AUTHORS NOTE

THIS IS MY FIRST POSTED FAN FIC STORY IN YEARS! I HAVE WANTED TO WRITE SOMETHING AND ALWAYS GOT TOO SCARED. THE LAST TIME I POSTED SOMETHING FAN FICTION WAS WHEN I WAS LIKE 11 AND IT WAS JONAS BROTHER'S FIC SO HOPEFULLY I HAVE COME ALONG SINCE THEN.

I HOPE YOU ENJOY!

ALSO I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS JK ROWLING DOES.

After All This Time

"Are we only marrying other people because we were too stubborn to try and make it work?" I whisper. I haven't been this close to him in years, my pulse still reacts the same as It did all those years. My brown eyes look up to him and I lose all my confidence.

He sighs.

"Hermione do you really think it is stubbornness that has kept us apart all this time? That pushed us into other people's arms?"

I'm taken back, is he trying to imply something? That it's somehow my fault?

"Draco what are you saying?" I feel the anger rising up and turning my face red hot, forgetting all about the longing that was just coursing through me.

"Well it wasn't from my lack of trying if that is what you are suggesting!"

"Your… your lack? Well of course yours! I bloody well tried!"

I am ready to explode, but I pause.

"Tried? Well that is laughable! After it was all said and done I never heard from you! I waited and waited and no owl ever came!"

A mask of confusion crosses his face.

Ha! That caught him off guard!

"Hermione..." he is whispering my name like he did all those nights we spent together. As angry as I am I fear I can't resist him, even after all this time.

"Draco." I am trying to keep a firm tone before I crack. He interrupts me before I can finish my thought.

"I wrote to you. I wrote to you every day, then every week for two months. YOU never even bothered to even send the letters back!" His face is red and his voice is getting louder with every sentence.

I am sure the shock is on my face. Letters? More than one? When? How?

The filter between my thoughts has vanished and I catch myself saying all this out loud.

He's paused.

"Are you serious?" His angry expression is gone, it's been replaced by another. My heart is racing now. I know that look. I saw it so many other times… when we were together, when we were in love.

"I… Draco. I was in love with you… If I had even gotten a scrap from you I would have gone straight to you. What are you?..." My mind is racing. Where did they go? What happened? His eyes are searching mine for the same answers.

"You were in love with me?" He looks crestfallen.

I would be too, because honestly I am in love with him. Despite being with Ron, I have loved him since our first kiss.

"Draco… letters or not…. You're engaged… I AM engaged! We can't ignore that!"

I see a glimmer of hope in his stormy grey eyes.

"You didn't answer my question." He is now stepping closer to me and I feel my breath catch. He is close enough I can smell the musk from his cologne.

"What question?" I know exactly which one but I am buying time. I don't know if I can admit out loud what I have denied myself for years. Something I have denied since I saw Ron get down on one knee and give me the ring I am wearing now.

"You know damn well which question." He's close enough that I can't help but watch the words leave his lips. I can feel the warmth of his breath on me.

"I… Draco… I told you we are both engaged!" I am tripping over my words.

"Answer. The. Bloody. Question." He is practically snarling.

"I have always loved you." I finally blurt out as my stomach clenches.

As soon as the words touch his ears, his mouth is on mine.

He is kissing me, and before my brain can react my body does out of instinct.

My lips are moving in sync with his. My hands are crawling their way under his shirt. I want to feel his skin. I need to know this is real. That it isn't some dream. If it is I never want to wake up.