BANALITY : Draco Malfoy

56

I blink and I'm awake. My head is on the sofa, my cheek pressed against the plush fabric. When I lift my head, I feel Draco's hand on my back. My head stings. No better than an ache, but at least different.

"You're awake," Hermione's voice says.

I press my fingertips against my hairline, they feel freezing. I shuffle until I am facing forward. Draco moves his hands, one on my shoulder holding me up and the other on my thigh. The brightest of the room magnifies the stinging, so I close my eyes and focus on the pressure behind each of Draco's fingers into me. His grip is firm. It's real.

"Yes," I manage to make my lips move. The words actually feel like they are mine. I thought them and now they are out in the world. The body that I inhabit might be shit at being a body, but at least it's mine.

"What is the last thing you remember?" Hermione asks.

"Give her thirty seconds maybe, Hermione?" Ron's voice chimes in. He's speaking to her softly. It's a kindness that he doesn't use too often when I am around. Draco and I must make him angry.

I look over at the others, all sitting in the room, even if it makes me squint. Hermione, Ron, Luna, and Harry. They are wearing the same clothes as they did earlier. Hermione is not wearing the wool coat. Maybe she never was. My eyes find the clock. It's been less than ten minutes since I last checked.

My head turns, albeit barely, towards Draco. He isn't wearing the suit that I thought he was wearing. He's older too, and healthier even though his face looks nearly green.

"I think two memories slipped through," I say, trying to haphazardly put the thoughts together. I lick my lips. "Canned soup, I think. Tomato."

"You drank a lot of that while in hiding," Draco's voice is quiet. He looks away from me and towards the others.

"What else?" Hermione presses on.

I look at them, scanning their faces. Hermione does not look any older than she did last I saw her, although I suppose her face is less thin. Her jaw and cheekbones were sharper, but only slightly. Her hair was dirtier too.

I only would have seen Hermione once during the war. I was in hiding for all of it but one day.

"Did you see me too?" Luna asks.

I look at her but then look away.

"It was brief," I say. My eyes go to my hands. They can move. "I remembered part of the memory alteration. It's strange without context."

"Nothing else?" Harry asks.

They are looking at me. I know it wasn't Theo who did it. Maybe I will tell them, but not this second. Draco killed Theo. Draco already has enough to handle knowing he killed someone who didn't do the things that Draco thought he did. Coping with the disappointment of only a partial memory is enough for now.

"No," I say, and I know they will be able to tell that I am lying. It is a part of the plan.

"We can only help if you give us all the information," Hermione points out.

When I say nothing, Ginny huffs. She walks out of the room, her hair swinging behind her in its ponytail. Ron leaves to follow her.

"You can talk about Easter," Luna says, her voice as high and light as usual. "We already know what happened."

I take in a deep breath, rehearsed.

"I saw Hermione," I say. "I heard a scream."

It's easier to say it in a disembodied way. Not her scream but a scream.