FIC: The Letterpool (Multiple pairings, PG-13) Part 2 of 3
Back to Part 1
Seamus went to look for Daphne, he’d run into her a lot since spending time in the library. Hermione and Daphne had been paired together in Runes since Hermione started taking it in fourth year. If Hermione was the brightest witch of their year, Daphne may have been second, she just wasn’t as well rounded. There were certain subjects that if Daphne wasn’t interested, she didn’t bother, but with Hermione distracted and Daphne always here, it made more sense to go to Daphne. Daphne kept the door ajar so he found her. Knocking gently, he said, “Hey Daphne, how are you?”
Daphne looked up and smirked. “Well hello, Mr. Finnegan, I’m well, how are you?”
“Could be better, this Ancient Runes essay is kicking my arse for sure.”
“I have that book Hermione recommended, do you want to take a look?”
“That would be fantastic! And um actually, I think Hermione needs a minute so I was wonderin’ if I could stay here for a bit?”
Daphne nodded. “It’s that thing again, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, she’s all out of sorts and I dunno what’s bothering her, but I don’t want to pry.”
Daphne made room for Seamus to sit down, “Whatever it is, she’ll figure it out, I just hope if she does need help she’ll ask for it.”
Seamus smiled without humor. “Yeah, I think she’s at least confided in Susan.”
“That’s a relief, here, what are you having trouble with?”
“Everything.” Seamus and Daphne laughed.
Daphne went over all the points Seamus was having the most difficulty with, and the book helped fill in some of the gaps as well. Without realizing it, Seamus’ hand brushed against Daphne’s, and Daphne not so absentmindedly slowly interlocked her fingers with his. Seamus may be a bit thick at times, but even he noticed that.
“Daphne?”
Daphne looked at him unapologetically. “Yes, Seamus?”
“Err-” Before Seamus could even finish that thought, they both heard a very frustrated Hermione Granger yell and throw the book she was reading across the room. Seamus and Daphne both got up and went straight to her.
“Granger, are you okay?” Daphne was concerned but a little annoyed. She nearly had Finnigan in her clutches after all.
“Yeah, what happened, you gave us a bit of a fright.” Seamus rubbed the back of his neck.
Hermione looked like she was on the verge of tears but quickly composed herself. “I-I got carried away, I guess… sorry.”
Without missing a beat, Daphne said, “Okay well, Seamus and I were going to wrap it up here, did you want to come with us?”
“Oh no, I need to do a bit more reading… Thanks, though.”
“Sure thing, night, Hermione.”
“Night, guys.”
“See you tomorrow,” Seamus mumbled lamely.
As Seamus and Daphne left the library, Daphne took it upon herself to be the one to talk before the awkward silence settled in.
“So, that’s the most stressed I’ve ever seen her, you’re sure she’s okay?”
“To be honest? I’m not sure myself, but it’s Hermione, it will be okay eventually, and all that.”
“I suppose it makes you think, though, doesn’t it?”
“Sorry?”
“Well, this is going to be a terrible thing to say, but it’s nice to know she’s not perfect.”
“You’re right, that’s not a nice thing to say.” Seamus smiled. “But I get what you mean. She’s going to work herself sick.”
“It must be hard, everyone thinking you’re this unstoppable force who has all the answers. I know it eats away at the one and only Draco Malfoy.”
Seamus raised his eyebrows. “Not really? Malfoy admitting to not being perfect? Now that’s a scandal.”
Daphne laughed then paused. “I’ve never been so happy to be a part of the background.”
“I know whatcha mean. I used to want to be a part of the spotlight but forget that,” said Seamus.
“Look at what all of you are going through right now, and just how are you dealing with it?”
“Pardon?”
“The Letter?”
“Oh right, I forgot about that.”
Daphne snorted. “Right, because an anonymous love letter that the gruesome threesome made into a betting pool and radio show is somehow forgettable.”
“The gruesome threesome?”
“Lee, and the weasels, it’s the best I could do on short notice.”
“Riiiight, them. Oh but er yeah the letter? It’s not for me.”
“Oh?”
“Oh please, Greengrass, why would it be?”
Daphne shrugged. “ I dunno, but if I had written a letter like that, it definitely would have been for you.” She smirked. “Night, Seamus.” Daphne went down to the Slytherin dungeon, leaving Seamus completely dumbfounded for about two seconds, and then he realized what exactly she meant and groaned thinking about how much he blew it… Then he had a thought, and he ran up to the Gryffindor common room, rushing past Dean.
“Seamus? You alright?” Dean asked.
“Yeah, yeah, I just have to write this thing.”
“Essay?”
“No, I gotta write Daphne Greengrass a letter.”
“Oh?” Dean asked with a lot more interest, “Study sessions going well then?”
“Yes, very.”
Seamus used a school owl to send his letter to Daphne. Scribbled on it said, “If I had written the letter, it would have been to you too, and considering I have now… Wanna give dating a go?”
Daphne smiled at the letter and wrote back “Well Finnigan, if you insist… I suppose I could be generous. After all, you Gryffindors are in need of some sort of charity for your obliviousness. See you tomorrow, Seamus, hopefully, you’ll start paying more attention. xoxo.”
~~~
Lee: Hello, this is Lee Jordan from Hogwarts Hot Topics interviewing Miss Daphne Greengrass! How are you, Daphne?
Daphne: Hullo, I’m alright I suppose. *Daphne checks her fingernails for any chipped paint, already bored.*
Lee: I’m glad you’re well! So let’s get to it, word is you and Seamus were seen-
Daphne: Yes, Seamus and I are seeing each other. No, I did not write the letter. The Letter is not for him.
Lee: Oh-well wow, that’s quite helpful, how do you know it’s not for him?
Daphne: Oh I don’t, but if anyone even thinks about coming forward in an attempt to win over my boyfriend… Well, should how should I put this? They’ll wish they hadn’t. *Shoots him the most frightening smirk he’d ever seen* Now, you’ll stay out of Seamus and my business, won’t you?
Lee: R-Right, well er-Thank you, Daphne, um and congrats to you and Seamus, erm, yeah, I guess w-we’re done, h-heh.
Daphne: Thank you, Lee. You’re far less stupid than people give you credit for. *With that Daphne glides out of the recording studio*
Lee: *barely audible* I think I just looked the angel of death in the face and somehow came out the other side. *Lee quickly snaps out of it and finishes up the show* Erm right, that’s it for Hogwarts Hot Topics, and I’m going to hug Fred and George now.
~~~
“Fuck!” Hermione shouted.
Hermione Granger felt defeated. Every book, every interview, every scrap of research pointed to one thing. She was never going to recover her parents’ memories. She could feel the pressure against her eyes and fully expected to start crying at any moment until Daphne and Seamus came to check on her. She was used to keeping it in at this point, and so she waited until they left to let it out.
“What have I done?”
“Granger?” The familiar voice struck her, and she tried desperately to stop crying.
Recognizing the voice instantly, she put her guard back up. “I’m fine, Malfoy.”
It was a reflex. She didn’t need to put her guard up, after all he was not even remotely close to the bullying boy she thought he was when they were young.
Hesitantly Draco Malfoy approached her, putting a hand on her shoulder. People often referred to him as Malfoy, and if he heard certain people call him anything but, then it just felt weird. However he always held out hope that one day she would call him Draco, but that didn’t matter right now. The fact that Hermione was crying or on the verge of crying was far more important.
“You’re not… D’you want me to get Susan or Ginny?”
“No, Malfoy, I said I’m fine!” He flinched, but she continued. “I’m sorry, I just need to be alone right now.”
He paused, but then sat down. “No.”
“Excuse me?”
“No, Granger. Everyone around you is worried sick, Ginger Weasel and Potter are hilariously losing their minds, Susan is barely keeping it together. It is very hard for her right now. I mean, after all, she’s working with Longbottom, Neville Longbottom, as in the Neville Longbottom she’s been fancying since 4th year.”
She smiled at that; it was cute to see Neville and Susan together, but Malfoy continued, “Look, you’re not okay, and since I am insufferable and you are annoying, Hermione Granger, it is my personal responsibility to goad you until you have to tell me what’s what.” He noticed Hermione looked like she had calmed down a bit, so he asked softly, “So, what’s really going on?”
“I don’t know why I’m telling you this but… Before the war… I-I erased my parents’ memories. I’ve visited them a couple of times. I’ve tried everything, and sometimes I get lucky and they remember me for a handful of seconds, but nothing sticks past that. I didn’t mean to make it this strong, I just wanted them to be safe.”
‘There I go again,’ she thought to herself, she was so sick of feeling so helpless.
“Okay. Look, I know I’m not your favorite person in these situations but I do have an entire library of books back at… home. Some of them not even Hogwarts has, so here’s what we’re going to do, Granger. Make a list of all the book’s you’ve read, and I’ll owl for the books Hogwarts doesn’t have. I’m going to help you with this. No, you don’t get a say in it, because you look like the walking dead and clearly you need someone to help you do some research, so move over.”
Hermione didn’t even want to say no, she was so tired she was hearing colors and seeing sounds. “Y-you’d really do that?”
Malfoy stared at her as if she were insane. “Yes, Granger, after what we’ve been through? Trust me, we’re there. I think if even we haven’t been ‘friendly’ during the war, or since its end, we’ve spent enough time together to be friends by default.”
She let out a soft chuckle, and Malfoy was grateful that she was at least laughing at all.
“So, books, now Granger, the Holidays are coming up in a little over a month or so, and we’re going to figure this out by then. Right?”
“You’re still the worst. I hope you realize that.” Hermione chortled
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Granger, books, now.”
Hermione handed Draco a couple of book from her to-be-read pile on memory charms, and luckily for the both of them she had already made a list of all the books she’d read so she wouldn’t read the same thing twice. She quickly scribbled down a list of all the books she wanted to read that Hogwarts didn’t own. Draco took the list and started checking books he knew the Manor had.
“Alright, this is good. I’ll get someone to grab them from the Manor and send them along.”
“Again, thank you… I hate asking for help. Everything is usually easier than this…”
“Granger, this isn’t a classroom setting, you’re exhausted, and you’re way too hard on yourself. As much fun as it is to see you suffer, it’s just sad at this point. I’ve seen you work, you would have annihilated this if it had been anything else, but this is too much to do by yourself, even you need help sometimes. So come on, let’s just thunder through this.”
“Thunder through it?”
“Shut up, Granger, I’m trying to make a point. You’re used to relying on yourself because Potter and Weasley are lazy. Even with you, they’d be distracted, they’re great for emotional support I suppose, but when it comes to solving things, you need people who work hard.”
“They work hard! Ron was a prefect!”
“Yeah, but he’s one of those people who gets concepts and gets good enough grades-sometimes even great grades without really trying. You don’t. They’re tolerable enough-ugh don’t tell them I said that out loud-but even you have to admit they’re somewhat incompetent when it comes to real research. However, you do need the gits, so start unloading on them so you can have someone to talk to, meanwhile, let us hard working people aka me, Susan, and Neville help you solve the problem.”
“Oh fine, as long as you shut up, I’ll agree.” The truth is she knew she needed help, but she needed the kind Malfoy was offering, of course, she also needed Harry and Ron but she couldn’t ask them for this kind of work. Not because they couldn’t do it, but because she knew they wouldn’t be able to keep up at her pace. So Malfoy deciding to help? Yes, please.
“Oh my god, dammit, where are Weasleys and Jordon? I need that recorded or in writing. Did you, Hermione Granger, just agree with me, therefore saying I was right?”
“You’re pushing it, Malfoy.”
“But you did, right?”
“Urgh yes. I agree with you, now let’s get to it.”
“Yes, Professor Granger.”
“Ah, I now remembered exactly why I hated you, twitchy ferret-faced fiend.”
“Nope, you totally were infatuated with me, especially since I’m the reason you got to shrink your teeth down.”
“What?!”
“Shhh, Granger, we are in the library.”
“That was one of the most traumatic things I ever went through. Everyone made fun of me!”
“No offense, but everyone always made fun of you.”
