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Chapter 13
I
Draco
Wednesday, 21st of October 1998
Draco sits in their spot in the Slytherin common room, passing time until session starts, reading Granger's journal entry.
20th of October 1998
He's changing. They're all changing. Not everyone sees it yet, but I do.
I'm liking the man Draco's turning into.
Draco rereads this entry almost a million times.
He's changing.
Not everyone sees it yet, but I do.
I'm liking the man Draco's turning into.
He never thought that being a man Granger is proud of is something he'd ever want. But it is. He wants to be the man she's proud of. For the first time in his life Draco believes that he can be a changed man. And more than anything he wants to be the person he thinks he can become.
"Are you ready?" Granger asks.
He flinches, scattering to put the journal in his trouser pocket, he looks up to see her and Theo.
"Is that my journal?" She asks, tilting her head, giving him a leary look.
"No, it's mine," Draco says as he walks over to her, trying to level his heavy breathing. He wipes his sweaty palms on his trousers before wrapping his arm around her shoulder. He leads them to session.
The journal itself might not be yours, but the contents are definitely yours.
Fuck, should I tell her?
"Oh good, I was really worried for a moment," she exhales her relief.
Guilt creeps in.
Well shit.
"Oh! I had an idea for the carnival!" she exclaims.
Dreading the conversation of telling her and fearful of her reaction to Draco violating her privacy, he leans into the subject change, internally grateful for the new topic. He looks down and notices her excitement on her face.
I like seeing her like this. Happy. Hopeful.
"I was bouncing ideas around with Alaric and we thought it would be a good idea if we added a muggle aspect to it. To be more inclusive for our fellow muggleborns!" her giddiness makes him smile.
"More of a muggle carnival?" Draco says, playfully scrunching his face.
Hermione scrunches her face at him and gently taps with her index finger on Draco's scrunched wrinkle between his brows. "You're working on your bias, remember?"
"If that's what you want, Granger."
She smiles brightly up at him, leaning more into him. "It is."
I'll make sure it happens then. For you.
* . * . *
Draco, Theo and Hermione are pulled to the grass field by the hospital. Draco carefully covers the portkey and places it back in his pocket.
"Well, I'm off to make my rounds," Theo states, bowing and taking Granger's hand to kiss it.
Theo doesn't take notice of the scowl on Draco's face. She rolls her eyes at Theo and waves him off with the hand he just kissed. They both watch Theo as he bobs his head back and forth strutting up the gravel path. Draco feels Hermione link their arms, he turns to look at her to find her smiling up at him.
Merlin, she has a beautiful smile.
"What?" she asks, lightly laughing.
Draco admires her honey-colored eyes, "You're beautiful, is all."
She blinks repeatedly and slightly shakes her head, "Come again?"
He gives her his sinister smile, "Oh, I'd love to, but ladies first."
Hermione immediately blushes and avoids eye contact with him, "Draco."
He lets out a satisfied sigh, "I do love it when you call me by my first name."
She playfully scoffs and unlinks them, standing in front of him just barely out of reach, pointing her index finger at him. "No funny business here, Malfoy."
Draco lets out a huff of air, slightly annoyed by the sound of his last name leaving her lips.
"I know, Granger. I know." Unable to stop himself he asks with a gentle curiosity, "When can I have you again?"
Their eyes remain locked on each other's for a brief moment.
"I want you to earn it," her voice is sweet in his ears.
He gives her a genuine smile, "I can do that."
He extends his elbow for her to take his arm again.
She takes it and they walk towards the hospital, "Are you going to lay it on me thick now?"
"I think I'd do just about anything," he says in a soft, sincere voice, "for you."
Hermione looks up at him, marveling at Draco. She rests her head on his shoulder while pulling herself tighter to him.
I want more. I want to earn you.
Onyx and Emerson fly through the hospital doors. Emerson chases after Onyx, the sound of gravel shifts as they run through the pathway to the garden. Hermione lifts her head and watches the boys in merriment. Draco admires her as she observes the boys play, studying her elegant features.
But could I ever be more to you? Could I ever truly earn you?
They continue arms still linked down the path to the gardens, as they approach, they spot Warren and Olivia sitting on a bench. The elderly couple are holding hands also watching the boys chase each other.
"Afternoon," Warren says to Hermione and Draco.
"Afternoon," they say in unison.
Warren eyes them linking arms and looks to Draco, giving him a soft smile. He grabs his cane and slowly rises to his feet. "Hermione, would you walk an old man around?"
Draco and Hermione share surprised glances. The last time they came, Warren had a bad fall and it left him bedridden. Draco flashes a small smile before unlinking them. He watches Hermione walk over to Warren and gently slip her arm through his. Olivia pats the bench for Draco to join her, he sports a grin as he walks over to her.
"Draco…" her inflection indicates she's asking more than stating his name.
His smile widens and nods his confirmation as he sits next to her. They strike up a conversation about Warren's recovery, he takes note that she also seems to be regaining access to her short-term memories. She tells Draco of how Warren and her met. They both are muggle born and met at Oxford. Olivia was studying the differences between muggle and wizarding brains, while Warren was studying herbology and herbal medicine. Olivia goes into detail about how from the naked eye you can't tell the difference between a wizarding brain and a muggle brain, and in fact they're primarily similar in almost all aspects.
