DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, nor am I affiliated in any way with J.K. Rowling.

Zella allowed herself to become lost in the moment. The one Trayton was masquerading as (or was it the other way around?) wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She inhaled his scent, surprised to find that her body reacted positively to it. Or whoever's body she was currently in. It couldn't be her body. Her body was probably six feet under in some graveyard and had been for the last two hundred or so years. Time didn't have meaning anymore. The only thing that mattered to her right now was being kissed in a way that made her body tingle happily.

Until, that was, she remembered exactly who was kissing her. She pushed Trayton away angrily, taking a few steps back to distance herself from him. She was quickly remembering how to move in a body and only wobbled slightly.

"Zella?" Trayton, or whoever it was, frowned. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"What's wrong?" she hissed. "What's right?"

"I…I don't understand," Trayton said, his eyes betraying hurt and confusion. "I thought you'd be happy to see me."

Even if the heart of the body Zella was in didn't twinge at his expression, she still would've felt a stab of guilt, something which she quickly brushed aside. She didn't know what she felt. She should hate Trayton, had been telling herself this ever since she found out it was he who had killed her. But she loved him. He was, is and always had been the centre of her entire existence. That type of devotion didn't just go away overnight.

"Just…explain to me exactly what's going on," Zella said, her voice softer as she considered 'Trayton' in the soft, flickering firelight.

"I needed to be with you again," Trayton said sadly, stepping forward towards her. "I missed you so much I thought I would die again. I thought that wandering for eternity without you was hell, but I was wrong. Knowing where you were and not being able to reach you…that was hell. So I worked and I worked and I found some of the Sons of Slytherin's old books and I-"

"You went back to the Sons?" Zella interrupted with a scowl.

"I brought us back," Trayton corrected earnestly.

"But who did you bring us back into?" she demanded. "Did these people know what they were letting themselves in for? Who are we?"

"We're the same as we've always been," Trayton told her, smiling. "And I can see that more than ever now you're angry with me. You always had a fiery streak." When Zella remained stoic, he sighed. "You're still a version of yourself, only a few generations later. The two of you were already linked by your necklace and her dreams. It isn't that far of a stretch to-"

"Hermione?" Zella's - Hermione's - whoever's - eyes widened. "Trayton, tell me you didn't. Or at least tell me she agreed to it."

"It was the only way I could talk to you again," Trayton answered, his eyes shining with childish bewilderment again. "It wasn't like I just plucked two people from obscurity. Draco and Hermione have a connection, like we did."

"Draco…" Zella pondered this name. Did Hermione ever tell her the name of the boy she liked (no matter how much she tried to deny it)? She'd said he was a Malfoy…hence the connection. She closed her eyes and groaned softly. "And I suppose you didn't ask his permission either?"

"No," Trayton answered, unashamed. "I didn't see why I had to. Draco and Hermione are us, only a couple of centuries later."

"Will they be alright after?"

"After what?"

"After we leave."

Pain shot through Trayton's face but he quickly rearranged his features.

"Yes, they'll be fine. They're not wandering around on another plane or anything like they, they're technically still here." Zella frowned, confused, so he carried on. "Think for a moment. Do you recall memories that aren't yours? Feelings, hopes, that sort of thing?"

"Just as long as they're safe," Zella answered without checking. She didn't want to invade Hermione's personal thoughts. "I don't want you to do anymore damage than you already have."

Yes, she was purposefully hurting him, but so what? She loved him desperately, even after all this time and his part in her death. But that didn't mean she couldn't hate him as well. Even when she wanted nothing more than to comfort him when his eyes became downcast, just like they were just now.

"How did you do it?" she asked after a moment. "You went to the Sons, and then what?"

"I brought us back," Trayton repeated. "That's all you need to know."

"You brought us back with dark magic," Zella murmured. "You must have, if you got it from the Sons' archives. Trayton, what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I couldn't bear to spend one more day without you."

Tears began to pool in her eyes again. Why was he saying all of this? It was tearing her apart.

"I know it was you," was all she said. Inside, her heart was breaking but she couldn't let that show until she got answers. "You killed me."

"I didn't want to," he told her after an age of painful silence, tears springing suddenly to his grey eyes. "I thought it was for the best."

"How could you possibly think that?" Zella whispered, her own eyes overflowing with tears. "Did you not want me anymore?"

"No!" Trayton promised. "I will always want you. I went through everything to get you back here with me."

