Hermione leaned her head against the window of the Hogwarts Express. She let her eyes close as she felt the cold of the glass on her forehead. She was waiting for her friends and just wanted to exist for a moment without thinking. However, Luna would not stop talking.
"Hermione, all things have magic. It's tapping into it that's the problem."
"Oh? What about an apple? What could be magical about that?" Hermione was feeling tired and knew that she was taking it out on Luna. But that awful cramping in her stomach was making her tetchy, and she wouldn't be able to get any relief until they got to the castle. Then she could see Madame Pomphrey.
"An apple? It's said that if you drop the peel of an apple into water on Samhain, the peel will sink and then rise in the shape of your soulmate's first initial. It works best as you come of age." Luna said.
Hermione didn't have a good response to that. She used her hand to put some pressure on the lower right side of her stomach. This trip could not be over fast enough. Letting out a light grunt, Hermione opened her eyes and met Luna's guileless stare.
"Here, have some chocolate. The burst of happiness from the flavor will help you avoid any thoughts of pain," Luna offered.
Hermione sent the girl a weak smile and took the sweet treat.
As Harry and Ron came crashing through the door, the conversation quickly changed topics. Hermione settled into the next several hours of discomfort.
The chocolate did help.
Draco still remembered when his grandfather Abraxas used to read to Draco. His grandfather would lift Draco up until he'd settled on the man's lap. While Draco didn't have many memories of his grandfather, their time spent reading together was seared into Draco's memories.
His grandfather had a certain flair for fairy tales. In a world where anything was possible with the wave of a wand, why shouldn't they believe in these stories of imprecise magic? Why couldn't there be three brothers with three powerful objects to escape death? Why wouldn't Babbitty Rabbitty escape? Draco remembered that story the best, his grandfather would always find a way to share more about magic and all its possibilities while telling it.
"How did Babbity Rabbity escape again?" Draco asked his grandfather, his tongue playing with a loose tooth in his mouth, that he couldn't wait to fall out.
"Why she was an animagus of course," his grandfather told him, running a hand through Draco's platinum blond hair.
"What's an animagus?" Draco's mouth struggled around the unfamiliar word. He reached out for the apple slices on the table in front of them.
"It is a witch or wizard with the ability to turn into an animal and back at will," His grandfather said. "Witches and wizards are magic. We can do anything, and we can't let anyone hold us down or try to chain us like that king."
"I won't be chained!" Draco exclaimed. He quickly shoved the piece of apple in his mouth and wiggled out of his grandfather's lap. "I'm going to escape you!"
His grandfather set him on the ground and tapped his full cheek. "Don't talk with your mouth full."
Draco chewed quickly - taking care not to use the loose tooth - and swallowed the fruit. "Is there really magic in everything? Oh? What about an apple? I don't like the apple skins, so those can't be magic, right? What could be magical about that?"
His grandfather chuckled at him. "We don't get to decide what has magic and what doesn't just by our likes and dislikes. Even the skin of an apple has magic. When you're of age, you can drop an apple skin in water on Samhain, and it'll take the shape of the first initial of the person that you are destined to be with for the rest of your life."
"Did you see grandmother's initial in your apple peel?" Draco's shining eyes looked up at his grandfather.
After a moment of hesitation, his grandfather gave a single nod. Draco smiled wide at his grandfather. "When I'm seventeen, I will see my soulmate's initials in the water and marry the witch."
The Halloween after Hermione turned seventeen, Katie Bell was cursed. There was a somber mood in the Gryffindor tower and no party would be happening with the beloved chaser in the hospital wing.
She was too busy running around doing Prefect Rounds and trying to keep Harry from stalking Malfoy - she was more successful at the former than the latter.
Safe to say - an apple peel was not top of mind for Hermione.
The Samhain after Draco turned seventeen was awful. Draco had been pulled from school often enough for the Dark Lord to send him on errands.
