Author's Note: This is a story about two people longing for each other's warmth.
Read and review please. It's my early Valentine fic, but I'll come up with a new one which will be different.

Disclaimer: The recognizable characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The song, "Nobody Wants to be Lonely," is a song by Ricki Martin and Christina Aguilera.

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Nobody Wants to be Lonely
Story written by: Viper





Draco Malfoy was a person not everybody's fond of. Then again, he's not very fond of everyone around him either. He was raised as a dark wizard hating good-doers. No one really cared for him, not his school mates, mother, and, most especially, his father. His father had done nothing but torture him almost all his life. Draco never felt love. The most lovable thing that was done to him was his parents taking him in and feeding him. Love was one thing that never crossed his life. If it was water, he would be dead by the time he was three months old.
But can you imagine looking at an extremely powerful source of light for the first time in your entire life? That was what Draco felt when a small tingling sensation crept up to him very slowly. This distinct person had carefully changed his whole view of the meaning of the word, "Love."
It started in his fifth year in Hogwarts when he was partnered up in Potions class with her. First, he was thinking of not being able to stand her for she was a mudblood. But every time he spent a moment with her, he started to loosen up, and soon learn to talk to her like civilized people. Then came the trusting part. She admitted that she didn't hate him, she said that it was just a small feeling of dislike marking of his everyday mockery towards her. She befriended him--in a peculiar way, but when she did so, he felt like he wasn't lonely anymore. When the assignment was finished, he found himself longing for her company. So he joined the study group she was in just to be with her and be able to talk to her with no consequences, whatsoever. There weren't any suspicions renderred towards him for he was one of the smartest students in the whole school. But you know what it did to him? It made his mind unfocused and confused because each passing day that he had seen her, he became more and more attached to her. He began to feel emotional towards her. It made him miserable of being able to be near her, but could not tell her how he really felt.
There were certain circumstances that prevented him of telling her and finding out what it really felt like to love her directly. Like for one, his family was a mudblood hating clan. Second, they belonged to two different houses who lived in many years of feud. Another was, they considered themselves as arch nemeses since the beginning.
How many times have he tried to tell her? Over a hundred. Surprising result for only one and a half year of knowing.

There you are in a darkened room
And you're all alone looking out the window,
Your heart is cold and lost the will to love
Like a broken arrow.

Tonight, dreams of her perturbed him. He couldn't close his eyes anymore without seeing that lovely face of hers. Instead of sleeping, he wearily stepped out of his dorm into the common room. It was worthless to stay in bed, and not sleep. But something drew him out from the common room. It was more like a force, but a gentle one. He just sensed that he needed to be somewhere. Walking down the cold corridors, he felt like he was, once again, filled with emptiness, like he never met her. But then, he reached a place which flinched his temperature. It was a pleasant sensation. It was like he felt that there was this warmth in there that he truly needed. Predictively, he was drawn to it. Once he opened the door, he thought that this was where the force was coming from. Seen from his view was a small fire on the fireplace, a dark, very small,empty room which only contained a three-person sofa with a blanket laid in front of it. But someone was sitting by the ebony window.

Here I stand in shadows.
Come to me, come to me,
Can't you see that.....

It was her. Hermione Granger. It seemed like she couldn't sleep either. Maybe this was her secret place, Draco thought. Her legs were drawn up to her chest, and she looked like she was in deep thoughts. It wasn't an unpretty sight to Draco. Infact, Draco thought that she looked like an angel that just came down from Heaven.

Nobody wants to be lonely, nobody wants to cry.
My body's longing to hold you, so bad it hurts inside.
Time is precious and it's slipping away, and I've been waiting for you all of my life.
Nobody wants to be lonely so why..... Why don't you let me love you.

"Hey." Draco quietly said, walking up to her. She was rather surprised by him, but she just looked into his unopposing gaze and replied, "Hey."

"What are you doing here?"Hermione asked, looking back at the window. Draco sat beside here and paused for a moment before answering. "Couldn't sleep."

"Me, too." She said.

"Why are you up here so late?" Draco asked her, but he really didn't mind for he was glad to see her.

"I just needed some thinking." Hermione answered.

"Is this the secret place you told me about?"

"Yeah," she said. "I come here often when I need some time alone."

Can you hear my voice? Do you hear my song?
It's a serenade so your heart can find me.
And suddenly, you're flying down the stairs,
Into my arms, baby.


Draco shifted on his seat uneasily. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Well, I seem to have developed a liking into someone." Draco said. Hermione arched her neck with her head towards him seemingly interested. "But the big deal is we can't be together due to, uh, certain events."

"Who is she? It's a she, right?" She said.