"Then…why? I thought we were happy. We had everything we wanted."

"You were my everything," Trayton said sadly. "You still are. But I realized that we could never completely be happy together while we were still at Hogwarts. All your friends had turned against you, Fin-"

"Don't bring Fin into this," Zella asked quietly. "I'd lost all of my friends, but so what? I had you."

"You needed more than I could offer you." Trayton his turned away, ashamed. "I went to the Sons. The highest members, actually."

Zella felt her eyes widen. The Sons of Slytherin tended to be a group of male teenage idiots, good for a laugh and a prank but not for anything else. But the highest members of the Sons…that's where the real power lay. Those were the ones the teachers didn't know about, the ones who dabbled in the blackest of magic. The ones you didn't interfere with.

"You didn't," she breathed in horror.

"I had to," Trayton shrugged. "I would've duelled them all if it meant we could be together. As it turned out, they were only too willing to help." He laughed bitterly. "At least, that's what I thought. They told me that they'd been working on a spell to entrap a life essence in an object which could be transferred back into the essence's body at any point. Even if the body was dead. They gave me a dagger and all I had to do was wait…"

Zella closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. She was shocked when she felt curls bounce around her shoulders and lifted a hand to her hair, pulling it to inspect it more closely. Her original body's hair was naturally straight and feeling curls was a new experience.

"I thought it was the perfect idea. If everyone thought you were dead and if I mysteriously disappeared soon after, we'd be free."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know," Trayton answered honestly. "I thought you might not agree."

"Then why go ahead with it?" Zella blazed. "Why didn't you use your head for once?"

"Because I was too busy listening to my heart!" Trayton snapped back, losing his temper.

"If you hadn't been doing that then we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!"

They glared at each other for a moment before Trayton smirked.

"I'd forgotten how much fun it is arguing with you," he said.

"You're infuriating," she told him, turning away so he couldn't see her slight smile.

Their relationship had been gentle and loving, but could turn heated and passionate in less than a moment if they disagreed on something. Zella had to admit, it was fun fighting with Trayton sometimes. The making up part was even better…but no, she couldn't think about that right now.

"One of the many things you love about me."

Behind his teasing tone, Zella could hear worry as he used 'love' in the present tense. She frowned. As if she would ever stop loving him.

"Just carry on with the story," she told him, avoiding his eyes.

"They promised me it would be okay," he said in a small voice, his bravado vanishing. "But it wasn't. You were dead and I couldn't get to your body afterwards. I tried so hard but they wouldn't let me see you and soon you were sent back to your parents."

"I wish you would've told me," Zella whispered, reaching up and stroking her necklace softly. "I wish you hadn't had to go through that."

"I wish I wasn't stupid enough to believe the Sons actually wanted to help us," Trayton muttered. "I confronted them afterwards, after you were sent home." He looked down, clenching his eyes shut to prevent tears. "They just laughed at me."

Her heart breaking, Zella crossed the room and embraced him tightly, resting her head on his shoulder. After a moment, he hugged her back fiercely until Zella broke away.

"You're a fool," she told him.

"I know," he said, hanging his head.

Zella smiled sadly and laced her fingers through his. Even though they were in different bodies, their hands still fit each others' perfectly. Trayton looked up, surprised and cautiously hopeful.

"But I knew that when I fell in love with you," she continued, looking into his eyes earnestly. "I forgive you."

"How can you?" Trayton asked, torment staining his voice. "I've made such a mess. You're dead because of me."

"But you did it out of love," Zella told him softly. "You genuinely thought you were doing the right thing."

"I was selfish," Trayton corrected. "I should've been the one to die."

"No," Zella shook her head. "You were tricked, it wasn't your fault."

"I don't want to be forgiven," Trayton whispered. "I don't deserve it."

"Forgiveness isn't given because someone deserves it," Zella told him, reaching up and caressing the side of his face. Draco's skin was as soft as she remembered Trayton's to be. "What happened is in the past, what's the point in dwelling on it?"

"It shouldn't have happened."

"But it did. We can't go back to living-"

"We could."

Trayton's excited interruption surprised Zella. He had gone from desolate to hopeful in three seconds flat. She frowned and waited for him to continue.

"Draco and Hermione are wasting their lives," he explained, his eyes alight as he considered his plan. "I've been listening to Draco's thoughts for over an hour, and they're really rather repetitive. He likes Hermione but what if she doesn't like him back? What if his father doesn't approve? What if being together will be dangerous? The boy is full of 'what ifs' and it doesn't seem like he'll be taking a proper chance anytime soon. Tell me what Hermione's thinking."

