Disclaimer: J.K Rowling owns the characters in this story, I didn't make anyone new. The only thing that is mine is this story, though it does include references to actions in the 6th and 7th book and at the beginning, it uses quotes from Steven Kloves screenplay of the 6th film. Anything else is accidental. This story is also published on
Her eyes closed for an instant before she asked.
"Do you think he would have done it? Draco?"
Harry paused before he answered. Maybe it was intentional, she had referred to him by his first name after all, but maybe she was paranoid.
It had to be paranoia.
He didn't know.
No one did. They had made sure of it.
"No. He was lowering his wand. In the end it was Snape. It was always Snape."
Snape. Draco's hero. Draco's saviour.
Draco.
Her stomach lurched as she thought of him, the blonde hair that fell into his eyes whenever he moved, whenever to got frustrated, whenever he kissed her. His eyes, those signature eyes that had most of the female population in Hogwarts hypnotised. The grey colour that flashed with passion, laughter and annoyance, that darkened with lust, for her.
When girls draped themselves shamelessly on him, vying for his affection and approval, that fact was the only thing that consoled her enough to refrain from sending jealous hexes their way. That it wasn't them he wanted, it was her.
Besides, how would she explain the random attacks?
No one would even consider that it was out of jealousy. The idea of them being together was too preposterous.
Malfoy and Granger.
Ferret and Mudblood.
A couple. An item. A pair.
It was incomprehensible.
And yet... it happened.
Who would have thought it, these two enemies could fall for each other.
The war hadn't started so they weren't drawn together out of need for human contact.
His constant teasing for the previous five years hadn't been a ploy to hide his secret feelings for her.
When she slapped him in third year, she meant it and had often wanted to repeat the moment.
Neither of them could explain how they had come to be.
And yet they had.
Hermione was dragged back to the present, away from her mind reliving their past few months when Harry pulled out the note from the locket and disappointment set in.
The fake locket was on Hermione's mind all the way back to the girl's dormitory. The boys had stayed up on the astronomy tower, taking in the sights for possibly the last time. Hermione still had to finish packing, so she had left them to it.
When she walked into the room she shared with four other girls, the locket flew from her mind.
The walls and tables next to four of the beds where bare. Trunks that had spent all year at the bottom of the bed where gone. Any evidence that Hermione had shared her room with anyone else had vanished.
All the girls had gone.
With Dumbledore dead at the hands of a staff member, unsurprisingly, the parents wanted their children back with them where they could personally protect them.
After Seamus' standoff with his mother, when he refused to leave Hogwarts until after their Headmasters funeral, many had followed suit. But the funeral was over and so was their time at Hogwarts.
The trio were leaving on the Hogwarts Express and Hermione doubted they would ever return on it. Sadness formed a lump in her throat and a heavy weight in her stomach but she wouldn't let it out. There was so much to grieve for that she doubted she would ever stop if she let it overcome her.
Dumbledore.
Hogwarts.
Childhood.
Draco.
He was gone. Harry had said he escaped with Snape while everyone was distracted by the deatheaters in the castle. Apparated away, taking a bit of her with him.
She wouldn't see him again. Not for a while anyway. If she survived up until the final battle, they would most probably meet again, standing on opposite sides.
His face would be shrouded by that silver mask, making him indistinguishable from the others. She wouldn't know if it was him she was battling against.
"Don't hold back though. Don't refrain from what's necessary to keep yourself safe, just in case it's me you battling" he had said, when she mentioned this worry.
"Would you kill me?" She retorted, half expecting his answer to be yes.
"No. But if there was a chance Auntie Bella or Greyback, or even Nott would get a hold of you, then yes, I would. It would be better for you that way. They like to play with their food, especially if its muggleborn for dinner, if you catch my drift." A bitter grin marred his features for a second before a predatory one took its place.
"Let's get off this subject shall we. It's spoiling the mood."
They were in the Slytherin dormitory. It was dinnertime so the other boys would be occupied for quite a while which suited them perfectly.
