'Draco…?'
Draco Malfoy didn't wait for an invitation, he just barged in. Taken aback, confused beyond measure, Hermione closed the door and went after him. He was the last person she had expected to see. In fact she had expected to never see him again.
Draco stood in her living room, standing between the sofa and her coffee table, taking in the remains of her sad dinner for one and the almost empty wine bottle with an undeterminable expression on his face.
'Why…', Hermione choked and her voice cracked. She coughed slightly and tried again. 'Why are you here Draco?'
She was scared of the answer.
'Well, seeing how you've avoided work and called in "sick"', he made quotation marks with his fingers, 'I had no choice. You're avoiding me and I want to know why'.
'You want to know why?', Hermione said softly, in disbelief.
'Yes, because as far as I'm concerned, I am the one who should be avoiding you!', Draco's voice grew louder with each sentence. He clenched his hands into fists and gestured wildly. 'You are the one who just up and left without saying anything!'
'And that hurt you?', Hermione said, feeling her heart rate quicken and her face flush. 'You think it's so despicable what I did?'
'Of course!'
'Well then I guess we're even!', she screamed as she folded her arms and leaned back from him.
All colour drained from his face. 'What are you talking about?'
'Don't pretend!', Hermione yelled, although it came close to screeching at this point. She felt the tears prick behind her eyes. 'Don't pretend you don't remember Harry and Ginny's wedding!'
'So you did this to get back at me for god knows what I did to you? All those times, the tension between us, the kisses…the sex? You just wanted to get back at me for something?'
Draco lost the anger in his voice. His shoulders slumped and he seemed to deflate. 'I thought you liked me. I really believed you when you said you could look past my name and my past and…and I thought we evolved beyond it. That we could grow to like each other. But I guess it was all a lie!', he found a new reserve of anger.
'I'm the liar!?', Hermione yelled. 'Who is the one who keeps kissing me? Who makes excuses to be with me? Who took me to bloody Paris? Anything that has happened, happened because you made it so, Draco Malfoy. So don't go blaming me!'
'I haven't started this Hermione Granger!', Draco screamed as he stomped his foot. 'I'm not the one who keep disappearing every time she sleeps with a guy. How does your boyfriend like that huh?'
'I've only once disappeared after sex', Hermione said, almost too calm. 'And don't you dare say anything about my boyfriend!'
'Why not? He must be used to it by now? You running away from intimacy? Fleeing every time you hook up? How does he keep track of you if you never let him get close? Or did you leave him a note on the dresser that said "Thanks for a lovely night, you know where the door is? Here are some Galleons for your troubles and have a nice day!'
Smack
Hermione glowered at the red mark on Draco's cheek. Draco ran his fingers over it, staring at her in disbelief.
'Don't you dare say these things Draco Malfoy. Don't you dare! I'm not some prostitute or slut'.
'You could have fooled me', Draco bellowed. 'Because that's exactly how you keep behaving around me. Leading me on, pushing me away. Every time I think you and I make any sort of progress, you undo it. But I get it, you must really love this guy huh? For you to cheat on him without a second thought'.
Hermione felt her lower lip tremble and her vision became blurry from tears. She opened her mouth, but found no words. Draco, however, seemed to have plenty.
'Does he know you fuck around? That you're the least faithful person I know, and that's saying something, coming from me. I know I sleep around a lot, but at least my…dates know what they are. Just simple one night stands and no chance of staying past the twelve hour mark. You…you are worse than I am. How does that feel huh? To be worse than Draco Malfoy when it comes to sex and relationships? I bet Jeffry…'.
But Hermione couldn't take it anymore. She covered her face with her hands and sank onto the sofa, crying with big loud sobs.
Draco stopped talking immediately. 'Hermione?', he asked insecure. 'Hermione, I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry'.
'You're right!', Hermione bawled as her shoulders shook and tears splattered in her lap. She looked up with her wet eyes, tears clinging from her eyelashes. Her face was all blotchy and swollen.
Draco sank next to her and carefully took her hands in his. 'I didn't mean to make you cry', he said again as he wiped the tears from her face. 'I just wanted to yell at you for a bit and then leave. I suppose I'll just leave. You can call your boyfriend and he'll come comfort you while you can call me an absolute arse'.
He got up from the sofa and made his way to the door.
'He's not my boyfriend anymore', Hermione murmured.
Draco stopped dead in his tracks. 'What did you say?'
Hermione took a deep, shuddering breath and straightened her back, staring at the back of Draco's head. 'He's not my boyfriend anymore', she repeated. 'After what I did to him, how I betrayed him, I broke up with Jeffry. That's half of the reason I was avoiding work'.
'What was the other half?', Draco hadn't turned around.
'I didn't want to face you', Hermine admitted, in a low voice. 'I was so embarrassed about our hook-up. Still am, for that matter. For half a day I thought I would like being even with you, but I don't like it. I hate how I left it. Even if you may have deserved it', she added as an afterthought.
'What do you mean?', Draco turned around, staring at her, doubtfully.
'Well, I know I left you and all, but you left me too'.
'When have I ever left you? I would have been mad to do that'.
'Our hook-up at Harry and Ginny's wedding'.
