You make me feel out of my element
Like I'm walkin' on broken glass

I thought that it wasn't possible. There was no way. Every breath you breathed, every step you stepped, every stupid smirk you smirked – never, in my wildest dreams, had I thought that this could happen to me. I loathed you with a passion, I didn't dislike you - I hated you.

Like my worlds spinnin' in slow motion
And you're movin' too fast

But then, one day, just like that, it changed. No longer were your smirks malicious – they were beautiful. No longer did I detest your every move – I worshipped them. But it was a forbidden love – or was it?

That fateful night, where we lost Dumbledore forever – you left us. You left me. But I never gave up hope. You hadn't killed him. Snape, that bastard Snape, killed Dumbledore. But you hadn't. It gave me an insane hope – a hope that maybe you weren't as bad as you made out to be.

Were you right, was I wrong
Were you weak, was I strong, yeah

Both of us broken
Caught in a moment
We lived and we loved
And we hurt and we jumped, yeah

I remember the time. Every day, at least one of the students would run out of the Great Hall, sobbing, and clutching a purple letter. The Ministry had been sending purple letters to those whose loved ones had been killed. I had already received one.

Ron was dead. Never again would I see his bemused grin, his bright red hair, his freckled face. I thought it was never possible to love again. Every so often I fingered the promise ring he had given me, which hung on a chain that went around my neck.

I forgot about you, I forgot about Ron, I forgot about everyone. I read a letter from Harry, who openly expressed that he did not want me out of the castle fighting, fighting for my life, fighting for my world. I registered it blankly.

My closest friend at Hogwarts was in a coma. Ginny Weasley had been repeatedly tortured by a Death eater and left for as good as dead in a corridor somewhere. She'd been asleep for a month now… god knows when she'll wake up.

Never did I think that I would receive yet another purple letter. But I did. My parents were dead. It was the last straw. Slowly I stood, tears running down my face, and then blindly walked out of the Great Hall, not caring who saw me. Little did I register that I walked into someone until I heard a voice. The voice. Your voice.

"Granger?"

I looked up, wiping my tears away, and found myself staring into a pair of stormy gray eyes. Your eyes.

"Malfoy?"

But the planets all aligned
When you looked into my eyes
And just like that
The chemicals react
The chemicals react

The instant I looked into your eyes, I felt something unexplainable. Something that felt like love, hate, passion, lust, and sadness all at the same time. Something about the expression on your face caused me to look down, and I saw that you also had a purple envelope grasped tightly in your hand.

You make me feel out of my element
Like I'm drifting out to the sea
Like the tides pullin' me in deeper
Makin' it harder to breathe

I gasped as I realized that I was standing face to face with my sworn enemy, the one person that I was forbidden to feel this way about. So I pushed past you, and went my way.

"Hermione, wait."

I don't know what it was, but something about your voice forced me to turn back. Maybe it was that sad, desperate note in your voice. Maybe it was the fact that it was the first time you had ever called me by my first name without pairing it with Mudblood. I realized that if you were seen, then the school would go crazy. Coldly, I motioned for you to follow me into an empty corridor. When we were alone, I finally turned to face you.

"What do you want, Dr-Malfoy?"

"Listen. Please just give me a chance to explain… I-"

"Why should I give YOU a chance? You are a DEATH EATER. You are on the RUN, Malfoy. You should not be here. Why are you here? If you gave a shit for your own life, then you would run. Now. You think that Hogwarts can protect you? You're wrong. The school is dead. Classes barely function. Kids run away from here because they know it. Every day, we lose someone. Why are you here?" I was starting to break apart, and my eyes started to well up.

A trace of that old smirk flitted across your face. "Didn't know you had it in you, Granger. Still care about me enough to tell me to run?"

I realized my slipup and scoffed. "Care about you? I don't give a damn. Now fucking get out before I go and tell McGonagall."

"Hermione Granger's a potty mouth, I wonder what they all would say…" he muttered.

"What did you say?"

"I don't recall saying anything."