Too intrigued to worry about how ethical invading someone's mind was, Zella concentrated for a moment.

"Well, the good news is that she likes him back," she joked weakly. "But she's so full of doubts."

"They're wasting the chances life is giving them," Trayton told Zella, playing with her hair. "If we had another chance-"

"We don't," Zella cut across. "We can't. This is their time."

"And it's a much more understanding time," Trayton told her. "The rivalry between the Houses runs deep, but it's nowhere near what it was when we were alive. If a Gryffindor and a Slytherin fell in love now, people would be shocked, maybe even angry, but they'd get over it."

The more Trayton spoke, the more difficult Zella found it to argue. She knew it was wrong, of course she did. She like Hermione and wanted her to be happy, but…the chance to live again with the man she loved and not have to constantly look over her shoulder? It was so tempting.

"It wouldn't be us," she said once she found her voice.

"Not physically," Trayton agreed. "But everything that counts would be us."

"It's murder."

"It's a sacrifice," Trayton corrected hastily. "One which we'll be thankful for every day. We're here for a reason and maybe that reason is to get another chance at life." His expression softened. "We'll finish Hogwarts like we were supposed to and then go to Paris for a year and stay in a house-"

"Overlooking the river Seine," Zella finished off, her eyes sparkling with tears as she remembered. "And if there isn't a house free then you'll build me one."

Trayton nodded, thrilled that she'd remembered.

"We'll get married in Notre Dame," he continued with a smile. "And honeymoon in Italy."

"And after that we'll go back to England and get a home in the countryside." She laughed, and as she did tears ran down her face. "Although we could never agree in which countryside."

"You wanted somewhere in the South and I wanted somewhere in the North." Trayton brushed away her tears lightly with his thumb. "We'll compromise and to the West instead."

"I want to go to the East," Zella pouted through her smile. When Trayton mock-rolled his eyes at her, she laughed. "As long as we can have a garden, I don't care."

"Agreed. It'll have to be far enough out in the countryside for the children to have an excuse not to visit once they're grown up."

"I'm sure our daughters will always want to visit," Zella teased.

"I've told you before, we'll keep having children until we have a son," Trayton warned light-heartedly. "We'll need someone to carry on the family name when we die at the ripe old age of one hundred and three."

Zella smiled up at him as fresh tears formed and trickled silently down her cheeks. The realization that it wasn't her tears and they weren't her cheeks brought her back to reality.

"You know we can't," she whispered after a moment.

She expected Trayton to argue, but he only nodded.

"I know. I just wish we had more time."

Zella tilted her head upwards and leant towards him, kissing him softly on the lips. He kissed her back gently.

"I love you," Trayton told her as they broke apart.

"I love you too," Zella answered, caressing his face as he leant in for their final kiss. "Forever."

Hermione didn't know what was happening.

She felt trapped in a dream of sorts.

She was warm, she knew that.

She didn't feel any emotions really.

Was apathy an emotion?

Maybe she did feel emotions.

Her awareness flared suddenly and she saw a flash of a room.

Was it her room?

No.

No, she remembered that it wasn't her room.

It was someone's room though.

Someone she should remember.

One by one, her senses began to return to her. It was sudden and a jolt to her system, but it was happening. She heard a fire crackling somewhere. Smelt something familiar. Felt arms wrapped around her waist. Saw…nothing. Why couldn't she see anything? As logic returned to her, she realized that it was because her eyes were shut. And why were her eyes shut?

Well, that was because she was kissing Draco Malfoy.

Alarmed, she stepped backwards hastily, her cheeks flaming. Draco surveyed her with amusement.

"Problem?" he asked, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow.

Hermione considered his question for a moment. Then she decided that she thought too much.

"No," she answered, taking a step forward and kissing him again.

A/N:

What's the betting Hermione will regret being so forward next chapter? It's not that clear what's happened yet with Zella and Trayton, but it'll be explained next chapter. Don't worry if you're staring at the screen with a look of utter confusion.

Hope you all enjoyed, it was an incredibly depressing afternoon writing this, I'll tell you that XD

Thanks for all your reviews, they're greatly appreciated when I'm getting stressed out with coursework and the upcoming exams. It's been said many times amongst my friends, but it's times like these I just wish I went to Hogwarts :P

Have a great week!

- Momo