A Walk to Remember – Chapter 2
They were meant for each other..
Though they didn't know..
She would change him forever,
And he will find true love.
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Author's Notes: Hi guys, thanks for the reviews. I'm not really expecting lots of reviews `cause my HP fan fictions always get less reviews than my Daniel Radcliffe fan fictions. :P But I'm over it. Um, just to answer a reviewer's question: No, Hermione is not going to get cancer. That will be too—movie-like. And yes, it's fun imagining Draco working at a soup kitchen. I can already imagine it ;) So here's chapter 2.
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Draco cringed when his last lesson was over for the day. He so did not want to go that soup kitchen or work at it. He dragged himself towards the Slytherin's common room, muttered the password to the portrait, and fetched his cloak, for it was a windy day. Pansy appeared out of no where and asked, "Draco, honey, where are you going?"
"Hogsmeade," he murmured, hoping that she wouldn't bombard him with questions. Without doubt, she did bombard him with questions. "Why are you going to Hogsmeade? It's only Thursday! Can I come with you?" she asked excitedly. Draco looked at her strangely, and mumbled, "No, Pansy—It's not for fun,"
"What are you going to do there?" Pansy asked impatiently. Draco wondered if he should tell her, but decided against it. Pansy could bleat out his so-called secret' to everyone from Slytherin. "Um—I'm just going there, that's all. For an assignment, as a punishment for the trick I played on Mcgonagall," he blurted out.
"Oh, I see." She said. "Well, you go have fun there! And you can even skip your assignment too!" she added wickedly, as though it was going to be wicked, defying the most stern teacher in the whole school. "Draco, you have to buy me those chocolate roses okay? Remember! And buy me that necklace I show you last week end, and—
"See you later, Pansy," Draco said, getting out of the portrait hole, feeling very irritated. He walked to Hogsmeade, bearing the cold wind that made his silky hair went normal. "Oh, great," he murmured, gritting his teeth. The wind blew again, whipping his hair off his face.
When he arrived at Hogsmeade, there was no one on the streets. He passed the Three Broomsticks, and the local bar, Hogs Head, to see that it was crowded with people. "We have got to cast the Engorgement Spell to make this place bigger!" he heard the drunken voice of the bar tender.
Draco shook his head and made his way forward. "Julian," he said out loud, reading the painted words on the piece of wood that was glued on the entrance door. He opened the door and entered. It was a cheerful place, with yellow painted wall, and there were lots of wizards and even ogres dining in the soup kitchen.
They were talking cheerfully and everybody seemed to be in a good mood, despite the fact they looked rather pale and worn out. Draco saw a woman smiling and feeding her baby some soup. "Oy, are you Draco Malfoy of Hogwarts?" said a voice behind him.
Draco turned and saw an eldered wizard, who was wearing gray robes. He had a kindly face, sort of like Dumbledore, and green eyes, just like Harry's. He was wearing gray robes and he was carrying a basket of buns. "Yes," Draco replied. "Whom might you be?"
"Ah, you're quite a polite chap, not at all of what Minerva explained to me," the wizard said, smiling at him. "Just call me Joe. I like that name a lot," Draco looked at him, and asked, "Is that your real name?" Joe smiled at him and said, "Of course not, laddy! I use that name because when someone calls me by that name, I feel young,"
"Oh, how old are you then? You look older than Dumbledore," Draco asked, trying to distract Joe from asking him to do jobs right away. "Nice trick," Joe said, winking at him. "`Ere. You can give out buns towards everyone."
Draco stifled a groan and went off to give out buns to everyone. After he finished doing it, he went towards the kitchen, and his mouth dropped open in surprise.
"Granger, what the hell are you doing here?" he blurted out.
