A/n: Hope you like it! I like this chapter the most I think :) I posted a day early in case work kills me tonight, that way you guys still get an update in a decent amount of time. And remember to review loves! I enjoy hearing what you think and what should happen. Big thanks to my beta Tessa Cresswell!
Disclaimer: All characters belong to J. K Rowling.
Disclaimer: Plot is similar to the book Fallen by Lauren Kate, but I have never read this book (or books?) so I don't know if it will continue to be the same. This has nothing to do with angels and constantly dying, just to let you know. I don't think it will be too similar.
Part 1: Fun and Games, 1999 (Life Six)
Draco Abraxas Malfoy and Hermione Jean Granger
Turning his head, he allowed her to look into his eyes and threw her into one of the strongest memories he had.
She's watching two young adults on a blanket in front of her, moonlight shining down on them. It looks like something straight out of those terrible romance movies muggles make, and Hermione is transfixed. The two people seem remarkably familiar.
Immediately she knows this is not a good situation. The pair are wearing very… old pieces of clothing, like something one would find in a 1400's novel; she is covered very modestly and he is dressed in strange, wizards robes. The only problem here is that the two are kissing rather heatedly, and she can only predict where this is going.
The male is blond, a dirtier shade of Malfoy's own. The woman has dark brown tresses, that have been pulled free from some sort of up do, and the man is leaning over her small frame, one hand on the other side of her body keeping his weight off of her. Hermione is now wondering just what she is looking at, and what sort of strange things Malfoy has sent her way now.
Then she sees him, and this is completely different from the last time their gazes met. Last time, she had seen everything as an observer, and alone. This time, she knows they can't see or hear her- else the two would've stopped- but this time Malfoy stands a few feet behind them, watching her with interest. She is thoroughly confused; what's going on?
The man leans away from the girl, cradling a hand to her face. "We must stop love," he whispers, barely loud enough for Hermione to hear. She steps closer, purposefully into his peripheral vision, but the man doesn't notice and her suspicions are confirmed; she is only an observer.
The woman's dainty hand comes up and rubs small circles on the bare flesh of his skin. "Please do not, Lowell. I dost not want thee to leave." Her hand moves to the back of his head and pulls, willing him to come back, but the blond removes her hand gently and kisses it.
"This is not what thou want," he whispers. "Thee dost not want to give thyself away to me."
Hermione watches the woman move so that both her hands are holding his one. "How dost thou know what I want? I want thee, Lowell, but thou push me away."
"I will not be thou husband," he reminds, frowning. "I will not be with thee soon; thou will have to go away. I will not make thou husband angry, I will not have thee hurt."
She sighs, and in the moonlight Granger notices the defeat there in her eyes. "I dost not wish to go with him! He tis an awful, awful man!"
"I know love," the man whispers, moving to rest his head against hers. "If I could but remove thee from his care, I would. But I cannot; thou father would never allow. He dost not want us together, Penelope."
The Penelope girl shrugs and sits up, forcing him to lean away. Hermione glances over at the blond, who she notices is watching her intently. She can't understand anything now, but hopes he removes her from this… whatever. The two seem very intimate, and the last thing she wants to see is the pair stripping down. She moves to stand beside the blond, but he moves in the opposite direction. She pauses, right in front of the two, and Malfoy smirks. That seems typical for the blond to simply place her in an awkward position- well, more so than before. Turning her attention back to what she is witnessing, she catches something the girl was saying.
"-thou. Dost not leave me alone with him Lowell, I cannot live like that! He will make me into something I am not, someone without spirit once he takes me away. Dost not let him take me," the girl pleads, throwing her head into the man's chest. The obvious surprise is evident on his face, but he moves to lie down and pulls her to him.
"I know what he shall do," he mutters into her hair, barely loud enough for Hermione to understand, "and I fear it love, I so fear it. But what is it thou want? If I take thou away, then it will not be the life thee deserves. And if I leave thou here, it tis not the life thee deserves either."
The girl pushed herself up so she was leaning over him. "Thou must ask? I want the life with thou Lowell, because tis the only life I can ever want."
He smiled, and then attacked her lips, flipping them so he was the one leaning again. "Whatever you say," he muttered between kisses.
Hermione herself thought the entire exchange was incredibly sweet, but as the blond began to run light fingers up and down the girl's side, she decided enough was enough. She would not be watching this. "Malfoy," she hissed, vaguely catching the attention of the platinum blond from the other side of the two. He was still grinning, watching her and only her. "Get us out of here!"
