Chapter 11
However Impossible

Whatever the universe had in store for the troubled young couple, it did not allow for Hermione Granger to hear her name slip through the pale lips of Draco Malfoy's for the very first time.

She may not have heard it then, but it would be far from the last time her name fell from his mouth.

Harry Potter shuffled through his kitchen and tried to play off his nerves as preparing dinner.

"Are you ever going to tell the poor bloke who you really are?" Harry wondered as he set the bowl on the table. Hermione frowned as she reached for the salad. She nodded slowly, thoughtful of her last visit. "I am. I think he might have already guessed, if I'm honest. I don't know why I care so much. He's clearly not the awful boy we used to know. He certainly has more to worry about than my identity anyhow."

Harry grimaced as he settled into the chair across from her. At her raised eyebrow, he explained offhandedly, "Just some physical training today, is all. Don't worry about it."

"You look like you were run over by a hippogriff. Are you sure you're alright?" Hermione questioned worriedly.

He waved her off and gave her a pointed look. "Don't you dare change the topic! I know how you are, Miss Granger."

Hermione blushed a tad sheepishly and twirled her fork around in her hand as a distraction. After a moment, she raised another question rather than offering him an answer. "What are they going to do with him?"

It was quite clear to her that her friend was hoping to avoid such an inquiry. Dark messy locks fell into emerald eyes as they fell to the floor. She could tell the answer was a weighted one. She could see it in the sag of his ever tense shoulders.

"Andromeda," he said finally.

The witch seemed surprised but not displeased, so Harry carried on. "It's a difficult situation, obviously. I mean, he's technically an adult in the wizarding world. But he obviously can't care for himself. It's not required by law that he go to his next of kin at his age, but in this case…" Harry trailed off sadly and made a point to catch Hermione's eye. "Does he know? What happened to his parents? I never thought to ask, but if he can't remember anything…"

Dinner long forgotten, Hermione gently pushed her food aside and said, "He does. More or less anyway. He doesn't want to know everything yet. That I can understand. So much has happened. So much that has to do with him. He tries to pretend he can handle it, but I can see the struggle. I asked him if he wanted to know a few days ago."

She remembered the guarded look in his unseeing eyes as he cleverly skirted around the question she could see burning right through him. She didn't know if it was pride or fear that kept him from asking. Perhaps it was a bit of both. It wasn't hard to see the uncertainty he felt about his parents. Having lost and found her parents herself, she knew the fierce love she held for them. And they were amazing people. His parents…well. She could understand the conflicting emotions he felt regarding them.

Finally, she decided blunt was the best. "Your father died in Azkaban and it's assumed that your mother is still with her relatives in France. That was the last they heard of her. I thought you might want to know."

"And? What did he say?" Harry urged.

"He didn't."

"What?"

The girl shrugged, stabbing a piece of lettuce with her fork. "He didn't say anything. He only nodded and changed the topic."

A thought suddenly occurred to Hermione and her head flew up to Harry. "Does Andromeda even know?"

Harry couldn't meet her eye, instead playing with his napkin. He didn't want to witness the disapproving frown he knew was on her face. He didn't have to. It was plain to hear in her tone as she scolded, "Harry Potter, you're about to charge the poor unsuspecting woman with a blind, memoryless mute she didn't even know was alive? Are you mad?"

"Well, obviously we have to tell her first!" Harry exclaimed defensively, feeling uncomfortably childish under his friend's fierce glare. His cheeks burned hot when he realized she didn't miss his terminology.

"Hold on. We? Are you joking? Now I have to tell her?"

Hands up and waving frantically, Harry tried to placate the infuriated girl. "No, no. I didn't mean it like that! I meant we as in my department, of course."

But Hermione knew him better than that. He was a horrible liar after all. "I have done enough for this situation, thank you very much. I will not have the weight of that on my shoulders. The woman has already lost her husband and her daughter. She's been charged with Teddy and now you want to throw this at her?" Hermione reminded him sharply. Another thought occurred to her. "Do they even know each other?"

"I'm not actually sure. I know she was cut off from the rest of the family for marrying Ted. She might not have ever met him in person," Harry admitted reluctantly. "But she is family. And these days, we can't be too picky about that. There's not too many of us left, I'm afraid."

Hermione rubbed her hands over her face, unsure what she should be feeling. Harry let her sit in silence for a moment or two. The only sound that filled the cozy flat was the soft clinking of his fork on his plate as he absent mindedly munched on his neglected dinner.

"Okay," Hermione said finally. Green eyes glanced up. "Andromeda aside, I think there is something more important that we're missing."

Perplexed, Harry gestured for her to carry on.