“I actually despise you, now.” She made sure she said this in a jovial tone so that he knew she was kidding. After all, she didn’t hate him, and she desperately needed the help.
“No, you don’t,” said Draco coyly.
“I guess not… but why did you use that particular spell?”
“Oh I overheard you talking about it to Susan, but because your parents were teeth healers-”
“Dentists.”
“Is there really a difference? No? Didn’t think so. As I was saying before you rudely interrupted. I heard you talking to Susan about it and how ‘it would be so easy to fix and straightening can be achieved with braces but that would take much longer.’” Hermione gave Malfoy a look that could kill so he wrapped it up. “So I gave your teeth an engorgement charm, that way your parents couldn’t complain because it had to be fixed.”
“You are a sad, strange little boy.”
“Yeah well, I guess it was a backward way of helping, sort of like steering you, Potter, and Weasley away from the Death Eaters during the Quidditch World Cup.”
Hermione gaped at him; she had completely forgotten about that.
Malfoy cleared his throat. “Anyway, reading time, yeah?”
“Oh? Right, yes, thanks um again… for everything really.”
“You too, Granger.”
It was unspoken, but they had an understanding, both of them had a history of being unkind to each other, but they acknowledged that things may have ended a lot differently if they hadn’t helped each other almost a year ago in the Malfoy Manor. Upon that, they read until the Library closed for the night and decided they would meet up tomorrow for their research on how to heal Hermione’s parents. Unfortunately, it would take a long longer than either of them suspected.
~~~
Susan was tired, so very, very tired, but she had to make sure these hybrids that she bred together were perfect. It looked like these little guys might actually do the trick, unlike all of the other plants she’d bred together. Susan had been wishing for them to just mature without a hiccup in their growth but since when was life-especially theirs-ever easy?
She sighed loudly only to jump when Neville knocked at the Greenhouse door.
“Oh hi, Neville…”
“Sorry, Susan, didn’t mean to startle you… You look a lot more tired than usual, you should take a break. I can watch over your plants.”
“No way. Neville, mine might work, ‘might’ being the operative word there, yours undoubtedly will. You’re basically the god of Herbology, I’ll look after my little guys…”
“Susan, your plants are great, also, I’m not the god of Herbology.”
“Neville, you are, and sorry it’s just getting more and more difficult… Hermione’s never let me down, and every time my plants almost work, key word there being almost, it kills me. I’d rather have nothing happen than to give Hermione a minute of hope before it fails again… I just don’t know how to fix it…”
“I know, but you’re not the only one. I feel it too being so close, but it’s just not enough, not by a long shot.” Neville sighed.
“It was a charm that did it, so a charm might be the only way to fix it.”
“Yeah, I s’pose, but on the other hand, none of Hermione’s charms have worked, have they?”
“No… I-I can’t even imagine… I mean I can in a way, I lost my parents, then my aunt but… it’s really not the same.”
Susan shut herself up in the nick of time. Of course Neville knew, that’s why he was so invested in this. He had created a plant hybrid that had been successfully treating his parents. So it was a shock to everyone when it didn’t work on Hermione’s, but unfortunately, different traumas called for different cures. Still, she could tell how badly he felt about it, how badly they all felt about everything. Meanwhile, it was no one’s fault. Susan broke the silence that had fallen between them by realizing her plants were going to wilt if she didn’t remove them from the light.
“AH! They matured quicker than I thought, no nonono!” Susan did her best to move them quickly, and Neville helped save the ones furthest away from her. Between the two of them, they managed to save the whole stock.
“Phew, close one,” said Neville. “So, erm, what are these?”
“Well, these are hybrids between Moly to help counteract the memory charm especially since it’s used in awakening potions like the Wiggenweld potion. So I thought, it might ‘awaken’ dormant memories, and well, Dittany. I know Dittany is typically used cure physical wounds but I thought-”
“Oh right, it’s restorative healing powers might work with the Moly. Susan, that’s brilliant! I didn’t even think of that what I did was breed Galanthus Nivalis with Bloom berries.”
“Neville, that’s amazing, I didn’t know you did that. Bloom berries are also used in the Wiggenweld. The Galanthus Nivalis helps heal memory illnesses, right? Maybe if our hybrids went into a potion that could actually work! See, you are the Herbology God.”
Neville blushed. “Again, I wouldn’t go that far. Trouble is, how do we even test this?”
“I dunno… we would need a volunteer, and even then we still don’t know the possible side effects or anything.”
“I have a pretty horrible idea…”
“I doubt it, Neville, why what is it?”
“Well… maybe we should test it on someone who also suffered from a strong memory charm? Maybe someone like… Gilderoy Lockhart.”
Susan’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Well, I mean we obviously ask the Healers if it’s okay and if you know he’d consent to try it…”
“Neville, he doesn’t even remember magic is real anymore.”
“Well, yeah.”
“So you’re saying we should use our potential cure on Gilderoy Lockhart. The same Gilderoy Lockhart who hurt a ton of people just to get famous. The Gilderoy Lockhart who was going to let Ginny die in the Chamber of Secrets and who was going to Obliviate Harry and Ron. Why on earth would we do that?”
“If it cures him, it could cure his victims and Hermione’s parents. Also, he’d remember everything and could stand trial afterward. Also, it’s not like he won’t understand that it is an experimental treatment, and like I said of course we’d consult his Healers.”
“Okay, but what if the Healers say no?”
“Oh… I dunno we give it to Hermione hoping for the best? Maybe we can work with animals and ask the Healers for help?”
“That could work. Hopefully, plan A will work and the Healers will approve, but plan B isn’t so bad. So it might take longer than we’d hope, but this still could work. Who knows maybe Lockhart will be able to take it, and we can work with Draco on the potion aspect of it, you know, give Hermione a bit of a break?”
“Alright, Susan, that’s the spirit.”
“Okay! Let’s do this!”
~~~
After much of trial and error, Neville, Susan, and Malfoy had finally brewed a potion that didn’t evaporate, blow up, or melt their cauldron. This project had been exhausting, and all of their eyes had bags under them that were as dark as Hermione’s. They had had a number of bumps in the road and hit a wall when they had no way of testing the potion to make sure it was safe. Well, until Trevor missed catching a fly-that had landed on the rim of the cauldron-and inadvertently drank some of the potion instead.
Poor Neville had been terrified, but after 20 minutes with Susan and Draco calming him down, they realized Trevor was okay. Since Trevor hadn’t died, everyone came to the conclusion that the potion was suitable for consumption, and therefore ready to try on Lockhart. Well… If the Healers allowed it, anyway.
They were finalizing the arrangements when Susan asked, “Maybe we should tell Hermione after all, I mean… It feels like we’re lying to her.”
“I know what you mean,” said Neville. “But Susan, you said it yourself ages back, it’s better for it to not work than to give her false hope. I mean, can you imagine if this doesn’t work?”
“It would crush her, Susan.” Malfoy sighed. “I don’t think she can handle another blow right now. If it doesn’t work out, then we’ll work on more potions and plant hybrids. At least it will give us a general direction to follow.”
“True.” Susan yawned. “Let’s hope Lockhart and his Healers say yes to this and that it works. It just has to. No! This will work. It will because everyone is slowly getting back to normal. Everyone is slowly healing, and it’s Hermione’s turn. I believe in this potion, and I believe in all the hard work we’ve all done. I have hope this will work, besides it would be a pretty great Christmas present to give to her.” Susan looked like she was ready to pass out from exhaustion, and she knew she just sounded like a raving lunatic, but she didn’t feel it. For the first time in a long time, she felt a pure sense of joy, and it was contagious. Soon they were all feeling optimistic and thoroughly excited for the next day.
The plan was simple. Hermione felt bad for dodging Harry and Ron the past couple of weeks so she’d agree to go on a trip to Hogsmeade, just the three of them. Unbeknownst to her, Ron and Harry had been the ones to arrange this little distraction, allowing Susan and Neville to go up to St. Mungo’s. Harry and Ron also planned a small party in the Gryffindor common room to further distract her just in case Susan and Neville needed a little more time than anticipated.
The pair of them were to send owls back as soon as they knew if the potion had worked, if it hadn’t, or if they even had gotten a chance to give it to Lockhart.
With the plan set, they all went their separate ways to their own dorms. Neville, of course, had split from them early on, heading up towards Gryffindor Tower. Leaving Susan and Malfoy did the familiar split. They hugged goodnight, then she headed towards the kitchens while he went downstairs to the Slytherin dorms. He felt like he was walking through water, everything felt heavy, and that’s what he blamed his insane jealousy on.
Yes. He conceded that he wasn’t thrilled at the idea of Potter and Weasley being included in this plan. He was particularly sore over the fact that they would be with her all day, which meant they would undoubtedly be the ones to tell her the news from Susan and Longbottom.
‘What’s wrong with me?’ he thought to himself. ‘I don’t matter here. Wasn’t this the whole point? To make sure she was okay? To help fix something that-ok, I didn’t directly do this to her, but I did a lot of bad stuff to her. Who cares if I’m not the one who gets to tell her? I do, I do, and I need to stop. Stop it right now. Hermio-Granger, she is going to get her life back. Dammit, stop being selfish. You finally did something right, so don’t muck it up now, and go to sleep before you get interrogated by Blaise, Theo, and Daphne yet again.’ With that, he marched himself to his bed and just collapsed on it instantly going to sleep.
~~~
Lee: It’s less than a week ’til Holidays, and we still haven’t made much progress with Letterpool so to kick things up a notch, we are now going to try interviewing the first people we see. Ah! Look, here’s Neville Longbottom.
Neville: *sighing heavily* H-Hey guys, I don’t really have the time today, and I dunno this seems very personal and private, I don’t think this very nice to Hermione, Harry, Seamus, and Lavender. I especially don’t think it’s nice that people are betting on this as if it’s some sort of sporting event…
Fred: Aw, Neville, come on, it’s meant to be in good spirits!
Neville: I know you think it is but-
George: Think of it this way, what if our investigation puts these two closer together? Maybe the sender just needs a push of courage eh?
Neville: I-I guess, but I still don’t like this…
Lee: Well, well, Neville, and did you write the letter?
Neville: Huh?
Fred: You do seem a little defensive.
Neville: A little defens-look you guys. No, I did not write the letter, I just think this is an invasion of privacy and like I said, I have to go.
George: Okay, okay, but Neville, if you wanted to wager a guess, who would you pick?
Neville: Well… I dunno maybe Th-Oh hey Susan, time to go? Right, sorry, guys, I have to go to St. Mungo’s, and come on, ease up, will you? *Neville leaves with Susan*
Lee: Well, well, leaving with Susan Bones to go to St. Mungo’s? That’s a bit of a stretch. I wonder where they’re really going?
George: Or maybe it was just Susan saving Neville from us? Who really knows with those two.
Fred: Yeah, I’ll bet that was just Neville dodging us. Who knows maybe they are going on a date. Ooooh, maybe Susan wrote the letter for him, but the letter got knocked around so much, that it fell in the wrong place completely!
Lee: Oh? Now that would be interesting-Oh hello! Theodore Nott, want to comment or make a bet for Letterpool?
Theo: Theo’s fine, and I dunno.
Fred: Oh c’mon, Nott, unless you wrote it, perhaps?
Theo: Like I said, Theo’s fine, but no, I didn’t write the letter. I should have written a letter like that… Heh, I wonder how many people have said that since The Letter. You I thought about sending one once, but nothing ever became of it-Why? Y-You don’t think it’s for Lavender, do you? Did anyone bet it was for her? How many people?
…
I mean what, what am I talking about? *Nervous laughter* I mean I don’t fancy Lavender Brown. I-I definitely don’t. I mean she’s like really nice and-and brave and stuff. Also compassionate, and kind and all that, but that doesn’t mean I like her.
No. I definitely do not fancy Lavender Brown…
Shit this is live, isn’t it?
*Fred, George, and Lee evilly grin at him and give a quick nod*
… I gotta go.
*Theo Nott darts out of their broadcast to find Lavender at breakneck speed*
Fred: Well, that was unexpected!
Lee: No kidding!
