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Draco and Hermione couldn’t have possibly anticipated just how rough their routines were going to be with Hermione barely managing enough time to complete her essays or hangout with dear friends and Draco not having the opportunity to as much as write a letter to his mother who was serving house arrest in the manor with her husband locked far away in some doomed Azkaban cell.
Having an evening to themselves was a rare occurrence that they immensely craved, rightfully so.
And if this wasn’t much already, they now had the various duties and responsibilities from carrying the auspicious title of Prefects!
That was about the last thing they could fit on their plates when time was definitely running against them. And the stress that came with all this was not going easy on them.
“Why don’t you just agree? This would do me a solid. Is it that hard to think for someone else’s future for once?”
“No, but when that someone is you… then yes Draco… I do have some reservations… you can’t make me do it. I will not make a false accusation against you… No, I won’t!”
“Just try to understand will you? They won’t send me to Azkaban just because I was supposedly forcing you against you will and without your consent. House arrest will be all that’s possible. I need to look after my mother! I can’t believe you refuse to do it. Guess you didn’t care for an insensitive death eater after all!”
She couldn’t quite believe herself. He despised that word. Hated it. Yet here he was referring to himself using that vicious, savage word!
“Draco please… leave. You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“OH I DON’T?”
Draco could see the obvious flinch but hell, he didn't have to care!.
“I don’t know what I’m talking about!?”
The aggressiveness in his air was getting to her. Hermione was trying her best to hide her hurt but alas… her tears were threatening to fall, she was on the verge of crying and that sniffle gave it all away.
“Great now start weeping! Why do you do it? I’ve told you countless times—”
“BECAUSE I LOVED YOU!”
She could see some red of her own.
“And you’re using that against me…”
“I’m not using anything against you… least of all that”
Oh how she hated the way he could maneuver around his tone, channel his anger into seemingly genuine concern so swiftly.
“It was never my intention”
“You should get a Nobel Prize for showcasing your true emotions so fully then!”
“I know, I’m faulty… incomplete… but all I’m asking you is to just—”
“It is NOT MERELY a just!! It’s NOT that simple!! You’re asking me to turn you in for merlin’s sake!! For something you didn’t even do!”
In the heat of the argument, the other prefects leaving went unnoticed and now Hermione was plopped on the foot of her bed and Draco stood leaning against the front column of his bed opposite to hers.
“I’m asking it of you as a favor”
“You’re manipulating me…”
“Well manipulative as it is, I want it done by this time tomorrow and I will not ask again!”
As Draco retired to his four poster, she let loose the long time coming tears.
Why did she have to be such a weakling when he got to stride away and drift into a peaceful sleep?
Draco ran the whole conversation through his head until he heard her whimper.
Hell why did he have to remain stoic, endure patiently when she had the luxury to let her emotions run free?
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Draco never faced the trouble of sleeping in. Having had the aristocratic upbringing, a morning walk along the black lake was now muscle memory. Hermione on the other hand, had to will herself out of bed every day and now that she had stayed up late… oh was she going to miss her first lesson.
When she entered Charms with a look of despair and desperate puffy eyes, she was met with the soft understanding gaze of Professor Flitwick and gave him an acknowledging smile as she sat on her usual spot beside the cinder.
She had gone to the Potions classroom not a minute ago and opened a vial of labelled potion. Oh how it hurt that the brewed Amortentia still smelled of the citrus from his shampoo, the mint from his toothpaste, the stupid expensive cologne he definitely overused, the candles he lit on their first official date, and too much for her to properly register… but enough to make out that it was surely still Draco who had her heart at his disposal. She would have thought that after all the efforts from last night trying to convince herself it wasn’t like this – clearly all was in vain – maybe she would have stopped fancying him but the potion told her otherwise.
She could see the concern etched across Harry’s face… her only source for comfort after Ron decided against joining for another year at Hogwarts following Fred’s passing.
What she couldn’t – wouldn’t – see were the piercing steel orbs eyeing her carefully. Hermione could not bear to see the analyzing and guilt-ridden eyes she knew would be there in his otherwise masked face.
When they were seated together in the great hall for dinner at the prefect’s table, he was desperately trying to come up with something to break the unfamiliar awkward silence, trying to make some sense of all the words that were swimming in his mind, all while keeping in check her countenance, utilizing his peripheral view to its best.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with me?” She flatly countered.
“You’ve been awfully quiet throughout all the lessons today and you looked like a corpse in Charms this morning.”
“Thank you for bringing it to my attention but I was already aware.”
Ouch that was sour!
The long pause after that was painful for him… literally. Because he was biting his tongue and his free hand was balled into a fist under the table.
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On her way to the library, Draco finally managed to get a hold of her. Thank Merlin for that!
“Granger! Hold up Hermione!”
“What do you want?”
“Last night… you said… you s-said you—”
“I don’t have much time, out with it”
“You said you loved me… Hermione, whatever feelings you’ve had for me, I’ve always reciprocated them… always, and I still do.”
“I know that Draco”
“Do you still… I mean do you still love me?”
“As much as I despise it… the heart wants what it wants. But not to worry, I won’t bother you with it.”
“Hermione… I liked us, I want us.”
“Draco I, I… ”
“I am sorry Hermione! Truly… I love you, most ardently and I can’t afford to lose you too… not after I’ve lost Mother”
“I’m sorry too Draco, I just couldn’t. I know how much you care for her but I couldn’t…”
“It’s okay, I know it was too much for you, I asked too much from you, but I won’t… ever again”
There was a thin, fine line between pity and empathy. One that Hermione had crossed towards the latter.
“I just want you back. Your love… your trust!”
“Well you’ve always had my love” said Hermione in nothing more than a whisper.
Wait, had he heard her correctly?
“What was that?”
“You heard… And you can reclaim trust all you want, just remember that your words can be forgiven not forgotten!”
“Are you giving me another chance?”
“Something from the likes of it”
When she flashed a shy, small smile for him, his sigh of relief was dramatically enunciated. The fact of the matter was plain and simple, it gave him hope.
“Just don’t break our trust again, don’t disappoint me and NEVER launch at me like last night… I hated it. Stay along these lines and you’re good to go.”
There it was. His infamous smirk but it had an edge to it. Something like dominating mischief. And the look in his eyes was one she knew all too well. Desperation, adoration and how possessive his demeanor was. With this recent turn of events, a little time alone in their secret hideout which was really just the prefect’s bathroom was inevitable.
“If I didn’t know you, I’d say you look hesitant”
“But because you know me, you’ll say that I love you” Say it Hermione, I need you to say it!
“You love me. And I return the sentiment with the same fire!
I will love him till my last breath. I will love her till my lungs give out.
“Always.. Forever!”