The bedroom was cold, the fire unlit and the late autumn drizzle outside only just beginning to turn into a proper storm.
Hermione sat at a round glass table, her back to the floor-to-ceiling windows; her shoulders lightly slumped as she rested her elbows on the table and held up her engagement ring at eye-level.
She knew it was beautiful but it was never meant to be hers. She could just see how it would be so much lovelier on Ginny's hand rather than her own. Ginny. Poor Ginny. She had been dead for over a year now. And Ron... She couldn't even think about him without her chest tightening painfully making it hard for her to breathe.
She twirled the ring between her fingers studying the intricately interwoven metal and diamonds as if she could turn back time with it if she turned it anti-clockwise enough times.
They had won the war with Voldemort but in Hermione's opinion it couldn't be considered a victory - not with the amount of lives that had been lost. She blamed herself for their deaths. Had she figured out where all of the horcruxes were and how to destroy them faster than she had, so many could still be alive today. Logically she knew that she couldn't have saved everyone and that Voldemort was the one to blame yet she still felt responsible.
A knock at the door startled her from her from her reverie and she had just enough time to straighten her back a little and arrange a tight smile onto her features before Draco Malfoy came into the room.
He had changed during what should have been their seventh year at Hogwarts. His time with the death eaters had obviously scarred him but his arrogance was only fractionally diminished, his demeanor still regal. His parents had been killed trying to flee from the final battle and since they had been the only thing that stood between him leaving Voldemort's forces he had joined their side. Draco saved Hermione's life that day. He had killed Greyback just as he was about to sink his teeth into her. They had helped each other out numerous times since, becoming good friends that told each other all the things that they could never tell anyone else.
"Don't do it." He made it sound so simple. Her fake smile slid off her features to be replaced by a smaller more genuine one. She regarded him challengingly.
"Malfoy, are you telling me what to do? You know very well that I always end up doing exactly what I what anyway."
"No you don't. You always do what you think is right or necessary. Which, usually Hermione, I find admirable but in this case is just stupid."
Hermione looked away from him, turning her attention back to the ring. She saw him move to sit next to her in her peripheral vision. She focused on the ring drinking in its delicate details and trying to summon the strength to tell Draco that he needn't worry, that she and Harry would be happy and that she was in love with him. She had told numerous people just that but Draco was different. She couldn't lie to him. Even if she did he'd see right through her.
"I love him," it was barely more than a whisper.
"I know that. But I also know that you're not in love him." he said in a tone that was much firmer than hers.
"He'd keep me safe, Draco. Millions of marriages have been formed on less than that."
"As if you need protecting." Draco scoffed, pointedly ignoring the other part of her statement.
One of the tiny diamonds encrusting the ring came loose under her fingers. Hermione cursed and got up to get her wand from the bedside table. He followed closely on her heels.
"What do you expect me to do Draco? He asked me in front of thousands of people, I couldn't say no. And I can't say no now because I fear he's losing his mind with grief over Ginny. I think he's on the verge of becoming suicidal. I can't lose him as well. I can't. Reparo!"
The gem readjusted itself in its rightful place. Hermione angrily shoved it back onto her finger. Placing her wand back onto the bedside table she spun around and found herself nose to nose with Draco.
"Tell me that you think that he could make you happy instead of miserable - because I have rarely seen you look more upset than you did when I walked in here - and I will leave this alone. I won't play best man at the wedding but I'll shut up about it. Tell me that on some level you want this and I'll shut up."
Hermione just looked at him, desperately wanting to be able to form the words but knowing that she couldn't.
"You said thousands of times that he's like your brother. You don't think that that might put a wrench in your 'marriage', your entire relationship, friendly or otherwise?" Draco continued "If he really loved you he wouldn't push you into this."
Hermione closed her eyes in defeat, exasperation and complete emotional exhaustion. She willed herself not to break down; deciding the safest course of action for now was to take a deep breath to steady her.
When she opened her eyes Draco was just a little closer again and there was something different in his gaze.
"Don't do it" he repeated "Please, don't do it."
Cupping her face in one hand he leaned forward, giving her every opportunity to pull away, and slowly brushed her lips with his own. She responded after a few seconds, throwing caution out the window and wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him closer, putting all of her suppressed emotions into that one kiss.
She broke it off first. Gasping, she pressed her forehead to his lightly and said "I have to go talk to him," before breaking away from him altogether and running out the door.