Chapter 2 – Love Lost

I'm here, alone

Didn't want to leave

My heart won't move

It's incomplete

Wish there was a way

That I could make you understand

"Oh, Draco, I'm so very sorry," the beautiful girl with long, black hair whimpered. She reached out to touch her friend's face. "I…I thought you knew. I didn't know…I didn't know you weren't informed of it."

The blond man shook his head. He was gritting his teeth in anger…and hopelessness. The woman he loved just couldn't be engaged!

No. No. No, no, no! Not my Hermione!

"Draco…please," the woman raised her hand to her friend's hair. She pushed the strands that were falling over his entrancing silver eyes. "Please, please don't make this too hard on yourself. This was not your fault."

"No, Daphne," he contradicted. "I must have done something. She wouldn't have gotten…engaged to someone else…if I hadn't done something wrong."

"Oh, no, Draco, it wasn't you!"

He turned his head to her.

"Daphne, do you know where she is?"

She remained silent.

"Daphne, I'm begging you. Tell me where she is!" he begged.

"I'm sorry, Draco," she said in a whisper. "I have no idea where she is. She disappeared with Potter and the Weasley girl after the war. You know that."

"But when they left, they were headed for New York."

"The Ministry apparently had Potter and Granger transferred. I'm not sure that they are in New York still…or if they're still in the States, for that matter." Daphne sighed. She did not expect it to be this hard. She did not expect him to still love the little Mudblood even after such a long time that she was gone.

"She promised…she promised she would write to me," he moaned. "She said she'd keep in touch…that she would never forget." He was on the verge of tears now. Nothing had ever made him cry before.

He leaned his head against the cold wall of his study.

"I have to find her."

"No, Draco, you shouldn't. You'll…hurt yourself."

"Daphne, I have to see her. I have to talk to her. I have to find a way to keep her from marrying whoever her bloody fiancé is!"

Daphne Greengrass closed her bright green eyes. She took her coat from the chair she laid it on.

"I'm really very sorry, Draco," she sympathized. "I wish there was something we could do about it, but there really isn't. I have to go. I promised Blaise I'd meet him tonight. Draco…she's not the only woman you could love. There's probably someone else you'd care for more than you care for her. Please, take care of yourself, Draco. I love you." She kissed his cheek. And then she left.

Draco Malfoy was now all alone.

For months, almost a year now, he had been waiting to hear from Hermione Granger. She was his love. His one true love. His perfect mate in many ways. And she loved him as well…at least he thought she did.

Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger had fallen in love with one another shortly before the war, when they were in the seventh year. The two were serving as Head Boy and Head Girl of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that year. The night that Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters had attacked Hogwarts, he and Hermione had pledged eternal love to one another. He gave her a ring as a token of his love.

But then, Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord. Everyone celebrated, but they were all very exhausted. It had been a tough war. There was still a lot to be done. The bodies of those who died in the war had to be taken care of. Hogwarts Castle had to be reconstructed because of the damages caused.

Harry Potter had decided to get away for a while. The Ministry of Magic had the perfect job for him while he was away, and he accepted. A week later, Harry Potter was on a flight to the United States. With him, he had taken Ginny Weasley and Hermione.

Before they left, Hermione met up with Draco. Everyone knew about their little romance already. Both were actually very surprised to learn that everyone had been making bets on how long it would take for them to finally get together. It appears that everyone in Hogwarts had known that Draco Malfoy had a crush on Hermione Granger ever since she hit him in their third year. They also knew that even if she acted like it all the time, Hermione Granger didn't really hate the Slytherin Prince, and it would only take a matter of time before she felt the same way for him as he did for her.

He had his chauffeur drive them both to the Muggle airport. He saw her off. As she was walking up to the plane bound for the United States, she ran back to him. She repeated her promise, that she would keep in touch with him, that she would never, ever forget him. She swore that she would always love him. They kissed for one last time. Then she was gone.

Draco could not believe that the woman who pledged her love and her life to him had already given it to someone else. He spent all this time hoping that she would come back to England, or at least give him a call. But she found love with someone else in just a few months.

That means she must not have really loved him in the first place.

He wished that there was some way he could talk to her.

But America was such a huge place. Not many magical folk knew where Harry Potter had run off to.

It could have been easy for him. He had so much money, and so much time. He could have done so much to find her. Hell, he could have located her parents and asked them about her. He could have even asked the Weasleys! He could have pulled it off.

But he didn't think about that. No, his heart was aching so much that he couldn't think about it.

He loved her so much that it hurt. He'd give up anything for her. He loved her so much he didn't think she'd ever leave him.

The last thing Daphne told him was that there were still other women he could love. Someone to take Hermione's place.

No.

No one could ever take Hermione's place. No one would ever compare to her.

He would never love anyone as much as he loved her.

That was it. That was the end of love for Draco Malfoy. He would never love again. If he couldn't have Hermione Granger, then he would have no one at all.