"Actually Granger, I don't think it's quite time to leave yet," he drawled, running elegant fingers through his hair. "Stay a while, watch the show."
She shook her head, attempting to stomp over to him, but he stepped away again, causing her to stop. Looking across at him, her eyes caught sight of the couple again; 'Lowell's' shirt was open, and the girl was running timid fingers over the defined chest. Hermione vaguely noticed that his skin was practically the same as Malfoy's, and that his eyes looked familiar too. An ancestor perhaps? Well, whatever it was, she didn't want to see the girl's upper body, which meant she needed to be removed from what she was seeing.
How did I get out last time? I think I was so shocked that I forced myself out, but this time I'm too composed to do that. Fucking Malfoy!
The girl lightly kissed his skin, but he was pushing her away. "Slowly love, slow. We have all night." She giggled, and he lifted her face to kiss her lips again. Turning her eyes from them, she looked up into the lighter gray ones of Malfoy, his lighter blond hair falling into his eyes.
The similarities between them are scary. "Malfoy," she called, ignoring the pair as the male slid the young woman's dress a bit off her shoulder to kiss the naked skin, "get us out of here."
He raised an eyebrow in the moonlight, and the way the light jumped off of his features was like something created by an artist- no matter how much she hated to admit it. Malfoy simply had an exquisite beauty that was entirely unfair, and he knew it. Merlin, the boy flaunted it as often as possible, and if the rays of light from the sun did half as much for his skin as the moon did, he would probably be forever on the ground, bombarded by crazy women- but never would it be her.
"Granger you are thick," he said in response, shaking his head. He wanted her to desperately make the connection in front of her, since he could not tell her without going against the rules set against him. He could however, apparently, show her the past. Now, if only the bloody girl would make the connection- smartest witch in the world! Pft!
But keeping her here would do no good. If she didn't recall anything from what she was seeing so far, then it was doubtful that she would remember anything else right now, which just meant he would probably freak her out with what happened next. He could only imagine the hard slap she would be delivering him when they got back.
She opened her mouth to reply, and he chose that moment to take them back into reality. Smirking, he nodded once to her and let the vision fade out.
She came back into the classroom, noticing that everyone was watching the teacher intently as he addressed something to all of them. She blinked, feeling a raging headache begin, and noticed that Malfoy immediately turned his head from her. She faced the front as well, feeling rather light-headed and confused. What did all of that mean?
A pale hand came to rest in front of her for a split second, then moved to reveal a small potion bottle, with neat writing on a piece of parchment. Headache Draught. Glancing skeptically at him, she realized he wasn't giving her the time of day. Rolling her eyes, she shoved the potion back onto his half of the desk and set her head down.
What had he shown her, except two people about to embark on dirty adventures with nothing but a blanket to hide from the world? They spoke a bit, she knew their names were Lowell and Penelope, but that was all. The difference this time though had been the presence of Malfoy, and it hadn't even been reassuring.
Well, she got what she had wanted; she got a second trip into… his mind? Or was it a trick and everything she saw was simply what he threw at her? Unfortunately, she felt more confused than before. Groaning softly, she willed the class to hurry and end, so she could consider things without Malfoy right there, watching her.
Who were those people, and why did he show her that? Or was it simply what he had been thinking of at the time? Did Malfoy really go around fantasizing about that stuff? She shuddered a bit, wondering just what kind of twisted mind he had. The vision was odd, and having him there was odder still. What was going on?
Turning her head a bit, she peered through her hair at Malfoy. He was looking forwards, ignoring her entirely. She wondered if that was just an act, or if he truly wasn't going to give whatever that had been a second thought. It was extremely irritating to think he could just turn his mind completely off from everything. Urg! Malfoy could be truly infuriating.
Finally sitting up, she noticed that Snape was still lecturing but staring at her intently. The direct look seemed to go unnoticed by the rest of the class, but Hermione felt a bit odd under his gaze. She noted that Malfoy shifted strangely closer to her, and that was odd.
What in Merlin's beard is going on?
Part 2: Perfect Imbalance, 1537 (Life Two)
Dreu Antoine Malfoy (14) and Harmony Joan Potter (18)
He turned his nose up, looking away from his parents. Were they mad? This was simply absurd! The woman was already signed off to another man, so what good did a boy four years younger than her do to drive her from the man? And furthermore, the two do not even like each other.