It was bad enough when it was to run errands for the Dark Lord, but it was worse when Draco was called to punish others. Apparently, he had a real flair for the Cruciatus. Draco believed he just had a flair for wanting it to end as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, that 'possible' seemed unattainable more often than not. Merlin. He just wanted this war to be over. The real-life consequences of the madman his father had backed during this war were more than enough to scrub any thoughts of pureblood supremacy from his brain.
Seeking just a smidge of happiness, Draco thought back to what his grandfather had told him. A small glimmer of a powerfully happy memory pushed him to find the time to do the ritual alone.
Ordering the Hogwarts' house elves to fetch him a barrel of water, a green apple, and a knife, Draco settled into an unused classroom for it. He didn't know the exact steps of the ritual. Yes, the Slytherins had held Samhain parties in the past, and they'd always been very secretive of it.
While he didn't know the exact steps, Draco decided to go slow with the ritual to avoid messing it up. It took him nearly an hour to determine the water temperature, testing it over and over. He finally moved forward with lukewarm water - not too hot or too cold.
Sitting down on the floor in front of the barrel, Draco pulled out an ornate family heirloom dagger. As far as he knew, this part was less important. However, Draco was not one to rush through things. Twisting his apple in his right hand, he held his dagger steady in his left. Six years of potions kept his hand perfectly balanced. Plus, he needed to ensure that he had a sufficiently long peel. He didn't want to hinder the spelling if he got a larger letter like 'Q' instead of something like a 'C'.
With a deep breath, Draco dropped his peel into the water. Immediately, the peel broke into three pieces. One small portion with two larger sections on either end. Then the apple peel fell out of sight deep into the water.
Draco started to count in his head to fill the time. Before he got to an even '10', the apple peel was visible. It floated to the top to reveal the initial 'H'. Huh. Did he know anyone who had a name that started with an 'H'?
He'd have to think about it, but he wasn't sure who off the top of his head. It was a more pleasant thought than many that he'd had lately. At least it didn't make him want to cry - the way he felt for most of this miserable year.
After the war, Hermione's first thought was not to try to find her soulmate. It wasn't her second or third either. In fact, she made it all the way to the Halloween party hosted in Ravenclaw Tower before it came up again.
With a nice haze from the fire whiskey, Hermione let her eyes roam across the room. All four houses were represented, from the Hufflepuffs mixed with Slytherins relaxing by the bookshelves - Susan Bones and Theo Nott were an odd couple - to the Ravenclaws mixed with Gryffindors sitting by the couches.
Hermione was sitting on the floor in front of the fire with her back leaning against the couch Harry and Ginny were cuddling on.
Ginny's head rested in Harry's lap, and he was running his fingers through it. Neville was seated on the other end by Ginny's feet, and Luna was perched on the couch arm - with Neville's arm wrapped around her waist. Ron and Padma were wrapped up together on the loveseat. Hermione was surrounded by love. Ugh.
Yes, she enjoyed all their company, but it did eat at her a little that she was alone. She wanted someone for herself too. It would happen when the time was ready. She wouldn't worry about it now.
With her eyes closed in contentment, Hermione let the conversation about Halloween traditions in her friends' voices fade away. It was so warm and comfortable.
As long as she didn't fall asleep and jerk suddenly, knocking over her drink, she could drift off to sleep. Wait. Opening her eyes, Hermione looked for her drink in a panic. Looking around quickly, she spotted it on the coffee table in front of her. Okay, good, she was unlikely to hit it and spill it everywhere.
Though, as she was looking at it, now was as good a time as any for another sip. With the smooth taste sliding across her tongue, Hermione smiled.
Suddenly, Harry's knee nudged her shoulder. Looking up, Hermione sent a quizzical look at the group.
"'Mione, how would you explain apple ducking?" Harry asked her.
Hermione chuckled. "I haven't thought about that in years. Basically, there would be a large box, no pot, no, ummm, some kind of container, the word escapes me right now, but basically, it would hold a lot of water. Then you would dump a few apples in it. Kids will hold their hands behind their backs and then lean down and try to pick up an apple using only their mouth."
