Her laughter cut through the night air.

Draco Malfoy looked around, trying to find the source of that familiar laughter.

Hermione Granger, with her familiar laughter and bushy brown hair, was sitting at a table in the middle of the club. A few women were at the table with her, but only one other woman was recognizable. Ginny Weasley sat next to her, joining in her laughter. Draco caught himself staring to stare at his old classmate. She looked genuinely happy.

The war was over; his name was cleared, yet he was still sulking in the shadows as if he was a man condemned.

The music in the club was no loud; it was the perfect volume to allow talk and laughter among the guests. Draco could hear the talk from Hermione's table perfectly when he focused.

"Are you serious?" Ginny was asking.

"No," the girl to Ginny's right said, "I'm making it up."

More laughter.

"Come on. It's totally true," the girl to Hermione's right said.

Hermione sighed.

"What wrong, Hermione?" Ginny asked, slightly concerned.

"Oh it's nothing. I just have this feeling that someone is watching us."

Draco silently got up from the table and left the club.

----

Hermione watched the man leave. She didn't think for a second it was a coincidence that he left after she said she thought someone was watching them. He was watching them, she knew it. Pushing her chair away from the table, she said, "I'll be right back." The response from her friends was nods of acknowledgement and continued chatter about the office.

"Hermione," Ginny asked as she stopped laughing, "is something wrong?"

"No. I'm fine. I'll be right back," she repeated.

Hermione rushed out the door the man had exited, hoping she could be able to catch him. She saw his back as he walked farther down the street. "Hey!" she tried to get his attention. He didn't even stop briefly. She started to run after him. When she reached him, she grabbed his arm. He stopped instaneously, and she swung him around. "Why—" she stopped dead. "Draco Malfoy?"

"What do you want, Granger?" he demanded, shaking off her hand.

Shaking her head, she cleared her throat. "What are you doing?" Realizing it was the wrong question, she rephrased it, "Why were you watching my friends and me in the club?"

"Who says I was?"

"I saw you."

He laughed slightly. "I wasn't. I wouldn't waste my time."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I was just curious. Have a good night."

She had already started to walk back to the club when he called out, "See you tomorrow Granger."

She stopped, turning around slowly. "What?"

Without answering and smirking, he walked off.

Hermione stood there a moment, feeling confused. Wasn't he a social pariah?

----

The small encounter with Granger had left Draco feeling empty, and if possible, even more alone than he did before. After the war, he had been exonerated of all charges for this work against the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort during the war. Even though the courts had exonerated him, the most of wizarding society had not followed their example. He was a social pariah, an outcast. People looked down on him, and he was unable to really grip the social class he now fell into unwillingly.

He passed his days in the Malfoy Manor; he rarely left. He cleaned the old artifacts out of the attic and basement. His house elf Oak and the talking portraits of deceased ancestors were his only company. Even his "loyal" and "true" friends from school had decided they wanted nothing to do with him. He wasn't Slytherin enough anymore, he assumed. His father was long gone; his mother had ran off to a distance relative and close friend's estate to stay until the heat died down. Honestly, Draco couldn't see the heat ever dying down enough for her to feel safe coming back in the country. He thought it was just as well she didn't have to witness the state he was being forced to live in.

"Master Malfoy is you leaving the manor today?" Oak asked meekly. He was a young house elf. After Dobby had been set free by Potter, Lucius had enlisted the work of another house elf, but with Lucius gone, Draco had got a new one in hopes of deleting unneeded reminders of his father. He loved his father, of course, but he was not too proud of the work his father had done as Death Eater.

"Yes," Draco decided out loud. "I think I'll have lunch."

Two hours later, as he walked down the Wiltshire Street, he took in his surroundings. It wasn't a small town, yet it wasn't bustling with as much noise as London would be. He wasn't paying attention the Muggles around him, and avoided eye contact with anyone who looked his way. He was not in the mood for a scene.

Draco was just nearing his favorite restaurant when something sharp hit him from behind. A scream rang out through the street; a few people even started to run. Draco felt the pain growing in his back as his legs folded beneath him. Suddenly, as if in a mere instant, Obliviators appeared in their uniform robes, wands out. Draco felt a darkness tug at him, and without a second though, he allowed himself to fall to sleep.

----

"Mr. Malfoy, how are you today?" Healer Beckum asked him with her normal smile. Healer Beckum was a small lady with short mousey, brown hair and dull brown eyes. Though her looks were nothing substantial, her smile was beautiful.

Draco was lying on his back on an uncomfortable hospital bed in St. Mungo's as he had been for two weeks. He grunted in response.

"Good news: you're improving. But unfortunately, I'm being reassigned to the third floor and you will be assigned a new Healer." Heal Beckum turned away to check his vitals and smiled. "You'll be out of here in no time!"

"As soon as the new Healer comes, I'm sure I'll be able to go," he said firmly. He laid his head back and gently folded his hands on his lap.

"Now, Mr. Malfoy, please do not give your new Healer any trouble." Healer Beckum walked toward the door, giving him a stray smile before she exited.

Four hours later, Healer Beckum returned his room. Draco looked her over discreetly. "Yes?"

"Well, I'm here to introduce you to your new Healer," she informed him, smiling again.

"Fine," he agreed relaxing against the bed.

