A/N: Sometimes I just imagine scenes that I could see happening between Draco & Hermione, and this is one of them. Enjoy.

Edit: Oh my goodness, I never expected that big of a response from this the first day it was posted. Thank you all so very much for your reviews, and while I can't promise you this will be turned into a full length anytime soon, I most definitely have big plans for it. But if you really did like it, I do have another Dramione that I think you might enjoy, it's at about 20,000 something words now and it will most definitely be very lengthy. It's call Pieces and I hope you'll all read and review it before I get too far ahead of you :)

Oh yeah, I unfortunately own nothing.

He had know the argument was coming before he'd even fully decided he wanted to know what it would be like to be with her. He knew he was foolish to have even thought of them as a possibility. Unfortunately, he also knew that he would be driven mad if he didn't at least have a taste of her. So he acted upon his impulses, something extremely unbecoming of a Malfoy. His family was not know for being emotional. They were known for being calm, and in control. Draco was most definitely not in control, though he tried his best to make her think he was. If he hadn't been so foolish as to think he could toy with her for a bit, and then just leave, then he wouldn't have gone and done the worst thing he could ever expect from their relationship, he wouldn't have gone and fallen in love. But he had, and it was for that very reason that his resolve almost wavered when he ushered her into his flat, already knowing what was happening. Almost.

"What the bloody hell are you thinking?" She asked, waving his letter in front of his face. Hermione never swore. "What possessed you to write this to me?" She asked him, her hands shaking slightly. He could almost smell the tears that she was fighting to hold back.

"You knew this was coming Hermione." He replied solemnly, not daring to look her in the eye. If he did that, he knew he wouldn't be able to go through with this.

"The fuck I knew this was coming Draco, I thought you were different now, I thought you had changed. After everything we've been through together in the past few months, this is how you're going to treat me? I thought you loved me." Draco flinched. "Apparently I was wrong though. All those things you told me, about how remorseful you are for your actions during the war, and how you want nothing more than to be a better man, that was all bullshit? Is that what you're telling me?"

"Don't you dare question my intentions as far as thatis concerned Hermione, don't you dare even go there. I'm not a fucking liar and you know it." Except he was. "You didn't see half the things I did, you weren't the one who witnessed Muggle killings at breakfast, so don't you dare fucking tell me what I do and do not regret. Nothing I told you was a lie, and neither is this. We cannot be together." Hermione sucked in a breath of air. Draco saw her chew on her lip and knew she was trying not to cry, he knew all of her little habits, and it only made this so much harder.

"How do you expect me to believe you when you say that Draco?" She whispered. "You told me I made you better, you told me you wanted to spend your life with me. And now you're telling me it all meant nothing to you? You're telling me that after everything I've done for you, accepting that you've changed, defending you to my best fucking friends, I meant nothing to you?" Draco closed his eyes and leaned against the kitchen counter. He dug the palms of his hands into his eyes and sighed.

"Hermione, don't make this harder than it already is. It's a complicated situation, I know. I never should have pursued you. I've always known this couldn't happen." He told her softly.

"Then why did you Draco? Why the fucking hell would you do this to me? To yourself?" She asked angrily. "Was this just some big game to you?"

"I don't know Hermione, I can't explain it, I just knew I wanted to have you, so I made it happen." He told her.

"So that's it then? You've had your fill of me and now you're bored?" Her voice reached an unheard of octave.

"No you stupid woman, I'm not bored." He glared at her, raising his voice. "Do you really think me that uncivilized?"

"You certainly are acting like it." She glared back. "If it isn't boredom then what is it Draco? Are you ashamed of me?"

"For somebody so bloody brilliant you sure are an idiot." He muttered.

"Tell me why!" Hermione yelled in his face. "I deserve at least that much."

"Because Hermione, it can't happen! It just can't!" He yelled back, stopping himself from grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. "My father knows, okay? He found out about you and if I don't end it with you right now he'll kill you, or have somebody else do it. Do you think I want you dead?" He asked, crazed.

"Don't be irrational Draco, he wouldn't kill me." Hermione growled.

"The fuck he wouldn't, you wouldn't be the first person he's killed and you know it!"

Hermione just shook her head, refusing to listen to him. Draco heard his heart thudding dreadfully in his chest as he realized what he was going to have to do. Hermione was too damn stubborn to let him leave her for her own protection. The only way he could make sure she was safe was hurting her, badly. Enough so that she wouldn't even want to be with him anymore.

"You're not good enough for me Hermione." He told her coldly. "There's a reason we were on separate sides of the war. Just because I'm remorseful of my actions during the war, and I've grown fond of you doesn't change that. It doesn't change our views at all. I can't marry you, I can't give you a life, I can't have children with you. It isn't going to happen. You can't be anything more than a guilty pleasure to me."

"Why the fuck not? It's what I want." Hermione retorted shrilly.

"IT'S NOT WHAT I WANT." He yelled. He felt his heart shatter as her tears finally spilled over. He wanted nothing more than to pull her into a hug and kiss her tears away. To tell her he didn't mean any of it and that they'd think of something, together. But he knew that wasn't an option. Lucius would find them, no matter where they went.

"I can't be with you, because I'm a Malfoy and that just isn't how things are done. You can't have my children and you're too proud to be kept as a mistress, so this ends now." He spoke harshly, wishing he could just die. "Regardless of how we feel about each other, nothing is going to change the fact that you're nothing but a mudblood." He spit the last word out, hating it, hating that he had to say that word. He knew she'd take his hatred differently, she allowed herself to be blinded by her anguish.

Hermione just stared at him for a minute, not bothering to wipe away the tears that were falling freely down her face. He'd never seen her look so dejected, the little makeup that she wore was smudged all under her eyes, her hair was a crazy mess, reminiscent of their Hogwarts days, and she had red rings around her eyes. She sweater was disheveled as if she'd had her knees curled up under it and stretched it out, and she was still clutching that blasted letter he'd left on her pillow.

"You really mean that?" She whispered, all the hatred gone from her voice.

"I do." He whispered back. She nodded, and finally wiped the tears from her face, trying her hardest to get herself under control. He saw a hint of resolve in her eyes, and was silently thankful of his triumph. At least she would be safer now.

"Well then." She said, laying the note down on his kitchen counter. And then, before Draco even saw it coming, she had pulled her hand back before slapping him across the face with all her might. She almost smirked at the satisfying sound it made, and watched as he jumped and clutched a hand to his face, where a bright red mark was already forming. It was going to leave a bruise. Good.

She expected him to get angry. She expected him to yell at her, curse her, anything. She expected him to push her up against a wall and scream in her face, before claiming her mouth with his, and making love to her in apology, as he had after so many arguments before. She expected anything from him, any hint of the fire and passion she knew was a part of him. What she didn't expect is what he said next.

"I deserved that."

They were silent for a moment and then he sighed as he looked anywhere but at her.

"Hermione, I think you should go now."

"You're sure?" She asked, clinging to her last little bit of hope for all it was worth. He closed his eyes as swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Just go."

So she did.

A/N: This is probably going to be written into one of the novel-length Dramione's I have floating around in my head, but I just really needed to write it down now, I hope you all enjoy. Review foo'