Here's part two and part three will be coming soon. I hope you're enjoying this and how this beautiful song is tied in and tying these two people together. I think this chapter is a little more poetic than the last and there are parts that I'm quite proud of. Enjoy xx.
Time passed and Draco's stolen glances grew longer so that it reached a point where he couldn't concentrate when she was in the same room as he was. It was hard to be watching in adoration such a source of light when you were slipping deeper and deeper into the darkness. It got so that Draco was drowning in it, drowning in the forces that threatened and terrified him and he had no idea how to pull himself out.
On the night that he almost killed Professor Dumbledore he fell completely. His own fear prevented him from being the man he could. Draco Malfoy wasn't the hero. Instead he was destined to be alone as he drowned – unless someone could pull him out.
And later that night when Hermione Granger sat down beside him he had found his saviour. It was as if a life raft had been tossed out to sea and suddenly he could breathe again because the darkness wasn't filling his lungs. It was as if she had known he'd needed someone. As if she saw something in him crying for help while everybody else just saw what they wanted to see. And they talked for hours about absolutely nothing. Not once did she mention the Dark Lord or Draco's family or anything painful at all. Instead they discussed classes and the people they went to school with.
It was perfect normality.
When she kissed him two weeks later under the shade of one of the lakeside trees Draco couldn't even hear the jeers of his fellow Slytherins. Somehow she had found something in herself that could see further inside him than anybody ever had and for that he was grateful. As much as he had previously hated himself for the love he was harbouring, he couldn't anymore. It wasn't ridiculous and he needed her.
She told Potter and Weasley that if they treated Draco as the enemy then they lost her. Draco didn't mention that he didn't particularly care how the two, especially Weasley, treated him. He had Hermione and therefore his previous resentment towards Weasley didn't matter anymore. He was going to treat her the way she should be treated.
On the night before she was set to leave with her two best friends on a mission she told Draco he couldn't know about, the two were sitting together in the bedroom she was sharing with Ginny that summer.
"Do you really have to go?" Draco asked, tracing patterns on her hand softly with his fingertips. He wouldn't be able to touch her like this when she left and nobody knew how long she'd be gone.
Sadly, she nodded. "I don't think Harry really wants me to" she said. "But it's important. Ron and I started this adventure with him and I think we should finish it. It's always been the three of us…and Harry can't do it alone." She smiled softly up at him, touching her lips to his for the briefest second.
"I'm going to miss you though" she whispered and his breath caught for a moment. Never had he imagined he would hear words like these from her.
"I understand" he said, his voice as soft as hers. "It feels like I've only just…" he trailed off for a moment. "And now you're leaving."
Hermione took his hand in hers, tracing her own patterns. "It's not forever" she promised. "And when you leave Hogwarts for holidays and Christmas you can stay with the Weasley's. They said you could. You're not going to be completely alone."
"I don't know that they really want me here" Draco muttered, a trace of bitterness to his tone.
"Of course they do!" Hermione shook her head. She had this annoying tendency to believe the best in people so often. "Ginny told me last week that you're kind of funny when you're not being a jerk. And Mrs. Weasley fusses over you just as much as anybody else now." She paused, looking towards the door for a moment. "They just needed to see you, we all did."
The smile on her face was so beautiful, so stunning and her words were the sweetest he had heard in his life. Draco couldn't help the kiss he immediately placed upon her parted lips. He pulled her in, smelling her sweet scent that he had never been able to quite place. Hermione kissed him back softly and as his urgency went up, his did too.
"Hermi-" he began, breaking the kiss after a minute or two but she didn't let him get very far.
"Shh!" she whispered, connecting their lips again and tangling her fingers in his hair with a passion he once never would have assumed she possessed. How had he not seen her perfection before?
He nodded, resuming the kiss and letting his hands travel from her face to her waist, lingering there. Her hands were still knotted in his hair, tugging at it as his lips moved down her neck.
When she began kissing down his throat Draco opened his mouth again, his breath shorter than before. "Hermione, I-"
"Shhh!" she repeated but he remained insistant this time.
"You don't know what I'm going to say" he said, shaking his head. Hermione pulled away for a moment, her wide eyes piercing his so intently. It was as if she really cared what he had to say and it was his chance to finally share everything he had always wanted before they travelled any further with their relationship.
"Yes?" she prompted, planting one last kiss on his lips before leaning back with her eyes focussed.
Draco took a deep breath, calming himself down after the excitement of a minute ago. "Anyone can tell you you're pretty" he said, his voice hushed. "But you get that all the time…" He shook his head when she opened her mouth. "You don't always hear it but I know you do." So instead of interrupting Hermione just let herself smile at him. "But...you're beauty's deeper than any makeup or whatever else you girls use and…I want to show you what I see tonight."
"Why are you telling me this?" Hermione asked, expression soft.
Instead of answering immediately Draco leaned in and took her face in his hands before kissing her once more. The minute his lips connected with hers she responding and he stroked her cheek with his thumb.
"Because," he whispered against her lips. "When I wrap you up and when I kiss your lips," he accented that point by kissing her again. "I want to make you feel wanted."
If Draco had pulled back right then he might have seen a small amount of recognition in Hermione's eyes. But he didn't.
"I want to call you mine" he continued, tracing kisses down her neck as she let her head fall backwards. "I want to hold her hand forever and never let you forget this." She shook her head as he leaned over her to, moving his hand down her back slowly and kissing her lips fiercely for a moment. "I just want to make you feel wanted."
Now, he hadn't meant to say these exact words. Not the ones he had memorized from his earlier letter. Hermione still didn't know it was him who had sent it. But somehow these words just seemed appropriate again, as if he needed to say them.
A few kisses and short breaths later he pulled back again and her eyes met his. The burning passion in them matched his own and he took one more deep, slow breath. "Hermione," he said, softer than any word he had spoken that night. "I think I might…love you."
Those words were harder to muster in person than to put on paper but he sincerely meant them, just as he had in his letter. Before she went away was just the right time for her to hear them and his heart fluttered as he spoke them, which told him it was right.
Her lips parted slowly, eyes wide. Was it surprise, happiness or nervousness? Draco wouldn't know until she spoke.
"I…think I might love you too…" she whispered before pulling him towards her and beginning the routine again. Lips on his, hands moving, breaths breaking the silence…
Later when Draco was asleep Hermione went out of the room to join Ginny who hadn't come to bed due to the noise.
"I know who wrote me that letter" she told her best girl friend with a small smile.
