- Quidditch Pitch, May 1994 –

"You ready, Draco?" Blaise nervously asked from the doorway of the quidditch locker room.

Draco smacked his locker shut and nodded. He couldn't help but remember the last time he'd been here. Life had felt so different then, only four months ago. How much space had Hermione needed? He felt like he'd lost his best friend that evening where she told him she wouldn't be waiting for him anymore. But what could he have told her? He didn't see her like that, because she wasn't… Her . Yet, the words she'd spoken to him had resonated with him. They'd sent a chill straight to his bones. It had been nearly those exact same words he'd spoken to her, that night in the Room of Requirement, when they promised to each other that-

He shook his head trying to clear his mind as he walked over to his friend. As he exited the locker room, he could see Harry standing off in the distance, joking around with the twins and Ginny before the match. Good, they needed him to be in good spirits if they wanted to win this.

Draco looked around at the pitch, the last of the foggy rain had finally disappeared along with the dementors yesterday. The Wizengamot had actually grown a brain and decided that since Peter Pettigrew had not shown his face at Hogwarts at all, the dementors should be sent back to Azkaban. Thank Merlin for that. Draco wasn't the only student who had felt the creatures influencing his mood. At least his nightmares would decrease in frequency now that they were gone.

The less time he'd spent with Hermione, the more he'd spent Harry helping to cast his Patronus. It had blown his mind when thirteen-year-old Harry had been able to cast a fully corporeal Patronus. The teen's magical core and talent for Defence was remarkable to say the least.

Lupin had nearly burst into tears when he saw the familiar stag, reminding him of his dear old friend Prongs.

"You seen Mione lately?" Blaise casually asked as they walked to the pitch, the mud slushing beneath their feet.

"We worked on Runes and Arithmancy with some of the others in the library last week." He replied. That was all he really saw of her lately. A bunch of wild curls huddled in a corner of the library. More often than not, he saw that she was occupying a table in the restricted section. He could just about make out the organised chaos of books that belonged to Hermione when he looked through the closed gates. What she'd been studying there all this time, was beyond him. But, if he had to believe Harry and Ginny, whatever she was researching, she had taken very seriously. Even Harry had barely seen her these past few months.

He didn't even expect to see her in the quidditch stands when he flew up. But as usual, his magic reached out and found her easily. She had left the confines of the library and was sitting right next to Daphne and Luna, smiling brightly as she talked to her two friends. Now that he thought about it, she'd been spending an awful lot of time with Luna lately. Had she perhaps managed to rope the Ravenclaw into her research as well? Or was their friendship of a different nature?

Seeing as Oliver Wood was determined to take the last trophy home before he graduated, the Slytherin team barely stood a chance. Even if Harry managed to catch the snitch, they wouldn't even win the game at this point. The Gryffindor Captain had whipped his team into shape, and it showed.

Draco lowered his head in defeat when Ginny caught the snitch just a millisecond before Harry.

The Boy Who Lived smiled and hoisted Ginny up on his shoulders, congratulating her.

"You can say what you want about Harry," Blaise laughed, throwing his arm over Draco's shoulder as they walked back to the lockers. "But he isn't a sore loser. You don't think he let her win, do you?"

"Blaise Zabini, I can't believe that you would even suggest such a thing! Ginny would hex him if he ever tried to hand it to her, instead of letting her win fair and square." Hermione's voice suddenly popped up behind him. Her arms were crossed and she had a frown plastered on her face.

Blaise raised his hands in defence. "I was just joking, Mione. I know Harry would never let the team down, not even for her."

"Good. Can I steal Draco for a second?" She nervously asked, her fists now clenched at her sides.

"Please. He's all yours. I have spent too much time with Mr. Doom and Gloom for the past few months. Take him off my hands, and don't bring him back before he stops brooding and scowling." The African-Italian wizard said as he pushed Draco towards Hermione, making him stumble.

