Her feet resisted, becoming bitter enemies with every step. The frozen breeze assaulted her teary eyes. She stumbled over the small hill crying the half-frozen tears; finally giving up on the effort of wiping them away. Every part of her rational self screamed to turn back while her heart threatened to burst if she obeyed. She needed to know where they went wrong, what went wrong. Argument after argument consumed their somewhat peaceful lives like a disease. It ate away at both of them, almost like a cancer neither knew was there until it was too late.
Remorse filled his body with every confident stride he made. The thought of her skin brushing his, her lips caressing his; invaded the arrogant, prejudiced corners of his mind. He wanted to hold her like before, tell her he was sorry and that he could change. Deep down he knew he could. He stopped mid stride, his travel cloak whipping against the tall grass littered throughout the vacant field. The apparition point was in sight, why was he slowing down.
"Draco please! Don't do this!" Hermione cried in vain. Selfishness was not becoming of her.
"I can't be around you when you're this way." His voice left him in a strained manner, almost being caught up and swept away in the furious gale. Refusing to turn and face her, he stood still, gazing toward the starless sky.
"You made me this way Draco. I tried for so long to let it rest and I can't any longer. I need to feel loved, to be told I'm loved."
The slight break in her voice told him she was crying.
"I've sacrificed so much to be with you. I entertained your friends, catered to your mother. There is only so much pride a person can exude before it all comes falling down." Her eyes roamed Draco's figure in the fading light; waiting for him to spin around and embrace her like all the times before.
In the silence, Draco could hear her tears vividly. A vision of Hermione's face, wet with sorrow forced its way into his mind. His heart beat furiously begging him to expel some sort of emotion besides anger. The dark within him reared, suppressing his own pain. She had never shed a tear in his presence. Five years of marriage and she had never shed a tear that he could see.
"Why!" He screamed towards the black night.
Hermione drew back, surprised by her husband's outburst.
He turned, marching towards her with a twisted, pained, expression on his pointed face. The dark grey center of his eyes stared into her wet, brown ones. Nothing about what was happening fit their usual patterns. Draco never walked away from their home; she never let her emotions float so closely to the surface. Hermione was a walking Malfoy clone, cut from the same cloth he was. He could not let her go on that way. Seeing that spark he loved dulling and fading away was far more than he could take.
"I should have let you marry Weasely. I don't know what I was thinking about really. I've turned you into the same person my father turned my mother into. Quiet, obeying, emotionless. It's sickening. I'm sickened!"
"I allowed it; I wanted you to love me. You did love me at one time didn't you?" Her head throbbed from the adrenalin coursing through her veins. Draco was cracking apart right in front of her and she couldn't bring herself to comfort him.
Heavy tears ran the length of his face. He blinked, his eyes adjusting in the dark. "I…" Nothing came out, though his mouth hung open waiting for his vocal chords to do their job. Instead, sobs wracked his frail shoulders, pulling him to the wet ground. The misery poured from deep in his soul, where it had been stored for years.
Hermione made no move towards him. She did what she felt right; let him cry. The last five years had taken their toll on her as a person. The know it all was gone, hidden away to discover another day. Draco never once laid a hand on her in an angry way; he never laid a hand on her in a loving way. When they climbed into their bed at night, she knew it would be different. He began to show her small parts of himself and she couldn't get enough. They made love like there was to be no tomorrow.
Standing in the cold rain, feeling the wind beat wet hair against her face she gazed down on her husband. His shoulders were still once again. He looked up at her after wiping the tears away.
"I love you Hermione. Please know I love you."
"I know you do. I've always known."
"I've taken so many things away from you. I've been selfish. I never knew how to be a proper husband, I thought I was right."
"You are a wonderful lover Draco. You did that right. I saw you, the real you each and every time." She smiled remembering the soft skin of his lips exploring her body in a way no other man had.
"I denied you children. I was a coward, am a coward." He rose from the ground, taking Hermione's face into his hands. "You were the first woman I ever loved."
Her face crumpled, a wayward tear sliding from her closed lids. "Draco, I was screaming under my breath for so long. You never allowed me to scream aloud. I didn't always want to be the strong one. The silent wife of Draco Malfoy."
"Don't be silent anymore. I can't bare it."
The rain fell harder as they gazed into each others torn souls; each damaged by the rigid, cold life they had come to lead. Both wanted nothing more than to break free of the monotony, to roam the earth together in sweet, unadulterated love.
It was too late.
They were lodged to far in despair. The conversation proceeded no further. Hermione knew he was going to let her go, it was the least he could do. She turned, walking away the best she could in her soaked dress; never looking back. Time would pass and she would move on, keeping her last moment with him in that field, in the rain, close to her healing heart.