"You didn't know that Hermoine did the same to her parents a few days before then, right?"
"She did?" Draco's voice left in a whisper as he considered that for himself. He knew vaguely that given their rather tentative friendship, that the young witch had wanted to protect her parents due to them being Muggle-borns and having no abilities towards magic. He didn't think in a rasmillion decades that she would ever do something so drastic. "She never said anything, I wouldn't have made her do it to them if I had known."
"I only just found out before we could go back to the school while we were looking for the rest of the Horcruxes and Ron decided to take off on us thanks to the locket having an effect on him before we managed to finally destroy it for good." Harry murmured, shaking his head as he painfully remembered those times that seemed so long ago now.
"She had just as many nightmares as I did due to everything while we were travelling all those months because Ron wasn't there to comfort her, so I did. We didn't sleep a lot and when we did, it was thankfully dreamless as we were too exhausted to care. We mostly just talked, where to go next, what people both me and her knew might be doing, how much she hated Ron for abandoning us at the time, that sort of thing."
"You've never been one to speak of your feelings-" Draco uttered. "-unless you're alone or they are somehow dragged out from the depths of your soul."
"She was better at talking out her emotions than hiding them like I do. I often wondered what /you/ were doing here and there, but I never knew why as, until only just a couple of moments ago, I thought I hated you."
"Oh, you hated me for a time I'm sure, but not as much as I did you when you erased and altered my memories for "the good of both of us" and Disapparated me to fall on my face in front of my family home."
"Obliviate." The word crackled in the air as Hermoine aimed her wand at the men on the ground separately before a bright light shone from it, their eyes becoming distant and empty as their memories, old and new, faded away into nothing. Ron held her tightly as she turned her head into his neck and collar, while Harry and Draco stood together, Draco's arm around his waist before Ron murmured. "We need to get out of here."
"Right." Hermoine went to move, Ron and the others behind her or so she thought, until she turned around and saw Harry still standing in place where they'd left him, frozen. "Harry?"
"There's going to be more." Harry's voice sounded low and rough as he spoke, eyes still staring down at Dolohov. "They won't stop coming, they'll be everywhere. Hogwarts, the Realms, even with protection charms and spells. It won't be enough."
"Harry, we'll make it work." Hermoine pleaded. Despite her relationship with Ron, Harry had sometimes felt she almost mirrored his mother in a way like he mirrored his own father. She seemed to be able, no matter her words, on the contrary, to read his mind like it was one of the many books she poured over. "As long as we keep moving, we can-"
"-but he can't, Hermoine." Harry finally looked up at her. "He's not safe while he's with us."
"Who's not safe while he's with us?" Draco's voice was accusatory as well as steadfast as he brought attention to himself. "If you are even attemptingto refer to me, Potter-"
"I am and I'm not ashamed of that." Harry admitted as Draco's shoulders tensed, a dark feeling blooming in his chest. "I know you, Dre. You're jumping to conclusions before I say what's really happening. I wasn't insulting your ability to use your wand."
"Then what were you implying then, mate?" Ron piped up. "Cause' if you imply we ditchMalfoy, which until 10 minutes ago I was all for, you are out of your bloody mind."
"Harry, if we leave him, he'll be killed instantly or worse, Voldermort will use the Cruciatus Curse on him to find out what he knows and then kill him or even kill his family."
Harry could hear Draco whispering "Mum…" in anguish underneath his breath and it made his heart ache badly. He didn't want this choice, but now he had it and there was only one option in his mind in order to save Draco and help themselves.
"Then do the same to him. Then me." Harry's eyes became dark. "If he's in too much danger loving me, make him hate me like he's never hated someone before and then return him back home so he's safe. He's not coming with us."
"Harry, no. I already told you I wouldn't. if I perform both Obliviate andOclomento on him, there's a chance he could-"
"I know, there's a chance he could permanently forget me." Harry took Draco's hand as those sky blue eyes stared back at him, silently pleading. "But it's better than him dying and not being here at all when we come back and I can try and fix it."
"Harry, please, don't...I can't...I don't want to…" Draco started to murmur, but Harry just kissed his forehead gently for nodding to Hermione, who had tears running down her cheeks as she lifted her wand. "Obliviate."
"I literally felt everything I knew disappear in the flash of her wand and my head became filled with hate. My father found me in the hallway unable to think and thought I just went soft. He started berating me and for once, I stood up to him. He was afraid of me and I liked it…"
Draco seemed pained by this very thought, hands clenched into fists that unfurled when Harry gazed back at him. "That's the last thing I remember before the false memories took over and I was gone. Itr was like I was watching my body being controlled by someone else."
"That's most likely a very true depreciation, Dre." Harry looked off into the distance again after he finished, but his demeanour hadn't changed. In fact, the environment seemed to grow cold around him as he asked. "Draco...I don't know if...is...any of this even real?"
"What do you mean?" Drac's confused tone made his whole body flinch.
"Is...you, me, this..." His eyes flickered between the man beside him and other objects around them. "Is it real? Or has this been happening just inside my head and I'm just imagining all of this because Voldermort finally got what he wanted?"
The fog that had been tumbling through and obscuring the train tracks from view was suddenly starting to rise like a cauldron over boiling and Draco's face disappeared, making him panic for a second, but then his voice sounded across, more distant, but still as strong. "Of course it is happening inside your head, Potter! You are lying dead on the ground. What, have you suddenly mastered the uncommon art of talking out your arse or something?"
That made Harry laugh, eyes rather misty with unshed tears as he couldn't see anything around this person anymore. He could feel himself becoming tired and he knew then why this was happening. His memory he never knew he'd lost had come back and now, with that information and a whole lot more at stake, he had finally made his choice on what next.
"You'd better not be leaving me alone here, you great arse." Draco's voice mocked, though it wasn't sneering towards him as his eyes closed. "If it means I can talk to you because you act like one, then so be it." He grinned, not able to resist getting just that one last shot in before he was gone. "Rude. The fucking cheek of you Potter. I'll find you when I come to my senses and slap the shit out of you for that, war or no war, mark my words."
"Try me, Malfoy." Was all he could say before everything faded away into nothing. "See you soon."