Harmony's parents were stingy and stiff, having never once allowed the young woman much time in the world outside of her home. Perhaps that is why Dreu was so hated by her; he could go almost anywhere he pleased, and he was only fourteen. Harmony had been betrothed at birth, cutting any ties that the war between families could be severed by a marriage later in life. Now, she was a new Potter; Alexander Potter was not an outstanding fellow, who often times got into trouble. Dreu's father, Kier, believed the woman would be killed in her own home through her husband's stupidity; Dreu readily agreed.
The feud between families went back generations ago, before the two families most well known members, Penelope and Lowell, died. He had read about the two in the family archives and found it fascinating how close the family had been to ending the war- had Penelope not been murdered and the death of Lowell just one day later. He understood the two had 'been in love', but it was a terrifying topic to consider when he himself was only five years younger then they had been. The two were often discussed, both in good and bad terms. Some hated the daredevil duo for tempting fate, and blamed that for the ends of their lives. Others- mostly the wives- simply believed it was truly tragic. He thought it was a little both.
Now Harmony was an entirely different story. She treated him like a child because he was younger- though quite a bit stronger and nearly taller than her, he would like to point out- and often tried to send him on meaningless tasks to get him out of her hair when their mothers spoke to one another. Their mother's were the first two wives to ever get along in their families, but it was in secret. If the father's found out, well, Dreu was certain it would be worse for his mother then Harmony's mother, Lyra.
Dreu's mother, Calypso, was a petite woman he could almost tower over already. She was a sweet woman in public, but cowered away from her husband behind closed doors. The man took the Malfoy Family's ways of discipline way too seriously for his own good, and his wife took most of the blows. The sad thing was, he would only ever touch Dreu's mother when he and his brother, Edward, were not accounted for. The man had far worse treatments for his wife then his heirs.
Harmony's mother was a far more timid woman, and would probably be dead if she lived at Malfoy Manor. The woman could not go more than twenty minutes without hurting herself, and with Kier's tendency of throwing people around, the woman's neck would have broke before she could ever bear children.
But, she had given birth to Harmony, and that was truly disappointing. The girl was exceptionally beautiful, and likely bought the poor bastards heart who would marry her, but she was impossible to be friendly with. He could not wait until she married in some months and moved on from his life.
His parents however, would not budge. "Go and see her," his father drawled, smoking away as he spoke. "She needs someone to watch her this evening son, and tis thee who will do so. Thou only must remain until Alabaster Snape arrives, to escort her to the Potter's. She tis but lonely Dreu, and she is in need of a friend."
"We are not friends," he spat, rolling his eyes. "Never will be."
His father raised a delicate blond eyebrow, nearly the same as his mother's blond hair. They were the first Malfoy couple in the last two generations to both have the fair, blond hair, which was good; families had executed their children in the past for not living up to who they needed to be, and spouses with different colored hair endangered every offspring they bore. "It dost no matter if thou will never be friends with Harmony, the point is that thee will watch her as her parents are ill and she cannot be left unattended."
Dreu frowned; that sounded like the most confusing, largest lie he had heard in a while. "She would be fine without me."
Kier shrugged, unmoved. "It dost not matter; the carriage will await thou out front, and when Harmony leaves then thee can depart as well."
The young blond rolled his blue eyes. "If thee insist," he spat, turning and storming away. Did no one understand that the two hated each other completely? He would never understand people.
Harmony was just as hostile as ever. "Do not step into my room," she instructed, brushing her long black hair. Instead of obeying the oh-so-vain woman, he walked in and promptly sat on the nearest piece of furniture- a table.
The girl turned around, frowning. "Dost not sit there."
He chuckled, enjoying the annoyed look on her features. "I am but here to make sure thou is taken care of, even if I dost not care. I shall sit where I please."
She frowned, full lips taking on the pout with ease. If he had feelings for the girl, he may have liked the look. "I dost not need to be watched. I am capable of taking care of myself."
"Of course," he replied, picking up a nearby book, "for that is something thy father will approve of. Where did thou parents go off to?"
Turning in her chair, the raven haired beauty glared at him. "A dinner party, if thou must know, but Alabaster is late, so thou came to watch me." She threw her brush down and stood, making sure the black curls fell nicely around her. "I dost not need thou watching me, for nothing will happen. I am safe, so go." She made a shooing motion with her hand, and he rolled her eyes.
"Mature," he replied, shutting the book, "but thou does need protection. Thou magic is a bit stiff, since thou husband took thee wand away."
She paused, taken aback. "How did thee find that out," she snapped, placing delicate hands on her hips. That was supposedly a secret between the pair.
He clicked his tongue in response. "Thy future husband is but a drunk. He told Alabaster, whom told everyone. Many people know thou husband is not a pleasant man." He shrugged at the end, as though it was expected.
