Disclaimer: You know the drill.

A/N: I'd love to know if I wrote their emotions well. Please tell me if I did! And, if you like slash, you may like my other stories. Just thought I could advertise for free on my own story... And, if it means anything to you, my half-birthday is coming up...

Summary: Hermione knocks on Draco's door two years after she left. Will Draco take her back? HGDM! ONE SHOT!

Word Count: 1,579

Reviews: Yes, please!

Knock It Off

A hard pounding came at the door. Draco looked up from his book and glanced at it. He thought about answering it, but the idea of opening the door to a stranger—because who else would be outside in this weather—was unappealing. Outside was absolutely appalling; rain was pouring down in unusually huge buckets, and it looked like the sky was threatening to flood. No, Draco really didn't want to open a door to that.

He went back to his book, only to hear that same fist trying to break the door down. Someone who stayed for another round of knocking weren't likely to go away, Draco decided. Reluctantly, he set the book face down on the table and unlocked the door, slowly opening it to reveal someone who's quite petite, with a black cloak wrapped tightly around her, the wind trying with all its might to blow it off. "What do you want?" Draco said through his gritted teeth, becoming quite cold from the rain rushing inside.

"Just to come in, please," the woman said in a pleading voice. She sounded like someone Draco knew he should recognize, but the wind was screaming in his ears, and the rain was quickly accumulating in his ears. He really couldn't quite place her in his memory.

"I'm only agreeing, so I can close the door on this mess," Draco replied, stepping aside to let this stranger in. Once inside, he shut the door against the wind that tried to keep it open. However, Draco won this match, and the door closed.

He turned around after closing it to see the woman take off her cloak. Her chocolate brown hair stuck to the sides of her face from the rain and rested on her pale, freckled face. She had beautiful, full pink lips, which Draco's eyes focused on a bit longer than normal. He then raised his eyes to meet hers when he realized….

"Hermione," he whispered.

She smiled weakly at him, but didn't say anything, just stood in silence as Draco thought of the awkwardness of the situation. Last time he saw her, it was her silhouette against the window just when morning sunshine was peaking through. She seemed to be in hurry, and Draco propped himself up against his pillows. "What you doing, Love?" he asked softly, a hint of sleepiness showing in his voice.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep," she said.

He nodded in reply, laying his head on his pillow.

Draco came back to the present, still standing in uneasy silence, knowing he had to bring up some questions, or he'll regret it in the very near future. "Hermione… What are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood when the storm hit," she said, her nerves showing in every word she spoke.

"You know that's not true," Draco said. "Why are you really here?"

Hermione bit her lip and stepped closer to seal the space between them. "I wanted to see you, Draco. I feel bad that I just cut you off for the last two years, and I really want you back into my life."

"Bullshit, Hermione! You can't just leave me and come back two years later and expect a warm welcome! Could you please apparate out, now?" he said, turning away from her, finding it difficult to look into her eyes. His heart went hollow, turning away from her like this. He wanted her back, damn it! But, what if she hurts him again? There's a saying that goes, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

"Draco… I'm not asking you to be my boyfriend," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder, which he would've shrugged off, but he wanted to be the mature one, and let her touch him. "I just want to talk to you sometimes… Know what's going on in your life first-hand instead of second-hand. Contrary to what you believe, I really do care about you."

With some hesitance, Draco turned around to face her. "Maybe you didn't know this, Granger," Draco smirked when she winced, "but I do know what happened after you left. Would you care for me to elaborate on what I know?"

Hermione's eyes became glossy as unfallen tears began to form, know what would come next despite her answer. "No," she said, her voice shaky as she forced herself not to cry.

"Too bad," Draco said in mock sympathy as he placed a hand on each of her shoulders, "because I'm going to tell you anyway. You left that morning, which I knew beforehand because that was something I actually witnessed. You then left for The Burrow, which I didn't mind at first. I just thought you were visiting Ginny and that Potter and Weasley would be there. Fine, I thought, except, why didn't you tell me you were leaving? Why be all sneaky? You knew I was okay with them being in your life, even though they didn't approve of me. I waited a couple of days for an owl because you always sent me one telling me of how things were going. As you know, I never got one. It wasn't until I went back to work at the ministry a few days later that I found out what happened. Do you know how much it hurts to find out from someone else? To hear that my girlfriend left me for Ronald Weasley? The guy who's been trying to take you away from me the moment we began our relationship, but I allowed you to see him anyway because I trusted you. And, do you know what else I know?"

"What?" she whispered, as a tear fell out of her eye.

"I know that he dumped you. That's why you're here, isn't it? To win me back because, to you, I'm second best. You think you can weasel—pun intended—your way back into my life through friendship and make me fall in love with you all over again? Think again, Granger. I don't want you in my life anymore. In fact, I hope Weasley doesn't take you back. I want you to suffer. Now you know how I felt for the last two years. But there is one thing I need to know before I kick you out. Why did you leave me?"

Draco stared coldly at Hermione to begin her explanation as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Go on, I haven't got all evening," he said unkindly, as if she didn't use to be his lover, but was some annoying door-to-door saleslady.

"I wasn't happy, Draco. All my friends hated that I was with you, and they never let me forget it. They told me you'd break my heart and that I should break yours before you could break mine. They mentioned how you were already slowly breaking my heart because you were working long hours at the ministry, and you were almost never there anymore. Then, Ron started paying special attention to me, and every time you weren't home, I thought about how I could be with Ron right now. One day, I just couldn't take it anymore and left."

Draco dropped his hands from her shoulders and took her chin in his left hand, lifting it so she would meet his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me how you felt? We could've worked through it together. That's what couples do."

"I felt like there was never any time to tell you. You left early in a rush, and came home late at night, too tired to talk. Even if I told you, you couldn't have set time aside to spend time with me. The ministry couldn't spend the money on hiring more people, not after the war. It would've been a worthless struggle. You know that."

"And what now? They made you leave me before, and they'll do it again."

"I won't let them this time."

"And how do I know that it won't? It's happened before," he said, finally walking into his living room, sitting on the couch, and gesturing her to sit on the armchair across from him.

She walked in slowly, uncertain of how she felt of this sudden move of hospitality. "Draco… After Ron broke up with me, I talked with Ginny and Harry about everything that's happened. They reluctantly agreed to let me see you again, and said they'd try not to interfere if that's what it'd take to make me happy."

"You're not lying?"

"You can even send an owl to them, confirming your suspicions if you like," she said, half-jokingly, but was more on the serious side of this suggestion.

"I don't think that'd be necessary," Draco said. "You were never one to lie." He smiled at her for the first time during this meeting, even though the smile never reached his eyes. "I don't want to see you anymore, Hermione. It'd kill me just to be your friend, and I'll always wonder if you're cheating on me if we date." His voice went softer at the end, to the point Hermione had to strain her ears to hear it. "It… just hurts too much…"

"Not even acquaintances?"

She watched sadly as he looked somewhere else and shake his head

She stood awkwardly for a moment before whispering her tear-swollen good-bye and apparating out.

Draco lifted his eyes to the spot she stood seconds before.

A tear streaked his cheek as he held his head in his hands, finally succumbing to tears.