It was turning out to be a dreadful Monday for Draco. Much to his dismay, Pansy Parkinson had gotten over Draco's "betrayal" to the Dark Lord.

"Hello, Drakey," Pansy cooed. She slipped her hand in the crook of his arm as soon as he had stepped out of the dungeons.

Drakey. Draco cringed. He hated that nickname with a passion. Over the years, he had reminded Pansy relentlessly to stop calling him by that despicable name. Despite his efforts, threats, and ill-treatment, the nickname stuck.

"What do you want Pansy?" he asked in a monotone voice. He tried to get his right arm back but Pansy had a firm grip for a girl. She would not let go. He searched the crowds for Blaise, Harry, Ron, or anyone that would help him out of this predicament.

Bugger. None of his mates were in sight. He mentally kicked himself for taking his time to pack up in potions. It did not help at all that Hermione gave him the silent treatment for the remainder of class and left him to clean up by himself when class was dismissed. He knew her well enough to figure that she spent the whole time fuming while analyzing her thoughts and piecing together his motives. She was most likely already in the library researching what on earth the necklace was and how she could take it off. Typical.

"Nothing at all Draco. Can't an old mate say hello?" Pansy replied in that sickening sweet voice. He rolled his eyes not believing her for a second.

Draco sighed. Pansy was definitely trying to win him back over. He tried tugging his arm away harder but it was as if Pansy had used a sticking charm on herself. She would not get off him.

"Pansy... Let go of me!!" Draco shouted. He really had enough. He finally wrenched his arm away from the annoying Slytherin girl and stomped off in the direction of the Great Hall. Much to his dismay, Pansy Parkinson never gave up that easily.

"Drakey!" she exclaimed, chasing after him. "I only wanted to chat!"

"Took you that long to clean up after Hermione?" Blaise joked as Draco finally sat down next to him for lunch.

"Don't start with me," Draco replied, recalling just how he knew Hermione intentionally knocked over several vials of ingredients. It was a definite pain in the arse to clean up.

"Drakey!" Pansy panted. She had not seen Draco ran away that fast before. She really tried to catch up but it was nearly impossible with his long graceful strides. She caught her breath after a minute, missing the exchange between Draco and Blaise.

Blaise was just about to take a bite from his turkey sandwich when Pansy Parkinson stopped in front of him and Draco. While she was trying to catch her breath, he took the time to turn to Draco and raise a dark eyebrow. Draco merely shrugged and offered no explanation. Blaise rolled his eyes. He was wondering how long it would take Pansy to come crawling back.

Personally, Blaise was disgusted by Pansy. He was sure Draco felt along the same lines. For a Slytherin it was quite pathetic of Pansy to moon over Draco. She acted like a little lap dog and used to answer to every one of Draco's orders. She praised the ground he walked on and worshipped him like Merlin. However, that was a long time ago. He knew Draco would never waste a moment of his time with Pansy. That was definitely a thing of the past.

On the other hand, Blaise believed that this was an all-time low for Pansy. She must have had to swallow what little left of her pride there was to come begging to be in Draco's good graces. Her arm was not flawed with the hideous mark of Voldemort's but she was an open supporter of the Dark Lord. By midsummer, everyone in the Slytherin house had heard of Draco and Blaise's betrayal to their side. Pansy and the rest of Slytherin had been defeated by the Light Side and abandoned the two of them. Ever since the start of the new school year, they refused to acknowledge them or even eat with them during meals. Draco and Blaise were once the most powerful and influential boys in Slytherin, but now their statuses were reduced to that of a First Year in the eyes of people in their own house.

It seemed to Blaise that Pansy did not care about that anymore. The Dark Lord was a thing of the past and she had more important matters in mind. Blaise truly wondered if pride and self-respect was worth throwing down the drain to pine after Draco just to get wealth and the Ministry's good graces. 'Definitely not,' he thought to himself.

Draco had better things coming for him in the future. He does not need Pansy tailing after him. He already has Hermione, and Blaise was certain that she would get her memory back. As corny as it sounded, Blaise thought that Draco and Hermione were perfect for each other. They balanced each other out. Hermione always made sure to keep Draco's ego in check and Draco did the same to restrain Hermione from being such an annoying know-it-all. They matched each other so well intelligently and could keep up easily with each other in verbal spars. Best of all, Hermione was the only girl Blaise knew of who accepts Draco for what he is but at the same time inspires him to become better than his father. She saw beyond his arrogant exterior and knew that Draco had the ability to be good.

