Draco strained a muscle in his leg as he sprinted down the corridor. After scaring Hermione like that, he felt it was his responsibility to make it up. He didn’t like seeing her soft, pale... beautiful face in distress.
As he approached the safe where Hermione’s wand was kept, all reason escaped him and he shook it like mad, forgetting his magic. Luckily, a little shake was all it needed, and he was finally able to retrieve Hermione’s wand. He Apparated to straight outside her prison door and burst in, only to see that Snape had already beaten him.
From the look of it, Snape had Apparated outside her door and somehow rolled in. He had managed to prop himself up and was pointing his wand straight at Hermione’s poor, terrified self.
“Stupefy!” cried Draco. Snape had just begun to turn his wand on Malfoy, but before his deformed body could make it around, Draco had taken care of him.
Without thinking, Hermione ran up to Malfoy and threw her arms around him. “Oh Draco! I was so afraid, so, so afraid.”
Neither Draco nor Hermione felt like exchanging words at the moment. Both had waited for this moment, whether they knew it or not. They spent the precious seconds of the embrace soaking up the wonderful feeling.
Malfoy held Hermione’s wand out to her. “Here’s your wand.”
Hermione grabbed it without saying anything. She knew the risk that it had been for Draco to retrieve the wand. If Snape had caught him, that would have been out. Hermione almost laughed when she compared the Malfoy she went to school with, and the Malfoy standing in front of her. If someone had told her all those years ago, that Malfoy was going to risk his life to get her wand for her she would have laughed in their face. Hermione could feel tears forming in her eyes, both happy and sad.
Malfoy held Hermione’s shoulders and slowly drew her closer to him. Both knew what came next. Their breathing was somehow harsher and lighter at the same time.
They closed the distance by leaning in slowly; Draco and Hermione had a tentative air to each other. When their lips met, it was a sweet tender kiss. They both savored this kiss, as new loves usually do.
When Hermione and Draco parted, Draco’s face was transformed. The sallow pale face had gained light, Draco’s face had a happy sheen to it; on the contrary, Hermione’s was worried and slightly upset.
“That was amazing,” whispered Draco.
Hermione said nothing.
“Hermione, what’s the matter?” asked Draco. He had seen the cautiousness on her face and had become slightly upset. He had thought that she had wanted the kiss.
“Nothing, I suppose, but...” Hermione paused and took a deep breath.
“Wait, Hermione. You may think this unbelievable or stupid but “ I think that I might love you.” Malfoy looked at Hermione’s impassive face. “Honestly, you “ the one I had called Mudblood, and made fun of. You are the last one that I would have thought to fall in love with.”
Hermione gave a small, ill-humored laugh. “I thought the same about you.”
“What do you mean, though?” questioned Draco.
“Well, in both aspects I guess. You see, I questioned myself, I was wondering if maybe I loved you. I also thought of the irony. But here’s a new revelation. When we kissed, I didn’t feel magic, I didn’t feel love, at least, not the kind that you seem to have for me.”
“Hermione please! I love you, and I know you love me too! We can escape, leave Snape here to die, we can go away and live together.” Draco seemed to be pleading with his eyes.
Malfoy, is begging for me? I’ve never seen him beg for a single thing before in his life, and now he’s begging me to be with him? wondered Hermione.
“I’m... I’m sorry Draco, I don’t love you,” managed Hermione. “I don’t love you, I love Ron. If you really truly love me, you’ll except that, and get me back to the people who miss me.”
Draco took a deep breath and led Hermione from her room. After almost a month, Hermione would finally leave the horrid place that she had been forced to live in.
“Draco, I’m truly so sorry,” breathed Hermione.
Draco gave her a smile, but it wasn’t genuine. He hugged Hermione quickly before grasping her hand and Apparating to the place where Potter and posse were.
Hermione and Draco arrived outside the gates of the Potter mansion. Draco said goodbye and turned, preparing to Disapparate. He didn’t know where to go anymore. He couldn’t return to his own home, Snape would wake eventually, and Malfoy didn’t want to be their when he did.
“Wait!” called Hermione. “Please, I’d be so happy if you’d come and visit once in a while. I understand if you don’t. I know I hurt you, but we’re friends, and I really want to see you again.”
Once again, Draco put on a smile. This time it was genuine. “You know what? I think I will.”
Hermione threw her arms and Draco and squeezed him tight.
“See you soon,” said Draco, before Disapparating to wherever he was going.
“Ron! Harry, Ginny! I’m back!” bellowed Hermione. She ran past the gates and nearly blew a hole in the oak front door with her wand. “I’m home!”
Ron peered around the corner with unnaturally wide eyes. “Bloody hell! It is! Harry, Ginny, come quickly, Hermione’s back!”
Before Ron could even start towards Hermione, Harry and Ginny sped out of a nearby door and nearly tackled Hermione to the ground.
“What happened? Hermione we were worried sick!” Ron, Ginny, and Harry crowded around Hermione as she began to answer Ginny’s question.
She told of Snape’s kidnapping, her dreadful prison room, her lost wand, her poisoned food, and her new friend, old enemy, Draco. She explained to them about his changed person, why he was different, and the proof she had.
Hermione almost didn’t tell of their goodbye, but she felt that they had to know. “So, we kissed. Draco told me that he loved me, and I told him that I thought I had loved him.”
Ron’s face was hurt. More hurt that Hermione, Harry or Ginny had ever seen. His face showed the look of someone whose world had just come crashing down around them.
“But,” Hermione continued. “I really didn’t. I thought I had, but I didn’t, because... Because I really, truly loved, Ron.”
Without warning, Ron leapt up and kissed Hermione. This time, Hermione felt love. For a second, she was flooded with guilt. If this was what Malfoy had felt with her, she had most certainly crushed him for life. If Hermione was denied this love with Ron, she thought she would die.
But the guilt was washed away in a spilt second as she was swept up in the magic of the kiss. When they finally ceased the kiss, both Hermione and Ron pulled away with smiles and pure love on their face.
It's a Part of You Now by HarryPotter is my LIFE
Chapter Notes: A big thanks to Lurid for betaing this chapter!