Draco Malfoy knew he didn't have much time. He had to make a decision. 'Tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.' The old quote drifted into his head confusing him even more. She quoted that to him the day he'd said goodbye to her the first time. He'd never been sure whether he believed that though and now that he faced loosing her a second time it made even less sense. How could someone think that loosing the one person who completed you was better than not knowing them? Ignorance was bliss in Draco Malfoy's eyes; at least in the face of all the pain he felt when he lost her. Could he go through that again? Could he cope with the absence of her eyes, her smile, and her warmth? The love she'd brought him, love liked he'd never known before. And this time wouldn't be like the last, if he lost her this time there would be no going back. Ever. Could he loose her? But more than that, could he be the one to destroy her? That was the decision Draco had to make. Would he choose his duty or his heart? He had no idea. The only thing he knew was that either way this wasn't going to be easy and either way, their love was damned. He just wished he could go back to when it all started….


Hermione Grange sat in the Gryffindor common room absentmindedly doing her Spells and Rituals homework for her class tomorrow. She couldn't concentrate on her work like she usually could and found she was on autopilot. With good reason too. Draco Malfoy was back at Hogwarts. She couldn't get his face out of her mind, the look in his eyes as he walked through the doors to the great hall. The longing in his eyes, which she was sure she must've imagined, when he looked in her direction. After all he'd had his chance with her and he'd broken her heart. He'd stripped her of everything that their love had ever given her, all her joy, all her happiness and just thinking about it made her heart start to ache. She was just seconds away from crying when the door to the common room door burst open and Harry and Ron clambered in. They were both laughing and talking happily together and Hermione quickly turned her attention back to her work. It gave her a distraction, stopped her from crying and she was very sure that in ten minutes Harry and Ron would asked to copy her homework.


The rain fell down in buckets and Hermione was having trouble keeping up. He, of course, was running graciously through the rain with no trouble whatsoever. "Stop!" She cried as she could no longer chase after him. He looked back and his eyes softened and looked warm, they way they did when only she was around. "What, can't keep up Granger?" He asked mockingly as he doubled back to get her.

"Well I'm sorry if I don't usually run through buckets of rain, this was your idea remember?" She replied with a cheeky smile. He smiled back, a smile which was so rare for him. It suited him.

"Always complaining. But you won't complain once we're there, I can assure you." He laughed at her doubtful expression and offered her his hand.

"What am I supposed to do?" She asked a little breathlessly and he looked from her to his hand and then back again. She smiled as she grabbed his hand and he picked her up and hoisted her onto his back. "What on earth are you doing?" Hermione asked breathlessly as he laughed and started running through the rain again.

"I'm making sure you don't collapse on our way there. No doubt everyone will have thought I murdered you." He chuckled again but Hermione could tell he was being serious.

The smile wiped from her face. "They wouldn't say that if they knew you." She replied but he was already shaking his head. They were both drenched by now and Hermione could almost feel her teeth chattering. "Yes, yes they would." He replied in a voice she knew better than anything.

"No, they wouldn't." She said stubbornly and he sighed.

"I will not argue with you, but I do not agree with you either."

"You should." She replied and tightened her grip around his shoulders. He sighed and shook his head once more before he took off running again, only a lot slower than he was before.

He slid her off of his back and she took a look around her. "Where are we?" She asked taking in the scene in front of her. They were standing on a small cliff face with trees surrounding them and clear water below them which was now tinged grey with the colour of the sky. It was still raining and Hermione was shivering but she didn't care. She was here on this beautiful point of nowhere with the person she loved more than anything in this whole world, as cliché' as that sounded.He shrugged, "I dunno, just a place I came across whilst walking out here one night. I figured if I was going to share it with someone it may as well be you." His eyes danced as she looked into them and she was on the verge of tears. The good thing about the rain was that it made it hard to tell if she was crying, or on the verge of crying. But he knew, he always knew. "What's wrong?" He asked stepping forward. The kindness in his eyes always surprised her but she didn't know why, he was always this way around her. Always.

"Nothing I-" She swallowed, "I just…. Nobody has ever said or done anything like this for me before." She shook her head, "God, I'm just being stupid! Don't pay any attention to me." To her surprise he smiled.

"I could never do that; if I did my existence would cease to mean a thing. As for nobody doing anything like this for you before, well, they should've. But I have to admit, I am kind of glad they didn't." He said as he stepped forward and took her face in his hands.

"Why is that?" She asked with a small smile.

"Because if they did," He replied as he sighed and swallowed, with a light-hearted face and a playful note in his voice, "I would be forced to kick their ass." She laughed and he smiled before he kissed her as the rain poured down on them tickling their noses and cleansing their skin.


A/N: Just so you know, the first paragraph is set at the end of this story/the end of H.P and the deathly hallows. The rest of it is technically 'flashbacks'. The stuff in Italics is basically the story of Hermione and Draco from before they broke up the first time and the normal font is how they got to the point they are 'now' (the first paragraph). I'm sorry if that is a little confusing and I really hope that made at least a little bit of sense to you so yeah. Hope you liked it. Don't forget to R&R.