A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers, yet again! You really help me keep going
so, if you want quicker updates, you'll just have to review more ;oD. Big
thanks to Spazy Sange, my new Beta for helping me speak English, lol, my
typing really is BAD!
Disclaimer: Don't own anything, except that great daydream where Draco.. never mind!
Chapter 5: A Simple Request
It had been nearly a week since Hermione's last visit, and Draco was starting to doubt that she'd ever come back. True to her word, she'd sent someone to come and talk to him about his past, a small mousy girl who had been in Ravenclaw. From her, Draco had learned the whole truth about himself, how he had ruthlessly tormented Hermione and her friends, and was in general a bit of a prick. 'No wonder she doesn't want to come back and see me, considering how much of a wanker I've been to her in the past.' Draco thought bitterly. 'Ahh, but if she really hated you for that, then why did she come and visit you in the first place? And, why did she bring you all those presents? Why was she so nice to you the first time she came to visit you?'
Draco shushed his mind hurriedly, he didn't like thinking that the reason Hermione didn't visit wasn't because of his past. That meant that the reason she didn't come was because of something that he'd done since his accident. 'I shouldn't have kissed her.' he thought, with a pang of regret.
Hermione was also feeling bad; she didn't like the thought that she'd abandoned Draco. 'This isn't fair on him or me. People are starting to talk, just cos I'm not doing my usual Hermione the new Florence Nightingale routine. People think that I'm becoming unprofessional, letting my past interfere with the treatment of my patients.' As much as she didn't want to do it, Hermione was going to have to visit Draco again. She wasn't going to let her career suffer because she didn't want Draco to reject her when he got his memory back.
Hermione was getting regular progress reports from Helga, the Ravenclaw girl that she'd asked to talk to Draco. Apparently, he still couldn't remember a thing, but he was horrified when he heard about how horrible he was to Hermione. As much as she'd tried to hide it, Hermione had felt a little rush of pleasure when she'd heard that. 'Maybe if he regrets it, he'll change when he gets his memory back.' Piped up Hermione's inner self delightedly. 'Then again maybe not.'
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
It was nearly four in the afternoon when Hermione's shift ended and she made her way up to Draco's private room in the men's ward. She'd been putting the visit off for a while and since she'd had holiday time forced on her by the supervisor, the visit had to be now. Hermione grimaced at the memory of her supervisor's stern face. "Look Hermione, I don't want you collapsing of exhaustion while you're working. It'd look bad for the hospital, so you ARE taking holiday time, I don't care what you do with it, but you're taking it."
Despite Hermione's protests that she was fine, Dr Markus had refused to be moved, and so Hermione was looking at two weeks curled up with the latest medical textbooks on her sofa. Sighing, she pushed open Draco's door, and quietly stepped in, looking around to see where he was.
Draco was sitting in his armchair, with a book open in his lap, but he was staring out of the window rather than reading it. He didn't even notice that Hermione had walked in, so she took the time to admire his profile outlined against the glorious sunshine. 'God he looks good.' She thought to herself, before clearing her throat, alerting Draco to her presence, and knocking him out of his silent reverie. He looked up, startled, and then allowed himself to break out into a wide, delighted smile.
"Hermione! It's so good to see you! You've been hiding yourself away, it's been what, a week since you last visited me? I was beginning to think that it was something I'd done!" He joked, though there was seriousness in his eyes that Hermione noticed
"No, I've just been very busy lately, what with work and stuff." There was an awkward silence, as the two of them wracked their brains to try and come up with a suitable conversation topic. Draco was the first to break the silence, much to Hermione's relief, however her relief quickly faded when she heard his conversation topic.
"I've been getting on well with Helga, and making a lot of progress, we've covered the whole of Hogwarts."
'What's he gonna say? Is he going to apologise, what am I supposed to do if he starts to apologise?' Hermione's mind quickly babbled, while Draco slowly continued.
"I found out that I was mean to you, and I just want you to know that I really am sorry. I know that it probably doesn't mean much after all the years that I tormented you, but I am sorry."
"That's okay Draco; honestly, it doesn't bother me any more. We were kids, and kids do stupid things to hurt each other."