George: Good luck, Nott!
Lee: Anyway, that was quite enough excitement for today. Actually you know what? I’m going to wrap this up early. It will be our Holiday gift to the four letter candidates. So Happy Holidays, take care, don’t forget to miss something while packing off to go home. Bye, Hogwarts, see you next time for another session of Hogwarts Hot Topics on Letterpool. This is Lee Jordan signing off.
~~~
After his disastrous interview with the radio hosts of Hogwarts Hot Topics, Theo ran to find Lavender Brown to try and explain himself. He found her, the Patil twins, and Hannah Abbott all together. They were having a small get together right before the holidays when our dear Theodore blundered into the group. After startling them, he realized he didn’t exactly have anything prepared to explain himself.
~~~
“Lavender, hi, wow hi-hi um hi.” Theo could only cringe as heard his own words from the radio being used against him and how his vocabulary apparently consisted of the word ‘hi.’ He shook his head and told himself to get a grip. “Look, I can explain, they caught me off guard and-well yeah-and I yeah no, I’ve got nothing.”
“HA!” Parvati cried and pointed at Lavender. “I knew it, I totally knew it. I told you! I told you, Lavender. I knew he fancied her. I knew you fancied her.”
Normally, Lavender would have snapped at Parvati (who was thoroughly enjoying Theo’s suffering,) but Lavender couldn’t speak, she couldn’t do anything but breathe and stare at him. Meanwhile, all he could think to do was bury his face in his hands and groaned.
Lavender felt her cheeks burn. “I-is that why you started becoming so distant since this summer? I mean so… you do fancy me?”
Theo swallowed and looked down. “Yeah I-Yeah…”
Lavender: “Well you should have just said so, you idiot, we could have started dating ages ago.”
Theo raised his head out of his hands. “Wait, what?”
“Well, this letter business had me thinking, and I knew The Letter could never be from you-the handwriting-but I wanted it to be.”
Lavender was dreading what was about to follow. This seemed like it was too easy, that somehow this was either an elaborately cruel practical joke or that he’d suddenly come to his senses and change his mind. Judging by the look on Theodore Nott’s face, neither of those things seemed plausible.
“Really?” Theo blinked. “Well, I don’t know about you, but if dating would be like anything it was this summer, I think it would be fun. Look, I’m not great with words, and I don’t know if I’d colossally mess this up, and I’m so sorry I didn’t ask sooner… but yeah um would you want to go out with me?”
“Yes.” Lavender gave him the sincerest smile. “That would be pretty great, maybe um we could see each other over the Holidays too?”
“Yeah, that’d be wicked.”
Lavender made a quick nod. “Deal.”
Theo couldn’t help grinning. “Yeah, wow um. Oh.” Theo looked around the room and realized they weren’t alone. “Right, I should let you guys celebrate. Happy Holidays, everyone.”
Theo crept out of the abandoned classroom, leaving the girls, who were softly giggling.
“That was adorable!” Hannah squealed.
“Theo Nott, who’d have known?” Padma mused.
Lavender could feel herself blushing. “Anyway. Sorry, guys, didn't mean for the, erm. brief interruption?”
“Are you kidding? That was amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone from Slytherin that frazzled in my life!” Hannah couldn’t help from bouncing up and down in her seat.
“Well, he is pretty cute.” Lavender looked at the door fondly.
"Cheers.” Parvati raised her glass. “To me being right, to Lavender and Theo, and to the Holidays!
“Cheers!”
Everyone clinked their glasses and started laughing at the amount of butterbeer spilled on the floor. They did their annual Holiday gift exchange and ended it with Parvati and Lavender threatening to play matchmaker for Padma and Hannah.
It was going to be a very Happy Holiday indeed.
~~~
“Sorry, Susan, thanks for getting me out of there,” said Neville, glancing at Theo sympathetically.
“Oh don’t worry about that, besides I think the twins forgot what we were doing today. Oh poor Theo, that’s got to suck.”
“You’re really close to the Slytherins, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, it just sort of happened. Flitwick, in an attempt at house unity, made the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins sit together during our first year. Eventually, everyone just sat where they liked, but Draco and I were used to studying together so we just stuck with it. Plus we both did an equal share of work, and no one is really bothered by Hufflepuffs, you know? Well, except Zacharias, hmm, I’m not quite sure what’s wrong with that boy but I think he’s calmed down a bit.”
“Yeah he is sort of a special case. Anyhow we should probably get to the Hogwarts Express before Hermione sees us.”
“Definitely, although I will miss the interviews from Hogwarts Hot Topics.”
“You cannot be serious.”
“Hey, I know this will sound ridiculous and reveal how much of a hopeless romantic I am, but you have to admit the Letter has brought back a certain sense of joy to the school.”
Neville chuckled. “Aww.”
Susan hit his arm playfully. “I’m serious, it’s sweet. I mean the sender obviously meant what they said. I mean no one’s come forward right? Didn’t the sender say that the letter was just to let the recipient know how much they loved them? They weren’t expecting anything in return. It’s just nice and thoughtful.”
“Wow, I dunno what to say to that.” Neville was in awe of Susan’s insight. After all, she had a good point, as soon once the letter had dropped, Hogwarts felt more like a school and less like the ruins of a war zone. “The only thing to really say is you’re right, the letter is nice and as chaotic as everything is, it does feel like a weird sense of normal, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, it does.” Susan smiled and with that they drifted into a peaceful sleep, waking up in King’s Cross realizing they had fallen asleep on each other. Both of them blushed whilst hurrying to get their stuff off of the train.
“Sorry, Susan, about er sleeping on you,” said Neville.
“I’m guilty of that as well, I guess we needed the sleep?” Susan snorted lightly, before looking up at St. Mungo’s.
“Well, here we go.”
~~~
It didn’t take very long finding Gilderoy Lockhart; it took less time for his team of Healers to refuse using their memory potion. They deflated instantly and sat down in the waiting room, astounded that they’d been refused before even making their case.
“I can’t believe it… I just can’t believe they said no.” Susan put their vial of the memory potion on the small table next to her. She could feel the tears brimming quickly wiping them away before Neville could notice. Maybe it was because she was so sure it would work, but she cracked and let out a sob, “All that work, all that research, and it’s not worth anything!”
“Hey, stop that. Look we just can’t test it on Lockhart, we could try volunteer testing or maybe talk to a family member of another person who suffered through a similar memory charm. We’re not out of options yet, don’t give up, I haven’t.”
“I know all of that rationally, but it’s going to take so much longer. I just wanted to help Hermione fix this now. She’s been waiting so long,” Susan took a deep breath, “I just-I just had a feeling that this would work…”
A silence fell between them. Neville had to admit he thought the same thing. He was so sure this would work. There were plenty of options but it would have been nice if it had run smoothly. Neville was pulled out of his train of thought when Susan cried out in surprise. A new Healer attending to Lockhart was about to give him his daily potion when he’d bumped into the table right next to her, thus knocking over the vial he was supposed to administer to Lockhart and their vial.
“Sorry about that!” said the Healer. He quickly picked up the two vials, putting theirs back on the table and taking Lockhart’s to him.
Or so they thought. Susan took a look at the vial and puzzled over why the potion didn’t look the same and why was the vial a different shape-Susan stood up. “Oh no! Oh no oh no!!!”
“What’s wrong?”
“He took the wrong vial, Neville, when he bumped into the table he took our vial and left his.”
“What?!” Neville ran forward. “Wait, stop! You’ve got the wrong-” Before he could even finish the sentence Lockhart had downed their potion. “Oh no…”
Neville quickly explained to the Healer what had happened and a team of them swarmed over to Lockhart. Everyone held their breath for what seemed like ages until Lockhart looked around the room.
“What the devil am I doing in St. Mungo’s? Wasn’t I teaching at Hogwarts just a few moments ago?” All of a sudden all of his memories came rushing back to him. “Oh now I remember… oh dear.”
After that everything was a blur. Healers went to examine Lockhart at an inhuman speed while Neville and Susan stood there dumbfounded. The first hour had gone by with Lockhart retaining all of his memories, then the second with him still retaining them. The third hour came around, and he still remembered everything. It had been the longest any patient who had suffered a traumatic memory charm injury retained their memories, and it looked like the cure was permanent. They were going to keep Lockhart for observation (but also because he would have to face the Wizengamot for his crimes against his fellow witches and wizards).
The Healers had circled around Susan and Neville, asking them so many questions they both felt like they’d been Confunded. After their interrogation Susan and Neville went to send the owls grinning in their triumph.
~~~
Malfoy had gotten the owl and no doubt Potter and Weasley had too, despite feeling an acute jealousy and a twinge of resentment he felt himself smile. ‘We did it.’ He marched up to the Library lost in his thoughts and trying to ignore the party he could hear from Gryffindor tower. He was going to have a restful study session until the Ginger Weasel stormed up beside him.
“Oi! Malfoy! For fuck’s sake, I’ve been looking for you since we got the bloody owl!” A very annoyed Ron glared.
Malfoy rolled his eyes. “Why? Shouldn’t you be celebrating with Hermione? Leave me be, peasant.”
“Look you annoying, gross bouncing ferret-”
“Oh give it a rest with that, will you?”
“Shut up, Malfoy! Just listen for once in your plaguing existence. Come up to Gryffindor Tower.”
He cocked his eyebrow. “Why would I do that? To suffer through your pathetic attempts to insult me with your inadequate brain?”
“Look, I don’t like you either, but,” Malfoy rolled his eyes while Ron ignored him and continued, “that’s not to say I don’t respect you.”
“What?”
“We didn’t tell Hermione yet, arsehole. I told Harry we should wait for you to tell her-and I’m getting to the reason, you rude git, so don’t interrupt-I told him to wait because no matter what we think about you, no matter our history… You gave her back to us. It’s no secret she was becoming a shell of what she once was, and even with Susan and Neville’s help, she was breaking. All we could do was watch. She wouldn’t let us in, she wouldn’t let us help. It was hopeless, and we were really afraid of losing her. It was only when you imposed yourself that she started coming back to the world. She only got better because you helped.
“Harry and I, we’re good in tight spots. We can think on our feet and make snap tactical decisions quickly, we can to the brave and reckless things. What we couldn’t do is help her muddle through this. We couldn’t see the whole board so we didn’t know what would help her and what would hurt her. We would have just ended up snapping at each other, and honestly what good what that have done? All we could do was mess with her alarm thing so she could get more than two hours of sleep.
“Everything changed when she had you to fall back on. You worked hard, and you kept working while she could rest. I don’t really care if it was guilt from when we were younger or if you always had this in you or what have you. The point is what you did for her didn’t go unnoticed. So… it just seems wrong for you to not be there when she finds out. It seems wrong to let you miss out on celebrating with us-with her.”
Malfoy blinked. “Oh.”
“Don’t get any ideas, Malfoy, I still think you’re a ferret-faced wanker, but you could be worse, I s’ppose.”
“Okay then, good because I still hate you too, Weasley”
“Right.”
“Right.”
Ron started to walk away from him, he realized Draco hadn’t moved from where he was standing.
“Oi, you coming or what?!”
Draco couldn’t really think of anything else to say so he just ended up following Ron into Gryffindor Tower. When they both entered, Hermione was pleasantly surprised, then Draco showed her the letter Neville and Susan had written. After some hugging, a lot of laughter and a couple of tears Hermione had managed to hug everything who moved in Gryffindor Tower (yes, that included Trevor). Much to Draco’s chagrin, he suffered through a hug from Potter and ugh-the entire Weasley clan too- he was pretty much convinced they only did so to torture him. After all of that Hermione started planning her trip down to Australia, forcing Draco to go with her. If he was honest, it didn’t take much convincing. Once the impromptu party started to calm down, Hermione went up to her room to pack but ended up crashing on her bed getting the best night’s sleep she’d had in over a year.
~~~
“So this is an airport?” Malfoy looked at Heathrow like it was a Norwegian Ridgeback. Hermione chuckled, everything was finally coming together. Hermione wished that they could have had more time in Australia but because they’d book the flight in such short notice they were lucky to even go. The flight they had secured only bought them 3 days to find Hermione’s parents, give them the potion, and see if it worked then get back to school. Although it seemed like they would need a lot of luck was needed to pull this off, they were optimistic it would work. After all, they’d manage to come this far, hadn’t they?
