A/N Hi guys! I know that it has been a very long time since I have written anything to do with Draco and Hermione and only last night did I decide to try and write something as I've had a lot of bad family things going on lately. So all I ask is that you enjoy my writing and if you can't be nice with the reviews then please don't do so at all =) thank you.

I didn't know what was in store.
When I walked right through the door.
Then I saw you over there, our blue eyes locked in a stare.
I didn't know quite what to say, sometimes words get in the way.

"Hermione..."he stopped her with his icy voice that seemed to soften ever so slightly when he spoke to her.

"What?" Hermione spun around to face him "What can you possibly want Malfoy, we have been here so many times before, I'm tired of going in circles with you!"

He strode over to her slowly, but intently as she continued to tell him how they couldn't ever be together because of his involvement with Voldemort and the fact that they had been placed in rival houses since their fist night at Hogwarts. His cool fingers purposely laced themselves through Hermione's auburn hair and curled at the tips gently into her skull as he took her face and silently went to kiss her bitten lips where she had begun to chew them with the tension.

"Oh no...No, you don't!" she turned her head to one side as to avoid the peace making, point-avoiding kiss. "You are NOT fair! You cannot bring this up into conversation, that I am a Mudblood and that I'm not worthy of your love, that I'm an enemy...that your father would never approve-"

"I never said that, I never said that you were a...I never said that I loved you any less Hermione..." Draco's words were something of a whisper, a fragile attempt to calm the love of his life down, although It would probably wouldn't work, he thought it was better to try than to risk losing her in a flurry of furious fighting.

"I love you Draco! I am standing here in front of you, begging you to see that I care, that I'm the only one who does care! When you had nobody else, I was there, when you needed someone to hold you, when you needed something to hold on to, I was there! I made sure that I kept my promise to look after you and to help you, because you asked me Malfoy, you asked me to help."

Draco sighed, it was a known fact between them that if either of them switched to last names then it was a sure sign of not only anger, but an argument which was not going to be put out easily, instead this fire was going to explode until it had come to a weary conclusion. "Hermione, my love...please...please don't take what I said the wrong way - I did ask for help, I know I did and I'm a lucky man to have you by my side, and I don't take that for granted, I adore you with every fibre of my being..."

Hermione had fallen silent, as she had turned her face back to him after dodging a kiss she became mesmerised by his brilliant eyes which were swimming with love and fear but also and most importantly, a softness that she had taught him that he was allowed to show her. Reluctantly she listened to him, backing down slightly because he had admitted that she was right. Hermione had grown up with a boy whose eyes, the windows to his soul, showed a cold, hard and cruel heart which had been brought up on jealousy and bitterness with a huge helping of neglect from his father. It seemed to Hermione that this was not a strong, brave man with everything to live for, who had everything...no... Instead he was a broken, frightened little boy who had no purpose in life except for floundering around; desperately trying to impress his father and be the son he always told him that he wanted. He smiled rarely, it was a work in progress, but his eyes were enough of a sign to remind her that she adored him too.

"I cannot help who I am Hermione...I mean, I can help WHO I am, but I can't help that I am a Malfoy and that I am expected to take part in assisting the Dark Lord and-"

"Voldemort!" Hermione snapped smacking his hands away from her, suddenly raring to go again, feeding off of her temper which was brewing silently inside of her whilst she was silent. "Say his name! Don't patronize me with your silly name for the monster that has ruined so many lives and is trying to ruin more right now, a few in fact though you! Don't stand there and say that to me, I happen to think that I deserve a bit more respect than that seeing what I have given up to be with you. Dark – yes, he is dark, although that is not an overall appropriate description, I'm sure that I could think of much better suited words for hi-"

"I'm sure that you could my love." Draco interrupted, his shoulders sagged in defeat.

"-don't interrupt me! You have no idea what it is like trying to keep your friends safe, to wipe your parents memory clear so that when YOUR death eaters come hunting for me they won't torture them for information-" She jabbed her finger into his firm chest every time a painful memory flooded her head which sprouted another point to be made.

