Snippets
Chapter Eleven
"So, tell me about your recent visions, Ms. Granger," Healer Greengrass says in that soft, dulcet, Healer tone of hers as she crosses her legs and settles herself more comfortably into her rolling stool.
Hermione adjusts the hem of her skirt to stall for just a moment before replying.
"I've had two recently that felt… important, somehow."
Healer Greengrass nods her clinical nod, scratching out a couple of lines of notes in her folder before gesturing for Hermione to begin.
"The first, I- I was in a clothing store trying on evening gowns," Hermione starts, raising her gaze to meet Healer Greengrass'. "Pansy Parkinson was there. I–I don't even know her, but it was definitely her."
Healer Greengrass' eyebrows raise just slightly before she nods once more.
"Well, Pansy does own a boutique– two actually. One is on Diagon and the other is in Paris. Perhaps you've seen one of them?"
Hermione searches her memories, thinking hard about whether or not she has seen the boutique from her vision before, but she really doesn't think that she has. She shakes her head, letting Healer Greengrass know that she doesn't recall ever having gone anywhere near Pansy Parkinson's boutique.
"Tell me about the gowns. Or Pansy. Whatever you can think of," Healer Greengrass instructs, asking directed questions just as she always does when Hermione regales her visions.
Usually, Hermione has to read the details from her journal in order to remember the more intricate pieces of her visions, but these two? Hermione thinks that she would remember them even if she hadn't written them down.
"The gown was beautiful– but not something I would pick for myself. It was silk– emerald green silk," Hermione explains. "And Pansy– the way the vision-version of myself interacted with her… it was like we were friends. I haven't seen or spoken to her since Hogwarts, and I don't know why I would."
Healer Greengrass nods once more– that same clinical sort of nod which Hermione might find irritating if not for the fact that Healer Greengrass has been so helpful and kind throughout all of this.
"Okay, now tell me about your other vision."
Hermione pauses and finds herself grateful for an interruption when two quick knocks sound from the opposite side of the door to the exam room. She knows that she has to tell Healer Greengrass some of the details, but she can't tell her everything.
The door swings open and Draco walks in, his hands tucked into the pockets on his viridian green trousers. He closes the door behind him and then walks forward, leaning up against a counter beside where Healer Greengrass is sitting.
"Healer Malfoy? Is there something I can help you with?" Healer Greengrass asks, clear confusion in her voice.
Draco looks to Hermione, confirming with her that she still wants him here. When she nods, he responds to Healer Greengrass.
"Ms. Granger has asked me to sit in on this appointment, if that's alright with you, Healer Greengrass."
Healer Greengrass then switches her attention from Draco onto Hermione, presumably checking that what Draco has just said is the truth.
"Is that right, Ms. Granger?" Healer Greengrass asks, her shoulders relaxing slightly when Hermione responds in the affirmative. "Alright, then. Ms. Granger, would you like to continue telling me about your vision?"
Hermione swallows thickly, her eyes meeting Draco's across the room for a moment before she responds.
"Actually, no. That's why Healer Malfoy is here. He was in my recent vision, so I thought it would be better to tell him about it, which I have done. I asked him to come today to help answer your questions without also having to tell you the details of the vision."
Healer Greengrass seems surprised, and Hermione doesn't exactly blame her– after all, it was only a few short months ago when Hermione had been so bothered by Draco's presence that she has very nearly taken that discomfort out on Healer Greengrass, and now she's comfortable enough with him to tell him about her visions.
Well, perhaps 'comfortable' is a bit of a stretch. Hermione is still distinctly uncomfortable with Draco Malfoy, however, the fact that her visions could possibly be coming true and that he seems to be a main character in them leaves her with very few other options.
"That's fine, Ms. Granger, but I just want to make sure that you understand that you can tell me anything. I'm here to help you in any way that I can. I do not make judgments," Healer Greengrass speaks, her eyes turning downward– almost sad– as she leans towards Hermione.
"Of course, Healer Greengrass," Hermione smiles, trying to convey to Healer Greengrass that a lack of trust is not the issue here. "As I said, it was just simpler, given Healer Malfoy's… starring role, as it were, in my vision."
