Sixteen. Hermione
They were beautiful. Absolutely breath taking. The moment I opened my eyes they were the first things I saw. Flowers…Everywhere. Every colour and type you could ever imagine. Most of them I had never even seen.

I had thought for a moment of who it could possibly be, I came to the conclusion that it was Ron. As far as I knew no other boy at Hogwarts liked me. My heart raced a bit thinking it was Draco, but there was no way he could get in here. I hoped.

The smell was gorgeous. I shut my eyes and breathed in deeply, taking in the different scents. I couldn't believe he had done this; I had to speak to him.

I got dressed as quickly as I could, hoping to catch Ron before he went down for breakfast. I was about to leave my dorm when I was drawn towards the flowers, there was something odd about them. As I got closer I noticed they flickered. Not like flowers flickered in the wind, but how a TV would flicker when the picture went blurry.

I put my hand out to touch one particularly beautiful bunch and was shocked at what I saw happen. My hand went straight through them. I opened my eyes wide in shock as I turned my hand over as it passed through each bunch.

They were amazing. The amount of magic that must have been put into them was tremendous. There was no way Ron could have produced these results, which left only one other; Draco.

He was making it so hard for me to hate him!

I walked in a complete day dream down the stairs of my dorm. The head boy was sat in a puffy chair by the fire and turned to look at me as I entered our common room.

"Hermione are you ok?" He asked, a worried tone in his voice. "It's just that I heard you crying all night last night."

I barely heard him and was to mellow to think about what was happening at that time. I just flashed him a big smile that said it all and left for the great hall.

The head boy was a Hufflepuff by the name of Donny McGregor. Of course the place would have been offered to Draco had he not…At this thought the smile was wiped of my face and I entered the hall. My happy state had subsided slightly but I was not in a completely bad mood. I squished into a place between Harry and Ron, who became busy in an upside down newspaper. Ginny giggled at his unusually behaviour and it was the cue for me to end this stupid charade.

"Ronald, what is the matter with you lately?" I asked, knowing why completely. I gave him a deadly glare so that he would know I was being serious. I couldn't stand not speaking to him anymore.

His face shot in my direction, his mouth agape. He seemed to recover quite quickly however as he shook his head and, rising from the table said to me, "hear, I've been trying to give this to you for months." With that he basically sprinted out of the hall towards, I can only guess, the Gryffindor common room.

I looked down into my hands and the folded piece of paper Ron had just handed to me. It was slightly stained from food and drink, and was also quite creased. I was not surprised; I had seen him looking at this note every time he saw me since the start of term. In fact I was almost certain I had seen him with it at the Burrow. He must have taken it everywhere.

All eyes turned towards me expectantly as I began to unfold it. My eyes welled up as I read:

Everything about you amazes me, from the way you always know how to make me laugh, to the way you make my life worthwhile. Whenever we're together, all my worries disappear. Everything around me gets blurry, and in an instant it's just me and you. This feeling inside of me is the greatest feeling ever, and without you by my side I'm lost.You know, people just don't get it. In fact, I don't even get it anymore. Ever since we met, we've always been really close; closer than close. We were best friends, but it seemed like there was something there. We were always together, always smiling. Everything in the world seemed to suddenly make sense when you were right there beside me. I felt it, did you not? Everyone else saw it; they even talked about it to me. Did they not to you? All I ever heard was 'gosh you guys are perfect. When are you going to go out?' or 'what are you guys trying to pull? The longest 'will they, wont they' relationship in the history of the world?' I don't know, maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm blind for ever even imagining us being together. Am I?Every time I talk to you, it gets worse. The little butterflies, my stomach dropping, the spinning, the feeling like everything is all right. Those never stop. They keep coming back. And no matter how many times I try to forget about you. It never helps. I love you.Yours forever,Ronald
xxx

That was it, we had to talk. I couldn't let him carry on with these feelings when I certainly didn't feel the same way. I loved Ron so much, but more as a brother now. I was really hurt when I confessed how I felt about him and he didn't return the feelings. I've been trying so hard since to drown those feelings, and finally it has worked. Well, with the help of Draco. No, of Damon.

I glanced shortly towards Harry who ushered me up out of my seat telling me to find him quickly. The first place I checked I had it bang on. I stopped outside the portrait of the fat lady and gave her the password, baubles.

I stepped through into the Gryffindor common room and scanned the room. Sure enough there he was, knees tucked up under his chin, staring into the forever blazing fire. As I approached him he looked up into my face, but not for long as he retuned his gaze to the flames.