Don't know how you feel
You seem to keep it to yourself
Would you climb mountains
To show me this is something real

"You don't realise the stress that I'm under to learn every new spell under the stars and to protect everyone and at the same time help you and not allow anybody to see that I am madly in love with you, or being threatened to be crushed with all this stress." Hermione stopped and stared at Draco, breathless and sad that she had said out loud what she had been feeling for just over a year. He just stood there, silent, still, almost as if he wanted to say something, but was having second thoughts about the way it might come out.

"-and then you decide that when I have an opinion too and when I would like to get a point across, you decide that we shouldn't fight. Well I have news for you Malfoy, you cannot hide from this, if I could then I would but you just said my worst fears..."

"I don't want to choose a side, I don't want to pick, I'm not afraid to die but I am terrified of not saving the people that I love and have vowed to protect, and as hard as any Gryffindor or enemy of Voldemort would find it hard to believe, one of those people has become you!" small silver tears began to trickle and tumble down her flushed cheeks.

I know we're both young, but we know how we feel.
We know what is false, and we know what is real.

After a long silence, a hard stare between them both in ignorance, he spoke firmly and clearly.

"We shouldn't fight Hermione...don't make me fight with you...don't tear my heart out."

There was something about him that made him different. Harry and Ron would never see it, even if they bothered looking they would still never recognise the way that Draco stood, the way he looked, the way he felt when he clung to her for a lifeline, the way he would silently beg the universe to let him be taken in his sleep. They would not understand his pain; they would not care about the broken boy who would hide behind a mask just to save himself.

"You are the only thing that I want Hermione..." his hands reached out to pull her back towards him. He held her hands and squeezed them lightly for reassurance. "You are the only thing that I need, and I wish that you could see it, I need you to realise that for me words just get in the way Hermione, my love for you is unconditional."

"No! it isn't." Hermione replied "It is up to the point where you can't be bothered to fight anymore Draco, our love will not last, and someone will have us killed. We are not allowed to be – together." her voice has faltered on the last few words, bringing home a nasty realisation which stung them both like salt rubbed into an open wound.

"No Hermione, no, it is, I love you, and a year before now you would never have heard me openly say that, I am different when I'm with you."

"EXACTLY!" she sobbed desperately "Exactly my point, you are different when you are with me, when I am out of sight then you go back to forgetting me and assisting evil, you shut out that love and laughter, you shut me out."

She had never broken her gaze from him, not even to look down at their entwined hands which must look as if they were about to be wed. The over whelming sensation to cuddle back into his arms and forget about this argument was intensely difficult to resist, but she held her ground until he continued to let it all out.

When somethings pure
How can people just say
We're not meant to be
And when somethings true
How can people just
Keep me away from you

"You have shown me that my life can be complete, that I don't need my father and that I don't have to follow Voldemort..." he made a point of correcting his previous mistake. "but I must remain in the position that I am to ensure that you are safe, there is nothing more important to me in this or the next universe, you are my life Hermione, you are my saviour and I will do anything and everything in and out of my power to ensure your safety. I realise that you feel responsible to protect Potter and Weasley and everyone else who isn't going to join Voldemort, but you have to let some things be, you have to let me look after you, stop being so stubborn. You know as well as I do that you can't handle all of this by yourself. Let me in..." it became a silent plea that hung in the air.

Hermione half flung, half pushed herself back into his arms until she was pressed into his chest, craving his warmth and his musky smell of parchment, dust and something reminiscent of cinnamon. Deflating with relief Draco snaked his arms around his little ray of sunlight in a world so dark and cruel and held her close, unwilling to let her go. "Please listen to me, my angel." His words were warm and welcome against her head, his nose was nestled in-between a nest of natural curls. "I don't want to lose you, I understand that this is a difficult time, but fighting me will not help either of us, save it for the real fight, don't push me away, I know that you're doing it because you're scared, but you needn't be because I'm here for you."