"Harry, Draco Malfoy died that day. We all saw it. It shouldn't be possible for him to be alive. When he's released, how is the world going to react? We have no answers, and the wizarding community is going to be pounding on your doors for them."

By Harry's nauseated expression, the witch correctly assumed that he hadn't thought that far ahead. "He's practically defenseless. He can't see. He can't speak. He can barely move on his own. We don't even know how everything that happened affected his magic yet. We are essentially bringing him back to life in the public's eye. How are we supposed to do that?"

Hermione was sad to see her dear friend looking so troubled as he mulled over her questions. She slowly rose to her feet and crossed over to the Boy-Who-Stressed. Gentle hands came to rest on tensed shoulders. Harry sighed under her comforting touch and let his head fall into his hands with a sigh. "I haven't a clue, Hermione. Not a single clue."

In the end, any plans Harry halfheartedly put together would be blown to the wind. Draco Malfoy's resurrection would find its way into the dramatic front page display they had hoped to avoid. Hermione, in the time before the story broke, carried on with her new routine.

"Oh come off it, I know you want to leave."

"No, I'm really happy to stay," Hermione insisted. She was leaned against Draco's bed quite comfortably as he struggled to pull himself into a sitting position. His morning therapy session had left him rather fatigued. He was currently trying to convince the witch that she had better things to do than sit with the likes of him. Especially since he liked to think he knew who she actually was now. "Oddly enough, I find you much easier to talk to now that you can't talk."

She beamed at his dirty blank look. He didn't know much of anything about the past few years, but he most certainly knew that he had done absolutely nothing to deserve such attention from the likes of Hermione Granger. Assuming that he had guessed correctly who his savior was. Then, who else would have been smart enough to find a way for him to communicate? Let alone have the desire to rifle through so many ancient tomes to do it.

"Hate to interrupt what appears to be an intense conversation, but I've got some news for our patient here."

Both the young witch and wizard startled at the new voice. "Merlin's beard, Marius, you scared me!" Hermione let out a breathy laugh. She grinned at the healer as he crossed the room. He did some diagnostic spells on the blonde and nodded his head in satisfaction.

"What happened to constant vigilance, Miss Granger?" Marius teased lightly. Hermione huffed indignantly and shot back, "I'd like to think I've left living in such a constantly paranoid state long behind me, thank you very much."

"Yes, I'd like to think that those days are behind us," Marius agreed with a sad smile. Turning to Draco, he cheered up a bit. "Well, kid, I've got what I hope is good news for you!"

The confident healer pretended not to be nervous as he noticed the wary look he received from his patient. "You're officially healthy enough to leave!" Marius announced excitedly. "You'll of course have to come by two days a week minimum for some basic checkups. We'll continue to research how to retrieve your memories… and hopefully your sight and voice. However, I'm afraid that besides that, you're too healthy to keep here."

Hermione could feel the boy stiffen under her finger tips. Before she asked what he was thinking, he slowly pulled his hand away from her touch. She felt the usual fatigue from the spell hit her but she paid his worried expression more mind.

Marius looked to her in concern. "Don't you want to leave, Draco?"

It seemed to take an age before the boy slowly offered a reluctant shake of his head.

"Why in Merlin's name would you want to stay here?" the young healer questioned incredulously, momentarily forgetting his professional air. Recovering, he teased good-naturedly, "What? Would you miss me too much?"

At his poor joke, Draco gave a wry smile. It wasn't hard to see that he was still bothered by something. Without trying to press too hard, Hermione looked from Marius to Draco and wondered, "Are you afraid you have nowhere to go?"

The stubborn boy refused to answer her question. Rolling her eyes at the tough boy façade he was halfheartedly trying to put on, Hermione informed him of Harry's plans.

"Did you ever meet your aunt? Andromeda?"

Completely thrown by her unexpected question, she managed to get Draco's interest. She kept a satisfied smile to herself as she felt his hand search for hers once again. "We never met. Not that I remember. Mother always said she wished things were different."

Hermione gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Well, apparently she's agreed to take care of you. Quite happily if I've heard correctly. She was incredibly relieved to hear you'd been found. However impossible it may seem."

"She doesn't even know me. She's not going to want to be burdened with me."

"You'd be surprised," Hermione said as her eyes followed Marius to the door. She could see a figure in powder blue robes hovering anxiously outside the half open door. "I think you'll find that she's rather keen to take you home."

Hermione liked to think of herself as a fairly sane witch, even after all the troubles she had been through in her relatively short life. When she came face to face with the woman in the doorway, however, every bit of rational thought went out the window. All she saw were those curly dark locks and dusty brown eyes. Sent into an immediate panic, Hermione did not register that those eyes held the soft twinkle of a mother's love rather than the crazed gleam of a sadistic monster.

