Hidden In the Pensieve (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 10:

Chapter 10:

The next memories are short and in it, Hermione and Draco are unraveling.

The first: Hermione drags her suitcase out of the door of the apartment. Draco tugs on her shoulder, and she turns to face him. He’s pleading with her not to leave, tears brimming at his eyes. Hermione insists that she has to, but it doesn’t sound sincere; Ginny can tell that Hermione doesn’t want to go, but she’s forcing herself, for some unknown reason.

Tears spill out as Hermione drops her engagement ring into Draco’s hand, apologizing as she does it. Just as she does, Draco appears to no longer be able to hold his tears and a second away from falling apart. He refuses to take it, begging her to reconsider and muttering, at rapid speed, that it doesn’t have to be like this.

Hermione, not faltering in her decision, but sticking the ring in her jean pocket, kisses Draco on the cheek, then rolls away with her suitcase.

The second: Hermione’s sobbing in a bed, not her bed, though; it’s a bed at the Weasleys’ house. She’s moved back in.

The third: Hermione knocks on the apartment door.

“Hermione? What are you doing here?” Draco inquires, his eyebrows raised in a surprised manner.

There’s a troubled expression upon her face. “I dunno,” she squeaks. “I..-” Hermione bursts into tears.

Draco pulls her close, squeezing her to his chest, stroking her hair.

After they’ve stood in the doorway for quite some time, Draco leads them inside the apartment, shutting the door behind them.

Awkward staring commences between Hermione and Draco. Soon enough, though, their lips smack against each other, Draco’s hands search Hermione’s body, hungrily, and Hermione’s fingers fumble with the buttons on Draco’s shirt, in which leads them to the bedroom.

The fourth: Hermione is sitting with Ron, on the Weasleys’ sofa. Everyone else seems to have gone off somewhere. The two are simply sitting there, and from what Ginny can tell, at an awkward pause.

Ginny watches as Hermione sinks inside herself, which she had been doing numerous times after moving back in, now that Ginny recalls. As if sensing Hermione’s silent struggle, Ron takes Hermione’s hand in his. Hermione glances towards Ron, first seeming caught off guard, but then she gives a soft smile.

Despite the miniscule spark into rekindling the relationship of Ron and Hermione, Ginny does not find them together in the next memory, nor the next two, nor the next three, or even four memories after this one. Instead, they the next four memories are relapses: relapses to Hermione and Draco’s so called “goodbye”, similar to the first relapse since Hermione left the apartment.

Ginny isn’t sure what to think of, when watching the whole on and off situation between Draco and Hermione. She already knows the outcome, but watching it feels strange, especially when both Hermione and Draco are a mess. They sleep together, then fight or fight, then sleep together, or just sleep together, and occasionally, they interact like a normal couple. All the while, Ron looks for any sort of scrap he can get from Hermione. At least, these memories are brief.

Eventually, the Hermione-Draco relationship comes to a conclusion. It plays out with Draco confessing that he can’t go on like this, after executing what’s become their new routine. He goes on to say that it hurts too much to continue on like this, saying “I love you” one moment and “goodbye” the next.

“It has to be us forever, not just for a little while,” Draco says. “If I can’t have all of you…” He pauses. “It’s all or nothing,” Draco finishes, sounding hoarse.