“Yes, Malfoy, it’s an airport, we’re going to get on a plane to Australia. Muggles use planes every day.”
“Right… So these things are like the Ministry’s flying cars?”
“Well yes, actually. Except bigger and it carries more people.”
“Oh okay, well I guess here we go then, um, where that thing you said I needed? A passport.”
“Oh uh yeah I have it.” Hermione smiled. “I can’t believe that’s all the explanation you need on muggle air travel.”
“Well yeah I mean, it makes a certain sense, I guess. Also, I happen to fly on a broom if that’s safe this must be right?”
“Well now Malfoy, you are certainly full of surprises.”
“Easy now, you’re in danger of paying me a compliment.”
Hermione let out a soft laugh and got them through security. That was the hardest bit; everything else went rather smoothly. Malfoy, aside from the occasional question, was pretty much silent throughout the trip. Flying to Australia was a long, long trip even in first class (compliments of Harry and Ron). It was very taxing. As soon as they got off the plane, they went to their hotel room to unpack and shower, only to discover of course they got one room not an adjoining two rooms.
“Well, that figures, at least we got a double bed, not a single one.”
“Honestly, Granger, I’m too bloody tired to care. Do you want to shower first or can I?”
“Go for it. I feel like I have to wash my hair and that can take a while.”
“Ok, afterward we sleep and then we find your parents tomorrow?”
“Yes, definitely.”
With that, he took some clothes into sleep in with him to the bathroom so he could change in peace. Hermione did the same then both of them crawled into their separate beds.
“Night, Granger.”
“Night, Malfoy… and er… thank you for coming with me.”
“No worries, Mum’s still reconnecting with the rest of the Black/Tonks clan, and I didn’t really feel comfortable so really you spared me that agony.”
“Still.” Hermione smiled. “It means a lot that you did.”
“Sure thing, now let’s get some sleep.”
With that, the two of them crashed from jet lag and exhaustion. Tomorrow it was off to see Hermione’s parents, which would be a lot more than they’d bargained for.
~~~
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I knew I had forgotten to call someone. Dr. And Dr. Wilkins are on holiday right now. I can rebook your appointment, although if it is an emergency I could call them in.”
“No, that’s alright, these things happen, thank you for all of your help.”
After Hermione and Malfoy left the dentistry offices of Dr. Monica and Dr. Wendell Willkins aka the Grangers, Draco expected Hermione to lose hope, but it was quite the opposite.
“Okay well that’s not ideal, but at least we know they’re still in town, and you know I came here with my parents when I was little. Anyway, I think I know where they might be, when do you want to head out?”
“Well, it’s great to see you upbeat. Come on, Granger, there’s a wizarding part of the city, maybe we could ask around if we hit any dead ends?”
Hermione agreed. Meanwhile, Malfoy was silently praying to whatever was listening that they’d find them soon, after all of this strife, could this one thing just be easy for her?
So the first day had been a bit of a bust and nerves were settling in. They only had three days until they had to be on a plane. They’d search beaches, shops, name it and they looked there.
It wasn’t until the end of the second day when they took a break to eat that they got lucky. Malfoy went to great lengths to keep Hermione’s spirits up, which did help until Hermione looked across the restaurant they were at.
“Oh, my god. I see them they’re right there.” Hermione’s words were barely audible. Draco spun around to look where she was, and sure enough, there they were. Hermione and Draco floundered a bit before figuring out a way to slip them the potion. They ordered the Grangers two glasses of champagne, slipping the potion into the glasses under the waiter’s nose. Hermione hovered around their table pretending to wait for the bathroom. She tried not to stare as they drank the potion in disguise. They swallowed enough of it for it to work, and just when Hermione had lost all hope, her mother looked up. “Hermione?”
~~~
As you can imagine it was a very tearful and intimate reunion, which is why Malfoy introduced himself briefly and politely exited from the vicinity, letting Hermione spend some time with her parents alone. He could only imagine what they must be going through. He remembered his mother and trying to keep her safe while staying alive. This was Hermione’s version of that, but it was still going to be a very draining conversation, happy but enormously emotionally taxing. So he went back to their hotel to wait for her.
‘This is family time, god she needed this,’ he told himself and smiled. ‘I’m so happy she’s ok.”
~~~
The Grangers caught up as well as they could have, given the limited amount of time Hermione could stay in Australia.
“But you’re okay here? You’re both happy?”
“Hermione of course we are.” Mrs. Granger reached out and held Hermione’s hands. “We really are, but my goodness what would have happened to you, if we couldn’t remember?”
“Your mother’s right, Hermione, just thinking about how hard this must have been…” Mr. Granger was near tears but regained his composure. “We wish we could have been there for you, that’s all. You’re our little girl, Hermione, you always will be.”
Hermione rubbed her eyes, “I wish I could have more time with you, but school…”
“Hey… We’re back, Hermione. Let’s catch up as much as we can now, and once you graduate we’ll all the time in the world and then some.” Her mother smiled
“Mum’s right, now is the time to enjoy life. We’re so proud of you, and we’re so happy that you're safe.”
Hermione broke down laughing while crying, all the while sitting there catching up. They spent the whole rest of the day together, overnight, and finally saw her off to where she could floo back to Melbourne for her return trip to London. The only thing that puzzled her was what Mrs. Granger said to Hermione about Malfoy. Hermione agreed with her in the respect that Malfoy seemed like a “nice young man,” especially now that they knew why he did the things he did. What she didn’t understand was when Mrs. Granger added, “Funny the lengths people go to, to protect those they love.”
Whatever she meant, there was no way she was actually implying that the notorious Draco Malfoy “loved” Hermione. ‘That would be absolutely absurd. Besides it’s Malfoy. Sure, we’ve come a long way, but we haven’t come that far yet.’ Hermione shook her head to get those thoughts out of her head. ‘Yeah, there’s no way that’s ever happening.’
~~~
“Hi, Malfoy!”
“Oh hi, Granger, everything went well?”
“Yes, it really did. Thank you for giving me space so I could be with them. They’re going to write me every week, so we can catch up, and so it will let me know if they’ve relapsed. I don’t think that’s an issue but heh you know just in case…” Hermione laughed nervously.
“They won’t relapse, and of course, I was more than happy to give you guys your time. It would have been a little weird for me to be there. This was about you, for you. You deserve every single bit of happiness, Granger. After all, without you, we probably would have lost the war.”
There was something familiar about the way he described her happiness, but Hermione supposed she was tired and had probably just read something similar somewhere. Still, something about it made her cheeks burn. This was all her mother’s fault because of that silly-ridiculous really-implication that Malfoy might actually fancy her.
“I’m sorry that you couldn’t have more time with them. I can’t believe we have to fly back tomorrow.”
“Why’s that? Did you finally realize that you need a bit of sun get rid of how sickly you look?”
“Excuse me, Miss Granger, but did you just insult my flawless skin?”
“You mean your pasty complexion? Then yes, yes I did.”
“I could say something about your hair, but I’m a gentleman.”
“Malfoy, you could not be a gentleman if your life depended on it.” Hermione gave him her best Malfoy smirk.
“Annoying know-it-all.”
“Annoying pasty ferret-faced git.”
He was about to come back with something when all of a sudden Hermione decided she had been quite grown up enough in the last 1 and a half years. This is when she threw a pillow at Malfoy’s face, and it all went downhill from there and the feathers went flying.
Normally they would have laughed and gotten something to eat or what have you. Normally they probably would have been worried at the clean up of feathers after their (awesome) escalation of immaturity, etc…
However, in this particular moment, Hermione and Malfoy didn’t really care about what they normally would have done. So of course, as you’d expect they let their guards down, it’s what anyone would do when you’re kidding around with a person you trust. Which is how the following moment of disaster happened.
They got caught up in the moment, the joy of it all was so consuming it was hard not to give in. Hermione was blissfully happy, and Malfoy found himself being happy just because she was. They both couldn’t remember how long it had been since they had laughed like this. Hermione was so focused on booping him on the nose one more time that she tripped. She had expected to come crashing with the floor, but instead, a strong pair of arms caught her instead.
“Whoa, easy, Granger,” he said, still grinning
“Sorry, thanks for the save.” She giggled, slightly out of breath from all running and laughing. Then they both realized how close in proximity they were to each other, and it was like all the levity had been sucked from the room. Slowly their laughter faded into smiling and in seconds there were just stand there holding each other with a million thoughts racing through their heads.
He couldn’t look away from her eyes, silently pleading that she wouldn’t look away either. Hermione didn’t disappoint, she stayed there contemplating how much she liked being in his arms.
When he finally leaned down bowing his head to hers, she stood up on her toes to meet him, they kissed, and the whole world fell away.
~~~
Lee: Hi there, Hogwarts! Sorry for the week late welcome back broadcast. This is Lee Jordan with my amazing co-hosts Fred and George Weasley. Today we’re interviewing the one and only Draco Malfoy about the Let-
Draco: No.
Fred: Come on, Malfoy, out with it! Did you write the letter?
Draco: -__-
George: Aww Malfoy, pleeease?
Draco: I know the war’s over, and we were on the same side… but I still hate you guys.
Lee: *gasp* That’s not a very nice thing to say.
Draco: Stop talking to me about the letter, ok? I have… *stares at Hermione* more important things to worry about?
Fred: For the record, folks, he’s staring at Hermione Granger, which brings us to our next question: what exactly happened in Australia?
Draco: Look, nothing, okay?! And unlike you lot, I actually have a class to go to, get out of my way.
*He leaves and slams the door behind him*
Fred: So something did happen. Anyone know what?
George: No idea, Ginny wouldn’t tell me. None of the girls would.
Lee: Yeah, wow, I thought I was the only one who got the freeze out from the girls. I’m not worried, though, they’ve become good friends and Malfoy is way less of a git. I’m sure this will all be sorted out in a week or two.
Anyway getting back on topic, we’re still in the dark on who sent the letter, so yes Letterpool is still going on. However, Fred and George have extended the same offer to those who picked the coupling combinations for Seamus/Daphne and for Lavender/Theo - you’ve won the 10 Galleons off coupon for a 35 Galleon purchase at WWW! We’re still trying to wrangle Theodore and Lavender in for an interview, but Lavender pulled the ‘I dated Ron Weasley so please stop if you know what’s good for you card,’ so that’s that. Well, this concludes the coverage for this week this is Lee Jordan signing off! See you next time at Hogwarts Hot Topics!
~~~
Hermione had tried everything to get him to talk to her, but he barely said a word…
They were pretty much silent all the way back to Hogwarts. Hermione didn’t know what had happened. She pretty much told Susan just that. “One minute we were kissing, and it was fantastic, I was happy. I thought he was happy, everything seemed like everything was fine. I miss him, Susan. I miss his god awful jokes and the way he carries on. I miss how he always knew exactly what I needed whether it was distance or talking… When did this happen!? When did I care about Draco sodding Malfoy, when did we become this close?”
Hermione was about to add the wrong ingredient to the potion they were working on for Slughorn.
“Hey! Careful with that.”
“Sorry…”
“Oh look, it’s okay,” Susan tried to comfort Hermione as best as she could. “I think we should take a break and really talk about this. Tell me what happened from the top.”
“What again from the top?” Ginny and Luna had just walked into the empty classroom Hermione and Susan were using.
“Well, Draco kissed Hermione in Australia, and that’s why they haven’t spoken since they came back,” Susan replied, trying to not sound as bored as she felt by the subject. A feeling Ginny Weasley did not share. In fact, she could barely keep herself contained.
“WHAT?!”
“Susan!” Hermione exclaimed
“What? It’s just Ginny and Luna, they’re our friends they might be able to give you some fresh perspective.”
“Hmm, I thought something like that must be the cause of all this friction,” said Luna thoughtfully. “Hermione, could we hear what went on?”
Hermione took a deep breath to prepare herself to tell the story.