Olivia tells Draco that the main difference is how wizard brains operate and the additional neurons which in return means more synapses that occur during brain function, as well as the number of receptors on the postsynaptic membrane. A wizard brain typically has 3 times more neurons than muggles. Also, wizards have more receptors on their presynaptic neurons and postsynaptic neurons. Muggles typically have 50 - 150 receptors per neuron while wizards have 300 - 1000, so presynaptic neurons in wizards are able to send far more signals to the postsynaptic neurons than muggles. For muggles not all of their signals are sent to the postsynaptic neuron to be absorbed so it can turn into an action. A process called diffusion takes place, where the signals or neurotransmitters leave the synaptic cleft: the space in between the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons. When casting spells, a wizard's brain sends and absorbs every single signal in order to produce a spell.
So, what is the difference between muggleborns and purebloods?
She goes on to tell Draco about the last bits of her memories that she can recall about four parts of the brain; the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital. The frontal lobe is responsible for reasoning, emotions, motor control and language. The parietal lobe processes information from the senses. The temporal lobe is associated with hearing, memory and some aspects of language and emotion. The occipital lobe is primarily responsible for interpreting visual information.
If one can't access their memories, would they be stored in the temporal part of the brain?
Is there some way to access those? Could Legillemency be used to access the memories?
"So, muggles and wizards alike, all of our brain's all contain these sections?" Draco asks to clarify.
Olivia nods her head as she smiles brightly at him.
A blood curdling shriek rips Draco's attention away from Olivia. The sound is agonizingly similar to the one that haunts his nightmares, reminding him of his biggest regret. He sprints over to Hermione who's clutching her scarred arm as she lays on the grass of the garden. The sight brings back horrific memories of that night. The boys and Olivia stand behind Draco with terrified expressions.
"Olivia, take the boys inside and get a healer. Draco! Grab the dirt underneath the hydrangea shrub and pluck the sepals. Quickly!" Warren yells.
Olivia rushes the worried boys out of sight while Draco does as he's told. He remembers that Lila had grabbed dirt from their shrub back at the manor.
The dirt has healing properties, right. But what of the sepals?
Draco hurries back over to Hermione with the items Warren requested, he looks to Warren for direction.
"They need to be ground together," Warren hurries to say.
Thinking on his feet, Draco grabs his journal that's still in his trouser pocket, "Transfigure this into a bowl."
Warren quickly grabs it and does the spell, morphing the dark green journal into a green ceramic bowl. Draco hurries to place the dirt and sepals into the bowl.
"I don't have time to wait for essence of dittany." Warren says to himself, then concentrates for a brief moment to spit a hefty amount of saliva into the bowl. He uses the fatter end of his wand to ground the components together into a brown and white paste.
Always with the spit.
He hands the bowl to Draco and kneels down to Hermione since Warren physically can't. He takes her arm and shoves her sleeve up past her elbow for full access to her scar. Taking nearly all of the concoction he smears it all over her scar, she tries to rip her arm from his grasp, still screaming. Draco adjusts his body, he hates himself for having to use his strength against her to force her to stop moving. He makes sure it's caked on to every vile letter his aunt carved into her.
Fuck, I'm so sorry.
Draco looks over to Warren with a horrified expression when her screams become louder. Warren gives him a sorrowful nod, acknowledging Draco's worry and letting him know that she will be okay. Draco fights back tears for forcefully pinning her down as she writhes from under him to get the concoction off of herself. The sound of gravel shifting in the background signifying that help is on the way.
"Is she stable?" A woman healer calls out to them.
Warren yells that she is as Hermione slowly stops fighting against Draco's pin. Hermione sobs tearlessly while Draco lifts himself off of her. The healer scurries over and flicks her wand, lifting her body with "Wingardium Leviosa." Warren and Draco painfully watch Hermione float into the hospital.
Another set of feet scrape through the gravel. "What happened?" Theo's face expressing horror.
"Her scar," Draco says, hanging his head shamefully, refusing to make eye contact with Theo.
Wednesday, 22nd of October 1998
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Draco seethes as he throws his obsidian portkey at the stone wall of his room.
It shatters against the wall for pieces to glimmer in the light as the shards fall to the ground. He glares at the remnants of the mermaid as he breathes heavily, cursing the Ministry for charming the blasted rock for being useless any other day than after session days. She hasn't been at Maighdean Hospital for more than 24 hours, but the fact that his movements are restricted and can't see her is torturous. He should be in his required Muggle Studies class going over the bloody Tudor family line, but finding a way to see his muggleborn is far more important. He scrapes the shards of obsidian off the floor with both hands, not caring that it's sliced through a few layers of his skin. He takes off to his Headmistress' office. Once at her office door he angrily knocks with his foot since his hands are occupied. The door opens to reveal McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt inside. His eyes narrow at the man who's barring him from seeing Hermione. Shacklebolt takes notice of the black shards in his hands.
"Draco, I was just informing your Headmaster that I was hoping to request an audience with you."
"Looks like I beat you to it. Here," Draco's tone harboring all the bitterness he can physically hold, he hands Shacklebolt the obsidian shards now dripping with his blood.
Shacklebolt stoic face falters showing a brief expression of confusion and concern.
"I'm going to need a new one of those, unless you can use your handy dandy wand to fix it," Draco says to the Minister with arrogance.
His Headmistress and Shacklebolt share a glace before McGonagall scourgify both Draco's and Shacklebolt's hands of Draco's blood. Shacklebolt places the shards on McGonagall's desk and takes out his wand to reassemble the mermaid.
