February 2002
Hermione woke up with her back aching. She was in her bed in her flat and yet it felt like she hadn't been sleeping there for months. It felt odd, of course, because where else would she be sleeping.
When she finally opened her eyes, she felt a stabbing pain on her temple. Where was she last night? She thought.
Hermione couldn't remember where she was — her memories were fuzzy. Did she drink perhaps? What strange was that she couldn't even remember what happened in the morning. What was happening to her?
Hermione took deep breaths before trying again to remember where she was the night before. She closed her eyes and then tried to picture the night before.
A party — yes, the Daily Prophet had a party to celebrate the completion of the team.
With another deep breath she then focused on what she was doing in the morning. She was at Andromeda's. Teddy was asleep for a while, and she and Andromeda talked. But that wasn't morning that was afternoon?
Where was she in the morning?
Hermione groaned as she racked her brain for information. She didn't mind that her head was aching — it bothered her more that she couldn't remember.
She stood up from her bed and started pacing the room. What was she doing in the morning? Closing her eyes, she willed herself to remember.
She remembered looking at Teddy's birthday gift for her and then finding something. Whatever she found caused her to run out to the living room where Zabini was waking up.
Hermione stopped.
Blaise Zabini? What was she doing with Blaise Zabini?
She whipped her head towards her bedroom door. Was he still in her living room?
Quietly, she walked out of her room — not wanting to wake up whoever was in the living room. When she got out of her room though, no one was there. She sighed in relief before walking towards the kitchen to get something to drink.
Her head really hurt. She kept remembering if she had too much to drink, but she felt too fine in the morning for someone who is supposedly drunk.
Maybe she was drugged? She thought. Hermione shook the thought away because why would someone drug her only to bring her home anyway. She didn't feel violated but if she was, merlin forbid that happened, why dress her after?
Hermione groaned. This was confusing.
She took a pen and a paper from one of the kitchen cupboards and starting down the events of yesterday.
Morning, around 9 am - woke up to Blaise Zabini sleeping in my living room sofa
9 am until late afternoon (?) - was at Andromeda's talking about something. Pipes (?)
Hermione looked at her notes. Why was she talking to Andromeda with pipes? Did she have a plumbing problem? Shaking her head, she continued taking notes.
4pm to 7pm - visited Harry. Why?
7 pm to sometime after midnight - Daily Prophet gathering. Remember Cho and Pansy being there. I stuck beside the two most of the night. Had a talk with Madeline briefly. There was a lot of drinking but I didn't drink a lot.
She stopped writing, looking through her notes again. That was all she remembered yesterday. It looked complete but why did it somehow feel like she was still missing something.
Hermione walked towards the living room feeling suffocated in the kitchen. She'll probably feel this way the whole day if she didn't start making sense of why her memories were so wonky.
Just as she was about to sit down on her couch, she saw something written on her wall. Hermione tried to remember who put it there and all she was remembering was Blaise teasing her about it and her threatening him to remove it.
Blaise.
Since when did she have such a close relationship with Blaise Zabini? The last time she saw Blaise was when they met in Australia. Had they gotten close because of that? Feeling extremely frustrated, she took her coat and decided to go to Harry's house again to borrow an owl. She needed to talk to Blaise, and she needed to do it soon.
"Hermione!" Ginny jumped when she saw Hermione emerge from the fireplace. "I need to borrow an owl," Hermione said as soon as she walked into the living room.
"Well, good morning to you too," Ginny said before showing Hermione where Hedwig II was.
"Thanks, Gin," Hermione said sheepishly.
"I didn't know you'd be in London today," Ginny said trying to read over what Hermione was writing and who she was writing to, but Hermione was successful in keeping hidden between all her hair. Ginny groaned at her lack of success.
"Where else would I be?" Hermione asked, folding the note and attaching it to Hedwig II's foot.
"In France?" Ginny sounded uncertain. "Is your job there done?" Ginny asked.
"I have no job in France," Hermione said confidently. Ginny stared at Hermione wondering what was wrong. She was going to ask her friend but decided to just go to her husband. Harry was more rational and would probably tell her she was just imagining things which would satisfy Ginny. She'd rather be imagining that Hermione didn't seem to remember anything than Hermione actually being ill.