'Oh shit. I hurt her, I know she's only pretending that it doesn't matter, I can see it in her eyes. How could I have been such a blind fool, what did she ever do to me that I took it upon myself to make her life hell, and I must have by the look in her eyes. I wish I knew what it was that I said to her to make her dislike me so much. Damn Helga for refusing to say.'
They both sat in silence for a few minutes, each completely wrapped up in their own thoughts. Draco in his silent guilt over his past self's deeds, and Hermione in her remembered pain over Draco's constant insults and put- downs. 'Well this is going well Hermione, come on say something! You never had this problem the first time you saw him, or when you saw his scars.'
"I've brought a message from the doctor in charge of your case. He thinks that you're well enough to go home tomorrow." Hermione announced, expecting Draco to jump up and down with joy, and definitely not expecting the reaction that she got.
"What?! No, I'm not ready; don't make me leave, please Hermione, please!" Hermione's jaw dropped with shock over Draco's sudden and passionate outburst.
"What, I thought that you would have been pleased to go home, and get out of this boring place!"
"Home?! You think that where I lived before is home? I don't even know where it is! This is the only place that I know now, and besides, I don't know anybody but the people here, you and Helga." Hermione mentally chastised herself for being so insensitive, she'd basically forgotten that he knew nothing of his home, and therefore returning to it would hold no importance to him.
"Look, I'm sorry; I didn't think. well I'm sorry. I was completely stupid and insensitive. I'm just so used to people being ecstatic that they can go home, that it never crossed my mind that you wouldn't be happy either."
"No I'm sorry, you were just being nice, and I completely bit your head off, I apologize." Draco trailed off into silence and his eyes glazed over.
"Draco? Draco, are you alright. what's wrong?"
Draco was held in the grip of a memory, his first memory of his life from before. In it, he and Hermione were facing each other in a stone walled corridor, and were wearing matching robes with the same crest on their left breast pocket, but with a different colour tie on underneath their robes. His was silver and green diagonal stripes, while her's was gold and red. Draco immediately realised that this must be at Hogwarts, and what struck him as strange was that he wasn't seeing this memory from his point of view, but an outsider's. He looked about fourteen in this memory, and he guessed that they must have been in their third year at school.
Young Draco had a sneer on his face, and looked completely snotty and annoying to the current Draco. Young Hermione was flushed with rage, and her normally warm honey-brown eyes were flashing with anger.
The memory unfolded around Draco, and he watched on, as his young self stormed off down the corridor, still wearing the sneering scowl, followed by two bulky looking henchmen. Hermione stayed still in the corridor looking on the verge of tears, as two boys came up behind her. One, with black hair, hugged her and appeared to be asking if she was alright, while the other, with bright ginger hair patted her on the shoulder. These must be Harry and Ron, Draco deduced. 'They look like the friends that she deserves to have' Thought Draco approvingly. The three then walked off together in the same direction that he himself had stalked off in.
Abruptly Draco was back in his hospital room, with Hermione kneeling in front of him, waving her hand in front of his eyes, repeating his name over and over with a tinge of panic in her voice.
"I'm back, I just remembered something though, about my past, and it had you in it."
Hermione sat down in the chair opposite his and prepared for his comment about her being a Mudblood, and for her to get out of his room. It didn't come however and she was surprised by his next words.
"You and I were standing in a corridor, and you looked angry at me, although I don't remember what happened. God we must really have had some bad arguments! I suppose they were all childish really, but I've remembered something, and that must be a good thing right? You looked like you really hated me though, do you still hate me? You can leave if you do, or if you haven't forgiven me and don't want to speak to me. You don't need to stay out of pity you know." Draco's voice had taken a bitter twist to it at the end, and Hermione's heart wrenched at the sound of it.
Draco sat quietly, fully expecting Hermione to reveal her complete hatred for him, or just walk out, relieved that she never had to speak to him again. He was surprised by how upset he was that she hated him. 'Well, you're in a right situation now aren't you Draco, my lad? I think you're falling for this beautiful girl that you so mercilessly tormented in your forgotten past. Dearie me, talk about your divine retribution, she must be laughing her ass off!'