"Malfoy, I am not in the mood for any of your ridiculous... is this why you came back? To come and torment me?"

"Torment you? I think not. Go cry on Weasley's shoulder if you're so hurt."

"I-I can't."

"Oh? He's finally come to his senses and gone to war to get away from you? Can't say I'm surprised, took him long enough - "

Even though I wasn't aware of moving, I was suddenly nose to nose with Malfoy, my wand in my trembling hand, aimed directly at his heart. When I spoke, it was with a ferocity that I had never heard before. "You listen to me now, Malfoy, don't go talking about things that you have no clue about. Ron died six months ago, trying to protect us all from your death eater bastards. I lost him, the man I loved, because Bellatrix Lestrange tortured him to death. He died screaming my name. I know more gory details about the deaths of my friends then you could ever imagine. I don't think you have a right to talk after what I've been through." I stopped, and realized that I was breathing heavily, but I didn't back down.

Chorus
Were you right, was I wrong
Were you weak, was I strong, yeah

You looked at me for a moment, and retorted angrily, "I understand what you've been through, but do you honestly think that I haven't been through hell too? I watched mother and father get murdered by Death Eaters! I lost everything that I have ever had in my entire life! The Dark Lord himself tortured me endlessly for failing to kill Dumbledore! That night, I had everything resting in my hands, and I bloody blew it. Snape wasn't supposed to kill him! I was! I have fucking been on the run for the past year, trying not to get caught!"

"Tell me something I don't know already, Malfoy."

"Fine. That night, where Dumbledore was murdered, he offered me a way out. He offered to protect my mother and me. I wanted nothing more than to get out from the dark side and join the good. I've regretted my choices the instant I made them." Spotting my incredulous look, he quickly said, "But what choice did I have, Granger? It was what my father expected me to do – I had no way out of it. "

"You still haven't lost anyone you've loved. I've lost Ron, and my parents. You haven't been through half of what I've been through."

"I lost my mother, Granger. I might not have given a shit about my father, but I loved my mother more than anything in the world."

Both of us broken
Caught in a moment

We lived and we loved
And we hurt and we jumped, yeah

"You can't have loved," I said coolly. "You don't have a heart."

Without moving away from me, you just dropped your gaze. I knew that my last comment had stung and was on the verge of apologizing, when you started to casually pick the dirt out of your fingernails, while saying, "Notice you said you lost the man you loved. Do you… ah, still love him, or have you… lets say, moved on?" Looking back into my eyes, you smirked that familiar smirk and asked, "Well?" infuriating me beyond belief.

But the planets all aligned
When you looked into my eyes

Not dropping my gaze, I answered, "Watch your mouth, Malfoy. I broke your nose quite easily in third year and would be thrilled to have the chance to do it again. And why exactly would you care? It has nothing to do with you."

And just like that
The chemicals react
The chemicals react

"My dear Hermione, it has everything to do with me."

"Really? How so? Prove it."

You smirked once again, whispered, "As you wish…"

Slowly, holding my gaze the whole time, you leaned down to capture my lips with yours.

Kaleidoscope of colors
Turning hopes on fire, sun is burning

In the instant your lips touched mine, I knew that I didn't love Ron the way I loved you. It was an inexplicable love, a forbidden lust that lurked in front of me like a monster… challenging me to come forward and get lost in its grip.


Shining down on both of us
Don't let us lose it (don't let us lose it...)

Slowly I ebbed back into reality and pulled away from the kiss. Surprisingly, your eyes were not nearly as cold as they had been a minute ago, but then, the trademark smirk flitted back into its place on your face and you said carelessly, but with a hint of defiance, "Proven."

Chorus
Were you right, was I wrong
Were you weak, was I strong, yeah

Slowly I realized what I had done and my anger flared up again. "Is that what it was, Malfoy? Some sort of dare that you had to prove yourself with? Did you really not feel anything?"

Both of us broken
Caught in a moment

"Of course I felt something, Hermio-"

"Don't call me that."