On to Part 3
Back here for comments!
Seamus went to look for Daphne, he’d run into her a lot since spending time in the library. Hermione and Daphne had been paired together in Runes since Hermione started taking it in fourth year. If Hermione was the brightest witch of their year, Daphne may have been second, she just wasn’t as well rounded. There were certain subjects that if Daphne wasn’t interested, she didn’t bother, but with Hermione distracted and Daphne always here, it made more sense to go to Daphne. Daphne kept the door ajar so he found her. Knocking gently, he said, “Hey Daphne, how are you?”
Daphne looked up and smirked. “Well hello, Mr. Finnegan, I’m well, how are you?”
“Could be better, this Ancient Runes essay is kicking my arse for sure.”
“I have that book Hermione recommended, do you want to take a look?”
“That would be fantastic! And um actually, I think Hermione needs a minute so I was wonderin’ if I could stay here for a bit?”
Daphne nodded. “It’s that thing again, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, she’s all out of sorts and I dunno what’s bothering her, but I don’t want to pry.”
Daphne made room for Seamus to sit down, “Whatever it is, she’ll figure it out, I just hope if she does need help she’ll ask for it.”
Seamus smiled without humor. “Yeah, I think she’s at least confided in Susan.”
“That’s a relief, here, what are you having trouble with?”
“Everything.” Seamus and Daphne laughed.
Daphne went over all the points Seamus was having the most difficulty with, and the book helped fill in some of the gaps as well. Without realizing it, Seamus’ hand brushed against Daphne’s, and Daphne not so absentmindedly slowly interlocked her fingers with his. Seamus may be a bit thick at times, but even he noticed that.
“Daphne?”
Daphne looked at him unapologetically. “Yes, Seamus?”
“Err-” Before Seamus could even finish that thought, they both heard a very frustrated Hermione Granger yell and throw the book she was reading across the room. Seamus and Daphne both got up and went straight to her.
“Granger, are you okay?” Daphne was concerned but a little annoyed. She nearly had Finnigan in her clutches after all.
“Yeah, what happened, you gave us a bit of a fright.” Seamus rubbed the back of his neck.
Hermione looked like she was on the verge of tears but quickly composed herself. “I-I got carried away, I guess… sorry.”
Without missing a beat, Daphne said, “Okay well, Seamus and I were going to wrap it up here, did you want to come with us?”
“Oh no, I need to do a bit more reading… Thanks, though.”
“Sure thing, night, Hermione.”
“Night, guys.”
“See you tomorrow,” Seamus mumbled lamely.
As Seamus and Daphne left the library, Daphne took it upon herself to be the one to talk before the awkward silence settled in.
“So, that’s the most stressed I’ve ever seen her, you’re sure she’s okay?”
“To be honest? I’m not sure myself, but it’s Hermione, it will be okay eventually, and all that.”
“I suppose it makes you think, though, doesn’t it?”
“Sorry?”
“Well, this is going to be a terrible thing to say, but it’s nice to know she’s not perfect.”
“You’re right, that’s not a nice thing to say.” Seamus smiled. “But I get what you mean. She’s going to work herself sick.”
“It must be hard, everyone thinking you’re this unstoppable force who has all the answers. I know it eats away at the one and only Draco Malfoy.”
Seamus raised his eyebrows. “Not really? Malfoy admitting to not being perfect? Now that’s a scandal.”
Daphne laughed then paused. “I’ve never been so happy to be a part of the background.”
“I know whatcha mean. I used to want to be a part of the spotlight but forget that,” said Seamus.
“Look at what all of you are going through right now, and just how are you dealing with it?”
“Pardon?”
“The Letter?”
“Oh right, I forgot about that.”
Daphne snorted. “Right, because an anonymous love letter that the gruesome threesome made into a betting pool and radio show is somehow forgettable.”
“The gruesome threesome?”
“Lee, and the weasels, it’s the best I could do on short notice.”
“Riiiight, them. Oh but er yeah the letter? It’s not for me.”
“Oh?”
“Oh please, Greengrass, why would it be?”
Daphne shrugged. “ I dunno, but if I had written a letter like that, it definitely would have been for you.” She smirked. “Night, Seamus.” Daphne went down to the Slytherin dungeon, leaving Seamus completely dumbfounded for about two seconds, and then he realized what exactly she meant and groaned thinking about how much he blew it… Then he had a thought, and he ran up to the Gryffindor common room, rushing past Dean.
“Seamus? You alright?” Dean asked.
“Yeah, yeah, I just have to write this thing.”
“Essay?”
“No, I gotta write Daphne Greengrass a letter.”
“Oh?” Dean asked with a lot more interest, “Study sessions going well then?”
“Yes, very.”
Seamus used a school owl to send his letter to Daphne. Scribbled on it said, “If I had written the letter, it would have been to you too, and considering I have now… Wanna give dating a go?”
Daphne smiled at the letter and wrote back “Well Finnigan, if you insist… I suppose I could be generous. After all, you Gryffindors are in need of some sort of charity for your obliviousness. See you tomorrow, Seamus, hopefully, you’ll start paying more attention. xoxo.”
~~~
Lee: Hello, this is Lee Jordan from Hogwarts Hot Topics interviewing Miss Daphne Greengrass! How are you, Daphne?
Daphne: Hullo, I’m alright I suppose. *Daphne checks her fingernails for any chipped paint, already bored.*
Lee: I’m glad you’re well! So let’s get to it, word is you and Seamus were seen-
Daphne: Yes, Seamus and I are seeing each other. No, I did not write the letter. The Letter is not for him.
Lee: Oh-well wow, that’s quite helpful, how do you know it’s not for him?
Daphne: Oh I don’t, but if anyone even thinks about coming forward in an attempt to win over my boyfriend… Well, should how should I put this? They’ll wish they hadn’t. *Shoots him the most frightening smirk he’d ever seen* Now, you’ll stay out of Seamus and my business, won’t you?
Lee: R-Right, well er-Thank you, Daphne, um and congrats to you and Seamus, erm, yeah, I guess w-we’re done, h-heh.
Daphne: Thank you, Lee. You’re far less stupid than people give you credit for. *With that Daphne glides out of the recording studio*
Lee: *barely audible* I think I just looked the angel of death in the face and somehow came out the other side. *Lee quickly snaps out of it and finishes up the show* Erm right, that’s it for Hogwarts Hot Topics, and I’m going to hug Fred and George now.
~~~
“Fuck!” Hermione shouted.
Hermione Granger felt defeated. Every book, every interview, every scrap of research pointed to one thing. She was never going to recover her parents’ memories. She could feel the pressure against her eyes and fully expected to start crying at any moment until Daphne and Seamus came to check on her. She was used to keeping it in at this point, and so she waited until they left to let it out.
“What have I done?”
“Granger?” The familiar voice struck her, and she tried desperately to stop crying.
Recognizing the voice instantly, she put her guard back up. “I’m fine, Malfoy.”
It was a reflex. She didn’t need to put her guard up, after all he was not even remotely close to the bullying boy she thought he was when they were young.
Hesitantly Draco Malfoy approached her, putting a hand on her shoulder. People often referred to him as Malfoy, and if he heard certain people call him anything but, then it just felt weird. However he always held out hope that one day she would call him Draco, but that didn’t matter right now. The fact that Hermione was crying or on the verge of crying was far more important.
“You’re not… D’you want me to get Susan or Ginny?”
“No, Malfoy, I said I’m fine!” He flinched, but she continued. “I’m sorry, I just need to be alone right now.”
He paused, but then sat down. “No.”
“Excuse me?”
“No, Granger. Everyone around you is worried sick, Ginger Weasel and Potter are hilariously losing their minds, Susan is barely keeping it together. It is very hard for her right now. I mean, after all, she’s working with Longbottom, Neville Longbottom, as in the Neville Longbottom she’s been fancying since 4th year.”
She smiled at that; it was cute to see Neville and Susan together, but Malfoy continued, “Look, you’re not okay, and since I am insufferable and you are annoying, Hermione Granger, it is my personal responsibility to goad you until you have to tell me what’s what.” He noticed Hermione looked like she had calmed down a bit, so he asked softly, “So, what’s really going on?”
“I don’t know why I’m telling you this but… Before the war… I-I erased my parents’ memories. I’ve visited them a couple of times. I’ve tried everything, and sometimes I get lucky and they remember me for a handful of seconds, but nothing sticks past that. I didn’t mean to make it this strong, I just wanted them to be safe.”
‘There I go again,’ she thought to herself, she was so sick of feeling so helpless.
“Okay. Look, I know I’m not your favorite person in these situations but I do have an entire library of books back at… home. Some of them not even Hogwarts has, so here’s what we’re going to do, Granger. Make a list of all the book’s you’ve read, and I’ll owl for the books Hogwarts doesn’t have. I’m going to help you with this. No, you don’t get a say in it, because you look like the walking dead and clearly you need someone to help you do some research, so move over.”
Hermione didn’t even want to say no, she was so tired she was hearing colors and seeing sounds. “Y-you’d really do that?”
Malfoy stared at her as if she were insane. “Yes, Granger, after what we’ve been through? Trust me, we’re there. I think if even we haven’t been ‘friendly’ during the war, or since its end, we’ve spent enough time together to be friends by default.”
She let out a soft chuckle, and Malfoy was grateful that she was at least laughing at all.
“So, books, now Granger, the Holidays are coming up in a little over a month or so, and we’re going to figure this out by then. Right?”
“You’re still the worst. I hope you realize that.” Hermione chortled
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Granger, books, now.”
Hermione handed Draco a couple of book from her to-be-read pile on memory charms, and luckily for the both of them she had already made a list of all the books she’d read so she wouldn’t read the same thing twice. She quickly scribbled down a list of all the books she wanted to read that Hogwarts didn’t own. Draco took the list and started checking books he knew the Manor had.
“Alright, this is good. I’ll get someone to grab them from the Manor and send them along.”
“Again, thank you… I hate asking for help. Everything is usually easier than this…”
“Granger, this isn’t a classroom setting, you’re exhausted, and you’re way too hard on yourself. As much fun as it is to see you suffer, it’s just sad at this point. I’ve seen you work, you would have annihilated this if it had been anything else, but this is too much to do by yourself, even you need help sometimes. So come on, let’s just thunder through this.”
“Thunder through it?”
“Shut up, Granger, I’m trying to make a point. You’re used to relying on yourself because Potter and Weasley are lazy. Even with you, they’d be distracted, they’re great for emotional support I suppose, but when it comes to solving things, you need people who work hard.”
“They work hard! Ron was a prefect!”
“Yeah, but he’s one of those people who gets concepts and gets good enough grades-sometimes even great grades without really trying. You don’t. They’re tolerable enough-ugh don’t tell them I said that out loud-but even you have to admit they’re somewhat incompetent when it comes to real research. However, you do need the gits, so start unloading on them so you can have someone to talk to, meanwhile, let us hard working people aka me, Susan, and Neville help you solve the problem.”
“Oh fine, as long as you shut up, I’ll agree.” The truth is she knew she needed help, but she needed the kind Malfoy was offering, of course, she also needed Harry and Ron but she couldn’t ask them for this kind of work. Not because they couldn’t do it, but because she knew they wouldn’t be able to keep up at her pace. So Malfoy deciding to help? Yes, please.
“Oh my god, dammit, where are Weasleys and Jordon? I need that recorded or in writing. Did you, Hermione Granger, just agree with me, therefore saying I was right?”
“You’re pushing it, Malfoy.”
“But you did, right?”
“Urgh yes. I agree with you, now let’s get to it.”
“Yes, Professor Granger.”
“Ah, I now remembered exactly why I hated you, twitchy ferret-faced fiend.”
“Nope, you totally were infatuated with me, especially since I’m the reason you got to shrink your teeth down.”
“What?!”
“Shhh, Granger, we are in the library.”
“That was one of the most traumatic things I ever went through. Everyone made fun of me!”
“No offense, but everyone always made fun of you.”
“I actually despise you, now.” She made sure she said this in a jovial tone so that he knew she was kidding. After all, she didn’t hate him, and she desperately needed the help.
