Hermione Granger came in through the front door, drenched from the pouring rain outside. She threw her purse aside onto the table before hanging her wet trench coat on the rack. She let out a small, frustrated grunt as she wiggled her foot, causing her shoe to fall off and slam against the wall. Frustrated, she stormed deeper into her small and humble flat, thinking about how chaotic and annoying her day was.
"Hello, Hermione."
Hermione jumped from where she was standing. Her head quickly snapped back to reality and she whipped her wand out of her pocket, ready to defend herself.
The man stood in front of her smirked, seeing how startled she was. He noticed her wand pointing directly at him, but she did not arouse any fear from him as she planned. He stood up from he was sitting, his hands crossed across his chest as his amusement increased.
"What in bloody hell are you doing here?" She spat, glaring at him and she tightened the grip on her wand.
Draco Malfoy didn't respond right away; instead, his eyes roamed her body, studying her wet hair and slender frame. He noticed how she barely changed after Hogwarts. Physically, she grew into woman hood perfectly. Her hair, despite its messy state, was shorter than before. She was curvier, filling out the odd parts of her adolescence body. However, Hermione Granger was still the same girl he left behind; smart, feisty, and based on this current situation, slightly dangerous.
"You do know how silly you look right now right? If I were a muggle intruding your home, I would laugh because a woman like you would defend herself with a stick? And not to mention, you can expose magic to the world," he replied, not bothering to answer her question.
Hermione watched Draco with curiosity. She hasn't seen this boy-no, this man- for years. After she graduated from Hogwarts, she quickly took off from her magical world. Her adventures with her best friends, Harry and Ron, proved to be too much for her. Although she was highly intelligent when it comes to magic, she has seen too much danger and death in her school than most people in their lifetime. With the end of the War and school, she returned to her muggle life, keeping minimum, but enough contact with her magical friends.
"Malfoy, if you don't tell her what you're doing at my flat, uninvited, I have no problem throwing you outside my window," she threatened. She hasn't used her wand in a while, nor a spell in over a year. Even today, she still questioned herself why she continued to carry her past with her in her pocket. Her doubt however, didn't reach her capability of conjuring a spell; she was yet again, the brightest witch known to public.
Draco walked closer to her with both hands in the air. He wasn't afraid of her threat. He knew that Hermione wouldn't use a spell against him, despite their history.
"We both know that you're not going to use a spell against me," he said, closing the distance between them. His left hand touched the tip of her wand and lowered it aside. Hermione followed this movement without a fight. "I know what the War has done to you. I know that you're not going to use magic unless there's a good purpose," he continued as he stood only a couple inches away from her.
Hermione's thoughts ran wildly inside her head. She wanted to re-direct her wand against this blonde man once again, but he was right. She would not use magic again unless she has too. Draco Malfoy was not a danger to her, at least not now. She remained silent as she studied his face at a close distance. He was still pale as ever. His hair was slightly darker than normal, and his smirk was still as arrogant as ever. But she noticed the change in his eyes that she can't put her finger on.
"You left me, Malfoy. You left me when I needed you the most. No, you left me when everyone needed you the most," she said silently. "What do you expect me to do? You were gone for five years without a word. You didn't write; you didn't explain anything to me. No one knew where you were. The Ministry looked for you. Harry and Ron even looked for you. I even looked for you when everyone had given up."
Draco's eyes softened as he noticed how Hermione shrunk when she spoke. Her eyes were not guarded anymore. He could not bring out the words to defend himself. As much as he wanted to explain to her why he did what he did, he would not- or could not- answer her question.
"Hermione-"
He was cut off with her sudden movement. She shoved him with both her hands, making him stumble a few feet from where he was standing. Tears started to form on the corner of her eyes, but she blinked them away, not wanting to show any remorse to Draco.
"You have no right to be here," she growled, her eyes returned to its state of coldness. "No right, you hear me? You can't just prance back into my life, expecting everything to be okay. Do you know how much pain you caused me over the years? No, you possibly can't. Because you left me!"
Her angry voice betrayed the sadness she was trying to hide. Draco's chest tightened as he listened to her. He regained his composure a second after she pushed him, and he found himself walking back to her. His hand reached for hers, but Hermione stepped back.
"Everybody thought you were dead! Dead!," she screamed. "There can't be any other explanation. Surely, we all know how cold you can be, but you can't be as inhumane to left me without a single explanation! When everybody stopped searching for you and pronounced you dead, I continued my own search. You know how insane I looked to others? Harry and Ron tried to convince me to let go of you, but I couldn't! I refused to acknowledge your death because I know you're strong and brave enough to survive anything!"
"Please-"
"No, you listen to me!" Hermione cut again. "Months turned into years. I tried following your trail, but you simply disappeared from the face of the earth. I traveled everywhere for you, Draco. I turned the world upside down searching for any clues on your disappearance, I couldn't find anything. I risked everything for you; I even gave up everything, My best friends, my magic, my life, only for you to run away! Now you're standing in my flat, wanting me to welcome you back with open arms? You can be stupid, but you cannot be that stupid."
Hermione raised her arm again, and pointed her wand against him once more. She cannot be here right now, not in front of this man who caused her so much pain over the years.
"Goodbye, Draco," she said before doing what Draco feared the most.
A/N: Hey guys! This is my first time writing fan fiction in a while (in 5+ years) and also my first time writing HP fan fiction. I know this chapter is kind of fast, but I wanted to break the traditional seting of typical fan fiction stories. Please forgive me about any mistakes you see above and please review nicely, but honestly!