Malfoy took several steps forward forcing Hermione back, until she ended up pressed against the wall next to his bed. His eyes darted to hers for a moment before dropping to her mouth. His lips soon followed and their eyes drifted closed. The kiss was slow at first, unrushed, almost as if they wanted to savour the moment, as they were obviously numbered. His hands sat on her waist while one of hers pulled on his tie, keeping his mouth against hers. Short, soft kisses occupied them for a few moments before Malfoy took over, just like he always did. He took a step back, pulling her with him, and spun, pushing her lightly down onto his bed. He landed above her gracefully and lightly, being careful not to crush her. He rested on his arms, which were next to her head and he played several strands of her hair through his fingers, relishing its softness. Her arms reached up and were soon tied around his neck as their kiss deepened.
Neither knew how long they spent like that, but soon it was time for Hermione to go, before anyone noticed she had disappeared. She had to straighten her clothes before she left under Harry's cloak, which would also be noticed to be missing if she didn't hurry back.
They both knew this would be the last time they would be together like that, Draco had hinted as much several times during their encounter and Hermione had definitely received the message.
As she had got to the door, his voice stopped her.
"When I leave, I won't be coming back. That's it. I'll be his little soldier, his pet. I won't be coming back to you."
She had nodded, walked through the door and was just about to close it when he spoke to her, one final time.
"I'll see you on the battlefield Granger... if we both make it there."
It was not on the battlefield where she next saw Draco. It was at his Manor.
Hermione, Harry and Ron had been captured by Snatchers on their way back to their tent. Harry had a stinging jinx performed on his face to try and hide his identity but it didn't work. Hence why they were dragged up in front of the Malfoys in their hall. The room was as bare as the hallway they had entered into, more like a museum than a family home with a teenage son.
Draco was stood next to his parents when she was dropped onto the floor away from the boys. His eyes never left her, until he was summoned by his crazed aunt to identify Harry. He didn't give them away, and she would forever be grateful for that.
Later, she was tortured by Bellatrix in front of him. Bellatrix showed no mercy, and as her eyes blurred with the tears of pain, she could just about make out his face, whiter than normal. She didn't miss him retching behind a chair though, before everything went quiet and black.
They escaped not long after she fainted, but at the cost of Dobby, the sweet little house elf that gave his life saving them, saving his friends.
The final battle hit them sooner than they expected, but they were, in a sense, prepared. The cup had been destroyed, and all that was left was the diadem and that damn snake. Crabbe accidently set the room of requirement on fire, with Fiendfyre, one of the few things that could destroy a Horcrux, so that only left the one, since the room had the diadem in it, when it was destroyed. Or so they had thought. When Snape died and revealed that Harry was the seventh Horcrux, Ron and Hermione said their goodbyes to Harry expecting never to see him again. Those few moments were torturous for Hermione; losing Harry was one of the things she feared the most. But they had to accept his fate, because that's exactly what Harry had done, and they knew it was the only way to destroy Voldemort, once and for all.
When Harry had left for the forest, Ron and Hermione took their grief to the battlefield, where they did not hold back. Deatheater after deatheater fell at their hands in their desperate attempt to do their part and they were soon separated.
Hermione was deflecting hexes from Yaxley when she saw him. At first it was just a flash a white, but when Yaxley was stunned and she took a moment to glance around, she saw him clearly. His blonde hair flew around his neck and he deflected similar hexes that she had been protecting herself from moments earlier. They were being sent from a boy a year below them, who wasn't as skilled as most of the other fighters surrounding him, and he was soon taken down by Draco. Not killed though, as she thought he would be, but stunned. It was obvious Draco was not fighting to kill his old schoolgoers.
Their eyes met for a second before he turned and ran back into the fray, stunning two more younger students easily before getting involved in a more matched fight with someone from their year.
The battle lasted for hours, but eventually it came to an end, with Harry victorious.
Hermione's elation at seeing her best friend alive again had her running from one side of the quickly dispersing field, littered with blood and bodies to the other and into his arms, her excitement masking what she had ran past.
Harry was soon led off in a crowd of soldiers, desperately curious of what exactly had happened between himself and Voldemort and Hermione was left alone for a minute, her mind reeling at the image bursting from the back of her mind.
She retraced her footsteps back to where she ran from, praying to whoever was up there that her mind's eye was playing tricks on her, that she hadn't seen this in her peripheral vision as she ran past on her way to Harry.
But she could see now it was no trick her mind was playing on her.
He was as beautiful to her now as he always had been.
More peaceful though.
His skin was clear of any of the stress that he had burdened for the past year or so.
But it was also clear of life.