“No, you don’t,” said Draco coyly.
“I guess not… but why did you use that particular spell?”
“Oh I overheard you talking about it to Susan, but because your parents were teeth healers-”
“Dentists.”
“Is there really a difference? No? Didn’t think so. As I was saying before you rudely interrupted. I heard you talking to Susan about it and how ‘it would be so easy to fix and straightening can be achieved with braces but that would take much longer.’” Hermione gave Malfoy a look that could kill so he wrapped it up. “So I gave your teeth an engorgement charm, that way your parents couldn’t complain because it had to be fixed.”
“You are a sad, strange little boy.”
“Yeah well, I guess it was a backward way of helping, sort of like steering you, Potter, and Weasley away from the Death Eaters during the Quidditch World Cup.”
Hermione gaped at him; she had completely forgotten about that.
Malfoy cleared his throat. “Anyway, reading time, yeah?”
“Oh? Right, yes, thanks um again… for everything really.”
“You too, Granger.”
It was unspoken, but they had an understanding, both of them had a history of being unkind to each other, but they acknowledged that things may have ended a lot differently if they hadn’t helped each other almost a year ago in the Malfoy Manor. Upon that, they read until the Library closed for the night and decided they would meet up tomorrow for their research on how to heal Hermione’s parents. Unfortunately, it would take a long longer than either of them suspected.
~~~
Susan was tired, so very, very tired, but she had to make sure these hybrids that she bred together were perfect. It looked like these little guys might actually do the trick, unlike all of the other plants she’d bred together. Susan had been wishing for them to just mature without a hiccup in their growth but since when was life-especially theirs-ever easy?
She sighed loudly only to jump when Neville knocked at the Greenhouse door.
“Oh hi, Neville…”
“Sorry, Susan, didn’t mean to startle you… You look a lot more tired than usual, you should take a break. I can watch over your plants.”
“No way. Neville, mine might work, ‘might’ being the operative word there, yours undoubtedly will. You’re basically the god of Herbology, I’ll look after my little guys…”
“Susan, your plants are great, also, I’m not the god of Herbology.”
“Neville, you are, and sorry it’s just getting more and more difficult… Hermione’s never let me down, and every time my plants almost work, key word there being almost, it kills me. I’d rather have nothing happen than to give Hermione a minute of hope before it fails again… I just don’t know how to fix it…”
“I know, but you’re not the only one. I feel it too being so close, but it’s just not enough, not by a long shot.” Neville sighed.
“It was a charm that did it, so a charm might be the only way to fix it.”
“Yeah, I s’pose, but on the other hand, none of Hermione’s charms have worked, have they?”
“No… I-I can’t even imagine… I mean I can in a way, I lost my parents, then my aunt but… it’s really not the same.”
Susan shut herself up in the nick of time. Of course Neville knew, that’s why he was so invested in this. He had created a plant hybrid that had been successfully treating his parents. So it was a shock to everyone when it didn’t work on Hermione’s, but unfortunately, different traumas called for different cures. Still, she could tell how badly he felt about it, how badly they all felt about everything. Meanwhile, it was no one’s fault. Susan broke the silence that had fallen between them by realizing her plants were going to wilt if she didn’t remove them from the light.
“AH! They matured quicker than I thought, no nonono!” Susan did her best to move them quickly, and Neville helped save the ones furthest away from her. Between the two of them, they managed to save the whole stock.
“Phew, close one,” said Neville. “So, erm, what are these?”
“Well, these are hybrids between Moly to help counteract the memory charm especially since it’s used in awakening potions like the Wiggenweld potion. So I thought, it might ‘awaken’ dormant memories, and well, Dittany. I know Dittany is typically used cure physical wounds but I thought-”
“Oh right, it’s restorative healing powers might work with the Moly. Susan, that’s brilliant! I didn’t even think of that what I did was breed Galanthus Nivalis with Bloom berries.”
“Neville, that’s amazing, I didn’t know you did that. Bloom berries are also used in the Wiggenweld. The Galanthus Nivalis helps heal memory illnesses, right? Maybe if our hybrids went into a potion that could actually work! See, you are the Herbology God.”
Neville blushed. “Again, I wouldn’t go that far. Trouble is, how do we even test this?”
“I dunno… we would need a volunteer, and even then we still don’t know the possible side effects or anything.”
“I have a pretty horrible idea…”
“I doubt it, Neville, why what is it?”
“Well… maybe we should test it on someone who also suffered from a strong memory charm? Maybe someone like… Gilderoy Lockhart.”
Susan’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Well, I mean we obviously ask the Healers if it’s okay and if you know he’d consent to try it…”
“Neville, he doesn’t even remember magic is real anymore.”
“Well, yeah.”
“So you’re saying we should use our potential cure on Gilderoy Lockhart. The same Gilderoy Lockhart who hurt a ton of people just to get famous. The Gilderoy Lockhart who was going to let Ginny die in the Chamber of Secrets and who was going to Obliviate Harry and Ron. Why on earth would we do that?”
“If it cures him, it could cure his victims and Hermione’s parents. Also, he’d remember everything and could stand trial afterward. Also, it’s not like he won’t understand that it is an experimental treatment, and like I said of course we’d consult his Healers.”
“Okay, but what if the Healers say no?”
“Oh… I dunno we give it to Hermione hoping for the best? Maybe we can work with animals and ask the Healers for help?”
“That could work. Hopefully, plan A will work and the Healers will approve, but plan B isn’t so bad. So it might take longer than we’d hope, but this still could work. Who knows maybe Lockhart will be able to take it, and we can work with Draco on the potion aspect of it, you know, give Hermione a bit of a break?”
“Alright, Susan, that’s the spirit.”
“Okay! Let’s do this!”
~~~
After much of trial and error, Neville, Susan, and Malfoy had finally brewed a potion that didn’t evaporate, blow up, or melt their cauldron. This project had been exhausting, and all of their eyes had bags under them that were as dark as Hermione’s. They had had a number of bumps in the road and hit a wall when they had no way of testing the potion to make sure it was safe. Well, until Trevor missed catching a fly-that had landed on the rim of the cauldron-and inadvertently drank some of the potion instead.
Poor Neville had been terrified, but after 20 minutes with Susan and Draco calming him down, they realized Trevor was okay. Since Trevor hadn’t died, everyone came to the conclusion that the potion was suitable for consumption, and therefore ready to try on Lockhart. Well… If the Healers allowed it, anyway.
They were finalizing the arrangements when Susan asked, “Maybe we should tell Hermione after all, I mean… It feels like we’re lying to her.”
“I know what you mean,” said Neville. “But Susan, you said it yourself ages back, it’s better for it to not work than to give her false hope. I mean, can you imagine if this doesn’t work?”
“It would crush her, Susan.” Malfoy sighed. “I don’t think she can handle another blow right now. If it doesn’t work out, then we’ll work on more potions and plant hybrids. At least it will give us a general direction to follow.”
“True.” Susan yawned. “Let’s hope Lockhart and his Healers say yes to this and that it works. It just has to. No! This will work. It will because everyone is slowly getting back to normal. Everyone is slowly healing, and it’s Hermione’s turn. I believe in this potion, and I believe in all the hard work we’ve all done. I have hope this will work, besides it would be a pretty great Christmas present to give to her.” Susan looked like she was ready to pass out from exhaustion, and she knew she just sounded like a raving lunatic, but she didn’t feel it. For the first time in a long time, she felt a pure sense of joy, and it was contagious. Soon they were all feeling optimistic and thoroughly excited for the next day.
The plan was simple. Hermione felt bad for dodging Harry and Ron the past couple of weeks so she’d agree to go on a trip to Hogsmeade, just the three of them. Unbeknownst to her, Ron and Harry had been the ones to arrange this little distraction, allowing Susan and Neville to go up to St. Mungo’s. Harry and Ron also planned a small party in the Gryffindor common room to further distract her just in case Susan and Neville needed a little more time than anticipated.
The pair of them were to send owls back as soon as they knew if the potion had worked, if it hadn’t, or if they even had gotten a chance to give it to Lockhart.
With the plan set, they all went their separate ways to their own dorms. Neville, of course, had split from them early on, heading up towards Gryffindor Tower. Leaving Susan and Malfoy did the familiar split. They hugged goodnight, then she headed towards the kitchens while he went downstairs to the Slytherin dorms. He felt like he was walking through water, everything felt heavy, and that’s what he blamed his insane jealousy on.
Yes. He conceded that he wasn’t thrilled at the idea of Potter and Weasley being included in this plan. He was particularly sore over the fact that they would be with her all day, which meant they would undoubtedly be the ones to tell her the news from Susan and Longbottom.
‘What’s wrong with me?’ he thought to himself. ‘I don’t matter here. Wasn’t this the whole point? To make sure she was okay? To help fix something that-ok, I didn’t directly do this to her, but I did a lot of bad stuff to her. Who cares if I’m not the one who gets to tell her? I do, I do, and I need to stop. Stop it right now. Hermio-Granger, she is going to get her life back. Dammit, stop being selfish. You finally did something right, so don’t muck it up now, and go to sleep before you get interrogated by Blaise, Theo, and Daphne yet again.’ With that, he marched himself to his bed and just collapsed on it instantly going to sleep.
~~~
Lee: It’s less than a week ’til Holidays, and we still haven’t made much progress with Letterpool so to kick things up a notch, we are now going to try interviewing the first people we see. Ah! Look, here’s Neville Longbottom.
Neville: *sighing heavily* H-Hey guys, I don’t really have the time today, and I dunno this seems very personal and private, I don’t think this very nice to Hermione, Harry, Seamus, and Lavender. I especially don’t think it’s nice that people are betting on this as if it’s some sort of sporting event…
Fred: Aw, Neville, come on, it’s meant to be in good spirits!
Neville: I know you think it is but-
George: Think of it this way, what if our investigation puts these two closer together? Maybe the sender just needs a push of courage eh?
Neville: I-I guess, but I still don’t like this…
Lee: Well, well, Neville, and did you write the letter?
Neville: Huh?
Fred: You do seem a little defensive.
Neville: A little defens-look you guys. No, I did not write the letter, I just think this is an invasion of privacy and like I said, I have to go.
George: Okay, okay, but Neville, if you wanted to wager a guess, who would you pick?
Neville: Well… I dunno maybe Th-Oh hey Susan, time to go? Right, sorry, guys, I have to go to St. Mungo’s, and come on, ease up, will you? *Neville leaves with Susan*
Lee: Well, well, leaving with Susan Bones to go to St. Mungo’s? That’s a bit of a stretch. I wonder where they’re really going?
George: Or maybe it was just Susan saving Neville from us? Who really knows with those two.
Fred: Yeah, I’ll bet that was just Neville dodging us. Who knows maybe they are going on a date. Ooooh, maybe Susan wrote the letter for him, but the letter got knocked around so much, that it fell in the wrong place completely!
Lee: Oh? Now that would be interesting-Oh hello! Theodore Nott, want to comment or make a bet for Letterpool?
Theo: Theo’s fine, and I dunno.
Fred: Oh c’mon, Nott, unless you wrote it, perhaps?
Theo: Like I said, Theo’s fine, but no, I didn’t write the letter. I should have written a letter like that… Heh, I wonder how many people have said that since The Letter. You I thought about sending one once, but nothing ever became of it-Why? Y-You don’t think it’s for Lavender, do you? Did anyone bet it was for her? How many people?
…
I mean what, what am I talking about? *Nervous laughter* I mean I don’t fancy Lavender Brown. I-I definitely don’t. I mean she’s like really nice and-and brave and stuff. Also compassionate, and kind and all that, but that doesn’t mean I like her.
No. I definitely do not fancy Lavender Brown…
Shit this is live, isn’t it?
*Fred, George, and Lee evilly grin at him and give a quick nod*
… I gotta go.
*Theo Nott darts out of their broadcast to find Lavender at breakneck speed*
Fred: Well, that was unexpected!
Lee: No kidding!
George: Good luck, Nott!
