A.N. After having a fairly bad day, I decided to take my energy into writing something new for Fanfiction. Tell me what you think, as recently I've been doubting myself as to whether I can write, so reviews either confirming or negating this statement would be appreciated. No flames though, why waste your time writing saying how much you hate my writing without giving me constructive criticism, surely it would be beneficial to you to find a story you like and enjoy reading.
The perfect moment is something that many people experience and as a consequence they generally fall in love and live happily ever after. Or at least that was what it was like in the stories. Trying to put that into practise though was harder than Draco Malfoy ever could have imagined. The temptation to tell her exactly how he felt was overwhelming but every time he opened his mouth to say those words then something else seemed to stop him. Every perfect moment they could have had, remembered and celebrated was destroyed each and every time and inside it was killing Draco Malfoy.
There was something about Hermione Granger that made her stand out from the crowd, or at least stand out in Draco Malfoy's mind. Amidst all the hundreds of other faces that went to Hogwarts, her face shone out to him. She may not have been the most attractive girl in the school but there was something about the way she was, the way she acted that made her seem so irresistible to him. Whenever he had to stand behind her or near her, the attraction to just hold her and run his hands through her hair was so overwhelming but he had to clench his fists in an effort not to.
It could never happen, it just wasn't possible. During the year there had been several times when he could of but to no avail, terrified of what she might say and hurt his already broken heart even more. He wished that her smile would just once be directed at him instead of everyone but him. The three words he wanted to tell her could never be said because of their past differences, ones that he now realised were unimportant. Three words didn't seem much, they were as he had counted many times; 3 syllables in total and 8 letters in total, yet those 8 letter, 3 syllables and 3 words were disturbingly hard to say. During the school year there were several occasions when he could have told her but he couldn't face the rejection, the humiliation and most of all the pity he would have in knowing that she never felt the same way.
Earlier that year they had been paired together for Potions, it made sense, the smartest witch and wizard for their age to be paired together and though they both groaned, Draco's heart was singing inside. When she was furiously stirring the potion, in a combination of aggression to make sure the potion was perfect and anger at being paired with Draco Malfoy, it made Draco unable to tear his eyes away from her. They had both decided that the most difficult potion in their textbook should be the one that they make but it required them to stay after the lesson to ensure it was finished properly.
They were left after the lesson together to finish the potion and Professor Snape had left as well as he didn't like to miss "cake Friday" as it was dubbed by the students. The silence between them seemed less awkward now as neither had friends with them that expected them to hate each other. Whilst Hermione was finishing stirring the potion he was supposed to be writing the notes and observations of the potion down on parchment but only seemed to have written subconsciously "Hermione Granger, Hermione Granger" over and over again. Suddenly he knew that this could be his moment, there was no one there, the sun was shining at an angle across Hermione's face, lighting her up. Gradually he got up the nerve to do it and opened his mouth "H-" But she interrupted him, brushing her hair back from her eyes she quickly said, "The potion is finished now, so I'm going." With that she pulled her bag over her shoulder and walked out of the door. In an instant she had gone and didn't once look back. Draco sat there, his mouth still open in preparation to say the 3 words that had been waiting to be said for so long and yet he had missed another opportunity. To him, his one chance gone and he had no idea when there would be another.
After that incident Draco began to retract into himself and to the puzzlement of all the Gryffindor's didn't seem to relish the attacking of the Gryffindors as much as he had done before. Though people had noticed the change they were all to scared to say anything to him, alarmed as to what could happen if they mentioned it to him. Though Hermione and Draco were virtually in every class together, they were never given the opportunity to be alone together again until one night when patrolling the corridors they happened to meet. It was dark and the lanterns that usually floated in the corridors, giving off light had gone out. Patrols had just finished and all the prefects were hurrying to get back to their houses and their warm beds. It was in this way that Hermione and Draco crashed into each other whilst turning around a corridor simultaneously on the 8th floor.
Due to the lack of light, Hermione had no idea who she had bumped into and automatically said "I'm so sorry," Draco then lit a light with his wand and Hermione's face immediately changed to one of disgust and backed away from him hurriedly.
"I expect you will want your robes cleaned now because they might have mudblood germs on them?" She finished snidely. Draco just looked at her and that same stillness that had occurred before in the Potions classroom stole over the two of them. He opened his mouth and said "I-" But Hermione didn't want to hear, she gathered her possessions and walked off leaving a crestfallen Draco in the background, he finished weakly to himself "love you…"
There were several other occasions that year when Draco could have told Hermione how much he loved her. Some could question his love for her as he never truly spoke to her but though he didn't know everything about her there was something about her, the little things, like how she always worked in the same place in the library where couples had carved their names into the wall and sometimes she would trace their names with her finger, that made him love her even more. He wasn't a stalker but it was an accumulation of information that had built up over the years. Sometimes he thought he felt someone watching him but every time he turned to look there was no one there.
It was one summer's day and Draco was walking aimlessly around in the School Grounds. He was just about to turn a corner round a stone monument when he heard two voices. He froze and stayed where he was when he recognised Ron and Hermione's voices. Ron's voice seemed slightly strange, like he was really nervous, Hermione's was teasing and flirtatious
"What did you want to tell me Ron?" Even not being able to see him, Draco could hear Ron scuffing his feet and in his mind Draco imagined Ron to be looking down at the floor.
"Hermione, I've wanted to say this for a while now, something that has been weighing on my mind. I love you, I don't say that in a pre-teen way, I say this as someone who loves everything you do, the way you choose milk over pumpkin juice at breakfast, the way your eyes light up at the sight of a new book. At times you can be furious and then everyone fears you. When you are happy everyone else is smiling because your happiness is so infectious. All these different sides to you exist within you and I love every single one because they are all undeniably you."
As Draco heard this, his heart began to truly break. He knew that it was too late, he had missed his perfect opportunity, Ron had gone there before him and seized the moment unlike him. Due to his insecurities he had lost the one thing he had only ever wanted and he knew in that instant that he would never have the chance to be with her again. There seemed to be a silence, which lasted an eternity but then Hermione finally spoke in a slightly choked voice
"Ron…I love you too." That was all that needed to be said, those 3 words of a total of 3 syllables and 8 letters, the ones Draco could never say and the ones that were now being cruelly against him whilst he looked on at a scene he wished he was in instead of Ron. Unable to bear it anymore he walked off, a single tear rolling down his cheek but he didn't look around once. If he had looked round perhaps even once then maybe he would have seen the slightly wistful expression that lingered on Hermione's face as she hugged Ron.
A.N. Some anecdotes in this story are true so I guess I based this story on some of my own experiences.
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