Disclaimer: Nope, last time I've checked, JK Rowling is still the lovely her and I'm still me.
A/N: *evil laugh* Hehehe, missed me? It's been a while since I've last updated Alphabet Love. *checks profile* Oh, it has been MORE THAN A YEAR AGO.
But seriously, I'm truly, extremely sorry! I got a little busy with Only a Pretense and I focused on finishing it first before doing anything else. Now that it's done, I've got plenty of time to type more story plots stuck in my mind.
Anyway, I'll explain myself more on the end A/N. I bet most of you want read it now.
Oh, I dedicate this chapter to loognzie! Although, enchanted4life was a close one but you said you chose "Kiss" instead so yeah. CONGRATULATIONS! :D
So, enjoy!
"Just… just… kiss me?" she gingerly asked, pink patches forming on her cheek. "Then this will be the undoubtedly the best Christmas I ever had."
Title: Kiss Me
Rating: T
Genre: Tragedy
Warning/s: Character Death
Word Count: 1,525
Kiss Me
The Second War had been going on for weeks and Hermione Granger was tired already. She had been dodging spells constantly hurtled towards her, mostly dark and unforgivable ones, and lashing out some brilliant spells she could think of in return.
As soon as the war started, Hermione knew that whatever result it would have in the end, she could either lose Harry from Voldemort or be happy with him as they celebrated the defeat of the vilest wizard ever to grace on the Wizarding World. That thought always made Hermione apprehensive, running from one place in Hogwarts to another just to defend the Light Side from the Death Eaters infiltrating their beloved school.
She was alone, having been separated from her friends long ago. She had been with Ron two days ago, but because of Bellatrix Lestrange, they were separated from each other. Now, Hermione found herself inside the Hogwarts castle, running to the highest floor to momentarily hide herself away from the enemies. She was tired, unbearably tired and she wished to at least rest for a fraction of time.
She was physically, mentally, and emotionally tired. Hermione guessed this seemingly growing exhaustion started after Sirius' death in their fifth year. Things just got so stressful for Harry and because of her love for him, Hermione, too, felt the tension; hence, the exhaustion.
Sixth year had been pretty eventful. Harry possessing an old, tattered book from the half-blood Prince, who turned out to be Snape, Cormac McLaggen's sudden infatuation towards her, Ron's ingestion of a love potion from Romilda Vane, Harry and Ginny's surprising, yet pleasant relationship, and then, Dumbledore's untimely death, killed by Professor Severus Snape himself.
And now, this. Hermione thought it was unfair that here they were, a bunch of teenagers fighting alongside the Order to defeat Voldemort and his minions while on most parts of the world, people had no clue that there was a war happening.
Hermione had only asked for normalcy. When she received the acceptance letter from Hogwarts, she had a fixed vision of striving to be the best witch of her year and graduating as the valedictorian of her batch. But then, Harry Potter came along and all wishes of normalcy were thrown out of the window.
All of her thoughts were halted when she heard noises. Alarmed, she tightened her grip with her wand and cautiously approached the origin of the noise, the Charms classroom.
"Who's there!" she exclaimed, cringing as she limped her way towards the abandoned classroom.
Slowly, Hermione opened the door and peered inside. The room was engulfed with darkness, but she could sense a presence inside. "Lumos," she whispered, and instantly, the tip of her wand lit up.
Huddled at a corner was Draco Malfoy, bloodied and injured. Hermione gripped her wand tighter, ready to curse the Death Eater, but he stopped her.
"Wait," he whispered softly. Hermione's eyes widened at the blatant exhaustion in his voice. She was reduced to silence but her wand was still aloft.
"I'm dying," Malfoy firmly stated, a smirk fighting its way on his lips. "No need to do it yourself, Granger."
Hermione's eyes landed on the black blood oozing from his chest.
"It's a curse from your dear Lupin," he answered her unspoken question. "Pretty nasty I tell you - ." He hissed in pain and moaned, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth. "Doesn't take a" – he gasped – "a great Healer to know I'm dying."
He then opened his grey eyes and stared straight into Hermione's eyes. She reeled back at the terror in his eyes and he did not even bother covering it up.
"I'm dying," he whispered again, dropping his cocky attitude. "And here I was, finally realizing everything I believed in is bullshit."
To Hermione's surprise, Malfoy brandished his wand and pointed it at her. She once again tightened her grip with her wand and fell into a fighting stance. His pained laugh rang all throughout the room. "Just let me do this," he said, his laughter dying, replaced by a plea. "Just this once. Please."
She narrowed her eyes, took a few steps forward, and said, "No funny businesses, Malfoy, or I swear I'll kill you in an instant."
A miniscule smile formed on his face and he lifted up his wand higher. "Don't worry," he assured.
Hermione still regarded him warily but in the end, finally decided to drop her wand hand back to her side and pointedly looked at Draco.
"Imperio," he whispered. A surprised gasp escaped from her mouth and before Hermione could defend herself from the Unforgivable Curse hurtled her way, she was hit by the Imperius Curse.
Her mind instantly clouded, only left with this light and feathery feeling as she found herself walking slowly towards the injured boy.
'No, no, snap out of it, Hermione!' she screamed to herself. 'You've been under the influence of the Imperius Curse before and you've trained hard just so you could snap yourself away from this curse.'