"I'm assuming you destroyed it out of anger for not being able to see Hermione," Shacklebolt says while placing the obsidian mermaid in his pocket.
Draco narrows his eyes at him as he watches the only way to get to her be placed out of his reach.
"You truly are a bright man," Draco seethes, glaring at the Minister.
"Draco," McGonagall warns.
Shacklebolt raises his hand, "I understand your frustrations, Draco."
Oh, I'm fucking sure you do. Twat.
"Although, I cannot grant you unfettered access to the hospital, please be at ease knowing she will be returning back to Hogwarts sometime this evening. Mr. Newhaven's account of you acting so quickly to her aid, saved her from suffering longer and several more nights in the hospital. She's already making a sped fast recovery; she'll be placed in the hospital wing under Madam Pomfrey's care to be monitored overnight." Shacklebolt informs Draco.
He takes in a long breath, visibly relieved that she's okay and he'll be able to see her.
"Are you trained in herbology and some of their medicinal properties?"
Draco answers the Ministry by shaking his head.
"How did you know what to do?" Shacklebolt asks Draco.
His brows pull together in confusion, "Didn't you talk to Warren?"
Shacklebolt eyes displaying uncertainty and nods.
All of Draco's face contorts into an annoyed and puzzled expression, "I did what he told me to do."
Shacklebolt's eyes widen slightly and nods once in acknowledgement, not giving Draco much to go off of.
Am I missing something?
"Right, well I wanted to formally stop by, and state how enthused I am on your reconciliation efforts thus forth and your commitment to your fellow students. Your show of goodwill is being no-"
"It's not a show," Draco interrupts absentmindedly.
Shacklebolt pulls his brows in confusion.
"It's not really goodwill if you have to make a show of it," Draco explains.
The Minister gives him a small smile and nods in understanding. "Your honorable actions and good behavior have been observed. I will replace your portkey; however, I hope you will not destroy Ministry property again?"
Draco winces at the realization of how lucky he is to not face any punishment for his destruction of property.
"I'm sorry Minister, it won't happen again. I was angry and shouldn't have taken it out on your property," he genuinely apologizes.
The Minister smirks at Draco and nods, accepting his apology, he turns to floo out of McGonagall's office, but Draco stops him.
"Actually, before you leave, Minister, can I make a travel request with you?" He asks.
Shacklebolt nods for him to continue.
"I was wondering if I could travel to Diagon Alley to speak with Fred and George Weasley at their shop," he looks over to McGonagall, "for the carnival we're hoping to set up on Halloween for the school."
McGonagall gives him a surprised empathetic smile.
"It was mostly Hermione's idea," Draco adds, turning back to The Minister.
"Just let me know the exact date and time, I'll send off the right paperwork for you."
Draco gives Shacklebolt a grateful smile and nods his head. Then disappears behind green flames of the floo.
"What time is she supposed to be here?" Draco quickly asks his Headmistress.
"I was informed around 7:30," she states as she walks to her desk to retrieve something. "Since you're going to see her, please give this back to her." She hands him a familiar green leather journal.
"Oh, that's mine actually. I had Warren transfigure it into a bowl for the paste he needed to make. Forgot about it," he says, taking it from his Headmistress.
"Yours?" She asks aloud in a curious voice.
He nods.
"I was wondering where the other one went. Miss Granger has the other matching journal. They're a set," she says with raised brows.
"Matching? They're a set?" Draco asks curiously.
She nods in return.
I guess that makes sense seeing how they're identical.
"I'm granting you one hour past curfew to visit her. No more. Do you understand?"
Draco nods his head rapidly, then glances at his pocket watch.
I only need to wait four hours and thirty-two minutes for her . . .
*.*.* . . . *.*.*
Draco paced outside the Hospital Wing, waiting for Hermione to return since he left McGonagall's office. He didn't bother eating, he figured he could just eat once he was back in his common room. He also didn't want to potentially miss her arrival if she were to come earlier.
"I'm off to fetch her, Mr. Malfoy."
The sound of Pomfrey pulls him out of his thoughts and turns to her.
"Right, I'll be here. Thank you." He says, nodding his head.
She tilts her head, giving him a thoughtful expression before stating, "You can take the last bed on the left, I'll be placing her there when we return."
Her gaze lets him know that she's well aware of his lurking in the outside corridor of the Hospital Wing. He nods to her again and walks to the bed Pomfrey mentioned as he hears the sound of her crack as she apparates to Maighdean Hospital. He doesn't sit, just leans against the castle walls. He's felt the past few hours have gone by in a quick blur, but these slow ticking seconds anxiously waiting for them to return has Draco on edge. The quiet is driving him insane, until he hears the ticking of his own pocket watch. He fixates on the noise.
Tick
.
Tick
.
Tick
.
Tick
.
Tick
.
Tick
.
Tick
.
Tick
.
Tick
.
Crack
Finally.
Draco frantically scans Hermione for any indication of lingering pain, but only spots the bandage around her arm. Granger's eyes scream how exhausted she is. Guilt and shame bombard him. Her face lights up when she sees Draco and knowing that she's happy to see him reduces the sting of his shame and guilt. She extends her bandaged arm out to him, as Madam Pomfrey gestures for her bed. Afraid of touching her arm, Draco without thinking smashes his body into hers, cradling her head. Hermione makes an "oof" sound as her arms wrap around his body.
