Snippets
Chapter Fourteen
Hermione's next vision hits her like a tonne of bricks, especially in light of her possible revelation two nights previous.
In this vision, real-Hermione watches as the vision-version– albeit, a slightly older-looking version– of herself putters around in the kitchen which she now knows belongs to real-Draco. This time, rather than vision-Hermione sitting atop the counter, there is a small boy– probably around age four or five– perched on the counter in front of her.
The boy is a beautiful child with his pale blonde hair– which real-Hermione now has an assumption as to where that trait might have originated from– and light eyes. His skin is fair, but he has a healthy pink flush to his cheeks as he smiles up at vision-Hermione.
Vision-Hermione says something to the child which real-Hermione cannot hear, but whatever it was makes the child laugh. Real-Hermione's heart constricts in her chest when she realizes that this child is likely the same child as she has seen in visions past, just a few years older. It almost stings when she comes to understand that the child she had felt such a longing for was, in all likelihood, Draco Malfoy's child– and probably hers too, but that's a different conversation altogether.
Next, vision-Hermione braces her hands on the counter on either side of the small boy and bends down so that she is eye-level with him. She once again speaks to the child before she leans in and peppers affectionate kisses to his cheek and the side of his head.
The vision swirls, this time angling so that real-Hermione is watching from behind the child on the counter. Behind vision-Hermione, real-Hermione can see that someone is entering the room– a tall man with platinum blonde hair and a wide smile on his face. Vision-Draco steps up behind vision-Hermione just as she straightens, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and bringing her back flush against his chest.
Vision-Draco whispers something into vision-Hermione's ear and then presses his lips to her temple, his arms tightening around her as he kisses her. Vision-Draco seems to linger with vision-Hermione, holding her tenderly for a beat longer before he steps to the side, unwinding his arms from around vision-Hermione's waist, and approaches the child on the counter.
The boy in the vision reaches his arms up, a bright smile stretching his cheeks which only broadens when vision-Draco sweeps the child up into his arms and hugs him tightly. The boy circles his arms around vision-Draco's neck and tucks his head under his chin.
Vision-Hermione steps back toward vision-Draco and the child in his arms, brushing a few strands of the child's platinum hair off of his forehead. The final thing that real-Hermione sees in this vision is the vision-version of herself standing up on her toes to press her lips to vision-Draco's.
When Hermione comes to after this vision, she's soaking in her en suite bathtub with her head tipped back against the rim of the bathtub. She lifts her hand from under the water and examines her fingers, taking note of the fact that they're slightly wrinkled, so she must've been under for a while.
Hermione feels torn between several emotions when she reflects on this vision. A not-insignificant part of her admittedly feels that same sense of longing that she has become accustomed to after seeing some of her visions, but another part of her still feels slightly queasy when she thinks about Draco through the lens of her visions.
The small family unit that Hermione watched in her vision seemed to have so much love for one another. The way that vision-Draco had looked at vision-Hermione when her back was turned to him had been a look of such reverence and adoration that real-Hermione would've never associated with the Draco Malfoy she once knew. Then, both vision-Hermione and vision-Draco seemed to be completely besotted with the child– presumably their child– in a way which certainly tugs at real-Hermione's heartstrings.
Hermione just isn't sure how to feel in light of this vision. She trusts the Draco Malfoy that she knows now– at least insofar as she feels comfortable being in a room alone with him and doesn't feel the need to watch her back for rogue hexes. Then again, she also knows that she and Draco are barely even acquaintances.
Hermione splashes her face with water, hoping that some sort of revelation might come from the lavender-scented water– it doesn't. Instead, she just feels confused. She's confused because she feels almost as if she is straddling the line between living two separate lives, but with the same major players. She gets up every day and goes to work, sees her friends, has appointments with Healer Greengrass and researches with Draco– and she also watches as a different version of herself in another life works in the same office that she does, kisses a man whom she knows, but is decidedly not that close with, and interacts with a child who is plausibly her own.
Hermione makes the executive decision that she is not going to tell anyone about this vision– not Healer Greengrass, and certainly not Draco. Up to this point, she hasn't told Draco about any of her visions involving the child she has seen– whom she now assumes to be their child– and now that she has seen the three of them together as a clearly defined family unit, she knows that she has to keep that information to herself for the time being.