Another witch in Healer robes followed Healer Beckum into the room. She had bushy brown hair and intelligent brown eyes. She was unmistakably Hermione Granger.

"Healer Granger, this is your new patient, Mr. Draco Malfoy."

Draco gave her credit for not even batting an eyelash when she saw him. She looked at him totally emotionless. "Hello, Granger."

"Healer Granger, please," she said respectfully as she looked over his charts. "A spell in the back? Nice. Good to see you're improving, of course." With one last flicker of the eyes over the chart, she smiled for the first time. "I'm sure you'll be out of here in no time, Mr. Malfoy."

"They keep saying that. But guess what? I'm still here," Draco said with a smirk.

Her smile became tight and strained. "Well it does take time."

"I have to go," Healer Beckum injected. "I've requested to be notified of your release, Mr. Malfoy, which will no doubt be soon. Goodbye… for now."

With a nod of acknowledge from Draco, she left the two in the room alone.

"Do you know what happened?" Granger asked cautiously, still eyeing her notes.

He shook his head. "Not a clue."

Her eyes flickered up momentarily. "You must have enemies."

Draco laughed bitterly. "Of course I do."

"Well," Granger said with finality, "I'll be back to check on you before I leave for the night."

Draco didn't even respond; instead he closed his eyes.

----

Hermione took all her assignments seriously, including Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy wasn't even a particularly difficult patient. It was obvious he had grown accustomed to some of the accommodations St. Mungo's offered its patients, but he wasn't particularly agreeable either. He rarely spoke to her unless it was a must, and even he did it was sarcasm. She could only assume he thought she was acceptable as a Healer, because it was known around St. Mungo's that he could request a change any time. He made have social pariah status, but he still had sway if he wanted to.

She was glancing over the night Healer's notes on the charts when she heard Draco's voice call from inside the room. "Granger!"

She rushed in only to see him sitting up in his bed looking disgruntled. "It's Healer Granger, please," she reminded him for the hundredth time.

"I need to be released," he commanded.

"Excuse me?" she asked him, dropping the charts to her side.

"I want to go home. My patience has vanished." He tossed his sheet to the side and swung his leg over the edge of the bed.

"Mr. Malfoy you will not leave that bed without my direct permission!" Granger commanded as she went over to him and shoved him back down. "Don't move."

"Granger," Draco hissed through his teeth.

"Healer Granger," she corrected him. She kept one hand pressed against his crest so he was forced to stay in his bed.

"Healer Granger, let me go home."

"And what?"

"Be at home."

"Mr. Malfoy, if you will agree to stay on your bed, I will remove my hand."

He nodded, so she removed her hand from his chest. He glared her, but he remained where he was.

"A bit winded?" she asked icily.

"No," he denied. But his face was a bit flushed.

She swung around. "Yes. I should know."

"Oh, yes of course. The insufferable know-it-all."

"The arrogant git," she retorted when she turned to face him. His color was beginning to return to normal. She made a note on her chart to have the other Healers watch him closer so he doesn't exert himself too badly. "You are still not well. We are trying the best we can, but we—I will not let you go without you being at your optimum health."

Draco glared at her, but shrugged. "Fine."

Hermione dropped the charts on the nearby table and looked at him. "Mr. Malfoy—"

"Draco."

"Fine. Draco, please, I just have your best intentions in mind as I do all of my patients. I want to do some more testing and find out why you have no gained your stamina back fully."

"I have plenty of stamina, thank you."

Without meaning to, Hermione smiled. "You may think you, but you don't. Don't leave your bed without permission. If you'd like to increase the exercise in hope to speed up your recovery, let me know. But I will not push you too far just to try to get you out of this hospital sooner."

"How sweet."

"What?"

"You want me to stay."

She laughed. "Not exactly, I just won't release any of my patients before time."

"Right."

She turned to leave, then changed her mind. "Draco."

"Yes?"

"He was caught."

"Who was caught?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes.

"The wizard."

"Please explain yourself."

"Is the suspense killing you?"

"Hardly."

Hermione smiled briefly. Her smile slipped off her face as soon as it had appeared. "The wizard who shot you in the back."

"What?"

"He won't tell us what spell it was. And we've never encountered these symptoms quite as they are appearing with you."

"What was it?"

"I have to go Mr. Malfoy. I'll be back in the morning. The night Healer will be Healer Kay." Hermione left the hospital room without answering his question.

----

Two days later, Healer Granger signed the release papers for a healthy Draco Malfoy to be released home.

"Granger?" Draco prompted. He was standing at the door to St. Mungo's waiting to leave. After he bid goodbye to those of the staff who hadn't been totally put off with his manners, Granger and Draco were left alone.

"What?" she asked in a hurried tone. She was holding a stack charts for her daily rounds.

"Who was it?"

Hermione knew what he was asking yet she shook her head. "Don't. It's over."

"Granger…"

"It's over. Move on. Forget it."

"I can't."

"Draco," she said dropping the casual act of a professional. "You aren't the same person, the wizard hated. You are different now. You've… changed."

Draco shook his head. "I'm the same person I was."

"Draco," she said in an exasperated tone, "trust me, you are not the same person. Now I have to continue my rounds. Don't dwell on the past, it won't do any good."

"Hermione," he addressed her by her first name for the first time. "you're welcome by the Malfoy Manor anytime."

She smiled. "Expect me when I get off tonight then."