He was in the kitchen — cooking breakfast. "Who arrived?" He asked.
"Hermione," Ginny said looking around. She bit her lower lip causing Harry to stop what he was doing. "Anything the matter?" he asked.
"I think something is wrong with Hermione," Ginny said. Harry looked at her curiously, "Is she sick?"
Ginny shook her head, "She doesn't remember having a job in France," Harry looked at her but resumed cooking. Ginny sighed and insisted he go talk to her.
"Maybe there's a wonderful explanation on why she can't remember? Maybe she drank something?" Harry said. "Can you set the table?" He added finishing his cooking.
Ginny took bread from the bowl at the centre of the table and started munching on it — a nervous habit. Harry sighed seeing this and said, "Let's talk to her while eating," placing the food he was cooking on the table. Ginny, meanwhile, went to fetch Hermione.
"Have you eaten? Harry cooked extra," Ginny said, peeking into the living room. Hermione shook her head and followed Ginny to the kitchen.
"That looks delicious," Hermione said walking towards the table, "I didn't know you cook." Hermione teased. Harry stared at Ginny, feeling a sense of déjà vu. Hermione had already asked him that, on the day of the Quidditch match with Malfoy when he cooked in the Burrow. Nevertheless, he decided to tell her again what he told her back then.
"I needed to learn to live with myself with Ginny always in practice," Harry repeated. Ginny glanced at him curiously, wondering when Harry will keep up the charade. Hermione, oblivious, scooped food onto her plate. Ginny continued glancing at Harry while they were eating, but he looked reluctant to address whatever was going on.
"How's work?" Harry suddenly asked Hermione. Hermione took a gulp of water and then said, "I'm still working on the magical creatures. It's hard to go forward when you have nothing to work with."
"Didn't you finish that already? I thought you were working on the new schools the Ministry was planning to do."
"Have I?" Hermione asked curiously, "I must have forgotten. I keep forgetting things." Ginny turned to Harry with a raised brow. "And the Ministry is planning new schools? For what?" Now Ginny looked really worried.
"Do you think we should go and check you to St. Mungo's?" Harry asked. Hermione laughed and waved him off. "I probably just had too much to drink last night. I'm sure everything will be fine in the morning," she said massaging his head. Harry and Ginny stared at each other, still looking worried. Hermione laughed. "Everything will probably get back to me in a few hours. Don't worry about it," Hermione said. She started standing up, excusing that she needed to get to work. Both Ginny and Harry followed her to the living room still very much worried.
"If it won't be fine, do you promise to go to St. Mungo's?" Ginny asked. Hermione eyed both of them suspiciously but didn't question it. Besides, they were probably just worried. "Alright, I will," Hermione said. She put on her coat and grabbed her bag from the chair and flooing to Diagon Alley.
Something was wrong.
Draco hated feeling this again, but he had an unsettling feeling that something was not quite right.
From the last time it happened, he was probably right about this again but everything was going well, His mother was almost done with the antidote, and she had been writing to him about things she remembered and his friends knew who he was — if them visiting him every day was enough of a proof for that. So what was wrong?
Hermione hadn't answered any of his owls yet, but he didn't fault her just because he knew how busy she gets especially when she wanted to finish her Daily Prophet work early. Draco remembered her having a Daily Prophet party, and they might have asked her to look into another issue Draco haven't heard before. . With the antidote technically finished, maybe Hermione decided she didn't have much to do regarding Draco's problem any more. Theo was busy with the production of the antidote while Blaise was busy funding the whole thing. Nothing was left for either Hermione nor Draco to do aside from finding who did this, and somehow that wasn't much of a priority anyway.
Still, Draco felt like he should check on Hermione.
"Draco?" Draco looked up to see Blaise and Theo looking at him expectantly. "What?" he asked.
"We asked how it's going with your mother?"
"Oh, it's going well,"
"Are you alright?"
"I just…" he stopped wondering if this was something he should confide to his friends. He shook his head then put down his papers, "Just work stuff," he lied. Theo shrugged but Blaise watched him carefully wondering what he was hiding. After a while though, with Draco obviously trying hard to hide whatever he was hiding, Blaise stopped wondering as well.
