August 22, 1999
Draco,
My love, by the time you receive this the rumors of my obliviation may have reached you across the Atlantic. They are true. By the time you hold this in your hands I will already have forgotten you and all that we shared. The Ministry no longer believes you Imperiused me. I insisted that they have multiple healers examine me and none could find any signs of Imperio, nor could any of the Aurors or Unspeakables. Harry turned over your wand to them so that they could cast any number of Priori Incantanto spells on it and found again no trace of you casting the Imperius on me. They now believe I have been a victim of war, that I was "taken advantage of" and that what we had was "all a mistake" no matter how many time I tell them that you, Draco, were my choice. Apparently the feeling that Muggle borns are not as good as Purebloods is not merely a belief held by those in favor of dark magic. Oh others may claim to be tolerant, but their immediate reaction being that I was weak and taken advantage of shows otherwise. It wasn't supposed to be this way. But I say with utter confidence that I have no regrets of the time we spent together. THey can strip away every single memory I have of you. They can erase our past with a flick of their wands and they can force you to more halfway across the earth, though I hold out hope that with my obliviation they will cancel that part of your sentence, but they can't change the past. There will always be a part of me that knows you and loves you. At this point they are still debating whether they will only take any good memories I have of you or all the memories I have of you. If I had to guess I'd say they'll take only the good. They'll want me to hate you, but please Draco, do not lose hope. Just don't give up on me, okay? We'll make it through this together and I will wait for you. Always.
Yours,
Hermione
It was no owl, Ministry, or MACUSA representative that delivered her letter to Draco. It wasn't even his own mother. Harry had insisted on taking it and so he found himself on the doorstep of a building in the near center of downtown New Orleans. He had carefully researched the area before coming. Well actually he had had Hermione do the research telling her he was on a practice field mission in cooperation with MACUSA aurors in training. He had looked over her research as he had waited for his Portkey. The only information he had gotten personally had come from a visit with Narcissa who was now alone in the Manor trying desperately to erase all signs that Voldemort had ever taken up residence there. He hesitated only a moment before ringing the buzzer for the apartment Narcissa had told him was Draco's.
He was turned around taking in the neighborhood, the young magnolia trees up and down both sides of the street seemed to have been decorated, strands of beads hung here and there throughout each one though only towards the tops of the trees. This was clearly a popular parade route during Mardi Gras. The elaborate wrought iron railings on the balconies stacked two and three high on most buildings also had random beads wrapped around and the potted plants hung above the railings were a bright pop of green that had caught Harry's eye when Draco answered, "Yes?"
He turned back to the speaker on the wall next to the multi-paned door and pressed the button to speak, "Malfoy I have something for you."
"Potter?" came the question, almost tinny through the speaker.
"Yes," Harry just barely stopped himself from nodding his head, instead shaking it as he realized Draco couldn't see him.
"I won't go back. They can't put me in Azkaban now," Draco insisted.
Harry shook his head again and this time sighed, he had known that this would not be an easy task, "I'm not here on behalf of the Ministry."
There was no answer for a moment, "I'm supposed to believe that?"
"Malfoy just let me in. Talking this way is ridiculous," Harry implored.
"Let you in so you can arrest me," the other man scoffed.
This time there was no head shaking, rather the brunette's eyes went skyward and he fought to keep a civil tone, "I'm not even a full Auror yet, besides the fact that even if I were I'd have no jurisdiction here. I'm here on behalf of a very dear friend."
There was a pause, then an almost choked, "Hermione?"
"Yes."
"Come on up," the door buzzed. Harry pulled the door open and began up the steep narrow stairs, squinting to see in the dim light. Draco stood in the doorway to his apartment, barefooted in jeans and an open white dress shirt, hair more disheveled than Harry could ever recall seeing it even after the narrow escape from the Fiendfyre. When he spotted Harry, the blond stepped aside and allowed him in.
