Chapter 14

AN: It's great to be back! I've been on hiatus for about a month. I just needed time off from everything after my final exams and papers.

Here it is—the next chapter. Please read and review!

Draco's POV of the night

The blood-red tainted lips were just as luscious as before and her manicured nails were still as crimson as a red apple. Those manicured fingernails belonged to Jennifer and she handed Draco a file.

"This is not true." Draco said to Jennifer, disbelief growing in his eyes. He dropped to his chair gaping at it.

Jennifer just pursed her lips and folded her arms. "What more proof do you need? It's right there. You know you can't fake photographs."

Draco stared down at the photograph once again. He had definitely thought that this would be a new start for him and Hermione, but what he didn't foresee was that she was also capable of doing such as thing. He would have pegged Hermione as the type of woman who would be the "reprimanding-teacher's pet- I'm not going to do anything wrong" type. He didn't realize how wrong he was until he saw this photo.

He was angry, disappointed and sad at the same time. How could she have done this to him? After everything he had done for her?

"Now, now don't feel bad." Jennifer moved to massage Draco's shoulders. She leaned in to Draco's ear and whispered, "you can always have your revenge."

Draco knew it was wrong. It wasn't worth it to entertain Jennifer in any way, but hell, he was distraught, Hermione wasn't even coming to his birthday. 'What the hell?' He thought. He felt small hands going up and down his back, and felt jolts directly going to his groin. 'One night of fun couldn't ruin everything.' He didn't know how wrong he was with his judgment.

Jennifer watched Draco's resolve to stay faithful to his wife crumble, and took the chance to pin him on the wall. She started licking his earlobe, blowing puffs down his neck. Draco's conscience was back on. He wanted Hermione, not some other woman, and just as he was about to push Jennifer away, Hermione appeared in the doorway staring at them. His eyes went wide and he stiffened. 'No." He thought. He could almost literally see Hermione's heart breaking. Those big brown eyes watering at the sight.

"Hermione." Draco whispered.

His voice somehow broke the ice and Hermione started to run away. He pushed Jennifer away and ran after Hermione.

Jennifer was left alone in Draco's study, looking at the discarded moving photograph that lay on the hardwood floors. It was a picture of Ron kissing Hermione on the cheek and holding her arms affectionately. Her heels clucked as she stepped over the photo, a smile gracing her blood-red lips.

"Hermione!" Draco ran towards her. "Hermione! Please wait."

Hermione had already gotten to the gardens ready to disapparate when she heard Draco's voice. She could hear Draco closing in on her. His deep breaths seemed so loud in the chilly silent night.

"Hermione, please, look at me."

Hermione ignored him and stared at the sky instead. Draco didn't know what to do. She needed to understand the situation they were in.

"Will you at least listen to me?" Draco asked sincerely.

"I'm still here aren't I?" Hermione rebuffed.

"I'm sorry I did that. It's just that I saw a photo of you and Weasley cuddling and I thought that you wanted to start a new life with him and leave me hanging. And technically, you cheated on me first when you kissed him; I was just so distraught that I thought, what the hell? If you decide you could kiss anyone, then I could do the same, even though we are legally still married." Draco said trying to defend himself.

Hermione took deep breaths. She needed to control herself before she would either explode with anger or burst out in tears. "Draco, Ron kissed me on the cheek. He finally said we could be friends, so technically I wasn't cheating on you. I loved you then, and I love you now. And I didn't have any plans of leaving you." She held Draco's face in her hands. "How stupid can you be? And even if I did cheat on you, although I didn't, you don't have the right to cheat on me too. Two wrongs don't make a right, Draco. And thirdly, you just admitted that you cheated on me."

Draco looked distraught. His head was bowed and eyes closed. "I—I'm sorry Mione. I didn't know. I should've known better than to believe Jennifer instantly. I acted on impulse. Will you forgive me?"

He looked at her anxiously. Hermione smiled at him, albeit a sad smile. "I don't know Draco. What you did there broke my heart, and I don't know if I can ever trust you again. And now it's clear, I think we should definitely go our separate ways now."

Hermione started walking away again, this time slowly. She was trying to store this event in her mind. The breeze was cold, yet the moon was bright as ever. The trees swaying in tandem, it's leaves brushing against each other creating this "hiss" sound.

"So that's it then?" Draco shouted. "You're just going to give up on us?"

Hermione looked back at him. His robes were swaying with the breeze with the Manor at the back. She had imagined their family portrait like this—the Manor as the background, Draco and her holding hands with their children. She never thought that this might be her last sight of Draco and the Manor.