Healer Greengrass nods in understanding, then adjusts her posture, readying herself to continue talking with Hermione about her visions.
"Healer Malfoy, are you up-to-date on Ms. Granger's case?" Healer Greengrass asks. "Are you aware of the recent avenues we've been exploring regarding the visions?"
Draco nods, resting his left hand on the counter beside where Healer Greengrass is sitting, his right hand still tucked into his trouser pocket.
"Yes, we're operating under the assumption that the visions may be coming to fruition?" Draco clarifies, looking between Healer Greengrass and Hermione.
Healer Greengrass nods.
"Regarding the vision which Ms. Granger discussed with you– is it plausible?"
Hermione looks up at Draco, unsure of how to answer such a question, though it hadn't been directed at her. Is it plausible? Sure, anything can happen, but it would certainly be a surprise.
"It's unlikely," Draco responds after a moment. "Not impossible– but not necessarily probable."
Healer Greengrass looks to Hermione to confirm or deny Draco's assessment.
"I agree. It's not impossible, just perhaps a bit inconceivable."
Hermione knocks thrice on the imposing wooden door in front of her. She understands logically how she got here and why, but it still seems unreal to her.
The door opens and behind it stands Draco Malfoy, who gestures for Hermione to enter into the foyer of his Muggle London townhome. Hermione had been somewhat surprised when he had given her the address for his home, but she supposes that she truly doesn't know this man and therefore cannot pass judgment.
"The library is this way," Draco states, nodding his head toward a hallway behind him.
During their meeting at the pub, Draco had mentioned his home library and that he owned more than a few texts on neurological maladies from when he was studying for his Healer specialty. He hadn't recalled whether any of the books mentioned anything pertaining to her condition or anything similar, but he had said that it might be worth flipping through some of those texts, to which Hermione had agreed, which is how she has wound up at his home this evening.
Hermione follows Draco through his home, bypassing a sitting room and what is probably a kitchen, though there is a door to enter that room, which is currently closed. The pair also pass a powder room and another closed door on the way toward the library.
When Draco opens the door to his library for Hermione, her knees buckle and she has to grip onto the door frame to stabilize herself.
In front of Hermione sits a room with wall-to-wall, dark wood bookshelves, each stuffed to the brim with large, ancient-looking tomes. There are two plush, cozy looking sofas on either side of a glass coffee table, and hanging from a rod above the large windows are long, emerald green curtains which brush the floor beautifully.
Hermione isn't sure how long she stands in the doorway of the library, but it is evidently long enough to catch Draco's attention.
"Hermione?" Draco asks as he cocks his head to the side, looking at her questioningly.
Hermione closes her eyes for a moment, trying to recenter herself as her heart pounds in her ears.
When she opens her eyes, she whispers with a broken voice, "I've seen this room before."
Draco's eyes widen as he takes a half-step towards her.
"In a vision?" Draco asks, catching on quickly to the meaning behind Hermione's words.
Hermione nods, covering her mouth with her hands as she steps into the room, turning in a circle as she stands directly in the middle of the scene of one of her visions.
Draco walks beside Hermione until the pair reach one of the sofas. Hermione takes a seat on one while Draco sits on the glass coffee table across from her.
"Tell me about the vision," Draco says, but it sounds more like a question– like he's unsure of something.
Hermione drops her hands from her mouth and rubs them against the fabric of her jeans– she knows that she's stalling, but she allows it for the moment. After her moment, Hermione scoots so her back is resting against the corner of the sofa. She tucks her legs up underneath herself, just as she had seen in her vision.
"I was sitting right here," Hermione explains, meeting Draco's eye. "R-reading. I had a mug of tea in one hand and a book in the other. I looked comfortable– happy."
Draco nods that same clinical nod that Healer Greengrass does. He doesn't respond right away, as if he is processing Hermione's statement before he speaks.
"Comfortable and happy. You were comfortable and happy in my home?" he laughs lightly, shaking his head in disbelief as he stands from the table.
The corner of Hermione's lips tip up into a half-smile as she looks around at the likely hundreds of books surrounding her.
"It certainly looked like it," Hermione replies, almost absently as she finds herself distracted by a shelf across the room which appear to be medical texts, both Muggle and magical. "Are those the books you mentioned?"
