January 2002

Hermione rose from her bed the next day and the only thing in her mind was what happened the night before.

She kissed Draco Malfoy.

For the whole night, she tossed and turned, only thinking of what will happen in the morning. He kissed her in the New Year and she ended up kissing him last night. Two kisses in one day — how extremely irresponsible of her.

In all honesty, she didn't know how to explain what she felt for Draco Malfoy. Yes, he was attractive — that was a given — but all this attraction towards the Slytherin was probably only because they've been spending every waking hour together since he sought out her help. Hermione knew that when everything goes back to normal, she and Draco might not even continue becoming friends. She would be lucky enough if he didn't go back to his old ways of treating her like an inferior.

"Granger," She heard him call from outside the room. She groaned, not believing that his voice would be the first thing she hears in the morning.

"I don't know if you're still sleeping, but your parents are telling me to wake you up for breakfast. You've been cooped up there too long, and we have a Quidditch game to go to," Draco said. "Anyway, wake up soon." Hermione could hear him walking away. She needed to face the day because facing today means facing tomorrow and facing tomorrow means living with the fact that she had to face Draco Malfoy every day.

She was good at talking — she'll just have to talk to Draco Malfoy.

When she walked out of the room, Draco was already dressed in a green jumper and trousers. Her parents were also dressed to leave while she was still in her pyjamas, probably looking like a mess.

"Are we going anywhere?" Hermione asked. Her mum looked at her and smiled, "We thought of eating somewhere in Devon, then walking to the Weasleys from there," Hermione's mother said.

It took a while for Hermione to process the words before she eventually said, "Give me 10 minutes," She closed the door behind her and got ready.

Draco stood a little away from Hermione's parents not speaking.

"Did she drink a lot last night?" Hermione's father asked him. Draco shook his head. "We had one glass of wine," he said.

"Between the two of you?" Hermione's mother asked, her eyes thinning in suspicion.

"No ma'am. We had one each," He clarified, coughing.

"I wonder why she woke up late then." Draco felt his cheeks flush but didn't say anything. He hoped that Hermione would come out soon because he didn't know what to do with the silence. Draco often prided himself as a sociable man, but around Hermione's parents, he was tongue-tied. In the silence, though, Hermione's father started looking around the flat. "Her interior looks similar to your home in Paris," He said to Draco. Draco's eyes widened. Decorating her flat like his home in Paris was supposed to be a small joke for Hermione. "I helped her unpack," he explained.

Mr. Granger nodded, "She never talked about you. I never knew you were friends"

Draco was about to say something but stopped when Hermione's parents stopped in front of the message that he left on Hermione's wall. He groaned silently cursing himself.

"Now, why would Hermione leave something like that written on the wall?" Draco felt himself panicking. He couldn't believe his little prank on Granger was coming back to bite him. He was about to wave his wand on the wall to banish the letters when Hermione walked out wearing a very pretty floral Sunday dress. Draco couldn't lie that she, in that dress, distracted him a bit and he was glad for the distraction.

"Shall we?" she asked. Draco just nodded, and Hermione's parents led them out.

The ride to Devon was quiet. Draco, who was still awkward inside a car, was seated between Hermione and her mother in the back seat, while her father sat in the front. It was such an awkward experience. It didn't help that Mr. Granger started discussing Quidditch from the front seat without minding the fact that the cab driver probably didn't know anything about the sport they were talking about.

"So how exactly do the broomsticks keep you up?" Mr. Granger asked. Draco looked nervously at the driver who was pretending he wasn't listening, but Draco noticed the driver glance at him from the rearview mirror. "I don't understand the specifics of it," Draco lied.

"Must be in the magic then."

When Mr. Granger looked out the window, Draco turned to glance at Hermione. Hermione just shook her head and shrugged. When her parents told her they wanted to get to know her world more, she didn't expect this to be the outcome.

After lunch, they all headed towards the Burrow. It was a difficult journey and a long one. Hermione had to cast a spell to make sure they wouldn't get lost. She knew where the Burrow was but she never had to walk there before.

Mr. Granger walked with Draco while Hermione led the way in front of them with her mother.