Hermione groans aloud into the void of her en suite before she stands and finally decides to get out of the bathtub and continue on with her evening.
Hermione squeezes the tip of her left ring finger as she sits in 'her' exam room in the St. Mungo's Neurological Maladies ward and waits for Healer Greengrass, who seems to be running a bit late today.
After a few minutes, Hermione hears that tell-tale double knock on the door before it swings open, revealing a slightly hyperactive Healer Greengrass. She seems almost as if she is trying to contain her enthusiasm about something.
"Good morning, Ms. Granger. How are you today?" Healer Greengrass asks as she places her usual file of parchment onto the counter across from Hermione and takes a seat on her rolling stool.
Hermione shrugs, her mind still reeling from her vision last night. She still stands by her decision to not discuss the vision with anyone, but that doesn't mean that her internal monologue has shut up about it– if anything, it's only gotten louder.
Hermione says something along the lines of, "Fine, and you?" before the two witches move past the pleasantries part of the appointment and onward toward the more exciting bit.
"Ms. Granger, I wanted to discuss with you a possible treatment option," Healer Greengrass begins, maintaining firm eye-contact with Hermione as she speaks. "I've been developing a spell, which may or may not help your case, but I want to be clear that it is experimental. You would be my first test-case."
Admittedly, Hermione's heart leaps at the idea of an actual treatment. Thus far, Hermione's appointments with Healer Greengrass have been monitoring as well as discussing her visions and attempting to deduce triggers or commonalities rather than actual treatment. Hermione knows that medicine/Healing are processes, but this process has taken months already and so far, she is no closer to finding relief than she was to start. If Healer Greengrass has an idea of something that could help, Hermione thinks that she would probably do just about anything.
"What sort of spell?" Hermione asks, her voice weaker than she expects. She supposes that regardless of how interested she might be in this experimental treatment, that that word itself– experimental– still carries with it a bit of discomfort.
"It's a spell of my own creation. It pinpoints certain parts of the brain in order to encourage changes to the chemistry. It works similarly to the Muggle technique of electroconvulsive therapy from what my research shows."
Hermione nods, taking in the information which Healer Greengrass is explaining to her. She isn't overly familiar with Muggle ECT, but what she does know is that it is an effective treatment for certain neurological conditions and that perhaps it could help in her case.
"When would we start?" Hermione wonders. She's not sure if she's going to go ahead with this treatment– she would at least like to talk to Padma about it– but she supposes that it can't hurt to know what her timeline might be.
"We could schedule your first treatment before you leave today," Healer Greengrass responds, her voice soft. "But please, if you want to take some time to think about it, please do– or if you have any further questions, I'm happy to answer them."
Heremione nods again and thanks Healer Greengrass before she leaves her exam room, intending to head out towards the main floo network for St. Mungo's when she sees a familiar blonde head exiting a similar exam room to hers across the hall.
Hermione meets Draco's eye and the aforementioned blonde quirks the side of his mouth up in a way that Hermione assumes is some sort of acknowledgement of her presence. At once, Hermione is reminded of her decision to confront Draco regarding his motivations for helping her, so she approaches him, feigning confidence despite feeling slightly uneasy.
"Are you busy? Can we talk?" she asks quietly, tugging at the sleeve on her jumper nervously.
Draco furrows his brows but nods, tipping his head to indicate that Hermione should follow him. She does, trailing behind him until the pair come upon a small closet of an office, outfitted with a desk piled high with textbooks and files.
"What can I do for you, Ms. Granger?" Draco asks, gesturing for Hermione to take a seat in a chair off in the corner of the room, which is still only about a breath away from the desk at which Draco sits down after he kicks the office door shut.
"I– why are you wasting your time researching with me?" Hermione stutters, swallowing hard around a lump in her throat.
Draco jerks slightly as if that question had been far from whatever he had expected her to say.
"Was I supposed to just ignore the fact that you've been having these visions about me and not do anything about it?" Draco snarks, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm a Healer– it's in the job description."
