"Are you ready for this?" Ron asked

Hermione looked up from her fidgeting hands, smoothing out her dress for what seemed the hundredth time. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Ron steadied her hands and tried to calm her down a bit. "You'll be fine. The speech..."

She looked at him as if he was crazy. "You think I'm this worried about that stupid speech? God Ron, have you gone daft?"

His face turned red from embarrassment, for not knowing right away why she was so worried. "He'll be here."

"Is it weird that I'm afraid of him being here, but I need him to be?"

Ron smiled. "You have about thirty minutes before you're up. Can you pull it together before then?"

"Yes, but can you leave? I need some time alone."

He gave her a quick hug and went back to his seat next to his girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson. He was anxious for her, and looked all around the auditorium. The bastard didn't come yet. He was sure he would come with his sister and her husband, but he had yet to show his face. While Dumbledore was giving a small speech about how wonderful things were now, he excused himself and went to speak with Ginny.

"Hey Ginny, Blaise."

Blaise looked up and looked towards the exit. "Excuse me, I have to knock some sense into someone."

Ginny kissed her husband as her brother took the empty seat next to her.

"Well?"

"I hope Blaise does."

---------

Draco was walking back to the carriage. He couldn't do it. He couldn't face her.

"You're being a complete moron."

"Not now Zabini."

Blaise ran after him, grabbing him by the arm. "If you do this, you lose her forever. And you'll waste the rest of your life moaning and groaning about how you lost her to me. You can't do that to yourself."

"I saw her."

"What?"

Draco pointed out to a window. "She was looking out of the window. I saw her. I can't go back to her like this, I'll try later."

"What happened to the Malfoy that takes everything head-on, never apologizes for anything." Blaise asked angrily.

"I can't be that way with her. That aspect of my personality completely disappears when it concerns her. I can't be cruel; I act like one of those lovesick dogs that do anything for their masters. It sickens me. I refuse to be that way, and it scares me that she can make me turn into what I hate in a man."

"She never asked you to be that way. She never asked you to change for her, she just asked for you to come." Blaise pointed out, trying to pull his friend back to the castle.

"She asked me to love her."

"No she didn't."

"Fine, I love her. Is that what you want to here. I love her so much that I'm willing to become what I detest most in men."

"She never asked you to be that way." Came a voice from behind them, belonging to Harry himself. "She'll be crushed if she doesn't see you."

"How do you know?"

"Because I've never seen her so nervous, even during the war when she knew she would be taking lives did she look this nervous. Right now, she's a train-wreck."

Blaise started to pull Draco even closer to the castle. "Now stop being and idiot and come on."

"I'm not going in. She's lived this long without me, and she can go on longer without me." Draco said, knowing that he was losing the argument slowly.

"But you haven't been living. You act like you've moved on, but then you never threw anything that you have that belongs to her. Don't deny it Draco, I saw the box. You act like your okay about never seeing her again, but you're not. You just want to tell yourself you're over her so you can get over her, but you know you don't want to." Blaise said in nearly one breathe, gasping for air.

Applause was heard and Harry looked at Blaise. "She loves everything about you, even if you make snide comments about me or Ron. She loves you even when you give everyone the cold shoulder, when you're aggressive, when you are being coldhearted. I hope you understand what your giving up before you give it all away."

Blaise let go of Draco. "You're a complete moron if you let this one go. If you really think you can find love stronger than that somewhere else, then leave. But I thought she was going to go home with you tonight. She won't be if you don't try."

Harry and Blaise both turned to go back in the castle, leaving Draco out in the cold. They were both hoping he would come to his senses before he ruined her life as well as his own.