Hermione looked up, and gave a start when she saw him. "Malfoy?" she said, her eyes wide with surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Hey, Hermione, who are you talking to?" said a girl's voice. They both turned around and saw a young woman around twenty with black hair and blue eyes, staring at them both. "You must be the new worker!" the girl said cheerfully. "My name is Christina, just call me Chris,"
She held out her hand for him to shake and he unwillingly shook it. Then, he turned to Hermione, who was folding her arms. "This is Draco Malfoy. He's from Slytherin," she said, scowling at him. Christina looked at them both and smiled. "Hey, Hermione, aren't you from Slytherin?" she asked. "You two must know each other then—
"I am not from Slytherin," Hermione said, looking annoyed. "I'm from Gryffindor," she looked at Draco pointedly and turned back to her work. "Well, it's nice having you here, Draco," Christina said. Draco didn't say anything or smiled at her. He just stared at the row of boxes of food, and chocolates.
"I see that you're starving?" Christina said, grinning. She took a Chocolate Frog from the upper shelf and handed it to him. He took it and put it in his pocket. "When do all these food last?" he asked quietly. Hermione put down the spoons and forks very sharply in the drawer, making Christina stare at her, puzzled.
"Well," she said and smiled. "Guess,"
"A year?" Draco said tentatively. Hermione snorted and shook her head. He glared at her. Christina smiled and shook her head. "Guess again," she said, cutting tomatoes with a wave of her wand. "Chris—Joe told us not to use magic, remember?" Hermione butted in.
"We have to do work quickly, Hermione," she replied.
"Um.. six months?" he guessed.
Christina shook her head again.
"Between two months and five?" he said.
"Nope,"
"A month?" he said hopelessly.
"Nope. Try two days," Christina said, smiling wistfully. "Uncle Joe's trying to get more donations, but there aren't enough. There are lots of wizards who don't realize that some others need help—and we need help too. We need more workers here." Draco looked away, trying to ignore the pang of guilt in his heart.
"Why don't you go and make sandwiches, Draco?" she said, looking away from him. He could see that she was very disappointed but he couldn't help that. "Chris, I think people have the right to decide whether to donate items or not," he said. Hermione glared at him.
Christina looked at him, shocked. He was expecting her to yell at him, to glared at him, to walk away, to slap him, or scold him, or snap at him, but instead, she smiled kindly at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I was like this when I was seventeen, Draco," she said. "But I found out what life really means after a while," he stared at her, confused. "You'll understand, soon," she added, laughing.
Then, she smiled at them both brightly and said, "You guys have a good time working here, all right?" and went out of the kitchen. "You were very rude," Hermione said. Draco glared at her and said, "Oh, really? And you were, oops! I think I dropped the forks and spoons sharply! Oops..! What a good idea, to make Draco uncomfortable while talking with Christina! What the hell is Draco doing? Being so, so rude. Oh, I have to get back to my work before they distract me again! I'm trying to make a theory about the Moth Man Prophecies!'"
"You're horrible! And I never, and I will never, ever call you by your first name!" Hermione yelled and went off, carrying a tray of sandwiches. Draco glared at her back until it disappeared. Shit, I have another 2 hours left. What he hell should I do? He thought. It was already six o'clock.
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"Waaa!!" the baby cried hysterically. The mother tried to shush him, but no to avail. Hermione looked hopelessly at it. What should she do? "Shh," she said kindly, but the baby continued to cry. "Does he have a fever or something?" Christina asked. The mother looked at them both and nodded slightly.
"I have to call Uncle Joe," Christina said, getting up and running towards the kitchen. She came back with her cloak on. "Try to keep the baby quiet and calm, all right, Hermione?" and with that, she ran out of the soup kitchen. Hermione sighed a little. She didn't know how to keep the baby calm.
"How can I make her quiet?" the mother said. "Is she going to die? She's all I have left."
Hermione bit her lip. "Let me carry the baby," she said. The mother unwillingly handed her the baby and Hermione tried to rock him to sleep, but he wouldn't stop crying.
Draco made his way over her and asked, "What's going on?"
