4. Chapter 4

Edited 1/4/2020

Original A/N: Well hello my lovely followers. Thanks for following, favouriting, and such. Reviews have gone down and I'd love it if they went back up. That'd be totally awesome. Anyway, you guys completely rock. Love you all. Seriously. Anyway, that's it for me being mushy. Thanks again, and also thanks to my awesome beta for getting this corrected quickly. You are awesome. Alright. Now I'm done. Really.

Disclaimer: Fanfiction means that fans write it. So I don't own Harry Potter. Shocker, I know, but I don't. Thank you Jo!

Over the next few days, Draco got used to life in Canada. He very quickly realized that every single Canadian stereotype he had ever learned was grossly exaggerated. Canada wasn't freezing all year round. In fact, the autumn weather he was experiencing was rather pleasant. Canadians did not eat maple syrup on everything, as he originally suspected. They ate it on some things; although it was clear the locals adored the sweet treat.

However, the stereotype Draco had been most certain of was not true, to his severe disappointment.

No one had a pet beaver. He had gotten slapped in the face by a woman he met on the street because of that. He had simply asked if he could see her beaver. He had never seen one before. Looking offended, she had smacked him across the face and ran away. Draco had just stood there, confused.

"Canadians," he had muttered.

In the meantime, the new office for Malfoy Industries was coming along nicely. It was about the size of the one in Moscow, and about a quarter the size of the main headquarters in London. He was fairly pleased with its progress. He had managed to hire several Canadian wizards to work at the office, for which he was thankful. You needed locals on board when you were starting in a new location. Otherwise, the lack of cultural experience might just run your business into the ground.

Draco had hired two Canadians after they had responded to his ads in the Toronto Prophecy. A woman named Katie was the new main secretary. She was very pretty, tall and thin, with blonde hair. When she had first come in for the interview, Draco had thought she was a complete ditz. Within seconds, he had realized his mistake. She was a sharp woman, intelligent and slightly ferocious, like a younger Professor McGonagall. He knew immediately he didn't want to get onto her bad side.

He had also hired a tall brown-haired man named Justin who was his new head of the Office Liaison Department. He was very similar to Seamus in work habits and reliability, and he had enough nerve to talk back to the boss. They were both people Draco respected. He needed that in this new office. Now, with a few new people in the mix that Draco trusted, he had much more faith in the success of the experiment.

An aspect of Canada that had surprised Draco was how friendly the people were. Within two days of hiring Katie and Justin, the three of them had all become great friends. Katie and Justin showed no animosity towards him, unlike the majority of the British population. Even before his Death Eater antics, many people hadn't liked him on sight because he was a Malfoy, because he was a Slytherin, because he was labeled. Draco had no labels here. It was liberating, refreshing, and slightly confusing.

It had him questioning what would have happened if he had been raised…well, differently.

He supposed, as simple as it sounded, that everything would be different, wouldn't it?

About a week after he had arrived, Draco was sitting in the new lunchroom, talking to Katie and Justin. He was listening intently as they told him about a muggle sport called 'hockey'.

"Hockey?" Draco asked, completely dumbfounded, never having heard the phantom word before.

"Yep," Justin said, smirking slightly, while he and Katie exchanged a knowing smile. "Greatest sport there is."

"Nope," Draco replied, smirking in response. "Quidditch, my friend."

They answered at the same time. Justin laughed and said, with fake condescension, "you poor, poor child." Katie replied with "welcome to Canada my friend." With that they shot into an in depth explanation. Knowing they wouldn't let him leave, Draco rolled his eyes, leaned back and allowed them to continue.

Draco listened as they explained the game. He got lost several times. Apparently people skated around ice with sticks trying to send a type of ball, called a puck, into a net. It all seemed rather stupid. Why skate? Why use a stick? Muggles and their absurdity.

However, he listened. Katie and Justin took a long time to explain. As they were explaining, they both got dreamy and glazed expressions, seeming less and less present with every passing moment. Draco recognized it well; it was the expression he wore whenever he talked about Quidditch.

"I'm still not buying it," Draco stated bluntly, an hour into the lecture about the sport. After covering the basic rules of the game, they had told him about all the best players, most controversial teams, bloodiest fights, and most famous games they had seen. Draco was dumbfounded. They seemed to be in love with hockey as if it was a human being or a type of food.

"Alright," Katie smirked, replying to his comment. "Challenge accepted."

"Excuse me?" Draco replied, dumbfounded once more. What challenge?

"Tonight, we are going to a muggle bar, and we are going to show you hockey, in all of its bloody glory."

"Oh fuck, no chance, Katie!" Draco resisted, while Justin whooped.

"Oh, come on," Katie whined, giving him puppy dog eyes. These were the eyes of an expert manipulator. "The Leafs have their opening season game tonight."

"The leaves?" Draco asked, now completely lost. "Don't they grow on trees?"

