A/N: JKR created everything. I'm just a manipulator.

Based on the song: "All About Your Heart" by Mindy Gledhill


Hermione sat on the vast, lush green lawn of the Malfoy manor, the sun's rays caressing her. Winter sunshine: Her favorite kind. Warm, yet cooling. Polar opposites that fit like two matching puzzle pieces. They too, remind her of him. His demeanor, to put nicely, isn't one a person would be attracted to at first. To anyone else, he was the cold, aloof, smug Draco Malfoy. To her, he was warm, friendly and well, smug. That was one part of him that will never change.

I don't mind your odd behavior

It's the very thing I love

She hated him with a passion, when they met in their first year at Hogwarts. He was rude, arrogant, a smug bastard. He was the renowned "Slytherin God", the untouchable one. It amazes her to this day, how much the passion between them has changed, from one of hate, to platonic friendship, then love.

If you were an ice cream flavor

You would be my favorite one

He was charming and handsome, oh yes. He isn't called a God for no reason. But while she used to only notice his smirks and sour faces, now she discovered his smiles, his grins, the way his entire face lights up when he talks about something he love, that look in his eyes when he sees her. His eyes, once a cold unpolished grey, became one of silver, shining in brilliance and beauty.

My imagination sees you

Like a painting by Van Gogh

It never crossed her mind that Draco Malfoy could be such a romantic. Once, she mentioned how she'd love to swim with the dolphins in the Bahamas and have a stay in the luxurious Atlantic Hotel. It was a passing remark, nothing more, but when the next week rolled by, she found herself swimming with the dolphins in the shimmering Atlantic ocean. Draco actually booked the entire island, just for her. He orchestrated romantic dinners under the moonlight, just for him and her. And unlike other men, who have the memory span of a rat, Draco never fails to present her with a sunflower, her favourite flower and a dinner specially prepared by him every anniversary or special occasion. He never forget to tell her every day, at every opportunity he had, that he loved her and that she was his life.

Starry nights and bright sunflowers

Follow you where you may go

It was their Eighth year when things between them changed. They were the only two out of their year to return, her out of pure need to complete all seven years at Hogwarts and him, out of the need to satisfy the decree posted by the Wizarding Council. Being the only two students in their year, they shared a dormitory. She wasn't exactly pleasant with the arrangement at first. Oh who was she kidding, she hated the arrangement. It was like being roommates with your nemesis, horrible, degrading and unpleasant.

But the insults never came. It was as if the war did something to him, something really bad to have reduced the smug bastard to his withdrawn state. He'd jump at the slightest surprise. His eyes were never calm; they darted around wildly, like a ferret twitching, ready to run once it sensed its predator.

It was during the nights when she heard it, piercing, blood-curling screams filled with horror coming from the next room, Draco's room. At first she tried to ignore it, but as the nights passed, the screams became louder, piercing; as if someone was slicing him, stroke by stroke, blade piercing through his skin, flawlessly, effortlessly. When she could take it no more; It was affecting her sleep too, she went into Draco's room during one of his scream fests. She will never forget Draco's face when she went in. It was one of pure horror, his perfect (even then, she wasn't completely immune to his perfections) features contorted in terror, fear, anguish, his hands reaching up, desperately clawing at the air, trying to drive away the threat in his dreams.

"Malfoy, Malfoy! Wake Up!" Hermione shook his shaking form, desperately, trying to pry him from the dark grasps of his nightmare.

"Noooo! Leave me alone! Leave her alone!"Draco screamed repeatedly, agony and distress in every word.

"Wake up!" And with a final violent shake, Draco was finally wrenched free from his nightmares, sweat and tears covering every inch of his face, his grey eyes red-rimmed. He looked around, confused for a moment. Then it dawned upon him.

"GET OUT. GET OUT." He yelled, upset and embarrassed that Granger, of all people, saw him so weak. Hermione's eyes grew wide, shocked by his sudden outburst, before dashing out of his room.