Hermione stands from the sofa and heads over toward the bookshelf in front of Draco who follows after her.
"They are. These three shelves are all of the books I used while I was studying," Draco nods. He reaches out and takes two books, seemingly at random, off of the shelf and hands one off to Hermione. "Shall we?"
Hermione stretches her legs out on the sofa, dropping her head back against the arm in an effort to give her eyes a rest from staring at the book in her lap. She thinks that she's probably been reading the same sentence for at least ten minutes now and yet she still has no idea what it says. They've been at this for over two hours now– reading and studying the medical texts. So far– though, admittedly, Hermione is still in the first chapter of the first book– she has yet to find any answers.
"Are you going cross-eyed too?" Draco asks, closing his book and dropping it onto the coffee table with a thunk.
Hermione closes her own book and nods, pressing the heel of her palm to her right eye, hoping that the pressure will stop the twitching which began sometime during the last hour.
"Let's take a break," Draco huffs, standing from the sofa opposite Hermione's. "Tea? Firewhiskey?"
Hermione laughs lightly, but nods, standing and following Draco down the hall from the library toward the kitchen.
Hermione should probably be surprised when she walks into his kitchen and finds yet another scene from her visions, but she isn't. Given the fact that she's been having these visions, which she now knows are of Draco, for months now, it tracks that if she'd had a vision of his library, that other rooms in his home might also appear.
The kitchen she finds herself standing in is the same kitchen in which she watched the vision-version of herself kiss the vision-version of Draco in her aforementioned vision– the same cherry wood cabinets, stainless steel appliances and granite countertops.
"Remember that vision that I told you about?" Hermione asks as Draco sets about preparing a pot of tea, evidently abandoning his earlier suggestion of firewhiskey. "The one with the birthday cupcake?"
Hermione avoids mentioning what else happened in that vision very purposefully.
"Let me guess," Draco chuckles, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at Hermione with amusement. "It happened here?"
Hermione nods, her cheeks flushing a light pink. She scrunches her eyebrows together as a thought occurs to her.
Hermione steps past Draco, approaching the part of the counter where the vision-version of herself had been sitting.
"Can– can I try something?" Hermione asks, her voice wavering slightly.
Draco nods, and by the look on his face, he seems to know in which direction Hermione's thoughts have gone.
Hermione braces her hands on the countertop beside the stove as she lifts herself into a sitting position on top of it. From this angle, Hermione can even see an abstract painting in a gold frame on the wall opposite her, just as she had seen in the background of her vision.
"Could you stand right here?" Hermione asks, gesturing for Draco to stand in front of her. "Please. I just want to… I don't know, see if the logistics from my vision track."
Hermione keeps her knees tucked close together– she has absolutely no intention in this life of opening her legs for Draco Malfoy, despite her bizarre visions saying otherwise– as Draco comes to stand where she had indicated.
From where Hermione is sitting, her vantage point looks about equal with how it looked in her vision. She still has to look up to meet Draco's eyes, but if she were to toss her arms over his shoulders and lean forward, she would absolutely be able to press her lips to his. She's certainly not going to, but logistically, it works.
From this close, Hermione can see the shine of Draco's hair against the overhead lighting in his kitchen– it shines almost gold, which Hermione finds interesting given how near-white it is in other lighting. She can see the flecks of blue in his eyes, which until a few days ago, she would've sworn were a cold gray. They're not– they're more of a steely, grayish-blue with specks of royal blue.
It feels like an eternity before either of them blinks, but in reality is probably only a minute or two. Hermione hadn't realized it then, but Draco had kept his eyes trained on her all the while she had hers on him. In fact, the only reason she does blink is because the kettle on the stove begins to whistle.
Hi, friends! Happy Tuesday! (:
Thank you so much for all of your kind comments on the previous chapter! I am blown away by y'all's responses! Please keep them coming! Feedback seriously means the world to me and I love seeing all of your theories and clues you've picked up on and thoughts you've had along the way! I truly, truly appreciate you. (:
As always, thank you also for spending a bit of your time here with me this week. Your support means more to me than you could ever know and I am truly so grateful for each and every one of you. Thank you. (:
See you again next week!