Lost And Found

REVELATIONS

"Hermione, say something, please", pleaded Draco.

It had been almost an hour since he rushed to her room at the sound of commotion and found her on the floor in a tangle of sheets. Parchments, books, ink bottle, quills - all were scattered around her.

It seemed like she fell from the bed, knocking down everything on the bedside table with her.

From her ashen face and sweat covered forehead, it was fairly obvious that she had a nightmare, again, but this time it was more severe than before.

And she refused to speak, about the nightmare, about how she was feeling or about anything at all.

Whike Draco helped her from the floor, took her to the sofa or tended to her wounds, she just reacted to these mechanically, staring blankly in front of her, as if she was just physically present there.

The silence and her lack of response or any show of emotions drove Draco mad.

At first, he understood. He gave her time to collect her thoughts and just sat beside her to give how much comfort he could offer with his presence. But when it was going to be an hour, he started to worry.

He gently touched her shoulders.

"Hermione, darling, look at me."

No response.

He shook her gently.

"Hey, just look at this way. You don't have to talk. Just look it me, okay?"

Again, no response.

Now he started to shake her more forcefully and she jerked out of the trance. She looked directly at him and blurted out,

"He is there, inside my mind! Whenever I sleep, he is there!"

"What the hell are yo-"

"Why didn't I realise it earlier?! It was so obvious! The nature of my dreams, the thoughts, continuous seeds of doubt and hatred towards you - all these indicate the same thing! Someone is trying to make me hate you and eventually....... eventually.....make me....."

"Make you what?"

"Kill you", she whispered these last two words so softly that he could barely hear it.

"I don't understand fully what you are talking about, Hermione."

"I.... Malfoy, I think I understood a little bit about the way my memory might have been modified."

With the excitement of this new discovery, she couldn't sit still anymore. She jumped out of the sofa and started to pace, while talking to herself under her breath continuously.

Draco's eyes followed her movements. Within a few minutes, his head started spinning.

"Hey, hey, hey, stop it, stop it! You'll make a hole on the floor! Come here, have a sit and talk to me like a sane person", he cried out.

But seeing no difference in her action, he decided to take a more direct step. He stood up from the sofa, went towards her and grabbed both her shoulders with his hands, effectively stopping her from pacing anymore.

"Now, tell me. Tell me from the beginning."

Hermione nodded.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "You certainly remember that someone added a potion in my drink at the night of the ball. We were wondering how a potion can modify someone's memory. We have been searching for potions with qualities of memory modification charms. But we failed. Do you know why?"