"Have you heard from Granger?" Theo suddenly asked. This caused Draco to bump into the table in front of him. Neither of his companions seemed to notice. "Why?" Blaise asked. "I was just wondering if we could get the creature-based ingredients from the magical creature sanctuary her friends work in," Theo said making Blaise snicker, "Never mind. Maybe they'll give us a pass if I use the name of my company."
Even until Blaise and Theo were gone, Draco could only think of Hermione. He decided that if Hermione won't answer his owl tonight then he'll go to her instead. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Hopefully, this time he was wrong.
"Aren't you going to sleep?" Harry said when he walked into Ginny's study. Though why she needed a study, Harry could never understand.
"I'm just writing a letter to Mr. Malfoy," Ginny said.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"I can't shake the feeling something is wrong with Hermione," Ginny admitted. Harry sighed, "Send that tomorrow when we've confirmed that she really doesn't remember anything, alright?"
Ginny nodded before putting down her quill.
The next day came and went with Ginny not being able to visit Hermione thus not being able to tell if she was fine. She wasn't able to see Hermione until the weekend when Sue invited them to eat at her place after finding out that Hermione was back in London.
When Ginny and Harry arrived at Ron's place, Hermione was already there. Ginny couldn't make her way to Hermione because Sue already pulled her aside.
"Why is Hermione acting strange?" Sue asked. "You've got to be kidding," was what Ginny blurted out. Sue looked confused but decided to let Ginny explain. The latter started telling the story of when Hermione visited them last weekend and about how she barely remembered what happened the past few days.
"Do you think someone cursed her?" Sue asked. Ginny shrugged.
"Who would do such a thing?" Sue uttered.
"Well, she had been hanging out with Slytherins. It could be them," Ron said coming up behind the two women. He had left Hermione talking to Harry, the latter looking somewhat a mix of worried and scared. Sue glared at Ron before saying, "They've proved themselves fun to be with, Ron. Don't judge."
Ron looked appalled by explaining to Sue that one game of Quidditch wasn't enough to change his views on Slytherin. "Or it might be that Draco Malfoy fellow. I knew there was something very strange about him, suddenly showing up in our lives like that." Ron added.
Sue waved him off, saying instead, "If the Slytherins or Draco did this to her shouldn't she be forgetting us and not them? What good will it do them for her to forget them? Sue explained.
Ron started thinking of an answer, before eventually saying, "Maybe they had her do something. Brew a potion? Transfigure something? Kill someone?" Both Ginny and Sue looked at him incredulously. "Look whatever it is, it might be bad enough for them to make her forget about them and what they did. They don't want a witness," Ron said.
Ginny and Sue look at each other before saying, "Look the best way to go about this is to check if there is something wrong with Hermione. It's better to bring her to St. Mungo's to check," Ginny insisted. The three of them looked at where Hermione and Harry were talking.
"That's if she wants to get checked," Sue said.
Hermione refused. She insisted that there was absolutely nothing wrong with her.
"Hermione, you don't remember being in France at all," Harry repeated. "That's because I haven't been to France in the past few months," Hermione insisted. Harry took a deep breath, trying to keep his temper in check. They've been having this conversation for the past half-hour, with Hermione rebutting everything they've said.
"Hermione, you wrote to everyone that you'll be working in France six months ago," Sue started. She stood up and went to a desk drawer in the living room. She looked for something inside before walking towards Hermione and passing her the letter she supposedly wrote.
In the letter, it said that she would be helping a certain Draco Malfoy with a job, and she needed to be in France for it. "Who is Draco Malfoy?" Hermione asked reading the letter again. "You tell us. You're the one who introduced him to us," Ron replied.
"Well…" Hermione stopped to think. His name definitely sounded familiar, but she couldn't tell where she heard the name. She voiced out her thoughts and Ginny just kept getting worried by the second. "You promised you'd go to St. Mungo's if you're not fine," Ginny remarked.
Hermione sighed, "But I feel fine. It's all of you saying that I forgot something," Hermione said.
"Because you have!" Harry exclaimed. Taking a deep breath, Harry said, "Will you just get yourself checked? If nothing is wrong with you then we'll leave it at that. We're just worried, Hermione."
