Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter Universe or Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley and Allison Kraus.
A/N: The dividers are meant to be like flashes between scenes. The story is laid out sort of like flashes of somebody's memories of these conversations. I will try and make it clear as to who is present and who is speaking. The format is pretty much like if you were to go into a pensieve and let the memories drift by catching bits and pieces of different memories.
I apologize for anyone who loves Harry, I personally love him as well, but what happens and how he is portrayed is necessary...at least in my eyes...
At this point this is a one-shot, but I may continue…for anybody who has ever heard the song "Whiskey Lullaby" by Brad Paisley and Allison Kraus, you may recognize some bits and pieces of that song…it was originally written as a song-fic but I edited it and posted it here.
Whiskey Lullaby
We are the angels; we are here to tell a story of love and heartbreak, of a romance, long standing, between one Hermione Jane Granger and Harry James Potter. Fresh out of Hogwarts, when they were joined, happy and carefree, there was nothing to worry over. There was no evil in the world, their happiness vanquished it.
For six years, their happiness lessened, she in her books, he in his job. They needed escape, and it came, in the form of a Mr. Draco Lucien Malfoy. Witch Weekly's most eligible bachelor for six years running, the wealthiest man alive in the wizarding world, and Society's biggest topic in the gossip mill, all titles given to him, none of which mattered to the bitter man. He was lonely, pining after a lost love in what seemed to be another lifetime, in reality, only a decade had passed. He had learned to love under the tutelage of Hogwart's finest, only to have lost it once more, to his life-long enemy, Harry James Potter.
The opportunity arose several weeks before the couple's anniversary. Harry, an auror, was put on assignment many miles away. He would be away for a month, gone to America, giving her a month of freedom, no fights, no endless nights, no more tears.
She truly loved him, but he was too busy, off saving people, paying attention to the people that needed help, ignoring his own problem, herself. She loved him, but he seemed to pull further back, day by day. But now, he was gone, gone for a month in which she was determined to change her life.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"I'm free. I'm free, finally, truly, free."
"Hermione, It's only a month."
"Gin, you don't need to crush my spirits."
"Fine, find a guy, shag, and get it over with. You know Harry's territorial and a terminal cheater. He's only cheated on you, what?, eight times???"
"Ginny, for your information, it was only three times and the first was before we were married. And I don't plan on 'shagging' anybody, as you so eloquently put it."
"Ahh, but you were engaged."
"Just stop it."
"Fine, have it your way, Hermione, but trust me, even if you do shag someone, Harry's gonna find out and kill said person."
"Gin?"
"Yes?"
"Drop it."
"Fine, but you'll soon find out that I'm right…"
"Whatever, come on, let's go to Diagon Alley, Flourish and Blotts just recently got remodeled."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Draco Malfoy"
"That man is going to end up killing me." She did not know how true that would eventually be. "Ginny, what am I to do?"
"Well, accept, see what he says, then, go from there…After all, he is Witch Weekly's most eligible bachelor six years in a row, and he's the wealthiest man in the world…and he is single…single...besides, you guys dated…didn't you?"
"He dumped me. Ginny, I loved him. I was ready to spend eternity with him. I loved him."
"Yeah, well give him a chance…"
"Fine, I guess I'll go to dinner then."
"Alright! Let's get you ready then…How about that red dress of yours you wore to the Gala last month? No? Then, I know! That pretty pink dress that you got made after your Yule ball dress got destroyed by Ron."
"Hermione, I've missed you so much. It's good to see you again."
"Stop, Malfoy, please don't go there, you know I loved you, but I'm married now."
"Yeah, married and unhappy…"
"Stop, Malfoy, please, lets just be friends and sit down and eat…please?"
"Alright then"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Hermione, he did nothing bad. I told you, he's not going to make any moves."
"How are you so sure about that Ginny?"
"I know it; I can feel it, why can't you guys just be friends?"
"We can't, Ginny, it's complicated."
"Alright then Mione, you're on your own."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Hermione,
Thank you for allowing me to dine with you last week, I hope that you enjoyed yourself as much as I did. I'd like to have dinner again with you, maybe Saturday, whatever is good for you.
Yours,
Draco L. Malfoy
P.S. I missed you. And I still love you
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Hermione, you simply must go again. Can't you see he loves you? Why are you so blind to it? Can't you see?"
"Gin, there is nothing there, I am with Harry, not Dr---Malfoy."
"But tell me, did you love him?"
"Harry? Yes, and I still do…"
"No, I mean Draco."
