It started three days after her release from St. Mungo's.
Even though the Healers were insistent in their diagnosis that her memory would be forever irreparable, you still had that one small shred of belief that maybe, just maybe, they were wrong.
After she came out of the coma, she didn't talk much. You could see the exhaustion in her eyes that far exceeded your own. She was just so tired that it made you hurt. She would wake up at least once a day, faintly smile at you, but fall asleep soon after that.
When she was finally released, able to physically function on her own, you began to notice.
It started off small, misplacing objects, forgetting why she came into a room. You could tell it frustrated her, but at the same time, she was too tired to care. But life was reasonably normal, enough for you to slowly grow comfortable again.
But then it got worse, and much too quickly.
"Hermione!"
Brittany practically skipped across the room to envelope her in an embrace. "I'm so happy to see you again! San and I came up as soon as we could and the plane ride was so much fun, especially since our flight attendant had a British accent and San kept calling her over to make her talk to us because she knows how much I like those accents-"
But as Brittany kept talking, Hermione was slowly pushing her away, her eyes wary. "I'm sorry, but… I don't know you…"
"What?" Brittany faltered for a moment, looking confused and disbelieving. "Of course you know me!"
She slowly shaked her head. "I don't… I'm sorry…"
Brittany frowned. "But… but you're the one who helped me pass my Muggle college math class, remember? And San and I used come over here every Saturday to watch movies with you and Quinn! We used to bring Lord Tubbington over too, but you didn't like the fur everywhere so-"
"Britt…" San whispered, pulling the blonde back, "I need to tell you something, come over here…"
"But San, what's going on? Hermione…"
"Just c'mon, babe, I'll explain it all…"
And you don't know what hurts more, your best friend's face, full of utter disbelief and fright, or your Hermione, completely terrified and looking at you with such confusion and pain. And you look over at your other best friend in the corner as she tries to explain to Brittany why one of her closest friends no longer recognizes her.
You convince yourself that it's just a small side-effect of the accident, and soon everything will be back to normal. You convince yourself that this is only temporary.
"Bloody hell!"
The swearing has grown worse over the next few weeks; for the both of you. But whereas it was usual for you to mutter a curse or two when frustrated, you rarely heard her swear until now. Now, it was much more common.
"'Mione?" You call out into the next room, apprehensively placing down the book you were trying to read. "'Mione, what's wrong?"
"…Nothing. Nothing, I'm fine. Just made a clumsy mistake."
But the long pause before her response worries you, and you make your way into the kitchen, to be greeted with the sight of blood running down the kitchen counter, and your Hermione clutching her reddened wrist with a furious blush on her face.
"It's… it's just a flesh wound…" she starts, but you're already back in your HBIC-mode, the routine you're used to from your days as head cheerleader in high school.
"What happened?" Your surprised at your own voice, how calm and level-headed you sound, even though you know you should be freaking out, because this is yourHermione and she'sbleeding quite profusely and blood is allover.
"Quinn, I'm fine!" Her voice snaps, and with a few quick flicks of her wand with her good wrist, the blood is Vanished and her injured wrist has stopped bleeding. "I just wasn't paying enough attention to where I was cutting, okay?"
"I'm sorry for being worried about you, okay?" There it is again; the calm façade that's taken over, when you're in reality torn between snapping back at her, and just wrapping her up in your arms and never letting her go and protecting her from everything.
Your calm demeanor obviously sets her off; she shifts uncomfortably in her place before lowering her head and murmuring an apology. "…just don't understand what happened…" you make out faintly.
"It's okay, 'Mione. Mistakes happen. You're only human."
Butyou'resomuchmore.You can't help but think. You'remyreasonforliving.
She scowls. "I don't make mistakes."
You just decide to let the argument go. After all, it's been a long day.
The Healers had warned you, during the first few days of the coma, that this would happen. Buttheyhavetosaythat. You said to yourself. Theyhavetosaythatasageneraldisclaimer.Itwillneverreallyhappen.
But it does.
The party was going along just fine. You only had to remind Hermione twice of who certain guests were, and everyone had the grace not to talk about the incident. Even Brittany was holding conversation with Hermione as if that last, ill-fated meeting between them didn't end in heartbreak.
It's during desert when something inside her mind snaps. You notice her tense up beside you, and as you look up to inquire what's wrong you're shocked to see how pale her face has suddenly become. She stares at everyone around the table, confusion plainly evident on her face.
"'Mione, sweetie…" You begin.
"Don't talk to me!" She practically jumps to her feet, her wand out and rapidly moving from person to person. "I don't know what you want from me, but if you don't let me go-"
"Hermione," you strain to remain calm, despite the panic and hurt that is quickly rising in your chest, "Hermione, please calm down. We're your friends-"
Before you can get any further, the curtains behind her catch on fire, and something explodes.
The Ministry officials arrived moments later, grim-faced and bearing a warrant ordering them to restrict Hermione's magic.
She refuses to watch the wand-breaking.
You receive a pamphlet on "wild magic", and the Auror gives you strict warning on "keeping her under control". "It's impossible to control, wild magic," he says, "but you can prevent another outburst like this from happening again. If you would just follow the guidelines outlined in the pamphlet-"
"I think I can handle my own wife, thanks," you all but bite back, wanting to get back to Hermione and wishing that this man would just shut up already.
"Don't underestimate wild magic," he warns, undeterred by your hostility. "Especially when the wielder is in such an unstable condition…"
He's forced out the door so quickly he doesn't have time to finish whatever half-brained "warning" he had for you.
The days grew tense after that. The blanks in memory were more and more frequent, and you fire-proofed more things in the house than you ever thought you would. Hermione was growing weaker and weaker, and so was her memory.
It was a rare moment, then, when you both were able to just lie in bed together, soaking up the other's presence. She stopped speaking earlier that day, after you realized how much it was straining her to exert enough energy to form words.
But even though neither of you are speaking, and her breaths sound so hoarse and painful, you treasure every moment with her, when you know that she knows who you are.
"I just love you so much, Hermione." You start, spurred by something you can't identity to suddenly bear your soul to her, "I know that's the only thing I've been saying the past few weeks but it's so true it hurts. I love you and I love that you love me and I love that we're together. You are the bravest, most intelligent, most caring person I know and it's because of you that I'm a better person. It's because of you that I'm able to wake up every day with a smile just because I know that I get to see you again. You brought me out of that miserable excuse of a life I was living and gave me something to live for. And I just love you; I love you so much, and you've saved my life, and before this ends I wanted you to know."
Something bearing the faintest traces of a smile crosses her lips. A tear slides down her face. Her breathing hitches again before resuming its already ragged pattern.
Eventually, you both fall asleep, your bodies intertwined, just as you have fallen asleep the past seven years of your lives together. Your nose lies against the top of her head and that unique Hermione smell of lavender and parchment fills your mind as you sleep. And despite everything that's happening to your life, this just feels so right and you wish you could spend the rest of your life like this and you don't want it to end but
You're the only one to wake up in the morning.