At dinner, she couldn't eat but just poked at her food helplessly.
"Hermione, are you ok?" Harry asked.
Hermione saw the concern in his eyes and thanked the lord for giving her such a great friend. She gave Harry the best genuine smile she could muster, "I'm fine Harry. Thanks."
At 8:45pm Hermione was in her room pacing around (she's headgirl) debating whether to go or not.
At 8:55pm Hermione was getting anxious. A little voice in her head said, "Just go for goodness sake! Otherwise you'll be spending half your life wondering why he wants to meet you!"
With her mind made up. She put on a pair of jeans and a black tank top. She looked at the mirror which told the time, it read 9:02pm. She was late. Hermione hurried up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower and pushed the door open.
"You're late." He drawled
"Yeah, well if you had to run of all those stairs, you'll be late." She said panting.
"Malfoys don't wait…"
Hermione was annoyed, "Look, if you told me to come up here just to criticize me. I'm leaving!" She turned around to the door fuming.
"Wait." He said grabbing her hand, "Don't go."
Hermione looked down, he was holding her hand. Malfoy noticed this and let go embarrassed.
"Sit." He said gesturing to the ground.
"What do you want Malfoy." She said wearily.
"When I want to be alone to think, I come up here to look at the stars." He said ignoring her last comment, "All I want to say is I'm sorry for bullying you for the past 6 years. Forgive me?"
Hermione was shocked, she certainly wasn't expecting that! She didn't know what to say. Then again everyone deserves a second chance.
"Ok, I forgive you."
Malfoy's face lit up and Hermione saw, despite the darkness, the first genuine smile on his face. She also noticed the closeness of their face. She blushed and started to move away but Malfoy leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. Hermione knew she should pull away but she didn't she kissed right back, enjoying every moment of it. Hermione now knew why she held her grudge against him for so long. She just wanted to be with him all along. And to hide the longing, she filled herself with hate towards him.
She finally pulled away and looked into his eyes, "Why."
Malfoy pushed a few strands of hair that had fallen over Hermione's face.
"I've always thought you were beautiful. I love you Hermione." He murmured into her ear.
Her name came out beautifully from his lips. She stared at him in shock and tears forming in her eyes. Malfoy looked at her sadly, "Sorry, I better go now." He walked towards the door.
"Wait…" Hermione said. He turned around with a slight hopeful expression on his face. She walked to him and whispered into his ear, "I love you too Draco."