"I did hate you, yes, but I don't now. We were just children, and all children do things to hurt each other. You aren't the person that was mean to me, and honestly I don't think that you ever thought about the consequences as a child. I think that you were just parroting what your father had taught you, and you never really meant what you said, that you were just keeping up appearances. Now that your free from your fathers brutality and his teachings you can show your true self, and the fact that you apologised is enough to make me stay"
'Wow, talk about an outpouring of emotion there Hermione! Well, I think that it's fairly obvious that you're falling for Draco Malfoy, which in all honesty, probably isn't the best move!' Draco's relief at Hermione's words was so great that he almost sighed out loud. 'You have been blessed by the Gods, Draco Malfoy, now talk to her and make sure that she doesn't regret her decision to not leave.'
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
After their unsteady beginning, Draco and Hermione were soon chatting away like old friends, or new lovers. Hermione didn't know why she'd put off her visit for so long, because Draco was so easy to talk to that she felt that she'd known him for years. Draco was just so glad that Hermione hadn't walked out of his life forever that he was content to just sit there and chat for hours.
"Anyway, I'd better be going. I've probably been here for quite some time, cos I can see that the sun's gone down." Hermione glanced at her watch, and then looked back again, not quite believing what it said.
"It cannot be 10:30! I've been here for six and a half hours. God, you must be dying for me to leave!"
"It only seems five minutes since you got here though! It can't have been six hours!"
"They'll shoot me for this, especially with you having such a big day tomorrow what with you going home and everything."
"Oh Gods, don't remind me, I'm really dreading it, I mean I'm leaving behind everything I know to go to a place that'll probably trigger nothing but bad memories for me."
"I didn't know you were dreading it that much, do you want me to go and ask Dr Markus if you can stay for a while, until you feel ready to leave?"
"No, I've got to get it over with. It would be so much easier if I could have somebody with me though. I don't suppose that you want to."
"Want to what?" Asked Hermione, genuinely confused as to what he wanted.
"Well, you said that you had some forced holiday time, and that you had nothing to do. I was just wondering if you would maybe do me a huge favour and come and stay with me while I adjust. No wait, forget that I asked, it was a stupid idea. I'm sure that you don't want to give up your free time and hard earned holiday to come and look after me." Draco's face had dejection mixed with blind hope and Hermione's heart broke for him, before she even knew what she was doing she'd already replied.
"Of course I will Draco, I mean what are friends for right?"
At the look of delight and pleasure on his face, she was suddenly glad that she'd said she would go.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything, except that great daydream where Draco.. never mind!
Chapter 5: A Simple Request
It had been nearly a week since Hermione's last visit, and Draco was starting to doubt that she'd ever come back. True to her word, she'd sent someone to come and talk to him about his past, a small mousy girl who had been in Ravenclaw. From her, Draco had learned the whole truth about himself, how he had ruthlessly tormented Hermione and her friends, and was in general a bit of a prick. 'No wonder she doesn't want to come back and see me, considering how much of a wanker I've been to her in the past.' Draco thought bitterly. 'Ahh, but if she really hated you for that, then why did she come and visit you in the first place? And, why did she bring you all those presents? Why was she so nice to you the first time she came to visit you?'
Draco shushed his mind hurriedly, he didn't like thinking that the reason Hermione didn't visit wasn't because of his past. That meant that the reason she didn't come was because of something that he'd done since his accident. 'I shouldn't have kissed her.' he thought, with a pang of regret.
Hermione was also feeling bad; she didn't like the thought that she'd abandoned Draco. 'This isn't fair on him or me. People are starting to talk, just cos I'm not doing my usual Hermione the new Florence Nightingale routine. People think that I'm becoming unprofessional, letting my past interfere with the treatment of my patients.' As much as she didn't want to do it, Hermione was going to have to visit Draco again. She wasn't going to let her career suffer because she didn't want Draco to reject her when he got his memory back.
Hermione was getting regular progress reports from Helga, the Ravenclaw girl that she'd asked to talk to Draco. Apparently, he still couldn't remember a thing, but he was horrified when he heard about how horrible he was to Hermione. As much as she'd tried to hide it, Hermione had felt a little rush of pleasure when she'd heard that. 'Maybe if he regrets it, he'll change when he gets his memory back.' Piped up Hermione's inner self delightedly. 'Then again maybe not.'
