Chapter 3

Forgotten

Hermione slammed the portrait door after yet another fight with the ferret. She didn't understand how a person could be so insufferable. It seemed impossible, but then again this is a Malfoy. Truthfully, she didn't think he was horrible choice for Head Boy. "He does get excellent marks in most, if not all, of his classes and he is a skilled wizard. But his attitude towards everyone but himself is awful," she thought as made her way down a flight of Hogwarts' constantly changing staircases, braiding her hair all the while. She was about to head down another flight of stairs when she saw a school barn owl swooping down towards her. She watched as it landed rather clumsily onto the stone banister beside her and held out its leg with a small roll of parchment attached. She took the note and went to thank the owl but it had already taken off again to deliver another note in the direction she just came from. Looking back at the slip of paper, she unrolled it and began to read:

Miss Granger,

I'm terribly sorry but I will have to postpone the meeting I asked for with you and Mister Malfoy. Something has come up and it would be quite impossible for me to meet you before breakfast this morning. Could we possibly reschedule the meeting for before lunch this afternoon? If I do not get a note back from you, I will assume that this time is convenient. Again, I apologize for the need to reschedule.

Sincerely, Professor Dumbledore

"Not a problem for me," thought Hermione, "but who knows what Malfoy will say." Just as that thought occurred to her, she saw him appear at the top of the stairs leading from the Head dormitory. Determined to get away from him, Hermione turned and resumed her descent to the Great Hall. It wasn't long, though, before she stopped again for a wrongly aimed spell had just smashed a painting not 4 feet from her. Pulling out her wand, she began to rush down the stairs in order to find the source of the spell and according to the sounds she heard behind her, Malfoy had the same idea. Once they reached the third floor it was clear what was going on. Two fourth year Ravenclaw boys were casting spells in each other's direction while a very pleased looking blonde girl watched from the side.

"Stop fighting this inst- "

But Hermione did not finish her sentence. The last thing she that heard before she was thrown through the air was "STUPEFY" chanted by one of the boys, followed by a quiet "oops." A red bolt of light had shot towards her and she crumpled to the floor.

Draco had reached the fight seconds after Hermione had but she had already started screaming at the boys. The next thing he knew she was lying in a heap on the floor. The boys had stopped once they realized one of them hit her and were standing completely still looking at the ground each with their own different injuries. Draco marched over to where they were and began distributing punishments.

"Both of you boys will receive a nights worth of detention and 25 points each will be taken from Ravenclaw," he said sternly to the boys. Then he turned to the girl, "And five points from Hufflepuff for you not attempting to stop the fight. I'll be notifying your Heads of Houses immediately. Boys, go to the hospital wing and ask Madame Pomfrey to fix your.." he looked at the one boy "..um..extra limbs. And you, Miss Inigo, go down to breakfast now." The three fourth years stood where they were, staring at where Hermione's body lay on the floor. "I SAID NOW!" he screamed at them and they quickly turned and made their way to breakfast.

With a deep sigh Draco turned and walked over to where Hermione was laying unconscious. He pointed his and at her and muttered "Ennervate." Her eyelids fluttered open and she began muttering something that sounded like "20…Ravenclaw…lose house points."

"Relax, Granger. I took care of the situation," Draco told her as he helped her to stand up. "I took 25 points from each boy and 5 from Hufflepuff for the girl."

"Malfoy! Points taken off for fighting are only 20 points each! That's 10 extra points total from Raven-"

"A worthy amount of points for knocking the Head Girl unconscious, I assumed," interrupted Draco. "Wasn't that the kind of responsibility you were ranting about this morning?"

Hermione looked at him in shock that he actually listened to her but still trying to regain her balance from being hit with Stupefy. She used the closest object to steady herself, Malfoy.

"Don't expect me to help you walk into breakfast," Draco drawled, "I don't particularly want to be seen around you. But I couldn't just leave you sitting on the floor here or surely I'd hear it from you later."

"Well it's not really a party to be around you, either, but thank you for your help," Hermione replied back. Finally able to walk straight again, Hermione let go of Malfoy and they at last made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. As they walked through the large doors, they realized that they were actually quite late for breakfast because many students were exiting the Great Hall laughing and chatting. Ginny Weasley, who was in the group leaving the hall captured Hermione in a hug and told her she wanted to talk to her later. Draco, who for some reason was still walking near Hermione, looked over and wondered why the youngest Weasley had greeted her in such a different way. When he asked her what the hug was for, her simple reply was that it was none of his business. They separated to go to their separate house tables.

Hermione sat herself between Harry and Ron and gave them a pleasant "Good morning!"

"Oh good, you're finally here! How come you're so late?" inquired Harry taking a sip of orange juice.

"Two fourth years were dueling in the hallway. I'm lucky Malfoy was there or else they might not have stopped fighting. I was hit with Stupefy before I could stop them," explained Hermione.