He pets the back of her head as he sways their bodies side to side. "Sorry, didn't mean to be rough," Draco says in a low whisper to her.
She nuzzles into his embrace, making Draco sigh in relief with his entire body.
"Apparently the hydrangeas help contain the dark magic," she says in a weak voice.
He pulls back, trying to register what she just said to him. He gazes at her, before gently guiding her to the bed so she can rest, undoing the covers for her. She slowly sits on the bed, Draco quickly takes off her muggle sneakers and gently lifts her legs into the covers.
She looks up at him, "Actually, could you go to my dorm and get me a set of my own pajamas?" her weak voice makes his heart ache.
"I'll be right back," he shouts, already running out of the Hospital Wing.
Skipping several steps as he flies down a stairway, he sprints to the Gryffindor common room, hoping to catch Weasletits, Dean or Seamus to let him in. However, to his displeasure Ron is the first Gryffindor he sees.
Draco calls out to him while jogging over to Ron, "Weasley! Let me into the common room. Granger asked me to get her pajamas from her room."
"Right, she asked the man who assaulted her to get her pajamas. Sounds like a guilty conscience to me," Ron scoffs.
"Please stop listening to wherever the fuck you're getting your information," Draco narrows his eyes, giving him a murderous expression.
Draco clenches his jaw, as he stares daggers at Ron, wanting to suffocate the redheaded twat in front of him. He releases a sigh of relief as he spots Ginny out of the corner of his eye and yells for her.
"She's back?" Ginny asks frantically, running up to Draco.
Draco nods. "She asked me to get her a set of pajamas from your dorm," worry littered on his face.
She nods rapidly and hurries to let him into the Gryffindor common room, but Ron blocks Draco with his body.
"I don't believe for a second that you're not the reason she's laying in the hospital bed right now."
Draco's now unbelievably furious. Furious that in some twisted way the Twatface is right, because if he wasn't such a fucking failure and successfully completed the counter curse, she wouldn't be. However, he's also furious because he's also in his way from getting back to Hermione.
His face is millimeters from Rons. "," Draco growls in a low deep rasp.
"Fuck you," Ron sneers back.
Ginny, shoulder chucks her brother, hard, out of the way. "Out of the way you git."
Weasletits is strong.
Draco manages not to flip off Twatface before he runs after Ginny, following her into their dorm room. She hands him a set of soft light pink pajamas with light blue ducks with black sunglasses printed all over. He mentally questions the bedwear as they both sprint to the Hospital Wing. Once entering the Hospital Wing, he holds up the hideous excuse for pajamas for her to see. Granger chuckles at them as she's sitting up in bed.
"Gin, could you close the curtains while he dresses me?" Hermione asks.
"Oh," Ginny's shock is heard in her high-pitched voice as she closes the curtains for their privacy.
Draco looks at Hermione for confirmation.
"I just don't want anyone else to see me like this right now," she explains in a frail voice.
He nods and goes to slowly lift her shirt; she lifts her arms weakly. The bruise in the shape of Draco's hand is wrapped around her upper arm from when he had to pin her down. He exhales a light horrified sound and takes a step back, staring in disgusted shock at his violent artwork. Hermione looks at him and then where his gaze is fixated on.
"Draco, it's okay," she pleads to him, "you had to."
She catches the hesitation in his eyes as he cautiously steps closer, trying his best not to look her in the eyes as he places her pajama shirt on her. Draco lifts her off the bed, carefully pulling her pants down and wincing to himself as he sees the matching set of bruises on her thighs from his knees. He stares at the stones of the castle floor as she holds onto his body, stepping into her pajama bottoms. Now that the evidence of him trapping Hermione to the ground is tucked away safely in her bedwear, he's able to look her in the eye.
"I'm sorry, Hermione," he says with a furrowed brow and all the regrets of a million apologies could harbor.
She cups his face, staring into his eyes before she kisses him softly. Draco, still riddled with shame, doesn't touch her, but he does kiss her back. They share a worried glance for one another before he opens the curtains revealing an anxious Ginny, Pansy, Theo and Blaise.
Both Hermione and Draco do a double take. They didn't hear anyone approach while he was dressing her.
"Are you alright Mione?" Theo asks.
Draco and Hermione share quick glances, that being the first time Theo's called her that. She nods her head, and Draco guides her into the bed and pulls the covers over her. He goes to stand next to his friends, but Hermione grabs his hand, stopping him. Her eyes tell him to stay where he is. Draco cups her hand with his and remains where she wants him.
As the evening continues more people trickle in to give their well wishes and check on their friend. Each and every one of them taking note of Hermione and Draco holding hands. No one comments on it, but they do nod their head in acknowledgment. Around 8:45 Hermione voices her exhaustion and the Slytherin gang, Ginny, Luna and Neville say their goodbyes.
Once everyone has left, she turns to look at Draco, "Thank you for doing what you did."
"I was just doing what I was told," Draco shakes his head.
"You acted without hesitation and did what was necessary, Draco," she enlightens him.
Draco peers down at her, biting his lip, still unsure of his actions.
I still hurt you. Even if I was doing the right thing, it still feels wrong.
I don't think I could ever do the right thing without fucking something else up.
"You can go too, I'm not going to be much of a good conversation if I'm sleeping," she gives him a tired smile.