She concentrated, fought hard at the sweet beckoning of the dark curse, and instantly, the cloudiness in her brain left her. The Imperius Curse dissipated into thin air. It was a weak one, she reckoned. Fighting it was not taxing. Hermione guessed it was probably because the Slytherin was badly injured from Lupin's hex.
Anger instantly bubbled in Hermione's stomach, readying herself to injure the Slytherin more, until she realized he still had not noticed she was able fight the Unforgiveable Curse.
His command left his mouth and she froze, trying her very best not to widen her eyes and to open her mouth.
"Kiss me," he whispered in the dark room. Malfoy's eyes had turned pleading, regarding her with so much emotion in his eyes. "Kiss me, Hermione Granger."
She stood frozen. Malfoy because confused and was about to fire another Imperius Curse her way when Hermione found herself slowly walking towards him, her eyes focused directly into his mercurial eyes.
The Death Eater watched her with so much vulnerability. It had almost hurt to look. But she also noticed another emotion resurfacing in his eyes.
Longing.
Hermione was finally a few inches away from the boy. She slowly knelt down to level her eyes with him, placed a shaking hand against his cheek, and then captured his lips for a sweet kiss.
She had no idea why she was doing this to, of all people, Draco Malfoy. He had made her life a living hell here in Hogwarts but there was something in his pleading eyes that hypnotized her to succumb to his wishes.
Perhaps there were still vestiges of the Unforgivable Curse inside her mind, muddling her logic, but strangely, she seemed not to care.
The kiss was a soft, sweet one. There was no tongue action, no touching, no nothing. It was just a kiss, a simple one.
The longing she had seen in his eyes was echoed through his kiss and as the blond slowly pulled away from their kiss, she found herself wanting more.
Hermione's eyes immediately shot open, still in shock of what they had shared, and noticed that Malfoy's eyes were still closed.
A small, calm smile was playing on his lips. As soon as he opened his eyes, gone was the terror of his impending end. Instead, satisfaction and, dare she say it, happiness, replaced it.
He waved his wand, meaning to end the curse he had placed on her. When he thought she was back to her normal state of mind, he spoke up. "I bet you're mad," he rasped, his breathing now turning shallow. Malfoy doubled over and stifled a scream.
Hermione involuntarily dropped on all fours and gripped both of his shoulders. Draco seemed surprised with her sudden action but did not voice it out loud.
The brunette firmly held his gaze and asked, "Why did you ask me to do it?"
A sad smile appeared on his face. "I have so many wishes, Hermione Granger," he said, not answering her question. "But there's one thing I've always, always wanted." A coughing fit started and Malfoy was soon vomiting the same black blood dripping from his chest.
Hermione started to panic, desperately ripping a piece of cloth from her tattered skirt, but Draco pushed it away.
"I'm dying," he repeated again, closing his eyes in agony. "There's no need to do that anymore, Granger."
Tears started to cloud at the corner of her eyes as she wordlessly dropped the cloth.
Draco reached for her face and wiped a stray tear that dropped from her eyes. Hermione closed her eyes, overwhelmed with the gesture, and when she opened them, Malfoy was smiling.
"Why are you crying?" he whispered. His voice was starting to turn weaker.
"I… I don't know," Hermione truthfully confessed.
The hand on her face fell limply on his side. Draco once again doubled over, this time failing to stifle a soft scream of agony.
He looked at her, one last time, and uttered the words, "I'm sorry."
And then, Draco Malfoy took his last breath and soon, his lifeless body lay sprawled on the ground.
A/N: A little sad, eh? And lookie! I've killed off Drakie-poo again. MUST. STOP. KILLING. MY. LOVE. XD
Haha, an almost-romance story of mine but then Death had to intervene. Anyway, so what did you think? Good? Disappointing? What? Tell me in your reviews!
Oh, I'm currently working on a new Dramione story and so far, I've written ten chapters out of forty plus chapters. I'm still struggling to progress because of schoolwork and all. But I guess it's okay since I'm still progressing. It's still a tentative plot and I'm not really sure if people would like it as much as they liked OaP and 11 Things but yeah. Just two little hints about it, okay? First: No one will die, major and minor characters alike. And second: the title is "Spot the Difference". :D There! No hints about the plot yet, I'm sure. I want to surprise everybody.
I'm also working on a 5-chaptered story, which can be viewed as the sequel of a chapter from Alphabet Love, Inspector Draco Malfoy. I remember announcing it one time but I'm still stuck on the third chapter. I'm thinking of posting the first chapter already but I'm scared I'll leave it un-updated for months and disappoint you guys again.
Sigh, I know, I know, late updates are frustrating. Even I get frustrated, too, but do remember that all authors in this site have other things to do, namely, survive life itself XD So yeah, I could not entirely say that FFnet is my life. There are so much more things I regard as "my life" :D
Anyway, that's it for now! 'til next time, I guess. No definite date, of course. I might disappear for months again, or years. No one really knows.
See you!
With love,
WickedlyAwesomeMe
PS: Of course I haven't forgotten the game. Any guesses on what the title of the next chapter will be? Clue – starts with the letter 'L'! XD WAM!
