Dearly Cursed

There was exactly one person culpable in cursing Draco and he knew exactly who it was. Hermoine fucking Granger with her indignant self-righteous attitude, her giant hair and her bony knees. He’ll never attain in his life or in love, and he will curse the day he uttered that my blood was mud. The words had been stuck in his head for hours and hours, when he’d gone to bed they had pranced across his eyelids until he fell asleep. When he finally drifted off he heard Granger’s voice mockingly serenading him with them until he woke up. He was so consumed by them that hadn’t even registered that he was in his townhouse completely alone until the next morning. He was making his morning cup of tea when a nagging feeling that something was missing tugged at him. It was Tipsy, the absence of the whiskers tickling his ankles and tail wrapped around his leg that he had felt every morning was gone. His heart sank yet again, Astoria had taken their cat with her. Something in Draco snapped, his heart pounded hard until he heard it clanging in his ears. His vision blurred and he hurled the teacup against the wall. This was unbelievable, his entire life in shambles in an instant. He rammed his palms into his eyes as he tried to center himself. He tried to take deep calming breaths but they just came faster and faster. Anger curled in his stomach and seeped into his limbs. She took the fucking cat. As if leaving him the day before their wedding wasn’t enough, as if emptying most of the house wasn’t enough. She had made sure he was completely alone to top it all off when she took Tipsy with her. But it wasn’t really Tori’s fault was it? No, it was the fucking jealous nobby kneed witch who put a curse on him in school. Draco’s occlumency crumbled, the cabinets in his mind were thrown open and everything tumbled out. Every failing of his life paraded itself before him: his career, his relationships, even this damned house had been his second choice. He had been set to close on the penthouse of his dreams when the owner had suddenly backed out citing sentimental reasons for canceling the sale. Everything was second best, every single thing he had ever hoped for was dangled in front of him and then yanked out of reach like some sort of cruel game. It was all utter bullshit.

It all led back to Granger, a petty schoolyard feud that had ruined his entire fucking life. Internally, Draco kicked the memories into a pile and shoved them back into their places. His mind whirred as he did so. This was okay, maybe this was good. A solid problem had a palpable solution. He did not know what that solution was- but it gave him a starting point. It was something to channel these years of pent up frustration into. Curses could be broken, sometimes they could be broken, and here was a reason for all of his shortcomings in life. It was ironically comforting to think that there was someone or something else to blame for each disaster that had pummeled him throughout the years, and that someone or something was Hermoine Granger and her stupid little curse.

The teacup lay in shards on the floor, Draco lifted his wand and with one gesture vanished his mess. He had work to do. A plan started forming in his mind, he could fix this, maybe he could get everything back.

First things first he had to find her, the fucking witch who’s fault this was. He hadn’t seen her in years, after the war she’d seemingly faded away. They didn’t exactly travel in the same circles and he assumed she was off somewhere saving the outcasts of the wizarding world or whatever it was she did with her insufferable gryffindor sense of justice. He preferred a more direct form of doing good for the world. Potion’s mastery gave him an instant gratification that he appreciated. He could see exactly what effect his actions would have on each person he brewed something for. Of course being a healer would have been the better way of seeing the effects of his good works- but she’d done a good job of making sure that didn’t happen hadn’t she.

Although He didn’t have any idea of where “The brightest witch of her time.” had ended up in the world he knew who would. On Monday he strode into the ministry of magic and demanded to see Harry Potter. A skittish assistant recognized him as the notorious deatheater turned order ally and scurried to accommodate his request for an audience with Potter. Draco followed close behind as they made their way through the ministry halls to his office. Potter looked up from his work and gave a nod dismissing the assistant and the two wizards awkwardly assessed one another as the door closed quietly behind him. Harry spoke first “Can I help you Mr. Malfoy?”

“I’m going to cut to the chase, I need to find the witch who followed you around all throughout school.”

Harry cocked an eyebrow “Aren’t you supposed to be on your honeymoon?” Draco couldn’t tell if this was a jab or if Harry really hadn’t heard the news.

“Does the ministry not get the Prophet?”

Harry paused a moment then collected himself “I misspoke, I am sorry to have heard of your imploded nuptials”

Draco matched the pause before responding “It’s fine, I don’t need your sympathies I just need to find your friend”

“What do you want with her?” There was a protective tenor in his voice and his eyes narrowed behind his ridiculous glasses”

Draco rolled his own eyes, five minutes of this interaction had been four too many. To save time he fished the parchment out of his pocket and tossed it onto Harry’s desk. Harry eyed it suspiciously before picking it up and reviewing it. If Draco hadn’t known better he’d have sworn a smile flickered behind Harry’s eyes but it was gone and his expression was ever professional as he responded “I see, well Hermoine doesn’t come to Wizard London much anymore. I haven’t seen her since my wedding but she does keep in touch….. I won’t give you her address.” Draco opened his mouth to protest but Harry continued “ I will tell you that she works as a doctor in muggle London.” “A doctor” Draco repeated the words. He knew of muggle doctors but it did take some recall of the short class on muggle culture he’d taken to remember exactly what the role was. “You’re a smart man I am sure you can figure the rest out.” Draco stifled another roll of his eyes and took a breath before rising from the seat at Harry’s desk and rolling his shoulders. “Right, well thanks I guess.” On instinct he raised a hand toward Potter for a handshake signaling the end of their meeting. Harry glanced at his hand for a moment and a pit formed in Draco’s stomach. He was about to jerk it back and turn toward the door when Harry grabbed it and gave a hearty shake. Their eyes met as Harry spoke “I never thanked you for what you did. That was wrong of me, you saved our lives.”
“No thanks necessary Potter” Draco’s short response did not betray the climbing sense of discomfort at the sincerity coming from Harry.

“Really Draco, I misjudged you, I owe you my life and I apologize for not taking the chance to tell you sooner”

It was this kind of gushing that made Draco highly uncomfortable. Hailing him as a life-saver when all that he had done had been too little and too late in his own personal opinion.

“Let’s call it even shall we? Unless you’d like to give me Granger’s personal address?”

“I would not”

“Alright then”

“If you need anything else though, you know where I am”

Harry finally let his hand go and Draco gave an awkward nod before turning toward the door.

He hadn’t had any expectations of their meeting but Potter’s reaction had still caught Draco off guard. He didn’t know how to feel about the gracious way Harry had thanked him. He didn’t know what cabinet to sort the feelings into so he settled for letting them sit out in the open while he let the next steps of a plan fall into place. Since it was Monday, Pansy would be at work, Luna however, would be home. She grew specialty herbs in a small greenhouse in their small yard and would likely be there. He found her there talking to her sproutlings and moving about the greenhouse. She smiled in greeting and he filled her in on his situation. She tilted her head thoughtfully and invited him into the house for tea while telling him it would be easy to scry for Granger if only they had a map of muggle London. Draco immediately presented her with a map and a devious smile; he was way ahead of her in that respect. Luna’s legilimency made her an excellent scryer and in a very short time she had pinpointed an office building in muggle London where he could find the witch who had ruined his life.