Please Be There If I Remember

Chapter Six: Awe

Draco could not come up with enough words to describe the wonder that the Great Hall was. The only one that could remotely fit what his brain was trying to express was the word magical. Everything from the hanging candles, to the door that he walked through to get there. It all felt like an amazing dream that he never wanted to wake up from, and he had to pinch himself in the arm just to make sure.

He travelled behind his friends who had smirked at his awed face and Blaise had laughed, patting his shoulder and telling him that he would get used to it. He knew his eyes were wide open and his mouth probably the same as he stared at everything around him. Some of the people who were already in the hall glanced up at him, but weirdly enough, it was filled mostly with glares and hostility. He just looked away and continued to gape at all the different tables.

They sat down on one in the far right at the end where food had appeared miraculously and he dug into it, starving after the long day. He had woken up this morning, having no idea who or where he was, and now, hours later, he had three best friends who were funny and seemed to love him, and in a place that was welcoming and safe. He couldn't have asked for anything better and bit into the food with fervour and let the sound of Blaise and Pansy arguing drown out the thoughts of the day to help distract himself from Green Eyes staring helplessly into his soul from across the hall.

~*''*~

Once he had said goodnight to Blaise and Theo and gotten his blue silk pajamas out, ignoring the extreme rich poshness that radiated from them—it made his skin softer! What else was he supposed to wear to bed?–He laid his head down on the pillow and shut his eyes. Sleep, unsurprisingly, didn't come quickly, even though he was exhausted to the point where he had almost tripped on the stairs down to the dungeon if Theo hadn't caught his arm at the last second to make sure he didn't have another terribly fatal fall.

Ignoring the blush that had sprouted on his cheeks that he told himself was definitely from almost humiliating himself completely, and not from Theo gripping his arm tightly to make sure he made it down the rest of the steps, he had made the rest of the trip on wobbly knees and half-closed eyelids. He had gotten ready in his room, amazed at all the little details on the walls which reminded him of when he had gazed at the bathroom after he first woke up, which ended up, of course, to him thinking about Gree–Harry Potter.

He doubted he would ever call him that first try at this rate.

He had felt him staring at him at breakfast, and it took everything in Draco not to turn around and stare back or go up and straight ask him to his face what his problem was and why he was acting so strange. To be honest, everyone around him was acting weird, especially whenever he smiled or waved to his friends in the Slytherin dormitory before they went to a thing called the Inquisitorial Squad—something he had learned he was a part of, and he couldn't explain the odd bitter feeling he got when he heard that—but he would not be attending yet due to his...precarious condition.

He had walked around the Slytherin dormitories and common room, ignoring anyone who attempted to talk to him, which actually wasn't many other people. He seemed to only have the three friends, and found that he was quite lonely while waiting for them to finish the meeting. He wasn't exactly complaining or anything—talking to people who didn't know about his complete memory wipe would not have been a good time passer as Draco would fidget the entire time and hope he wasn't acting too strangely or not keeping his posture straight.

Really, the thoughts that keep you occupied when you are bored are not very comforting, Draco thought to himself as he spun his own wand between his hands. It had worked normally for him, which was a good sign. He had no idea what he would have done if his wand did not respond to him now that he was a different person since the Memory Catastrophe as he liked to call it now.

After waiting a while for Blaise, Pansy, and Theo to come back, they finally stepped through the wall into the common room where Draco leapt up from the couch and nearly sprinted to them.

"You're back!" He called out.

"Yep," they all responded simultaneously before looking at each other and bursting into laughter.

After their chuckles had died off, Pansy spoke up with a roll of her eyes. "Umbridge took bloody forever. She wouldn't shut up about the stupid army that she thinks Potter's built."

"What about Harry Potter?" Draco asked, not entirely sure why he was so curious. (He was also still on the fence on whether to call him Harry or Potter)

Maybe it was just because he was the first student you really talked to outside of the infirmary, he told himself assuredly, that's the only reason.

"He and his stupid trio seem to have made some kind of army in the student body, and Umbridge wants us to figure out where he's training them," Blaise answered.

"Hmm," was all Draco had to say back.

Theo looked slightly uncomfortable beside them like he wanted to add something to the conversation but he didn't know how to. He stuck with biting his thumb and tapping his hand on his leg in a constant motion. Draco contemplated asking him what it was, but considering the fact that he didn't know him well enough to know if that was a good idea, he stayed silent.

He travelled with Blaise and Theo back to his dorms after saying goodnight to Pansy and got ready for bed. The pillow felt warm and uncomfortable beneath his head, and his brain couldn't seem to shut off. It kept playing back the memory-like image he saw—repeating the words Malfoy's don't stutter in a chant that Draco was sure was some kind of ritual at this point based on the monotone, constant stream. If asked, he would be able to say it out loud exactly the same, even accentuating the 't' sound like the voice in his head kept doing and noting how to fluctuate the 'm' with his lips pursed and pushing the vowel out the same way he spat out the 'p' in Potter.

After what felt like hours, he finally fell asleep to the rhythm of what he had a distinct feeling was his father's voice.

~*''*~

Someone was jabbing his shoulder. That was his first thought as he came to. He could have sworn he had literally just closed his eyes a few minutes ago, and now his arms were being assaulted by someone poking and prodding and yelling in his ear.

"By Merlin Draco, get up this instant, or I will drag you to class looking like that."

He shot right up out of bed. "Like what!?"

Theo's scoff could be heard from the open door of the bathroom.

He gazed down at himself to see his nice silk pyjamas all ruffled up, and his hair was going past his eyelids in all directions.

"Blaise, what time is it!?" Draco asked, now panicking because he certainly could not be seen going to class for the first time like this!

"Don't worry Draco," Blaise huffed a laugh, "I know exactly which time to wake you up at so you get the maximum amount of sleep and still have enough time to look 'pitch perfect' in the morning—you do this every day, don't you remember? Oh, wait, sorry...didn't mean it like that." Now Blaise was awkwardly rubbing the back of his head apologetically, acting like he just accidentally tore the head off of Draco's favourite stuffed animal.

"You guys are so sensitive about it, don't worry it's fine, Blaise. But you better be right about the fact that I have enough time in the morning."

He cast a quick tempus on his wand to see that it was 7:30.

"What! You liar! This is not nearly enough time!" And now Draco was running around the dorm room and shoving Theo as quickly as he could out of the bathroom.

"Out of the way Theo, I need to fix my hair."

He ignored his half-attempted protests and left them to laugh to themselves at his craziness.

"Never change Draco," Blaise called from the room as he delicately put the gel into his hair to make it as perfect as possible.

"Wasn't planning on it," he smiled to himself in the mirror.

If every morning was like this one, then Draco would be just fine.