Justin chuckled. "No, she means the Toronto Maple Leafs. It's the hockey team for Toronto."

"Oh," Draco replied, nodding and understanding. "Still no."

"Oh, come on," Katie pouted, using the same face that Pansy Parkinson would have made back in the day when she needed something.

And just like back then, he knew he was definitely going to lose this argument.

"Yeah man," Justin chimed in. "You aren't Canadian until you've seen a hockey game."

Draco sighed. "Bloody Canadians," he muttered, accepting defeat. "All right, I'm in."

Katie and Justin cheered, giving each other high-fives. Draco rolled his eyes. He'd think of it as a cultural experience. And, at the very least, there would be alcohol.

A few hours later, Draco found himself in a muggle bar called "Finnigan's". He had laughed at the name, thinking of Seamus's expression if he ever found himself at this place. The Irish man would be drunk in a second.

They had all walked into the bar, where a matron had led them to some bar stools. The place filled up quickly, each person quivering in anticipation of the game. The energy reminded him of the lead-up to a Quidditch match. Early on, Katie had thrown him a beer, which he quickly learned was muggle alcohol. He had immediately thought of butterbeer, but the "Molson" they had given him was nowhere as sweet.

He was drinking it contently when Katie and Justin drew his attention away from the booze. They pointed to something hanging above the bar itself. It was just a large rectangle. After a few seconds of staring at it blankly, the rectangle came to life.

They called it a television. Draco found himself impressed that muggles had made such an interesting invention, which was very similar to wizarding pictures, except the characters weren't limited like those in a photograph. He watched person after person came onto the screen and leave just as quickly.

Draco sat in the bar for hours, drinking his beer, and then another, and eventually watching the hockey game. It appeared on the television easily, Draco was amazed. It was so realistic and so close, as if the game was happening feet away from him, instead of kilometres away as it really was.

Then, there was the game itself. He quickly found it wasn't a sport for pansies, as he'd originally thought. It was rough, like Quidditch. He was easily engrossed in the whole spectacle, cheering and booing along with his bar mates as certain players were slammed into the walls surrounding the rink. It was a rowdy game, something Draco could get involved in without much effort. A few hours and many beers later, the Toronto Maple Leafs had triumphed over some team called the New York Islanders. Draco, to his surprise, had really enjoyed it.

Or maybe he was just exceptionally drunk.

Draco walked, or rather, stumbled out of the bar with Justin and Katie.

"Alright," he stuttered, the alcohol getting to his brain. "I admit it. That was an excellent sport."

Justin and Katie smirked. "Told ya," Katie chuckled. Justin laughed alongside her.

Draco smiled. He could feel himself letting go. It was probably the beer, but still, it was surprising. He was normally stressed all the time, whether because of his memories, nightmares, or even just work. He hadn't felt this good in a very long time. This was Canada's doing, the entire country was relaxing him. Or, maybe it was just the Molsons. Either way, he was thankful.

He waved goodbye to his coworkers and began heading in the direction of the hotel. He was optimistic about sleep tonight. The nightmares still hadn't completely evaded him, but they weren't as intense here as they were in Britain, and nowhere near the terror that had overtaken him at the Manor. His trip to Canada was going better than he had imagined, on every front.

The Slytherin Prince felt so relaxed that he lost all sense of what was happening around him. He was trashed, but he was enjoying every second. The universe had become a random mesh of colour. Nothing had real shape or form, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He was just started to lose his sense of direction when he ran right into a young woman. She stumbled to the ground, crying out in surprise.

"Oh, shit, sorry!" Draco exclaimed, the collision ripping him out of his trance. The world regained its shape and colour. He looked down at the woman he had knocked over.

He held out his hand to help her up. Her brown hair was completely blocking her face, so he didn't get a clear view. She grabbed his hand for support and looked up at him, using her other hand to push the locks back.

Grey eyes met brown. Not just any brown though.

He had only ever seen that shade of caramel once before.

Draco felt his heart stop. He stared disbelievingly at the woman below him. She smiled at him, chuckling slightly. When her mouth opened, she showed off slightly bucked teeth. Draco stopped breathing.

"Well," she asked, glancing at their intertwined hands. Her eyes met his once more, sending electricity through his body. "Are you going to help me up?"

A jolt went through his system, so strong that it nearly knocked him over. The voice bounced around his head, unable to escape, the words ringing in his ears over and over again. Draco would recognize that voice anywhere, no matter how drunk he was. He hadn't heard it in years, yet his memory of it was crystal clear.

He pulled her up, feeling her hand clutching his. She brushed off her shirt, before smiling her thanks. Draco stood as still as a statue, staring at her, jaw dropped. He tried to speak, no sound leaving his lips. Finally, after a few failed attempts, a single word escaped.

"Hermione?"

Original A/N: Cliffhanger! I hope you guys liked it. The next chapter should be up soon :)