"Would you mind if I stayed anyways?" he asks softly. "I just want to be with you right now," Draco adds.
She gives him a rapid head nod with empathetic tired eyes. He looks around and grabs a chair from the other side of the room. He places the chair to face her on her bedside, he plops down and gently grabs her hand in his. She lays in the hospital bed staring at him while he traces the soft skin on her hand with his thumb.
"Did you pick out my pajamas?"
"Merlin, no. I would have not picked those," Draco chuckles at the blasted set.
"Arthur, Ron's dad, got them for me. Harry and I took him to a muggle mall, he had a blast shopping around," Hermione says, reminiscing about the shopping experience.
He could imagine Arthur being fascinated by the idea of muggle shopping, Draco's father had hated his affinity for them.
"You know Olivia was telling me about the differences between muggle and wizards brain functions earlier that day," Draco says, tracing her scar gently.
"I've been meaning to talk to her about that. I was wondering if muggles and wizards store information similarly," she fights to say through her sleepiness.
"They do," Draco responds softly.
Well, we do. We store information similarly.
He doesn't think she heard him though.
After a few moments he notices her slow heavy breaths, he looks to see that she is fast asleep. He delicately lifts her hand to his lips, tenderly but firmly kissing her hand. Draco remains in that position, watching her as she sleeps. Memorizing the way her curls halo around her as she lays in the bed, how often she twitches as she falls into a deeper sleep, how unaware she is of her own beauty.
Draco thinks to himself about the possibility of both wizards and muggles storing memories in the same location of their brains. He's familiar with the idea of caging one's thoughts because his mother taught him vigorously how to become a skilled Occlumens. He racks his own brain with the idea of searching another mind with Legilimency and possibly finding lost memories that have been obliviated. Thinking of all the people who he knew that were Legilimens, then realizing they were all dead.
Maybe Potter could have some insight? Maybe Dumbledore taught him?
Madam Pomfrey does her best to do her diagnostic spells on Hermione without disturbing them.
McGonagall startles him out of his position. "Sorry, Draco. Just came to remind you that your allotted time is almost up."
Shaking his head, trying to regain full consciousness of his entire body, he realizes he's sore from sitting for so long and tired as hell.
"Right, thank you for extending curfew for me," Draco exhales, placing Hermione's hand comfortably on the covers.
"Mr. Malfoy," Headmistress McGonagall calls out to him before he exits the Hospital Wing, "is your friendship with Miss Granger more? Is it…"
"Romantic?" He finishes for her.
She nods, curious for his answer.
Draco shrugs his shoulders, "If that's what she wants."
He looks back at Hermione and his features instantly soften at the sight of her resting peacefully. Shoving his hands in his pockets, glancing at his Headmistress, nodding his goodbye before turning to walk to his dorm room.
24th of October 1998
Draco made sure to send his letter to Kingsley for the exact date and time he'd be visiting the shop after sending the Weasley twins a short proposal letter for the carnival. He felt as though he was indebted to his Minister for not making him go through the same mind-numbing hoops he did for when he applied for the travel request to Maighdean Hospital. As he walks through Diagon Alley to talk to a set of redheaded twins about a carnival he hopes this won't be a long drawn-out discussion due to his quidditch match in little over an hour. Weasleys' Wizards Wheezes stands tall and immaculate, peering to be unscathed by the war, his lips curling up slightly at the sight. As he enters the shop an annoying repetitive ringing sound goes off.
Ugh, the new entrance alert. I hate it.
He looks around at all the magical trinkets and gag potions they have. Smiling at the few he recalled before the bitterness of the war began.
"Well look who it is!" Fred says from up above Draco.
"If it isn't The Great White Ferret," George says slowly, smiling at Fred.
I'm doing this for Granger.
I'm doing this for Granger.
I'm doing this for Granger.
"Did you guys happen to read my proposal I sent?" He asks up at them.
They look at each other and smirk, nodding their heads.
"Yes," George says, both of the brothers turning their heads to look at Draco.
"We did," Fred states.
"And?" Draco asks hopefully.
"It's rather sudden," George says, still smiling.
"Don't know if we can just close up shop for the entire day." Fred shakes his head while looking at his brother.
Draco sages his patience by massaging his eyes with his thumb and ring finger.
"That's a lot of business we'd be missing out on," George finishes.
Of course. Everything's about money.
"I'll pay for it," Draco says dully, opening his eyes looking back up at them.
"Well, isn't that generous!" Fred gives his brother an amused glance.
"Still, you never know what heavy pocketed chap could waltz in and clean us out," George counters.
These. Fucking. Twat. Twins.
"I'll double it!" Draco offers.
"Double whammy?!" Fred exclaims.
"It's also for Granger!" Draco pleads, hoping to play at their hearts.
"For Granger?" They both ask questionably.
The twins glance curiously at one another, sharing a single brain cell it seems like.
Draco eyes them cautiously. "Yes," he says slowly.
The twins smirk. "Triple it!" they say in unison.
You've got to be fucking kidding me.
"It's also for the school," Draco pleads again.
"Right," Fred says, unconvinced.
"The school," George and Fred say in sync, nodding their heads, unconvinced.
"So, how much is this going to cost me?" Draco asks while exhaling his annoyance.
Fred and George glance at each other and shrug their shoulders.
"That's the thing," George gives Draco a mischievous smile.
"We're not sure," Fred finishes with the same mischievous smile.
