The room was too bright.
The bed was too firm.
The pressure on his chest was too much.
Opening his eyes, he expected to be greeted with a hangover. Instead, he got a mouthful of brown curls. Panic began to set in. The last thing he could remember was sharing a toast with his friend. When had he fallen asleep? Who was he with? Where was he?
The hair moved as the head on his chest turned. A familiar face glanced up at him and smiled. "Morning," Hermione Granger said softly.
He stared at her with wide eyes. "Where am I?" he asked.
Furrowing her brow, she sat up and looked down at him. "Home," she said slowly. "Why? Where do you think you are?"
Shaking his head, he scurried out of bed and stood on the opposite side of the room. "This isn't my room," he muttered. "My walls are green, not yellow. There's no carpet. The bedding is black, not white. This isn't my home. What the hell is going on? The last thing I remember is drinking at work. Did we meet up after that? Is this your house? Did we shag?"
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" she wondered. "You and Blaise were out last night, but you seemed pretty lucid when you got home. You even put Ayla to bed."
He stared at her with shocked, disbelieving eyes. "Who's Ayla?" he cried.
"Your daughter," she said tersely.
Throwing up his hands in defeat, he turned away from her toward the window. "Sure, right, okay," he mumbled. "My daughter. Must make you my wife then. And this is our house. Because this is some kind of dream. I fell asleep and now I'm dreaming. And soon I'll wake up."
Hermione climbed out of bed and slipped on a terrycloth robe. "Okay, you're starting to scare me," she said. "I'd suggest you not let the kids know that you've gone crazy. And maybe it's time you put an end to the drinking for good."
Draco watched her leave the room, the door slightly ajar. "Wait. Kids?" he called after her. "As in plural? As in more than the one you just mentioned?"
He followed her to the kitchen and stopped. "Yes, your son," she replied as she began to make breakfast. "Draco, what's going on? Why are you acting like this?"
Shaking his head, he leaned against the counter and watched her as she cracked half a dozen eggs into a bowl. "I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know why I'm here or what's going on. I've never seen this house before. The last time I saw you was on the cover of The Daily Prophet after you and Weasley split up."
Hermione furrowed her brow. "That was...seven years ago," she told him. "You don't remember anything that's happened since then?"
Draco shook his head. "No, I don't."
"Did you hit your head last night?" she wondered as she wisked the egg batter.
He felt his head for any lumps or painful bruises. "I don't think I did," he replied. The sound of running footsteps above halted their conversation. "Is that them?"
Hermione nodded. "That'll be them," she confirmed.
"Um, you never told me the boy...your...our son's name," he said.
"Leo," she told him with a smile.
Draco nodded as he took in this new information. "And, um, what year is it?"
"It's 2010. Why do you look like you're going to be sick?"
He closed his eyes for a moment. "I'm 30," he said with a disgusted look on his face.
Hermione laughed as she transferred the eggs to a fry pan. "You cried on your birthday," she told him.
The kitchen door swung open. "Daddy!" a small blonde exclaimed as she ran to him. Ayla Grace Malfoy wrapped her arms around her father's legs and beamed up at him. "Up, Daddy?"
He looked to Hermione, who nodded encouragingly. But doubt clouded his mind. He had never held a child before, and he didn't intend to start now. "Um, maybe later," he said uncertainly. "I think your mum's almost done cooking breakfast."
Ayla and Leo stood beside their mother and held up their hands so their palms faced her. "Look clean to me," she observed. "Why don't you take a seat and I'll bring everything over. Daddy can pour some juice."
Draco did as he was told, then took the seat Leo pointed to. Hermione placed breakfast on the table and sat down across from Draco. "Mummy, why's Daddy still here?" Ayla asked.
Draco, too, awaited her answer. He stared at her curiously as a blush colored Hermione's cheeks. "Um, Daddy didn't have to work this morning, so he's having breakfast with us," she finally said, taking a large bite of eggs so she could answer no more questions.
"But why?" Ayla asked, turning to look at him.
He looked to Hermione for help, but she said nothing. "Um, ya know, just because," he mumbled, quickly eating his breakfast. "I think I'll go grab a shower."
The trio watched him leave in a hurry. "Mummy, what's wrong with Daddy?" Ayla asked, pushing away her plate.
"I have no idea," she muttered, pushing the plate back towards her daughter. "Now eat."
Upstairs, Draco turned on the shower, but didn't step in. There had to be a clue somewhere that would help explain what was going on. If he were dreaming, wouldn't he have awoken by now? If this were his life now, he needed to know as much as he could about it. Or find a way to turn back the last seven years of his life.
Sinking down on the foot of the bed, he let his head fall into his hands. Why could he not remember seven years of his life? What had he been drinking that afternoon that could erase so much time? So lost in thought was he that he hadn't noticed he was no longer alone.
"You're wasting water," Hermione admonished, crossing the bedroom to the bathroom. Soon the shower stopped running, and she rejoined him. "So, what's going on?"
His hands fell and he looked up. "I don't know," he replied.
Her spine straightened and she crossed her arms. "The drinking stops now," she stated. "You promised it would stop six months ago, but clearly that's not the case. You seemed so fine last night. I really thought things were better. This amnesia act is scaring the hell out of me though."
"It's not an act, Granger," he replied, getting to his feet. "I have no idea what's going on. I don't remember dating you or marrying you or having kids with you. Yesterday, I was 23 and working for my father. I was single and happy. Okay, so I wasn't happy, but at least I knew what my life was. I don't recognize any of this."
Hermione sighed as her shoulders sagged. "You realize this all sounds crazy," she said. Draco nodded, chuckling mirthlessly. "I'll help you figure out what's going on. There's just something you need to know first."