"Just let me get cleaned up, Mione," the blond answered. "I'll see you in the common rooms, alright?"

She shook her head, disagreeing. "Meet me at the tree near the Black Lake. I need your help with something, and I don't want any word spreading around. You know how easy the gossip travels around here." She smiled knowingly.

"Ehm, you two having a rendezvous at the Black Lake might actually make the gossip travel." Harry piped up as he also approached the locker room right now, having heard the last part of their conversation. "You're not planning on doing anything to my best friend, do you? If you do, let me know if you need help hiding the body." He joked.

" Our best friend is perfectly safe with me, Mr. Potter." Hermione joked back. Her eyes darted over to Draco's for a second before she smiled reassuringly at him and walked off.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd showered that fast. He felt nearly giddy to be able to spend some time with her again. After all of these months awkwardly darting around each other, only the rarest of smiles being directed his way, he couldn't wait to hear what she wanted to talk to him about. She'd needed his help. That meant something right? She'd also stressed that he was still her best friend. Good. He didn't know how he'd live without having her in his life.

Draco put on some sweatpants and pulled a dark emerald t-shirt over his head. He pocketed his wand and told Harry to take his broom to the dorms for him as he ran out of the locker rooms, rushing straight to the Black Lake. It didn't take long to find Hermione, as she was exactly where she'd promised him she would be.

The closer he got to her, the more he noticed the shimmer of magic around her. She'd already put a muffliato and some sort of notice-me-not charm around the tree, making sure that no one would interrupt them. Whatever she needed him there for, it must be serious indeed.

"Hi," she quietly said when he entered the privacy bubble. "It's been a while since you and I talked alone." She mused.

"It has indeed," he said, remembering that day in the common room as if it was yesterday. He didn't want to break the fragile understanding between them, however, so he didn't elaborate any further.

"I've been doing some research." She said, clearing her throat from the awkwardness and throwing him one of her small muggle notebooks.

He caught it with ease. "I thought so, after seeing you in the restricted section so often." He offhandedly answered, starting to flip through the notes.

"Been keeping an eye on me, have you?" She raised an eyebrow at him in amusement.

"Not more than usual." He sat down next to her, leaning his back into the bark of the tree behind him. "What's this?"

"Before you read what I've been researching, I want you to tell me the truth , Draco." She stressed. "What's the real reason you haven't joined me and Daphne for the extra potions classes? Every potion, paper, and exam you hand in you get an O."

Potions? Was all of this about potions? What did this have to do with anything? Should he just humour her? He could tell her part of the truth, at least.

"I didn't take Severus up on his offer, because I didn't feel there was anything in it for me." He said sincerely. "I don't want to sound cocky, but, honestly, I might be at N.E.W.T. level already." He'd have to come up with an excuse as to why that was though… The best lies were hidden in truth after all. "I was an only child. I had a lot of time growing up to read and practise potion brewing, since it doesn't require a wand. I even helped my mother make healing potions since I was little. The extra classes just aren't worth my time, Mione."

She smiled and took his hand in hers. After all these months apart, carefully darting around each other, it felt so strange to have her holding his hand again. As if none of that awkwardness had ever happened between them.

"Good. That's exactly what I was expecting. Would it be alright if I stayed at the Manor for a while during summer? I need to use the potions lab in the dungeons, and I need a skilled potioneer there to help me brew. I need you ."

He blinked at her. "What potion could you possibly need my help with that Severus can't help you with?"

"Remember that book I found in my vaults? The one we assumed had an original concept for the Wolfsbane potion?" She asked. He nodded. "It wasn't a draft for the Wolfsbane potion. It was something entirely different. It was a cure ."

Draco nearly let her notebook fall to the ground as he blinked at her. "You can't be serious, Mione. That's impossible- "

"Just read my calculations before you start saying it's impossible." She lovingly scolded him, tapping her finger on top of the notebook. "Most of the work had been done for me. But I spent the better part of the past four months trying to figure this out. I haven't let Severus look at it yet. I wanted to try and brew it first, so he can help us understand it better."