"Why would you do that?" Neville asked.
"I think it was an old tradition related to whoever could do it first would get married first or something like that, but now people just do it for fun," Hermione said.
"We should do it!" Ginny said, but she didn't move from her supine position.
Hermione truly laughed now. "That's alright. It'd probably be easier to do that wizarding apple soulmate thing instead." She waved a hand vaguely.
"What wizarding soulmate thing?" Harry asked. He had stopped petting Ginny's hair and sat up a little.
"Wait, aren't those Slytherin prats here?" Ron cut in. "We should have one of them explain. Gin, who's that one that's in your year that's not too bad?"
"We're in a room full of people who can tell the story. I'll just ask whoever wants to tell it," Ginny said. Then she whistled loudly. The room quieted. "Who knows the apple peel soulmate thing?"
"Oh my goodness! Good call, Gin! I'll get some house elves to get us a tub for it." Lily Moon in Slytherin started running around getting that set up.
"A tub! That's the word I was looking for." Hermione clapped her hands together once in recognition.
"Why are you talking about the Samhain Soulmate Initials?" Draco Malfoy had wandered over.
"Ugh, Malfoy. Why are you here?" Ron asked.
Harry started laughing.
Hermione smacked Harry's calf. "Harry! You're supposed to be nice!"
"Ron said it! Not me!" Harry defended with a grin.
"He's too far to smack." Hermione sniffed. "Malfoy has just as much right to be here as anyone else. Malfoy, we were talking about different Halloween traditions between muggles and wizards. Harry wanted to hear about the whole apple peel thing."
"Granger, are you saying that you don't know this?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow at her. He rested his hip on the other end of the sofa.
Hermione leaned back to look up at him. He was so tall. Then she just gave another vague hand wave. "Better to have someone of your culture explain it."
"Our culture is your culture," Malfoy smirked at her. "I seem to remember a whole war and recovery effort to help people fix that discrepancy." She turned a lazy smile up at him.
"Stop flirting, just tell us the story," Neville whined. He had buried his head into Luna's stomach. Luna was petting his back.
Malfoy stiffened in response to the comment but didn't protest it. Hermione just laughed. "Alright, sure. Like Malfoy would flirt with me, Malfoy, tell us a story."
He shot her a weird look that she couldn't interpret. Regardless, he launched into a whole spiel about how everything was magic. He had a whole story about the practice. When he said something about an ornate dagger, Padma scratched her head in confusion.
"I don't know about that part," Luna commented.
Draco's cheeks reddened. "To each their own. Anyway, as I was saying -" He continued. The story carried the same basic ritual elements that Luna described.
By the time he was done talking, Lily had started handing out apples. While not everyone had been following along, no one turned down an apple as Lily passed them out.
She then started helping people by showing them how to get a good peel of the apple skin that would be long enough for a letter.
"Alright, you lazy gits, get up. It's time to find our soulmates' initials." Harry jostled Hermione with his foot. She blinked up and saw all her friends moving. She even had an apple in her hand. Getting up, Hermione stepped on the edge of the rug and lost her balance, falling into Malfoy. He caught her and helped her stand up straight.
"There's a lot of people lining up over there, why don't we get you some water first?" Malfoy asked her.
"That was the rug! It was uneven." Hermione whined.
"Alright, why don't you walk me over to get some water then?" He paused and his voice lowered. "You might not know this but those Hufflepuff girls can be quite vicious when they want to be. I could use a brave Gryffindor to protect me."
Hermione snorted, but she walked with Draco over to where the drinks were set up on the other side of the party.
People were mingling all over, and Hermione realized between one blink and the next that she might be more affected than she expected. "Fine, I'll have some water."
Malfoy just held out a cup that he'd already poured. "I'm surprised Weasley isn't over here making a big fuss."
"Ron? Why?" Hermione looked around for him. He was with Padma.
"Because I'm me, and you're you." Malfoy bumped his shoulder against hers.
