A/N: Okay, this is gonna be a multi-chapter story. This is naturally the first one. I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine, but a fantastic lady's called J.K. Rowling. Only the plot is mine.
I took a deep breath. Everything was okay. He's probably not just hearing me. God, I'm lying to myself, I'm shouting quite loud, he should be able to hear that. Maybe he's not home yet. Maybe he forgot to tell me that he'll arrive later. God, I can't stand the tension. I walk through the apartment, not finding any sign of him. I feel a small tear-drop fall down my cheek. Maybe I shouldn't worry this much.
I sit down on our bed, and let the tears fall freely. I don't know how long I have cried, when suddenly I hear a faint cough from the fireplace. I walk there, hoping it to be him. It isn't.
"Ms. Granger?" a very familiar looking man, whom I cannot place, asks. I nod slowly, waiting for explanation.
"This is healer Malfoy from St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries", he continues. It's Malfoy. That's why he seemed so familiar. He looks different.
"Yes?" I ask, waiting impatiently for a reason for his call.
"I'm afraid to tell that your fiancé Ronald Bilius Weasley has perished on his Auror mission earlier today. He was hit by a curse called Sectumsempra, and he had bled to death before the healers arrived. Please accept my condolences."
"Oh dear God. Oh God. Oh no, this must be a bad dream," I hear myself saying. Tears fall down my cheeks, and I try to hide them from Malfoy. Ron can't be dead. He just can't. We were supposed to get married in two days. What am I supposed to say to the guests? Oh, sorry, the wedding is cancelled, because the groom died two days before the freaking wedding?
"Granger?" Malfoy is still there. I decide to stay quiet. "Hermione?"
Did Draco Malfoy just call me Hermione? Oh my, the world is turning upside down.
"Do you want me to come there?" I don't answer.
I hear a faint pop, and see that Malfoy has disappeared from the fireplace. Soon I hear a louder pop, and a few footsteps. A pair of strong arms wraps around me, and feeling that is what I need I hug him back.
After a long, surprisingly comfortable silence, Malfoy speaks.
"I really am sorry that he died. "
"That's hard to believe. You hated him."
"I used to. But during these three years after the war I have changed. I have realized that Weasley and Potter aren't that bad. We sort of became friends. I was often there, on their missions, healing Aurors, and we talked. I can't say that we were best of friends, but we got along."
"Why didn't he tell me that?"
"I guess he was scared of your reaction. Maybe he thought that you still saw me as a Death Eater."
"I didn't. I never did. I always believed that you only were a Death Eater because you had no other choice. You never killed anyone. You didn't even kill unarmed Dumbledore. You have a heart. I have always known that."
"Thank you Hermione. Will you be okay?"
"I will. Just don't go yet." I lay my head on his lap, and close my eyes, trying to forget.
Her deep breath tells me she's sleeping. She's so beautiful. I feel sorry for her. So young to become almost a widow. They were not married yet, so practically she's not a widow. The same pain, the same scars in heart. Just no commitment.
I have gone through the same. Astoria had just given birth to Scorpius. She couldn't handle it. She didn't survive.
Why is life so hard?