A/N: This was written for the DFW 20/20 Challenge. I twisted the prompt to my own designs, but it was originally something like "Three things he hadn't told her." I plan on making this my ongoing story for the year- one chapter a month for the year 2020. I will be working on my other WIPs as time allows as well. I hope you like this little offering. It has only been beta'd by me and Grammarly, so be kind if you find mistakes, please let me know.
Harry was under his invisibility cloak listening to his best friend as she knelt in the rain. He couldn't leave her no matter how much she pleaded to be alone.
The rain fell in a steady downpour, just enough to make everything wet within minutes. The earth around them smelt refreshed on this summer day. He shook his head at the way the world works. It was wrong that life went on when his best friend was so overwhelmed with pain. Harry hadn't allowed himself to grieve yet. Hermione's pain was much more important today. He would grieve tomorrow.
Harry heard her speak quietly to the stone in front of her. "I don't even know if you can hear me. But I need to tell you a few things. I can't let you go until I do." She stopped to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"I was as shocked as you when you asked me out after that Quidditch match Harry forced me to watch. Now I know, Harry was trying to help you talk to me. Your eyes were what made me trust you. When we were younger, I could feel the pain radiating from them when you would sling slurs at me. Your eyes, they truly were the windows to your soul. And they were probably my favorite feature on your face. You always thought it was your smirk, but that just pissed me off half the time. Your eyes held truth. I never want to forget your eyes."
She reached forward and touched the carved letters on the wet gray stone. Harry watched as she pushed curls away from her face. He held the tears back. He had to watch over her, he promised. How the man knew to make him promise, Harry would never know, but he would stay here until she left.
"I think, this was difficult for both of us to admit. That's why we never said it aloud. It was there, in your eyes in the last few weeks, and I don't know if you could see the words in mine. I know I keep things more closed off than I did in school. I don't let people in. But you made me let you in. I love you, Draco Malfoy. You taught me to love again. I don't know how I can let you go." She collapsed in on herself as her grief overwhelmed her.
Harry had known that his best friend loved her boyfriend. Just like he had also known she had been too afraid to admit it. She had done what he did sixth year, distance himself so that those he loved wouldn't be hurt. Hermione had always been so free with her love until the Horcrux hunt. She had closed in on herself after that. He had a suspicion that whatever that damn necklace whispered to her was the cause. He wasn't sure he could forgive himself for that.
"I wanted to marry you. More than anything. I wanted to die laying next to you in a bed, old and gray. I could see our life before us. But that dream is gone now. It's dust. I'm going to miss you, Draco."
Suddenly, a pink and purple tiger lily grew at the foot of the headstone. Hermione gasped and stepped back. Harry stepped forward to catch her if she fell.
"Draco? Can you hear me?" Tears choked her words. The lilies multiplied to fill the fresh grave. "It is you. I love you. Thank you for saying goodbye." She nodded her head and touched the top of the stone gently before walking away.
Harry heard the crack of apparition and knew she was gone. The flowers were, in a word, miraculous. He had no idea how they had appeared, except by magic. He took a deep breath and looked around the cemetery one last time. He didn't notice the shadowy figure behind the large oak tree. The figure that had his wand pointed toward the grave Hermione had just been standing next too. With a crack of apparition, Harry was gone.
Draco Malfoy stepped away from the tree and walked toward his gravestone. He looked around, pulled a gold chain from around his neck and twirled the turner three times. A few seconds later, he was gone. As was his grave.