"So, I don't even get to agree on the price?" Draco scoffs.
"That's the point!" Fred and George say in unison, now annoyed with him.
Draco massages his eyes one more time before scowling at the triumphantly smiling twat twins above him and leaving without a word.
To no one's surprise Slytherin won their quidditch match against Ravenclaw. They didn't stand a chance, at least the Gryffindors put up a good game. Draco didn't even bother with the Snitch during the game. It got so bad that the announcer let Alaric narrate the game and he had absolutely zero idea of what was going on. Everytime a ball went through the goal post he cycled through his different scoring chants of, 'Touchdown, goal, whole in one, grand slam, 5 hole." He was starting to have fun with it, when a Ravenclaw beater would miss hitting a bludger he'd shout, "a swing and a miss" in what he said was a transatlantic accent. Alaric started singing a muggle song called "Sweet Caroline," after a few verses people started to sing along with him, he also kept referring to the last half of the game as the "7th inning stretch." He got the announcer mic taken from him when he started cussing out Ravenclaw's Keeper for casting spells at Pansy.
Saturday, 31st of October 1998
Since the days following Hermione's recovery, Draco has not left her side whenever possible. Although he wanted to, he refrained from finding dark corners for them, or even truly flirting with her. He wants to give her the proper time to heal and feel like herself before they would go back to fooling around again. They spent their time sharing more of themselves on a deeper level, having conversations of their past, present and playing games of 'what if' for their futures. Both of them joking of what if Draco imagined pouring money into Hermione's SPEW cause while Hermione decided to become a part of the Ministry, unveiling dark hidden secrets.
Pansy, Ginny, Alaric, Theo, Hermione and Draco are all in their spot in the Slytherin common room.
"I'm so excited for today! When are they going to get here to set up?" Hermione asks Draco, giddily clapping her hands, standing behind the sofa Draco is sprawled out on.
"They said they'd be here around 9:30 am to set up," Draco responds, admiring her excitement.
"Oh! Let's go help!" Hermione states excitedly.
Draco scoffs. "I'm paying for the bloody thing, I'm not setting up too."
"Draco, you're paying for the whole thing?" Pansy asks thoughtfully, laying on the sofa across from him, her head in Ginny's lap.
"I'm with Draco here, I too don't want to help my brothers do their job," Ginny states, playfully annoyed, playing with Pansy's hair.
Draco nods his head in approval at Ginny's stance, knife handing at her. "Yeah, so I refuse to pay and engage in physical manual labor," Draco says in disgust.
Hermione tugs on his hand for him to get up. Draco rolls his eyes at her. Her eyes twinkle with amusement as he gives into her and gets off the sofa.
She knows I won't say no to her. Brat.
Hermione nods at Draco and then practically skips out of the room. Theo catches up with her and they actually skip off together.
"It's a humblin' experience Draco, come on," Alaric says while getting up from his chair, walking over to wrap his arm around Draco's shoulder.
Alaric leads him out of the room to follow an enthused Hermione and Theo. Theo and Hermione slow their pace and walk with Draco and Alaric as they near the skipping pair.
"Besides," Alaric says, looking back at Pansy and Ginny, now being out of their earshot. "I've been meanin' to chat about the cocks in her hen house."
Draco and Hermione, both choke on their intake of breath from Alaric's euphemism before they both laugh. Theo unlinks his arm from Hermione and bends over laughing, the sound bounces off the castle walls.
"I'm going to steal that one," Theo says, calming down from his laughter, he wipes a figurative tear from his eye.
"Who?" Draco asks, shaking his head.
"My girl."
They all continue walking towards the quidditch pitch.
"Your girl?" Draco says absolutely confused by Alaric.
"Pansy." Alaric clarifies.
Oh.
"You know Pans is-" Draco holds his hands up as if to stop himself from finishing his sentence.
It's not my place to tell Pans' business.
"Fooling around with Gin and Harry. Yeah, I know," Alaric states, nodding his head in acknowledgement. "That's the cock I was referrin' to."
Draco gives Alaric a surprised yet questionable look.
"Just cause I talk slow doesn't mean I'm stupid," Alaric says, now exaggerating his southern accent and narrowing his eyes at Draco.
"That doesn't bother you?" Draco asks, brows still furrowed.
"I know, I'm referring to her as my girl, but I'm not entitled to her. She's her own person and doin' whatever she wants. I'm just making sure Harry is a decent fella is all." Alaric says with sincerity. "Besides, she's not ready to be with me yet."
"You sound a little too sure of yourself, there," Draco says with questionable raised brows.
"Harry's a good person," Hermione adds, looking over to Alaric.
Alaric nods at Hermione then looks at Draco and shakes his head, "Momma always taught me growing up to listen to my body and my instincts. And my instincts and my body are sure that Pansy is it for me. You may not agree or understand, but I've met Pansy in another life. Soulmates if you will."
"Soulmates?" Draco and Hermione both tut a laugh.
Hermione turns to look at Draco; they both share an unconvinced look.
Alaric nods his head and continues, "Not every lifetime are ya able to truly spend with your soulmate. Most lifetimes you're searching for one another, it's rare to be able to be connected with yours. It's all up to the universe really. If you're your true self and the person you're destined to be, the universe pulls y'all together. And from what I've heard from others and hearing how she used to be, it seems to me that Pansy's becoming the person she's supposed to be. I have faith that the universe will do its thing."