She stayed silent for a few minutes trying to think of more ways to get out of this but looking at all the worried stares of her friends she decided that maybe it was best to get herself checked only to appease her friends that there wasn't anything wrong. She agreed and promised to meet up with Harry and Ron at Grimmauld Place the next day so that the three of them would go to St. Mungo's Hospital. Ginny said she'd follow, planning to do something in the morning while Sue had work to do and had to take care of Hugo.
Draco was still distracted even when he went to visit his mother the next day. Narcissa was slowly getting her memories back, and she only had one potion bottle left to drink. They were seated at the garden, Narcissa talking about how lovely the plants were this year and how she started learning how to garden, while Draco sat there… not listening.
"What is in your mind?" Narcissa said. Draco didn't answer just confirming Narcissa's suspicions that he wasn't hearing a word she was saying. She started pulling her sleeves up and prepared herself to enter Draco's mind. A few peering in here and there, and she finally got her son's attention. "You could've asked me what I was thinking and not peered in my mind," Draco said sounding very much annoyed.
Narcissa rolled her eyes, "I did. You weren't listening."
Draco apologized. "Now what is this about Ms. Granger," Narcissa started. Draco sighed and started telling his mother about this constant nagging in his head that there was something not right. "Have you owled her?" Draco nodded telling Narcissa that all his letters came back unanswered.
"Had she been like this before?" Draco shook his head. Narcissa smiled, drinking her tea. "Maybe she just got tired of you, Draco," She teased. Draco didn't find that funny. Instead, he started internalizing what his mother just said.
Maybe Hermione did get tired of him — Maybe this was her way of saying she was done.
"You know when I started getting my memories back, I was very surprised that Ms. Granger was the one you asked for help with," Narcissa pointed out.
"She was the only one who knew me. It was a big sacrifice for me but I needed someone's help," Draco explained. "And it was hers that you asked for?" Narcissa asked. "I was told only Britain had no recollection of you. There are French potioneers, Draco. You could have asked them," Narcissa remarked. Draco had thought about it. Whenever he had a fighting match with Hermione, he would always ask himself why he asked for her help in the first place. There were more established potioneers all over the world. At the end of the day though, whatever reason Draco had for doubting Hermione, she was still whom he would've picked even if he knew he had other options.
He needed Hermione then, and he needed her now.
Narcissa watched her son and he stayed quiet.
"You know how I hadn't been able to cast a Patronus the other time?" Narcissa said trying to remove Draco's thoughts from Hermione. Draco fixed himself on the seat and nodded.
"Well, I always thought that I couldn't but when I started getting my memories back of you, I tried it again," Narcissa didn't offer an explanation instead, she uttered the Patronus spell and out from her wand was a dazzling white peacock.
"Did you know that Patronus' were known to be companions before they were known to cast away Dementors?" Draco arched a brow, "Wasn't the charm created because of the Dementors?" Draco asked.
Narcissa shrugged, reaching for a grape from the centre of the table. She popped one in before saying, "Now, that's what it's being used for but now that Dementors have been banished, why continue teaching the spell?"
Narcissa decided not to continue talking about Hermione as it obviously upset Draco. She excused herself to get them a few snacks from the kitchen. While his mother was gone, Draco decided to send Hermione a message. He hadn't tried this before — Hermione hadn't thought it to him yet. But he cast his Patronus and told it only one thing: "Find Hermione for me."
The peacock found Hermione in Grimmauld Place as she was preparing to go to St. Mungo's with Harry and Ron. It trudged towards her carefully as if watching her reaction.
Hermione sat down to keep herself eye level to the Patronus who was gliding rather low to the floor.
"What can I do for you?" Hermione kindly asked. The Patronus cocked its head to the side but no voice followed. No message was left for Hermione but the peacock stayed in her presence as if the Patronus was the message itself.
Harry and Ron walked to the living room finding Hermione still observing the peacock. "Whose is that?" Ron asked. Hermione shrugged. "I don't know."
The peacock glided closer to her, and it seems to be pointing at something hanging on Hermione's neck. She looked down to see the glass vial on her neck. Odd. She never remembered getting that. Who gave it to her?