"Of course, it's a she. But I can't tell you who she is because you're too close to her." Draco said raising his eyebrow.

If only Draco could hear her thoughts, he would be amazed. I'm hoping it'll be me, but it's too impossible. "Describe her, then."

Draco thought for a moment, but gave in. "Ok..... She has beautiful, golden-brown hair and a set of two cinnamon eyes so deep that if you look at it, you would drown." He looked at her adoringly and continued. "Her touch is like a spa bath- so warm, you won't remember what it feels like to be cold. Her beauty is unlike Cho Chang's model-like feature. It's also unlike Lavender Brown's seductive one. But her poise is so magnificent and natural. She has her own definition of beauty. To her, appearance doesn't matter, but to me, she has her own attractiveness. I think that she's so marvelous that only fools didn't notice her."

Before I start going crazy, run to me, run to me
'Coz I'm dying.....

"Sounds like you're inlove with her." Hermione said.

Draco looked out to the window like what Hermione was doing. "I am."

Nobody wants to be lonely, nobody wants to cry.
My body's longing to hold you, so bad it hurts inside.
Time is precious and it's slipping away, and I've been waiting for you all of my life.
Nobody wants to be lonely so why.... Why don't you let me love you.

"Why can't you tell her that you love her?" Hermione asked while gazing at him trying to meet his eyes.

"Because I don't know If she'll understand." Draco replied.

"Draco, if you truly love this person, then maybe you should take the chance of telling her. She might understand. You'll never know if you don't try."

You'll never know if you don't try. That sentence echoed to Draco's mind like bells that rang in a chapel. But how could he? Somebody might try to harm her, and he would never forgive himelf if that happens. "Hermione, there are lots of things that could happen if she did returned my love. She might be hurt because of me."

"Then you'll be there to protect her." That was what Hermione shockingly said.

I wanna feel you need me.
Just like the air you're breathin', I need you in my life.

Draco took a moment of silence to think about what she said. 'Then you'll be there to protect her.'
I will love her, that's for sure, he thought.
'Then you'll be there to protect her.'
I will definitely protect her.
'Then you'll be there to protect her.'
But I'm not sure if she will love me back....
"Hermione," he began, "what if she hates me? What if she doesn't want anything to do with me?"

"Just try, Draco." She advised him.

Draco thoughtfully narrowed down the possibilitties of the situation. It unstartlingly resulted to unwanted things. But maybe, just maybe.....
"I think I will, Hermione. I think I will tell her."

"That's great. Do me the favor of telling me who she is?" Hermione said.

"I can't, but I need some time of thinking how I will do it." Draco briskily said.

"Tell me, please?" Hermione made a puppy-dog face to plead him.

"No, but you'll find out soon enough. Now I've got to go. You better get back to your tower too." Draco abruptly stood up and faced her again. "Thanks, Hermione." He then proceeded to the door towards the direction to his tower.

'You'll find out soon enough.' What does that mean? She thought.

Don't walk away, don't walk away, don't walk away, don't walk away, no.
Nobody wants to be lonely, nobody wants to cry.


'Golden-brown hair, and cinnamon eyes.' I wish I had brown hair and cinnamon eyes. Wait a minute ! I do have brown hair and cinnmaon eyes ! But he can't be talking about me. Can he? Hermione started to get up and run to the corridors to find Draco. Unfortunately, he might have gone a bit far already. She ran with her hopes up of finding him. Please be here. Please be here. She thought. Suddenly...
There he was. Walking slowly as if he was a tourist enjoying a nature-walk. Hermione picked her feet up and walked softly so that no noise would be heard.

With a tap on his shoulder, Draco turned around to see Hermione standing behind him looking like a child who had been ought 5 cones of ice-cream.
"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"I was curious on when you would tell this girl that you love her." She answered with a smile on her face.

"I don't know when; I was just thinking about it." Draco said.

"How about if I tell you to do it right here and now, and say that she'll understand."

Draco eyed her carefully. "You've figured it out?" To his great surprise, she nodded and walked up to him. She stood on a tip-toe and pressed her lips towards his' willingly.

When they broke the kiss, both have not been able to suppress the grin forming on their faces. "Yes, I've figured it out, and I think the girl says she understands."

"Oh, well done, my princess. Well done."

Nobody wants to be lonely, nobody wants to cry.
My body's longing to hold you, so bad it hurts inside.
Time is precious and it's slipping away, and I've been waiting for you all of my life.
Nobody wants to be lonely so why....Why don't you let me love you.


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Author's note: I really didn't know how to end that one. But don't be alarmed, people, there will be a sequel on how Herm and Draco will handle this.
Thank you for those who will review. Pls. review.
~Viper