The Future that Wouldn't Be

The Future That Wouldn't Be

Leap Day, 1992. In the Wizarding world, it was the only day a witch could legally propose to a wizard, an archaic tradition that had Hermione's inner suffragette screaming. While most female students were gathered in small groups, giggling over whom they dreamed about proposing to, Hermione was out walking along the lake. Afterward, she was never quite sure what happened--just that suddenly she was in a pile of tangled limbs and a broken broomstick. She looked up. Grey eyes met brown. She blinked, not seeing the cold, heartless eyes of a Slytherin but seeing love. Future school years were spent sneaking furtive glances across the Great Hall; brushing hands as they passed each other in the hallway; sharing a clandestine encounter in the restricted section of the Library. That and a lifetime of more flashed between them. Their remaining years at Hogwarts would follow a drastically different path then the one they were traveling on moments earlier. Draco reached out to touch her face but the loud shouts of Harry and Ron had him snatching his hand back quickly. They stood up. It was as if the moment they shared had never happened.

*

Leap Day, 1996 found Hermione walking aimlessly along the shores of the lake. It was cold out and she should be sitting in the common room with the other Gryffindors. The Weasley Twins were running a Proposal Pool. Ron had 10 sickles on Cho Chang proposing "something" to Cedric Diggory by seven pm. A rogue thought floated through her head, teasing her about who she wanted to propose to. The back of her neck prickled and she looked up. As if reading her mind, Draco Malfoy stood before her. Hermione's eyes found his and they catapulted into a moment they both knew would never happen. Ron and Harry disgusted and disappointed at her choice of lover; Lucius Malfoy stopping at nothing to see the both of them dead; a lifetime full of fear and paranoia and love. They drifted closer together. Draco reached out to touch her face and this time he managed to caress her cheek before they were interrupted. Ron was running down the shore, cloak flapping madly in the wind. Hermione turned towards him.

"Hermione, I won! You'll never guess what Cho proposed to Cedric..."

Hermione turned back towards Draco, but like the moment, he was gone.

*

Leap Day, 2004. The last day of The Month of Five Sundays, a calendrical occurrence caused by the leap year. Hermione Granger, member of the Order, had spent the past three years sifting through predictions relating to Voldemort. Her job had involved extrapolating the time and place of Voldemorts Final Battle, the battle she was now surrounded by. She was stumbling through the wreckage, seeking a safe haven. She heard a moan and with a little searching found the source. It was Draco, trapped under a concrete beam. His eyelids fluttered as he passed in and out of consciousness. Unable to lift the beam, she knelt beside him and arranged his head in her lap. Hermione stared into his vacant eyes, rekindling the connection they'd shared twice before. They recovered from their wounds in a beachfront rehabilitation clinic. They let the ocean air heal them as they took walks in the sand, he on crutches, she with her broken arm in a sling.

"Draco, will you..."

Draco exhaled, a ragged, gurgling breath. Blood spilled out of his mouth. Startled by this, Hermione snapped back to reality. Draco's eyes closed and the moment was over.