"Are you sure it wasn't Malfoy that hit you with Stupefy from behind or something? Just so he could get the glory of stopping the fight," Ron piped up accusingly.

"Of course not, Ron," she replied, "He's the one who cast the counter-spell to wake me up. Besides, I saw the jet of red light coming from the one boy, I believe his name is Stoges."

"Stoges? I think he's one of Ravenclaw's beaters this year," Harry stated. "Oh, yeah! Hermione!"

"Yes?" she asked expectantly.

"Did you finish that Potions essay on Doxycide? I can't remember everything we need to write about. Can I take a gander at yours later just to make sure I have everything?" Harry asked with an innocent smile.

"Oh, right. The Potions essay," Hermione said sounding slightly disappointed. "Sure, Harry, I'll let you look at mine, but you know I really shouldn't let you! This is our NEWTs year, Harry. You need to start doing essays one your own."

"Last time, I promise," said Harry with a grin. "Thanks a bunch Hermione. Well, Ron and I have to go. I called a quick Quidditch meeting before classes this morning."

"Oh, all right. I'll see you two in Care of Magical Creatures, then," Hermione said again sounding highly disappointed. She watched as the two boys left the Great Hall chatting with each other about different Quidditch moves that they want to try this year. Hermione was glad that Harry was Quidditch captain and Ron was still Gryffindor keeper, but it seemed all they ever talked about was Quidditch. Even Ginny, who became a chaser after Harry was allowed to return to the game, had her moments when all she could talk about was how Gryffindor's team is going to be better than ever this year. Now left alone at her part of the table, Hermione grabbed a chocolate pastry and got up from her seat. "They just had other things on their minds," she thought to herself, "They couldn't have forgotten. But what if they did." She could feel the burn of tears starting to form in her eyes so she quickened her pace to leave the Great Hall.

Swiftly she made her way back up to the Head Dormitory softly crying all the way. Once inside she ran to her room and shut the door behind her. Unable to hold her composure any longer, she slid to the ground against her door and started sobbing uncontrollably. She couldn't understand why they wouldn't remember. They'd known her for 7 years, why would they forget now? She jumped at a noise; a noise which sounded like someone knocking at her door. Panic rushed through her. She didn't know he had been in the room; she hadn't thought to check. "Please go away," she said quietly through the door. He was the last person she would want to see her crying.

Draco hadn't stayed at breakfast for more than two minutes, which was certainly more than enough time for Pansy Parkinson to get on his nerves. He had left her at the table with Crabbe who was still eating what had to be his fifth serving of eggs. He went back up to the Head Dormitory thinking that he would need to get his books and that he could maybe take a nap before his first class started. He was lying on the couch attempting to sleep when he heard the portrait open and close. Granger had most likely returned to get her books, too. Then Draco heard her quietly crying. Once she had closed the door to her room, the crying only got louder.

"She must not have seen me," he thought while sitting up. If there was one thing that he couldn't stand to listen to, besides Hagrid teaching Care of Magical Creatures, it was the sound of a woman crying. He shivered thinking back to life at the Malfoy Manor when his mother would lock herself in a room and cry for hours while Lucius Malfoy stood outside of the door yelling at her. The topics of his anger ranged from her being a horrible wife to her being unworthy of the pureblood title. He would stop screaming after an hour or so, but the sobs of Narcissa still continued. Draco remembered not understanding why his father would say such things; why he would make her cry. He would sit outside of the door whispering to his mother to please come out, to let him in to see her. She would tell him to please leave her and to go learn from his father the meaning of being a Malfoy. Though he was very young when these happenings occurred, the sound of her crying still stayed in his mind.

Now hearing Hermione crying, something in him snapped and he found himself walking towards her room and softly knocking on the door. He heard her quietly say "Please go away" but he couldn't remove himself from the blockade between them. He knelt next to the door as he used to do when he was young.

"Hermione…" he said quietly through the door. "Please talk to me. Tell me what's wrong."

The crying stopped. He could hear movement on the other side of the door and it slowly opened. Hermione stared at Draco in disbelief. "You just called me Hermione…"

Draco wasn't sure why he had called her by her first name, but nonetheless he pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to the girl in front of him. As she wiped her tearstained face, he again asked her what was wrong.

She didn't understand why she was about to tell her enemy for so many years why she had been crying. Every year of their schooling at Hogwarts he had tormented her as well as her friends. Why would someone who hated her so much want to know why she had been crying? Why should he care? She didn't understand but when she looked at him, she saw concern in his eyes. Absentmindedly, she had been playing with the edge of the handkerchief in her hands. She looked down at it and began to tell Draco what was upsetting her.

"They forgot. Harry and Ron. They didn't remember."

"Remember what?"

"Today is September the nineteenth," she replied still looking at the handkerchief.

"Why would they need to remember the nineteenth of September?" he asked, clearly confused as to the meaning of this day.

She looked up at him, her eyes once again shining with tears. Quietly she spoke. "Today is my eighteenth birthday."