there a few seconds when the door opened and Narcissa appeared, sitting down next to her.
"It'll be alright, darling." Narcissa soothed, wrapping an arm around Hermione's shoulder.
"How? He hates me." Hermione sobbed.
"We'll fix this, I promise." Narcissa said, unsure of how to go about keeping her promise.
The two women sat for several minutes before Lucius appeared from the room. Narcissa looked up and recognised the angry look on her husband's face and guessed correctly things hadn't gone well with Draco after her and Hermione's exit.
"Come on, we're going home for a few hours." Lucius told the two women. "Draco needs to rest, we'll be back later."
"What's the point, he'll not want to see me." Hermione sniffed, trying to regain her composure in front of her formidable father-in-law.
Lucius crouched down so he could face Hermione. "The point is, you're his wife and you need to be there for him."
Lucius pulled Hermione up and did something he had never done to the Muggleborn witch before, he hugged her. Hermione relaxed into Lucius' embrace, feeling safe in his arms.
"He'll come back to you." Lucius whispered to upset daughter-in-law. "If he fell in love with you once, he will again."
"Thank you." Hermione said softly, pulling away from Lucius and smiling slightly at him.
"Let's go home." Lucius said, as he led the two women towards the floo network.
After Lucius had forced his daughter-in-law to rest for a few hours, The Malfoy family made their way back to St. Mungo's. When they arrived at Draco's door, Hermione froze, suddenly unsure of entering the room.
Lucius put his arm around his daughter-in-law. "Come on." He said, steering her into the hospital room behind Narcissa.
Draco was sitting up in bed, looking much better than a few hours ago, when the three Malfoy's entered the room. He immediately glared at Hermione's presence and the fact that Lucius was clearly comfortable in her presence.
"Draco darling, how are you?" Narcissa asked, hurrying to her son's bedside.
"My head hurts, and I can't remember six years of my life. Other than that I'm fine." Draco responded sarcastically. "Sorry, mum. I'm feeling better than this morning." He added, seeing Narcissa's upset face after his sharp retort.
"Has the healer been back?" Lucius asked, placing Hermione in a chair by Draco's bed and sitting himself in the one next to hers.
"Yeah, he said as long as I'm fine I can go home next week." Draco said, eying the brunette witch who was sitting next to his father, waiting for her to speak.
"What about your memory?" Narcissa asked, pulling up a chair on the other side of Draco's bed.
"He said there's nothing he can do." Draco said with a sneer. "Apparently, going back to my normal routine will help. Whatever that is, I have no idea about my life."
"Would you like us to tell you about your life?" Narcissa asked.
"Yes, I would like to know how this happened." He said gesturing to himself lying in the bed, he then pointed to Hermione. "And how I married her."
"I won't warn you again, Draco. Show your wife some respect, she has a name." Lucius warned his son.
Draco glared at his father. "Fine, how did I end up married to Granger." He spat Hermione's old surname out of his mouth, clearly disgusted.
"Draco…" Lucius warned.
"Don't Lucius, it doesn't matter." Hermione quietly told her angry father-in-law.
For the next hour Narcissa and Lucius filled Draco in on the past six years of his life. Hermione stayed silent, not wanting to have Draco's attention on her, he still shot her disgusted looks every time one of his parents mentioned her name. Eventually having her husband look at her as though she was dirt became too much for Hermione, so she excused herself from the room and sat crying silently outside for five minutes before Harry came along and found her.
"How's the investigation going?" Hermione asked Harry after she had told him the latest developments and calmed down.
"Still no leads." Harry sighed. "We think the Death Eater we set out to capture wasn't alone, and the second one attacked Draco to avoid capture."
"What's the one in custody saying about that night?" Hermione asked, eager to discover what had happened to her husband.
"That's the thing, he swears he was alone." Harry said, running his hand through his unruly hair.
"Did your Auror's find any evidence of anyone in the area?"
"No, and we checked for apparition in the area and apart from our team no one apparated in the vicinity all day." Harry said. "We're checking official portkey activity, but that's more complicated and takes longer."
"What about unofficial portkey's? Or muggle methods of transportation?" Hermione badgered, wanting answers.
"We're looking into both. Don't worry Hermione, I'll find whoever did this. I swear." Harry tried to reassure his best friend.
"I hope so, Potter." A voice behind Harry said.
Turning Hermione and Harry saw Lucius Malfoy standing against the door leading into Draco's room.
"Is everything alright?" Hermione asked, worried about Lucius exit from his son's room.
"Everything's fine. I just left so I wouldn't strangle Draco." Lucius said as he sat next to Hermione. "I forgot what a spoilt brat he was at sixteen."
Harry laughed and Hermione tutted at Lucius and his attempt to lighten the atmosphere.
"I should leave, I don't suppose there's any point in actually seeing Draco." Harry said, standing up.
Harry hugged Hermione and shook Lucius' hand before departing the hospital leaving the two Malfoy's alone.
"Are you ready to go back in?" Lucius asked.
"No." Hermione sighed. "But I'll cope."
Together they re-entered Draco's room, Hermione mentally preparing herself to spend the next few hours with a husband who hated her.