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
It was nearly four in the afternoon when Hermione's shift ended and she made her way up to Draco's private room in the men's ward. She'd been putting the visit off for a while and since she'd had holiday time forced on her by the supervisor, the visit had to be now. Hermione grimaced at the memory of her supervisor's stern face. "Look Hermione, I don't want you collapsing of exhaustion while you're working. It'd look bad for the hospital, so you ARE taking holiday time, I don't care what you do with it, but you're taking it."
Despite Hermione's protests that she was fine, Dr Markus had refused to be moved, and so Hermione was looking at two weeks curled up with the latest medical textbooks on her sofa. Sighing, she pushed open Draco's door, and quietly stepped in, looking around to see where he was.
Draco was sitting in his armchair, with a book open in his lap, but he was staring out of the window rather than reading it. He didn't even notice that Hermione had walked in, so she took the time to admire his profile outlined against the glorious sunshine. 'God he looks good.' She thought to herself, before clearing her throat, alerting Draco to her presence, and knocking him out of his silent reverie. He looked up, startled, and then allowed himself to break out into a wide, delighted smile.
"Hermione! It's so good to see you! You've been hiding yourself away, it's been what, a week since you last visited me? I was beginning to think that it was something I'd done!" He joked, though there was seriousness in his eyes that Hermione noticed
"No, I've just been very busy lately, what with work and stuff." There was an awkward silence, as the two of them wracked their brains to try and come up with a suitable conversation topic. Draco was the first to break the silence, much to Hermione's relief, however her relief quickly faded when she heard his conversation topic.
"I've been getting on well with Helga, and making a lot of progress, we've covered the whole of Hogwarts."
'What's he gonna say? Is he going to apologise, what am I supposed to do if he starts to apologise?' Hermione's mind quickly babbled, while Draco slowly continued.
"I found out that I was mean to you, and I just want you to know that I really am sorry. I know that it probably doesn't mean much after all the years that I tormented you, but I am sorry."
"That's okay Draco; honestly, it doesn't bother me any more. We were kids, and kids do stupid things to hurt each other."
'Oh shit. I hurt her, I know she's only pretending that it doesn't matter, I can see it in her eyes. How could I have been such a blind fool, what did she ever do to me that I took it upon myself to make her life hell, and I must have by the look in her eyes. I wish I knew what it was that I said to her to make her dislike me so much. Damn Helga for refusing to say.'
They both sat in silence for a few minutes, each completely wrapped up in their own thoughts. Draco in his silent guilt over his past self's deeds, and Hermione in her remembered pain over Draco's constant insults and put- downs. 'Well this is going well Hermione, come on say something! You never had this problem the first time you saw him, or when you saw his scars.'
"I've brought a message from the doctor in charge of your case. He thinks that you're well enough to go home tomorrow." Hermione announced, expecting Draco to jump up and down with joy, and definitely not expecting the reaction that she got.
"What?! No, I'm not ready; don't make me leave, please Hermione, please!" Hermione's jaw dropped with shock over Draco's sudden and passionate outburst.
"What, I thought that you would have been pleased to go home, and get out of this boring place!"
"Home?! You think that where I lived before is home? I don't even know where it is! This is the only place that I know now, and besides, I don't know anybody but the people here, you and Helga." Hermione mentally chastised herself for being so insensitive, she'd basically forgotten that he knew nothing of his home, and therefore returning to it would hold no importance to him.
"Look, I'm sorry; I didn't think. well I'm sorry. I was completely stupid and insensitive. I'm just so used to people being ecstatic that they can go home, that it never crossed my mind that you wouldn't be happy either."
"No I'm sorry, you were just being nice, and I completely bit your head off, I apologize." Draco trailed off into silence and his eyes glazed over.
"Draco? Draco, are you alright. what's wrong?"
Draco was held in the grip of a memory, his first memory of his life from before. In it, he and Hermione were facing each other in a stone walled corridor, and were wearing matching robes with the same crest on their left breast pocket, but with a different colour tie on underneath their robes. His was silver and green diagonal stripes, while her's was gold and red. Draco immediately realised that this must be at Hogwarts, and what struck him as strange was that he wasn't seeing this memory from his point of view, but an outsider's. He looked about fourteen in this memory, and he guessed that they must have been in their third year at school.
Young Draco had a sneer on his face, and looked completely snotty and annoying to the current Draco. Young Hermione was flushed with rage, and her normally warm honey-brown eyes were flashing with anger.