Harry stood and stared at the nearly empty room he had walked into. The apartment seemed to be one large room, small kitchenette to one side, and a door that could only lead to the loo. He turned to the blond, "Where is all your furniture?"
"This is all I need," Draco replied quietly, running a hand absently through his hair.
Harry look around again, "But you don't even have a bed," he remarked.
Draco walked over and sat on what appeared to be a couch, "This is a futon, it's a bed and a couch, all I have to do is lay the back down. This along with the table," he gestured to the small battered square coffee table sitting in front of the futon, "it's all I need. It's not like I have visitors."
"You left the UK so you wouldn't have to live like a Muggle and yet here you are doing exactly that, living like some Muggle university student," Harry's eyes, nose and forehead seemed to scrunch up in his confusion, perhaps this was a cover and Draco was hiding something.
Draco shook his head, "No, I'm not living like a NoMaj."
"A what?" Harry asked.
"The American term for Muggle," the blond rolled his eyes, "if you're going to be here and communicate with witches and wizards here you should probably learn to use the words they use so you don't confuse them. It might also make them like you more and appreciate the effort you've made. They'll be more cooperative and more likely to talk to you or work with you."
Harry thought back had he seen that term in Hermione's research? He probably had but just hadn't paid enough attention to it. He'd really only asked her to do the work to help distract her as she adjusted to her life after obliviation. She knew something was different but couldn't figure out what it was so he had provided a distraction. Still he had to admit he was surprised that Draco had put so much thought into how Americans referred to things and mentioned that to the other man.
Again Draco's eyes rolled, "Did you think I'd continue to be a pompous arse? This is my new home. I have to fit in. I have to learn to get along if I'm spending my life here so I worked on learning the language as it were."
Harry nodded and looked around again, "So how aren't you living like a NoMaj? I don't see any evidence of magic here," he gestured around the room, "and this is not a magical building."
"The building is not in and of itself magical no. However New Orleans itself is such a hive of magic, especially old magic that it's hard for any NoMaj to tell when magic is occurring. Honestly though I think any NoMaj here is either accepting of the possibility of magic or are so completely in denial they would never know it even if they saw it, or would never acknowledge it. Those are the people who scoff at the ones who come in search of spirits, particularly the spirit of Marie Laveau. Stand still, relax, let go for just a minute, then focus and you'll feel it."
Harry did as suggested and after a moment even closed his eyes so he could concentrate on what he was feeling, almost a buzz or low hum of energy that must have been magical in origin, "So this is why you chose New Orleans."
"Well that and it has that French feel to it, reminds me of summers with Mother's family," he rested back on the futon and closed his eyes, "I actually considered moving to France. Mother still has access to at least one cottage and one chateau. I could have continued to live as a wizard there but I would have been much more closely watched as I wouldn't be very far from the UK."
"You would also still be quite close to Hermione."
"That and I didn't think I could live with the specter of the happy memories from when I was young."
It was Harry's turn to roll his eyes, "We're not old Malfoy."
"Speak for yourself, I've aged a decade in the past year alone and you honestly can't tell me that you don't feel older than you would have if there'd never been a war."
Harry simply nodded.
"So you said you had something from Hermione."
"Trying to get rid of me already?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"It's not like you exactly bring back the best memories of myself and my life, but honestly I just want to know what you brought; what you were allowed to bring. Oh here sit already," Draco pulled out his wand and transfigured the table into a chair.
"This is really all the furniture you have isn't it?" Harry commented as he sat down.
It was Draco's turn to sigh, "Ok what do I need to do to prove to you that I'm not hiding anything? Whatever it is just tell me?"
Harry's eyes went wide, "You're serious."
"I just want to move on and get whatever this is you have from Hermione."