"Pansy, I think you should leave," Blaise said before Pansy had a chance to sit opposite the two of them. "You are not wanted here."

"Shut up, Blaise," she said rolling her eyes. "Drakey wants me here, right?"

Draco wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin. "No, Pansy, you are not welcome to sit with us. I would leave before Blaise loses his patience with you and decides to hex your nose off."

Pansy stood with her mouth agape. She could not believe that Draco had dismissed her like that. She glared at Blaise who was twirling his wand aimlessly between his fingers.

"Yes, Pansy," Blaise added. "Sod. Off."

Pansy narrowed her eyes and stomped off to her usual seat between Millicent Bulstrode and Daphne Greengrass. Draco never refused her before. She wondered what this could possibly mean. She scowled, ignoring the questions from Millicent and Daphne.

Hermione sat in the back of the library, leafing through heavy tomes. If Dumbledore was not going to help her get this thing off her neck, there was nothing else she could do but find out how to do it herself. She was currently leafing through a huge volume entitled Magical Bejeweled Artifacts of the Medieval Times of Wizarding Ages. It proved to be utterly useless. There was a whole section dedicated to necklaces but none of them seemed to be what she was looking for. Who really cared about famous family jewels from centuries ago? Hermione had more pressing business and she was starting to get frustrated. She quickly flicked her wand for the time - half an hour left before her next class.

Why would this necklace be so important that Malfoy never wanted her to take it off? She racked her brain trying to come up with a logical explanation but none of them seemed to suffice. If Dumbledore really believed there was no harm in the necklace, was it really such a bad thing that she wore it? It was the most gorgeous piece of jewelry she owned. She guessed that by the size of the rock it cost more than a few pretty galleons.

'No!' she mentally screamed. 'Who cares if Malfoy gave you a necklace that is probably worth more than your house?' She chastised herself repeatedly. It was not about whether or not the rock was pretty, dangerous, or full of ancient magic. Malfoy was definitely planning something behind her back and he was forcing her to wear this thing around her neck. Nobody forces Hermione to do anything without her consent.

"How. Dare. He," she muttered angrily to herself. She tossed aside the heavy book she was reading and furiously flipped through another one, not even bothering to skim through the text. She was livid once again because Malfoy did what Malfoy wanted to do. "Big-headed prat thinks he owns the school..." She continued muttering, cursing the Slytherin every chance she got.

Hermione gasped. By utter luck, she flipped to a page and found exactly what she was looking for. She stared at the page in front of her. A fair faced woman with soft brown eyes and dark hair smiled back at her, wearing a similar necklace with the familiar gold haze inside the stone. "Memory keeper," she said aloud.

The memory keeper is a form of ancient magic invented by Aemilius Messalla that is seldom found in modern Wizarding Ages. Memory keepers are usually found in the form of enchanted necklaces; however any precious jewel on a piece of jewelry can be enchanted to hold the magical properties of memory keepers. Due to the rarity of the memory keeper, very little record of them have been accumulated over the years. The sparse amount of history known about the memory keeper only notes the name of the inventor and the jewel's purpose, but nothing has been recorded as to why it was invented.

Over the centuries, a legend has been passed down from generation to generation that the inventor of the memory keeper, Aemilius Messalla used the memory keeper to do nearly the impossible: bring back –

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed, panting. "Professor McGonagall came for me to fetch you! Class

started half an hour ago!"

Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth, dumbfounded. She almost skived off class! "Oh, Merlin!" she exclaimed. "I didn't even notice how much time passed. Oh, Harry – is she furious? I hope not!" She quickly gathered her books, pieces of parchment, and her favorite quill off the table and stuffed them into her bag. She had never gotten this distracted before in the library.

"Calm down, Hermione," Harry said. "I am sure that Professor McGonagall will understand that you got a little bit carried away in the library."

"But, Harry, I'm Head Girl! I am supposed to be setting an example!" Hermione practically ran all the way to Transfiguration with Harry right behind her. She was too distressed to remember to write down the title of the book she was reading to continue her research after classes.