Lost In Our Memories (Dramione story) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 38

Draco stared at her for a moment, feeling a combination of emotions. Then, seeing her determined expression, he realized there was no going back from this. With this realization, Draco was slowly starting to feel calmer. His breathing became even, and his eyes looked less stormier. He stared at her face, feeling an overwhelming sadness, but the fear was mostly gone.

He soon felt empty, hollow inside, as if a vast abyss opened up and sucked him in its nothingness. He was in front of a cliff and the only possible way was down, so he took a step forward and jumped. With that, he took her hands in his, clasping them tightly. She flinched but did not pushed him away.

He started speaking, at first slowly, then after a few moments he felt relieved by it, so he continued to speak. Thus, he poured out everything he had been hiding, everything he had ever concealed from her. Funnily, it made him feel better, as if a heavy weight was being lifted from his chest.

When he finally reached the part he used to dread, he was surprised to find out he was actually eager to tell her. All he wanted was to get that burden out of his heart, and so he did. And she listened. She quietly listened to all of it.

"That day after the battle I came back." Draco said quietly, looking down at their hands. "I returned to the school in order to help, to do something, anything to redeem myself. I was walking along the pathway that went from the iron gates up to the castle when I heard noises coming from behind the trees. It sounded as if a battle was going on, so I decided to check it out. I left the path and soon I saw a small clearing. Spells were flying everywhere and for a moment I didn't know what was going on. But then it stopped, and I saw you, Hermione. The Death Eaters had surrounded you. It must have been around five of them. They had hurt you, but you still would not back down. I saw you sending your Patronus to call for backup, but I knew they wouldn't get there in time. That is when I realized I had to act quickly before you got even more hurt. So I devised a plan and went out from behind the trees with my wand raised. When they heard movement, the Death Eaters turned towards me forgetting about you for a moment. I made sure to give you a warning look and I think you got the message because you remained still and quiet. Raising my wand higher I told them who I was and that you were mine to kill. You were the mudblood who helped imprison my father and I wanted revenge. They did not argue with me and for a moment I thought I had fooled them, but then one of the Death Eaters came face to face with me and told me to prove it, to demonstrate I was on their side and not a traitor. The rest agreed and I knew if I didn't do something they wouldn't let us get out of there alive."

Draco stopped and took a deep shaky breath. His face was now a mask of pain, but it was his heart that hurt, not his body. He looked at Hermione and saw her breathing heavily, staring back at him. She looked angry and confused. Not able to support her weight any longer, she had collapsed on the ground. Draco released her hands and remained standing, looking down at her.

"Our only chance was to make them trust me enough to leave us alone. Therefore, I did the only thing I could think of. I raised my wand and..."

Draco stopped again and felt the Veritaserum potion working against him, its twin making Hermione let out a gasp of pain. He gritted his teeth and continued, not once looking away from Hermione's eyes. If he had to be honest at least he would look her straight in the eye and tell her the truth. He won't be a coward anymore.

"I raised my wand and shot a curse at you, Hermione. I attacked you with a slicing curse, making sure it did enough damage to fool the Death Eaters without putting your life in danger. For a moment they hesitated but as soon as they saw you collapse, bleeding profusely, they backed away. They left and after I made sure they were far enough, I hurried to you. When you saw me you tried to attack me, but I took away your wand and stunned you. I managed to stop the bleeding and healed the wound as best as I could. You had lost a lot of blood though and weren't going to wake up anytime soon, but there was nothing more I could do for you so I got up to leave."

Draco struggled against the potion, knowing the part he was about to say was the most difficult one. As soon as he would say the words there would be no coming back from it.

"Suddenly, a thought entered my mind. What if you forgot this ever happened? Me cursing you, the torture you endured at the Manor, the most appalling things I did to you during school... what if you were to forget them all? Would that help you be happy now that the war was over? So I thought and decided it would be best for you, to forget those things. Therefore, I turned around and cast the Obliviate on you."

Draco took another deep breath and continued quickly, as if afraid his determination would waver if he stopped.

"I didn't intend for you to forget all about me, just the traumatizing experiences. You already hated me, there was no need to add one more reason to that huge pile you probably had. But the spell didn't work as well as I had intended. It might be due to my emotions being too intense when I performed the spell, or you being out cold. Nevertheless it happened, and I made sure I wasn't there when they found you. I left the country a week after that, ashamed and afraid of what I did, feeling determined never to see you again, not knowing the effects of my spell. Three years later I came back home, and you were suddenly my neighbor, talking to me and smiling at me as if I actually deserved it. That made me feel selfish, and I allowed myself to hope I might receive another chance now that you didn't remember me."

Draco stopped talking, feeling drained. There was nothing more to be said, so he just stood there in front of Hermione, staring blankly into her eyes.

Hermione on the other hand, felt like she was suffocating. She knew he was telling the truth. Every bit of it was true. The potion McKinley had given her made her body sensitive to everything Draco had said, and due to it she knew he was not lying. Somehow, that made her feel even more wretched. He had attacked her, he had Obliviated her just because he wanted to hide his past mistakes.

What kind of person does that?! What kind of monster makes people forget stuff just because they are too ashamed of what they did?! He should have apologized, admitting is mistakes and paying for them. Instead he chose to run away, to hide and be a coward. I hate him!

Suddenly, hot anger rose inside her chest. Her body started to tremble, the mere sight of Draco giving her physical pain. She tried to back away from him but bumped into McKinley who was standing behind her.

"I warned you about him, Hermione." McKinley told her with a sigh.

"Shut up! You're no better than him." She threw at McKinley through gritted teeth. There was loathing in her eyes and voice.

Her statement merely amused McKinley, but Draco looked worse than if she had cursed him. He flinched at her words, his breathing becoming shallow.

What were you expecting Draco? Understanding? Forgiveness? You should have known there are no such things for you, not after everything you have done. He thought bitterly.

Despite the disgusted manner in which she was looking at him, he could not tear his eyes way from her face. It was time he ended things and he wanted to engrave her beautiful features into his mind.

His well-trained body moved swiftly, closing the space between himself and Hermione. He got her out of McKinley's reach just as he was about to make a grab for her. Hermione struggled against his hold, fighting against his arms, but he did not let her go. A second later, he pressed something in her hands and leaned his head down close to her ear.

"Take this and run!" he said under his breath, then shoved her rather brutally straight into Theo's arms, who caught her just in time.

He heard Harry protest, but ignored him. Instead, he turned towards McKinley, who looked furious at him.

"Let's take things elsewhere McKinley, shall we?" Draco drawled.

A second later, Draco exploded into black smoke and flew from the clearing, taking McKinley away with him, leaving the others in astonished silence.

Thank you all for reading this story! There you have it. Draco's confession of all his past crimes. Curious to see how Hermione deals with this new information? Stay tuned for the next chapters (not many are left, after all). Until then, have a wonderful day! ^_^ <333