Harry pulled the letter from the mokeskin pouch around his neck and passed it over to Draco, then he stood and walked out over and out onto the balcony to give the other man some privacy. Long minutes passed with Harry watching the hustle and bustle on the street below with no sound from the room behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a rusty chair folded up and leaning against the wall. With a quick surreptitious wave of his wand the chair was reasonably clean after all he still hadn't mastered cleaning spells. He opened the chair and sat down, lifting his feet up onto the railing. Just in reach he saw a strand of purple beads. He grabbed them and looped them over his hands attempting to recreate the Jacob's Ladder he'd seen other children do back in primary school. He'd just managed to break the beads trying to disentangle his hands from the knot he'd made when Draco came to the door looking for more haggard than before.
"Well you didn't blow anything up or curse the messenger," Harry said grimly.
Draco's eyes were wild when he turned to look at Harry, "You let her do this?" he demanded.
Harry shook his head, hands up in front of him wandless and replied, "Does anyone let Hermione do anything?"
Draco's head dropped, "No. If she's made up her mind there is no stopping her."
"You wanted someone to blame," Harry said, "I understand that. I did try talk her out of it, tried to convince her to just keep up her research into magical law, but she was sure this was the only way. Hell, even Kingsley tried to talk her out of it. She wouldn't be swayed however so he took it to the court. She wrote that letter and made me promise to get it to you while they were sending for an Unspeakable to perform the obliviation."
Always pale Draco's faded to the point that his skin and hair matched, "The Unspeakables? They couldn't just call in an auror?"
"She insisted they use an Unspeakable."
"Why?" disbelief rang in Draco's voice.
Harry sighed, "I don't know for sure but I can tell you what I think."
When the blond nodded Harry continued, "I think she was worried that even an auror might not do it well. Might make a mistake and remove memories not related to you. I think she also was hoping that her insistence that it was someone as skilled as an Unspeakable would prove to the court just how serious she was, just how much you meant to her and they'd call off the whole thing."
This time the blond head shook, "I never thought of her as naive before now."
"I'm sure she knew it wouldn't work but there was always hope. She's counting on you." Harry insisted.
"To do what? How can I possible reverse what they did? She hates me now right?" He sunk down to his heels, leaning against the wall, and stuck both hands in his hair holding his head.
"No."
"No?" grey eyes peered up at Harry.
Harry shook his head.
Draco's voice trembled, "They took it all?"
Harry nodded, "It was like watching a surgeon work with a wand instead of a scalpel. You could see the concentration on his face as he used Leglimens to read her mind as he carefully removed memory after memory while removing as little else as possible."
"Everything?" came the strangled voice, "Every memory good or bad she had of me, of us, is gone?"
"Yes."
The scratch in Harry's voice caught Draco's attention. He though only a few seconds before saying, "Then she's lost a lot of her memories of your friendship as well hasn't she."
He was met with silence and the slightest movement of the brunette's head up and down just once.
Draco sat all the way down on the balcony, stretching his long legs out in front of him so that they reached all the way to the railing. His shoulders dropped as did his chin. After a moment of thinking he said, "So what do we do? Do I came back and try to charm her? Start all over again? Try to get her to remember things they've made her forget? Will they even let me return?"
Harry shook his head, "Not for a year."
"A year?"
"She wanted them to allow you back right away. Kingsley even argued for it-"
"You keep saying the Minister is arguing for me. Are you sure you don't have that backwards?"
"No," Harry replied, "Kingsley may not like you or care about you in anyway."
A sharp bark of laughter came from the other side of the balcony but Harry ignored it and continued speaking, "He does care for Hermione and me."
Draco's head whipped around, "You? What do you have to do with anything?"
Again the brunette's eyes rolled skyward and he sighed.
"Fine you're her friend, and you delivered the message but really what else?"
"I spoke at your trial. He believes what I said about you," he said simply.
"Wonderful," came the wearied reply, "just one more thing I owe you for."
"Malfoy not everything is about you you prat!"
Draco opened his mouth to speak then closed it and chewed his lip for a moment, "So if she gets her memory back you get your best friend back."
"That would be one reason why Kings is on our side. He also knows Hermione well enough to know that she will notice the gaps in her memory and they will bother her and she will be hounding anyone and everyone she can to find out what happened. She was able to recover her parents' memories so she thinks you can do the same for her." Harry said.
