Begin Again - Dramione

Reminiscence

Hermione's POV

"When we think we have been hurt by someone in the past, we build up defenses to protect ourselves from being hurt in the future. So the fearful past causes a fearful future and the past and future become one. We cannot love when we feel fear.... When we release the fearful past and forgive everyone, we will experience total love and oneness with all." ― Gerald G. Jampolsky

To say I was nervous was an understatement. Out of all the mad adventures I had ever gone on, this interrogation with Harry seemed to scare me more than even Bellatrix's Cruciatus could ever do. On top of that, Draco's persistent silence was making me feel uncomfortable. I needed to know if he had his wits about him unlike me. One of us needed to be strong for this. And I was counting on him to be the one out of the both of us - For a change.

I'd spent all night laying wide awake, trying to will my crazy muse to not go into over drive. The last thing I- or Harry or well even Draco wanted was for the whole process to turn into a disaster. Clearly, the odds were not in our favor, but I was still hoping we'd somewhat succeed.

We'd arrived earlier than our expected time at the Inn.I was sure Draco had cussed me to hell and back all the way here from the castle. But I was much too much worked up to really care. As we now sat in the little room, given to us for much needed privacy, I took out the neat stack of parchments out of my hand bag and spread them on the coffee table in front of me.

"Right- so I have all the questions here. And then we need the copies of his actual memories. You will have to copy them and then we'll do a written account." I rushed, letting the nervousness take over. Draco gave no response whatsoever. I was used to that by now. Ever since we'd left the castle he'd barely said a word to me. As I began contemplating ways to make Draco open up himself to me, there was a knock on the door.

Harry appeared in the doorway seconds later. With a feeble smile he closed the door and then made his way towards me. My heart sank lower with every step that he took towards the chair in front of me.

"Morning," He smiled weakly. At that moment, the little orphaned boy who had been through more than the fair share of troubles and shocks shone through his green eyes and all I wanted was to take him into my arms and shield him from what was about to come. But as it was, this had to be done. I could only hope it would provide him with the closure he needed.

"Hi. How are you?" I whispered. From the corner of my eye, I saw Draco turn his back to me- perhaps to give us a private moment. Just thinking about Draco showing any form of consideration felt odd.

"Not sure really," he replied truthfully. We stared into each other's eyes, taking courage from one other as we'd done so many times before. Taking a deep breathe, I prepared myself.

"We have to do this. . . You know it. . ." I tried to explain, but he just shook his head.

"I know. You don't have to give any kind of explanation. It's for the greater good." He told me. I couldn't help it this time, bending forward over the coffee table I took my best friend in a tight hug.

"Thanks so much for doing this." I whispered as tears threatened to spill from my eyes. He nodded against my shoulder and I knew he was close to tears too. An awkward cough broke us out of our little moment and we both looked up to see Draco standing before us, now facing us but his eyes were fixed on the parchment on the coffee table.

"We don't have all day to waste Granger." He reminded me in a baritone. I nodded frantically, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand.

"Yes, well yeah. L-Let's get started then.." I picked up the stack of parchments off the table and shuffled them into order, Draco took the chair next to me. There was a heavy pause as we all sat there, the magnitude of everything sinking in that very moment.