"Okay then, Granger, of course I felt something! It's the same thing I've been feeling for the past four years."

"And what's that?"

"Pain."

"Pain!?" I exclaimed incredulously. He felt pain when he saw me? To my surprise, his next words were filled with a passion that I had never head in my life.

"Yes, pain. Heart wrenching, indescribable pain. Knowing that you don't feel anything for me. Knowing that you would never, in my wildest dreams, love me back the way the way that I love you. Knowing that always, whenever I would see you, that you would only feel loathing, and nothing else. Knowing that your heart would always lie with Weasley, and never with me."

"It seems like you know a lot about me, Malfoy… but apparently you don't know how I feel about you, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that of course I feel something for you! Of course I love you back in the way you love me! I don't feel loathing when I see you… why do you think I just kissed you? And Ron's gone. I can't love him anymore – he left me."


We lived and we loved
And we hurt and we jumped, yeah

The look of shock on your face was so pronounced that it was almost comical. "You – you love me?"

"Must I say it again?"

You strode over to me in about two steps and pulled me into your arms, lowering your face tantalizingly close to mine. "I love you, Granger…"

If someone had been listening carefully, they would have heard the whispered "Call me Hermione," that escaped my lips before your lips landed on them.

We were close to the heads dormitories, and I mumbled the password before wrapping my legs around your waist and kissing you eagerly, almost hungrily.

How I ended up that morning lying naked in bed next to you, your arm wrapped around my waist, I don't remember… All I do remember is that when I opened my eyes, I knew that I had made the right decision choosing you.

We lived, we loved, we hurt, we jumped
we're right, we're wrong, we're weak, we're strong
we lived to love

The war is over, and we both made it out in one piece. Harry's alive, and he couldn't be better. He and Ginny got married just over a month after the war – she woke up as soon as the war ended. You announced your joining of the light side and fought in the war to the very end… Ron is still gone, and so are my parents… we lost Luna and Neville as well, but sacrifices had to be made.


But the planets all aligned, when you looked into my eyes
and just like that, watch the chemicals react
and just like that, the chemicals react

And here I am, sitting in my room in front of the mirror while Ginny and Parvati fuss over my makeup, berating me if I accidentally stain my dress, squealing about how exciting this is… I can't believe in less than an hour I'll be Mrs. Hermione Malfoy.

I look dubiously at the white puffball of a dress that I'm wearing, and nervously finger the diamond ring resting on my finger. I rest my hands on the barely visible bump underneath my dress… not only will I be your wife – in four months I'll be a mother too.

Every time I feel my child kick in my stomach, I'm reminded how lucky I am to be here, alive and well, loved and loving…

When you came back into my life I hardly expected that I would ever be with you like how I'm with you now… I never thought a Slytherin and a Gryffindor would love each other as much as we do… I never thought a pureblood and a muggleborn could live in harmony the way we do… I never imagined that we would be together.

But all this shows that however different we were… however different we still are… chemicals react, and that we've reacted to form the most precious thing in this world… love.

Hermione Jane Granger

Hermione Malfoy's eyes glistened with tears as she read her old diary from twelve years back. She remembered the day that her sworn enemy had showed up in school and had declared his love to her… she remembered their first time together… she remembered the day that she had gotten married, a total nervous wreck… she remembered the day that she had threatened to castrate her husband… she also remembered that a few hours later she had given birth to her daughter, Aurora Leah Malfoy…

She remembered the time when she was still a muggle… that day when her teachers had mixed two different liquids to form a different solution… surely that related to real life as well – because for all that she knew, she and her husband were those very chemicals… and they had definitely reacted.

Fin

Gryffindork.2007

DraMione Drama Fic Challenge

Rating: preferably K+ or T

Things that had to be in it: diary entry from the past, dead Ron, mentions of a "potty mouth"

Things that could NOT be in it: SuddenlyGorgeous!Hermione, OverlyFluffy!Draco, Lucius Malfoy, OverFluff

Thanx for reading!!! R+R please!!!!!

Gryffindork.2007