"Have you been to the Weasleys?" Mr. Granger asked. Draco shook his head, "This would be my first time," Draco admitted.

"So you're not friends with the Weasleys?" Mr. Granger asked curiously. "I only got to know them, recently. We weren't exactly friends in school," Draco didn't know why he felt nervous about the questions. It's not like he couldn't answer it. He didn't even know if he should lie. Mr. and Mrs. Granger knew who he was, and he didn't know how much Hermione had told them about him.

As they were walking up a hill, with Hermione shouting at the front that she could faintly see the Burrow, Mr. Granger started walking slower. Draco had to match his pace with the older man. "Are you and my daughter seeing each other?" Mr. Granger asked, causing Draco to trip on his feet. He quickly recovered, muttering sorry under his breath. "We're…." Draco started, "Friends," Draco just answered. He didn't know what they were, so saying they were friends was just the safest answer he could think of. Mr. Granger decided not to ask anymore when Hermione said they were there.

When they got to the Burrow, Blaise, Theo, and the Greengrass girls were already there, standing a few yards away from the Weasleys and their families. Only Bill, Fleur, and Audrey, Percy's girlfriend, were talking to them.

"This must be Mr. Malfoy. You sure look like your father," Arthur Weasley addressed. Draco and Hermione's eyes widened.

Sensing a mistake, Arthur immediately stuttered an apology, "I'm sorry. I just assumed that you were Lucius Malfoy's son. You look very similar to him," Arthur amended. Ron appeared behind his father and told him off about Lucius being Draco's cousin some number removed. "I've told you this already, Dad," Ron said.

The Quidditch game started a few minutes after Draco was properly introduced to everyone. Blaise found this extremely amusing but Hermione's parents were confused as to why everybody had to learn about Draco again. Hermione only answered them by saying that she'll tell them later.

Sue, Bill, Fleur, and Angelina decided to join the game. Sue and Bill were on Draco's team while the latter two were on Harry's. Draco decided to be Chaser, putting Theo as Seeker because Theo had an affinity for shiny things.

It was hard to explain Quidditch to her parents when she was too distracted looking at Draco and worrying for her friends in general. She always perceived Quidditch to be a dangerous game and she just couldn't shake the feeling that Slytherins fighting with Gryffindors would cause a commotion. Hermione tried to tell herself that nobody knew Draco and everyone's memory of the other Slytherins were probably not so bad, or even nonexistent.

The players decided to wear Quidditch robes that were transfigured to yellow and blue in order not to incite House rivalry. Harry's team got yellow, while Draco's got blue. Draco seemed happy with that and so was Hermione, surprisingly. She just couldn't see Draco looking good in yellow — not that that mattered anyway, she thought.

"So what are those hoops for?" Her father suddenly asked her, taking her eyes away from the players and looking at her father.

It took a while before she was able to answer, seemingly not understanding the question at first, "Oh, uh," she stammered, "that's where the Chasers put the Quaffle in. Each goal is worth 10 points," Hermione said. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat beside Hermione on her left, but they were busy chattering with Audrey to pay her any attention.

The game hasn't started yet, but Percy, who was forced to be the referee, was reminding everyone of the rules. "Just because this isn't an official game, doesn't mean you can do whatever you like," Hermione heard Percy shout to each team. After blowing a whistle, the teams got to their positions.

"And who are the chasers?" Hermione's mother asked. Hermione started pointing at the Chasers, "Angelina, Harry, and Ginny are the Chasers for the Yellow Team. Draco, Daphne, and Sue are the chasers for the blue team," Percy released the Quaffle and the game started.

"Do they have goal-keepers too?" Hermione's mother asked. "Yes, keepers. Fleur for the Yellow Team, and Astoria for the blue team."

"And what are those fast-flying balls?"

"Those are bludgers, the Beaters' goals are to beat them away from players or towards players." Both her parents cringed at the last line, but Hermione nodded as if saying that was Quidditch. "Who are the Beaters?" They asked.

"Blaise and Bill for the blue team, and George and Ron for the yellow team."

"So what do Theo and Charlie do?" Hermione's mother asked.

