[HP] Three thousand days of innocence

Ginny helped Draco stagger to his feet, and led him back down the corridor, Ron following closely behind.Draco, still weak from his brush with death, was leaning heavily against Ginny, his bandaged arm around Ginny's shoulder, and Ginny around his waist, but Ginny was welcoming. his weight.

"What the hell is he wearing?" Ron asked suddenly, eyeing Draco's chef's uniform, baggy gray trousers, and orange flip-flops suspiciously.

"His overalls," said Ginny, turning her head slightly. "Draco's the sous chef." She hoped that if he heard his real name more often, he'd start to react.

Ron shook his head, mumbling "those weird Muggles". "Then go to my office," he told her. "He can't go to pure-blood stronghold dressed like that."

"Have you any spare robes for him?"

"When will someone talk to me instead of just approach me?" Draco asked angrily.

"Yeah, there are a few things you need to know," said Ron.He swung his wand over their heads and opened the door to the holding cell.The two guards on duty looked at them curiously, as if to stop them, but Ron waved them back to their posts. "He needs to be interrogated," he explained to them.The two guards shrugged and let them go.

"Your name is Draco Malfoy," Ron said after the guards lost their voices. "I take it to be self-evident, but you are a wizard."

Draco gave Ginny a nervous look. "Stop kidding." He said hesitantly. "I don't believe in fairy tales anymore at my age."

Ron sighed. "Ginny? Demonstrate?"

Ginny took out her wand - Draco raised an eyebrow - and from the tip of the wand shot colorful sparks. "This is what you've been calling telekinesis," she said softly. "You're just doing wandless magic."

"He does wandless magic?" said Ron, dumbfounded. "Merlin, this is impossible..."

"What were you talking about, Ron?" Ginny asked.They came to the elevator and all went in, and Ron pressed the button for the Auror's office floor. "You're off to a good start. Draco, your parents were Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. They were very rich - they lived in a country house - and they didn't like me and Ron very much, but I Think they'll forgive us this time."

Draco stared silently at the slowly passing floors. "Lucius and Narcissa. Villa. Why don't they like you?"

"Because we're Muggle sympathizers," said Ron. "We don't believe wizards are superior to Muggles—people without magic. Your parents do."

"Do I have siblings?"

"No," said Ginny. "You were very estranged from your mother's family - you only had an aunt and cousin and you didn't know you were related to them - but your father had many cousins ​​and a huge family."

"Where's my friend?" Draco asked.The urgency in his eyes cheered Ginny up—he was so eager to know the details of his life that he had temporarily forgotten about his suicide attempt, or that he didn't like her much now. "They will come to me, right?"

"I don't think you really have what you call friends," said Ron slowly, and Ginny gave him a glare. "What's up, Kim? Do you really call Crabbe and Goyle his friends? Zabini? Parkinson?"

"Okay, we'll talk about it later," Draco said immediately. "Why didn't my parents find me?"

"They did. Everyone in the wizarding world is looking for you," said Ron. "But that's our problem - we didn't look for you outside the wizarding world. You're an arrogant elitist fool, and no one thought you'd be hiding with Muggles."

"Ron," Ginny warned.

"So—let me see—" Draco frowned thoughtfully. "I'm a wizard, and you call people like Simon and John mu--Muggles?"

Ginny closed her eyes. "Actually not. John is also a wizard. Simon's parents are both wizards, but he doesn't know magic."

Ron turned around, his mouth gaping open. "What?" he said incoherently.

"John can do magic?" Draco called.

"This is not the time - there are too many -" Ginny sighed dejectedly. "We have to go to Malfoy Manor. That's our first priority now."

"If he's with a wizard," Ron pointed out, "the wizard can be arrested—"

"We won't do that," Ginny said immediately.

"So they're not surprised to see me move things," Draco said softly to himself.

"I don't know if the Malfoys will understand that you don't remember anything." Ginny looked at Draco and said slowly. "We probably shouldn't have let your mother know."

He looked up. "Why?"

"She's dying, man," said Ron before Ginny could speak. "Having been ill for a long time, her days are coming to an end."

Draco, keeping his eyes on Ginny, took his arm off Ginny's shoulders and took a step back. "I suppose you know that too?" he said, his voice terribly soft. "Knowing she won't live long—even when I tell you I—"

"You're having fun being Ben Hamilton," Ginny argued. "So far, you are happier now than before. Your previous life was only cruel and hateful."

"You know who I am—always have. That—that day in the park, you saw me and recognized me, but you've been acting?" She'd never seen him so angry.Even when they were children, there was no such deep malice and disgust in his eyes. "You called me Ben and you smiled and nodded and looked at me and said I don't remember the earlier years—when did you find out my mother was dying?"

"Two months ago," said Ginny sadly.

He let out a whimper. "You just sit there and listen to me - I keep saying how I wish I could remember them - it's my choice, the choice to learn who I really am -"

"I'm selfish!" she cried, coming up to him.His eyes were full of anger. "I admit, I'm selfish, I only think about myself—"

"So what?" Draco growled. "Once you get tired of using me—"

"No." She shook her head vigorously. "I never used you, Draco."

"Then why are you with me?"

"You know why I'm with you," she said softly.

Draco held his bandaged wrist up to her eyes. "Then you know why I do it," he replied tremblingly.

They stared at each other for a long time, neither willing to give in.Ginny looked away first.Draco stood at the other end of the elevator.