"From the beginning, I have fought so hard for this marriage to work, but every single time, I have failed. You have also fought, and you also failed. I think it's time we rest. We are still married though, since divorce here is not legal. But we'll live our separate lives, as two different people. No one has to know about it. Just shun away from the public, and I will do the same." Hermione's dress also flowed with the breeze, and from Draco's perspective, she looked like an angel standing in front of bushes of flowers.

Maybe it was really for the best. Maybe it was time to let her go.

Draco approached her again looking down at her with his grey eyes full of emotion. "Is that what you want?"

Hermione looked down. She could not bear to look at Draco's eyes. They were too powerful. "It's what we need."

Draco took her by her arms and shook her. "Is that what you want?" His voice full of emotion.

Hermione blinked away her tears. It was not what she wanted, but what they needed. "Yes." She whispered.

"Okay." Draco dropped his hands and walked back to the Manor, while Hermione disapparated with a pop.

Draco was dragging his feet as he walked back to his study to prepare himself three bottles of firewhiskey. As he was about to enter the study, he noticed Hermione's purse on the side table of the hallway. He grabbed the purse, entered his study and locked the door.

He sat by the fire for what seemed like hours, taking a sip every few minutes straight from the bottle of firewhiskey. The hearth seemed so warm and inviting, but it did not provide for the comfort he needed from the pain he felt, but it would have to do. He inspected Hermione's white, glitter-studded purse. He had no intention of giving it back to her. It was his last memorabilia of her and he wasn't about to let it go.

He envisions how Hermione could have picked this purse. She sure would have been with Weaslette when she went shopping for this. Hermione would not shop in vintage stores at her own free will. He could see her eyeing this purse, but not say a word about it to Ginny, only Ginny would notice Hermione's gaze and approve of her taste for the purse. He smiled at the thought.

He lifted the purse to his nose and it still smelled like Hermione—like freshly picked apples. Ever so slowly, took out the contents of the purse. First was a plain white handkerchief, which strongly held Hermione's scent. Lipstick and some loose change lie inside the purse, but what caught his eye was a box inside her purse, which looked like a jewelry box. He inspected it and found a note attached to it saying,

Happy birthday, Draco

Love always,

Hermione

At this point, he could no longer contain the tears he had been holding back. He opened the box and found a locket sitting in it. The locket was round and had a dragon embossed on it. The gold shined under the firelight. This locket he would keep close to him, and close to his heart.

"Mr Malfoy? Mr. Malfoy!" Someone was knocking on the other side of the door of his study. Draco had fallen asleep watching the hearth and reminiscing about Hermione. He quickly unlocked the door only to find Jennifer looking at him curiously.

"Mr. Malfoy, the guests want to bid you goodnight." Jennifer informed him with a professional tone, as if nothing has happened between then earlier.

"Tell the guests I'm attending to important matters at the moment and just give my regards." Draco replied feeling drained.

Jennifer noticed two empty bottles of firewhiskey on Draco's desk and the third bottle half way finished. Then she looked back at Draco who was surveying her surveying him. "I'm sorry. I didn't know Hermione would be here. I just—"

"Leave me be." Draco cut her off.

"Draco, I just—"

"Leave me be." Draco repeated in a stronger voice and tried to stand up but failed. The firewhiskey was already starting to affect him.

Jennifer rushed to his side and tried to straighten him up. "Are you okay?" She tried to look as concerned as possible but it did not reach her eyes.

"I'm fine. Just go." Draco looked at her, but he could see two Jennifers.

"I can't just leave you here, alone and drunk. You need someone to help you to your room." She took hold of Draco's arm and aided him to his room. Draco immediately laid down on the king sized bed when they reached the master's bedroom. His vision was blurry and he could hear his head pounding. He could only see a silhouette of a seductive woman stripping in front of him. His mind was not fully awake but his wood was, tall and ready, just at the sight of the woman. He felt his clothes being removed and it felt divine when a small hand pressed his hard wood. The two and a half bottles of firewhiskey he's had had clouded his judgment and all he could think about was banging this woman. He turned them over so that he was on top and the woman was pinned under him, but a voice inside him kept saying something. He couldn't hear it clearly though. It was like the voice was shouting something, but it was too far to hear it clearly. Shrugging it off, he proceeded to claim the woman underneath him.

Later that night, Draco and the woman were asleep on his king sized bed, covered only by green silk sheets.

"I only wish what you want." Draco kept murmuring in his sleep. "I only wish what you want Hermione… broken marriage contract." Then the pace of his breathing evened out, as he fell back into a deep slumber. If only he noticed the locket that lay upon his chest glowing.

AN: Sorry if it's a little rusty. I've just gotten back into "writing mode." Hope you liked it! If you noticed, some of the things mentioned in earlier chapters are back.

Read and review please!