'You mentioned that before, but I don't recall me leaving you. I remember you leaving me. I thought this time it would be different. Sure you had your boyfriend, but I was going to plead my case very passionately. I was watching you sleep in Paris, you're very cute when you sleep by the way, and I just thought that I wanted to try again. Even though you had already broken my heart once. I wanted to take the chance again'.
'I've never broken you heart Draco', Hermione said confused as she got to her feet and stepped closer to him.
'I remember the wedding', Draco said, slowly as though she was having trouble understanding English. 'I remember having the best sex of my life. And then you had just left. There wasn't a trace of you to be found in the room'.
'You left me'.
'No Hermione, I was getting you…us roomservice. I hardly imagined you wanting to be seen with me the morning after we slept together. I wanted to talk with you, discuss if we had a future. I left you a note'.
'You didn't leave me a note', Hermione snapped. 'I would have known if you had left me a note'.
"My dearest Hermione", Draco began, "I know this is hardly the way to start a proper relationship. But that is what I want with you, what I always wanted with you. I'm in love with you Hermione, I think I have been for a very long time. Last night it took me all the strength I had to take the plunge and try to be with you. I understand if you can't see past our history together, but please, let us try. I've gone down to arrange some breakfast, just for us. A princes like you deserves breakfast in bed, arranged for her by her prince Charming. See you soon my dearest.
Love Draco"
'Sounds nice', Hermione said coldly. 'To bad you're making it up'.
Draco said nothing, but from his pocket he drew a wallet, from which he got a small, dirty piece of paper. It was folded often and in different ways. He handed it to her without a word.
Curious Hermione opened it up and read the exact same letter Draco had just recited. Word for word, the same letter.
Hermione stared at it, horror dawning in her mind.
'There was a note?'
'I left in on the pillow'.
'There was a note!'
'Of course I left you a note'.
'There was a note?!'
Draco grabbed Hermione's arms and forced her to look at him. 'Hermione, of course there was a note. I love you. I guess I've loved you ever since you came through those oak front doors at Hogwarts, dressed in that periwinkle dress and hanging on the arm of Viktor Krum. Maybe even since you punched me in the face in our third year. I just never realised that was what I was feeling.
I wanted to be with you for the longest time, but I was scared of what my parents would say, of what everyone would say. So I…I made sure I was horrible to you. To try and make me forget about you. It didn't work, by the way'.
He looked her in the eye and took her hands in his, before taking a deep breath and said; 'I love you Hermione Granger'.
'You left me a note', Hermione whispered.
'You're kind of hung up on that, huh?'
'All your clothes were gone', Hermione retaliated.
'I could hardly walk through the hotel starkers!'
Hermione giggled. 'But your watch, your cufflinks…everything was gone. I thought you left me there. That I was some sort of conquest, a challenge you just won. You know…see here guys, how I shag the Mudblood who has hated me for so long'.
Draco's eyes widened. 'You really thought that?'
Hermione nodded.
'You must have hated me for so long', Draco mumbled as he pulled Hermione close to him, wrapping his arms around her. 'I'm so sorry I've put you through that my love'.
Hermione smiled in his chest. 'It's alright. We're here now. It took us four and a half years, but we're here now'.
'We could have had so much time together', Draco mused.
'It's alright', Hermione said as she wriggled in Draco's arms so she could look at him. 'We have all the time there is now'.
Draco looked her in the eye and smiled. 'I know. It just seems a waste. Sleeping around to try and mend my broken heart. I could have just come talk to you'.
'And I to you', Hermione sighed as she dove into Draco's embrace again. 'We're stubborn people, the both of us'.
Draco laughed and Hermione felt his chest vibrate.
'So now what?', he asked her as he stared at the pretty witch in his arms.
'Well…I have an idea', Hermione smiled rather seductive.
'Ohh', Draco gasped as he caught on. 'Really?'
'I think it's time I use my mouth for something other than talking', Hermione said and she winked. Draco swallowed hard and when she took his hand and let him to her bedroom, he scooped her up in his arms, pressing a kiss on her curls.
'What…?'
'This is faster', Draco said as he reached her bedroom in four great steps and deposited her on the bed.
'Join me', she dared him.
She didn't need to ask twice. Draco crawled next to her and pressed kiss on her mouth. Hermione sighed and opened her lips, feeling Draco's tongue slide into her. She sighed even louder and kissed him deeper.
When he caught a whiff of her scent, Draco stopped kissing. Hermione looked at him with a question on her face.
'Your shampoo', Draco asked. 'Is it strawberry or raspberry? It's been driving me crazy for almost five years now'.
Hermione giggled. 'It's strawberry'.
Draco nodded, pressing soft kisses on her neck. 'Now, enough said', he murmured. 'I don't plan on using my mouth for talking no more and neither should you'. Hermione shuddered when she heard him say those same words he had said all those years ago. He dove down on her again and started kissing her while his hand found her most sensitive places.
She moaned and trembled under him and when he finally entered her, she sighed of content and enjoyment. But he was right, she didn't speak another word all night save for his name, over and over again.
Ohh finally, this is what you've all been waiting for? I know I was waiting for the story to lead me down this path. One more chapter and we'll be done my dears. There is one more loose end that needs tying up.