"We were friends, I was his girlfriend. Ginny, I have to go, I have a meeting."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Draco, I can't do this anymore, I know, I know, you loved me, I loved you, but that was in the past, I can't. Harry is coming back in two weeks and our anniversary is next week. I can't…"
"You don't have to, leave him, he's only making you sad, Hermione."
"Draco…"
"Hermione, I love you, but I will be your friend, if that is what you want."
"Draco, thank you. I love you too, but I…"
"Hush, calm down, Hermione, don't cry. You're safe here."
"Please, can't we be friends?"
"Whatever you want, Hermione, whatever you want. As long as you are happy."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Ginny! Ginny, I can't believe it, I can't believe this, How could this happen to me? How? This isn't supposed to happen…Why? Ginny. Why? I thought he had changed, I thought that he had changed."
"Hermione, baby, calm down, tell me what happened. Is it Draco?"
"N-n-no, not him, no, this didn't happen, it can't have. It's not supposed to happen to me…"
"Hermione! Calm down, tell me what happened. What did Harry do? Shhh"
"He-he-he's ch-cheating on me."
"Are you sure? Hermione, baby."
"I g-got a call f-from a girl, she was l-looking for H-Harry and I t-took a message. She thanked him for have sex last week. He was bloody fucking someone!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure, she called, thanking him for a good fuck and asking for more."
"More?"
"Yeah, more. I can't believe that happened to me, Ginny. He told me he was done, that he loved me and he'd never cheat on me again."
"Hermione, snap out of it. Did you really think he'd changed?"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Draco,
It's Ginny, Little Weasleby, whatever. Listen, Hermione is in shambles, Harry apparently cheated on her while he was out on his 'mission'. Their anniversary is today and she's so upset. I've arranged for the two of you to go out for dinner tonight, please, try and cheer her up."
A friend in need,
Ginevra Weasley
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"No, no, no, no, no. I absolutely refuse. No. End of story that's it. I'm not going out to dinner, no."
"Come on, please, it's time for you to finally have some fun and relax. Calm down, He'll be back in a week and everything is going to be tense, please, go hang out with Draco."
"Why should I? Why can't I just stay here and wallow in my misery? It's my anniversary…"
"No, get your butt out of bed and clean yourself up. I'll be back in twenty minutes and I expect you to be clean, and standing in your living room in a bathrobe. Twenty minutes."
"And what, pray tell, are you doing during that twenty minutes?"
"Oh, nothing…shoo, go and clean yourself up."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Hello. I'm picking up a dress for a Mr. Draco Malfoy. Yes, the lavender one. Charge it to his account. Thank you."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Hermione!" "Get your butt out here and into this dress."
"I'm coming; I'm coming, geez, for Merlin's sake."
"Oh, shut up, get into this dress and then come here so I can put on your makeup."
"Gin? Why am I getting all dressed up just to hang out with Draco?"
"You are going out to dinner with him and he's going to snap you out of this depression of yours."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Hermione, you're beautiful."
"Thank you, Draco. You're not too bad either."
"Let's get to dinner shall we?"
"Of course."
"Draco?"
"Yes, Hermione?"
"We're just friends right?"
"Yea, just friends."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Well, I guess I should be heading home, it's late and…"
"Hush, Hermione, let me take you home."
"There's no need for it really, Draco."
"Come on."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Well, here we are, home sweet home."
"I'll see you soon Hermione, bye."
"Stay with me?"
"What?"
"You heard me, Draco. Please?"
"Of course."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette
She broke his heart he spent his whole life tryin' to forget
We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time
But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind
Until the night
He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away her memory
Life is short but this time it was bigger
Than the strength he had to get up off his knees
We found him with his face down in the pillow
With a note that said I'll love her till I die
And when we buried him beneath the willow
The angels sang a whiskey lullaby
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Hermione! I'm home!"
"Harry?"
"Yea, it's me, Hermione, I couldn't miss our-"
"Harry, Harry, it's not what it looks like. I promise you."
"It's not what what seems? You and Malfoy in bed, what am I supposed to think? Hermione, I trusted you, I love you, how could you betray that?"
That night, Harry stormed out of the house in anger, where he sat in a bar until the early hours of the morning. When he returned home, he was relieved to see that Hermione and Draco had both left. As Harry walked through the house he saw the muggle pistol that was mounted on the wall in the den. As he eyed it in his drunken state, and idea dawned on him as he climbed up and pulled the pistol down, realization dawned on him.
How ironic that the pistol that took down Voldemort, would take down the Boy-Who-Lived as well.