𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐀 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 [𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞]

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐨𝐧𝐞

DRACO could barely breathe.

He felt his heart pounding violently within the cage of his chest, yet not a single breath could flee his lips. He glanced down at his shaking hands, his vision clouding as his eyes began to water. 

Granger had taken a seat at the edge of his bed, but she made no effort in trying to touch him. She made it clear she thought it was best she didn't, and he understood that.

Though, they were friends, were they not? He wasn't too sure how friends were supposed to behave around each other, but from what he had seen, they were allowed to hug each other. But maybe she felt that was too inappropriate, considering they hadn't really addressed what they were.

He just assumed they were friends. He couldn't remember what having friends was like.

"You had..." Granger began to speak, her voice soft and quiet. She avoided his eyes, instead she focused on her lap, her hands intertwining with the other. "Another dream about your father?"

Draco nodded, suddenly unable to speak.

Granger finally looked at him, and his nerves eased slightly. He didn't understand why that happened whenever she did something so small. He almost zoned out, but her question brought him back to the woman facing him. "Do you mind telling me what it was?"

The blonde man swallowed hardly, and she added on swiftly. "It will be strictly confidential, of course."

She sat nervously before him. He expected her to take out a notepad and a quill and begin to write as he spoke like she did with his other memories. But this time she didn't. She made it clear to him that she was only here to listen.

Draco sighed, and then began with much difficulty. "It wasn't like my other memories; I was very young in this, about eleven or twelve, I think. It was the night before I was supposed to start at Hogwarts. Mother was helping me pack—all my jumpers, jeans, winter coats, suits, the whole lot, really."

She chuckled slightly, shaking her head in the most subtle way he wouldn't have noticed it if he wasn't staring at her. With a furrowed brow, he silently asked her why, and then she answered him with.

"You're rambling." Granger's smile grew wider, now showing off her straight teeth. "It's nice to see, you know. You're always so...worried that something bad will happen. And here you are, talking about your mother. Rambling."

It took him a few moments to process her words, and she frowned.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

At that, he laughed. "No, you're right. I'm way too uptight most of the time."

She copied him, and for a moment, he forgot what he was talking about. He forgot that there were boundaries, he forgot that he hurt her and almost got her fired, he forgot that she cried to him and he told her to be quiet, he forgot that she was involved with trying to send him back to his coma. He forgot all of it, because right now, none of it mattered. Almost as though they had a clean slate. Almost as if they were two friends simply enjoying a normal evening together. He wished they had that more often.

"Anyways," Granger cleared her throat, as she hid her teeth behind her lips. "We got a bit distracted there." Draco chuckled as he agreed with her. Then she prodded on. "Continue your story."

Draco nodded, "It was quite late when we were finished, and she sent me off to bed afterwards. I was so excited about starting at school." He took a second to think, and then asked her. "Were you ever like that too? You know, excited to start school."

"The fact that you even have to ask that question proves how little you know me, Malfoy." She shook her head as she smiled once again, but he frowned.

"Well, I don't. Not really." He paused for a moment, and thought. "And even if I used to, I can't remember a thing about you."

"You knew less about me then than you do now." said Granger, and his silver eyes clocked onto her brown ones as his neck arched. 

And then an idea struck him, "Then why don't we start now?"

"What?" She asked him, her pitching jumping an octave higher. She surprised herself at that and cleared her throat.

"You get to know me, and I get to know you." Draco sounded more certain of his suggestion, and he continued. "On a basic level. A friendly level—assuming we are friends, right?"

She hesitated, and worry began to swirl around inside Draco's chest. Had he been too forward? Were they not friends? His smirk slowly faded away the longer she stayed silent for. 

"Of course we're friends."

At that, his nerves eased once again and his worries seemed to evaporate.

"But first," She started, and his chest stilled. "You need to finish the story about your memory, okay?"

He hadn't even noticed he was unintentionally stalling, and so he nodded and continued.

"Where was I—ah, yes, Mother had sent me to bed after we had finished preparing for the morning. But I was so excited that I couldn't sleep. I kept tossing and turning, but as soon as school came into mind, I couldn't stop myself from smiling. My mind wouldn't wind down."

She nodded attentively, encouraging him to carry on with his story.

"I hadn't noticed how long I'd tried to go to sleep for, to no avail of course. So, I got out of bed and slid on my slippers and walked out of my room. Most of the portraits were asleep, but the ones that weren't kept nagging me to go back to bed. Of course I ignored them and started heading in the direction of my parents' bedroom." Draco paused as his happiness had begun to fade, and the mood of the room grew to be quite tense. Granger noticed too, and sighed shakily. 

"But when I arrived outside the door. I heard them fighting."

"What were they fighting about?" Granger asked. 

Draco shrugged nonchalantly. "Me. Father was talking about the school, and that I should've been enrolled somewhere else while Mother fought him by saying that any other school was too far away and that I would've felt homesick. Then he said she was selfish for wanting to keep me close by and that she didn't care about what was best for me. And—" He cut himself off with a sharp sigh.

He hadn't realized how worked up he had gotten himself over this. To anyone else, to Granger, he must have looked terribly stupid. She probably thought he was, and he couldn't bare the embarrassment of knowing that so he broke their eye contact, his gaze resting on his lap.

"Hearing that wasn't easy, I bet." She said calmly, and his head shot up at that. 

Draco shook his head, "I don't want to think about it anymore. Not tonight." And he was instantly reminded of that night when she had sneaked into his room and spent the night on his sofa, and how he almost said the exact words she said to him. "Maybe tomorrow though."

Granger smiled, "That's my line."

He laughed and watched as she stood before him. She brushed out the creases in her grey dress and tipped her head goodnight, before making a turn for the exit.

"Granger, wait!" He cringed as the words fell from his lips, and she glanced over her shoulder at the blonde man. He didn't say anything further, but she did.

"Getting to know each other starts tomorrow, okay?"