June 1997—Part 2
Hermione and Draco tried various charms, incantations, and runes to try and hide memories with no success. Hermione noticed Draco seemed paler than normal, almost sickly in color, with sunken eyes, and that he was barely eating again.
"We might just have to resort to Obliviating me," he grumbled one evening.
Hermione shook her head adamantly. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm sure we can figure something out." She twined her hand with his. "I don't want you to forget about me—to forget about us."
"I obviously don't want that either, but when the time comes and we don't have this figured out, it might be the only choice we have." He looked at her and squeezed her hand. "Because I'll be damned if they use me as bait to get to you so they can get to Potter."
Hermione sighed as she rested her head against his shoulder. "There is another option…"
"And I've said before that I cannot run and hide with your Order. He has my mother and he'll kill her."
"I'm sure we can come up with some sort of plan—"
"Just drop it, Hermione, alright?" He pulled his hand from hers and stood up. "I have to go."
Hermione watched sadly as Draco gathered his notes and stuffed them into his bag before stalking out of the room. She knew arguing with him would be useless as they've had this conversation before—she just hoped one day soon he'd take her up on her offer.
She let out a tired sigh as she leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes. She wouldn't be able to meet up with Draco again for a few days and she hoped by then, they'll have a few more things to try. She decided to hit up the library one more time…maybe there was a book she missed the other five times she'd gone.
Fear and panic tore through Hermione when she heard that Harry nearly killed Draco in the girls' lavatory the following day. It took everything in her not to run to the infirmary to check on him, but she held firm. She reprimanded Harry countless times nonetheless, telling him she knew that that Prince person was no good, and didn't feel guilty with how horrible he felt about the whole situation.
What on earth was he thinking using a spell he didn't know?
Thankfully, he got rid of the book—for now. She couldn't believe he was planning on going back to retrieve it. She secretly hoped that he would have forgotten where he put it.
Later that night, Hermione was doing her rounds and hoped she would be able to check on Draco. Thankfully, it was a quiet night and when she passed by the infirmary she crossed her fingers that Madam Pomphrey wouldn't be near.
She opened the doors quietly and saw that the Healer was nowhere in sight. There was only one occupied bed, located at the end of the row that had curtains drawn around it, so she quickly made her way over, using a silencing charm on her feet so as not to cause any noise.
She slipped inside the curtained area, casting Muffliato just in case, and tried not to gasp at the sight of Draco.
He was laying in the bed, his skin ghostly white with bandages wrapped around his chest.
He seemed to be sleeping, though with the frown etched on his face, she could tell it wasn't very restful.
She walked over and sat on a nearby stool and gently placed her hand on top of his. She didn't want to wake him, only to watch over him for a few minutes, but his eyes fluttered open and his hand turned over to grasp hers.
"Hermione," he whispered raspily.
"Hi," she whispered back and scooted closer to him. "How are you feeling?"
"Like shite," he said tiredly. "Pomphrey gave me dittany to help with scarring and then put some healing valve on my wounds to numb the pain. Unfortunately for Potter, aside from scarring, I'll make a full recovery."
Tears pooled around her vision. "I can't believe Harry did this to you."
He reached over with his free hand and wiped away one of her tears with the pad of his thumb. "I'm fine now, you don't have to worry."
"But you may not have been fine!" she said in a harsh whisper. "If it wasn't for Professor Snape being nearby, you could have been—would have been—"
He tugged her hand. "Come here," he said quietly and scooted over in the bed, wincing only slightly. Hermione crawled under the covers with him and sniffled into his chest. "I'm so sorry," she said.
"Why? It's not like you taught Potter the spell."
"No, but I know the book he used and I should have made him give it back a long time ago. If I had, maybe he wouldn't have seen the spell and used it on you."
Draco sighed. "You can't control the choices others make, no matter how hard you try. Besides, Potter and Weasley have always been idiots."
Normally, Hermione would have defended her friends, but she was too tired to do so at the moment, plus, in this instance, she agreed with him.
"Anyways, it doesn't matter… If I don't figure out how to do what I need to do, then I'll be as good as dead anyway."
Hermione bit her lip. "Harry said he heard you talking with Myrtle."
Draco groaned. "Of course he did," he muttered sourly.
"He said that you said something about being killed if you don't do what he wants you to do." She looked up at him. "Is that true?"
He kissed her forehead and let his lips linger for a moment. "My Mother sent me a letter the other day and on the bottom was a written warning… from him. It's why I've been working my arse off to finish my task as well as figure out how to keep you safe when everything comes to a head."
"I hate this," she sniffled. "I hate that you're in this position and that I can't help you."
He gathered her close as she clung to him. "You're helping me more than you know," he said quietly.
