The sound of Draco talking quietly began to filter through to Hermione as she slowly began to wake up. At the sound of Draco's voice, Hermione smiled to herself as she remembered what had just occurred between them. While things weren't guaranteed to return to the way they were, they were at least making progress in the right direction. With a lot of time and effort, she was convinced they could get their marriage back on track and get back to being a happy family with Scorpius.
Instead of opening her eyes right away, Hermione was content to lie listening to her husband's voice. It was only when she realised she was lying down that Hermione remembered she'd fallen asleep in a chair, she shouldn't be lying in a cosy bed. Wondering what was happening, Hermione tried to open her eyes but she found she couldn't quite manage it. Trying not to panic, she stopped trying to open her eyes and concentrated on listening to Draco's voice. Maybe if she could distinguish what he was saying, she would find out what was happening.
It took Hermione a few minutes to really focus in on Draco's voice, but when she could hear what he was saying it made no sense. Draco was clearly reading a story, but the bizarre thing was that he was reading The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Hermione knew the story off by heart both from her own childhood and Scorpius's younger years, so she easily recognised the story her husband was reading. However, she didn't understand why Draco was reading their eight year old son a book that he used to read when he was a toddler.
Hermione's confusion about what was going on was only heightened when Draco came to the end of the story and spoke to Scorpius although he was still a little boy. Although when Scorpius replied, Hermione realised her son was in fact a little boy. She could clearly tell the difference between how her son spoke as an eight year old and how he spoke when he was a toddler.
"Can I read to Mummy?" Hermione heard Scorpius ask Draco.
"Of course you can," Draco replied.
When Hermione felt a movement on the bed and seconds later she felt a warm body snuggling up beside her, she once again tried to open her eyes. As she was struggling to open her eyes she heard Scorpius begin to read to her and she recognised the story as being from one of his picture books. Scorpius often used to make up dozens of different stories to go with his picture books, but some stories were his favourites and he would repeat them dozens of times, which was what he was doing with the story he was now reading to her.
Getting frustrated with her inability to open her eyes and find out what was happening, Hermione let out a low moan. Immediately Scorpius stopped reading and she felt his little hand on her cheek.
"Mummy," He cried excitedly. "Daddy, Mummy's making noises."
"I know Scorp, I heard," Draco said, sounding equally as excited as his son as Hermione felt her husband take hold of her hand and lean over her. "Hermione, can you hear me?"
Hermione tried to answer, but all that emerged was another low moan.
"Don't struggle sweetheart, you can wake up when you're ready," Draco gently told her as he stroked her hair. "Scorpius and I are right here with you."
Following Draco's advice, Hermione stopped trying to open her eyes. Instead she just lay quietly, enjoying the sensation of Draco's fingers running through her hair while Scorpius's little hand stroked her cheek. After about ten minutes, Hermione tried to open her eyes again and this time they managed to flutter open.
In a matter of seconds Hermione took in what she could see. A little toddler Scorpius was sitting on the bed next to her grinning happily, while Draco was standing hovering over the bed. Hermione could see that Draco had been crying recently and she noticed he wasn't quite as put together as he normally was, not to mention he was even paler than usual.
"Welcome back, sweetheart." Draco smiled widely at Hermione, before he turned around as the door opened.
Hermione tried to see who was at the door but she found she didn't have the energy to sit up and see properly. However her question was soon answered when a healer stepped into her line of vision. Hermione didn't recognise the healer, but Draco seemed to know him as they were talking together.
"It's nice to have you back with us, Mrs Malfoy," Healer Magnus said as Draco scooped Scorpius up into his arms to allow the healer access to his wife. "You gave us quite a fright."
"I don't understand," Hermione whispered, her voice hoarse from not using it for a while. "What's going on?"
"You had a fall and you've been unconscious," Healer Magnus explained.
"A fall." Hermione frowned momentarily, before she realised what was going on and tears filled her eyes.
She was finally remembering the last five years. Just when things were starting to look up for her and Draco, she was going to remember everything she'd forgotten. She was going to have to live through the pain of losing her baby and husband, before she woke up and could return to Draco.
"No," She whispered, shaking her head briefly before stopping when it hurt. "I want to go back. I don't want to remember."
Draco and Healer Magnus shared a puzzled look at Hermione's choice of wording. Draco had initially feared the worst when Hermione said she wanted to go back to her dream world, but the remembering part didn't make any sense. Placing Scorpius down on the chair, Draco turned back to his wife and cautiously approached the bed.
"Remember what?" Draco asked softly.
"This," Hermione sniffed as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "I don't want to remember the pain. I don't want to remember losing the baby and getting a divorce. I just want to sort things out and move on with our lives."
"It must have been the dream world," Healer Magnus said to a stunned Draco. "I'll send for Healer Denver, she'll be able to explain things better than me. Although she'll also want to examine Hermione and find out as much as possible about what happened to her."
Shaking his head to get his thoughts straight, Draco perched on the side of Hermione's bed and took her hand in his. "Let me get this straight. You think you've lost the baby and we're going to get a divorce."