I took him in with my eyes. He looked so weak and feeble, as though anything I said to him right now would break him. But I had to do it. I knew it would be coming soon and to be truthful, I should have done it along time ago.

"Ronald." I said in my softest voice, sitting down next to him and placing my hand over his. He slowly turned his face towards me, avoiding my eyes. I rubbed my tongue over my bottom lip thinking of the best way to place words. "I've been so stupid. I've known you've like me since the start of term and we should have had this conversation a long time ago." He brought his eyes up to meet mine.

"Ron, I don't think you understand how much it hurt last summer when I told you how I felt about you. I had been in love with you since at least our third year but was always so scared to tell you. Certain circumstances changed that." I added and he nodded his head indicating that he understood what I was on about.

"I came to the conclusion that you didn't like me back, so I tried my hardest to forget about my feelings……It was really hard Ron. And when I saw how you reacted when taking the embarrassment potion, it hurt even more. My feelings were finally subsiding and then I see that you like me to. But it was too late."

"Why was it?" He asked through his dry throat, so quietly I could barely hear him.

I looked at him. I could see all the sadness in his eyes and I didn't know what to say to make him feel better. I knew how he felt, not because we were magically linked, like Draco and I, but because I had felt the same way. I didn't want him hurting but there was no way of stopping it I supposed.

"I guess I had moved on Ron. Something was happening with me and I wasn't sure where it was going at the time. It was the only thing keeping me going trying to get over you, and it worked."

"Hermione." His voice had grown stronger and there was determination in his eyes. He moved closer to me as he spoke, I knew what he was doing. He was hoping for me to give in, but it wasn't happening. "I love you," he said in a tone that I could have taken as seductive. He moved in closer, his eyes never leaving mine. He was about to kiss me but I felt nothing. No adrenaline rush or excitement that I would have felt if this was about to happen a couple of months ago. I put my hand up in front of my face as his was centimetres away from mine.

He pulled his head back and looked at me. I was furious. I had just told him how I had tried so hard to get over him and all he was worried about was his feelings. All he wanted was to make him self feel better. He didn't care that he hurt me and maybe I didn't want to put my feelings on the line like that again.

"No Ron." I said firmly. "Have you not just listened to a word I said? You really hurt me; I don't want to have to go through that again."

"But you won't have to go through that, I promise. I always liked you to Hermione; I was just so shocked that day I couldn't react." Once again he leaned in really close, a cheeky smirk upon his face this time. And I reacted different this time. I though; why am I acting so weak? Because of this guy? I'm Hermione Granger; I know how to handle myself. With that thought I brought my hand back and slapped him across the face, very hard.

He withdrew himself right back almost onto the arm of the chair, his hand covering the side of his reddened face. Feeling I had given him all that he had deserved for the moment, I left him to wallow in his self pity.

I stormed through the Gryffindor common room and slammed the portrait shut behind me causing Donny to emit a slight scream. I was almost certain he was gay but what an insult if I asked him and he wasn't. There was no way I could ask him. I smirked at him before I departed for my dorm room.

I threw myself onto the four poster bed which was situated in the middle of my room, which was about the size of the dorm at Gryffindor. Although there were five beds in there. Instantly the tears began to come.

My body shook vigorously as I struggled to hold back; but it was no use. The more I tried to stop the tears from falling, the more heavily they fell. In the back of my head I could here the voice calling me but I never paid any attention to it until I realised what was happening.

My head shot up and I looked around my room. I had only just noticed all the flowers had gone and as I continued my search for the voice, my eyes fell upon a note on my table. It was written in beautiful green letters and had lying across it a single red rose.

He had given it away with the colour of the writing so I knew who it was before I had finished the letter. It read:

First of all I'm sorry, a thousand apologies.
I know I made a mistake and this situation I am facing is my entire fault.
This is why I started this note by saying im sorry, which I will repeat to you again when we meet face to face, hopefully soon.
Deep down I hope you will not be insensitive to my request for reconciliation,
Because you are too important to me and I know I can be very important to you too.
More than that, you're the one I love, and I want you by my side forever.
Once again I beg for your forgiveness, and beg for one, two, million of your kisses.

I smirked; trust Draco to come out with something this cheesy.

Fifteen. Draco
She looks so perfect…
I had been waiting for her to go to her room for a good hour and when she finally appeared, she began to cry. I stood there and watched her for a while but soon I could no longer bare it. The sadness and anger was pouring from her and I could feel it all.

