Given Love, Acquired Hatred

By

FallenMidnightAngel

._(.*.)_.

"Here I am, standing before you, looking down at your accusing faces. I am bruised and battered, crushed and cracked, yet you all have come to bruise, batter, crush and crack me some more. However, I will tell you what happened, so don't get your knickers in a knot already.

"Now, let me say the one thing that you all have been dying to hear from me; I killed her. Oh, don't gasp and whisper like first-years. I did just graduate, after all – I should like to think I get a break from them. You all at least suspected I killed her, so don't even act surprised. And, no – I don't feel any remorse about what I did, but don't compare me to Him just because I don't.

"You ask me why? Why I murdered her? Well, now, first, I would have to give you some backstory. So, I suppose, here we go.

"On the first day, I hated her. On the last day, I hated her. In between, I hated her. But, somewhere along the lines, the hatred shifted. It was no longer hatred because she was a Mudblood; that was still there, of course, but it was just lingering in the background – not quite as fueled as it had been before. I suppose that it flipped around towards the end of seventh year – This time, I hated her because I noticed her. This time, I hated her because I kissed her. I kissed her, and I knew that she was dirty. I knew that she was a Mudblood. I knew that she was disgusting and vile and everything I hated. So, can anyone here tell me why I couldn't stop?

"She was like a drug, the wench. The way she smiled made my breath catch in my throat, and the way that raindrops clung to her eyelashes was enough to make anyone's knees go weak, whether they were a girl or a bloke. She would unconsciously twirl one of her curls around her finger when she was immersed in a good book. She would always forgive people in an instant, and with a smile and a hug, the past would be forgotten. She would look at me, and I would forget about the blood, the parentage – I would only remember that she was there, right there, looking at me.

"And so, I snapped. I hated feeling that way, and I hated her making me feel that way. It needed an end, so I killed her, and I'll forever remember it. I'll remember how she fell backwards when I drew my wand on her. I'll remember the single tear that fell down her left cheek as she knew what I was going to do. I'll remember the way that I pointed my wand at her, and she never closed her eyes, even in death,"

Here, Draco Malfoy paused, only for a brief moment, to clear his throat and hoist his chin an inch higher in the air.

"I will forever remember the way that I killed Hermione Jean Granger because she made me love her."

._(.*.)_.

I was trying to find a good title for this very short one-shot, so I looked up some good love/hatred quotes, and the one that I enjoyed the most was 'Love is a given, hatred is acquired' by Doug Horton.

Can you all tell that I'm a Dramione fan? It is my favorite Harry Potter ship, right next to HPHG and LLNL. I tried to get him IC, but I'm not too sure if I did. Review and tell me? I would love some CC, seeing as I probably have loads of mistakes right now. :)

Thanks for reading!

~Ari