Arriving back home Hermione headed into the kitchen to make some coffee. She still didn't want to believe someone she trusted had done this to her and she definitely wasn't looking forward to making a suspect list and going over it.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked, walking into the kitchen and leaning against the bench where Hermione was preparing the drinks.
"Not really." Hermione sighed. "I just don't get why someone's done this to me. Who hates me so much that they want to mess with my life?"
"No-one hates you." Draco wrapped Hermione in his arms as he tried to soothe the upset witch. "I'm sure whoever has done this has some sort of twisted reasoning behind their actions."
Hermione snorted, but she didn't reply. She did think that Draco could be right regarding the perpetrators motives but she was still disturbed that someone she trusted could be so blinded by their own opinions that they had failed to see how happy and contented Hermione was with her life. No matter what reasons the culprit came up with in the end, the simple fact was they hadn't cared one bit about Hermione or her happiness.
"Let's get back to Potter." Draco said, once Hermione was calmer. "He and Ginny are setting up in the dining room. He's gone all official on us and is in full Auror mode."
Wondering what Harry was like in Auror mode Hermione quickly finished making the coffee and her and Draco carried it into the dining room. When they entered the room they found Ginny and Harry sitting around a four person table, pieces of parchment and a quill sitting neatly in front of Harry. Draco and Hermione placed the drinks on the table and settled down in the remaining two chairs.
"First of all we need to make a suspect list." Harry said, sounding official. "For the time being we need to list everyone you've been in contact with since your memories first went missing. Once we've done that we can start eliminating people based on the extra facts we know."
"It looks like you've already made a start." Draco commented, spotting a few lines of writing at the top of Harry's notes.
"He has. You, me and him are the first names on his list." Ginny told Draco, sounding less than impressed that her name was on the suspect list.
"You've put us on the suspect list?" Draco asked Harry in disbelief. "Why? Surely we're the three people least likely to do this. We're closer to Hermione than anyone else."
"Obviously none of us have done this, but for the sake of doing things right we need everyone Hermione has come into contact with on the list." Harry explained to Draco. "So Hermione, who have you seen this last week and a half."
"First there's Ginny's family, I've been to The Burrow a few times." Hermione said.
"Have you seen them all?" Harry asked, making notes. "And what about people like Percy's girlfriend?"
"I met Audrey on Sunday, but you know that Harry. You were there." Hermione tutted at Harry's question, he knew exactly who she had seen during her visits to The Burrow.
"I know, I just want to be thorough." Harry replied. "So apart from the Weasley's, who else have you seen?"
"Luna and Neville, my parents, Draco's parents." Hermione paused, mentally running through her week as she tried to remember who she had seen. "Then there was Draco's three friends. Oh and Pansy Parkinson."
"Pansy?" Ginny questioned. "When did you see her?"
"There was an incident on Monday. She briefly stopped by, we had words and she left." Hermione brushed passed the incident as she knew Draco was still upset that he had potentially lost his friend after the event.
"Okay, I think I have everyone." Harry said, putting down his quill and passing the parchment over to Hermione and Draco. "Check this over and tell me if I missed anyone."
Draco huffed at the sight of his name at the top of the list, but he continued reading.
Draco.
Harry.
Ginny.
Molly.
Arthur.
Ron.
George.
Angelina.
Charlie.
Bill.
Fleur.
Percy.
Audrey.
Luna.
Neville.
Anne.
Jack.
Lucius.
Narcissa.
Blaise.
Theo.
Greg.
Pansy.
"It looks complete to me." Hermione said, handing Harry the parchment back. "I don't remember seeing anyone else."
"Now for the eliminations." Harry said. "First of all obviously we all know none of us have done this, but I can't remove our names from the list."
"Why not?" Hermione asked.
"Because we have no evidence to support our removal. I want this to be fair, so we're staying on the list." Harry explained. "Now we need to narrow the suspect list down, firstly we know the potion should have worn off by the weekend so anyone you came into contact with after that is eliminated."
"That's Draco's parents and Pansy." Hermione said. "It was Monday when Pansy called round and we didn't have dinner with Lucius and Narcissa until Tuesday."
"Right. Next up, we know the potion is administered via a drink." Harry said, making sure to cross suspects off his list as they were eliminated.
"That takes Theo, Blaise and Greg out of the equation." Draco said. "Hermione only saw them briefly on Sunday when we were playing Quidditch, no drinking was involved."