I called her and as she looked up the stupid spell flickered and I disappeared returning in time to see her finish the letter, luckily, with a smile on her face.

"Ah, the lady smiles." I said, charmingly. I smirked at her as she turned to see me, jumping at the sight.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" She asked, I could see it dawning on her, "In fact, how the hell did you get in here?"

"Elementary my dear Watson." I said cockily. Immediately regretting it as I knew it made no pigging sense.

"That doesn't make sense!" She snapped back at me.

"I know." I answered, never letting my smirk fade. I knew she found it attractive, I could feel it. "I thought it just sound appropriate." I smiled goofily at her and she couldn't help but laugh. She looked so beautiful when she laughed.

"Did you like the flowers?" I asked with a soft voice allowing that loving look back in my eyes.

"They were beautiful." She said looking into my eyes. I couldn't tell whether she was referring to the flowers or my eyes, but I didn't care. "How did you get them in here?"

"The same way im in here." My smirk appeared again. Her eyebrow cocked at the remark. "Astro-projection of sorts." I didn't really understand what I was doing. "You focus on where you want to go, or where you want things to go, and you'll appear there. Although I haven't quite mastered it, things still seem to flicker in and out of sight." I felt annoyed at my lack of perfection, and it must have shown.

"Oh so you're not perfect? You do have flaws? There are things the famous Malfoy can not do?" She laughed at herself, I was not happy.

"I'd like to see you try it." This was more of a remark than a challenge and she just crossed her arms over her chest and gave me the dirtiest look she could muster to answer me. I laughed and went over to sit on the bed by her. .

She looked me up and down and I could tell she was wondering how a hologram was able to sit on a solid object but I couldn't resist a tease. "Hermione, do you mind not trying to imagine me naked at this moment? You can see it anytime." She opened her mouth to retaliate but I shut her up as I continue speaking. I could tell she sensed the seriousness coming from me.

"Im so sorry." She flinched; I hated it when she did that. "Im sorry for how bad I have made you felt and im sorry for lying to you."

"And making me fall in love with you." She added, I shook my head.

"No, im not sorry for that. I'm sorry that that happening has hurt you in some way but it's made me the happiest I've ever been. Well, it would do if it wasn't hurting you."

Seventeen. Hermione
I couldn't believe he had just said that. The exact reason I hated Ron at that moment, Draco did not do. He didn't only care about his feelings. He wasn't trying to force me to like him because he was hurting. He was hurting because I hurt. Why was he doing this to me?

"You didn't answer my question." I couldn't handle that at the moment so I thought id change the subject. "How did you get in here?" He looked slightly annoyed when he answered.

"Why shouldn't I be here? I would be head boy if I hadn't been kicked out."

I was livid. "You were not kicked out of Hogwarts Malfoy. Did you get a letter telling you that? No. You tried to kill Dumbledore and then went on the run. You left the school; the school did not leave you. You left everyone else behind as you went after a stupid planned dream."

"I never left anyone behind, everyone left me behind a long time ago." He said extremely calmly. "My mother left me behind with my dad. She watched as he took control over me and she let him try to mould me into a murderer. She didn't want to do it and he forced her, but still, she left me. She left me Hermione." His voice began to rise. "My own mother left me to face him on my own; there was no way I could get out of it. And Dumbledore. I said before that I admired him for letting me be although he knew I would be part of his down fall, but it was stupid. The stupid old man left me alone at the age of eleven. He knew where I was heading, he knew exactly the things I was subjected to, and he left me. I was alone Hermione, alone to face my father and his world by myself. How the hell was I supposed to not go along with the plans? What I followed was not a dream, it was a nightmare. And it's one that's not yet ended."

Sixteen. Draco
don't cry Draco…not again…
I couldn't help myself. I began crying again. How many times did she have to see me cry? I felt so weak. She broke me down completely.

I was shocked when I looked up to see her so close to me. I looked into her eyes and without removing them from mine she lifted her hand towards my face. Her hand stretched out towards my cheek and passed through it, she looked at it as she turned it around, smiling.

"Hermione, I'm…" I began but she put her finger up to my lips, although I couldn't feel it, I knew to be quiet. My mind completely blanked of any thoughts or feelings apart from the need for her near me. She felt he same way to. I knew what was about to happen and shut my eyes as I saw hers, close to mine.

I flickered my eyes open wondering what was happening and looked around; my insides sank as I saw the dark damp shed that I was now so used to.

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- A.N - So i thought it was about time i uploaded the rest of this story, i've had it finished for about 2 years :)