The memory unfolded around Draco, and he watched on, as his young self stormed off down the corridor, still wearing the sneering scowl, followed by two bulky looking henchmen. Hermione stayed still in the corridor looking on the verge of tears, as two boys came up behind her. One, with black hair, hugged her and appeared to be asking if she was alright, while the other, with bright ginger hair patted her on the shoulder. These must be Harry and Ron, Draco deduced. 'They look like the friends that she deserves to have' Thought Draco approvingly. The three then walked off together in the same direction that he himself had stalked off in.
Abruptly Draco was back in his hospital room, with Hermione kneeling in front of him, waving her hand in front of his eyes, repeating his name over and over with a tinge of panic in her voice.
"I'm back, I just remembered something though, about my past, and it had you in it."
Hermione sat down in the chair opposite his and prepared for his comment about her being a Mudblood, and for her to get out of his room. It didn't come however and she was surprised by his next words.
"You and I were standing in a corridor, and you looked angry at me, although I don't remember what happened. God we must really have had some bad arguments! I suppose they were all childish really, but I've remembered something, and that must be a good thing right? You looked like you really hated me though, do you still hate me? You can leave if you do, or if you haven't forgiven me and don't want to speak to me. You don't need to stay out of pity you know." Draco's voice had taken a bitter twist to it at the end, and Hermione's heart wrenched at the sound of it.
Draco sat quietly, fully expecting Hermione to reveal her complete hatred for him, or just walk out, relieved that she never had to speak to him again. He was surprised by how upset he was that she hated him. 'Well, you're in a right situation now aren't you Draco, my lad? I think you're falling for this beautiful girl that you so mercilessly tormented in your forgotten past. Dearie me, talk about your divine retribution, she must be laughing her ass off!'
"I did hate you, yes, but I don't now. We were just children, and all children do things to hurt each other. You aren't the person that was mean to me, and honestly I don't think that you ever thought about the consequences as a child. I think that you were just parroting what your father had taught you, and you never really meant what you said, that you were just keeping up appearances. Now that your free from your fathers brutality and his teachings you can show your true self, and the fact that you apologised is enough to make me stay"
'Wow, talk about an outpouring of emotion there Hermione! Well, I think that it's fairly obvious that you're falling for Draco Malfoy, which in all honesty, probably isn't the best move!' Draco's relief at Hermione's words was so great that he almost sighed out loud. 'You have been blessed by the Gods, Draco Malfoy, now talk to her and make sure that she doesn't regret her decision to not leave.'
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
After their unsteady beginning, Draco and Hermione were soon chatting away like old friends, or new lovers. Hermione didn't know why she'd put off her visit for so long, because Draco was so easy to talk to that she felt that she'd known him for years. Draco was just so glad that Hermione hadn't walked out of his life forever that he was content to just sit there and chat for hours.
"Anyway, I'd better be going. I've probably been here for quite some time, cos I can see that the sun's gone down." Hermione glanced at her watch, and then looked back again, not quite believing what it said.
"It cannot be 10:30! I've been here for six and a half hours. God, you must be dying for me to leave!"
"It only seems five minutes since you got here though! It can't have been six hours!"
"They'll shoot me for this, especially with you having such a big day tomorrow what with you going home and everything."
"Oh Gods, don't remind me, I'm really dreading it, I mean I'm leaving behind everything I know to go to a place that'll probably trigger nothing but bad memories for me."
"I didn't know you were dreading it that much, do you want me to go and ask Dr Markus if you can stay for a while, until you feel ready to leave?"
"No, I've got to get it over with. It would be so much easier if I could have somebody with me though. I don't suppose that you want to."
"Want to what?" Asked Hermione, genuinely confused as to what he wanted.
"Well, you said that you had some forced holiday time, and that you had nothing to do. I was just wondering if you would maybe do me a huge favour and come and stay with me while I adjust. No wait, forget that I asked, it was a stupid idea. I'm sure that you don't want to give up your free time and hard earned holiday to come and look after me." Draco's face had dejection mixed with blind hope and Hermione's heart broke for him, before she even knew what she was doing she'd already replied.
"Of course I will Draco, I mean what are friends for right?"
At the look of delight and pleasure on his face, she was suddenly glad that she'd said she would go.