Harmony's face had paled a bit, but she would not back down from a boy she was four years older than. "Thy knows nothing. Alexander would not take from me."
"If thou is vain enough to believe that lie, then thee will never own anything long," he replied, looking skeptical. Obviously, she was denying what was right in front of her face, but Harmony Joan would never accept that her life would be a terrible one.
Her cheeks turned pink "Thou know nothing of Alexander! Thee is but a boy, and thou should stop speaking of things thou dost not understand."
He inclined an eyebrow. Did she think he was four? "I understand more then thou would like me to."
She opened her mouth to reply, but sharp knocking on the door alerted both that someone else was present. She quickly grabbed a shawl to cover the bare shoulders her dress did not cover and leaned against the bed frame, now ignoring him. "Come in," she called, and he noted that it was a rather dumb choice on her part to invite the uninvited guest into her room, when no one had announced anyone's arrival.
The door opened to reveal Alabaster Snape, a tall older gentleman who lost his wife nearly a year ago, due to some type of sickness; the details were not shared with the public. He was a tall man with violent dark hair that seemed a bit greasy, pale skin like Dreu's own, and green eyes. Personally, the Malfoy Family was not very fond of the Snape's, because the lot of them were known for being sneaky and manipulative. Then again, so were the Malfoy's.
"Mister Malfoy," he said, addressing the youngest son of Kier, "Lady Harmony," he continued, ignoring some formality. Dreu found that peculiar, considering Alabaster had only been back in London for roughly a month, since the death of his mother, and had not journeyed to Harmony's home once. In fact, Dreu was nearly certain he had not returned to his home since his departure from London ten years before. It must simply be because Alabaster knows Harmony's father Michael so well.
"Alabaster," she greeted kindly, flashing him a dazzling smile that Dreu thought was overdone. "How are thou?"
He smiled at her. "Doing much better my lady. Shall I get you to Lord Potter's home now?"
Harmony nodded, before turning to Dreu. "Thank thee ever so much for watching me while Lord Snape came to get me," she said, and he knew it was sugar-coated because there was another presence in the room. Had it been the two of them, she probably would have just tried to shoo him out again.
"Thou are welcome," he replied, playing along and bowing his head. He would just get back at her sometime. Pocketing his wand, he made his way from the room to take his leave.
Harmony's home was not extravagantly large like his own, but large enough. He was nearly to the front door when he reached around to pull his cloak's hood up over his head, and realized it was still upstairs, lying on Harmony's chair. Restraining a sigh, he turned and made his way back to her room, annoyed.
Halfway there he wondered why the two had yet to appear yet, since Harmony was ready to go. He opened her door without knocking, simply because he did not worry about what he would see.
That was a very stupid thing to do on his part, but helpful for her.
He stopped in the doorway, noticing the pretty head of Harmony being smothered by the elder man while she beat on his back, eyes wide. She was pressed into the wall, his heavier body keeping her there. In a single moment, Dreu had the man stupefied, and falling onto the floor.
He held eyes with the woman, who was now ruffled. Her assailant was now out of the way, but she looked terrified. The blond rolled his eyes. Now what would Potter have done if something happened to his bride, all because her wand was still in his grasp? Alexander would probably get an earful later.
"Thank thee," she said after a moment, attempting to straighten her robes. The voice came out shaky, but stronger then he may have expected. "I dost not expect that kind of behavior from him," she said in a quieter tone.
Dreu nodded, masking his emotions. He did not want to pity her, mostly because the girl was known for making rather stupid choices when it came to men, and he tried not to. Nothing had really happened, so she had nothing to really fear and he nothing to feel guilty about.
After a moment of silence, he picked up his cloak and nodded to the packed bag she had. "Thou can still take Alabaster's carriage if thee desires, or thou may ride with me, and I shall take thee to Alexander's home before returning to my own."
Harmony nodded, but did not immediately respond. Instead, she collected her items and came to stand in front of the young man, whom she could look directly in the eyes, but chose to look down at her own feet. "I would be most grateful if thou would accompany me to my groom's home," she replied, not looking up.
The gentleman in him could not say no, even though he did not really like the girl. "Of course," he replied kindly, flicking his wand at Alabaster so he was in a body bind. "I will send someone through in the morning to find him," he added, before offering her his arm. She took it gratefully, and perhaps grabbed a bit too tight, but he said nothing. Her opposite hand moved to make sure that the cloak was tight, and he took her bag. "To thy groom's home then."
