"So, Ron came to talk to me last night."

If he wasn't a Malfoy, Draco was sure he would have spit out his drink, or at the very least grimaced at the stab of pain he felt in his chest. "Another row with Weasley?"

"Not exactly…" Hermione replied. She was fiddling with her fingers and not looking him in the eye. She just stared out at the restaurant. At Pansy and Blaise who were happily dancing in the open space, hardly noticing how late it already was.

"What happened?" he asked, even though he really didn't want to know. He took another taste of his drink, knowing he'd need it.

"Well, he opened up to me." Hermione glanced over at him for a second and then looked back out at the newly engaged couple. "He apologized for everything he'd done during our relationship. All the wrong things he'd said, all the times he'd upset me."

"He's done this before." He wouldn't be the supportive friend. Not tonight.

"I-I know," she acknowledged. She took a sip of her own drink, as if she needed courage to say whatever it was she'd been nervous to say all night. Even through his own nerves, he'd noticed that she'd been a bit anxious ever since they sat down for dinner. He'd been her friend for four years, those things were hard to hide from him at that point. "But...he talked about Fred. He'd never done that. Even when I'd pleaded with him to talk to me or Harry, when it was obvious he was having problems." She paused to take another drink.

"He said that he blamed himself. What if they went after Fred, thinking it was him? It would've been a great blow to Harry Potter to lose one of his own friends. It's not like the other Death Eaters really knew what Ron or I looked like. I never thought of it that way. He blamed himself and then he felt ashamed when everyone around him seemed to be moving on and he wasn't. And he blamed himself even more for all the times he'd envied Fred. He broke down in my living room and told me all his dark secrets."

"I'm sorry."

"Excuse me," Hermione asked, as she turned back to him.

"I said I'm sorry," he repeated before he chickened out. He looked her straight in the eye as he saw her try to make sense of what he was saying. They'd been walking down the hallway in opposite directions. She'd glanced up from her book, spotted him...and then smiled. A small smile. The fact that she didn't look away or glare at him, mind gearing up for an assault, that had shocked him. They were cordial to one another, even friendly to each other. The words had come tumbling out of his mouth before he'd realized it.

She was still giving him a puzzled look. He should probably do this properly now that he'd started.

"I'm sorry for everything I did. And especially for everything I didn't do. All the insults and taunts throughout school. And that night at the Manor. I should've stepped in and I didn't and I'm sorry you had to suffer because of it."

She was quiet and still for another moment before she smiled back up at him. "I forgive you." And with that, she turned around and started walking down the hall, nose in her book again.

"Is that all?" he asked. He was being a git and he knew it, but he had his own revelations to make tonight.

"He asked me for a second chance." She said the words so fast it took him a minute to actually understand what she'd said.

"Oh."

"Exactly. I have no idea what to do. I've been going over and over it in my head all day. I broke up with him because I didn't think he was ready for the type of committed relationship I wanted. He'd never opened up to me. We'd fight about the smallest of things, each of us too stubborn to just let it go. He was always good at getting me to forgive him though. I just never felt like he trusted me with the serious issues, like Fred's death, and now...Now I don't know what to do." She looked at him again with those big brown eyes.

His chest tightened and he felt the anger rise in him.

Draco looked up from his book when Hermione sat down. It was their regularly scheduled lunch. It had been a year and six months since he realized he was completely in love with the witch in front of him. "How'd the date go?"

"Can I at least get settled before the interrogation starts?" Hermione asked, exasperated. Oh, this was going to be a fun story.

"What happened?"

"Nothing happened." He raised an eyebrow. "Honestly! No drink or food was spilled, no wandering hands, and nothing was growing on this one."

"You have such high standards, Granger."

"Shut up," she said, as she took a sip of her tea. "He was just...boring. It was a mundane date with an average looking fellow."

His mind worked at a hundred miles a minute before commenting. "Well, when you have me around so much, every other bloke will start looking ordinary." Flirting was always how he started off his approaches.

She simply rolled her eyes at his comment and ordered her lunch. "No second date then?"

"No, not at all. How do people do it? Supposedly this is the way the majority of people find their significant other."

"We're no ordinary individuals and maybe you're just dating the wrong people."

"Well, I won't be dating anyone for a long while. I don't care how much Ginny nags me. There is nothing wrong with being alone."

"Oh, come on Granger. At least give me a shot before you sign of your life to being a spinster." Blatant. Maybe that would do the trick.

"No."

Not even a seconds hesitation. And they were saved any awkward silence when they're food arrived a second later.

Did she think he was joking or was she that oblivious or did she just not want to give him a chance?

"What do you think I should do?"

Draco took another sip from his drink. He had a choice to make now. He was never good at making the right one when it counted. His track record spoke for itself. But what was he supposed to do? He could either sit there and continue to be the supportive friend he'd been over the years and subtly guide her in realizing what she already wanted or he could finally break the damn pattern that had caused him so much heartache over the years.

Hadn't he punished himself enough over the last few years?

"I think you have my next lines memorized after so many years." He sounded colder than he'd intended but that was probably because it hurt more than he expected.

"Oh no, don't even start!"

"What did I do?" Draco asked, bewildered.

"You don't get to discuss your infatuation with her any longer. I forbid it!"

"You forbid it?" Pansy teased.

