Trillium

Chapter Three

By Mell8

Draco looked down at the journal in his hands with something akin to shock on his face. It was an emotion he had no use for so part of his shock was the fact that he was shocked at all.

But still, how had that owl gotten into the loo anyway? There were no windows and he didn't remember it flying in after him when he entered. All he knew was that somehow an owl had delivered this to him and he didn't know why.

The letter instructed him to read the journal and then come meet them.

He wanted to say, 'Meet who', and toss the journal in the rubbish bin. Yet, he knew the scents that mingled over the leather binding of the journal. It tickled something deep inside him, something he vaguely remembered suppressing in order to protect himself. It…intrigued him and his shock grew with every thought.

He wanted to know why he was suddenly feeling these emotions. He wanted to know why he felt so drawn to those vaguely remembered scents. He wanted to know why he thought he had suppressed something on purpose and why it had protected him.

He could go back to the train compartment he shared with Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle and read it there, but then they would all ask what he was reading and he would have to share. Then Pansy would tell his father who would destroy this intriguing book.

No, Draco thought as he reached forward and locked the bathroom door. He didn't need to go back to them and their mindless chatter. Not yet anyway.

He hoisted himself up to sit on the counter next to the sink, cracked open the journal, and began to read.

III

The clearing had become terribly overgrown in the eight years they had been gone. Lack of use had allowed trees to encroach on their sacred space and flowers to bloom over what they had thought at the time were permanent indentations of their bodies in the ground.

But, with the white Christmas snow blanketing everything, Ginny could imagine that nothing had changed.

She clutched the note in her hands that Blaise had written telling her to go to their clearing. She didn't want to be here, not really. It brought back all the memories of what they had lost. She also didn't want only Blaise to show up. True, she loved Blaise, but being with him and only him would only make her pine for the person she didn't have. It would be cruel to both her and Blaise.

And yet she had a feeling when she woke up this morning. It was a feeling she had not had since that last time they all met in the clearing when she had been nine. It was the feeling she had come to associate with their call, telling her they were going to be there and therefore she had to come too.

She settled down into the roots of the old fir tree and waited.

It was odd seeing Blaise show up alone. Every other time he had walked into the clearing hand in hand with Draco. He looked bereft without him.

Ginny stayed hidden. If Draco didn't show up, she didn't want to be here. As long as Blaise didn't know she was there she wouldn't have to speak with him.

But Blaise looked unerringly towards where she was hidden with a small smile on his face so she rose and went to join him in the center of their clearing.

They waited for two hours huddled together as the skies opened and snow began to blanket them. Draco never showed. As every minute ticked by Ginny felt her shoulders get tenser and tenser and her heart break just a little bit more.

How many times had all three of them shown up at exactly the same time by mere coincidence? Not today, clearly.

The third hour passed before Ginny gave up. Her shoulders drooped and she pulled herself free of Blaise's arms.

"He's not coming, love," she whispered. "We've lost him." The tears in her eyes mirrored those shed by Blaise as he too stood.

By an unspoken agreement they both turned away from each other and began to head towards home. It was Blaise's gasp that made Ginny look back one last time.

Draco stood there, awkwardly, with the journal clutched in front of him. He looked shocked at himself for being there, as if he wasn't quite sure what was going on.

"I had to come," he mumbled. "I don't really know why but suddenly my feet led me here."

Ginny giggled. "At least some part of you remembers us."

Draco's eyebrow twitched. "A Weasley," he said with a halfhearted sneer.

"Love," Blaise whispered in shock. "Do you remember us now? We poured our souls into that journal to help you return to us."

Both he and Ginny walked forward together, displaying a shadow of what had once been perfect synchrony. Draco stood his ground despite the confusion and slight fear he showed in his eyes. No, he didn't remember them, not entirely, but there was something there that wasn't there before.

"I remember this clearing, and peace. I remember feeling peaceful," Draco said softly as Ginny and Blaise stood next to him. "But I remember forcing myself to forget something important; something that was hurting me; something that my father wanted gone."

"Us," Ginny whispered. "We were forced apart because of our families. Blaise and I occupied ourselves with trivialities while we waited to be reunited. You never had that luxury, not with your father around."

"If your father ever found out about us," Blaise shuddered. "You had to become what he wanted you to become or you would have been lost."

"I've been missing something," Draco said softly. "And now it's back. If only I could remember."

"Come and lie with us," Ginny smiled at him. "We'll help you remember."

As one they turned and made their way to the center of the clearing. They all remembered just how to position themselves so all their heads were pillowed comfortably and so they were snuggled and warm on the cold ground, Ginny and Blaise through long and wistful memory and Draco from some unconscious source.

And then they lay in silence as the memories washed over them; and they remembered.