All she knew was that everyday she had an impulse to wear it even though she didn't know why. Now, Hermione felt worried about herself than she was before. If she couldn't remember even being given or buying things she seemed to often wear, then something is definitely wrong with her mind.
Hermione raised the vial and uncorked it. The peacock stared at it and then at Hermione. Hermione, seemingly knowing what to do, removed her wand and directed it to the Patronus, muttering a spell she didn't know she knew. The peacock Patronus settled itself inside the vial and Hermione then corked it.
"What did you do?" Ron asked the same time Harry said, "I didn't know you can preserve a Patronus." Hermione looked at the peacock dancing around her vial necklace before hanging the necklace around her neck. It felt comforting somehow, even though she didn't know why,
"I think Andromeda taught me. I don't really remember why," she said nonchalantly. She was the one to go to the floo first determined to get this thing over with.
"See, I told you there was nothing wrong with me," Hermione said when they got back to St. Mungo's. The healers officially said that there doesn't seem to be anything in her mind to suggest memory loss and there were no potions in her system, at least nothing they can detect. Despite that, there was a sinking feeling in Hermione's gut she couldn't shake. She didn't feel fine any more.
"I get that I'm not remembering some things, but maybe in time I will. Maybe it's just a trauma or something," Hermione excused, sitting on Harry's sofa not yet wanting to go to her flat just yet. She often found her flat very lonely though she didn't understand why. If she had been staying there for almost a year now, wouldn't she have been used to it? Still, she decided it was better to be with friends now than be alone.
"Well, I'll cook dinner while you two tell Sue everything that happened once she arrives," Harry walked out. Despite wanting to spend time with her friends, Hermione sat at the far end of the couch away from the Weasley siblings who seemed to be arguing about something and started looking at her necklace and the peacock patronus inside it again. She had watched it while they waited for her to be tested, and again when they waited for her result. Hermione didn't understand but it gave her a sense of peace. Whoever this was from, she wanted to thank them.
Ginny and Ron though, watched Hermione from the side. "I wrote to Draco about this," Ginny said. Ron looked furious, "Why would you that? What if he's the reason for this?" Ron remarked.
"Then he'd pretend he doesn't know anything and send back the post. Besides, I haven't got a reply back so maybe he's taking his time to reply," Ron huffed in disagreement but didn't argue any more. They didn't talk about their trip to the hospital or Hermione's memory until Sue arrived.
Draco spent the night at the Manor by the insistence of her mother. He promised to move back soon but Narcissa said that he should focus on his job and him visiting every once in a while was enough. When he got back to his place the next morning, he saw Hedwig II perched and asleep on his living room's window sill. Hermione had kindly told him the name of the owl when he and his friends kept calling it a rotten bird which the bird didn't take kindly on.
He stroked its feathers to wake it up. Confused and groggy it stared at Draco for a while before passing him the letter. Draco read it once, and then twice, and then for a third time. Only one thing stuck in his head, though — something was wrong with Hermione.
He hated that he was right.
March 2020
Blaise found himself in Theo's company office in Diagon Alley when he couldn't get into Draco's house. He'd been meeting Theo here for the past week, talking about the antidote. The first batch was already being processed and Theo was confident that the antidote will be ready in three months. The only thing left to do is telling the Ministry and finding a way to distribute the antidote to everyone with everyone agreeing.
"Can't we just use a thunderbird?" Blaise said, dropping his notes on the table in front of him. Theo laughed, "They're not native here, and they're very sensitive," Theo said. "I don't think anyone wants another three month typhoon," he added. Blaise smiled before retrieving his notes.
"Have you heard from Draco?" Blaise asked. Theo just shook his head, still reading the papers littered on his desk. He didn't like looking at procurement papers - all the numbers made him confused.
"Do you think something's happened to him?" Blaise asked. This caught Theo's attention. He looked up at his friends and urged him to continue.
"Do you remember when he told us about the time he thought something was wrong with us? We never returned his mail, never contacted him, didn't even go and visit?" Blaise explained.
Theo shrugged, "Yes. So?" He asked.
