"Everyone has a soul mate. They are bound together from birth. Some people never find their soul mates; others spend their whole lives searching for them when all along they were right there in front of them. However it is said that once you find your soul mate, the power of love between you is so strong, it lasts forever.
Perhaps this was always the will of God; to create humans in such a way that they are in need of companionship, in need of a partner, in need of love. It's as though he creates each woman and each man a half; and throughout their lives their instinct is to search for the person, which completes them.
The idea of soul mates is perhaps one better suited to the fictional worlds of books. That is of course where i thought it belonged; but now I'm not so sure," the old man smiled at the three children in front of him, they were all listening to his story in avid silence.
"Come on Granddad continue the story" pleaded Orion, he was the youngest and could never get enough of his stories; he liked listening to them almost as much as the old man liked telling them.
Star the oldest rolled her eyes at her younger brother. At seventeen she insisted she was too old for stories and instead sat curled in front of the fire reading a magazine and generally ignoring the others.
"Our story begins," he smiled returning back to the story, "with a girl, she was beautiful like the sunrise, had a heart of gold… and was bossy as hell. She was a witch of course just like you and I," he said whilst patting Dameon affectionately on the head as he sat next to his cousins to listen to the story. "Her name was Hermione. Hermione Granger. She was best friends with Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley; they used to call them the 'golden trio'… they annoyed everyone like hell, especially a blonde boy who went by the name of Draco. I suppose that's how all good relationships should start." He smiled remembering back; it all just seemed like yesterday…
Flashback
"You know what your problem is mudblood" the blonde boy sneered.
"Well I'm sure your going to tell me Malfoy," she replied sarcastically. He took a step forward and grabbed her by the hair,
"You have no respect," he held the strands of hair tightly in his fist resisting her struggling, "a filthy mudblood like you should worship he ground I walk on. He sneered flinging her to the ground, smirking at the stray tear which escaped the corner if her eye.
End of flashback.
"I don't get it," interrupted Star, "how can she ever fall in love with him if he's so mean to her?" she gently folded the corner of her magazine and turned her full attention to her granddad, forgetting what she had previously said about being too old for stories.
The old mans eyes sparkled for a moment, "exactly!" he smiled. The girl looked confused but said nothing, allowing him to return to the telling of the story. "You see you're right, he was mean to her and she hated him for it. But then one night something happened which changed everything; he saved her life.
The Dark Lord was back in power and Hogwarts School was to be closed under order of the ministry. The train was being boarded when something unexpected happened. The Hogwarts students were all seated on the train and the last of the luggage was being boarded, when suddenly all the lights went out. Draco was in the hallway on the way to his compartment when he was submerged into darkness."
Flashback
"What the…" he stretched his arm out attempting to find his way in the darkness. He could hear someone not far off in front of him, "Who's there?" he whispered keeping his voice steady
End of flashback"Is it Hermione?" asked Star.
The old man smiled, "indeed it was," however what neither of them knew was that there was someone else there too blending in with the darkness waiting for the perfect moment to strike."
Flashback
"Oh, it's only you," the blonde boy mumbled into the darkness, "get lost mudblood I'm trying to find my way to my compartment."
Her eyes flashed dangerously at being called a mudblood, by Draco could not see this in the dark, "shut up Malfoy, what the hell is your problem anyways?"
"My problem mudblood is…" however he got no further as the lights turned back on, both squinted at the sudden brightness of light. As he looked up he noticed Hermione gaping at him like a fish. "What?" he asked, "just realised how gorgeous I am?" he smirked at her; however she did not seem amuse, infact her expression had not changed.
Suddenly she squealed, "Get down!" and with that grabbed him by his robes and pulled him to the ground.
"What the…!" he grunted, he turned around behind him and his eyes met a tall death eater. "Oh it's only you Alex," he smirked down at the Gryffindor girl who had obviously been startled by the death eater. "It's only Alex," he told her innocently trying to keep a straight face. He then turned back to the man, "what you doing here Alex?" he asked smiling; his smile was not returned.
"Here on duty; sent by the Dark Lord himself," Hermione gasped at this but she was ignored and after a brief pause he continued, "I need to get bait."
"Bait?" Draco repeated.
