The characters and canon situations in the following story belong solely to JK Rowling, Scholastic and WB. I am not making any money from the publishing or writing of this story.
...Of Being Hermione Granger
The Spotlight...
She can never be his. He knows this even as he pulls her close in the dark of the basement where they have brewed for countless hours. No longer can he ignore the lust-filled tension that is thick enough for them to taste. In this small place that belongs to them alone, each and every movement is a calculation in proximity to the one they desire. It is only in these final hours, when he knows he will not see her again, that he is able to risk showing her just how much she means to him.
He does not cross any lines, other than make it clear to her that she is the object of his desire, and if that is a line that he should not cross, he does not care. There are no heated kisses or confessions of feelings. It is only a single, tight embrace and a shakily exhaled breath that speaks novels to her heart. And she understands.
She is light. She is his light in this dark world where no one trusts him despite the fact that he has given them all he has. She is the only one he can believe in.
They both know that fate requires her to move on from this place at his side, and her youth clouds from her the knowledge that fate does not always provide what one needs the most, that the clear and obvious path is not always the best. But he will not enlighten her; it is not his place to change her life. Nor would he ever want to damn her to an existence with him. That would leave her scorned and abandoned by all those she loves. No. It is best to simply accept that it is not to be, it was never to be, and to peacefully let her go.
So, with haunted eyes, he watches as she smiles at him sweetly, for she is sweet in everything she does. Then, with a nod, he, the embittered man who has watched her grow for the last eight years, lets her walk out of his life and into the spotlight of being Hermione Granger.
A/N: Special thanks to Linlawless for betaing this series for me on the fly! This is part one of six. I think I'll post one part per day this week. As always, thank you for reading and reviewing! ~Mel