He started flipping through the book again. "Sugar? Doesn't that render the wolfsbane useless?" He wondered as he eyed the list of ingredients.

She nodded. "It does. Which is strange, considering it should help alter the dopamine in the brain and therefore make the transformations less painful. I suppose it's a double-edged sword as it can cancel out his control over Moony, since too much sugar can lead to a lack of focus. But I looked at some muggle chemistry books and research done on chemicals in the brain. My mum even asked one of her friends who studies contagious diseases on how vaccines are cures are made, and what I found-"

Draco simply nodded along to her findings as his eyes scanned over the work she'd done. In the margins she'd scribbled titles of the books she'd referred to, some he knew. Others he'd never read before. Was this what she had been up to in the restricted section for all those months? If her ancestors had truly discovered a cure and had started laying the foundations for it, they might actually be able to finish it. Merlin. This would revolutionise the magical world globally, not just in Britain. A cure for lycanthropy. He could only hope.

"Is this what has kept you stuck in the library for so long?" He asked as she was done explaining and the both of them were just enjoying sitting outside on the warm spring day.

"Among other things," she confessed. "I needed something to distract me, after…" she smiled at him and hid her head in her hands. "I'm sorry. You probably don't want me to bring that up again."

He put his hand on her shoulder, trying to give her some comfort. "You know I love you, Mione. But I can't return your feelings, because I-"

"Because you like someone else." She replied knowingly, leaning her head on her knees as she studied his face. He'd seen her do this more often than not in the past few months. If he did manage to catch her staring at him, it was as if she was comparing him to someone else entirely. As if she was checking if he was even real.

"That's not the only reason." He sighed deeply, unable to lie to her.

That seemed to surprise her. "There's another reason?"

"I…" He looked out over the lake, unsure if this was his best course of action. He'd promised that he'd protect her. But was lying to her really the best for her? Only time would tell, he supposed. "There's some things about me that you don't know, Mione. Things that would make you despise me. If you knew what I'd once done… What I'm capable of." Let alone the fact that he was five years older than her. She might think she had a year on him, but that was far from the truth. He would never allow her to make any decision concerning him, without knowing full well who he was. What he was.

His words seemed to linger in the air, as if this was not news to her at all. Instead, she was content just listening to him, analysing his every word.

"She must be pretty awesome then, if you hold a torch for her." She said after a few minutes. "At least tell me that she is a badass, like me? That she's smart enough to keep up with you? That she's loyal to a tee? Else, I don't know if I can approve of her. You'll need someone tough to be able to keep you in check." She joked.

He chuckled at her perfect description of his wife. Of… Herself really. He frowned. He'd never really thought about that before. How alike they truly were, even after all the changes he'd made. "Don't worry, she's as courageous as a lioness that one." He hinted at his crush being a Gryffindor. "She's smarter than me. Bloody Brilliant, a real prodigy at Charms, Arithmancy and Runes . More loyal than any Hufflepuff I've ever met."

"She sounds nice," Hermione mused. "Do you think you'll ever introduce me to her?"

"If it were possible, I would," he silently agreed. "I'm sure you two would have much to discuss."

"At least we could gossip about you." She winked as she got up and dusted off her jeans and her Slytherin jumper before offering her hand to help him up. "Let's go inside. The others are probably wondering where we are."

He took her hand and pulled her closer to him, engulfing her in a hug. "I missed you, Mione. Please don't leave me again." He whispered to the top of her head. "I'm sorry if I broke your heart. I truly am. But I can't go through life without you. You're my best friend."

She hugged herself closer, burying her head in his chest. "I missed you too. I'm sorry it took me this long to come back to you." She replied.

Hermione stepped back and waved her wand, removing the charms she'd placed around them, the air finally cleared between the two of them.

