A/N: Hey everyone! This was originally for my drabbles collection but a certain reader wished it were a seperate one shot and she was so sweet I must oblige! This is for you ZeBarmyBookworm!
"Please don't cry Hermione."
"Don't do this Draco. Please don't do this. There are other options. Not this!"
"This is the safest way Hermione, you know I'm right."
"No! No no no no no! You can't do this to me Draco Malfoy!"
"I know my fate Hermione. I've read it in the despair of my father's eyes. I've heard it in my mother's pleas. Felt it in my aunt's jubilee. Next year, no matter what I want or say or do, the Dark Lord will mark me as his own."
"I've told you Draco I don't care!"
"Well I do Hermione! They'll come for you if they guess the truth and I am never going to let that happen!"
"Draco it doesn't matter. The important thing is they won't hurt you so-"
"You think that's what's important? Merlin, Hermione you're supposed to be the smartest witch in the school! I don't care whether they hurt me! I would die a thousand deaths happily knowing that you live on then live forever in a world without you."
"Draco... Don't cry sweetheart. Nothing's going to happen to me."
"That's why I'm doing this. To make sure."
"Draco don't. This is irreversible. Come with me. We'll go to Professor Dumbledore and-"
"You know as well as I do that he's tied for first place with Potter on You-Know-Who's list. This is the safest way beautiful."
"Damn you Draco Malfoy! Who gave you the right to make me fall for you and then pull this stunt on me? What about how I feel? Do you think I can go on if something did happen to you?"
Her voice broke.
"Sssh...come here beautiful. This way will save you from that hurt too."
"Then I'd rather hurt then feel nothing at all."
"You must never hurt, Hermione. Not now, not ever. It'll work out, you deserve b-"
"Shut up. Don't you dare tell me I deserve better. You are perfect for me, you hear that? Absolutely perfect."
They stood there in silence, arms around each other. Hermione cried for his pain in silence on his shoulder while he wept bitter tears into her hair at the strength of her love for someone like him.
"Can it at least wait a few more months baby?"
"I wish it could. But I need time to practice Legilimency and make sure the spell holds."
Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks and they kissed, pressing themselves tighter together as their lips met. There was a sense of urgency borne not of passion or lust but of need so potent, so acute it hurt.
Each tried to memorize the scent, the taste, the feel of the other.
They drew apart. Her eyes roved over his silky blonde hair, his pale, velvety skin, his silvery-blue eyes shining with tears and love as he looked down at her. She gently stroked his hollow cheek.
"Have I never told you how beautiful you are?"
He pressed a kiss to her forehead.
She closed her eyes, receiving the kiss as she would a benediction.
"Listen to me Draco Malfoy. No matter what happens after this, I will always always love you. Even after you've done what you have to, no matter how many years go by I will never stop. I love you Draco Malfoy."
Their tears flowed freely now.
"Hermione Jean Granger. Every good thing that I do is for you. Every beat of my heart is for you. I draw my every breath to love you. When I go through hell I'll be strong because you, Hermione, you're my angel. I will never stop loving you."
It was coming. She could feel it. She braced herself, her shoulders shaking from the sobs racking her slender frame. He looked at her, eyes aged with sorrow and drew his wand. She resisted the urge to close her eyes, staring at him, devouring him with her eyes. Her beautiful Slytherin Prince.
"I love you Draco."
"I'm sorry. I love you Hermione. Goodbye."
"Goodbye." she whispered.
"Obliviate."
She crumpled and he caught her, carrying her to Madam Pomfrey's and silently leaving her outside her door where she'd soon be discovered.
And so life went on.
Draco became a Deatheater.
Hermione Granger was tortured before his very eyes and she never knew what it cost him to hear her scream.
He watched her kiss Ronald Weasley towards the end of the war and walked away like his heart wasn't being ripped apart.
She got married.
He got married.
They had children and nodded in passing.
Hermione Granger never dreamt that Draco Malfoy, the cold, the aloof,loved her more with each passing second.
Not until fifty years later when she was an old woman gardening in her little cottage where she lived alone as, a thousand miles away, Draco Malfoy died, her name upon his lips.
As the caster died so did the spell. Everything flooded back. Everything was seen in a new light.
But she didn't cry.
Not when she remembered that he had been present at her wedding.
Not when she remembered how she'd caught him looking at her with pain in his eyes and had attributed it to his divorce.
Not till the day his lawyer came with a last letter from him.
Dear Hermione,
Hello beautiful. i'm glad that you're happy. You were breathtaking in your wedding gown and even more so when I saw the light of maternal love in your eyes as you smiled at your child. Thank you for everything precious. Your smile...well it made every one of those dark days worthwhile. Thank you.
I love you my angel. I never stopped.
Yours forever,
Draco.
Then the tears came and she succumbed as she crumpled to her knees, broken, and screamed her heart out.