The death eater smiled and before Hermione could figure out what he meant he walked over to her and grabbed her by the back of the neck pulling her up to her feet, and not letting go. "Yes," he smiled, "bait, to lure to young Potter, and who better than his mudblood friend? She's such a pretty thing, shame we'll have to kill her after."
End of flashback
"Oh no!" squealed Orion "Draco can't let that happen! Can he?" he asked slightly unsure.
"Well why don't you shut up and we'll find out," muttered Star and with this the children turned back to their Granddad waiting for him to continue.
The old man happily continued the story "Well of course young Draco was in a bit of a dilemma now. What should he do? Save his enemy or live with her death on his conscience?"
"Save her!" Called out Dameon.
"Shhhhhh!" muttered star growing increasingly irate with all the interruptions.
Once silence resumed, the story continued,
Flashback
"Kill her?" muttered Draco, "is that necessary?"
"Draco don't play innocent, you know as well as I do there's no other way, it just wouldn't do having her telling everyone where the Dark Lord is," the death eater replied tightening his grip on the girl.
Hermione was praying desperately for someone to come out of their compartments, it was her only chance of survival; the death eater must have noticed her string pleadingly at the compartment door because he said, "they're lock tight with dark magic so don't try anything; and don't bother screaming either... we sorted that out too." He grinned as her eyes started to water however she was a stubborn one and refused to let a single tear fall.
"This isn't a good idea Alex," the blonde boy began.
"I'm under orders" he shrugged, "now move out of my way Draco."
"No," he muttered, "I can't."
Alex laughed, however when he saw that Draco was being serious he raised a brow and glared at him, "MOVE I SAID!"
"No." Draco repeated more defiant this time, "I can't let you do that."
End of flashback
"Yes!" grinned Willow punching the air, she was twelve and spoke very little due to being so shy, she blushed when she noticed everyone was looking at her, and added in a quiet whisper so as to explain her outburst, "he's going to save her."
"Well of course he is," Star sighed dreamily.
"What happens next?" asked Orion eager to return to the tale.
"Well," the old man continued, "Draco pulled out his wand, pointing it squarely at the death eaters chest, and he told him to release her. Of course Alex did not release her, instead put her in front of him, as a shield from and curse Draco would have thrown at him. However the death eater had made one crucial mistake, he underestimated the pureblood witch."
Flashback
Hermione felt the mans grip loosen around her neck for a brief moment, and that moment was all she needed, she stamped on his foot sharply then jumped away from him before he could make a second grab for her. As soon as she was clear from view the sixth year Slytherin pointed his wand at the death eater and shouted, "CRUCIO!"
Draco did not leave the curse on him for long but by the end of it Alex he felt tired and defeated, "I'll get you for this Malfoy," he muttered and with a loud crack he was gone.
After a long silence Hermione muttered, "thank you."
"Your welcome," he replied simply.
She turned around to head back to her compartment, and then she added as an after thought, "you know how to perform that curse?"
"I'm a Malfoy," he reminded and that was the only explanation needed.
End of flashback
"The end," smiled the old man.
"What?!" Complained Star, "that's not an ending."
"Yeah, we don't know if they got together or not," added Willow.
"Come on Granddad finish it properly," pleaded Orion.
At that moment an old woman walked in the room holding a plate of biscuits, "what's the matter?" she asked hearing the children complaining.
"Nan, tell Granddad to finish the story properly!" pleaded Willow.
"What story is he telling you this time?" she asked taking a bite out of a biscuit and handing the plate down to one of the younger children.
"One about Hermione and Draco and how he saved her life," answered Dameon.
The old woman laughed, "your not telling them that old story are you?" she asked sitting on the sofa next to her husband.
"Of course I am," he replied, "it's my favourite."
"I still can't believe you're telling them the story of how we first became friends," she smiled.
"But he isn't," reminded Orion, "he was telling us about Draco and Hermione!"
Star grinned, "I get it now…we already know the ending.
"We do?" asked Willow.
"Of course we do. Don't we Granddad Draco and Nana Hermione," she smiled repeating her Grandparents names. She watched silently as each of her cousins faces lit up in understanding, well all except one that is.
"I don't get it," moaned Orion causing the rest of them to laugh.