"Their job is to find the snitch. It's this little golden ball that flies very fast. If you catch that, your team is awarded a hundred and fifty points, and you end the game," Hermione answered.

They continued like that throughout the whole game. With Hermione's parents asking questions and her answering.

A little past an hour, Hermione heard Audrey scream beside her. She was looking at something behind Hermione. When Hermione turned, she saw a bludger coming towards them. She was about to incinerate the bludger, when someone came flying in front of them, whacking the bludger with a bat. When Hermione looked up, she saw Draco tossing the bludger's bat back to Blaise.

"Sorry about that, Hermione," George called out from a distance away. Draco looked at George scathingly before turning to Hermione. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you." Satisfied with her answer, he flew away.

"What a great man, you have there, Hermione," Molly Weasley said. She felt the heat rise to her cheeks but she decided not to say anything.

The Quidditch game ended with Theo catching the Snitch. Charlie let him keep it despite it being one of his just because Theo didn't want to let it go.

January 2002

After the new year's week, and Hermione's parents going back to Australia, they all went back to work. They welcomed the new year with new vigor and added motivation to find a solution to Draco's problem. Theo had left his job in Britain in Daphne's care and focused 100% on finding an antidote for Draco. Hermione was working double-time, flooing from Draco's place to Diagon Alley every day in order not to neglect her work in the Daily Prophet and also focus on finding a cure. Besides, Hermione had insisted to Theo that she needed to be there when the antidote was brewing. Blaise and Draco meanwhile decided to focus on their work seeing as their contribution wasn't that much needed in the brewing of the antidote.

In the third week of January, they found a breakthrough. Theo was just adding the baneberry and telling everyone that once it sets after a few minutes, they could try it already.

"You know it's okay if we don't try it on you," Blaise said looking at Theo who was already pouring a bit of the potion into his coffee cup.

"It's fine. It's the least I can do," Theo answered, swirling his coffee. Hermione would've said that Theo was already doing a lot but she couldn't get a word in when he downed the contents of his coffee cup. Blaise stood nearby with bezoar just in case Theo accidentally poisoned himself.

Nothing happened.

"Well?" Hermione asked. Theo looked at them, "I don't know if the effects would be immediate or gradual." Theo admitted. Hermione sighed, "Let's wait for a week to see what happens and if nothing happens we'll try again."

They all nodded and went back to work, Hermione and Theo already working on possible adjustments to the potion just in case.

A week later Theo stormed into the room sounding excited. "I remember you!" he exclaimed, "Well not really but I see silhouettes of you, like a shadow fleeting. You're in most of my memory now but sort of just a blur," He clarified.

"Maybe we should add more boomberries?" Theo told Hermione who was just walking out from the gardens after plucking out the baneberries and not knowing what was going on. "Yeah, I think that's right. Granger, will you help me?" Hermione looked to the kitchen to see Blaise and Draco as equally confused but followed Theo to the potion room anyways.

"In 5 seconds, add the dittany and then stir counterclockwise," Theo instructed. Hermione had a handful of dittany in one hand, already having weighed it, while the other hand was holding onto the spoon. She waited for Theo to count her down, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Now," Hermione dropped the dittany on the cauldron and subsequently started stirring. After 5 minutes, when the boiling stopped, Theo walked towards her, scooping out a portion of the potion and dropping it onto his cup.

"Cheers," he said before downing the contents of his cup again. He made a face before saying, "That tastes awful. Like mint in coffee," he gagged a few more minutes before downing a glass of water. "Let's see what happens again in a week,"

The following week, Blaise took it upon himself to quiz Theo about Draco.

"When was Draco born?" Theo bit his lip trying to wrack his brain on any day that would signify Draco's birthday, "Early June?" Theo answered, "I remember being in the Malfoy Manor and the three of us played a prank on Lucius," Theo added. Blaise nodded in relief and put down the cue card he was holding to ask the next question.

"What was Draco's position in Quidditch in Hogwarts?" Blaise asked. Theo looked at Draco nervously who was watching them from his study, "He doesn't play Quidditch," he answered slowly. He saw the look on Blaise and Draco's face and quickly amended his answer, "Chaser!" he exclaimed, remembering Draco's position in their Quidditch during the new year. Blaise and Draco sighed. "He's a seeker, mate. Though he does play a good Chaser," Blaise clarified.

