A journalist sits down with Draco Malfoy, who vanished eight years ago, for his story on why he disappeared and what happened.
Told from the perspective of Hermione, the journalist follows the story of Draco and Hermione on an expedition to look for a mythical cave and the aftermath of returning home.
’Far where the trees meet the garden and the sun embraces the moon, there is an ocean between the mountains where I will wait for you.
And even after our two souls become one, and the light is swallowed by darkness, and life will cease to exist, I will, always, and forever, love you.’
This was the most beautifully written, poetic, gut-wrenching piece of literature I have ever read to date !!
This is one of those reads where you think about it for the rest of your life — you will compare everything else that you read to this knowing that it will never be this good. I felt every word so deep in my soul. In my bones. It’s part of who I am now !!
I loved the way SereneMusafir laid the plot out — that deserves an award in and of itself. The mysterious beginning, the plot twist and that absolutely soul crushing world ending heartbreaking ending! It hurt but it hurt so so so good.
I adored slow and steady build of Hermione and Draco’s relationship, the way SereneMusafir handled Hermione’s struggles with her illness, how she illustrated the adventures. How she brought the different cultures and languages to life. Part One was a dream for me in particular — the search for the cave and all the notes from Safia gave me such a high! The settings were phenomenal and the side characters were all so well developed. The tension between Hermione and all her friends — her boss. The desperation of escaping to a better life. I could go on forever.
But that ending. Wow. Had me in pieces. But of course, what else could you expect from a masterpiece like this?
I need this injected into my veins. I need to be buried with it. I need everyone to know true heartbreak like this !!
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘She could disappear in him forever. ‘
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘I must wonder if this path that I have chosen has an end. If I choose the light, will the light choose me?‘
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘Maybe she should have known he wouldn’t have let the strawberry incident alone because, with Malfoy, turnabout is always fair play.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“If we were to be anything, Granger, it wouldn’t be friends.”
“Oh,” she whispers back.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
“And when I’m done learning and learning, there will be a house A home. Somewhere in the mountains, surrounded by very tall and very green trees.”
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“What kind of flowers?” Hermione startles at the sound….
His face is vacant and she watches him closely, looking for hints of an insult, before answering, “White daffodils. They were Mum’s favourite.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘Malfoy's eyes flick briefly toward Hermione, pausing temporarily on her, before looking away entirely, the tips of his ears turning red. He responds but all she can manage to hear him say is "hayati.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“How will I know what kind of love I will get?”
Leena places her hands on either side of Hermione’s head and leans her cheek to the side of her temple. Her voice is gentle. A mother speaking to a child.
“Mektoub, my love. Whatever is written for you, that is what you will find.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘His eyes ask, What are you doing to me?
Nothing you haven’t done to me, is her reply.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“…The way his body changes whenever you’re there is obvious to everyone but you.”
Hermione ignores the skip of her pulse at the words. “What are you talking about?”
And in a tone so casual, as if the words have no weight in the grand scheme of things, Amina says, “His body just exhales. Like he’s been holding his breath for a hundred years and you’re his first sigh.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“You’re the sun, Granger," he says. "And I’ve already fallen.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘Love is tender, she wants to tell him. Love is patient and kind. But even though words are all he has, she knows it won’t be enough this time. “Let me show you.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘When her palms touch the rough length of a red scar just over his heart, he says, “This doesn’t hurt, Granger.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘But it’s clear as running water, as obvious as the sun burning bright in the sky. She’s astonished he didn’t even try to hide it.
“Every time he looked at you,” Amina whispers, “it was like this. Every single time, Hermione. And it hasn’t changed at all.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“I remember you,” he says. “And I think of you—always and without reason.”
Hermione blinks, taken aback. "What?"
"You," he says. "Always you.”‘
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘You’re the sun, Granger, he said to her once.But what was the sun in light of the constant, infinite orbit of the immortalized constellation that made up Draco?’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘And it takes her breath away because, in the grand story that is this life, Draco is written for her.
He is meant for her.
And Hermione hopes, prays to whoever will listen, that she is written for him too and that this story never ends.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“I love you.”
A sob fractures in Hermione’s chest, her hand going to her mouth.
“I love you, Granger,” Draco repeats, strength replacing the rending distress in his voice. “It’s enough that I do. And I am saying that I am here if you’ll have me too.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“Oh God, don’t you know?” Hermione whispers, threading her hand into his silken hair.
How could he think that if he loved her, she'd never feel the same?
How could he feel that his love wouldn't be the only thing she'd want?
“You must know, Draco.”
“Don’t say it if you don’t mean it,” he pleads. He squeezes his closed eyes tighter like if he can't see her, he can avoid the pain. “Don’t say it if it’s not true. I won’t bear it, Granger.”