"My parents can also be eliminated." Hermione said.
"I'm sorry Hermione, but they can't." Harry told his friend gently. "Like with us three, I know they won't do this but you saw them in the time frame and you drank in their presence."
"But they're muggles." Hermione pointed out.
"Yeah, they wouldn't have access to the potion." Ginny said, backing her friend up.
"I know it's a long shot but you could argue with their daughter being a witch and her fiancé running a potions company that they could gain access to the potion." Harry didn't want to include Hermione's parents on the suspect list but he had no solid evidence to eliminate them.
"You really didn't pay attention in potions, did you?" Draco said to Harry. "Muggles can't mix potions. Even with the ingredients and instructions all a muggle would get would be a pile of coloured liquid, it's a person's magic that binds the potion together. That's why no two people can ever produce the exact same potion, there's always slight deviations."
"Snape never told us that." Harry muttered, striking Hermione's parents off the list.
"He did, you just didn't listen." Hermione told her friend. She'd always known her friends dislike of their Potions Professor meant he hadn't really taken in half of what they had been taught.
"Right, I think that's all we can eliminate." Harry said, turning back to the real point of the conversation. Looking down at his list, he took in who was still there, not wanting to believe one of the people still on the list were responsible for what had happened to Hermione.
Draco.
Harry.
Ginny.
Molly.
Arthur.
Ron.
George.
Angelina.
Charlie.
Bill.
Fleur.
Percy.
Audrey.
Luna.
Neville.
"So basically we're down to my family." Ginny sighed, looking at the list over Harry's shoulder. "I know Luna and Neville are still on the list, but like us they wouldn't do this."
"Would anyone on the list do this?" Hermione asked. "No-one has anything to gain by this."
"Except maybe Ron." Harry said. He'd been running through the possibilities in his head and as much as he was disliking it he was starting to suspect his oldest friend of being the culprit. "We can't forget that fact that Hermione's memories were wiped right back to when she was with Ron. Maybe he did this to try and get her back."
"I know that's the logical conclusion, but I don't believe it." Hermione shook her head, refusing to believe that Ron could do something like this to her. "First of all how would Ron have some of this potion and secondly I went to him the first morning my memories were missing and he never once tried to convince me I was still with him."
"I don't know how he could have gotten access to the potion, maybe we can get some answers when I finally manage to get the patient records from St Mungo's." Harry said. "Although I do admit, you make a good point about his reaction the first morning you saw him. Surely if he had slipped you the potion he would have tried harder to persuade you to stay with him."
"And let's not forget the second dose." Draco added. "If it was Weasley who did this, then why didn't he take the weeks' worth of memories Hermione had accumulated since the first dose? Weasley would know that just removing the same memories from Hermione, wouldn't push her to him."
"Draco's right." Hermione agreed. "Whoever gave me the second dose, hadn't realised how close I was getting to Draco, if they had known they would have taken those memories as well."
"Who didn't know you two were getting close again?" Harry asked.
"My parents, Percy and Audrey." Ginny said quietly. "Angelina, Fleur and Luna all spoke to Hermione on Sunday and knew her and Draco were getting closer. The boys were also there and they must have realised the same thing."
"Does this mean we knock a few more people off the list?" Draco asked.
"No, all this talk is supposition, we have no actual evidence that someone just wasn't being an idiot and forgot to include the last week when they brewed the potion." Harry sighed.
"Why don't we just wait until you have the hospital records." Ginny said quietly. She was disturbed by the fact most of her family were suspects and as awful as it sounded she was praying it was someone else, like Luna or Neville, that was responsible.
"We will." Harry said. "I actually have to get back to work now, so I can try and hurry things along."
Gathering his list and shoving it in his pocket Harry said his goodbyes before making his way to the floo room, where he then headed to the Ministry.
"I should go into work as well." Draco said, hearing the floo activating as Harry left. "If we're going away for a few days, I need to make some arrangements."
"Where are we going to go?" Hermione asked as Draco stood up.
"There's four places we go regularly. A villa in the South of France, a penthouse in New York, a cabin in the Alps and a cottage in the Lake District. You can decide which one you fancy visiting." Draco replied.
Draco quickly kissed Hermione and said goodbye to Ginny before he left to head into work. Once they were alone Hermione and Ginny decided to have some lunch before going shopping, Hermione told Ginny she needed a few bits and pieces if she was going away for a few days.