Theo sighed. Looks like they had to tweak the potion again.

"Maybe we should add more sage? Or jobberknoll feathers?" Hermione remarked. Theo took a while to think about it. "Sage," he answered. "Sage is much more powerful." "I mean we can always add more mandrake," Theo made a face, "Though I don't think I'd want to get close to those things again— let's try all three."

The next few weeks Theo tried out three batches of the potion, he tried the potion with added sage on the first week, getting only a small result wherein he finally remembered who the blond hair guy that gifted him a set of how to take care of broomsticks was. The next week he tried the potion with added sage and added jobberknoll feathers. His memories with Draco were much more vivid, memories of them in the hallways and the Slytherin common rooms but never in classes. During the third week, Hermione brought in a pot of stewed Mandrakes, and a Neville Longbottom.

"Why is he here?" Draco asked. "He insisted," Hermione answered. Now that Neville had seen who Hermione was working with though he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

"You didn't mention to me that you were working with Slytherins," Neville whispered to her.

"I did. I told you I was working with Theo Nott." Hermione said. "Yes but you forgot to mention Zabini," Neville hissed.

"Have a problem with me, Longbottom?" Neville jumped and looked behind him to see Blaise leaning onto a wall, grinning.

"Nothing," he tried to smile before following Hermione towards where Theo was.

"What do you need more stewed Mandrakes for?" Neville started looking around the room to see the ingredients that littered the tables, the floors, and the walls of the room. He noted the Jobberknoll feathers, the sage, the vervain infusion, and the dittany, "Are you brewing a memory potion?" Neville asked, but then he saw the billywig sting slime, and armadillo bile, "But those are used for the antidote of most potions," He looked at the table again to see only one cauldron being used and Theo cutting up the stewed mandrakes, while Hermione added essence of daisy root in the cauldron.

"What are you doing?" Neville asked impatiently, somehow knowing that what they're doing is new, and maybe illegal.

"An antidote," Hermione answered when Theo chose to ignore Neville.

"For what?"

"Advena"

Neville dropped the bag he was holding, catching both Hermione and Theo's attention. "Please pick that up, Longbottom. We don't want contamination," Theo said before continuing to cut the stewed mandrakes.

Neville wanted to ask why they were brewing an antidote for Advena but was somehow scared of what the reason was. He trusted Hermione but for her to be working with Slytherins whom he didn't trust on an antidote for an illegal potion made him wary. Still, he felt compelled to correct them. It was better to be safe than sorry.

"Well, you're doing it all wrong. You should add more snowdrops rather than stewed mandrakes. It'll act as a strengthener, and will permanently have a hold on the memories you're trying to restore," Theo and Hermione looked at Neville. "Professor Slughorn invited me to a small conference about potions and antidotes, and they talked about the antidote of Advena. Of course, it was all theoretical — the process and the ingredients. . You won't even need Billywig sting slime or baneberries." Hermione glared at Theo as if this was all his fault for not knowing these. Theo looked more annoyed than guilty that his ideas weren't the best. Sighing, he tapped his wand on the cauldron to empty the contents of it before they allowed Neville to continue. Neville removed a notebook from his bag where he had some notes and passed it to Hermione.

Hermione flipped through the notebook until she found what they needed. The rest of the day constituted the three of them working on the antidote.

"If I get poisoned because of this, I'm going to haunt you, Longbottom," Neville gulped and looked at Hermione for help but Hermione was busy staring at Theo. The latter downed the whole potion (Neville said it'll only work if he drank the whole cauldron).

Theo's head was screaming. It felt like there was a crack that opened at the back of his head and suddenly a barrage of information flooded his mind. The mix of pictures and sound was making him insane. Surely, this wasn't legal.

"Will he be alright?" Blaise asked, stepping away from his friend. Theo looked strange — a mixture of angry and scared.

Neville chuckled nervously, "I just remembered that the intake of the potion must be gradual and not all at once especially for people who had a close relationship with the victim."

