Harry walked up beside Hermione, who had her nose in a book as usual. "Hey," he said, sitting down beside her.
"Harry," the brunette greeted, closing her book after making sure that her place was marked. "What's wrong?"
The raven looked at her, not realising how sad his expression was. "What? Nothing, I'm fine. I do need you to do something for me, though." Hermione furrowed her eyebrows, confused. "I need you to find out what this is." Harry pulled the little bottle from his pocket. "I mean, I know they're memories but I mean, after everything that's happened, I think I've had enough of drifting through other people's memories."
Hermione nodded, looking at the bottle. "Where'd you get them?"
Harry smiled sadly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, 'Mione." He stood up to walk away. "Though, don't think any differently of them. They just needed to get it off their chest." Again, Hermione nodded, allowing Harry to walk away knowing he was doing something liberating for Draco.
"So what do I have here?" The brunette stood, looking at the silvery substance inside of the bottle, tilting the bottle from side to side. She began walking towards the headmaster's office where the Pensieve was kept. Mentally, she began to go through a list of people who would want to get stuff off of their chests. Hermione didn't blink when the newly-repaired gargoyle leapt aside to let her in, not requiring a password, as she was focused on whose memories she was holding in her hand. Arriving in the empty office, (Professor McGonagall had refused to move into it, insisting that her own office was quite acceptable, thank you very much), the brunette opened the cabinet holding the Pensieve.
Without hesitating, she poured in the memories and dove in.
At first she didn't actually realize she was in a memory until she processed her surroundings. It was Hogwarts as it looked in her first year. As she continued to look around, she spotted Harry, Ron, and a couple other boys as they were walking across the grounds. "It's Wingardium LeviOsa, not LeviosA. It's no wonder she has no friends," she heard Ron say. Seconds later, Hermione watched herself purposely walk past them, bumping against Ron.
"I think she heard you," Harry said quietly. Hermione watched them leave before realizing that a first-year Draco Malfoy was watching her first-year self on the way to the girl's room. She noticed that he looked kind of...confused. But what was there to be confused about? He hated me, plain as day. The brunette suddenly remembered her mother telling her that boys expressed their emotions differently than girls.
The scene shifted to the Yule Ball in their fourth year and Hermione saw herself walking down the stairs in her dress. Behind her she heard Harry's date say, "She's beautiful" and Harry agreeing. Turning, the brunette spotted Draco a fair distance away, staring at her as his date desperately tried to get his attention back before he gave it to her. Hermione noticed, through the night, that Draco's eyes rarely left her person. She anticipated her outburst at Ron and Harry, and timed it so she could watch Draco's reaction to her breakdown. He looked...torn. Does that mean...no, he couldn't...could he?
The last scene was in the Great Hall after the Battle of Hogwarts. Draco was looking out one of the windows, avoiding anyone who looked at him, even giving him a small smile. He looked up and Hermione saw herself comforting the Weasleys. With a resigned sigh, the blonde got up from his spot and started to leave the Great Hall.
Hermione gasped and stood in the middle of the headmaster's office. So Draco had a crush on her since first year. The brunette sat down on the steps leading up to the desk. "So, I take it you've seen them?" Looking up, she saw Draco leaning against the doorway to the office. He chuckled bitterly. "Probably should've told you sooner." Hermione stood, instinctively going for her wand. "I asked both Weas-Ron and Po-Harry to talk to you."
"You didn't need to do that, Draco. I'm still a bit jumpy, that's all." She put her wand back into its proper place. "Were you ever actually going to tell me?"
Draco shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. "I thought about it for a long time, especially in sixth year." Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but closed it in favor of remaining quiet. "I'm sorry for all I teased you about all these years."
Hermione smiled a little. "Your father would have murdered you had he known, wouldn't he?" Draco nodded. "Come here." The blonde hesitantly stepped forwards to meet her on the steps. "Have you found someone?" The blonde tried not to look surprised but apparently failed because Hermione let out a small laugh. "It's written all over your face. You aren't trying to snog me to death so that means you found someone." She leaned closer to him conspiratorially. "Is it Harry?"
By this point Draco looked extremely alarmed. "Where did you get that information?"
Hermione laughed again. "You asked Harry to give me the memories as a way of telling me. Who else was I supposed to guess?" She sobered up a little. "Does Ginny know?"
Draco shrugged again. "Who knows? I doubt Potter would have done anything without her consent. After all, she spent as long pining after him as I did for you." Hermione nodded. After a moment, she leaned forwards and placed a gentle kiss on Draco's cheek. "What was that for?" The blonde slowly raised a hand to his cheek.
"An apology," she said vaguely before continuing, "for never noticing that there was any other emotion behind all those things you said to me." Draco nodded in acceptance of her apology. "Are you happy, Draco?"
"What makes you ask that?" The blonde watched Hermione carefully.
It was her turn to shrug. "All these years, you've been taught to do things a certain way and been made to do terrible things. Your mother saved Harry's life because he told her you were safe," Hermione added softly. "Is that why all of this has come about?"
Draco chuckled humorlessly. "I've fancied Potter for about as long as I've fancied you, Granger. I actually told you I fancied you at some point," he added, before he had time to stop himself from saying it. The brunette cocked her head at him, making him freeze up.
"You did?"
Grimacing, Draco looked back up at her. "I told you then erased it from your memory." He looked down guiltily.
"I understand," Hermione said after a few long moments. "You're a Malfoy with a certain reputation to keep up. It's no wonder you kept it hidden." She observed him for a moment. "Go to Harry. He'll help you heal, y'know." Draco shrugged, and Hermione punched his arm.
"OW! What was that for?" He looked at her, rubbing his arm.
"That," she began, "was to knock you out of your head space." Draco frowned, continuing to rub his arm. "And for a lot of the teasing," Hermione added after a long moment's thought. "You've got that off your chest," she continued, "now go snog your boyfriend." With a small smile, Draco nodded before turning to leave. Hermione put a hand on his arm. "Don't think you're leaving so quickly, Malfoy." She pulled him into a hug, which the blonde hesitantly returned. "Now you can go."
"Thank you, Hermione."