Merlin that's… I don't know if that's barbaric or romantic.
"Although I don't subscribe to the destined bit, can I date you in the meantime? Jesus, Alaric." Hermione giggles looking at Alaric thoughtfully, walking backwards facing the boys.
Draco glares at Hermione.
"If he doesn't take you up on that offer, I certainly will." Theo chuckles to himself.
His death glare shifts from Hermione to Theo.
I hate all of you.
They make their way into the quidditch pitch where the carnival will be placed. It's already been charmed with a Stretching Jinx to expand the area so all of the rides, games and food booths will fit inside. McGonagall decided that the quidditch pitch would be the best area so that way, faculty who didn't want to directly be in the chaos of the night could still keep tabs on students form the audience benches above. Hermione laughed when she found out that Harry took the twins to a muggle carnival and used the reducio spell to steal a few attractions. Alaric's excited when he sees a ride called the 'Zipper'. Draco helped set up where he could since he couldn't use magic, although he wanted to complain, he only bitched internally.
The Wonder Twats used wandless Draco to their advantage and had him carrying around heavy equipment back and forth between booths, to only find out once everything was set up that they didn't need any of the things he was carrying around. Blaise came to join them when he could to help set up, helping Draco with certain attractions and games wandlessly.
"Awe, y'all got a dunk tank?" Alaric says in an excited, reminiscent tone.
"Saw that and knew Ron belonged on that seat," George says to Alaric, nodding his head.
"Along with a few Slytherins…" Fred says, eyeing Draco.
Blaise and Theo both say, "I'll do it," in sync. They make eye contact while smiling, nodding their heads to one another.
Alaric follows Fred's gaze and gives Draco a knowing look.
'Humbling experience.'
Draco rolls his eyes and shakes his head, "Fine," he quips in an annoyed tone, "but I highly doubt Pansy will do it."
When Ron was placed in the dunk-tank he bitched every single time he was dunked, all 7 times, most shots were taken by the twins and Ginny. Pansy, however, was the first to jump at the thought of teasing people to throw the ball to dunk her. There was a huge crowd for this attraction. Draco was surprised that a lot of people wanted to play the muggle game, but he knew deep down that it was symbolic. That they were able to take their shots at her, at all of them, for their past discrepancies. After Blaise and Theo took their punishment from the crowds, each Pansy, Blaise and Theo were applauded for their willingness to take everyone's retribution. Draco knew that he had to be the one to be in here the longest. He knew that he caused far more pain and suffering to his fellow students than his Slytherin counterparts. And he was going to do this, without complaint, but he wasn't looking for recognition. This would be his small way of giving back.
Draco sat in the dunk tank for 7 painfully long hours, going through the cycle of falling into the water, getting up to adjust the seat and pulling himself back up to do it over and over again. After the fourth time he understood how taxing it was going to be pulling himself up to the seat soaking from head to toe. There were several times he slipped and fell back into the water, he was losing his strength from being in there all day. Draco wants to say that nearly all the students took a turn to sink him, but after the second hour every face became a blur.
He was grateful to Granger, Pansy and Ginny for coming by every once in a while, to check on him or give him things to snack on. Theo and Blaise did their version of 'checking on him' which was teasing him for still being in there and retaking their turns. Surprisingly Rita Skeeter showed up to the event, Draco didn't think this event was newsworthy. As he's trapped himself in the dunk-tank he begins to ask him questions, but not wanting his words to get twisted in typical Rita fashion, he opts to not speak to her. He attempted to keep stoic features as she berated him with endless questions. However, that goes out the window when Hermione walks up from behind Rita and flips her off with both hands. Draco's unable to smother his smile from her flipping Rita the bird, but just before Alaric casts him into the tank there's the sound of the camera's shutter. Letting Draco know that his ugly mug will be in the papers in his unfortunate near future.
"That'll be a good one," Rita says out loud, nodding to her camera man as they walk away.
Draco glares at Rita as they strut off. Weasletits and Pans call Hermione over from a distance, she quickly hands him some more snacks before running off to the girls. He smiles at her thoughtfully as she joins them.
It's when Ron comes back around and takes his 13th turn on him that changes the trajectory of the evening. Ron does everything that he can think of to bait Draco into some kind of confrontation. Draco wills himself to take it all without complaint, his saving grace is knowing that the twins have charged Ron every time he's played this game, even though no one else has paid. Ron becomes enraged at Draco's lack of response and continues to buy more balls to throw at him.
"I kind of like you shutting your insufferable mouth for once, Malfoy."
Ding
Draco does his tiring cycle of falling, latching the seat in place and lifting the additional weight of soaked water along with his bodyweight.
"Good to know everyone else has taken their shot at you."
Ding
"I bet you wish your father could get you out of this one, huh?"
Ding
"Would love to see the look on your daddy's face as he watches y-"
"Enough Ronald!" Hermione yells from a distance, cutting him off.
Hearing her voice brings a clarity of just how exhausted Draco is and desperately needs a break. Ron throws his last ball for Draco to fall into the tank. He takes a deep breath as he lifts his tired body to stand.
"Are you really standing up for Malfoy, Hermione?" Ron asks with disgust.
"Yes! I'm standing up for Draco," she yells as she glares at Ron, pointing to Draco. "He's been sitting in this tank all day, having people continuously throw things at him."
Draco runs his hand through his hair to get it out of his face and relatches the seat. Hermione turns her focus from Ron to Draco.