Lee: Anyway, that was quite enough excitement for today. Actually you know what? I’m going to wrap this up early. It will be our Holiday gift to the four letter candidates. So Happy Holidays, take care, don’t forget to miss something while packing off to go home. Bye, Hogwarts, see you next time for another session of Hogwarts Hot Topics on Letterpool. This is Lee Jordan signing off.
~~~
After his disastrous interview with the radio hosts of Hogwarts Hot Topics, Theo ran to find Lavender Brown to try and explain himself. He found her, the Patil twins, and Hannah Abbott all together. They were having a small get together right before the holidays when our dear Theodore blundered into the group. After startling them, he realized he didn’t exactly have anything prepared to explain himself.
~~~
“Lavender, hi, wow hi-hi um hi.” Theo could only cringe as heard his own words from the radio being used against him and how his vocabulary apparently consisted of the word ‘hi.’ He shook his head and told himself to get a grip. “Look, I can explain, they caught me off guard and-well yeah-and I yeah no, I’ve got nothing.”
“HA!” Parvati cried and pointed at Lavender. “I knew it, I totally knew it. I told you! I told you, Lavender. I knew he fancied her. I knew you fancied her.”
Normally, Lavender would have snapped at Parvati (who was thoroughly enjoying Theo’s suffering,) but Lavender couldn’t speak, she couldn’t do anything but breathe and stare at him. Meanwhile, all he could think to do was bury his face in his hands and groaned.
Lavender felt her cheeks burn. “I-is that why you started becoming so distant since this summer? I mean so… you do fancy me?”
Theo swallowed and looked down. “Yeah I-Yeah…”
Lavender: “Well you should have just said so, you idiot, we could have started dating ages ago.”
Theo raised his head out of his hands. “Wait, what?”
“Well, this letter business had me thinking, and I knew The Letter could never be from you-the handwriting-but I wanted it to be.”
Lavender was dreading what was about to follow. This seemed like it was too easy, that somehow this was either an elaborately cruel practical joke or that he’d suddenly come to his senses and change his mind. Judging by the look on Theodore Nott’s face, neither of those things seemed plausible.
“Really?” Theo blinked. “Well, I don’t know about you, but if dating would be like anything it was this summer, I think it would be fun. Look, I’m not great with words, and I don’t know if I’d colossally mess this up, and I’m so sorry I didn’t ask sooner… but yeah um would you want to go out with me?”
“Yes.” Lavender gave him the sincerest smile. “That would be pretty great, maybe um we could see each other over the Holidays too?”
“Yeah, that’d be wicked.”
Lavender made a quick nod. “Deal.”
Theo couldn’t help grinning. “Yeah, wow um. Oh.” Theo looked around the room and realized they weren’t alone. “Right, I should let you guys celebrate. Happy Holidays, everyone.”
Theo crept out of the abandoned classroom, leaving the girls, who were softly giggling.
“That was adorable!” Hannah squealed.
“Theo Nott, who’d have known?” Padma mused.
Lavender could feel herself blushing. “Anyway. Sorry, guys, didn't mean for the, erm. brief interruption?”
“Are you kidding? That was amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone from Slytherin that frazzled in my life!” Hannah couldn’t help from bouncing up and down in her seat.
“Well, he is pretty cute.” Lavender looked at the door fondly.
"Cheers.” Parvati raised her glass. “To me being right, to Lavender and Theo, and to the Holidays!
“Cheers!”
Everyone clinked their glasses and started laughing at the amount of butterbeer spilled on the floor. They did their annual Holiday gift exchange and ended it with Parvati and Lavender threatening to play matchmaker for Padma and Hannah.
It was going to be a very Happy Holiday indeed.
~~~
“Sorry, Susan, thanks for getting me out of there,” said Neville, glancing at Theo sympathetically.
“Oh don’t worry about that, besides I think the twins forgot what we were doing today. Oh poor Theo, that’s got to suck.”
“You’re really close to the Slytherins, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, it just sort of happened. Flitwick, in an attempt at house unity, made the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins sit together during our first year. Eventually, everyone just sat where they liked, but Draco and I were used to studying together so we just stuck with it. Plus we both did an equal share of work, and no one is really bothered by Hufflepuffs, you know? Well, except Zacharias, hmm, I’m not quite sure what’s wrong with that boy but I think he’s calmed down a bit.”
“Yeah he is sort of a special case. Anyhow we should probably get to the Hogwarts Express before Hermione sees us.”
“Definitely, although I will miss the interviews from Hogwarts Hot Topics.”
“You cannot be serious.”
“Hey, I know this will sound ridiculous and reveal how much of a hopeless romantic I am, but you have to admit the Letter has brought back a certain sense of joy to the school.”
Neville chuckled. “Aww.”
Susan hit his arm playfully. “I’m serious, it’s sweet. I mean the sender obviously meant what they said. I mean no one’s come forward right? Didn’t the sender say that the letter was just to let the recipient know how much they loved them? They weren’t expecting anything in return. It’s just nice and thoughtful.”
“Wow, I dunno what to say to that.” Neville was in awe of Susan’s insight. After all, she had a good point, as soon once the letter had dropped, Hogwarts felt more like a school and less like the ruins of a war zone. “The only thing to really say is you’re right, the letter is nice and as chaotic as everything is, it does feel like a weird sense of normal, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, it does.” Susan smiled and with that they drifted into a peaceful sleep, waking up in King’s Cross realizing they had fallen asleep on each other. Both of them blushed whilst hurrying to get their stuff off of the train.
“Sorry, Susan, about er sleeping on you,” said Neville.
“I’m guilty of that as well, I guess we needed the sleep?” Susan snorted lightly, before looking up at St. Mungo’s.
“Well, here we go.”
~~~
It didn’t take very long finding Gilderoy Lockhart; it took less time for his team of Healers to refuse using their memory potion. They deflated instantly and sat down in the waiting room, astounded that they’d been refused before even making their case.
“I can’t believe it… I just can’t believe they said no.” Susan put their vial of the memory potion on the small table next to her. She could feel the tears brimming quickly wiping them away before Neville could notice. Maybe it was because she was so sure it would work, but she cracked and let out a sob, “All that work, all that research, and it’s not worth anything!”
“Hey, stop that. Look we just can’t test it on Lockhart, we could try volunteer testing or maybe talk to a family member of another person who suffered through a similar memory charm. We’re not out of options yet, don’t give up, I haven’t.”
“I know all of that rationally, but it’s going to take so much longer. I just wanted to help Hermione fix this now. She’s been waiting so long,” Susan took a deep breath, “I just-I just had a feeling that this would work…”
A silence fell between them. Neville had to admit he thought the same thing. He was so sure this would work. There were plenty of options but it would have been nice if it had run smoothly. Neville was pulled out of his train of thought when Susan cried out in surprise. A new Healer attending to Lockhart was about to give him his daily potion when he’d bumped into the table right next to her, thus knocking over the vial he was supposed to administer to Lockhart and their vial.
“Sorry about that!” said the Healer. He quickly picked up the two vials, putting theirs back on the table and taking Lockhart’s to him.
Or so they thought. Susan took a look at the vial and puzzled over why the potion didn’t look the same and why was the vial a different shape-Susan stood up. “Oh no! Oh no oh no!!!”
“What’s wrong?”
“He took the wrong vial, Neville, when he bumped into the table he took our vial and left his.”
“What?!” Neville ran forward. “Wait, stop! You’ve got the wrong-” Before he could even finish the sentence Lockhart had downed their potion. “Oh no…”
Neville quickly explained to the Healer what had happened and a team of them swarmed over to Lockhart. Everyone held their breath for what seemed like ages until Lockhart looked around the room.
“What the devil am I doing in St. Mungo’s? Wasn’t I teaching at Hogwarts just a few moments ago?” All of a sudden all of his memories came rushing back to him. “Oh now I remember… oh dear.”
After that everything was a blur. Healers went to examine Lockhart at an inhuman speed while Neville and Susan stood there dumbfounded. The first hour had gone by with Lockhart retaining all of his memories, then the second with him still retaining them. The third hour came around, and he still remembered everything. It had been the longest any patient who had suffered a traumatic memory charm injury retained their memories, and it looked like the cure was permanent. They were going to keep Lockhart for observation (but also because he would have to face the Wizengamot for his crimes against his fellow witches and wizards).
The Healers had circled around Susan and Neville, asking them so many questions they both felt like they’d been Confunded. After their interrogation Susan and Neville went to send the owls grinning in their triumph.
~~~
Malfoy had gotten the owl and no doubt Potter and Weasley had too, despite feeling an acute jealousy and a twinge of resentment he felt himself smile. ‘We did it.’ He marched up to the Library lost in his thoughts and trying to ignore the party he could hear from Gryffindor tower. He was going to have a restful study session until the Ginger Weasel stormed up beside him.
“Oi! Malfoy! For fuck’s sake, I’ve been looking for you since we got the bloody owl!” A very annoyed Ron glared.
Malfoy rolled his eyes. “Why? Shouldn’t you be celebrating with Hermione? Leave me be, peasant.”
“Look you annoying, gross bouncing ferret-”
“Oh give it a rest with that, will you?”
“Shut up, Malfoy! Just listen for once in your plaguing existence. Come up to Gryffindor Tower.”
He cocked his eyebrow. “Why would I do that? To suffer through your pathetic attempts to insult me with your inadequate brain?”
“Look, I don’t like you either, but,” Malfoy rolled his eyes while Ron ignored him and continued, “that’s not to say I don’t respect you.”
“What?”
“We didn’t tell Hermione yet, arsehole. I told Harry we should wait for you to tell her-and I’m getting to the reason, you rude git, so don’t interrupt-I told him to wait because no matter what we think about you, no matter our history… You gave her back to us. It’s no secret she was becoming a shell of what she once was, and even with Susan and Neville’s help, she was breaking. All we could do was watch. She wouldn’t let us in, she wouldn’t let us help. It was hopeless, and we were really afraid of losing her. It was only when you imposed yourself that she started coming back to the world. She only got better because you helped.
“Harry and I, we’re good in tight spots. We can think on our feet and make snap tactical decisions quickly, we can to the brave and reckless things. What we couldn’t do is help her muddle through this. We couldn’t see the whole board so we didn’t know what would help her and what would hurt her. We would have just ended up snapping at each other, and honestly what good what that have done? All we could do was mess with her alarm thing so she could get more than two hours of sleep.
“Everything changed when she had you to fall back on. You worked hard, and you kept working while she could rest. I don’t really care if it was guilt from when we were younger or if you always had this in you or what have you. The point is what you did for her didn’t go unnoticed. So… it just seems wrong for you to not be there when she finds out. It seems wrong to let you miss out on celebrating with us-with her.”
Malfoy blinked. “Oh.”
“Don’t get any ideas, Malfoy, I still think you’re a ferret-faced wanker, but you could be worse, I s’ppose.”
“Okay then, good because I still hate you too, Weasley”
“Right.”
“Right.”
Ron started to walk away from him, he realized Draco hadn’t moved from where he was standing.
“Oi, you coming or what?!”
Draco couldn’t really think of anything else to say so he just ended up following Ron into Gryffindor Tower. When they both entered, Hermione was pleasantly surprised, then Draco showed her the letter Neville and Susan had written. After some hugging, a lot of laughter and a couple of tears Hermione had managed to hug everything who moved in Gryffindor Tower (yes, that included Trevor). Much to Draco’s chagrin, he suffered through a hug from Potter and ugh-the entire Weasley clan too- he was pretty much convinced they only did so to torture him. After all of that Hermione started planning her trip down to Australia, forcing Draco to go with her. If he was honest, it didn’t take much convincing. Once the impromptu party started to calm down, Hermione went up to her room to pack but ended up crashing on her bed getting the best night’s sleep she’d had in over a year.
~~~
“So this is an airport?” Malfoy looked at Heathrow like it was a Norwegian Ridgeback. Hermione chuckled, everything was finally coming together. Hermione wished that they could have had more time in Australia but because they’d book the flight in such short notice they were lucky to even go. The flight they had secured only bought them 3 days to find Hermione’s parents, give them the potion, and see if it worked then get back to school. Although it seemed like they would need a lot of luck was needed to pull this off, they were optimistic it would work. After all, they’d manage to come this far, hadn’t they?
