Chapter Two: The Unseen Divine…

The next few days felt like a blur to Hermione. She kept busy with her schoolwork and tried to engage with her friends as usual, but there was a persistent sense of unease hanging over her. The strange feeling that something was missing wouldn’t go away. It was a feeling that followed her like a shadow, a quiet tug at the back of her mind, no matter how much she tried to ignore it. Something fundamental had changed, and the more she pushed it aside, the louder it became.

She tried to chalk it up to the stress of exams, or maybe the emotional toll of the past years. But each time she found herself looking at Draco Malfoy—whether in class or in the halls—a strange dissonance stirred in her chest. The closer she looked at him, the more she could almost swear she had known him differently. She wasn’t sure what it meant or what had happened, but the flashes of memories—like fleeting glimpses of him in a way she couldn’t explain—seemed to intensify with every encounter.

It wasn’t just Draco’s sudden appearance in her mind that unsettled her. It was his presence in real life. The way his eyes would flicker over her with a strange intensity, followed by an awkward avoidance. The subtle ways he’d linger in the halls when she walked past him, almost as though he was waiting for something—waiting for her to acknowledge him, waiting for something to *click.*

But when she looked at him, she couldn’t feel what she had once felt. Or at least, she thought she couldn’t. Every time their eyes met, her heart would flutter unexpectedly, and then she would feel a sudden emptiness, as if she were being dragged away from some deep, buried memory. It was like being on the edge of remembering something important, but unable to grasp it.

On one particular afternoon, she found herself sitting next to Draco in Transfiguration. Ron and Harry were a few rows away, busy discussing the latest Quidditch match, but Hermione couldn’t focus on their conversation. Instead, she kept stealing glances at Draco, trying to figure out what it was that she was missing.

Draco, for his part, was staring at the parchment in front of him, his face unreadable as always. He didn’t even look up when the professor called on him, simply answering in his usual clipped tone when the question was directed his way. But then, something shifted. As Hermione was about to write down the answer to her own question, Draco’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Hermione,” he said softly, his voice almost hesitant. He never called her by her first name in class—not without some sort of sarcasm or mockery. The way he said it now was… different. “You alright?”

Hermione blinked, startled out of her thoughts. She had been so lost in her own confusion, she hadn’t realized how much time had passed. Draco’s gaze was on her, his usual coldness replaced by something more complicated, something she couldn’t quite read. Was that concern in his eyes?

“I’m fine,” she answered quickly, a bit too quickly. She could feel the heat rise to her cheeks as she looked away, focusing hard on her notes. “Just tired. You know, exams.”

But Draco didn’t look convinced. He was still watching her, his brows furrowed slightly, his mouth set in a thin line. His usual composure was there, but there was a subtle vulnerability in the way he was studying her that Hermione couldn’t ignore.

“I didn’t mean to—” he began, but stopped himself mid-sentence, as if reconsidering the words. “Forget it.”

Hermione looked at him then, really looked at him. There was something in his eyes that she hadn’t seen before, something raw, something unguarded. And for a brief, fleeting moment, she could have sworn there was a flicker of regret there, buried beneath his usual mask of indifference.

But that couldn’t be right. Draco Malfoy didn’t regret anything. He didn’t have feelings like that. He had never shown any softness to her—at least, not in the way that would make her feel like he had actually cared. They had always been enemies, hadn’t they? Enemies who had rarely spoken outside of insults and barbed comments.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Draco’s voice was soft now, quieter, with an almost imperceptible hint of concern. He wasn’t looking at her in his usual haughty way; his gaze was no longer the calculating, indifferent stare of the Slytherin who had always kept his distance.

Hermione’s heart beat faster, and the confusion swirling in her mind deepened. Something was wrong. Something wasn’t adding up. The Draco Malfoy she knew didn’t ask questions like this. He didn’t *care* how she felt, and yet here he was, trying—*really* trying—to understand her.

“I’m fine,” Hermione repeated, a little too firmly. She could feel the walls inside her rising again, pushing back against the strange connection that had formed between them. She had no idea where it had come from, or what it meant, but it didn’t feel right. And it wasn’t just because of their past. It was something more. There was a part of her that felt *lost* when she looked at him. She didn’t understand it.

The rest of the lesson passed in a blur of muted voices and shuffling parchment. She could barely focus on what was being taught, her mind constantly drifting back to Draco. The feeling of unfamiliarity kept returning—each time she glanced at him, each time his eyes met hers, it was like a flicker of recognition that immediately dissolved into something she couldn’t define. It was as though the two of them were standing on the edge of a precipice, and the memories—*their memories*—were just out of reach, like a distant echo of something that had been lost forever.

After class, Draco remained seated for a moment longer than usual, his fingers drumming lightly on the desk. Hermione made a move to leave, but something held her in place. She stood there for a few seconds, watching him, before she turned away quickly, her heart pounding in her chest.

What was going on? Why was he suddenly acting like this?

She didn’t have the answers, but one thing was certain: something was very wrong between them. And Hermione couldn’t shake the feeling that she was about to uncover something that would change everything.

And that thought terrified her.

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