"Yes! I don't know about you but I am sick and tired of having him use us as sounding boards," Blaise declared.

"I thought that's what friends were for?" Draco replied.

Blaise scoffed. "I am your friend. Which is why I get to tell you to stop this. Tell her and go from there."

"Tell her what?"

"That you're in love with her," Blaise and Pansy answered in unison. Draco's face instantly turned a deep shade of Gryffindor red. By the looks they were giving him, he knew better than to try and deny it. To fill the awkward pause he grabbed the forgotten drink up form the coffee table and took a long drink. Blaise and Pansy sat quietly on the couch as he gathered his thoughts.

"It'll ruin everything," he finally said.

"It might," Pansy admitted, as flippantly as any Slytherin could.

"That's reason enough to not say anything."

"Be honest with yourself, man," Blaise spoke, leaning towards Draco. "It's hurting you. It hurts you when she's with him. And when she isn't with that idiot, you let yourself get a glimpse into what may be if she was with you instead. And you can almost lie to yourself and say that everything is fine and you're happy. But as soon as she goes back to him you slowly start breaking again."

Draco stared at his friend. "Since when did you get all poetic?"

"Draco!" Blaise let out an exasperated sigh.

"I heard you!" Draco defended.

"Did you? Because this has gone on for long enough."

"You can't deny that he has a point," Pansy spoke up.

"Does he? Seen Theo lately?" It was below the belt but that's how Slytherins played. The more they felt vulnerable, the harder they hit.

Pansy and Blaise both winced at the reminder of the time when they were stuck in a bitter love triangle with one of their closest friends. Draco leaned back in the armchair, thankful for some silence.

It didn't last as long as he would've liked.

"I still think you should tell her," Blaise mumbled.

"She has no idea! Why can't we just go on the way we are?"

"Oh, she knows; we always know. She's just choosing to ignore it which should tell you something," Pansy said.

Draco kept staring at her, refusing to believe what she said.

They'd been sitting in silence for two songs now. If it wasn't their engagement party, then Blaise and Pansy would have surely have noticed the tension between them. He wasn't sure if he preferred it like this or not.

Draco was lost in his thoughts until he suddenly noticed the employees of the restaurant starting to clean up around them. It was now or never.

"Hermione," Draco started.

"You don't have to apologize."

"Good, cause I wasn't going to," he shot back. He took in a deep breathe to calm his nerves and readjusted his chair so he was facing her. His heart was racing.

"You and I...we're friends, good friends, I'd like to think. But...I don't know about you, but I'm completely in love with you. And I've waited, hell, I've even hinted and flirted and blatantly asked you out before. So maybe you'll think me a glutton for punishment for doing this...But I still need to know how you feel. And I get that people still hate me and not everyone has forgiven me for having the Mark, and everyone is expecting you to go back to Weasley and form the perfect post war couple. I get that. But I love you and I want to one day be as happy as Blaise and Pansy are, so I'm asking you for a chance. Just one chance. That's all I need to make you love me too."

He paused and waited to see if she, by any miracle, was about to jump into his arms or something as reassuring as that. But she just stared at him, wide-eyed. He reached inside his inner breast pocket and took out an envelope.

"Here. It's a ticket to Italy. Leaves from the airport in London tomorrow at 6:35 pm. Come away with me for two weeks. We can figure all of this out without anyone else there to interrupt us. If you think you could love me...if you think I could make you happier than Weasley, then please give me a chance."

He held out the ticket to her, searching her eyes for any sign of what she was thinking. Hermione gently reached out and took it. Draco held his breath for a few more minutes, willing her to say something. She didn't.

"I'll be waiting for you at the gate."

With that, he got up, grabbed his coat, and rushed out of the restaurant.

Draco stood beside his gate, staring out into the long stretch of hallway. People kept passing him by as they boarded. Most people didn't pay him any mind. Others looked at him with pity, thinking what he was fearing at that very moment. She wasn't coming.

The flight attendant at the entrance to the gate seemed hesitant to approach him. "Sir…we're about to close the doors."

Draco didn't react to what she said immediately. Maybe she got held up at security. Maybe there was a lot of traffic. Maybe she was running down that hallway right now, desperate to get there on time.

But too many bad things had happened in his life already for him to be that hopefully. Before he convinced himself to just go back to his flat and get plastered, he handed the flight attendant his ticket and walked towards the plane.

The empty seat next to him in first class was a constant reminder of what he'd just lost.

Draco awoke amongst plush pillows and silk sheets the next morning. He'd checked into one of the few magical hotels in Venice late last night and had gone straight to bed. He was a bit amazed that he hadn't cried yet.

A knock at the door startled him. "Breakfast," a voice called out from the other side of the door.

Draco pushed himself out of the bed, vaguely aware that he was still wearing his clothes from yesterday. He walked over to the door and let the maid in. She laid out his breakfast along with various newspapers on the table at the center of the room. He mustered up a polite smile and a thank you along with a generous tip as she left. The smell of food made his stomach grumble but he wasn't really craving the food. Nonetheless he sat down at the table and started eating away at his plate.

He flipped through the newspapers the maid had laid out and found the Daily Prophet among them. He mindlessly pulled it out among the stack as he had another bite of food.

He froze as he saw the front page.

There they were. In the most romantic restaurant in London. Happily eating their dinner and smiling at each other. The headline read "War Heroes Back Together Again."