"Why do I feel like the same thing is happening but in reverse?" Blaise asked. Theo narrowed his eyes at Blaise, saying, "Do you think he was given Advena?" Blaise shrugged.
"That's impossible! Can the potion even be used in forgetting multiple people?" Theo asked.
"Maybe it was altered,"Blaise pointed out. Now, Theo looked worried. Still, he didn't want to think about it. He was the optimist in the group or at least he tried to be. He never admitted that something was wrong until it stared at him in the face.
Blaise scoffed, "we haven't been able to get into his office, Theo. It's been almost a month," Theo sighed. "Maybe he's in the Manor. Narcissa's memories are probably back by now, and they're enjoying some quality time as a family," Theo remarked.
"She owled me about it. Said she hasn't heard from Draco ever since his last visit," Blaise said. Before Theo can say something the door opened abruptly and Daphne walked inside the office looking very flustered.
"Something unusual happened," Daphne said dropping on the sofa across from Blaise. He and Theo eyed each other before Theo positioned himself in front of his desk.
"What?" Theo asked.
"I passed by Hermione earlier on the way back from lunch and I said hello, common courtesy, you know, and she acted like she doesn't even know me," Daphne said sounding almost annoyed. "I tried to talk to her about Draco and the potion you're working on, and she looked so confused," Daphne added. "I couldn't really ask her what's wrong because Pansy came up to us and started walking with her. I never thought they'd be friends," Daphne said the last part with a sort of sneer as if her friendship with Hermione was being taken away from her by Pansy Parkinson.
Pansy's name ringed in Blaise ear as if it triggered something. He couldn't put a finger to the feeling, but he somehow felt very cautious of Pansy, though he didn't understand why. "We need to find Draco," Blaise said.
"Why? Is Draco missing?" Daphne asked. Blaise looked at Theo again. This was getting to do without having to explain everything to everyone but Theo shook his head. Blaise nodded and took his coat.
"I'll owl you when I find something," Blaise said taking some floo from above the fireplace then deciding against it. He shoved the floo through the unlit fireplace and walked through the door. "You wasted my floo powder, you bastard!" Theo shouted after Blaise's retreating back. He walked towards the door muttering how Blaise didn't even close the door before sitting on the seat Blaise previously occupied.
"Is Draco missing?" Daphne asked again. Theo shrugged, "I don't know. But we haven't heard from him in a while," Theo said.
"Don't you think that's a cause for worry?" Daphne asked yet Theo didn't answer. He was worried, yes. But now remembering who Draco was, he knew that his friend had a tendency to go days and weeks without saying anything. It happened before, during and after their sixth year. Theo just hoped, like then, Draco had something occupying his time. He also hoped that unlike then, Draco had a plan now.
Blaise watched Hermione from across the Daily Prophet headquarters. She hadn't glanced at him once, but when she did she didn't give him any mind. The only explanation running in his mind was that she probably didn't know who he was — or she did, only she didn't have memories of having spent time together with him. Was she given Advena? Blaise thought.
If she was though, who would've given it to her?
Blaise followed Hermione from when she left the Daily Prophet until she headed home. He kept a safe distance just in case Hermione finds out he was following her. When she arrived at her flat, he watched from the ground floor of her complex. He stayed until he didn't know what else to look for. . Whoever started this knew of their progress. Well, at least that's what Blaise assumed. The only thing running in his mind as he apparated away was how nice it would be to find the person behind this and be able to put an end to it.
When he got to his small London flat, he immediately owled Narcissa and Theo. Narcissa, to ask if they could meet at the Manor and Theo, to ask if he could come with. Narcissa's response came back first and said that they can meet in the morning. Blaise updated Theo and waited for the latter's response.
As he waited, he went to work.
Blaise woke up late. He had been up all night thinking of theories and putting together a timeline. Theo had to wake him up and remind him they were meeting at the Manor. "I was already enjoying some tea with Aunt Narcissa," Theo said watching Blaise flit around the small space to get all his notes from last night. "But then she kept telling me to pick you up in case something had happened to you. Now my tea is probably going cold," "Theo, let's go," Blaise said standing in front of the fireplace interrupting Theo who was busy complaining. Theo rolled his eyes at the interruption and then followed Blaise to the fireplace. Blaise let him go first, before he followed.
