Hey guys well here is chapter 3, sorry it's taking a while to get started but it will get there eventually I promise! I just don't want to rush this part as it is establishing Draco and Hermione's relationship, but I hope you don't think it's too OOC… let me know!
Chapter 3:
Narcissa and Draco waited impatiently in the waiting room at St. Mungo's.
"What is taking so long?" Draco complained loudly.
"Now, now Draco, if I didn't know you better I would think you almost sounded concerned."
Draco snorted. "Ha! As if! It's just that I told Blaise that I would come over today to play some Quidditch and just hang out."
Narcissa nodded sarcastically. "Sure Draco, whatever you say."
"Maybe I could just-"
"Don't even think about it Draco. You are staying here, honestly! They shouldn't be too much longer anyway." She said with such finality in her voice that Draco didn't even bother thinking of a reply.
Just as Narcissa said, it was only a few moments before Healer Saunders, the healer that was examining the girl, came out.
Narcissa stood up. "Well?" she asked impatiently.
"It seems as though her long term memory is gone. She's had a nasty knock to her head; luckily there was only a small amount of bleeding in the brain which we were able to stop pretty easily. She is one lucky girl."
"Oh Merlin!" Narcissa gasped as she sat back in her chair. "Is she going to be alright? Will she ever get her memory back?"
"It is hard to tell at this point. Physically, she will be fine, but we don't know if her memory will ever return. If it does, it may only come back in bits and pieces, or it might just suddenly return, we just can't tell things like these. The brain is a very complex thing."
Narcissa nodded in understanding. "Were you able to discover the girls' identity?"
The healer smiled at this question. "When questioning your son about what happened he mentioned that he thought she may be Miss. Granger. I am happy to inform you that he was correct. Her dental records matched perfectly."
Draco let out a groan and rested his hands on his head.
Narcissa patted his back firmly. "He's fine." She said tightly. "He's just relieved, that's all."
Healer Saunders nodded. "Now, the girl has no place to go, so I am suggesting that she stay here until further arrangements can be made. As she has no surviving family, and no friends that she can recall, I recommend that it is for the best."
"She could come home with u-"
"Mum!" Draco exclaimed loudly, not quite believing his ears. The last thing on earth that he wanted was for this girl, who turned out to be Mudblood Granger, to be coming to stay with them at Malfoy Manor.
Narcissa stomped hard down on his foot to shut him up. "That is, if no further tests need to be run, or she needs to stay for observation. I am a fully trained medi-witch."
"Uh, no, that should be fine. Are you sure you are willing to take this on? She is very confused; one of the medi-witches is in there now, trying to explain to her that she is in fact a witch."
"How is she taking it?"
"Surprisingly well. Of course, when she got her Hogwarts letter she mustn't have taken the news badly. Now there will be a few exercises you could try to bring back her memory."
"Of course." Narcissa agreed.
"Things like maybe taking her back to her old house for a visit, maybe visiting Harry Potter, he is still in a coma here, Ron Weasley, her other friend disappeared shortly after the war, no one knows where he has gone. You could also try talking to her about her past and show photos, things like that, and just watch her reaction."
"Okay, I, I mean we both will help her, won't we Draco?" she asked her son threateningly.
Draco knew he had no choice. "Yeah, sure, whatever."
Healer Saunders grinned broadly at them both. "Alrighty then," he said rubbing his hands together, "I'll just go see if they are finishing up in there. Mrs. Malfoy, you can come in if you want." He said, purposely leaving out Draco from the invitation as he knew he would decline anyway.
Narcissa got up from her chair and followed the healer around several corners before she entered a blindingly white room. The intensity of the colour was so large that she had to squint at first.
"Mrs. Malfoy!" the girl, or Hermione Granger, exclaimed, sounding relieved to finally see a familiar face.
"How are you feeling dear?" Narcissa asked her as she approached the bed.
"Tired." She replied.
Healer Saunders cleared his throat. "Well you are free to go. Mrs. Malfoy, if you could please bring Hermione here back for another check-up in two weeks, just to see how everything is going, and if there have been any changes or improvements."
"Of course." She nodded.
"Well, good luck."
"Thank-you."
Healer Saunders quickly left the room.
"Thank-you so much for this Mrs. Malfoy-"
"I told you dear, please call me Narcissa."
"Narcissa then. It really means a lot to me.
"If you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to ask me or Draco." She laughed a bit at the face she saw Hermione pull. "I know he can be a bit difficult to get along with, that's his father in him," she looked sad at the mention of her dead husband. "But once you get to know him, he really is a bit of a softy."
Hermione chuckled.
"Well come on Hermione, let's get back to the manor, we can floo back this time."
"It's strange; I don't even recognize my own name!"
"You will in time, don't worry." Narcissa said reassuringly, placing her hand on Hermione's shoulder.