They laid there for a little while longer before Hermione eventually had to leave. As she stood, she cupped his face and kissed his forehead. "Get some sleep, okay? I'll try and sneak in tomorrow night if I can."
He took her hand to kiss her palm and her heart thudded in her chest. "Draco, I—" she started. She wanted to say more—something important, but the words wouldn't come.
As if reading her mind, Draco stared into her eyes and they warmed ever so slightly. He gave a slight nod and squeezed her fingers softly. "I know… Me too."
Hermione sat in the Great Hall as she ate breakfast with Harry, Ron, and Ginny. She sat across from them as they chatted about the upcoming Quidditch match, and how Harry wouldn't be able to play due his detentions with Snape. Because, obviously, there were no other pressing issues, like Harry almost murdering someone.
"It's not fair," Harry grumbled into his eggs. "Why did it have to be this Saturday?"
Hermione wanted to point out that what he did to Draco wasn't fair, but forced herself to hold her tongue and take a bite of her slice of toast instead.
"Oi, look," Ron said as he nudged Harry and motioned with his head somewhere behind Hermione. "Looks like Malfoy's out of the hospital wing."
At the mention of his name, it took all of Hermione's control to not whip around and look. Instead, she schooled her features and slowly glanced over her shoulder as everyone else did.
Draco was indeed back, looking a little better than he had the night before. He was sitting between Crabbe and Pansy, the latter currently hanging on his arm and crying. Draco winced slightly as he tried to disentangle his friend, the only real sign he had been injured, and continued to talk with his fellow housemates.
"See, look," Harry gestured toward the Slytherin and huffed out an annoyed sigh. "He's fine. Only in the hospital wing for one night."
Hermione couldn't help but glare at her friend. "He's only out so early because of Professor Snape and his quick healing."
"Yes, true, but—"
"You could have killed him, Harry," she said in a low voice, barely holding back her anger. "And here you are complaining about missing a stupid quidditch match."
Harry gaped at her and gave her a look that was a mix of hurt and guilt.
"He almost used an Unforgivable on me, I told you that," Harry defended.
"Are you sure though?" she countered. "Did he actually get the curse out or did it just seem like it?"
Harry frowned at her. "Why are you defending him? It's just Malfoy."
Hermione sighed and crossed her arms. "I'm not defending him, I just think your priorities are a little skewed if you think getting detention isn't fair for nearly killing someone."
"I never said that," Harry grumbled. "It's just missing the game that's not fair."
"Yeah," Ron piped up, his mouth full of sausage. "It's the last match of the season."
"He's also Captain," Ginny pointed out. "It's kind of important for him to be there."
Hermione sighed and stood up. "I'm going to go."
"You're still going to the game, right?" Ginny asked.
Hermione nodded. "Of course, Gin. I'll be cheering for you from the stands. You too Ron. And Harry," she waited until he looked at her. "Have a good time in detention."
She only felt a little guilty at the hurt look he gave her as she walked away.
She went to the library first, still determined to find another book that could help her and Draco figure out a way to hide memories.
The coin in her pocket warmed an hour later and she read the message.
Meet me?
Be there soon.
As soon as she saw Draco in the room she rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around his middle.
He hissed out a breath and his own arms wrapped around her shoulders. "Careful there," he said as he kissed the top of her head. "Still a little tender."
"Sorry," she mumbled into his shirt, inhaling his scent of soap and sandalwood with just a hint of mint toothpaste. She pulled back slightly and looked up at him. "I'm just glad you're okay."
He cupped her face with his hands and kissed her softly. "Getting better by the minute."
She smiled against his lips before he kissed her again, harder this time.
It took one more kiss before his tongue prodded at her lips and deepened it even more.
"We probably shouldn't," she said regrettably as she pulled away after a moment. "You're not healed one-hundred percent and I don't want you to overdo it ."
He lifted a brow in amusement. "It's only a bit of snogging."
She lifted her brow in return. "We both know snogging can, and will, lead to more." She rose on her toes and kissed him quickly. "I'm just being cautious."
Draco let out an exaggerated sigh. "Fine." He snagged her hand within his and tugged her towards the couch. "Why don't you show me all the new books you found in the library?"
Hermione sighed as she pulled books out of her bag. "I didn't have much luck, but who knows, maybe one of these will have something." She handed one book to him and took another for herself and the two began to read.
An hour later, Draco's head was in Hermione's lap and she played with his hair idly while a book hovered in front of her. Draco's book was also hovering as he flipped through the pages.
Hermione used her wand to skim through the book before she closed it and made it float to the coffee table where at least five other books lay.
She let out a tired sigh and closed her eyes, which were strained from all the reading. "Nothing," she said.
