Title:
Author: kimmsical
Song prompt: Far Away – Nickelback
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Fandom: Harry Potter
*
This time, this place
Misused, mistakes
"Draco."
Hermione's voice came out barely whisper – it was more of an exhale, really – and she stood, seemingly frozen, in the doorway.
Her frizzy brown hair had been tugged into loose pigtails and she was wearing pale blue cotton pyjamas – he had never seen anything so beautiful.
"I'm back." His voice sounded so unguarded, so vulnerable, that it was foreign to him.
Hermione's expression was just as open, and she seemed to be crumbling before him. "I've waited two years. I thought you were dead."
"I wanted to come back for you." He said honestly. "I – they wouldn't let me. Wh – "
"Hermione?" Ron appeared behind Hermione. His eyes widened when he saw Draco. "Blimey... Malfoy! Harry and I thought you were dead!"
"You've been trying to disband the Death Eaters all this time?" Hermione breathed to Draco.
He nodded. "I'm sorry, they were so stubborn, I'm – "
His unmasked expression was purely for Hermione. "I'm not Harry Potter. I couldn't finish the job until this afternoon. I came back here as soon as I could."
"You couldn't owl?" Hermione whispered, hurt in her eyes.
"They were on to me." Draco admitted. "If I'd owled..."
"They'd have known." Ron finished for him. He wrapped an arm around Hermione's waist and pulled her close to him, turning his head to kiss her cheek.
Ice cold flooded Draco's body, and he felt as if someone had stabbed him straight in the heart.
Hermione was watching him, and her eyes shimmered with tears as she lifted her left hand.
On her ring finger shone a beautiful engagement ring.
Too long, too late
Who was I to make you wait?
"Congratulations."
He wanted to kill himself. He threw back his fifth glass of Firewhiskey and stared at the table. He knew he never should've left, shouldn't have made her wait –
"I thought you were dead." He could see the heartache in her eyes. "I wouldn't have if you had just come back."
She couldn't meet his eyes. "I love you, Draco."
He was broken. "Then leave him, Hermione. Please, we could – we should – "
"I love you, Draco!" Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "I love you and I want to be with you but it's too late. It's just too late."
Just one chance, just one breath
Just in case there's just one left
"Do you love him?"
Hermione had squeezed her eyes shut and was shaking her head. "Don't, Draco, please don't."
"Because if you do," his voice shook, "I'd respect that. It was my fault for not owling or sending a Patronus or doing anything that would let you know I was alive."
"I love Ron." Hermione said. "But I'm in love with you. Even when I thought you were dead, I couldn't get over you."
Draco's heart lifted. "Please come back to me, Hermione. I couldn't live without you. I swear I couldn't."
'Cause you know, you know
You know
"Then you have to tell me."
Draco looked confused. "Tell you what?"
"That you love me." Hermione said, sounding so vulnerable that he wanted to scoop her into his arms and never let her go.
And then he was on his knees before her, and pouring his heart out in a way that would make Lucius Malfoy roll over in his grave. "I love you, Hermione Jean Granger. I love your hair, and the way you smile. I love your eyes and your laugh and how you stand up for whatever you believe in, no matter what it costs you. You make the world a better place, Hermione, and I am hopelessly, utterly, totally and completely in love with you."
She was crying, but then she was kissing him and it finally sunk in how much he'd missed her.
That I love you
I loved you all along
And I missed you
Far away for far too long
She knocked on his bedroom door later that night, and quietly slipped into his room. "I told Ron."
Draco couldn't help but beam. "I'm in love with you."
"I know." Hermione smiled. She walked over to his bed and crawled under the covers with him. She snuggled into his side. "I'm never leaving you."
"I hope not." He smiled.
I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go
Stop breathing if I can't see you anymore
Hold on to me, never let me go.