Reposted from a few years ago. I made a few minor edits, nothing major. Tell me what you think of it!
The soft music played through the Great Hall. She didn't know the song, but that didn't matter to Hermione Granger. Nothing mattered save one thing, and that one thing made every other thing obsolete. Looking up at him, she smiled a secret smile. No one in the Great Hall would recognise it except one: Draco Malfoy. Peering down upon her, he caught her gaze and created a smile of his own. Their bodies swayed in harmony, yet their eyes never strayed from each other's.
Were there even other people in the room? They couldn't tell, nor did they care. She felt only his strong arms encircling her petite waist and his warm breath softly caressing her cheek. Closing her eyes, she rested her head against his chest. She heard each beat of his heart and felt her own swell with unspoken feelings.
They needn't be spoken. He heard them all with one contented sigh from her lips, felt them as her grip tightened around his neck, drawing him closer. His arms tightened around her, marvelling at how seemingly fragile she was, enjoying how strong she made him.
Others in the Hall observed this happy couple, so openly in love. They broke the barrier between the houses and inspired others to aim for such uncompromising joy. But these two young people were unaware that they were such a source of awe. The way they saw it, they were simply Draco and Hermione, together forever. And that's all that mattered.
Her eyes still shut, Hermione inhaled the wonderfully masculine scent that was Draco Malfoy. He wore no overpowering cologne. His scent was simple and definingly manly.
She wore little makeup, allowing him to see the true Hermione, unmasked as always, so unlike anyone he had ever known. He noticed every freckle and every laugh line. A light pink gloss enhanced the fullness of her soft lips. He drew one hand from her waist to raise her chin towards him. After gently kissing those soft lips, he caught her eyes again. He memorised every detail in those hazel eyes. Long, dark lashes, adding allure and mystery framed them beautifully. He noticed a crinkle at the corner of her eye and a raise of her brow. She was watching him, as he was her.
His silver eyes hypnotised her. She marvelled at how expressive they could be, yet he hid that from the rest of the world. She felt incredibly privileged for him to reveal himself. Her lips still burned from his quick kiss. Her smile broadened as she noticed a tiny pink smudge marring his otherwise flawless mouth.
Lip gloss. Her lip gloss.
Laughing quietly, she wiped off the mark, returning his lips to their usual state of perfection.
His pale brows furrowed in confusion. He was unaware of the stain. She kissed him again, resolving to explain everything later.
The music of their laughter rang louder and clearer than any projected through a speaker that night.
********
Five years and a few hundred miles later, a woman is jolted awake. That memory had haunted her since she last saw him, nearly three years prior. Those days of laughter and lip gloss are no more. Hermione lives alone, bearing only a haunting memory of the life she once had and dreams of the way things could have been.
She glanced longingly at the photograph on her bedside table, treasuring every subtle detail she had memorised long ago. The closed her eyes sadly, waiting for sleep to consume her. She couldn't look back.
I'm glad I didn't know the way it all would end
The way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance
I could have missed the pain but I'd have had to miss
The dance
"The Dance" by Garth Brooks.