I love you...
Drenched in sweat, covered in blood, caked in mud, saturated with tears, she saw him.
How did he always manage to appear just when she stood on the brink of desperation? How did he always manage to appear just when she needed him most? How did he know that her soul had just been crying out for him, just as it always did just before he came to her? How did he know how to make her love him all the more?
The war raged on around them but for one moment she found herself caught in his eyes and unable to move.
"Hermione-" he shouted, and then he was on top of her, pushing her down from a spell that flickered now harmlessly over the two of them.
He lay on top of her and their bodies were closer than ever. They couldn't let anybody see them…but she couldn't move anymore. Trembling, she burst out, "Draco…Ron's dead…they killed Ron…." Her mouth scrunched up with pain at the words but, although her eyes glistened, she didn't have the strength in her left to cry. She'd cried too much over the last few days.
He couldn't say anything to comfort her. There was nothing left to comfort her. He squeezed her hand and then slowly brought them both back to standing. And then he just held her. The war raged on but just for that moment it seemed insignificant.
"You don't belong with them, Draco…you're a good man. They don't see you like I see you, they don't understand you like I do…Come back to Hogwarts, Draco, and I'll show everybody the real you.""I killed Dumbledore, Hermione…"
She buried her face in his chest to try hide her pain at the mention of this. Because it was partially true. Draco held responsible for that and they both knew it. But he'd had no choice…he'd been blackmailed all year and brainwashed all his life…and she would make her friends see that, she would make her friends see Draco the way she saw him…he needed to repent, alright, but he couldn't do it alone…she would help him…because she loved him…
That day that she'd found him, starving and ragged, on the run from both sides and so very alone, she'd saved him. And even after she explained that Harry and Ron had been searching for the Horcruxes, she'd been searching for him….
"Why did you come here?" he snarled from the darkness.
"Because you've caused a big enough mess and it's time you came home and sorted it!!!!" she screamed. "It's time to accept your responsibilities and GROW UP, MALFOY!!! This isn't going to go away by burying your head in the sand…and you need a bloody shower!"
She'd become such a regular part of his life, with him through every step of the way, walked beside him as he walked back into Hogwarts for the first time since Dumbledore's death, gripping on to his hand as he stood in front of all the teachers and explained about the torture and the threats and the blackmail on his mother's life, standing close to him as he revealed all he could to their side about Voldemort's plan, smiling proudly at him as he swore an oath of loyalty to the Order of Phoenix, even though they both knew he could never ever be trusted fully…
And he was with her all the time through the Death Eaters attack on her parents and Ginny's death and Harry's detachment to reality and Ron's increasing mental instability…
They never kissed. Not once. It never seemed appropriate through all the pain and doubts and misery…but they were closer than they'd ever been before and he honestly felt she was the first person he'd ever really loved and she honestly felt she would never love anybody more…
She could always make him smile just by being near her…he could always make her laugh through her tears…the thought of seeing her face was the only thing that got him out of bed most morning…. he was the one and only person that would make her feel completely and utterly beautiful…
And even now…with their side struggling…Ron dead…Harry currently missing…they were both okay. Clinging to each other amidst all the angst, they both knew they would continue struggling, keep fighting.
And not just through this war.
But through life in general.
"I love you," he told her then.
"I love you," she told him.
They parted and began to fight once more. There was so much left to be said and done, but this was not the end.
This was only the beginning.
I love you too...