Draco Malfoy shivered in the cold. It was snowing hard in England, and the light flakes obscured his sight. He had just gotten back from Australia where the finals for the Quidditch cup had taken place. He was England's seeker and had won the semi-finals for his team. He softly whistled an old tune as he turned into Diagon Ally to buy some miscellaneous things he needed. It was Christmas Eve.
He was distracted and somewhat cold. He had on a thick (expensive) cloak on over a green sweater and black slacks. People often told him he needed to add some more colors to his wardrobe. He often told them to fuck off.
He turned to The Three Broomsticks and walked up to the bar. Draco hailed Tom the bartender and ordered a buterbeer with a shot of fire whiskey and was about to take a seat in one of the worn barstools when a flash of brown hair caught his eye.
Hermione.
In one second the former Slytherin's stomach dropped somewhere below his knees. He looked at the woman whose back was to him and he was positive. That mass of curly brown hair could only belong to one person in the entire world.
Draco hesitated before he went over to her, but resolutely pushed forward through the crowded pub and lightly tapped her arm.
Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve
I stole behind her in the frozen foods
And I touched her on the sleeve
The brown haired woman turned around with a smile on her face and a quizzical look in her eyes before her small mouth formed a surprised "o"
Draco shifted uneasily before she suddenly grabbed him around the neck and hugged him tight. They both heard the sound of coins falling against the stone floor and the laughed as they bumped heads going down to pick it all up.
She didn't recognize the face at first
But then her eyes flew open wide
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse
And we laughed until we cried.
"Draco!" Hermione said with a true smile. "Oh lord, how are you? We haven't talked in what? Years?"
Draco nodded and smiled sadly. It was too true. The last time they talked…probably at the quidditch cup in Bulgaria three years after they had graduated. They were both in their mid thirties now, older and wiser than before, but nonetheless still the children they once were.
"It's been a few years," Draco said weakly. "I've been getting on pretty well, I suppose."
"Oh," Hermione said, and shifted uncomfortably.
We took her groceries to the checkout
stand
The food was totaled up and bagged
We stood there lost in our embarrassment
As the conversation dragged.
"Would you like something to drink?" Draco asked her, and she nodded before he ordered her a buterbeer, which brought another small smile to her face.
"You were never one for a lot of alcohol," Draco reminisced. "But you loved your buterbeer."
"And coffee,"
Hermione laughed. "I was a coffee-happy person."
We went to have ourselves a drink or two
But couldn't find an open bar
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store
And we drank it in her car.
"Well then," Draco said as he sat up a bit straighter. "I suppose it's time for a toast."
Hermione looked confused. "What sort of toast?"
Draco smiled. "Well, let's start off with a toast for happiness in the now,"
Hermione smiled. "And staying young."
"And beating that Krum bloke in the World Cup."
Hermione laughed and Draco joined her, but to both their laughed sounded empty. Like a bell that tried to ring with a hand clasped around it. They both had empty laughs, as though something that used to be there wasn't, or that something that was there now couldn't show its face.
We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how.
"So how have you been getting on?" Draco asked as they started to drink. He lifted his whiskey to his mouth and looked at her over the rim.
"I work in the Ministry," She replied cautiously. "Ever since Fudge was kicked out, things are much better. Not as much corruption. I work in the magical creatures department."
"Still trying for elf rights?" Draco laughed. "You haven't changed a bit."
"It's a very important cause!" Hermione said defensively. "And we are finally getting somewhere; people are starting to give wages to their elves. Very low wages, but nonetheless."
Draco laughed a real laugh this time. "Is that all you've been doing?"
Hermione looked conflicted for a moment. "I married Ron," She said quietly, and then avoided his gaze by taking a long sip of her buterbeer.
Draco felt his heart plummet. He shouldn't have been surprised. He really shouldn't have. Ron was the reason they weren't together now. Ron ruined his chances with Hermione, even if they were honorable reasons. Ron never liked Draco, and Draco didn't blame him. Draco didn't like himself much either. Ron found out that Draco had slept with Hermione, and Hermione didn't hear the end of it until she and Draco stopped seeing each other. It was Draco's idea, really, he hated to see her so miserable without her friends.
"He's a good man," Hermione said firmly. "And he's my best friend. We're happy together."
Her tone was of someone who was trying to convince someone that they spoke the truth, and Draco wasn't sure who she was trying to convince.
Draco sat still for a moment, before he asked: "Do you love him?"
Hermione looked up at
him, and the empty look in her eyes was all he needed to see.
She said she'd married her an architect
Who kept her warm and safe and dry
She would have liked to say she loved the man
But she didn't like to lie.
"You look the same as always," Draco attempted to turn the topic away from Ron. He touched her hair. "Still as bushy, I see."
