Signum Vitalis (a dramione story)

In which there are revelations

"Thank you, Hermione. Since we are small enough today, we'll do a discussion meeting with the focus on the first three steps. I'll ask you to limit your share to under five minutes."

...

With the chairs pulled into a semi-circle of sorts, it almost felt like one of her upper-level classes where they had mostly discussed the material rather than listening to a lecture. However, Hermione had never felt so unprepared for a discussion in her life. True, she had read the material, but that was all. She had barely finished reading it in time and had had no desire to think about it in relationship to herself. She was very glad she wasn't expected to participate in this discussion.

For the most part, these people looked like those that she would meet on the street. A middle-aged woman in her out-dated clothing and chunky jewelry. A barely-old-enough-to-legally-drink young man in his leather jacket, combat boots and pimpled-face. Several of the people were wrapped in ratty blankets, looking like they were on hard times because of their low quality clothes and poor hygiene. She possibly could have been alienated by that before, but she had been a fugitive and had looked like them at one point. Mostly it reminded her of how she had felt during that time. Lost. Terrified. Hunted. She checked over her shoulder, counting the exits, before scanning the faces of the people around her again.

Draco reached over and squeezed her hand. She turned to him, knowing she wasn't completely hiding her discomfort.

"I've been here for almost a year. They are okay," he whispered.

Hermione took in a shuddering breath and nodded. After she had forced a few deep inhales and exhales, he released her hand.

Draco was designated as the first to speak and stood up. He had pulled on the persona he used with their classmates, especially initially; a little detached but still exuding charisma. "My name is Draco." There was a chorus of greetings. "Most of you have heard my story," he said with a side glance towards Hermione. "The short of it is I made a lot of bad decisions when I was younger and then had to deal with the fallout of those choices.

"I used alcohol to deal with that and then, because of my addiction, I got in trouble with the law. Samir" –Draco exchanged a nod with said man- "agreed to bail me out only if I agreed to start coming to the meetings."

Hermione wondered if they had known each other before that. Either way, she couldn't imagine the old Draco interacting with Samir in any way that would make the man want to bail Draco out.

"There I saw people who had been where I was and had somehow found happiness. I decided to work the steps." He briefly looked towards Hermione before continuing.

"I can tell you that the promises made in this book have happened in my life. I was at a point of no hope when I reached out to my higher power" -Draco tried to clear his throat but his voice remained hoarse- "and he helped me out of the darkness. This works as long as you work it." He ended with a nod and sat down.

Hermione blinked. Higher power? He had never mentioned religion before. Who or what was his higher power? She tried to read his face as there was a chorus of 'thank you' from the others. Their eyes met briefly before she smiled and turned away to the next speaker. It had been pretty obvious that that had been at least partially directed towards her. She didn't like the feeling of being preached at, but she couldn't tell if he had done it on purpose. Heaven knew he probably didn't have much experience helping out a friend like this (or at least she hoped not.) She wasn't sure what he wanted her to know, though. Really, it just made her want to ask him more questions.

Through the other shares, there were similar stories to Draco's. Jacob had a grandchild he had never seen. Another man told his story of reconciliation with his wife and the happy Thanksgiving he had shared with her. Some of the shares were very preachy and Hermione almost felt like she was listening to a sermon, but mostly people spoke of how their God had given them the hope and strength to overcome their addiction. It almost felt like being in church or talking to Luna; many of them were very frank. She was torn between hanging on their every word and cutting herself off from it all. It was too real. Too personal. Too relatable.