So unprepared for such a loss of control, Hermione was frozen in her spot at Draco's side. He could sense the sudden change in her even if he could not see it. Her warm hand had gone slack in his only to begin their now familiar trembles. He knew they were something she tried to conceal from him for whatever reason, but he had never mentioned it for fear of sending her running. Draco had to believe something was wrong if she was doing nothing to hide them.

Little could he know that she was no longer in the room with him, but back on the cold floor of his manor. She could feel the heavy weight of the savage witch pressing down on her. Her throat was on fire, her screams ripping through it. A knife was slicing, slicing, slicing and she was never going to give Harry up. She was never going to give in. But the pain. Merlin, the pain, the pain, the pain…

"Oh my dear Draco, you're alive!" a gentle voice exclaimed softly, her words thick with emotion.

Draco's head whipped toward the new voice in wonder.

For Draco, all he heard in that blissful moment was the voice of his dear mother, Narcissa. For Hermione, all she could she see was the mad woman who left her scarred for life.

"Why is it that I'm always finding you hiding yourself away in my flat?" George questioned as he threw his magenta robes to the floor. He hadn't yet noticed the state his flat crasher was in, so he carried on teasing her as he kicked his shoes off. "I mean, how am I supposed to keep a girlfriend if they think they've got to compete with the likes of you every time they come over?"

Assuming his friend was just ignoring his jabs, the lanky ginger was in for a surprise when his gaze finally landed on Hermione.

The poor witch was settled on the edge of his leather sofa, hands in a tangled, trembling mess. She wasn't crying but he could see the stains of fresh tears down her pale cheeks. Her usually vibrant honey brown eyes were staring blankly into the distance.

Knowing only a resurgence of wartime memories could have brought on such a catatonic state, George asked no questions. He simply grabbed the heavy quilted blanket his mother had given him as a house warming gift and wrapped the tiny witch up. He gently pushed her back into the soft cushions and tucked her in. Holding in a heavy sigh, the jokester crossed into the kitchen and got the kettle going.

Ten minutes later found a livelier Hermione slowly sipping her piping hot tea and avoiding George's concerned gaze.

"Feeling better?" George wondered some time later. Hermione nodded sheepishly, embarrassed to intrude on him once again. Sensing her train of thought, he shot her a glare and warned, "Don't you even dare apologize! The amount of times you simply sat with me until I came back around, this is the least I could do."

"Still, you're right. I shouldn't keep barging in here," she sighed unhappily.

George waved her nonsense away with a dismissive hand and settled on the couch beside her. "You know I don't really mind. If I did. I'd have changed the locks."

"I could still break in," Hermione teased half-heartedly, a faint smirk on her lips that didn't reach her eyes.

George smiled widely at her attempt at humor given the state he'd found her in and laughed. "Oh, I've no doubt about that. But we both known you'd never dream of actually breaking in."

Hermione offered a conceding nod. George wrapped a comforting arm around her and risked the question he had grown to hate. "So, are you okay?"

The witch took several moments to respond, but George was in no rush. At last, she explained in a soft voice, "Yes. Yes, I'm okay. I was just caught off guard today and had quite a shock."

"And you came here instead of your own home because…?"

Hermione frowned at the cup of tea that was sending a soothing warmth into her chilled bones. "I didn't know how to explain it to Neville. If he came home to find me like that."

At that, George shook his head. "Let me guess, he doesn't know its back from the dead Malfoy you've been running off to visit."

Her silence was answer enough. "Don't you think he should know? I mean, you two are closer than most, aren't you?"

"You're right, of course. But every time I get the chance to tell him, I just can't. Part of me still doesn't believe its real. And it doesn't matter anymore anyway."

"What do you mean?"

Hermione bit her lip and kept her gaze trained in her hands. "I mean that he is no longer a ward of St. Mungo's. Andromeda has taken charge of his care. I've done my part, so I'm no longer needed. No more Malfoy."

To the average person, it would seem as though the thought was a relief to the girl. George, however, who thought of himself as anything but average, could tell that she wasn't quite sure she was happy about it.

He did his best to cheer her up that afternoon, but the Weasley prankster had a feeling that her adventure with Malfoy was nowhere near its end. George figured the least he could do was keep her well supplied with hugs and tea in the meantime.

A/N: Heyyyy so I'm still alive! Sorry for disappearing for an age...the usual excuses of life and busyness are all applicable here. The biggest reason for no updates has been the fact that 3 chapters of this got deleted and I was so discouraged :/ But I finally got written out again! I've been having too much fun riding ponies in Ireland for the summer haha. Sorry for the wait, but hugeeee thank yous to those of you who wrote me asking about the story! Means the world to me!