“I love you too, Draco.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“Only you," he says. "Only you, Granger. I’m only yours."
And Hermione weeps.
He was impossible, in every way. Breathtaking, leaving her at a loss for words. But people like them did not get what they wished and hoped for.
And she cries because it couldn’t have happened and it did.
Because Hermione didn’t think anyone ever would and he did.
He can’t stop touching her, each touch sacred and desperate. I love you, I love you, he keeps repeating.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘Hermione kisses him and kisses him until everything that ever hurt disappears and the sky outside pales. Until the sun begins to rise above the clouds and the birds bring in the day and Draco knows that she loves him and that there is only him and she is, and will only ever be, his.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘Lightheaded and filled with indulgent delight, they bask in being no one in a town that sees them only as they are; lovers lost in each other with names cast away like petals. It’s almost divine, a sacred thing to behold, when they touch.
Do lovers all feel like this? they wonder, gazing at each other with awed looks. Do all love to the point of creation? ‘
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“—But I’m selfish, Granger," he continues, his words spilling from his lips, "and a fucking coward, because finally, finally, for the first time in my life, I can look at myself in the mirror and not feel disgusted. Finally, I can fucking breathe and that’s only because whichever parts of me that are worth existing anymore, the only parts of me that deserve any chance at this, are those that are made of you.” His pale eyes are red-rimmed, gleaming as if he’s barely holding himself together. A sad, bitter smile falls on his lips. “And I’ll be damned for this, because they’re the most brilliant, only salvageable remaining parts of me, and I just cannot let you go.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘You will be the end of me, he thinks and then shakes his head. No, that’s not it. From you, I begin.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘Do you believe in god, she’ll ask.
And he’ll say no even though that’s not true, because there will be many times he'll look at her and think, breathlessly, I believe in you. I believe in this.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“No matter how long, Granger.”
Hermione pushes to a stop at his voice. At her name on his lips.
She turns her head to look back at him, heart in throat.
He maneuvers effortlessly around the Aurors holding him down and Draco finally lifts his red-rimmed eyes to meet Hermione’s.
His vivid silver eyes pierce against hers—a collision always, his eyes on hers.
“There will never be another,” he promises.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘Hermione remembers him.
And she thinks of him always and without reason.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘She makes this ground holy.
She makes this place the only divine thing you’ve ever known.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘Hermione, he’s saying to her. You’re my Hermione.
And she tries to listen because he is the voice she’s been searching for all her life, but she can’t help but also repeat, don’t forget me, please don’t forget me. And she must be saying it all out loud because he is saying,
My name is Draco Malfoy, and I will remember you.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“This doesn’t hurt.”…
“This could never hurt, Draco,” she breathes. “You could never hurt me. Do you understand that?”…
Draco says in a devastated voice, “It’s like holding onto water.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘“Don’t go, Granger,” he pleads fervently. “Don’t go where I can’t see you again. Don’t go where I can’t come and find you.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
“Marry me,” he says, and the smile grows with the words. “And be mine forever.”
"I am already yours.”
“Forever,” he insists.
“That too,” she whispers. “Yours forever, Draco.”
“Then let me be yours,” he says without a missed beat. “Let me be yours only, Granger.”
And this feels far more right for him than what he asked before. Let me be yours, he thinks feverishly. Let my name be intertwined with yours on this earth and in every universe above us.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
“And when I’m old? Will you stay with me then?”
Draco’s eyes tighten as his chest stirs painfully. “Especially when you’re old, Granger.”
“Even when my hair has turned white and it falls out in clumps and makes a mess all over the floor that you’ve just cleaned?”
“Even then.”
“What if I can’t walk anymore because my knees are wobbly and hurt too much?”
“Then I’ll carry you wherever you want to go. In my arms or on my back. I’ll crawl if I have to, but I won’t let you fall.”
“What if I can’t recognize your face?” Hermione asks, her throat closing. “What if I forget your name too?”
The conviction in his voice stays. “Then I’ll tell you yours so you can remember mine.”
Softly, she says, “And what if I forget us?”
Draco’s eyes don’t dare stray away from her. “Then I’ll write you a story of everything I remember.”’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘That night, when Hermione Granger becomes Draco Malfoy’s and he becomes hers, she takes her last breath.’
· · ── ·•°•❀•°•· ── · ·
‘Seinneh stared as the woman crept up behind him and rested her cheek against his back, her face turned the other way, her arms sliding across the front of his chest in an embrace…. In bold, big letters across the top of the document, it said: The Granger-Malfoy Method. Every single word resonated against her chest as if it was a boulder.’
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
First half of the book very good and addicting plot after that it becomes way too long and overdramatic. Did not like the behavior of side characters, but then at the end the writing and scenes between Draco and Hermione are soo beautiful. Saves the rating, otherwise it would have been 2 stars.