Work Text:
1947
Mia Meyers was a good, hard-working girl. She was always on time at her job at the office, did her overtime if asked, and got home to her cat, Snoopers. She had her life all lined up, just the way she liked it. Everything, apart from her annoying co-worker, David Stevenson. He never left her alone. He was always around to talk to her, usually to distraction. Always trying to charm her, like she couldn't see that he only did it out of boredom. It was known he was a looker; he could have any girl he wanted. He would never look at her that way.
Oh, ok, she had a tiny little crush on him! It was not a crime; you know! She was hiding it. She was managing it, except for the nights alone in her bed. Imagining him by her side. Just talking. Or maybe kissing. She knew it was fruitless. And she hid her tears.
But one day, everything changed. He wasn't at work. Their boss said he had quit. No reason. He had just left.
Mia was crushed. She tried to get on with her life, but she found it was really hard. Like she had a wound that would not heal, no matter what.
She eventually convinced herself to move on. She got married, had a loving family, lived to an old age, and saw her grandchildren. But she never forgot him.
1974
Dan Roberts signed tiredly. He didn't have time for this. Being a doctor meant a few precious hours of rest, and having to deal with Mrs. Harris again would not help him on that front. But he liked his elderly neighbour, and he wasn't cold-hearted. He knocked at her door. "Mrs. Harris, it's Dan from 32b!"
After a few moments, she opened her door to him, smiling and relieved, and motioned for him to come in.
"Dan, I'm so sorry to have called you, but I really cannot move the damned sofa the other way! Even Samantha tried, but she couldn't!"
Dan hadn't heard that name before, so he dared to ask, "Samantha?"
Mrs. Harris lost a bit of her smile, and her cheeks reddened, as if embarrassed. "Samantha is the girl that my daughter insisted on hiring to help me around the house. She is lovely, but I think my daughter needn't hire her. She's so overprotective!"
Dan, while Mrs. Harris talked, saw the offending sofa and moved it towards the wall, as clearly as someone else had tried to do. When that was done, he straightened up, and asked, "Is that ok, Mrs. Harris? Do you need it moved anywhere else?" Mrs. Harris smiled again and told him: "Dan, my boy, you're a godsend! I don't need it anywhere else, thank you, but I must insist that you stay for lunch!" Dan, being taken aback, tried to deny it, to no avail. He, apparently, was staying for lunch.
Mrs. Harris sat with him in her living room, offering him her famous chocolate chip cookies, while waiting for Samantha to come back. At 13:15, the door opened, and Dan lost all reason to leave, along with his heart. The famous Samantha was a petite blond woman with clear blue eyes, a warm smile, and, as he would later discover, the biggest heart he would ever meet. She loved Sunday walks, books, and green tea.
And Dan, right there and then, swore he would do everything he could to be with her. Until she noticed the gleam in her right hand. And he knew he was too late.
He didn't know how he was at lunch, what he said, how he acted. He was crushed.
On another visit, Mrs Harris let it slip she was happy in her marriage. That she would soon move, because she was pregnant, and her husband was working abroad.
He never dared to say anything to her but the most basic polite talk.
And then she moved.
Dan, after that, moved himself in another building, citing something about the rent. He couldn't admit that it was because of her. He never married. And the day she got admitted to his hospital with cancer, five years later, he knew it was over for him.
A year to the day she died, he died in his sleep, mourning her.
No one knew why he had died so suddenly and so young. No one would imagine it was from a broken heart.
1993
When, somewhere in a boarding school in Scotland, Hermione Granger slapped Draco Malfoy, a little spark of magic flew between them. He, in shock, ran away to hide his shame, and she, in desperation, hid it in the back of her mind.
She told no one about the memories that flashed in her mind because of that touch.
Neither did he.
3 years later, while laying in a bathroom and losing his precious pure blood, Draco Malfoy only had those memories as company, along with his shame that he was on the wrong side. Always the wrong time for them.
And then the war happened, and she was brought to his home. She was tortured in front of him. Her eyes, pleading. Her sanity, hanging by a thread.
Draco, immobile, unable to save her, yet again. His guilt, crashing him from the inside out.
After that house-elf saved them, Draco got excused to his room and wept tears of relief. She was alive.
After the end was over, in his trial, she spoke about him, telling everyone how, by hesitating to name them, he somehow changed the tides of war. That he was worthy of a chance to choose for himself. That they owned that to him, because no one protected him.
Somehow, the Winzegamot heard her and he was pardoned. He was free.
This time, he didn't hesitate.
The next day, he owled her, saying she wanted to talk to her.
Set a time at a lesser-known place in Diagon Alley, and waited.
Thankfully, she came, a vision in blue, and Draco swore he lost his heart again.
"Granger. Thank you so much for agreeing to meet me. I think you know why I'm here."
Hermione's heart was beating a thousand miles a minute. She prayed to anyone who heard that he would remember. Please.
She spoke, her voice breaking suddenly.
"Why?"
Draco threw all caution to the wind. He would try this time. He wouldn't be a coward again.
"To thank you for my trial. My mother's. You saved us, though you had no reason to. So, thank you."
Hermione knew it was now or never.
"Is that all?" She prayed again.
''No. Granger... Please tell me you remember. Tell me you know who I am."
Hermione, sobbing, threw her arms around him and hugged him like he would disappear if she didn't. He hugged her back, knowing that finally, they were both where they belonged. Together.