They talked about everything and nothing on their way back to the castle, catching up on the past few months. Merlin, it felt great to share everything with her again. How had he survived only talking about school with her for the past four months?

She was listing some books she'd bought in muggle London during Easter, encouraging him to read some, when she literally ran into one of their year mates. Michael Corner. What did he want?

"Oh, I'm sorry about that, Hermione. Are you alright?" The boy asked as he took her by her shoulders to make sure she was balanced and standing on her own two feet again.

"That's alright, Michael." She smiled sweetly at the boy across from her.

He cleared his throat and pulled his hands from her shoulders in less than a second, nervously staring at her.

"Was there anything you wanted, Corner?" Draco nearly sneered at the boy. Was he ogling his best friend?

"Malfoy," the Ravenclaw bit out in greeting. "I didn't know that you and Hermione were back on talking terms."

That little bastard had the audacity to smirk . At him .

Before he could reply, Michael piped up again. "Actually, Hermione. I was wondering if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend? If you're free, that is."

A blush spread on Hermione's face. "I'd love to, Michael," she smiled. "Meet me at the Great Hall at ten?"

- Slytherin boy dorms, 5th of June 1994 -

The twins had grinned at Draco when they cornered him after he left the Great Hall that morning. Apparently, Sirius had sent them a bottle of Firewhisky to hand to Draco for his fourteenth birthday. They'd encouraged him to drink it together with his dormmates that evening. Being the idiot that he apparently was, he'd accepted the drink without thinking. He could use some of the burning liquor. After all, he was technically of age already, instead of just a fourteen-year-old boy. He wasn't technically doing anything wrong.

What he should've expected to happen, seeing as the twins and Sirius had something to do with this, was that this was not just any regular Firewhisky .

Theo had been the first to feel the effects of the potion hidden within the alcohol as he felt himself turn into none other than Susan Bones .

"What is this?" Ginny Weasley suddenly said, wearing Harry Potter's famous glasses. "Where did you get this fire whiskey, Draco? I think it was off ."

"Oh really, Harry?" Luna Lovegood, wearing all Slytherin green, now scowled at Harry-Ginny. "And what exactly made you think that? Was it the fact that we're all turning into the girls we like? Or the fact that those of us who haven't touched it, are perfectly fine ?"

Oh no. How much had he had to drink? If they would see her he'd never live this down.

Daphne and Hermione, who had declined the offer of Firewhisky, were holding their tummies in laughter, rolling on Harry's bed as they tried to catch some air.

"So, who's Draco's girl?" Harry winked at the rest of them, as they were all waiting for him to turn.

"I'm going to kill them!" Draco yelled as he sprinted out through the door, several people turning their heads as they saw him rush through the common room door to get out in the Hallways. He'd fucking murder the twins and Sirius. All the others had girlfriends, or in Harry's case an obvious crush. If the potion really made them turn into the girls they liked… Fuck.

He ran further through the hallways, trying to get away from his friends as soon as possible when he felt his clothes get baggy, and a mass of untamed curls was lying over his shoulders. Bloody terrific.

"What are you doing here, Granger ? I thought you were celebrating Draco's birthday? Did they finally get tired of you and your muddy blood and scare you out of the common room?" Pansy's icy voice suddenly spoke up behind him.

On instinct, he reached for his wand in his pocket, only to realise it was still lying on his nightstand. Fuck .

"I'm just going out for some fresh air." he replied haughtily as he turned around, sneering at her. Mhm. That was probably not the best idea, considering Hermione never sneered. "You should try it sometime, Pansy. It might do you some good."

"You still haven't learnt your place yet, have you, Granger? But what more could I expect from the mudblood that needs to memorise everything straight from a textbook? Everyone calls you a genius, but everything you say I can find in my fucking library. You think you're a prodigy, but you're nothing more than a parrot." The Slytherin laughed at him, thinking he actually was Hermione. Didn't it seem odd to her that he was dressed in boys' clothes that were way too big on his body? How dense was Pansy?