Hermione nodded contently against his chest in a silent agreement that he was right and that he did understand, she was just finding it hard. "I will not let you fall my love." He whispered, closing his eyes and taking in the wood, and flower mix of her hair.

Up until that moment Hermione had tried hard to not allow herself to love Draco, she tried to forget him, she had thought long and hard and had tried to let go. But It was no use, from the moment that she first heard him laugh, the moment his eyes melted and he let her in was the moment that she had fallen utterly in love with Draco Malfoy, the boy who was supposed to be her enemy, a heartless, unfeeling, malicious, egotistical monster. But he had turned out to be her everything...

Now that she had given into his embrace, she had also given into her heart and it's longing not to be separated from his for a single moment. Loving him was like breathing now and without him she would surely suffocate. As her head was rested against his chest she felt the warmth seep into her, she felt at rest with the world and her whirring mind, just being near him brought her the escape that she needed, the mental assurance.

Just wanna hear what you've got to say
Are you feeling the same
'Cause I'm not okay
Thought when we met there was something more
But the others said no - they shut the door

Draco kissed the top of her head protectively and Hermione raised her head to look up at him. Their eyes met and they fell into a world of their own, a place where their favourite smells existed and where life was carefree with no names, no labels, no evil, and no hassle. No one to say 'NO' and nothing that could threaten to take themselves away from each other. Their souls silently moulded into one, perhaps the opposite to what Voldemort did, perhaps he was so alone which drove him into his madness, he split his soul, instead Hermione and Draco both offered theirs to each other knowing that this was meant to be.

"I'm so scared." Hermione wisped into his robes "I am just so...scared." she repeated sincere and exhausted from the fighting.

"I know my love, but we can do this Hermione, you just need to trust me."

Trust. The word bounced through and around Hermione's head until it settled. It was a small and simple word but the responsibility and promises that came with it were much harder to come to terms with. Trust was a second opinion, something to lean on when the wind was knocked out of you; it was something that Hermione would have to commit to before she told him that she did do, wholeheartedly.

"I do Draco, but I don't want to jinx it, I don't want to risk losing you, I couldn't bare that."

"You won't have to..." Draco told her "I will not leave you Hermione, not for anything, there is nothing more important, you have my word that you can trust me, I will not leave you, I promise." He held her tighter, not afraid that he would crush her but more afraid of that fact that she would disappear at any minute and that he would be left alone.

It would be hard, they realised that, but it was no longer a case of, we can't be together, it was now, we need to be together.

Hermione tilted her head up to his, her lips seeking his for salvation and the devotion that they would both have to give each other if they were going to commit to trusting each other.

His lips were smooth; they were cold compared to the rest of him which seemed to be emitting a great amount of heat from the argument that had been forming. It took no effort at all, kissing Draco was almost as if they had finally found each other from a past life, as if they had been searching, like lost souls for a sanctuary. Somewhere, someone they could finally trust with their worst fears, with which they could hold each other in bed and share their love. They sealed their unspoken promise with a tender, yet passionate kiss, their lips moulding together perfectly. They were each other's missing puzzle piece, at last reunited.

There was no going back now. Hermione couldn't leave Draco now even if she wanted to and Draco had no intention of leaving the angel that had saved him from a dammed life, let alone go back on his promise to the most beautiful and important person in his world.

His lips briefly parted "We will be together Hermione, I don't care who approves or not, I will never give you up." It was a statement as well as a solemn oath.

With her eyes still closed, safely remaining wrapped up in her safe haven Hermione replied.

"I love you Dragon." she whispered

"I love you more." he replied, pushing his lips back onto hers happy that they had come to their own weary conclusion before the storm of Voldemort's attack. Draco knew that it wasn't far away now, but he did know what side he was truly on. He held his angel close, not wanting to waste a single second of peace with Hermione.

Can you make me believe
This could have a happy end?