…..
"Why are we looking at pyjamas?" Ginny asked, trailing after Hermione as she scanned the rails of nightwear for something she liked.
"So I can buy some." Hermione replied as she continued her search.
"Why?" Ginny persisted in her line of questioning. "Surely these aren't for going away."
"Of course they are." Hermione stopped and turned to face Ginny. "I don't seem to own any suitable nightwear so I need something decent to wear on a night."
"But why pyjamas?" Ginny questioned. "I'm sure we can find you some sexier nightwear."
"I've got plenty of sexy nightwear at home." Hermione retorted, trying not to blush as she remembered exactly what she did have at home. "I want something sensible so I'm not embarrassed if Draco sees me dressed for bed."
"Are you not sharing the same room while you're away?" Ginny asked. "I know you've been in separate rooms at home but I figured with how things were progressing you might be considering sharing a bed."
"I have thought about it." Hermione admitted. "But I'm not ready to sleep with him yet and I don't know if sharing a bed will make things hard on Draco."
"Oh, I'm sure sharing a bed will definitely make Draco hard." Ginny chuckled. She laughed even more when Hermione turned bright red. "But seriously, you should consider it. Draco won't do anything you're not ready for and you could always build up to sex gradually."
"I'll think about it." Hermione muttered, pulling a pair of purple pyjamas from the rail and throwing them in her basket.
Ginny rolled her eyes but followed Hermione as she went to pay. While Hermione may have brought some pyjamas Ginny was hopeful she would at least think about her advice and consider letting Draco into her bed. Just in case Hermione hadn't quite taken Ginny's advice the redhead continued to drop hints about the couple progressing their relationship for the rest of the afternoon. After a few hours shopping the two women went their separate ways, although they had arranged for Hermione and Draco to have dinner at the Potter house later that evening.
…..
Hermione was sitting reading in the front room when Draco returned from work. All her purchases from her afternoon's shopping with Ginny were in the bedroom. She had even found a suitcase in the wardrobe and had begun her packing.
"Hi, did you get everything sorted at work?" Hermione asked, putting her book down the second Draco arrived in the room.
"Yeah, it's all sorted, I won't even be missed." Draco replied, sitting down beside Hermione. "Have you decided where you want to go yet?"
"Yes." Hermione nodded. "Can we go to the Lakes, please? I used to go there with my parents when I was younger and I haven't been for years. Well, I mean from what I can remember."
"The Lakes is fine." Draco smiled. He had a feeling she would pick the cottage in the Lake District as he knew that would be the only place she could connect with the part of her life she could remember.
"Can I ask why we have so many holiday places?" Hermione asked.
"Firstly, it's nice to have choices. But mainly each place is special for us. We have the cottage in the Lakes because that's where you spent a lot of your holidays when you were younger. The villa in France used to belong to my grandmother and that's where I spent holidays when I was growing up."
"I like that." Hermione said, when Draco had paused in the midst of his explanation. "I like that we've both remembered our childhood. So what about New York and the Alps, how do we have places there?"
"Well the Alps was where we went for our first weekend away. And New York is a great place for museums and art galleries, cultural things like that. It's also really good for nights out."
"Maybe we should be going to New York." Hermione said, getting attracted by the thought of museums and art galleries.
"We can always have another holiday to New York when your memories are back." Draco told Hermione.
"I like the sound of that." Hermione smiled. "I've always wanted to go to New York and see the sights."
"Well, we will." Draco smiled at Hermione's excitement at the thought of visiting the big apple. "Although by then you'll be able to remember the sights."
"You know, I'm really looking forward to going away." Hermione smiled and gave Draco a hug.
"So am I." Draco said, kissing the top of Hermione's head before he pulled away. "Do we have any plans for tonight?" He asked.
"I said we would go round to Harry and Ginny's for dinner." Hermione said. "Is that alright?"
"It's fine." Draco nodded. "I'll just go and have a shower and get changed."
Hermione picked her book back up and returned to her reading as Draco went off to get ready. After an hours reading Hermione also went to change, before the couple headed to the Potter's for dinner.
A/N - Firstly, thanks for all the support and great reviews, you guys are great. Secondly, I took a few liberties with the muggles and potions bit. I have no idea if muggles could make potions, but in my world they can't.