Theo now looked deadly. He cursed under his breath followed by a string of profanities towards Neville. The latter decided to hide behind Draco when Theo started rising from his seat. Hermione, who had left for a while and then returned, shoved Theo back to his seat and passed him a glass of water and little circular things.

All men looked at them warily and Theo refused to take it. "It's pain relief medicine," Hermione said, shoving it again. "I didn't want to brew a potion in case it has a bad effect on the antidote."

Theo took one from Hermione's outstretched and examined it closely. "How do you take these?" Theo asked. "Place it at the end of your throat and let the water carry the tablets down," Hermione explained, giving him the glass of water. Theo tried once but ended up just throwing up the water and the tablet. He complained but Hermione insisted. Theo tried again, taking in a large amount of water and swallowing. He felt the ache in his head ease a bit as the medicine probably settled in his system.

"There. That wasn't too bad was it?" Hermione said. "That was terrible, Granger." Theo spat.

"Well then," Hermione clapped her hands together and stared at Draco and Blaise. Both men looked at her wondering what they should do. "Ask him something only the three of you would know," Hermione instructed. Blaise had a knowing smile on his face just as Draco was thinking of a question. Before the latter could speak, Blaise asked, "We smuggled a bottle of Ogden's into the common room after the Yule Ball. What was the only thing Draco was saying just after he passed out?" Theo smirked devilishly. Draco, though, already had his hand on his wand ready to hex his two best friends.

Hermione stood in front of Draco stopping him from doing what he was planning to do. "We need to see what he has to say? What if the potion didn't work?" Hermione argued.

"Granger, you don't want to hear this." Draco insisted but Hermione stubbornly stood between him and Theo.

Leaning back on his chair, Theo said, "He told us how beautiful Granger was in that dress of hers that night…." Theo started. Hermione had looked away from Theo then and looked anywhere but at the four men surrounding her. Even with Neville there… she suddenly felt embarrassed. She picked up the glass of water and started to excuse herself from the living room. "Oh, that's not the only thing he said, Granger. He even wondered how beautiful you would be out of your dress."

With her face burning, she brisked-walk towards the kitchen. Before Draco can defend himself, Neville shot a Leg-locking curse at him. "That was completely unnecessary, Mr. Malfoy." Neville defended following Hermione to the kitchen. "I was young!" Draco shouted at the retreating figures of both Gryffindors. He sighed and threw a pillow at Theo. "Put your memory to good use and remove this curse from me!"

Neville, who followed Hermione to the kitchen, was confused.

"Hermione," he started. Hermione placed the glass in the sink deciding to wash it later. She leaned back on the sink and listened to Neville. "Who is that man? They kept saying he was in Hogwarts with us but I don't remember who he is," He continued. "If he was in Blaise and Theo's gang then I would've remembered him. They sure gave me a hard time. Besides, his features are too striking to miss."

Hermione sighed not knowing what to say. She then decided to wash the glass just because she needed to distract herself before asking, "Neville, what do you remember from school, especially with Blaise and Theo?"

"Well, they never really bothered anyone much. If they bothered someone, it had to be everyone. Either the whole school hated them or they were alright. Growing up, you realize that they were in for the joke of it. They were like the Weasley twins of Slytherin though don't tell them that. I don't want to be hexed," Neville proceeded to talk about the little antics that Theo and Blaise had done throughout the years in Hogwarts. An exploding toilet, (Hermione smirked because that was the only thing Fred and George couldn't do), hexing people, setting up an invisible rope at the entrance of the Great Hall for people to trip on.

"They've never removed it. We've always jumped on it every morning from our fourth year to the sixth. Imagine how amusing it was during the Triwizard Cup when the Professors realized that no one had told any of the representatives about the rope," Neville started laughing as he recalled the memory. "McGonagall wanted to expel them but Nott insisted that it wasn't their fault that nobody informed the representatives of the other school anything."

Hermione looked at Neville curiously. She never had these memories and her memories with Theo Nott and Blaise Zabini were far less memorable.

"Were we ever afraid of them? Or suspicious that they were doing something dark?"

