"Your name is Hermione Jean Granger-Malfoy."
Imagine waking up and that's the first thing you hear. You're twenty-one. You remember the war, you remember the grime of the Horcrux hunt, and you definitely remember that Draco Malfoy is the git who let Death Eaters into your school. But the Healer is telling you it's actually six years later. You're twenty-seven, you’re a high-ranking Ministry official, and—most terrifyingly—you’ve been married to the "Ferret" for years.
That is the hook of Wait and Hope, a Dramione fanfiction that basically redefined the memory loss trope for the Harry Potter community. Written by the author mightbewriting (Amanda Gayle) in 2020, it’s not just a story about losing memories. It’s a story about the agonizing patience of a man who has to watch his wife look at him with the same cold suspicion she had at eighteen.
What makes Wait and Hope different?
Most amnesia stories are, honestly, kinda cheap. They use the memory loss as a plot device to create fake drama or to force a reset button on a toxic relationship. But in Wait and Hope, the relationship wasn't toxic before the accident. That’s where the "hope" part of the title comes in.
Hermione loses the last six years of her life thanks to a nasty dark artifact. When she wakes up, she has no idea how she went from hating Draco Malfoy to sharing a bed with him. Draco, meanwhile, has to move her back into their flat and treat her like a guest. He can't touch her. He can't kiss her. He has to wait and hope that she finds her way back to him, even if her brain never recovers the data.
The prose is tight. It’s not the purple, overly flowery stuff you sometimes find in older fics. It feels real. You feel Hermione’s claustrophobia as she navigates a life she doesn't recognize—a life filled with expensive tea, Slytherin friends like Pansy and Theo, and a husband who looks at her with such devastating longing that it’s almost physical.
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The "Slytherin Gang" and the Draco characterization
If you've spent any time in the Dramione tag on AO3, you know there are a few versions of Draco Malfoy. There’s the "Toxic Draco," the "Leather-Clad Bad Boy," and then there's the Wait and Hope Draco.
He is, for lack of a better word, soft.
But it’s a hardened kind of soft. He’s spent years redeeming himself. He’s worked for his place in Hermione’s world. Seeing him stripped of that progress—forced back into the role of the "enemy" in Hermione's eyes—is a gut punch.
Then you have the supporting cast. The "Slytherin Gang" in this universe is peak.
- Theodore Nott: He’s usually the comic relief, but here he’s also a bridge.
- Pansy Parkinson: She’s sharp, protective of Draco, and eventually, a legitimate friend to Hermione.
- Harry and Ginny: They’re exhausted parents, dealing with toddlers, and trying to help Hermione without overwhelming her.
The story doesn't bash Ron Weasley, either. That’s a huge plus for a lot of readers. Ron is just... uncomfortable. He’s moved on with Lavender Brown, and seeing his best friend married to Malfoy is weird for him, which feels like a very human reaction.
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The World of Wait and Hope series order
One mistake people make is reading the prequel first. Don't do that. Honestly, it spoils the mystery of how they fell in love in the first place. The author actually recommends a specific reading order for "The World of Wait and Hope."
- Wait and Hope: The main story (94k words). This is the "Now" timeline from Hermione's perspective.
- Beginning and End: This is the massive prequel from Draco’s POV. It covers those missing six years. It’s heavy on the angst and the slow burn. Reading this after Wait and Hope makes every little "Easter egg" in the first book hurt ten times more.
- Sight and Seeing: A shorter piece focusing on Draco’s mother, Narcissa.
- Picked and Planted: A Neville-centric story that expands the world.
- The Couch Collection: A series of "missing moments" and fluff that fans of the series absolutely live for.
Why the amnesia trope works here
We usually hate amnesia because it feels like a reset. But here, it’s used to highlight the endurance of love. Draco asks her at one point, "Do I have a chance without them?" Meaning, do I have a chance to make you love me if you don't remember the first time I earned it?
It’s about the "sum of all human wisdom," a quote taken from The Count of Monte Cristo: "Wait and Hope."
The fic is so popular that people actually bind physical copies of it. If you look on Etsy or Instagram, you'll see stunning leather-bound versions of this story sitting on bookshelves next to professional novels. It’s reached that "Classic" status in the fandom, right up there with Manacled or The Fallout, though it’s much lighter and fluffier than those two.
Actionable insights for your TBR list
If you’re planning to dive into this, here’s the best way to experience it.
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First, clear your weekend. Once you hit chapter four or five, you aren't going to want to stop. Second, get the Spotify podfic if you're a commuter; there are some really high-quality audio versions of this story out there that make the emotional beats hit even harder.
Lastly, pay attention to the tea. It sounds like a weird detail, but the way Draco makes tea for Hermione is a recurring theme that basically acts as a barometer for their relationship.
If you're looking for a story that proves you can fall in love with the same person twice, even when the world has forgotten you, this is the one. Just make sure you have tissues ready for the Christmas chapter in the epilogue. It’s a lot.
Go to Archive of Our Own (AO3), search for "Wait and Hope" by mightbewriting, and filter for the "World of Wait and Hope" series. Download the EPUB version to your Kindle or E-reader for the best experience. Once you finish the main story, wait at least twenty-four hours before starting the prequel, Beginning and End, to let the ending of the first book really sink in.