Thick, puffy snowflakes fell upon the shops' roofs and cobblestoned streets of Diagon Alley. It was dark outside, but Draco chose to stay in the shadows, staring icily at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes joke shop from afar. Knowing that his stomach and chest pains came from a curse, the pangs inside him felt more intense. Honestly, he was scared. Breaking the Hermione's heart should have some consequences, but Draco imagined he already had suffered them. Severing his relationship and ties with her and marrying Astoria was a different kind of hell for him. Only until the birth of Scorpius, he felt like he could actually forgive himself for what he had done to the girl he had loved years ago. Dying for breaking a bird's heart was a little morbid, even if the woman was Granger. Or so he told himself.
The bright lights of the joke shop diminished, and Draco saw George Weasley in the window of the entrance door. The man opened the door and following behind was Lee Jordan who Draco vaguely recalled from Hogwarts. The two men laughed heartily at something or other and shook hands before Jordan descended down the front steps and disappeared into the night, a feint popping sound of someone Disapparting followed.
At the departure of his friend, George turned around and locked the door, and Draco emerged from the shadows, quietly but hastily arriving at the bottom of the front steps. He watched as the other wizard finished locking the door and turn around, Weasley clearly startled when seeing him and quickly composed himself.
"Malfoy, what do you want?" he asked coldly when climbing down the steps.
"Walk with me," Draco stated calmly, nudging his head to the right.
"I'm not going anywhere with you," George retorted incredulously, giving Draco a wary eye before moving to get around him.
"Oh, yes you are." Draco nodded pointedly, stepping to left to block George from leaving. "You see, Weasley, we have to talk about your little brother and a favor you did for him about…oh…I'd say ten years ago. Let's discuss this at the Leaky Cauldron over a drink, yeah?"
George's eyes narrowed and crossed his arms, standing to his full height. A few moments passed between them before he gave Draco a curt nod, both walking the short distance to the Leaky Cauldron in silence. Upon arrival they sat at a table for two that was away from the other patrons and gave their order to their server. Draco ordered water, thinking it best to not drink any alcohol with his current illness. Didn't want to speed things along. George didn't order anything but sat rigid in his chair.
"The favor wasn't for him. I don't know how you found out but leave me alone, and leave Hermione alone," George hissed, beginning where their conversation had left off.
"It's too late for that," Draco quipped and stole a sip of his water. "Obviously, I know now that she can't remember me, and it was you who successfully brewed Memoria Obscurare. Congratulations on your part. Difficult to make, I hear. I find that impressive, especially since you, your brother, and Hermione have successfully killed me. Bravo."
George's brow furrowed and shot him an incredulous expression. "What the bloody hell are you talking about? Killed you? You're right here, you daft arse."
"Oh, so you didn't know." Draco feigned surprise with an enlightened expression on his face. "Tell me, did you just brew the potion and not study the history or side effects?"
A worried look passed over George. "Is Hermione okay?"
Draco sighed and rolled his eyes. "Are you not listening? I'm the one that's not okay. The potion does have a dire side effect…but not on the one who drinks it. The one who is forgotten is the one who suffers. Memoria Obscurare is Dark Magic and you'd be bloody thick to not know shite like that has consequences. The potion, when consumed, forms a failsafe inside the consumer, so the forgetter can never be threatened again by the same person. To ensure that, it releases a curse on that person if ever they should cross paths again. The curse is an illness designed to kill. Ulcers. Depending on the amount of exposure I have had, depends on how long I will have until I die. I've calculated that I have a year or maybe eighteen months of agony before I'm bumped off."
The corner of George's mouth ticked, and Draco seriously considered reaching over and punching him in the mug. The self-righteous wanker probably thought something along the lines of 'just deserts.'
"It sounds like you need a Curse Breaker. You've come to the wrong Weasley, Malfoy. Now if you'll just excuse me…" George made a notion to leave.
"I've already looked into it, and it won't work. I'm putting my faith into the counteragent of Memoria Obscurare. I've decided since you're the one who brewed the shite in first place, you can fix it."
But George was out of chair and shoving his hands into his pockets, his smirk forming into a snarl. "If I do that, Hermione will remember everything, Malfoy. Everything. Can you live with her hating you? Because she couldn't."
"I won't live at all if I don't risk it. In the twenty years I've known Granger, only two of those years she didn't hate me. Eighteen years I've lived knowing she didn't like me. I can go longer. I have to. I know you think I deserve this. That I got what was coming to me, but I have a family: a son and mother who need me. This is bigger than Hermione and her feelings."
George snorted in disgust and lolled his head to the side, his expression pensive. Eventually nodded in acceptance. "Fine, but I don't like it. In fact, I hate it. I'm going to be honest, Malfoy, I don't want to do it, but I will. Getting the materials for the counteragent will take me a while. I hope you can hold on for that long."
Draco inwardly grimaced as he felt that blasted burning sensation in his stomach heating up. He thought of Hermione and the child she was pregnant with. There would be no way he could give it to her until she gave birth, so there really was no rush. The concoction would be lethal to the fetus. Draco's life may be larger than Hermione's issues, but it was not greater than Hermione's child. If he forced it down her gullet and miscarriage followed, she would kill him, and he would probably let her. Bastard or not, he could never destroy his own blood.
"Just have it ready for me when you can. I'll choose when to give it to her, but I've wondered about something. Call it curiosity or whatever," said Draco. "Why did you help her?"