"Don't you dare get back up on that seat. You're done," Hermione sternly says to Draco while now pointing to him.
Ron scoffs and shakes his head at her with angry disapproval, as she makes her way over to Draco and helps him out of the dunk-tank.
"And he's been doing it without complaint," Hermione shouts at Ron, giving him a pointed knowing look because he was in here earlier complaining the entire fucking time.
Hermione scourgifies Draco and the weight lifted from his body has him release a sigh of relief. Draco gives her a look of exhausted thanks, admiring her kindness and breathtaking honey eyes. She gives him a sympathetic look before she hugs him. He wishes he was strong enough to lift his arms to hug her back, but it's just reminding him of his exhaustion, so he just leans his body into hers.
Ron scoffs then steps closer. "He can't be trusted Mione'. None of them can be," he seethes to Hermione and then glares at Draco.
Fuck you.
Draco's too tired to glare back at him, he just wants to lie down and rot.
"You're not even giving them a chance, Ronald," Hermione yells at Ron.
"I don't need to. They had one, showed their colors, now I get to hate them for it."
"I guess you not showing up to see how I was in the Hospital Wing is also showing your colors, then?" Hermione asks with a pointed look.
Draco recalls that Ron wasn't there, he wants to be mad for Hermione, but he can't bring himself to be. His fatigue is overshadowing every aspect of barely conscious body. He could swear he was drifting into an unconscious state leading up against her.
Ron clenches his jaw. "I'm sure you were fine," he narrows her eyes at her, "considering he was there for you, I definitely wasn't needed." Ron says scowling at Draco.
You're right. She doesn't need you. And I was there for her.
Hermione shakes her head at her former best friend with disgust, "Please, just leave."
Ron turns his head to look at Draco with disgust before leaving. Hermione glares at Ron stalking off then turns to Draco.
She pulls a vial out of her pocket, "Here."
Draco goes to lift his hand, but his muscles won't let him.
"Oh God, you are tired. This is a Strengthening Solution. I have Pepperup Potion and Wiggenweld Potion just in case." She says, taking the top off to pour down Draco's throat.
The sour liquid tingles then cools as it flows down his esophagus. A cold sensation wraps around his muscles before slowly fading, making it instantly easier to have full access to his movements once again. His physical exhaustion has left him, but his mental exhaustion of his long day still lingers.
"Thanks," Draco exhales while looking into her eyes. "Not only for the potion, but for also standing up for me. You didn't have to."
She holds his gaze and smiles softly at him, "But I did."
"I also want to say sorry; I know that was probably the first time you two have spoken to one another."
Hermione lets out a saddened sigh and nods her head, confirming his spoken thoughts.
"But anyways," she says now shifting the conversation, "I'm going to be your replacement!"
Draco pulls his brows together, "Are you sure?"
"Yes!" She exclaims lightly, chuckling, "Like I said, you've been in here all day," she adds, smiling at him.
"Granger, I don't think anyone's going to want to throw things at you."
"So, get Alaric!" Hermione suggests, opening the dunk-tank for her to enter.
"I also don't want to go get the only American here to take shots at you, don't think that would be wise," he says, giving her a pointed look as she sits herself on the retractable seat.
"Everyone loves him," she counters while also giving him a pointed look.
They enter into a short staring contest.
"Fine, go get Ginny, Pansy, The Twins, I'm sure they'd love to throw things at me," Hermione giggles to herself.
Draco smirks at the thought and then leaves. He spots Pansy, Potter and Ginny first. The thought of them all shacking up together makes him want to vomit, but he pushes the imaginary bile down and lets them know that Hermione's waiting in the dunk-tank for them. Ginny and Pansy share mischievous grins before glancing at Harry to then dart off towards the direction of Hermione. Both Draco and Harry share an eye roll and shake their heads at their shenanigans.
"Potter, I actually wanted to ask you something."
Harry turns his full attention to Draco. This small interaction does something to Draco that he doesn't fully understand. This is the first time that they're able to have a genuine conversation in their life and not have any hostility.
"About what?" Harry asks Draco, understandably curiously.
"It's more of a favor really." Draco winces.
Harry tilts his head, gauging Draco.
"I was wondering if Dumbledore taught you Legilimency?"
Harry does a double take of Draco from the huge shift in conversation.
Harry chuckles, "Uh, no he didn't," Harry says curiously but amused.
Draco heart sinks, he was hoping he had a chance at helping his friends back at the Hospital.
Draco exhales, "Fuck."
"Why?" Harry asks, pulling his brows together.
"I had a theory that I was hoping to explore with Legilimency and obliviated memories."
Harry's eyes grow wide and looks at Draco thoughtfully, "I'm sorry, he didn't, but I was able to penetrate Voldemort's mind."
"Would you be willing to explore this idea with me and teach me how?" Draco asks hopefully, his tone carrying all the sincerity his body can possess.
Harry's lips curl up into a smile as he nods at Draco.
Draco informs Harry of his theory of obliviated patients and what he thinks Legilimency could possibly do for their memories. As they slowly make their way to Hermione, Draco points to the people that she mentioned before, telling them what Hermione was asking of them, each and every one one of them sprinted to her.
"So, I'm guessing I'm not the only victim to her smart mouth?" Draco smirks as he asks Harry.
Harry chuckles, "We've all been victims of Hermione's smart mouth."