Neville thought for a while then shook his head, "They were annoying yes, but they were never mean. I was afraid of them though, always thought they'd focus on me with one of their pranks but they never did. During the War, the Notts joined our side, and Zabini was, well anywhere but Britain." He explained. "Why are you asking me these, Hermione? Don't you remember?" Hermione chose not to answer. What she said though was just, "I remember different things."

What scared her though is how intricate the potion was. She understood now why this was banned. It was too strong of a potion. It frightened her that they wouldn't be able to return everyone's memory the way it way.

Theo had insisted they eat out. The potion had made him hungry, apparently and he wouldn't take no for an answer. Even Neville was invited despite Theo still being sour for him telling him to drink the whole cauldron. Blaise led them to a restaurant both visited by muggles and wizards, with the wizards occupying the top floor.

Just as they were walking towards their table someone called Hermione. All of them looked at the person approaching; Hermione recognized it as Alexander Haywood.

He looked happy seeing her but stopped and looked at everyone else around Hermione. It must have been a sight for Alexander, Hermione surrounded by three Slytherins and a Gryffindor all protectively standing around her.

Alexander stammered before saying, "Has the book been useful?"

"Oh yes. Definitely. I'll return it to you soon," Hermione answered. Draco could see in her peripheral Theo stare at Draco with a small smirk which Draco ignored.

Alexander smiled. "That's great," he stated, "Well, I best go back to my sisters. I look forward to meeting you again." He said before sauntering away.

"He seems like a good chap," Neville said.

The other three snickered, each one of them telling her why they didn't like Alexander Haywood. Theo explicitly voicing out, "Alexander Haywood is a fraud," while pulling out a chair for himself.

Draco especially had a gnawing feeling that Alexander Haywood was no good. He insisted on seating opposite Hermione to the delight of Theo and Blaise but Draco had other reasons. From his position, he had a clear view of where the Haywoods' table was.

Draco didn't find anything strange with Alexander Haywood. He ate peacefully, often laughing alongside one of his sisters. Draco didn't know who was who but sitting beside Alexander, his sister with shorter hair didn't eat. She instead had her head forward, looking at something on the table in concentration. Seeing this, Draco immediately started reading her mind.

Draco didn't like doing Legilimency on unsuspecting victims but he needed to and his actions were justified when he saw the Haywood girl rummaging through Hermione's mind. Draco could tell because it was Hermione's thoughts being reflected in her mind. Snape had mentioned to him during his Legilimency and Occlumency training that a Legilimens can check another Legilimen's mind while they were performing Legilimency.

A skill that Draco had been necessitated to know was not to project the thoughts of the person he was reading the mind of to his head — a skill the Haywood girl wasn't taught. He wouldn't fault her. Draco was taught only the best and the most advanced by the best teachers. The fact that the Haywood girl can even go through Hermione's mind without looking through her eyes is already something to be proud of.

Draco glanced slightly at Hermione seeing she was still concentrating on the menu. He went back to checking the Haywood girl's mind to see her weaving through Hermione's memories.

What exactly was she looking for?

Suddenly, a burst of white light flooded the girl's head catching Draco off guard momentarily. He was able to get back into her mind realizing that the Haywood girl finally saw what she was looking for, or at least a part of it because she kept digging. Draco proceeded to go to Hermione's mind instead, planting wall after wall on her memories. He kept her eyes on the Haywood girl as he did this, wanting her to know that he was on to her.

Draco saw her groan in frustration. She started looking around and suddenly caught his eyes. He sat unmoving, still building walls around Hermione's memories. He should probably tell Hermione later what he had done but what's important now is that her memories are safe. The Haywood girl looked away from him and he tried to see if she was going through any other mind in the table but she had already built a wall around her mind. Draco could get through it but it was difficult. The Haywood girl may not be as talented as he was in Legilimency but she was still good.

Throughout the lunch, Draco flitted through the minds of the people around the table seeing if the Haywood girl was checking in on their thoughts. Draco released a sigh of relief when they left, finally able to enjoy his lamb chops.

Theo and Blaise decided to go clubbing for the night but the Legilimency tired Draco out so he decided not to join them. Neville had to go back to Hogwarts, and Hermione didn't have anywhere to go so she decided to go back to the house with Draco.