"My brother asked for a favor and-" George started.
Draco shook his head and made a noise of denial. "A decent bloke like you wouldn't have complied by making an illegal potion just because a snotty little brother asked you to. Again, I ask, why did you help her?"
"Hermione is special to me, too, Malfoy," George defended. "She's like a sister to me. I don't expect a self-loving prat like yourself to understand the concept of loving anything more than your own arrogant arse."
"So you would have done it for Ginny?" inquired Draco with a quirked brow. "Because, you know, she's is your sister."
"Depending on the circumstances, I suppose."
"Hmm," Draco noised and stroked his chin. "Perhaps I should ask a different question. Why did you think it was okay for Hermione to forget me? I know you are all about fun and games and jokes and loving girls like siblings, but this was dangerous and terribly risky. From what I here, not everyone agreed with Hermione's decision. What did you have to gain by it?"
George shot another glare at him but said nothing, making Draco wonder about the bloke's platonic claim concerning Granger.
"Sister, huh? You love Hermione like a sister? For some reason, I doubt that."
Draco would have smirked or taunted him but he wasn't sure himself. The concept was foreign: George Weasley fancying Hermione Granger. Maybe for a second during Hogwarts, but Ron would have had a better chance. He did have the better chance. When the youngest male Weasley and Granger broke things off, George and Angelina had yet to become serious. George could have severed whatever he had with Johnson and lay claim on Granger if he had wanted, so Draco had doubts the man secretly harbored some romantic feelings for her.
"Stop digging when there's nothing to find," said George. "I don't fancy Hermione and never had. I'm a married man if you can't recall and like I said, I consider her a sister. If things could've been different…"
Draco's eyes widened at George's hesitation. Was that it? That's why he did it? Because Granger could have married the youngest Weasley git but didn't? That wasn't right. Ron and Pansy were already married with children when Hermione partook of the potion. Surely, George would have accepted his younger brother's choice of wife by then.
"Hermione and Ron never had a chance," Draco said with a shake of his head and then something dawned on him. "Unless…you're not talking about Ron."
George scowled and stalked out of the Leaky Cauldron. Draco didn't immediately go after him. He sat back in his seat, dumbfounded and tried to remember something, anything from someplace in time. Eventually he found himself back at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall at Hogwarts during his fifth year before the Weasley Twins made their grand departure. He had stared across the room at the Gryffindor table and each brave and pompous student was like a pitiful comedy script waiting to be scoffed at and discarded. Potter was sullenly staring at his food; sitting next to him was Weasley who was stuffing his face. By Weasley was Granger who had been completely ignoring her herb and dumpling stew, attempting to suffocate herself in an open tomb. Placed next to her were the Weasley Twins. Draco could never tell those freckled arses apart. The one closest to Granger repetitively poked at her arm, trying to get her attention. She'd swat his finger away like she would a pestering bug, her eyes focused determinedly on the dusty, yellowed pages of the book. When the probing failed, he tugged on one of her curls. Again, she fluttered her hand and spared him no glance. This lasted the entire meal, and Draco remembered being utterly appalled by Hermione's patience with that irritating tosser beside her. The Granger he knew would have shrilled and hit until the problem went away.
Draco got up and left the Leaky Cauldron, following after George. He hoped the man had yet to Disapparate. He saw him walking down the street towards Apparartion Grounds, and Draco ran towards him. When he caught up to him, he spoke, "I am sorry about your brother. Fred, right? That was his name?"
George's shoulders tensed, but he kept walking. "I'll have the counteragent for you in a month. I'll send it to you when it's done."
"Your brother hid his crush well. I don't think Hermione ever knew," said Draco.
"No one knew." George turned around and hissed and then cursed, like he realized what he just admitted. Draco expected him to flee after that, but he didn't. He just stopped walking and rested his shoulder blades against the wall of a shop and stared at the falling snow with a deep frown on his face.
Draco was an only child and had just a few close friends growing up. He lost Vincent the day of the Battle of Hogwarts in the Room of Requirement, and Gregory never spoke to him again. They had all been friends. Or maybe it would have been better to call them allies, but the feeling of loss was still there. That feeling was probably a tickle compared to losing an actual brother or sister. Draco was unsure of what to say but piped up anyway regardless if it was the right thing.
"Fred was gone when Hermione and I were no longer together. He was gone when we were," he said softly.
"And whose fault is that?" George asked harshly, and Draco snorted.
"Not mine, if that's what you're thinking. Hermione didn't think so either. Why did you make her forget when Fred was already gone? You had nothing to gain, and he certainly didn't."
George fiercely glowered at him and shook his head from side to side before bobbing it up and down. "Yes I did. I knew if I helped her with this, then in some way I was helping him. You're right. He's gone, but the things he loved the most and the things he deserved in life are not, Malfoy." He cleared his throat and shoved his hands inside his pockets. "In a month."
Draco watched George stalk off down the street, disappearing into a large crowd that exited Curly Girly's Bookshop. The crowd dispersed and the last figure to leave the building was Hermione. Stealthily, Draco took a step back and hid behind a corner, watching as she locked up the door of her shop and walk towards the Leaky Cauldron. He fought the desire to follow her and walked in the opposite direction towards the Apparition Grounds and Disapparated home.
A/N: I hope the chapter was enjoyable and informative. Thank you to my readers, reviewers, followers, and those who have put this fic on their favorite list. Please read and review and tell me what you think.