"It's the baby. He's sick and he can't stop crying!" she said desperately.
"`Cause you're doing it wrong," Draco said taking the baby gently away from her. "I can't sing this girl song, `cause it'll make me look like a gay. Do you know the song Only Hope'?"
Hermione stared at him. "But you don't like Muggles!"
"I like their songs," he said with difficulty. "Do you know the song or not?"
"Of course." She said.
"Well, sing it," he muttered. "And I'll rock him to sleep,"
"Sing to me the song—of the stars,
Of the galaxy dancing and laughing and laughing again,
When it feels like my dreams—so far,
Sing to me all the plans that you have for me over again,
So I lay my hand back down,
And I lift my hand and pray,
To be only yours,
I pray,
To be only yours,
I know now, you're my only hope.." she sang.
The baby slowly closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Soon, it was sound asleep. Draco stared at Hermione. "Hermione, he's all right again," he said slowly. She stared at him. "What? That's great!" she said, smiling. She took the baby from him and handed it to his mother.
Fifteen minutes later, Joe and Christina entered Julian. Joe was shocked to see that the baby was cured. "This is a miracle!" he exclaimed. "Mrs. Jefferson, your son is going to be quite all right. No need to be worried about it. You can stay here if you want. We have a room available."
"Thank you so much," she said, crying.
Hermione handed the baby to Christina and she turned to Draco. "Thanks for your help," she said with difficulty. Draco smiled slightly and shrugged. Hermione had never seen him smile like that before. "Granger," he said. "Can I ask how you cured the baby?"
"Um, what? I didn't cure the baby," she said, feeling rather uncomfortable.
"You did. Granger—
"Why are you pressing this? I didn't cure the baby, all right?" Hermione said angrily. "Now leave me alone!"
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Draco just stared thoughtfully at his tankard of butter beer. He was going to have to head back to school in ten minutes. If Hermione didn't cure the baby, how could he be cured so quickly? He took a sip of his butter beer and at the exact moment, Christina sat on the seat opposite him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked incredulously.
"What are you doing here?" Christina asked, smiling. "You're suppose to be at school,"
"Not for another six minutes," Draco muttered.
"Are you always like this, Draco?" she asked, laughing. Draco looked at her and asked, "Like what?"
"Glum, scowling, naughty, bad guy?" she said.
"Maybe," he muttered.
"Don't you know the meaning of life?" Christina asked. Draco looked at her and for the first time, he felt unhappy. No, it wasn't his first time. He was always unhappy. Sure, he always seemed so evil, teasing Harry and the Gryffindors, making other student's lives miserable and jeering about the death of Cedric Diggory.
"I don't have a life," he said bitterly.
"You do. You just don't appreciate it," Christina said. "Nor do you treat it well,"
"Do you mean by the people that I meet?" he asked.
"Well, life is not the people that you meet but, you are rather rude towards other people, like Hermione, for instance." Christina said lightly.
"And you?"
Christina shook her head. "No, Draco. Like I said, I was like you when I was seventeen. I, myself, was in Slytherin, and I always do bad things towards other people. Until—until something happened," she muttered. "Something happened that taught me the real meaning of life, that there is a whole world out there, waiting for me to explore it."
"What happened?" Draco asked curiously.
"Never mind," she said softly. "I think you should go back to school now, Draco. Remember what I said,"
Draco smiled at her and said, "Are we friends?"
"Of course," she replied, smiling at him. Then, she hugged him in a sisterly way. "I'll see you tomorrow, all right?" she said. Draco nodded and went out of the Three Broomsticks.
And when he before he went to sleep. He wondered if she was right. He wondered if he actually have a life, but he was not using' it right.
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So I lay my hand, back down!!! And I lift my hand and pray, to be only yours, I pray, to be only yours, I pray!! Oops.. sorry, I got carried away there. So click on the review button and review this story. What on earth are you waiting for? =)