Hermione nodded. "I didn't want to remember this Draco. I know it's selfish, but I was pleased that I couldn't remember such a painful part of our lives."
"It was all just a bad dream, Hermione," Draco said gently. "Just over two weeks ago you fell down the stairs. You've been unconscious ever since and your mind slipped into some sort of alternate reality."
Hermione blinked a few times as she tried to reconcile what Draco was telling her. That meant the last few months of experiences had all been in her head. She and Draco had never gotten divorced, and he'd never ended up with Astoria.
"The baby?" Hermione gasped, her hand falling to her stomach where she could feel her baby bump.
"She's perfectly fine," Draco answered with a smile. "It was touch and go for a while, but she's perfectly okay. The healers have been keeping a close eye on your pregnancy, and luckily everything is running smoothly."
"She," Hermione whispered in awe. "We're having a girl."
"Sorry for ruining the surprise," Healer Magnus chuckled. "Our tests were fairly extensive when you were first admitted and we discovered you were having a girl. I'm afraid I let slip to your husband, not realising you didn't know the sex of the baby."
"This is all so overwhelming," Hermione sighed, letting her eyes fall shut. Not long ago she'd been worried over Scorpius falling off his broom and reuniting with Draco, and now she discovered that none of it had ever happened and the whole thing had been a figment of her imagination.
"I'm sure you are a bit overwhelmed," Healer Magnus said kindly. "I'll just give you a quick check over, before leaving you to rest and to come to terms with being back to reality. I think Healer Denver's visit can wait until you've had more time to rest."
"Who's Healer Denver?" Hermione asked as Healer Magnus started to examine her.
"She specialises in brain injuries and rare magical sleep conditions," Healer Magnus answered. "She was the one who told us your mind was in an alternative reality. She'll be able to explain things more clearly when you see her later, it's not my area of expertise I'm afraid."
Ten minutes later, Healer Magnus announced he was happy with Hermione's progress. Ordering Hermione to rest and not to exert herself, the healer left the small family alone. After the last few weeks he thought the trio deserved some time alone to reconnect before the healer's began fussing over Hermione.
"How are you feeling?" Draco tentatively asked Hermione. Until he knew why Hermione had slipped into an alternate reality in her mind he couldn't help but worry that she was trying to escape from him, especially since she seemed to have dreamt they'd gotten divorced.
"Tired and confused," Hermione replied. "My body feels as though it's been lying here these past few weeks, but in my head I've been living another life for a couple of months. I think I just need to get things straight in my mind."
"Scorpius and I can leave you alone if you want," Draco said. "I've got plenty of people to inform that you're awake. No doubt you'll be inundated with visitors in the coming days."
"As long as it's not too soon. For now, all I want is to spend time with you two," Hermione said. "Could telling people wait? And could you stay with me?"
"Of course I can," Draco replied, smiling at his wife.
"And can I have a hug off my best little man?" Hermione asked, looking over to where Scorpius was sitting behaving like an angel.
In a flash Scorpius had clambered down off his chair and trotted over to Hermione's bed. Draco helped his son onto the bed and the two year old instantly threw himself at his mother.
"Careful of the baby," Draco reminded his son. "You don't want to hurt your sister, do you?"
"No." Scorpius shook his head and placed his hand over Hermione's small bump. "Sorry baby, go back to sleep," He said to the bump, before returning his attention back to his mother.
Hermione wrapped Scorpius in her arms, as the tears began to flow again. Only this time instead of tears of sadness, they were tears of joy. The nightmare she'd been living these past few months was over, she was back where she belonged and thankfully she still had her husband and baby.
"Don't cry, Mummy," Scorpius said, wiping at Hermione's tears with his little pudgy fingers.
"Sorry, I'm just happy to be awake." Hermione smiled at her son. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, Mummy," Scorpius said, snuggling closer to his mother.
"I've missed you as well," Hermione said to Draco. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you. I love you Draco, never forget that."
"I love you too." Draco smiled at his wife as he slid onto the bed beside her and wrapped his arm around her and Scorpius. "These past few weeks have been torture."
"It sounds like we've got some stories to compare," Hermione remarked as she stifled a yawn.
"We have, but not just yet," Draco said. "For now, you should get some sleep."
"Don't leave me," Hermione said as she snuggled down with Scorpius and closed her eyes.
"Never," Draco whispered, dropping a kiss onto the top of his wife's head.
An emotional Draco held Hermione and Scorpius for nearly an hour, still hardly able to believe he'd gotten his wife back. Not wanting to disturb Hermione and Scorpius, who were both sleeping, Draco eventually managed to slide himself out from beside them and get off the bed. Slipping into the adjoining bathroom to his wife's private room, Draco cleaned himself up a bit. Returning from the bathroom he found Hermione's eyes were open, although she didn't look quite awake.
"Go back to sleep," He said quietly. "I'm just going to inform people you're awake. I'll not be gone long, and when I come back we can talk."
Hermione nodded and drifted back off to sleep, while Draco exited the room to spread the happy news that Hermione was awake and back with them.