It was never the same for them, from that night onwards. Every night, Hermione will go into Draco's room, freeing him from his nightmares, only to be pushed away by him over and over again. During the day, she'd try to be a friend to the lonely Draco, forsaken by his friends for his betrayal during the war. He was stubborn at first. Fraternizing with a mudblood, what would his father say? It was against all the beliefs he grew up in. But Hermione was persistent and after months, she finally got through the steel wall Draco built around his heart. She helped him through his troubles, until nightmares plagued him no more, until the terrors of the war no longer disturbed his every thought.

Draco, truth be told, was touched. He wasn't used to people caring for him. The only attention he'd get from his Father, was when the Dark Lord wanted to use Draco to commit a terrible deed. His mother loved him, but could never shower him with words of affection and love as his father deemed that as a lowly action, not one worthy of being shown in the Malfoy Household.

Slowly, he opened up to Hermione. She could see why he behaved the way he did before. His father was never a good role model to his son. Being as caught up in the Dark Arts and his blood purity obsession, Lucius was never a father. He was to put nicely, the "sperm donor". Draco was nothing more, but a tool to gain favour with the Dark Lord. Draco grew up, never knowing anything apart from the fact that purebloods like him are superior and any other, inferior. Hermione, with her patience, opened his eyes to a world, where people are equal, where there is more to life than just blood purity.

It was amazing, Hermione thought as she got up and went to the swing at the far end of the lawn, how much they've both changed since then. She learnt to never judge someone fully by their actions and outer appearance, because they could be so much more different once you get to know them. Draco learnt to open his eyes, his heart, to the beauty of this world, to appreciate the people around him, to know that everyone is equal, no one more superior or less inferior to another.

Oh, I've loved you from the start

In every single way

And more each passing day

Draco started falling in love with Hermione. He fell in love with the way her eyebrows scrunches together when she was studying. He fell in love with her smile, her laughs, her giggles. Oh, they became music to his ears. He fell in love with her personality, how she tried to see the best in everybody, how she always tried to help even if it was out of her means. He fell in love with her stubborn character. He fell in love with each and every perfection and flaw that makes up Hermione Granger. And it scared him. Hermione would never love him back, it's an insane thought. She helped Harry Potter defeat Voldermort. She's the war heroine who risked her life for the Wizarding World. She's the girl who battled the Cruciatus curse casted at her by his insane aunt back at Malfoy Manor during the war. She suffered and sacrificed, for the greater good. He's that person who tried to kill Dumbledore, the one who betrayed the castle to the Death Eaters. He is a Death Eater; that dark mark on his forearm will always remind him of the mistakes he made, of the crimes he committed, of the evil he helped. There was no way Hermione, perfect as she is, will ever fall in love with him.

But Hermione did. One day, as they were walking along the banks of Black lake, Hermione plucked up every ounce of courage she had in her and told him those three words. He couldn't believe her. He wouldn't believe her. He was filled with scars, physical and emotional ones. He was imperfect. He isn't good for her, and he never will be. It took her a long time, to finally convince Draco that she loved him, despite his imperfections. They made him who he was, and nothing could ever destroy the love she feels for him.

Swinging slowly back and forth, Hermione started smiling at the memory of their younger selves. She was so hurt when Draco rejected her at first, thinking that he would never think of her as anything more than a mudblood, or if better, an acquaintance. She wanted to run into a corner and cry her heart out, until Draco started blurting out everything he felt. They were so insecure, unsure of what the other thought of them. But love prevails, it always does.

"Guess who!" Hands popped up from behind and covered her eyes.

"Aw Draco! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Hermione laughed and turned to face him. His eyes, a brilliant silver and filled with love and adoration, stared into her brown ones, shining like the stars in a glittering sky.

You are brighter than the stars

Believe me when I say

It's not about your scars

It's all about your heart.