Author's Note: And here is chapter fifteen! Hope you all enjoy! Sorry that it took a while to update it. Please review and let me know what you think. And if you find anything that you're confused about or that you wish was clarified, let me know!
The Missing Piece Chapter Fifteen
Day: 34
Hermione Granger was just beginning to grasp the complexity of human emotions. How could one person hold so many different and contrasting feelings at the same time? It was miraculous and frightening at the same time. She felt a sinking, drowning feeling wash over her as she laid in bed, starting at the ceiling. What exactly did she feel? It was almost painful to see Memory Hermione and Memory Malfoy, so deep in love, and not being able to experience it herself. She almost felt a yearning to recapture those feelings of love for him, yet a hesitancy to make it happen. Was she afraid of him?
Hermione turned toward her nightstand to grab a glass of water, but a small, glinting light caught her eye: the ring. She paused, admiring it, and tentatively reached out to it. She studied it closely for the first time since the ring had been in her possession, finding three words carved into the inside of the ring: "I love you." He loved her. He loved her, and she loved him at some point in time now long forgotten. They had shared deep things, she knew. The way Malfoy looked at her in the memories made her heart melt in a way she had never felt before, so that she almost wished she could feel something for Malfoy just to experience it again.
"It was all real, wasn't it." Hermione muttered aloud to herself. "I loved you once, didn't I."
Hermione sighed, getting out of bed. She made to place the ring back on her nightstand, but stopped just inches from the table.
She looked at the ring once more, and made up her mind. She put it on the right hand of her ring finger, and proceeded to face the day knowing something beautiful could blossom from this very moment.
Day: 35
"Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed in great surprise upon seeing her best friend at her door. Hermione had not seen or heard from Ginny in a while, and was elated to see the lovable red-headed girl in front of her. Ginny's face lit up in response to Hermione's reaction, and both friends embraced each other in a tight hug.
"I'm so sorry we haven't talked in forever!" Ginny began, clinging onto her bushy-haired friend. "I've just been so busy with the Holyhead Harpies…takes a lot of time."
Hermione let go of Ginny and ushered her inside, sitting down across from her. It was great to see her friend again. She hadn't realized how much she missed her friend until now.
"Ginny, don't be silly, it's fine! How are the Harpies, anyways?"
Ginny's face lit up in excitement.
"They're absolutely fantastic. We're doing so well! I think we have a shot at making it to championships this year! Keep your fingers crossed!" Ginny exclaimed, raising one hand, and crossing her middle and index fingers. Hermione did the same, and they both giggled.
"Oh, want some tea?" Hermione asked, remembering her manners for a moment. Ginny nodded encouragingly and Hermione shot out of the couch and nearly sprinted to the kitchen to make tea. Hermione heard soft footsteps behind her, and later saw the red-head leaning against the counter behind her.
"Blimey, I'm completely out of tea Gin…" Hermione said disappointedly as she scavenged her cabinets.
"Oh that's all right. Here, let me." Ginny took out her wand, opened the highest cabinet near her, and took out some honey. She then proceeded to mutter an incantation, and in place of the honey, appeared two large cups of steaming hot tea.
"Wow, Ginny. I didn't know you could transfigure so well!" Hermione said alarmed, smiling at Ginny. Hermione could remember back at Hogwarts, when Ginny was terrible at transfiguration, and complained all through lunch about it. Seemed like she got better.
"Well, when you're always on the move like me, you learn to pick up a few tricks." Ginny compensated.
Both girls grabbed a cup of tea, and brought it into the living room, sitting down on the sofa. Hermione watched Ginny as she blew the steam off the surface of her tea, internally rejoicing the fact that her beloved friend was visiting.
"So." Ginny said, looking at Hermione directly in the eyes. Ginny's tone implied she was going to ask something juicy. Ginny was always the one for gossip.
"So." Hermione repeated, feeling herself blush slightly in anticipation of what her friend might ask.
"How are you and Ron?" Ginny asked, eyeing Hermione in a way that made her feel as though her emotions were being x-rayed.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at Ginny, pretending to be confused by the question. Hermione always opted to act oblivious when confronted with an awkward topic.
"He fancies you." Ginny stated mischievously. She took a sip of her tea without breaking eye contact.
Hermione felt her face grow hot, and looked down at her cup of tea.
"I know." Hermione said sheepishly. "I don't quite know what to do about that."
"Well, do you fancy him?"