Once they arrived at the Manor, Blaise didn't waste anytime to start explaining his theories. Narcissa and Theo sat on the couch both facing Blaise who was standing up in a Professor stance. He transfigured one of the windows in the living room to a blackboard — promising to Narcissa that he'd transfigure it back.
"Okay, we need to find out who did this once and for all," Blaise started. He levitated his notes in front of him not waiting for anyone to say anything. For the other two people in the room, Blaise looked nervous.
"Blaise, can you please tell us first why you decided this is necessary?" Theo asked. Blaise sighed and nodded, sitting down for a while. "I followed Hermione the whole day after I left your office, and she doesn't remember me," Blaise said. "I have a feeling that she was fed Advena," Blaise stated. "The thing is, I kind of feel that maybe Draco was given one too. If Draco doesn't remember us, then what's the point if everyone else remembers him. He might just start his own life somewhere else, and we might never find him. Or, they might return his memories a few years from now and by the time that he comes back, no one would know him in order to help him. That's why we need to find whoever is behind this and stop them," Blaise concluded standing up and taking his notes again.
Narcissa looked at Blaise worriedly then turned to Theo. He didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. If it was true, Theo understood why Blaise was paranoid. If Draco didn't know who they are, he wouldn't insist any more on an antidote. Everything they had been doing for the past months would be for nothing.
"Okay, how do you plan to do this?" Theo asked. Blaise nodded then started scribbling on the board with his wand.
"We know that Hermione was fine before Valentine's Day," Blaise said writing down the date. "That was the day we were going to visit Narcissa."
"She was supposed to come with us," Theo stated. Blaise pointed his wand at Theo to acknowledge his point. "Now what was the reason she left?" Blaise asked staring at the blackboard because even he didn't know. "You told us she got a package that morning and immediately left," Theo answered. "Yes, from that bloody owl, Hedwig II," Blaise growled writing down Hedwig II's name on the board.
"Where did she go after?" Blaise asked.
"We could owl Potter and the Weaslette —" "Potter," Blaise interrupted.
"I just said that," Theo complained.
"No I meant Ginny is Potter now too," Blaise corrected. Theo glared at him before continuing, "We should ask them what they gave Granger,"
Blaise stared at him as if asking him to write the letter. Theo scribbled something fast enough and let the Malfoy's eagle owl fly the note. "That's a big owl," Theo said watching it fly away.
As he was walking to his seat, he noticed Narcissa's sister walk in the study. "What is this little meeting I've interrupted?" Andromeda asked causing the other two to turn and look at the newcomer. Narcissa started explaining what happened. After she had finished, Andromeda took a sit at the wingback.
"She visited me and Teddy. Asked how I knew who Draco was," Andromeda revealed.
"You know who Draco is?" Theo asked.
"I've given Hermione clues, but she only realized recently, when she probably received my and Teddy's gift from Mrs. Potter," Andromeda answered nodding towards the board where the question of what Ginny sent Hermione was written.
Theo looked at Narcissa apologetically, "Well, your bird went on a futile trip," he said. Narcissa just chuckled, "He could use the flying," she remarked turning back to Blaise.
"Well since that answers it," Blaise removed the question from the board and instead changed it to what they already knew. He turned back to Andromeda and asked her what Hermione did in her home that day. Andromeda repeated the encounter while the other three listened.
"You gave her tea?" Blaise repeated, suspicion lacing his voice. Andromeda rolled her eyes, "If you think I'm a suspect then go ahead, and write me down," Andromeda challenged.
"You gave her tea and you've known Draco for a while," Blaise chanted. Eventually, he did write Andromeda's name down.
"Just in case," he explained seeing the look on Andromeda's face — disbelieving that the Slytherin boy could doubt her.
"Now where did she go next?" Blaise asked. Andromeda shrugged, "She told me she was heading to a party with the Daily Prophet staff."
"Oh yes. She received a letter while we were having tea in the Manor, just her and me," Narcissa started.
"This was before or after the incident?" Blaise asked.
