Present-day

"Hermione!" Draco shouted as he bolted up right.

Blinking he looked around recognizing the hospital wing of Hogwarts. And in the bed next to him was her. She looked just the same as she had back in their sixth year, but something didn't seem right. Raising a hand, he reached for her and nearly fell out of bed as the sleeve of his left arm pulled back, showing nothing but bare skin. Gasping he pulled the sleeve over his elbow and gaped at the unmarked skin his mind racing as he tried to remember if he'd even been marked or not.

"I was right, it did work," an unfamiliar voice said as Draco jerked towards the sound finding a girl standing next to his bed. She was pretty, with fiery red hair that should have marked her as a Weasley but the American accent she spoke with disproved that.

"What worked?" Draco asked as he shook his head in confusion. "What happened? The last thing I remember I was jumping in front of Hermione blocking a killing curse," Draco said with conviction as he looked up at the girl. A hand running over his face as he suddenly realized, "I also had fur!" He shouted.

The girl giggled as she watched him pat down his body, revealing it was the same lithe frame he had in his sixth year, not the overly large and contorted frame he distinctly remembered having for the last six years. "My spell. Well, my family's spell. It allowed you to live the life you were meant to," she spoke as she looked the boy over.

She hadn't noticed him before he'd been hit by her spell but there was something different about him. Shrugging she figured it was the byproduct of the spell as his voice broke her thoughts.

"Why?" He croaked blinking rapidly as he tried to remember what had happened in the great hall.

He'd heard Potter shout for her, but he'd kept his head tucked into the book he'd been reading about vanishing cabinets. But the next thing he knew he'd been hit by something and it was as if years just passed before him in a flash. The plot to kill the headmaster, the war, the aftermath, the years he'd spent as a beast. Hermione, just Hermione the only bright spot in his life since he'd been a child before Hogwarts when his father left him and his mother alone when what it meant to be a Malfoy hadn't been crammed into his head and down his throat till, he was choking on the expectations.

"Because without it she'd have no hope," Rebecca said and Draco looked back at Hermione.

Sighing he looked at her, noting that she was far too still, it wasn't like he meant to at first but as he spent time glaring at Potter, he had noticed some of her habits. Like the fact that she was never still, always twitching, or moving in some way. Even when she was reading, she'd play with her hair, or bite her lip, hell he'd watched her in the library once and timed how long she stayed in one position which was only a minute top. And soon his head was filled with memories of their time spent in his potion's lab… the manor grounds that she had forced him to walk with her one day when the results were still inconclusive and it had pissed him off, then it became a habit. The jabs, the jokes, the laughter, her wit, which he had at one time hated but now... and now she was deathly still and that upset him more than he wanted. In fact, it scared him how much that bothered him.

"Nothing's changed... I... I don't deserve her," he spoke quietly never taking his eyes off of her.

"I dare say you don't," the American said bluntly happy that he winced at the truth. "But I also know it's her decision. And if you woke up then... Then she wants you as much as you want her," Rebecca sighed as she moved towards the door. "So, my advice, don't keep her waiting too long," the girl left leaving Draco alone as he knelt down next to Hermione.

He studied her for several long moments as he thought about everything that they had shared. "I don't know what would be worse at this point, you waking up or not," he said to her scoffing, taking one of her hands into his. "But as you've told me before, I'm too selfish for my own good,"

Harry thrummed his fingers on the table as he read over the sole book on Fable magic he could find in the school's library. Even Flourish and Botts didn't own a single volume on the elusive magic he'd read it nearly a thousand times and yet it hadn't provided any answers yet. Neville had had his own elves check at Longbottom manor and found nothing, and the once shy Gryffindor had used all his political influence to have the other heirs he knew to check their libraries but the few books that had been found were either a replica of the one he had or had been proven to be fake with false information. He'd been considering seeing if Dobby could check the Black library, but was trying to avoid doing so as the elf was already exhausted from constantly checking every rare book dealer in the magical world. Right now, he was in Japan consulting with a dealer.

"Mate chill it's only been two weeks," Ron sighed as he filled his plate for the third time.

"And that's two weeks too long!" Harry shouted in rage as the hall seem to stop and stare at the two. It wasn't off to find them at odds over the last few weeks if they were found in each other's company then they were probably fighting as McGonagall had spelled them to keep them from getting into physical blows again. "God Ron, what the hell?! Hermione is upstairs cursed and all you can think about is your stomach!" Harry growled as he moved to grab Ron's plate, but the red head covered it just in time.

"It's not like we can do anything," the red head said with his mouth full.

"I'm going to go talk to Luna again," Harry growled in anger as he slammed the book closed. He was hoping she had heard back from her father who was searching in the forests of eastern Europe for a supposed expert in fable magic.

"Harry," Ginny said as he looked towards her, seeing that she was staring at the door, Harry turned and nearly fell over as he watched Malfoy walk back into the hall. But he stopped and turned, and actually smiled before holding out a hand and saying something that he couldn't hear. But as another hand found its way into the one offered Harry dropped the books in his hands as Hermione stepped into the hall.

A/N: Hey everyone I just want to thank you all for all the love that I've gotten from this fic. We are in no way done so buckle up and for the rest and I'll see you next week.