There was a long pause, in which Hermione watched the steam rise from her tea, and fade into the air. She didn't know, to be honest. Ron was a good man. He was honest, and funny. He made her feel comfortable, and wanted. He would be a great lover, and they would be great together, no doubt. Hermione could have no problem loving Ron. It was easy to fall for a guy so easy going like him. It would be like falling asleep: Natural, and pleasant. Hermione knew it could work. She knew she could love him if she tried. But something kept holding her back. Hermione's eyes flickered momentarily to the ring Malfoy had given her, and then back to her tea. She pictured herself and Ron, walking down the street, hand in hand. She pictured herself giving him looks of deep love, and admiration, and Ron mirroring her feelings. She pictured the deep love she had shared with Malfoy in the past, only Malfoy was now replaced with Ron. Could she find that same love Malfoy had shown her in the pensieve with Ron? Hermione looked at the ring again. Somehow, it didn't feel right. Malfoy was not the natural choice for her. But there was something she could no longer ignore. There was something about him that drew her… that made her want to relive the memories in the pensieve with him. Not Ron. Him.
"I—I don't know." Hermione finally replied, looking up at her friend with muddled confusion in her eyes.
Ginny put her cup of tea down on the small table in front of her, and took Hermione's right hand, studying in the ring upon it with a concentrated and focused expression. Hermione felt the urge to snap her hand back but resisted. After a few minutes of studying the ring, Ginny looked up.
"Ron is your very good friend. You're practically siblings, really. It's natural to feel uneasy when trying to figure out if you fancy him or not, because you feel as if he is your brother. It's natural to feel strange about it. But Draco… he is not your brother. You don't know him as well as Ron. Well, you did at some point but not any longer. Draco was your childhood enemy. It's natural to feel some rejection toward him in that aspect, but I think you see he isn't the same anymore."
Hermione nodded along, feeling as though Ginny was taking the tangled knot that was her feelings, and slowly untying it before her eyes.
"Draco showed you how it was between you two. He can be sweet, and loving, and protective. He wasn't your normal choice. Honestly, we all thought you'd end up with Ron, especially during Hogwarts. But I think you see something in Draco that pulls you toward him. Like that muggle contraption that makes things stick to it…. A magnet, I think dad called it. And I don't know if you know what that something is, but I think it's something worth exploring." Ginny finished pensively, studying Hermione's expression carefully, and opened her mouth to continue.
"I think you want to feel something for Ron. I think you're afraid of falling for Draco, which is why you're considering Ron. But there's a reason why Draco's ring is on your finger. There's a reason why you visit his memories. You may not like the reason, but you can't deny it, Hermione. I think you've always felt it, but always tried to suppress it out of fear." Ginny paused. "You don't love Ron. You love Draco."
And that's when her world shattered into little pieces. The words you love Draco were playing on repeat inside her mind. Her heart was beating faster than she could have thought possible, her breath became labored, and her mind was racing. Her palms were sweaty, her face was hot, her eyesight blurred around the edges from the water forming in her eyes.
Truth was a hard thing to swallow.
Day 36:
Hermione found herself staring at the hand-print on her baby blue walls once again. She was certain that it was Malfoy who had done it. But how, and why, she did not know. There were many things about her past she did not know, and had never bothered to know. She had been so enveloped in watching her life through someone else that she never stopped to think about exactly how she had come to be this way, or who's wand was at fault for putting her in this mess in the first place.
Looking at the hand-print, she now felt an urge to find the culprit. This person had robbed her of her memories. Her laughs, joys, anger, pain, love. She had forgotten a deep, and genuine romance because of this person. She needed to know. Hermione remembered Healer Greene commenting that Draco Malfoy had been there the night she was obliviated. Perhaps she would ask Malfoy. Malfoy. Were the words that Ginny said yesterday true? Did she really feel something for the blond, or was it a feeling of yearning to experience the love they shared? Would she be happy sharing that sort of love with someone else?
Hermione walked up to the hand-print, placing her hand on it. Her hand was small compared with the imprint. It was a peculiar feeling, that invaded Hermione. She felt as though she had an artifact from a museum, knowing full well it was filled with history. People had touched this artifact, rejoiced in it, held it in their hands, used it. But knowing the story behind something was quite different from living it. Those viewing the artifact held no personal connection to the artifact, except perhaps the words of others, telling them how important its history was. Hermione felt the same. This hand print, the ring, were all artifacts she possessed, knowing the history and feelings behind them to an extent, but not personally connected to it.
She was ready to connect with it. She was ready to remember. She wanted now, more than anything, to remember what it was like, with Malfoy. Not just viewing moments through Malfoy's eyes, but actually living them through hers. She was tired of not knowing. She was tired of the confusion, and the empty feelings. She was tired of the helplessness, and the anger that came with this whole mess. Hermione's feelings rolled down her cheeks in the form of tears; wishing more than ever to return to how things used to be.
She didn't care who she loved, anymore. All she wanted was her memories, and her life back to how it was. All she wanted was to love, and be loved in return, be it Malfoy, or someone else.
But as she removed her hand from the wall, something in her heart told her she wouldn't be happy if it was anyone else.
A/N: One of my main concerns is making sure that Hermione's feelings and thoughts are believable. I really hope they are.
Please leave a review and let me know what you think!