We keep this love in a photograph
We made these memories for ourselves
Where our eyes are never closing
Hearts are never broken
And time's forever frozen still
- Photograph - Ed Sheeran
Chapter Ten
Memories
Draco trudged into the living room and flopped onto the sofa. Hermione look up at him from her seat on the floor, grinning.
'Nova finally asleep?'
Draco nodded, eyes closed.
'How many stories she get out of you this time?'
'Three,' he groaned.
'Three?! You're such a pushover! Even Scorpius draws the line at two!'
'I know, I know,' he grimaced. 'Hugo get off to his friend's house ok?'
'Yeah, Josh and his mum picked him up a little while ago. Hope it didn't disturb story time too much when he went to pack his overnight bag?'
'Nah, he was fine. She wasn't very settled, and would've been upset in the morning if he hadn't said "bye". Where are the other two?'
'Playing board games in their room.'
Draco squinted at Hermione. She was sat cross-legged by the fireplace, reading a large stack of letters and cards. The shoe box lay open next to her.
'What else you find in there?'
'All kinds of stuff, look!'
She dug into the box, which was bigger on the inside. She pulled out a jumbled pile of objects and carried it over to Draco. He sat up and she dumped it onto the seat next to him. She curled up onto his lap and picked out two bracelets.
'Here's mine and Hugo's hospital bands,' she said. 'Look how tiny he was'
'Is this our ticket stubs from Paris?' Draco picked up scraps of parchment. 'It is! And my note telling the officials to keep it secret!'
'I can't believe you took me to France for a first date,' Hermione laughed. 'Such a show-off. Oh! Here's the tickets from our honeymoon.'
'I'm still amazed your parents looked after our little monsters for a whole month while we went on that cruise!'
'They loved it. And we did send them on a pretty nice holiday afterwards to say "thank you"! Aww, look, here's my old prefect badge. Do you still have yours?'
'Hell no, I lost that thing decades ago. Think they only gave it to me to try and keep me busy. Hoping I wouldn't get involved in that...other stuff.'
'I mean...I can see the logic there, sure. Probably thought some responsibility would do you some good.'
'Didn't really work out too well, though!' Draco plucked another badge out of the pile. 'When were you Head Girl?!'
'After the War, when I went back for my final year.'
'So, you were Head Girl the same time Tori was a prefect?'
'Oh my God. You're right!' Hermione leaped up and started rummaging through the box. She returned with a pile of photos. 'I always meant to put these in an album, but I never got round to it.'
Draco watched her flick through pictures from her days at Hogwarts.
'Wait, let me see that one!'
Hermione sighed and handed him an unmoving photograph. She was young and terrified, dressed in her Hogwarts robes and hat. Her wand was held delicately in her hand. He recognised the Granger living room behind her.
'When was this?'
'Just before we left for King's Cross. First year. God, my hair is such a disaster. And my teeth! Ugh. Put it away!'
Hermione snatched it from his hand and hid it behind the other photos. The next one was of her and Krum at the Yule Ball.
'Look at Weasley's face!' Draco laughed. Ron was glowering in the background.
'Look at yours!' Hermione said, pointing to an open-mouthed Draco in the corner.
'Fair point. What are you looking for?'
'Something. Oh wow, look, it's us!'
'No way?! I forgot this was taken. Look how young we are!'
It was a picture of all the prefects, standing with Professor Dumbledore and the Heads of Houses. Professor Snape had his hand on Draco's shoulder, while Hermione was beaming next to Professor McGonagall. Draco looked bored and kept sneering at the others. Ron was glaring back at him, ignoring the person taking the photo.
'Merlin, I was such an idiot back then,' Draco sighed.
'Yeah. You were. But you grew up into a pretty decent guy.'
'What d'ya mean "pretty decent"?!' Draco pretended to look offended.
Hermione smiled and kissed him, then kept looking through the photos.
'Here it is, look!'
It was another photo of professors and students. Hermione stood by Professor McGonagall again. They both looked exhausted. Everyone's smiles were sad and a little strained. Standing next to Professor Slughorn was a blonde teenager. She kept tucking a strand of hair nervously behind her ear, her eyes flicking around the room. A shiny prefect badge was pinned to her robes.
'Bloody hell,' Draco whispered, his voice catching. 'Can I...can I show Scorpius?'
'Course you can. He can keep it, if he wants. I'm sorry I didn't remember it earlier.'
Draco didn't reply, staring at the photo. Hermione wrapped her arms around him, holding him close.
*****
Hermione woke up in the middle of the night. Reaching for Draco, her fingers closed on empty sheets. She could hear quiet movement in the attic above her. She padded out of their room, wrapped in a blanket. The attic ladder was down, and she curiously climbed the rungs.
'Draco?'
He was sat in a corner under the low roof. His wand was propped up against a box, its dim light throwing long shadows across the floor.
'It's 2am, Draco, what are you doing?'
Hermione crossed the floor and sat next to him. He had a wooden box open in front of him, which had pretty gold swirls inlaid in the wood.
'Is this her memory box?'
Draco nodded, holding letter covered in his elegant handwriting. He handed her a green prefect badge, and a photo identical to Hermione's. Astoria had written everyone's names in looped letters on the back.
'Are you giving this one to Scorpius instead? Or are you keeping it?'
'I'll give it to Scorp,' Draco said softly. 'I found some other things he'd like too, look.'
Hermione looked at the pile he was pointing to. She smiled at a strip of pictures from a photo-booth. Astoria was pulling faces and putting bunny-ears behind a serious Draco. By the final photo they were both laughing, her head leaning on his shoulder.
'You two look so happy together,' Hermione said, squeezing Draco's hand. 'Is this the first time you've looked in the box?'
'Yeah. After she died I just packed up everything I couldn't bear to throw away. Sealed it all inside a suitcase and never opened it again. It's been in one attic or another ever since.'
Hermione glanced inside the suitcase. She saw a veil folded neatly, along with a teddy bear and a wand.
'Look, it's Scorpius' birth announcement,' Draco said, showing her a newspaper clipping. 'October 18th 2005. Weighing 7lb 1oz.'
Hermione picked up another newspaper article.
'Is this an article about your wedding?!'
'Ugh, yes. Skeeter sneaked in and wrote some sensationalised crap.'
'Serves you right for having "the biggest high society wedding of the decade",' Hermione giggled. 'Ooh, at The Ritz?! Aren't you fancy?!'
'Our mothers planned it,' Draco shrugged. 'That's why I wanted ours to be so low-key. I wanted it to be totally our own.'
'Ours was perfect,' Hermione agreed, kissing him.
'Better than your first wedding?'
'It's not a competition!'
'I know,' Draco smiled. 'But it was, right?'
'Maybe...'
'Maybe?! C'mon, I remember reading about it in The Prophet. You might mock my "high society" wedding, but yours was almost as bad. Full of all the pomp and circumstance Weasley felt befitted him. I know that's not your kind of thing!'
'True,' Hermione laughed. 'It was pretty over the top. Ole Rita was actually barred after we read what she wrote about yours!'
'Always knew you were the clever one,' Draco said. 'Let's go back to bed, love.'
He quietly packed up Astoria's memory box and put it back into the suitcase. He closed the lid and stood to leave, pulling Hermione to her feet. He paused, then took the teddy out. He added that to the pile he was taking for Scorpius.