"That's a lot of big words for someone with a brain so small." He whistled at the Slytherin witch in front of him. "How long did it take you to come up with those? Been practising in the mirror for the past two years have you?"

"Don't try and patronise me, mudblood!" The witch spat. "I've been dealing with the likes of you for long enough. Who do you think you are? Claiming the Boy Who Lived and the Prince of Slytherin all for yourself. Do you think they actually like you?" She taunted as she walked closer to him, trying to be intimidating.

Merlin, had Pansy always been such a bitch? He supposed that she had been. He had seen her jealous looks thrown their way more often than not.

"Patronise you? I'm surprised you even know what that word means." He laughed, not putting up with her bullshit. "Of course the boys like me. That's why they spend all of their time with me, instead of you and your pug face."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, as Pansy swung her arm backwards and punched him straight in the nose. For fuck's sake what was it with girls and smacking him in the face at the end of his third year? Was this some sort of competition for them?

He spat out the blood he tasted in his mouth, straight in her face, making the witch shriek. "Here, have some of my muddy blood, Pansy."

Pure shock crossed the witch's face as he felt his clothes get tighter around his body again. He was looking down at her now, instead of at her. Good, the potion must have already worn off then. "If I ever hear you call Hermione a mudblood again, you will come to regret it, Parkinson." He growled at her. "Don't dare to forget the power the Malfoy name holds."

She nodded dumbly, still in shock at what had just happened, and ran away in the opposite direction.

Draco sighed and wiped the blood off his face with his sleeve. If he had his wand on him, he could fix his own nose. Sadly, that was not an option now. He pulled his hands through his hair, trying to clear up his face, and decided it was better to just head to the Hospital Wing.

As he turned around, he suddenly heard Hermione giggle in the back of his mind. "Where are you, Draco ?" She reached out to him mentally for the first time in months. "I can't believe you ran off to hide your crush from all of us. What a wuss you are ." She chuckled at him. "I know you're still somewhere in the dungeons. The spell should wear off soon, Harry and the others are all back to normal ."

A sigh of relief escaped him as he saw Hermione turning the corner, Crookshanks leading her towards him.

Worry etched her face as she came closer. She put her hand on his face, studying him.

"Who did this to you?" She whispered angrily, taking out her wand to clear up the blood in his face.

"Doesn't matter," He shrugged. "I took care of it."

Crookshanks joined his mistress in her anger and meowed loudly. Draco bent down and picked him up, cradling him like a little baby.

"Would you mind fixing my nose for me, Mione?" he asked.

She tilted her head and studied him. "Are you sure? I think it makes you look more rugged."

He rolled his eyes at her joke and after a quick Episkey he felt back to normal again. Crookshanks purred as he scratched the half-kneazle under his chin and snuggled his face into the cat's belly to tease him.

"You know, apart from Sirius, you're the only one that Crookshanks actually likes." She mused as they started walking back to the common room, Hermione cleaning Draco's sleeve magically as she noticed the blood. "He even scared Michael away when we came back from our Hogsmeade date and he tried to kiss me." She giggled. "Good thing he didn't succeed. That date was bloody awful if you ask me."

Choosing to ignore that last part, he snobbishly said: "Of course he likes me. What is there not to like? That dog on the other hand. Why have you been hanging out with him? Crookshanks, you've betrayed my trust, mate." He told the cat that was now lazily flicking his tail back and forth while dozing off in Draco's arms.

"Sirius was teaching Crooks how to catch filthy rats at Grimmauld during Yule." Hermione chuckled at the memory. "I swear, if Pettigrew had dared to come near the castle, the two of them would have sniffed him out sooner than the dementors ever could."

The blond wizard roared with laughter at the image of Lord Black running down the Hogwarts halls as Padfoot with Crookshanks in pursuit, both of them trying to find a measly little rat.