Hermione stood up and walked with Narcissa back to where Draco was sitting.
He looked up and his eyes darkened as they rested on hers. "Granger." He acknowledged.
She just looked at him confused.
"Draco!" Narcissa scolded. "Don't worry about him. Let's go."
They walked over to wait in line to use the floo network. They had just arrived at the front of the line when Narcissa remembered that she needed to pick up some more Healing Potion.
"Draco, take Hermione through with you, she doesn't know how to floo. I'll be home in a few moments."
Draco was about to argue, but the look on Narcissa's face quickly changed his mind. "Well Granger," Draco said icily, "Hurry up."
Hermione's head was pounding. She had a massive headache and all she wanted to do was just be by herself so that she could think over everything that she had been told.
Her name was Hermione Granger. She was nine-teen year old muggle-born witch. What was a muggle again? For some reason, and no one was more surprised than herself, she did not find this information, about her being a witch that is, did not shock her as much as the idea of such a ludicrous thing. Perhaps because something in her sub-conscious had already known it.
"Alright." She snapped.
Draco did not reply, he was already waiting impatiently inside the fireplace for her. "Well come on then."
"Uh, Draco, you do realize you are standing in a fireplace don't you?"
He looked at her coldly. "Look Granger, let's get a couple of things straight. Firstly, if you must address me, you call me Malfoy, not Draco, Malfoy." He told her, exaggerating his last name. "And secondly… I don't like you." He finished harshly.
Hermione stared at him in shock. Ooookay, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. She thought to herself as she walked cautiously towards the fireplace. She gingerly stepped inside and looked up at Draco nervously.
Draco just glared at her, wishing that she would hurry up so he could just get home.
Draco threw some floo powder into the fireplace and cried "Malfoy Manor."
---::---
A few hours later Hermione was once again up in her room. She sighed as she lay back on the Queen sized bed. What a day! This morning I had no idea who I was, and now I have a name and no memory. A tear rolled down her cheek for what seemed like the millionth time that day. I have no family, no idea who I really am except for a name that sounds foreign to me. Hermione Granger, what type of name is that anyway? It sounds like a cats name or something.
There was a gentle knocking at her door.
"Come in." Hermione called, wiping desperately at her tears, hoping more than anything that it wasn't Draco at her door.
She let out a sigh of relief when Narcissa poked her head through the door.
"I just came up to tell-" but she cut herself short as she saw a tearstained Hermione lying across her bed. "Hermione, what's wrong?' she asked rushing over to sit by her side.
"Nothing, I just… I… oh I don't know, I'm just so confused!" she blubbered as she sobbed into Narcissa's shoulder.
"Shh…" the older woman soothed, running a hand up and down Hermione's back. "It will all be alright. It is possible that your memory will fully return, and until it does, Draco and I are here for you, whatever you need."
Hermione pulled away and sniffled a bit. "Thank-you Mrs. Malfoy. For taking me into your home, that is so very kind of you."
"Oh, it is no trouble at all. It will be nice to have another girl around the house. I always wanted a daughter." Narcissa sighed wistfully.
Hermione did not know what to say to the woman.
"Well," Narcissa began, clearing her throat. "I just came up to tell you that dinner is ready and that you might want to head to bed shortly after. If you are going to be staying with us for a while you will need some more clothes, and the Malfoy Gala will be held in a couple of weeks so you will need some dress robes for that." She said in a rushed tone.
Hermione smiled. "Thank-you so much, I look forward to it."
---::---
Dinner was no formal affair in the Malfoy household, especially since Lucius had passed. Hermione found herself becoming more at ease in the Malfoy home and even around Draco, and grew accustomed to his snarls and foul looks every time he looked at her, although she could not understand it.
A few times Narcissa had showed Hermione some pictures from her past, and while she recognized herself in the pictures, she had no recollection of anything that had happened to her before she had awoken in the Malfoy forest. The events of the war and her part in it were all explained to her in detail in the hope that she would remember something, but alas, she could not recall anything.
After a week Albus Dumbledore paid a visit to Malfoy Manor. "Miss Granger, it is such a pleasure to be seeing you again, we were all so worried. I am glad to see that the Malfoys are taking such good care of you."
"Thank-you." Hermione replied politely.
"After all," Dumbledore continued, "It would be a sad day for the Wizarding world indeed if the brightest witch of our time was lost to us."
Draco, who was in a nearby chair snorted at this and his mother shot him glares across the room.
"Mrs. Malfoy has kindly invited me over today in the hopes that I could share some Hogwarts stories with you in the hopes that some of it might sound vaguely familiar."
Dumbledore chatted away for the remainder of the afternoon, recounting all of the adventures she had shared with her friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, from the Philosopher's stone and the Chamber of Secrets, to the final battle and her aid in bringing about the downfall of He Who Must Not Be Named. But still, her memory would not budge.
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