"This day is exhausting and it's barely nightfall." Hermione groaned crashing onto the sofa. "You have to learn Occlumency, Granger," was what Draco responded. Hermione sat up and stared at him.

"What gave you that idea?" Hermione asked.

"One of the Haywood girls was reading your mind during lunch," Draco admitted.

"You were in my head?"

"No, I was in theirs!"

"Draco!"

"Hermione?"

"That's extremely rude, going into someone's head like that and not telling them," Hermione explained.

"Well tell them that. They were in your head" Draco defended.

Hermione sighed, crossed her arms in front of her, and started thinking. She was quiet for a while, eventually saying, "On one condition,"

"You and your conditions," Draco muttered.

"You teach Occlumency, and I teach you how to cast a Patronus," Hermione said.

"I don't understand how that is beneficial to me at all," Draco argued.

"It doesn't. I just like a good barter." Hermione said, shrugging.

February 2002

"So, first," Hermione placed a cup of tea in front of Draco and sat down on the couch beside him. He looked at the cup curiously. He thought he was learning the Patronus Charm? Does the tea calm you down enough to cast it?

Ignoring his questioning stares, Hermione started talking about what he needed to do. "Dementors feed on happy memories until they just leave you with nothing but fear. Now, a Patronus is something that is made up of happy memories, which then shield you from the Dementor. They can also be very helpful communication devices but I'll teach you that later," Hermione said. She pulled her feet up, becoming comfortable on the sofa.

"To cast a Patronus you have to think of a happy memory. A very strong happy memory. Something that when you think about it, you can feel only joy," Hermione started. She looked at Draco expectantly, and said, "Now, let's talk about your happy memories."

Hermione waited for Draco to respond but he was quiet, looking like he was in deep thought.

"I'll start then. I told you how scared I was when I first tried to go to the dentist. Well, after that my parents bought me this large strawberry shortcake. I was never allowed too many sweets but Mum and Dad excused me that day and let me eat the whole cake. That was the best memory I think of as a kid," Hermione said. Draco smiled imagining little Hermione just stuffing herself with cake. "So is that your happy memory?"

"No. But I thought it would be nice to just talk about happy memories before we talk about that memory," Hermione answered, "You don't have to tell me what that memory is. Sometimes the best memories are the most personal, so I understand if you decide to keep quiet. I just thought that if we set the atmosphere, it'll be easier for you to remember the things that make you happy."

Draco nodded, "I'll share a happy memory then."

He shifted on the couch facing Hermione. "Father brought me to Diagon Alley on my 11th birthday to get my first wand. I was so excited. Once we got home, I begged him to teach me a spell. You know what he taught me. A color-changing spell and I used it on all the peacocks. Grandmother almost had a heart-attack seeing the peacocks strut the gardens of the Manor wearing different colors," Draco recalled. Hermione found herself laughing. They continued like that, interchanging stories. Hermione followed by talking about her first trip to Venice with her family, and she almost fell off the gondola. Draco then talked about a Christmas day, a few months before his grandfather, Abraxas, died. He was worried about how his father had not smiled for a while, so he created this whole presentation during Christmas where he sang about the love of a father to a son and wanting only great things for him, successfully getting Lucius to smile, and even sing along with Draco. Draco breathed in calming himself after laughing at Hermione's tale of the time she chased a monkey around the zoo.

"I think I know what my happiest memory is," Draco started. "It was just after the third year. Mum was worried about Father. He seemed tense and no one knew why. So Mum decided to take us to her family home in France," Draco looked around the house knowingly.

"This house?" Hermione answered. Draco nodded. "We spent a whole week with just the three of us, catching up on stories we haven't told. Reminiscing on all the forgotten memories. We did all the traditions we missed doing. I even got Mum to make me my favorite chocolate drink." Draco was smiling now as he reminisced the whole week from the first day to the last. Hermione had a small smile on her face, but she felt her heart clench at how heartwarming it all was. She had never met Draco's family before, but she knew that they put a lot of importance on family and that they were willing to do anything for each other. There was love there — a lot of love. "It was the last time I felt like a normal family with them," Draco recalled. The smile faltered a bit, "After that, I rarely saw them in the same room. With the Dark Lord coming back and father wanting me to quickly learn the Dark Arts, and Mum not wanting anything to do about it."