Ron raised an eyebrow at him. "Speak out to my sister again - I have a wand and you don't, my friend, my spells are much stronger than ever." Draco scowled, turning his back on them.

When the elevator finally reached their floor, the iron bars clicked open and the sound echoed in the hallway.Ron grabbed Draco by the upper arm and dragged him out, followed by Ginny.The Auror office was empty and silent, and they made their way to Ron's; Ron swung his wand, opened the door in front of him, and turned on the light.Draco stared dumbfounded at the lights on the ceiling.

"Perhaps another reason your mother doesn't like us," said Ginny coldly as Ron was digging through his filing cabinet, "is that our mother killed your mother's sister, your Aunt Bellatri Kex. Honestly, her death made the world a better place. The guy in the cell with you is her husband's brother."

A muscle in his jaw twitched. "When is this—"

"Long story short, there was a mean guy who wanted to take over the wizarding world eight years ago," Ron said vaguely.He rummaged under the table now. "A lot of people died, a lot of places were destroyed, wizards were fleeing everywhere... very chaotic. At Hogwarts - Witchcraft and Wizardry, where you are too - there was a final battle and Harry defeated him. We guessed , after a few hours, you lose your memory."

Draco blinked, running his hands through his hair. "Dr. Walcott says dissociative fugues are sometimes brought on by war," he said slowly.

"Good doctor, that's a good job - ah, found it!" Ron crawled out from under the table with a brown paper bag. "Extra robes," he said, pulling out a set of black formal robes. "We're about the same size, so it should fit. Kim, do you have your Auror uniform? You can't dress like a Muggle either."

"I might have a set in my desk," she said, tugging at the hem of her dress.

"Great, I'll watch him." Ginny left Ron's office and found the uniform in a drawer under her desk.After she put on the scarlet robe, she returned to Ron's office, and the two wizards had already put on their respective clothes.Draco's skin was still pale against the black robes, but his hair was tied back and he looked better than ever.

He's more like his old self.Ben Hamilton is gone, leaving only Draco Malfoy.

Ron swung his wand at Draco's hand, his wrists bound together by suddenly invisible ropes. "Ministry policy, sorry." He shrugged. "I'll untie it for you when you go to see your mother. Well, we're off to Wiltshire."

"That'll take us at least two hours," Draco pointed out, tugging at his cuff cautiously.

Ron snorted. "Yes, if you're traveling in a Muggle car," he said. "We Apparate, man. Just a snap of the fingers. That reminds me—" He looked at Ginny. "I haven't been to Malfoy Manor—"

"I've been," she said, without looking at Draco. "If you want to manifest with his entourage, I can write down the coordinates."

She told Ron exactly where it was, and warned him that by the time they reached the dirt track leading to the estate, it was likely to be dark because it was deep in the countryside.He grabbed Draco's elbow. "It's going to be a little uncomfortable," said Ron. "Exhale at my command." He glanced at Ginny. "Merlin, this is weird. I'm telling Draco Malfoy something obvious, like—"

"See you there," Ginny said.With a wave of her wand, Ron's brightly lit office disappeared.

Once she was in the darkness, she immediately chanted "Lumos", lighting up the dirt path.A million stars hung above her head, and the familiar tall hedges stretched from her side to the dark silhouette of Malfoy Manor along the path.Most of the windows are dark, but on the second floor, there are a few dim lights.

Ron and Draco soon showed up, Draco coughing and panting. "Didn't I warn you?" Ron said coldly.He pointed to the manor. "That's where?"

"Let me communicate," Ginny said. "They've met me before, at least because of this case to refrain from hating Weasley. You—"

"Patrol around," said Ron. "As a back-up. You can't let him out of your sight for a second, Kim. No matter what Lucius tells you, go where Draco is, or we'll bring him back to the Ministry of Magic. "

"Okay." Ginny nodded.Ron let go of Draco's arm, Ginny grabbed him, and the two of them walked down the path to the manor's imposing iron gate.

"Ginny Weasley and Ron Weasley," she said clearly. "Come to visit—"

Unlike the previous two times, when the gate just let her through, this time, the iron bars twisted into the shape of a wide mouth, which creaked with every movement.Beside her, Ginny could feel Draco's pulse quicken. "No one is allowed to enter," said a cold voice. "Entry and exit are prohibited on this road."

"Even the real heir to the land?" Ginny asked.

"Only he can pass," said the gate.

"Let us both escort him in, or he won't be able to go in."

The gate returned to its normal state, and there was a moment of silence.Ginny thought that Lucius Malfoy might have been notified of a late-night visitor, and her suspicions were confirmed when the door glowed green.All three of them can now go in.

"Just walk through," she whispered to Draco, and they walked forward, through the bars as if through smoke.In the open country around the estate the moonlight was brighter, and the grass shone blue-gray like metal.Ginny whispered "Knox" and the wand light disappeared.

"My God," Draco exclaimed. "Oh my God—the birds, the white birds—"

Ginny turned around, and sure enough, she saw those white peacocks resting on the lawn.They glow strangely in moonlight and seem even more unreal than in sunlight.

"White bird," he said again, trembling in voice and body. "I—Ginny, it's them. I remember them—but not my home, or—"

"You're home now," said Ginny.

"Half an hour before dawn, I'll wait for you at the gate." Ron whispered in her ear and patted her on the back.She nodded, and Ron disappeared into the darkness.

They walked down the sidewalk until they reached the front door, where Ginny reached out and knocked.Before her hand touched the door, it opened.

Lucius Malfoy stood in the doorway.