“Yes, Malfoy, it’s an airport, we’re going to get on a plane to Australia. Muggles use planes every day.”
“Right… So these things are like the Ministry’s flying cars?”
“Well yes, actually. Except bigger and it carries more people.”
“Oh okay, well I guess here we go then, um, where that thing you said I needed? A passport.”
“Oh uh yeah I have it.” Hermione smiled. “I can’t believe that’s all the explanation you need on muggle air travel.”
“Well yeah I mean, it makes a certain sense, I guess. Also, I happen to fly on a broom if that’s safe this must be right?”
“Well now Malfoy, you are certainly full of surprises.”
“Easy now, you’re in danger of paying me a compliment.”
Hermione let out a soft laugh and got them through security. That was the hardest bit; everything else went rather smoothly. Malfoy, aside from the occasional question, was pretty much silent throughout the trip. Flying to Australia was a long, long trip even in first class (compliments of Harry and Ron). It was very taxing. As soon as they got off the plane, they went to their hotel room to unpack and shower, only to discover of course they got one room not an adjoining two rooms.
“Well, that figures, at least we got a double bed, not a single one.”
“Honestly, Granger, I’m too bloody tired to care. Do you want to shower first or can I?”
“Go for it. I feel like I have to wash my hair and that can take a while.”
“Ok, afterward we sleep and then we find your parents tomorrow?”
“Yes, definitely.”
With that, he took some clothes into sleep in with him to the bathroom so he could change in peace. Hermione did the same then both of them crawled into their separate beds.
“Night, Granger.”
“Night, Malfoy… and er… thank you for coming with me.”
“No worries, Mum’s still reconnecting with the rest of the Black/Tonks clan, and I didn’t really feel comfortable so really you spared me that agony.”
“Still.” Hermione smiled. “It means a lot that you did.”
“Sure thing, now let’s get some sleep.”
With that, the two of them crashed from jet lag and exhaustion. Tomorrow it was off to see Hermione’s parents, which would be a lot more than they’d bargained for.
~~~
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I knew I had forgotten to call someone. Dr. And Dr. Wilkins are on holiday right now. I can rebook your appointment, although if it is an emergency I could call them in.”
“No, that’s alright, these things happen, thank you for all of your help.”
After Hermione and Malfoy left the dentistry offices of Dr. Monica and Dr. Wendell Willkins aka the Grangers, Draco expected Hermione to lose hope, but it was quite the opposite.
“Okay well that’s not ideal, but at least we know they’re still in town, and you know I came here with my parents when I was little. Anyway, I think I know where they might be, when do you want to head out?”
“Well, it’s great to see you upbeat. Come on, Granger, there’s a wizarding part of the city, maybe we could ask around if we hit any dead ends?”
Hermione agreed. Meanwhile, Malfoy was silently praying to whatever was listening that they’d find them soon, after all of this strife, could this one thing just be easy for her?
So the first day had been a bit of a bust and nerves were settling in. They only had three days until they had to be on a plane. They’d search beaches, shops, name it and they looked there.
It wasn’t until the end of the second day when they took a break to eat that they got lucky. Malfoy went to great lengths to keep Hermione’s spirits up, which did help until Hermione looked across the restaurant they were at.
“Oh, my god. I see them they’re right there.” Hermione’s words were barely audible. Draco spun around to look where she was, and sure enough, there they were. Hermione and Draco floundered a bit before figuring out a way to slip them the potion. They ordered the Grangers two glasses of champagne, slipping the potion into the glasses under the waiter’s nose. Hermione hovered around their table pretending to wait for the bathroom. She tried not to stare as they drank the potion in disguise. They swallowed enough of it for it to work, and just when Hermione had lost all hope, her mother looked up. “Hermione?”
~~~
As you can imagine it was a very tearful and intimate reunion, which is why Malfoy introduced himself briefly and politely exited from the vicinity, letting Hermione spend some time with her parents alone. He could only imagine what they must be going through. He remembered his mother and trying to keep her safe while staying alive. This was Hermione’s version of that, but it was still going to be a very draining conversation, happy but enormously emotionally taxing. So he went back to their hotel to wait for her.
‘This is family time, god she needed this,’ he told himself and smiled. ‘I’m so happy she’s ok.”
~~~
The Grangers caught up as well as they could have, given the limited amount of time Hermione could stay in Australia.
“But you’re okay here? You’re both happy?”
“Hermione of course we are.” Mrs. Granger reached out and held Hermione’s hands. “We really are, but my goodness what would have happened to you, if we couldn’t remember?”
“Your mother’s right, Hermione, just thinking about how hard this must have been…” Mr. Granger was near tears but regained his composure. “We wish we could have been there for you, that’s all. You’re our little girl, Hermione, you always will be.”
Hermione rubbed her eyes, “I wish I could have more time with you, but school…”
“Hey… We’re back, Hermione. Let’s catch up as much as we can now, and once you graduate we’ll all the time in the world and then some.” Her mother smiled
“Mum’s right, now is the time to enjoy life. We’re so proud of you, and we’re so happy that you're safe.”
Hermione broke down laughing while crying, all the while sitting there catching up. They spent the whole rest of the day together, overnight, and finally saw her off to where she could floo back to Melbourne for her return trip to London. The only thing that puzzled her was what Mrs. Granger said to Hermione about Malfoy. Hermione agreed with her in the respect that Malfoy seemed like a “nice young man,” especially now that they knew why he did the things he did. What she didn’t understand was when Mrs. Granger added, “Funny the lengths people go to, to protect those they love.”
Whatever she meant, there was no way she was actually implying that the notorious Draco Malfoy “loved” Hermione. ‘That would be absolutely absurd. Besides it’s Malfoy. Sure, we’ve come a long way, but we haven’t come that far yet.’ Hermione shook her head to get those thoughts out of her head. ‘Yeah, there’s no way that’s ever happening.’
~~~
“Hi, Malfoy!”
“Oh hi, Granger, everything went well?”
“Yes, it really did. Thank you for giving me space so I could be with them. They’re going to write me every week, so we can catch up, and so it will let me know if they’ve relapsed. I don’t think that’s an issue but heh you know just in case…” Hermione laughed nervously.
“They won’t relapse, and of course, I was more than happy to give you guys your time. It would have been a little weird for me to be there. This was about you, for you. You deserve every single bit of happiness, Granger. After all, without you, we probably would have lost the war.”
There was something familiar about the way he described her happiness, but Hermione supposed she was tired and had probably just read something similar somewhere. Still, something about it made her cheeks burn. This was all her mother’s fault because of that silly-ridiculous really-implication that Malfoy might actually fancy her.
“I’m sorry that you couldn’t have more time with them. I can’t believe we have to fly back tomorrow.”
“Why’s that? Did you finally realize that you need a bit of sun get rid of how sickly you look?”
“Excuse me, Miss Granger, but did you just insult my flawless skin?”
“You mean your pasty complexion? Then yes, yes I did.”
“I could say something about your hair, but I’m a gentleman.”
“Malfoy, you could not be a gentleman if your life depended on it.” Hermione gave him her best Malfoy smirk.
“Annoying know-it-all.”
“Annoying pasty ferret-faced git.”
He was about to come back with something when all of a sudden Hermione decided she had been quite grown up enough in the last 1 and a half years. This is when she threw a pillow at Malfoy’s face, and it all went downhill from there and the feathers went flying.
Normally they would have laughed and gotten something to eat or what have you. Normally they probably would have been worried at the clean up of feathers after their (awesome) escalation of immaturity, etc…
However, in this particular moment, Hermione and Malfoy didn’t really care about what they normally would have done. So of course, as you’d expect they let their guards down, it’s what anyone would do when you’re kidding around with a person you trust. Which is how the following moment of disaster happened.
They got caught up in the moment, the joy of it all was so consuming it was hard not to give in. Hermione was blissfully happy, and Malfoy found himself being happy just because she was. They both couldn’t remember how long it had been since they had laughed like this. Hermione was so focused on booping him on the nose one more time that she tripped. She had expected to come crashing with the floor, but instead, a strong pair of arms caught her instead.
“Whoa, easy, Granger,” he said, still grinning
“Sorry, thanks for the save.” She giggled, slightly out of breath from all running and laughing. Then they both realized how close in proximity they were to each other, and it was like all the levity had been sucked from the room. Slowly their laughter faded into smiling and in seconds there were just stand there holding each other with a million thoughts racing through their heads.
He couldn’t look away from her eyes, silently pleading that she wouldn’t look away either. Hermione didn’t disappoint, she stayed there contemplating how much she liked being in his arms.
When he finally leaned down bowing his head to hers, she stood up on her toes to meet him, they kissed, and the whole world fell away.
~~~
Lee: Hi there, Hogwarts! Sorry for the week late welcome back broadcast. This is Lee Jordan with my amazing co-hosts Fred and George Weasley. Today we’re interviewing the one and only Draco Malfoy about the Let-
Draco: No.
Fred: Come on, Malfoy, out with it! Did you write the letter?
Draco: -__-
George: Aww Malfoy, pleeease?
Draco: I know the war’s over, and we were on the same side… but I still hate you guys.
Lee: *gasp* That’s not a very nice thing to say.
Draco: Stop talking to me about the letter, ok? I have… *stares at Hermione* more important things to worry about?
Fred: For the record, folks, he’s staring at Hermione Granger, which brings us to our next question: what exactly happened in Australia?
Draco: Look, nothing, okay?! And unlike you lot, I actually have a class to go to, get out of my way.
*He leaves and slams the door behind him*
Fred: So something did happen. Anyone know what?
George: No idea, Ginny wouldn’t tell me. None of the girls would.
Lee: Yeah, wow, I thought I was the only one who got the freeze out from the girls. I’m not worried, though, they’ve become good friends and Malfoy is way less of a git. I’m sure this will all be sorted out in a week or two.
Anyway getting back on topic, we’re still in the dark on who sent the letter, so yes Letterpool is still going on. However, Fred and George have extended the same offer to those who picked the coupling combinations for Seamus/Daphne and for Lavender/Theo - you’ve won the 10 Galleons off coupon for a 35 Galleon purchase at WWW! We’re still trying to wrangle Theodore and Lavender in for an interview, but Lavender pulled the ‘I dated Ron Weasley so please stop if you know what’s good for you card,’ so that’s that. Well, this concludes the coverage for this week this is Lee Jordan signing off! See you next time at Hogwarts Hot Topics!
~~~
Hermione had tried everything to get him to talk to her, but he barely said a word…
They were pretty much silent all the way back to Hogwarts. Hermione didn’t know what had happened. She pretty much told Susan just that. “One minute we were kissing, and it was fantastic, I was happy. I thought he was happy, everything seemed like everything was fine. I miss him, Susan. I miss his god awful jokes and the way he carries on. I miss how he always knew exactly what I needed whether it was distance or talking… When did this happen!? When did I care about Draco sodding Malfoy, when did we become this close?”
Hermione was about to add the wrong ingredient to the potion they were working on for Slughorn.
“Hey! Careful with that.”
“Sorry…”
“Oh look, it’s okay,” Susan tried to comfort Hermione as best as she could. “I think we should take a break and really talk about this. Tell me what happened from the top.”
“What again from the top?” Ginny and Luna had just walked into the empty classroom Hermione and Susan were using.
“Well, Draco kissed Hermione in Australia, and that’s why they haven’t spoken since they came back,” Susan replied, trying to not sound as bored as she felt by the subject. A feeling Ginny Weasley did not share. In fact, she could barely keep herself contained.
“WHAT?!”
“Susan!” Hermione exclaimed
“What? It’s just Ginny and Luna, they’re our friends they might be able to give you some fresh perspective.”
“Hmm, I thought something like that must be the cause of all this friction,” said Luna thoughtfully. “Hermione, could we hear what went on?”
Hermione took a deep breath to prepare herself to tell the story.
On to Part 3
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