Hermione scoffs under her breath.
"But you're not my Healer."
Draco reels back again, his eyes narrowing at Hermione.
"How about you just ask me whatever it is that you actually want to ask, because I know that that wasn't it."
Hermione rolls her eyes, mirroring Draco's pose and crossing her own arms defensively. Fine.
"Are you using me as some sort of penance? For our history? Or for your wife?" Hermione flinches. She knows that she shouldn't talk about Draco's wife. She didn't know Astoria and she has no idea how or why she died, so it isn't fair to make unsubstantiated assumptions– she's grasping at straws trying to understand all of this.
"You don't know anything about my wife," Draco grits, leaning forward so his arms are resting on his knees. The look on his face is the closest that Hermione has seen to the Draco Malfoy she knew a decade ago since she's begun interacting with him again.
Hermione sighs, rubbing at her forehead with the palm of one hand.
"You're right, I don't. But unless you tell me otherwise, I have to fill in the blanks on my own– and I very much doubt that it's a coincidence that both you and Healer Greengrass became Healers in the same specialty. The common denominator there is your late wife."
Draco huffs and balls his left hand into a fist, popping his knuckles audibly.
"No, it's not a coincidence. Astoria was ill– not that it's any of your business," Draco's voice is gruff and harsh as he speaks.
Hermione groans, tipping her head back against the back of her chair before she looks back at Draco.
"I'm– Draco, I– I just want to understand. Why are you helping me?"
Hermione drops her head into her hands before she drags her fingers through her hair, tugging at the roots in frustration.
"Can't I just try to do the right thing for once?" Draco exclaims, exasperated. "What? You think that I couldn't save my wife, so I'm trying again with you? Isn't it more likely that I just listened to your story and wanted to do what I could for you?"
Hi, friends! Happy Tuesday! (Yes, it's still Tuesday for me. Barely. Don't come for me, lol.)
Y'all. I am exhausted. I have no idea how I'm even still awake but I kept forgetting to upload this today and I did not want to wait until tomorrow, so here we are, lol.
Also. Don't hate me. There is some angst in this fic, but if you know me/know anything about my reading and writing preferences, you'll know that I don't like angst. I just want people to be happy and to be living their best lives all the time. I read for fun and I do not find it fun when I'm reading about people suffering. I'm an empath, sue me. SO. That said, there needed to be some hiccups here and there for the sake of story progression, so here is our first hiccup in Hermione and Draco's relationship in this fic.
In an effort to get back on y'all's good sides after this chapter, I wanted to let y'all know that I may or may not have been writing some things over the past few weeks. I've started another (much, much shorter) multi-chapter Dramione which I'm hoping to finish up soon. I will probably end up uploading that fic on a similar schedule to how I've always uploaded my fics, just on a different day of the week because I truly do not think that I have the patience to wait until Snippets is finished to upload that fic. So there might be some time over the summer where y'all are getting two uploads a week from me, but I make no promises. We'll see what happens, lol.
Furthermore, I also wrote a one-shot for a Harry Potter ship which is not Dramione. Don't ask. I fell down a rabbit hole and an idea got in my head and irked at me until I wrote it, lol. That one is almost done, so that might be up this week? Or maybe next week. We'll see. I totally understand if y'all are only here for the Dramione, but as always, I would love to see familiar names and faces in the reviews of any of my writings. (: (P.S. Want to take a guess of which ship it is? I'll give you a hint that it involves Hermione and that it's not Ron ((or Draco obviously)). Any guesses? :P)
Lastly (I think)- because it isn't a spoiler for anything in this fic, just a fun easter egg- I wanted to confirm or deny y'all's theories for the zinnias from last week's chapter. So, according to the interwebs, zinnias represent endurance and loss of a loved one, and as we've learned in this chapter and chapters previous, Astoria was ill and has already died by the time that this fic takes place, so I thought that those two meanings were befitting this fic's version of her.
All of that said, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and thank you so much- truly, from the bottom of my heart- for spending a bit of your time here with me. Your support does not go unnoticed. As always, I am so looking forward to reading your thoughts, theories and favorite parts of this chapter!
Thank you again, and I will see you again next week! (: