new smallville story tomorrow! i just kinda randomly shot this baby out.
"You know what you have to do," she swallowed hard in response, but he did not find such an action sufficient.
"Don't be a fool; you are perfectly aware of the repercussions if you are to back out." Before then she had no thought of "backing out", as he had so eloquently put it. But it seemed so definite; too definite for her liking.
She could feel her throat closing as her gasping breaths became shallower. She spoke nonetheless, despite the looming threat of unconsciousness, "I know, Malfoy. I'm not stupid." It was meant to come out scathing and sarcastic, but her pitch was too high and made her now-nasal voice seem defensive.
He smiled. She hated when he did that, just...smiled. There was no smirk lost on his lips; it was a genuinely sad smile. "I would never think such a thing, Granger. Never." She could hear the meaning beneath his words, buried in implied innuendo. Draco Malfoy was a difficult person to talk to, let alone know.
"I...I'm not sure that I can do this." Hermione was not known for being indecisive, but every fiber of her being was battling against the others. It was a pure miracle that she was not rendered senseless; she remained capable or comprehendible speech.
A lesser man would have rolled his eyes, but Malfoy simply sighed, and expression flitting across his face that distinctly reminded her of a parent about to scold their child. "If you don't do this you do realize that someone else will have no problem accomplishing the task?" She locked eyes with him for a moment sharing a strange type of mutual understanding in one moment's silence.
"They're coming," his ears perked up and his nostrils flared, as though he were a rabbit attempting to flee from the pursuit of a coyote. Her brown eyes flashed as she observed their surroundings.
Everything seemed well. The trees around them acted as an umbrella from the brutally honest moonlight that tainted the dark sky. "Liar," she answered in return, her eyes never leaving his.
He shrugged in return, "They will. We won't be alone for long."
"Do we need long?" she challenged.
He smirked, an expression she was much more comfortable with. "Not if you can gather the stones to do me in." It felt as though, in that one moment that her jaw had unhinged.
"You knew that I couldn't do it," she said in sudden revelation.
He nodded slightly. "Good people are so easy to read and manipulate. Play one, one
heartstring until it bellows out a song." His sanity was not entirely intact.
She frowned. "Did you just compliment me?" she asked not sure whether to be flattered or insulted.
"Read it as you may, Granger." Her mouth remained open and her eyes sharp for a moment until she gathered the strength to speak again. He was no longer looking at her eyes but instead at her mouth.
"After all of this I still don't know what you want. Do you want me to kill or kiss you? I'm not even sure anymore." Neither of them moved and he seemed to be mulling over the possibilities.
"At the time? Both." Neither Hermione nor Draco moved towards one another but the atmosphere did alter drastically.
"They are going to figure all of this out, eventually," she commented, finding it best to ignore the answer to the very question she had asked.
"Of course they will. And they'll kill you before me if they discover your part in this." She looked at him again.
"You still want me to kill you?" The uncertainty came flooding back into her in the blink of an eye, though his face remained impassive.
"It would be the right thing to do?" The question read like a statement, as though he had made up his mind.
"I love you," she said suddenly. Hermione was slightly alarmed to find his expression alter drastically from sadness to smug confidence.
"I know."
She grimaced slightly. "Doesn't change much; does it?" He shook his head in eerie silence. "I can't do this." It wasn't weakness fueling her, but emotions. Some might consider that in itself weakness.
"It changes nothing, and yes you can. You can do everything." Not anything, but everything. His utter and complete certainty in her ability was unnerving as opposed to being comforting.
"I can live without you, but I'm not sure that I want to." His eyes sharpened considerably as she spoke.
"You had better not be suggesting that you come with me," he snapped in disbelief. She looked affronted by the accusation.
"No, you come with me."
He laughed; it was a great, barking laugh. He mocked her. "I'm afraid that doing such a thing would endanger the both of us. They are unaware of your involvement in this as of now and I don't wish to compromise that." Hermione shook her great shaggy head.
"This doesn't need to end in tragedy. Everyone seems to assume that the only way to end these things is in death. I have no wish to mock your methods, but they are questionable. A square dozen Death Eaters are incarcerated, another half-dozen dead. Can't we just enjoy the fact that we've done something good? Do you have to ruin it with your pessimism?" she questioned sharply, surprising him with her cheek.
"I'm realistic," he defended.
"You're a fool." The words spewed out of her mouth before she could stop them. His eyes widened and his mouth quirked into an expression that she had never seen before.
"Way to win my affections, Granger. Insulting my integrity is one
thing, but my intelligence? You above all should be capable of comprehending the importance of a man or woman's mind." She did not seem apologetic, though slightly dissuaded.
"You have a penchant for the dramatics, Malfoy. I can help you; I don't need to kill you." He smirked at this obnoxiously.
"You only say that because you don't have the strength to do it yourself." She blinked briefly.
"Goading me won't work. We both know that we are above such childish means." He lifted up his empty arms in protest.
"I had to try, Granger. I had to try."
She stepped forward, closing her hand around his wrist harshly. "This doesn't need to happen. Come on, we have to leave." She knew that Voldemort and
his legions would waste little time searching for them.
"We can't run forever," he informed her.
She nodded in agreement. "But we can run long enough." And with that they were gone.
Oneshot or not? I'm not sure...kinda think this seems like an open-ended ending.