Draco looked back at his godfather, whose eyes were still watching Granger's curiously. The man in front of him was very different from his ancestor, Alabaster, and although he felt the need to protect her from him, he knew it was faulty. Severus Snape was not that type of man; it was simple as that.
Watching his godfather now, he could almost see the gears turning. Was Snape trying to figure out what had been the cause of Granger's outburst some days ago in class? It was possible, and probably the reason, but Draco did not want too spend to much time thinking on it. Snape would never be a danger in this life.
The bell rang and Draco stood from his desk, not giving Granger a second glance as he turned and left. He knew she would have multiple things to ask him about, but he was in no mood to deal with the questions. In fact, he thought it might be entertaining to watch her puzzle over things. Who knew, he may even start confusing her just for the fun of it.
Problem was, why was he allowed to do this? There had to be some reason that he could project memories in this life, but not in others. Puzzled, he walked into the hall and bumped into Zabini, who he struck up conversation with.
Hermione on the other hand, was frustrated. He was obviously trying to ignore her, and he was doing a fine job. After she returned to class from wherever Malfoy had taken her, all he had done to even acknowledge her presence was shift closer, and that was probably just him getting comfortable. Confused, she hurried to try and catch the blond twit- and nearly had him- when Harry and Ron appeared at her side from nowhere, stopping her chase.
"Hey Hermione," Harry said kindly, beginning to walk the three of them out the door, in the opposite direction of Malfoy. Ron was standing on Harry's other side, probably trying to ignore her since she had told him there was no chance of them getting back together; the redhead still seemed put off. "Are you feeling alright," Harry continued, when she said nothing.
"What? Oh yes, fine," she replied, wondering why he even asked. Did she look ill?
"Good to hear," Harry replied, nudging Ron a bit as the ginger haired Weasley grumbled something she couldn't hear. "We were just worried about you. You and Malfoy zoned out on each other for a good ten minutes in class, everyone noticed."
Hermione blushed. Merlin, she hadn't considered how long that must have taken. The first time, she had seen very little, but this time had taken a bit, and she realized that it must have looked peculiar to the other students for two sworn enemies to be staring at each other. She could only imagine the gossip there would be by the time dinner came around.
"What exactly do people think that was about," she asked, keeping her voice even despite the awful things her mind was producing. Merlin, people were going to think they were an item or something!
Ron and Harry exchanged a glance, both hiding slight grins. "Well, Lavender told half our side of the room that you two are secretly madly in love."
Her eyes widened. "No! She didn't!" The two hurried nods confirmed that Brown had indeed done just that. "Oh, Merlin, now everyone will think that by no later then the end of class."
Potter chuckled, and patted her once on the arm. "Yes, probably."
Part 3:A Plan, 1999 (Life Six)
Draco Abraxas Malfoy and Hermione Jean Granger
The rest of the day was complete chaos. Hermione and Draco shared one other class together, during which the males of the room gave the blond peculiar looks and the females glared daggers at Hermione. She had already heard some of the rumors spreading, and they were just as she had thought; rubbish. Oh, she dared Malfoy to do that again and cause more issues.
But while Hermione thought it was chaos because of the rumors, Malfoy was inwardly beaming. Despite the fact that these were lies people were spreading, he couldn't help but feel just a bit happy over it all. Thus far, people were thinking it was either a good or bad idea, with no middle ground. For some reason, this little spout of rumors made him feel good; it was nearly what he wanted, except the girl in question had no idea he did.
In fact, he had even begun to think up ways to use this to his advantage. He was forbidden to tell her outright anything, but showing her things in his mind- and creating more rumors- from places like across the hall or their tables in the Great Hall, would spread more rumors. When she came to confront him about things, well, let's just say he had an idea of what he wanted to do to her, and what he would actually say to her.
Sitting in his room that night, he pulled out the documentary he kept for times like this. In case this plan failed, or something happened to keep her from him in this life as well, he could refer back and try out this method again in case there was another time to.
The plan was simple; manipulate Granger with visions, carefully placed words and reactions, and make her remember her own memories. Yes, it could work, if he went about things very carefully.
Reaching over, he pulled out the paper that kept the lifetimes documented with names and death dates. He studied it twice before replacing the paper and resting his elbows on the chair, hands fisted as he rested his head against them.
This lifetime was slowly turning out differently. For once, there were levels of difference; he didn't hate her like she hated him, and she was not oblivious to everything from their past. Actually, she was more informed than ever before. With any luck- and he would need lots of luck- this could be the beginning of the end of his torment.
He traced a finger over Penelope's name on the paper, then Granger's. "Oh please Granger, remember me."