She heard Draco's book close and land on the table as well. "Same."
She glanced at the time. "Just as well. I need to head to the quidditch pitch to watch the match." She glanced down at him and ran her fingers through his hair once more. "Are you staying here?"
He gave a nod. "Yes. I'll use the time while everyone is out of the castle to work on my task. Thanks to Potter, I lost hours of time to work on it."
Hermione nodded; she expected that answer. "Alright." She bent down and kissed him as her hair cascaded down around both their faces. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
Draco tugged on a curl that was hovering above his face. "Maybe. I'll let you know through the coin."
She nodded, kissed him one last time before he lifted himself so she could move from the couch, and left to go watch the last match of the season.
Hermione found herself free most of the following week. Harry was either with Ginny—they had finally gotten together—or in detention with Professor Snape. Ron and Ginny used the free time and good weather on Saturday to run quidditch drills with the rest of the team, wanting to keep up their stamina. That left Hermione to her own device, which she mostly spent in the room with Draco.
Hermione flipped through yet another book. "I just don't know what else to try," she said as she closed it with defeat and set it aside.
Draco had been sitting and staring into the fireplace, lost in thought. Hermione glanced over at him and rested her hand on his shoulder. "Everything alright?" she asked.
The action seemed to have pulled him out of his revere and he startled slightly before he turned to look at her. "We should ask the room."
Her brows furrowed in confusion. "Asked the room what?"
"To help… or give us the resources to help at least. It can change or give us anything just upon our thinking of it, why won't it be able to give us the right book we need?"
A little bit of hope bloomed in her chest. "That's true, and it won't hurt to try." She bit her lip nervously. "Do you want to do it, or me?"
Draco shook his head and took hold of her hand. "You do it."
Hermione nodded as she thought about what she wanted.
I need a book that will help us lock away memories but be able to unlock them later.
She closed her eyes and repeated the request three times, just for good measure, and squeezed Draco's hand upon completion.
When she opened her eyes, she had hoped that a book would have appeared in front of her and her shoulders sagged when it wasn't.
"Hermione," he said softly as his shoulder nudged hers. "Look."
She looked where he pointed and gasped softly. The bookshelf in the room, which was usually full of books, was empty for all, except one.
Hermione got up to inspect the lone book. She leafed through the pages as Draco looked over her shoulder.
"It's a notebook," she said, surprised. She looked around the cover for a name of the owner but didn't find any. "I wonder who it belongs to?" she asked and handed the book to Draco.
He flipped through a few pages. "It looks like a mix of English and French. Whoever the owner is, is probably long gone by now. The pages are so worn and yellowed that I'm guessing it's a few hundred years old."
"We ought to be careful with it," Hermione concluded. "I'll get some paper and we can copy down what it says."
It took almost an hour to copy everything over by magic before they started the task of translating the parts that were in French. Hermione learned that Draco was fluent in the language, and was relieved that it wouldn't take nearly as long to translate as she anticipated.
"This is fascinating," Hermione said. "This person is clearly a smart and powerful witch or wizard."
"I think witch," Draco mused. "Some of the things in the book are similar to Mnemone Radford's book. I wonder if this is her notebook, or perhaps her daughters."
"That would make sense," Hermione agreed then pointed to a section of notes. "See how she talks about 'going into the mind'? Do you think she means Legilimency?"
"Possibly. They may not have had a word for that kind of magic back then."
"True. But, if that's the case, and it's needed to be able to do the spell, we might have a problem since I don't know how to do it," Hermione admitted. "I mean, I know the basics from what Harry told me back in fifth year when Professor Snape was trying to teach him Occlumency, and I've read up on it, of course, but I've never practiced it."
"I can help with that," Draco offered.
Hermione nodded and went to read the notes. "So, from what I understand, we go into the person's mind, find the memories, and box them up. Then we say an incantation, verrouiller la mémoire*, and give a word or phrase that will unlock them."
Draco read over the notes as well. "That sounds about right. And the word or phrase will have to be something that isn't common otherwise there wouldn't be a point in locking them in the first place if a random conversation can unlock them by accident."
"Right," Hermione agreed.
"Well, I guess first things first," Draco said as he looked at her and she could have sworn she saw some excitement in eyes. "We need to work on your Legilimency."
*verrouiller la mémoire translates to "lock memory' or "memory lock". I used Google Translate so please don't come at me if that's wrong lol
A/N: As some of you may have noticed, I have given names to the chapters. It was getting confusing with the sites chapter number and my own being different, so I changed it up. Hopefully it will be easier for you all as well.
Also, I received my first piece of art that I commissioned! it's for Chapter 13 - Christmas and you can view it on Tumblr.
Until next week! xoxoHufflepufMommy