It was evident it was a simple killing curse that got him. There were no traces of blood, no evidence to support the fact that someone had killed him, except from the lack of breathing and the loss of light in those eyes of his.
Hermione knelt next to his body, and leaned over him, staring into those empty eyes that used to fill her with such emotion. Tears burned her own as she realised laughter would never light up this face of his, cause that crinkle across his nose, his lips would never touch hers again in a way that had her begging for more.
All these "nevers" had sobs racking through Hermione's body. She tried at first to stop the tears, not wanting to draw attention to herself but soon she gave up and let them cascade down her face.
She was not ashamed of loving him.
Because she did.
She had just never told him.
He never knew.
He probably never returned the feelings either, she thought. But she didn't care.
She loved him and now he was gone.
She heard her name being called but she did not move. She couldn't leave him alone here, in this mess of death.
Someone approached from behind her and knelt. A quick glance revealed it was Harry.
Harry leant forward but Hermione knocked his hand away on instinct, before retracting her hand and allowing Harry to close Draco's eyes. Harrys hand moved slowly, giving her the chance to stop him again, but she let him, and said goodbye to a part of Draco she would never see again.
"You didn't know" she whispered, "but I loved him. Love him. I don't know how it happened but –"
Harry wrapped his arm around her and pulled her up to stand.
"You don't have to explain it to me. Hermione, it's time to say goodbye."
And it was.
Hermione knew that Narcissa and Lucius would be scouring the grounds looking for their son right now and she didn't want to be there when they found him.
But she couldn't pull herself away, and leave him there alone. Discarded.
"I'll go on ahead" Harry murmured as he slowly moved away from her, letting her say her final goodbyes.
She wouldn't be invited to the funeral so this was it.
Her final farewell.
At first she said nothing, just drank in his flawless features a bit more.
"I love you, you know that? It's a bit late now but in case you can hear me somewhere, I do. So, so much. But I'm a little bit mad at you for it, because now I have to get over you. But I don't see how I can? How do you get over someone when their leaving pulls your insides apart, leaving that lump in your throat that stops you swallowing? When it makes you want to follow them, even in death? Wake up and tell me that. Please, Draco. Just wake up. We'll try it proper, you and me, no secrets and hiding."
But he didn't wake up. Couldn't.
Cause nothing could bring back the dead, not spells, not potions, not even the breaking heart of a teenage girl.
A few moments more she stared at him before leaning forward and pressing a gentle kiss to his lips, now cold.
"I love you."
And then she was up, turned away and walking as fast as she could towards Harry, who was now near the main entrance.
When she neared him, he wasn't looking at her, but looking behind her, a solemn look on his face. Before she could turn or even ask what he was looking at, the source revealed itself.
An anguished scream ripped through the night as mother found son on the battlefield. His name was repeated over and over by the sobbing woman, who had no doubt thrown herself on his body.
Hermione didn't turn. Couldn't turn.
She concentrated on walking into what remained of Hogwarts before sinking to the ground and allowing her grief to overwhelm her. The pitiful yells of a mother who had just lost her son continued to ring out, and word soon spread through the hall as to who was causing the commotion.
"Malfoy? Dead"
"Malfoys dead?"
"Draco? Really?"
People paused in their grief and their recovery to silently remember and mourn the fellow classmate, before resuming what they were doing, their lives continuing without another thought to him.
Hermione remained on the floor for hours. She didn't move or speak when spoken too. Her grief had made her numb to everything.
The boy she loved was gone.
Harry and Ginny had married not long after the war. 3 years into the marriage and they were expecting their first child, a son who they planned to call James.
Ron got engaged to Lavender two years after the war. She had been mauled by Greyback but had survived and they had fallen in love when Ron nursed her back to health with the help of his brother Bill.
As for Hermione, she moved to Romania to live with Krum, who was devoted to her. She found she couldn't return his affections, a blonde boy constantly on her mind and in her dreams. After a year, Hermione returned to England without Krum, their relationship having crumbled months previous. He had realised she would never love him, but he never knew the reason why.
Hermione moved to a flat in Central London, where she was often joined by her old school friends, laughing and joking about something Luna had written in the Quibbler, or something Ron had done to infuriate Lavender.
But when she was alone, her thoughts were dedicated to the one love she couldn't let go, couldn't move on from.
Draco Malfoy.