"It's a lot better," Hermione laughed weakly. "But I just don't see the big deal in spending hours trying to look like someone you're not."
"that's what I like
about you," Draco said with a smile. "No
need to impress anyone. And look, it
worked! Your eyes are still beautiful, you
still look seventeen."
I said the years had been a friend to her
And that her eyes were still as blue
But in those eyes I wasn't sure if I saw
Doubt or gratitude.
"You look pretty good yourself," Hermione replied. "I have seen you play, you fly fantastically. I bet Harry gets jealous. He wanted to play for England if he didn't work as an auror. They have him on so many missions he never gets to fly anymore, and you get to fly everyday!"
"Well," Draco said. "Professional quidditch isn't like what we played in school, it's hard. Training everyday, drills, drills, drills. Flying in front of everyone though, that's a rush. I love flying in front of a stadium full of people." But I'd trade it all for you, he thought. "The traveling gets old though, I don't like having to be in twenty places every month. I would like to settle down."
"You haven't met anyone?" Hermione asked, clearly surprised.
"No one," Draco replied truthfully. No one
since you.
She said she saw me in the record stores
And that I must be doing well
I said the audience was heavenly
But the traveling was hell.
Hermione took another gulp of her drink and swallowed thoughtfully. "You never had trouble getting girls back in school," She said.
"I also didn't have very high expectation," Draco shot back. "You changed all that, Hermione."
"Draco-"She started, but Draco cut in.
"Listen to me, Hermione, why did we give in? Why did we let everyone separate us? Didn't we promise each other that we would never let anything stand in our way? Not my father, my family, your friends, our houses, but we were weak and we gave in, why?"
"We were weak," Hermione repeated, her bright eyes dull with pain. "That's all there was to it. We loved each other but we were weak. I'm empty now, Draco, but we made the decision, and now we have to live with it, and without each other."
We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to time
Reliving in our eloquence
Another 'auld lang syne'...
"I still love you, Hermione," Draco said sadly. "Everyday it's just like going through the motions of life, but not being able to live."
"I know," Hermione said quietly. "Do you think it's easy to kiss Ron and keep wishing it were you? It's not. But he cares about me, he's good to me, and he keeps me safe and that all matters. We're adults now, and we have to watch for ourselves."
"Do you have children?" Draco asked, needing to know, but now wanting the answer.
"No," Hermione said, half grinning and half trying to keep herself from crying.
"Why?" Draco asked, amazed. Hermione always wanted to be a mother.
"I couldn't bear the thought of having a child and not loving their father," She replied. "I perform a spell on myself every time…and I told Ron I was unable to have children."
Draco felt his heart explode. She loved him, and she was miserable for it.
"Hermione…" He murmured. "You always wanted children, you would make a fantastic mother."
"It wouldn't be right Draco," She replied. "I couldn't handle it. "I take care of Harry and Ginny's children, and all of our Nieces and nephews. All of Ron's siblings have children, except for Percy and Bill. Percy never married and Bill and Fleur don't want them."
"I wish it didn't have to be like this," Draco said sadly. "We were destined for great things."
"Fate envied us," Hermione replied. "We had enough- it all, and it envied us and took it away. This is our destiny."
The beer was empty and our tongues were
tired
And running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as I got out
And I watched her drive away.
Draco watched as Hermione stood up off the barstool and left, giving him a lingering kiss on the cheek. He knew this was how it had to be, Hermione would be faithful to Ron no matter what Draco said, but he knew in her heart she was faithful only to him.
She left the Leaky Cauldron without a goodbye- she never could hold her own in them.
Soon Draco drained the last of his drink and followed her footsteps out the door and back into the cold ally of the magical world. He stood outside the pub and looked around, half hoping to see a flash of her unruly brown hair waiting for him, temping him away into a dark corner as they did back in school, but he knew it would never come. His heart hurt as he glanced up and down the street one more time, feeling as though a large Slytherin "S" was embroidered on his back. Everyone saw him and saw his house, his father, his father's master. He never got to be Draco. Never got to be Draco until he and Hermione were alone. He would always be a Slytherin until his dying day.
He turned towards the floo hub to floo back to the manor, wrapping his cloak tight around him. His foot fell into a puddle and he stopped to look up. The snow had turned into rain.
Just for a moment I was back at school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home
The snow turned into rain
(A/N) I love this one. Lol. I really do. I messed with the story, it doesn't quite follow the song, but it's close enough. It's so sad. Stupid Ron! Anyway, The song is titled "Another Auld Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelburg. It's very old, but if you can find it, I suggest you listen to it. It just screams WRITE FAN FICTION!" lol. Enjoy J