"What do you think Mr. Zabini? I was with you on the day of the incident." Blaise smiled nodding then urged Narcissa to continue, "Well, it was a party to celebrate the Daily Prophet filling their staff. I did read that it was at 7 in the evening. Was she with you the whole afternoon?" Narcissa asked turning to her sister. Andromeda shook her head, "She left at four. I didn't know where she went after that."
Just that moment, the eagle owl fluttered back with a response hanging on his leg. Theo immediately went to it and read the letter. "Well, apparently the trip wasn't that futile," Theo said. "I asked what they gave her, which they answered and if they saw each other that day. Potter said he met her at his place around four to a few minutes before seven," Theo read aloud. Blaise looked ecstatic as if everything was going his way.
He started writing down everyone who seemed to interact with Hermione. "You're not actually suspecting Teddy, are you?" Theo said when Blaise wrote down the young wizard's name. Blaise then removed it, feeling foolish.
"Now you just have to write everyone on the Daily Prophet staff," Narcissa claimed. Blaise sighed and started writing down the names. He had found out the names of the staff before because he needed to find out whom to approach to give media attention to his restaurant ventures. Though he didn't know the new staff members, he was confident he knew most of them anyway.
"Who are the only people in the list who'd have something against Draco?" Theo said. Blaise started crossing out a few people. He left everyone he knew was oddly familiar that probably knows who Draco is. After he was finished, Theo asked again, "Who would be close enough to Draco to get something of his that contained his genetic makeup?"
Blaise started crossing people's names out again. The only people that was left on the list were Hermione, Harry, Pansy, and Andromeda.
"Who knows Draco even after the incident?" Blaise crossed out Harry and was about to cross out Pansy but didn't. "Do you think Pansy knows who Draco is?" Theo asked.
"I don't know," Blaise answered. "Out of the three remaining, it just doesn't seem that the other two would do this to him."
"Okay," Theo stood up and walked towards Blaise. "Why would these three want to hurt Draco?" Theo asked.
He looked at the list and started with Hermione. He wrote: tormented her growing up; called her names; physically hurt his best friend; just against each other ever since they met.
"But why would Hermione even give herself Advena if in the first place she did this to him?" Andromeda asked. Blaise looked at Andromeda as if formulating an answer. When he couldn't come up with one, he turned around and removed Hermione from the list.
Next, he wrote Andromeda's name then started listing below it, writing: her hate for him might have stemmed from the fact that he was her sister's child who gave up on her when she married a muggle-born.
"You do know we can read that right, Mr. Zabini?" Narcissa said. Blaise smiled shyly but continued.
He added: might blame him for the loss of his husband and daughter just because he was a Death Eater.
After not knowing what to write any more, Blaise wrote Pansy's name, adding a question mark beside it to mark that they were unsure of her.
Nonetheless, he wrote: broke her heart in school; called her names, and always thought she was inferior to him; left her to die during the Battle of Hogwarts. Blaise stopped, not sure how to write the next line. He never knew if Draco had told Narcissa what happened at his trial. Narcissa didn't go to the trial but Blaise and the rest of their friends did.
Theo took out his wand and wrote for Blaise. Theo wrote: got her father killed when he gave up Mr. Parkinson's hideout during his trial.
"That seems like such a compelling motive," Andromeda said. All of them agreed. It was all over Daily Prophet how the Parkinson's were now going to grovel their way up because not only did they lose the head of their household, they also lost everything Mr. Parkinson owned. Pansy and her family basically had to either work for what they've lost or pray that Pansy be married to a rich family.
"But we don't know if Pansy knows who he is?" Blaise said. "She might have drank the potion as well, to forget all that," Andromeda stated.
Before anyone can say anything, an owl flew into the room. It was from Draco's company. Blaise, recognizing the owl immediately went and read the note. It was from Draco's secretary and it said, "Dear Mrs. Malfoy, you told me to inform you of Mr. Malfoy's whereabouts in case I find information of it. As of now, he's in his home in France."
Theo and Blaise didn't hesitate. They fixed up and grabbed their coats, heading towards Draco's flat.
A/N
The next chapters might be a little delayed. Maybe a week but I'm not entirely sure. A miracle might happen and I end up not being busy. lol. Anyway, two chapters left ahhh! Comment if you liked it.