Chapter 25: It's Always Been You
Hermione put her hand over her mouth in shock, and even Ginny looked surprised.
"I haven't heard you say that in years." Ginny whispered. Hermione stared at the redhead and started to laugh.
"I love Draco Malfoy and I'm engaged to my best friend." Hermione laughed, while Ginny looked concerned.
"Why are you laughing?"
"It's absurd! What am I going to do? Your mother's going to be crushed, all of the preparation is going to go out of the window, and Ron… Oh, Ron is going to be heartbroken." She finally stopped laughing, and looked like she had forgotten to hand in an assignment.
"You need to tell Ron." Hermione nodded very slowly.
"I need to tell Ron." Hermione hugged the redhead before leaving the apartment and walking to hers. Ron wasn't home yet, so Hermione paced around their lounge for a while, mulling over what she had to tell him.
"Hey Hermione!" He called after what seemed like forever.
"Ron, I need to tell you something." Ron looked puzzled, but nodded.
"Alright, what is it?" Hermione took a deep breath.
"This is really difficult to tell you, but I feel as though I have to get it off of my chest." Ron looked concerned.
"What is it?" Hermione took a deep breath.
"I don't think we should get married."
"You want to postpone the wedding? That's what you wanted to tell me?" Ron smiled. "Of course we can. How long do you want to put it off?" Hermione shook her head.
"No, Ron, I don't think we should get married. Ever." The smiled had frozen on his face. "Our relationship has been falling apart for a while now." Ron was shaking his head.
"No, Hermione, we went through a bad phase, but we got passed it together, like we always do."
"Ron. Our relationship doesn't work anymore." Ron was looking at Hermione intently.
"This is a joke, right?" Hermione hung her head.
"I'm sorry. You have no idea how difficult this is for me to say."
"Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?" Ron yelled.
"No! That's not what I meant! Ron, we've been falling apart for months!"
"Because of Malfoy, but he's gone, Hermione, he's out of your life!"
"No, Ron. You made me choose, and I chose you, but I made a mistake."
"Hermione, you can't be serious." The young witch took a step towards him.
"I am. I love you, Ron. I do. But I can't pretend that I don't love Draco. This hasn't been fair on either of us, and I've been horrible to you without meaning to. You deserve so much more." Ron collapsed onto the sofa.
"Is this really what you want?" He asked her softly, and Hermione nodded slowly.
"It is." Ron looked up at the young witch. She walked towards him slowly and handed him the engagement ring. Ron took it and looked it over in his hand.
"I guess I knew this would happen." He whispered. Hermione sat beside him.
"I hope that I won't lose you as a friend."
"I hope we can get back to that too." He whispered back. She got up off of the sofa towards the bedroom.
"I'll sleep in the guest bedroom and be out of here by tomorrow." She told him as she walked away.
"Hermione?" He called after her, and she turned back. "You are the one who is telling my mother."
Hermione burst into Draco's office the next morning.
"Morning Hermione." Draco said as civilly as he could.
"You were wrong."
"Excuse me?" He looked up at her.
"You were wrong when you said that it will always be Ron."
"You didn't correct me." He told her, leaning back on his chair and crossing his arms.
"Because I didn't know it! You were back in my life for 3 months and you caused havoc, and yet those two months we were speaking were the happiest I've had in a long time. I didn't realise it because I had nothing to compare it to before."
"What are you talking about?"
"I hated you because you were turning my life upside down, and I blamed you for all of the things that went wrong. I blamed you for not being able to throw the box away when it was my fault. I was in a relationship with Ron for four years and I thought I was happy, but then you waltz back in and show me how happy I could potentially be. You used to bully me and make my life hell, and then I saw a different side to you, and then you left my life again, and then you came back-"
"Hermione, calm down, you're talking really quickly and it's difficult to keep up when this happens." Hermione took a deep breath.
"I remember being so confused as to how I ever fell in love with you in the first place because I used to hate you. In the four years that you were gone I convinced myself that it wasn't real, that it didn't happen, and that I didn't love you. I told myself this so many times that I began to believe it, but then you came back. Everything I'd buried came up, but I was so stubborn that I refused to see it."
"See what exactly?"
"I was talking to Ginny," Hermione continued, ignoring Draco, "and she told me that I had made a mistake in choosing Ron. She said that we worked better and that I was happier with you. And she's right. We work; there was no reason to get over you. I still love you, Draco, I was just too blind and stubborn to see it." Draco got up from his desk and walked towards Hermione.
"What about Weasley?"
"It's over."
"This is what you want?" Hermione nodded.
"I love you. It's always been you." Draco smiled and kissed her. Hermione couldn't remember the last time a kiss had felt this right. They fit, like two puzzle pieces. As they broke apart, Hermione laughed.
"I've wanted to do that for so long." Draco whispered and kissed her forehead. "I love you Hermione Granger." They hugged, and Hermione felt at peace with everything.