He sighed. "Whenever I try to persuade myself we were a perfect family that's the memory I remember because it was real. That at least once in our life, we were a perfect family."

Hermione smiled at him proudly, "Well, keep that memory in your head. I'll teach you the incantation now."

It took them a few hours before Draco was able to remotely create a wisp. Hermione had encouraged him all the way and assured him he was faster than most she knew.

At the stroke of midnight, Hermione decided to stop.

"Let's try again tomorrow," Hermione said. Draco nodded and pocketed his wand. He waited for Hermione to go to her room and waited for a few more minutes until he was sure she was asleep before he tried again.

Occlumency training came easier to Hermione than Patronus training did to Draco. Maybe because they didn't think about specific memories or the fact that Hermione had so much he wanted to hide from Draco than keeping her memories secret was so much easier.

They were in the living room continuing training, Draco sitting in front of Hermione, focused and sifting through her mind. "Stop looking away, Granger!" Draco instructed. Hermione blushed, whispering, "You're intimidating," Draco stopped going through her mind and stared at her.

"If you keep looking away, you lose concentration and your walls crumble," Draco said. "Now, look at me and focus." But before they could start again, the floo chimed, welcoming Blaise in.

Blaise stared at them, and at the position they were in, sitting close together with Draco leaning forward, as he dusted soot from his clothes.

"I can come back later if I'm interrupting," he said but Hermione quickly got to her feet.

"Well, that's my cue to leave," Hermione said, summoning her book bag and her cloak.

"Where are you going?" Draco sounded annoyed. Hermione didn't know if it was because she was leaving or their lessons got cut short. "I am meeting Pansy for an article she's writing about the romantic relationships of the Golden Trio," Hermione flipped her hair back as she put on her cloak. "It's for Valentines," she explained, seeing the knowing looks both men sent her way.

Hermione started buttoning her coat muttering, "To be honest, I don't even know what she'll write about me. It's not like I'm in a romantic relationship," She laughed; nobody laughed with her. She sighed through the awkward silence then proceeded to excuse herself as she floo-ed towards Diagon Alley.

"She's jumpy," Blaise commented, sitting down at the empty wingback. "And don't you have a relationship? Why is she saying you don't?" Blaise asked.

Draco shook his head. "We just kissed," he said.

Blaise scoffed, "Yes because friends kiss each other a lot."

"It was one time."

Blaise shook his finger at Draco "twice – the same day," he corrected.

Before Draco could hex him, Blaise changed the topic by asking what they were doing before he came.

"I was teaching her Occlumency," Draco remarked. Blaise raised a brow in question, sitting comfortably on the chair he already claimed was his.

"One of the Haywood girls was going through her mind when we were eating the other day. I thought it was appropriate to teach her," Draco explained.

"Do you think the Haywood girl is involved?" Blaise asked.

"I think the whole family is," Draco admitted.

Blaise released a thoughtful sigh before asking, "What do they have against you?"

Draco shrugged. "I don't think there is anything. I think someone instructed their help. The Haywoods are known for their prowess in potions." Draco said.

Blaise nodded.

"Well, whoever did this to you is checking on Hermione and maybe knows our progress. Do you think they'll come for her?" Draco thought for a while in silence. This silence was enough for Blaise an answer because he didn't press any further. Draco, though, started to worry for Hermione.

The only thing running in his mind as Blaise chattered on this new restaurant was that he hoped that Hermione would be safe from all this. She was in too deep already and Draco just hoped it doesn't cause her anything.

A/N

Sorry for the lack of updates the past week. We have typhoons so there had been constant power interruptions.

In line with that, I am planning to maximize my social media platforms to inform people of updates or lack of. I'll update both on tumblr and on instagram. So if you want to be updated you can follow me in either. I'll post the links on my profile.

Also, I would very much like to thank the two guests' reviews on the last chapter that pointed out some mistakes in my writing. I'm not a native English speaker so learning new things is always great.

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.