The following week was horrible. Hermione avoided Draco as much as possible, figuratively hiding behind Harry and Ginny. Despite her best efforts though, Draco still managed to catch her alone sometimes, but those times just made him more frustrated. She never opened up like before, her emotions being kept carefully in check and her face closed off. Whenever he looked into her eyes, all he saw was something dead and robotic.

And it was his fault. He just hoped that there was a way to reverse it.

Hermione felt numb. No, that was the wrong word for it. She was numb, but one emotion managed to worm its way into her consciousness. Dread. She dreaded the coming Hogsmeade weekend, which was tomorrow. She dreaded those moments when he managed to get her alone. She dreaded any mention of contact with him because it was so much harder to stop herself from thinking about the incident when she was with him.

The times that his presence made her think about the day before were horrible. She had to keep her face closed off, preventing it from breaking down in tears like she wanted to.

She hated what happened yesterday so much, not because it meant that he didn't want her, but because it meant that he might. That tantalizing hope, that desperate desire, was what was tearing her up inside. She could handle it if he had never changed and was trying to make a fool out of her. She could even handle it if he was trying to be nice and spare her feelings. But she couldn't handle it if she did believe in the hope, and then get her heart broken.

Draco was frantic. It was the day before Hogsmeade—the day before his chance to prove to Hermione that he did love her. He was planning it, taking every opportunity that he could to make her believe the truth. He was rushing back from the Owlery when he saw two familiar figures blocking his way.

It was Potter and his girlfriend. Draco slowed cautiously, wondering what this was about.

"Hermione hasn't been eating" Potter—Harry—said.

Draco immediately began worrying. He didn't even think about what he was saying, just needing to know if she was alright.

"Has she been having her nightmares again?" he asked urgently.

Both of them looked at him anxiously. "Nightmares?" Ginny asked.

Draco nodded, not even caring that he was acting like a Gryffindor. "She's had them before, didn't she tell you? She couldn't eat the day after and she would wake up every night, screaming. They only stopped a few months ago"

Harry paused, a worried frown crossing his face. He shook his head slowly. "I don't know. She hasn't told us about them, if she is having them"

Ginny looked at Draco, staring him in the eye. "She's like a robot. She doesn't speak, she doesn't laugh, she doesn't smile" she said.

Draco nodded, his face ashen. "It's my fault" he whispered.

It was Hogsmeade day. Draco was dressed casually in Muggle clothes, having picked up the nack for it from Hermione. He was waiting for her in the Entrance Hall, nervously fidgeting.

Hermione was considering not going at all, but she steeled herself, telling herself that she had made herself a promise. She stepped into the Entrance Hall, also wearing Muggle clothing. They would stand out, but Draco knew Hermione was more comfortable with the Muggle clothes.

They followed the rest of the students into Hogsmeade, everyone else splitting off to go into separate shops while Draco and Hermione walked slowly past them all.

Abruptly, Hermione stopped walking. She turned to him, her eyes carefully blank. "Just get it over with, please"

He frowned. "Get what over with, exactly?"

A brief flash of irritation crossed her beautiful features before she responded. "Whether you're going to humiliate me by dumping me later, or whether you want to do it now in public, or even if you're doing this to say you don't return the feeling and being nice, I know I want it over with now. I can't bear this!" she said, her eyes briefly closing at the end.

Draco threw away everything he had been planning for that day. He threw away his elaborate plan to lure her into loving him with expensive things and sweet gestures, instead doing something he hadn't wanted to do until her birthday. He had brought it along just in case, and now he was glad that he had.

"Hermione, do you remember that day when we were out on the grounds? It was the first time we really talked" he started, his voice low. "We saw those unicorns. I've never believed in omens or good signs or other superstitious nonsense, but that day I hoped that those unicorns meant that I would someday get what I wanted most. But it was more than that. Those unicorns, they were so special, so precious to you. I wanted to find something that special to me, something that I could love unconditionally simply because it was special to me"

He paused, pulling the jewellery box out of his pocket and giving it to her. She took it with trembling hands and opened it, examining it with a forcibly dismissive gaze. That was, until she opened the locket. She looked in fascination at the etching in the metal and the moving picture there.

"You're my unicorn" he said.

He couldn't say anything more, though, as he was cut off by her lips on his in a soft kiss.

They were oblivious to the growing crowd of students openly gawking at the unlikely couple. They didn't notice Harry and Ginny looking at them, happy for them. They didn't even notice Dumbledore smiling genially as a disgruntled Professor McGonagall handed him several golden galleons.