Hermione shivered. Was she cold? Shaking her head, she leaned in closer to the wall of warmth that was Malfoy. "Oh, you mean how he was messing with you earlier? That's just Harry and Ron for you. Oh those two, I swear sometimes it's like they revert back to being first years when we're all together."
Malfoy mirrored her and leaned into her as well.
"He's been pretty cozy with Patil. You know some might have thought that you two would have had something after the war …"
Hermione scrunched up her nose. "No, Ron and I … we just wouldn't work. He's better off with Padma. I'll find someone at some point."
"Are you … looking?" Malfoy cringed.
Hermione laughed. "Are you worried about me? That was a mighty look of disdain, Malfoy."
"No! It was more about the awkward way I said it. Also, you should probably call me Draco." Malfoy gave a self-deprecating chuckle. He put a hand on the back of his neck and looked away briefly.
"So recovering from a traumatic war, you come out with jokes. But trying to discuss my love life brings out your awkward side, Draco." His first name felt strange in her mouth. It would take some time to get used to calling him that.
"You think I've handled the war and recovered?" Draco raised his hand to his chest as if he was proud. "I'm joking about it to mask my pain."
Hermione shook her head. But she did clock that his eyes were serious.
"Let's go do the soulmate thing. The queue seems to have shortened, Draco." It was probably better to deflect.
"Don't force it." He smiled. "You go ahead but here." He handed over a ridiculously ostentatious dagger.
"What is this? This looks ridiculous. Are the gems on here real?" Hermione turned the dagger over in her hands.
"Don't worry about it. You can return it later." His eyes were staring intently at her.
Hermione felt overwhelmed by the full intensity of his attention. She quickly drank the rest of her water and said goodbye.
As Hermione got to the other side of the party, there was only one person in front of her. She'd lost track of her apple a while back, but Lily handed one to her as soon as she walked up.
"Do you know what to do? Make sure you get a long enough peel." Lily handed a new apple to her.
Hermione nodded. "What kind of apple is this?"
"Honeycrisp." Lily clapped a hand on Hermione's back and walked off to talk to someone else.
Hermione felt much better now that she'd had some water. The haze had mostly cleared up. And she felt ready to tackle peeling the apple. She started at the top of the apple and peeled it in a circle slowly moving downwards. Once she was done, Hermione looked up to realize she was the only one in the area. She had a rather large apple peel.
Some people must have gone to bed too since there were definitely fewer people at the party.
Glancing around, she caught Draco's eyes on hers. He'd migrated over to the couches that her friends had abandoned. Her cheeks felt warm at his gaze, and Hermione turned back to the tub of water.
With a deep breath, she raised her hand with the peel over the water. On her exhale, she released the apple peel. As she watched it slowly fall into the water, she was nervous. Closing her eyes, Hermione was tempted not to open them.
But she wasn't a coward. So on the count of three, she looked into the tub. The water didn't show the apple peel. Had she missed it? What if she missed it? How would she know?!
Before Hermione could look around to get Lily to help, the peel rose to the top of the water in a 'D' shape. Grabbing the peel out of the water, Hermione looked up to meet Draco's eyes. He seemed to be staring intently at her. She set the peel down on the table and went to join him.
She sat down next to him.
"Did you see what you wanted?" He asked.
"I'm not sure that I had anything in mind or something that I wanted. Why didn't you do it with me?" She watched him closely. She handed the dagger back to him.
A muscle in his jaw jumped. "I've already done it." He tucked the dagger back into a sheath inside his robes.
"Tonight?" She rested a hand on his arm. "When Draco?"
"Last year actually. I saw the letter 'H' in the water. You?"
Hermione was sure her cheeks were burning. "'D'" she didn't hesitate to respond.
He smirked at her. "Want to get out of here?" Draco stood up in front of her and held his hand out in front of her.
"Sure, Draco." She took his hand and let him pull her off the couch. His name sounded less and less strange in her mouth the more she said it. She couldn't wait to see what the next adventure held.