"I've never even tried before, I wouldn't know how to begin. Besides it was probably a stronger spell than Obliviate since it was done by an Unspeakable. There's no guarantee it's even reversible," Draco objected.
"It may not be, but you… we have to try," Harry replied.
"You'll help me?"
"As much as I can and not just for Hermione."
Draco lifted an eyebrow, "Surely not for me."
"For you in that it will still be for Hermione but no that wasn't who I was thinking of," Harry began twisting the broken strand of beads still in his hand around his fingers as he spoke.
"Then who?"
Harry shook his head, "It's not mine to share so I'll just say that there are those who have suffered memory loss as a side effect of other curses and if we can find a way to reverse Hermione's purposeful loss maybe we can help those with accidental losses."
Draco cocked his head to one side consideringly, "Like Lockheart?"
"He and others," Harry replied, "Mungo's has a ward full of people they don't know how to help. Who knows maybe what will work for Hermione won't work for them but it's worth a shot."
The blonde looked out across the street and nodded, "I don't know that I can come up with anything the mediwizards at Mungo's haven't tried but if it works I'd share. Maybe I can do some good for a change."
Harry didn't know how to respond to that so he simply didn't. The two men sat in a somewhat companionable silence for a few minutes before either spoke.
"How do I get a hold of you?" Draco asked, "There are no UK to US Floo connections I know of, though I suppose they must exist at least for the government. I don't have an owl or any other bird even if they flew that far."
"I have a Muggle Post Office Box," Harry replied, "I also have a mobile phone."
"How do you keep a mobile phone working? Don't you live at the old Black house on Grimmauld Place?"
"I do. I actually also purchased the home next door so I can come and go without constantly having to apparate perfectly onto the top step or simply disappear into the house and make my neighbors suspicious. When I first bought it, I put a door in the connecting wall. I always leave my electronics in the Muggle side but one day I forgot and brought my phone into number 12 and it was fine. I didn't even realize I still had it in my pocket until it rang. This thing," Harry held up his Nokia 6160, "is not bothered by magical interference at all. It also seems to be nearly indestructible. I've dropped it more times than I can count, then stepped on it or kicked it into something and not a scratch."
"Who else do you know has a phone? I thought you didn't communicate with your Muggle relatives."
"I don't. Hermione has one and she uses it to keep in contact with her parents. Kings is looking into using them as a way for Aurors to keep in touch in the field, we just have to have enough people willing to try it out."
"I don't have one currently but I have been looking at them. I suppose I could get one and I can call you or isn't there some other way to use them to communicate?" Draco asked.
"You can type messages to be sent, texts they're called, but it can take a long time."
"Still," Draco said, with the time difference that might be the best way to handle it."
"Well then give me something and I'll write my number down for you."
Draco shook his head, "Just tell me, I'll remember it."
Harry raised an eyebrow but shrugged, "1-020-476-8837"
Draco repeated the number back to him.
"You have a memory just like Hermione, no wonder the two of you were always at the top of the year."
The blonde's head shook, "No, she remembers everything. I'm good with just some things instantly, others I have to study for much longer to be able to recall."
Harry's lips twisted, "Yeah, how much longer?"
"Well I need to read over the information at least three times, unless it's numbers or something I'm actually interested in like potions."
"Still I suppose it makes sense that you two connected over school work," Harry said, "Well I should be going. I have a plane to catch. Call or message me when you make a decision."
Draco stood to escort the other man to the door, "I'll do what I can; I just don't know what that is right now. I'll let you know when I have an idea. Have a safe return trip. I'd tell you to give my love to Hermione but...well… just watch out for her all right."
"I will."
a/n credit where credit is due, this idea came to me from images of letters I came across on Pinterest, the links are in my profile. Huge thanks to my niecey hippogriffrider77, an amazing HP FF author, who has been my sounding board for this story. Thank you to my reviewers and followers you keep me motivated.
