A/N- I know that this story was initially a one shot but I just couldn't leave it as it was. It made me sad. So I am going to add a few more chapters. Hope you like this.

Another night. And he was all alone. Only firewhisky and memories to take him through the loneliness.

He closed his eyes. And it was the fourth year Yule ball all over again .Ah, there she was. Gliding down the stairs, shy smile and flirty eyes. A princess in a dream. Yes she was, and never could be more than, an exotic dream, a lingering trace of lost youth, lost innocence.

Now she was staring at his eyes intensely as if she could see into his very soul. And he knew that if there ever was anyone who could truly see him, it was her. They were dancing in the moon light now, her head nestled into his chest, the wind blowing in her hair. He was reaching down to whisper the three magic words into her ears. And she was looking up at him, tears in her eyes, a smile softly playing in the corner of her lips. She was an extraordinary sight.

And she would forever remain only behind his closed eyes.

As he drank the last swig of firewhisky, his left arm burned. Voldemort was calling him. Tonight, on the final battle, he would chose between keeping the dream alive or the reality.

He closed his eyes one more time to take strength from the memory of their last night they had spent together almost a year ago…

***

She loved him. The realization hit him with a force that was staggering. Pleasure and pain at this knowledge spread through him in equal amounts. His heart seemed to sing and scream out in agony all at the same time.

He stood leaning back against the wall of the corridor, the very one where he had cornered her moments ago. He watched her retreating back, her shoulders slumped, her curls flying as she took long strides to put as much distance from him as possible.

In a daze, he dragged himself to the Great Hall for dinner. His eyes roamed to the Gryffindor table. He saw Ron Weasly sitting with the Brown girl and talking with food in his mouth. Draco sneered at the disgusting sight. Then his eyes found Hermione, sitting at the very end of the table far away from the weasel. Potter sat beside her with a comforting hand on her shoulder, and threw occasional scowls at Ron's direction. Draco was unpleasantly surprised when Potter suddenly looked up to give him a direct stare. Burning green eyes met his own icy blue ones. For the first time in both boys' lives, they appraised each other not with animosity but with plain understanding.

She had told Potter everything, Drcao realized. And it looked like Potter had taken the news pretty well.

All around him, people were lost in the merriment of the end of exams. For the seventh year students, this was almost the end of Hogwarts. Draco felt a sudden ache in his heart as he leaned back in his chair to stare up at the enchanted ceiling. It was a stormy night outside the castle.

He would miss this place. Despite his complaints throughout the years, Hogwarts had been home to him like Malfoy Manor never could be. It was in the heart of this castle that he had grown up. And above all that Hogwarts had given him Hermione. Albeit for a short time only.

Shutting himself off from the nonsensical chatter around him, he trained his eyes on her face now, on the unbelievable sadness in her eyes. She sat with her face resting on her hand staring into space. Her curls blew softly around her face. How many times had he played with that hair, curling them around his fingers, tugging at them just to make her mad, letting them tickle his own neck. He remembered achingly the night before he had broken up with her when he had laid down with her till dawn with his face buried inside that hair and holding her small form to himself all night. And then waking up to her small, sweet kisses in the morning. It had been the most romantic morning of his life. He had tackled her underneath him, tickling her sides until she was breathless with squealing and laughing and then he had kissed her long and hard. After what seemed like an eternity, she had pulled his face up, cupping his cheeks and stared into his eyes for the longest time with her own eyes shinning with some unknown emotion. It was as if she was waiting for something. For him to say something.

He had understood then that she was falling for him. He had figured his own feeling a long time ago. But he had also known the time had finally arrived for the inevitable. He had known also known that sometime else that morning; he would push her out of his life forever that very day, hurt her so bad that she went back to hating him like she never had before.

His plan succeeded, or so he had thought until today. In reality, he had failed. He was seventeen years old and he had already lost to life.

Hermione was no longer staring into space now. She was giving him the hard, determined stare that was so characteristic of her when she made up her mind about something. Delving into that chocolate warmth, the strange thought flitted across his mind that maybe some day it would be possible that love would triumph over evil, over duty. But right now, it was not worth putting her in danger.

When the fest ended, he did not go to the head's common room that he shared with Hermione because he did not think he could take more of her presence that night. Instead, he went down to the quidditch pitch to fly on the Hogwarts grounds for one last time.

Cold, harsh air whipped around his face as he accelerated towards the stormy sky. Ah, here was freedom at last. Freedom from the world, from all bondages.

Later he trudged back to the castle and into the head common room, tired and soaking wet. No fire lit the fireplace. The room was dark and cold. Without bothering to dry his drenched cloths or light a fire, he dropped down on the stone floor. The cold did nothing to ease the ache in his heart. It only brought icy tears into his eyes that refused to spill. His throat clogged, his shoulders shook with silent sobs but still there were no tears.

And then suddenly, there were small, warm hands circling his shoulders from behind, rubbing his chest. Dejectedly, he leaned into that small bundle of warmth. It was this that finally melted his tears. As he cried into her chest, Hermione held him tightly, rocking him like a babe.

"Draco…oh Draco," she whispered achingly.

He sought her mouth, plunging into a kiss like a dying man. He tugged at her lips desperately, trying to lose himself into the mindless pleasure that her lips always provided. So many, many months without her kiss. How had he survived?

But even though his heart longed for her, his brain protested. He could never make her his. Voldemort would kill her and his family. Voldemort was already furious with him for failing to kill Dumbledore last year. Draco had mercifully been give just one more chance. Tomorrow the mission would finally be completed. he had made all the preparations. Hermione would finally find out what all his scerecy were about...

Pushing her away roughly, he bellowed in a hoarse voice, "Granger, get your filth away form me. I don't need you, you hear me? I DON'T NEED YOU. LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Instead of running away to her room, hurt and bewildered like he had expected, she slapped him hard on his face then pulled him to her for another staggering kiss.

"Malfoy, you git, I have taken enough crap from you!" she said grabbing fistful of his hair. "Not anymore. So just shut up okay? Just shut up and let me have this one night with you. I don't care what happens after this. I just want this one night, Draco."

With a last groan, he leaned into her embrace as they lost themselves in a wild night of lovemaking.

***

He sat down in one of the tables in the Great Hall huddled in a corner with his family. It was finally over. Voldemort had been defeated. The Malfoys had been saved from a lifetime imprisonment in Azkaban because of his last minute change in alliance. As soon as he had felt the dark mark burn tonight, he had alerted the Order. He had led the army into a bloody battle. He had fought for the good side.

Tonight, Hogwarts sang with celebration and cried with mourning all at the same time. Grief and relief echoed through the castle. Because even though good had triumphed, dozens of lives had been lost. Hundreds of families, broken. It would take the next few decades for those who had seen this great war to truly recover form its impact.

He watched the golden trio surrounded by tearful and laughing friends. He fixed his gaze on Hermione. Her face was stained with dirt, her hair lank and her body thin. But her eyes had not lost their glow. Her smiled was as brilliant as ever as she hugged her many friends.

And now the question was, would he want him back?

***

Hermione looked around her new apartment. It had now been two months since Voldemort and his death eaters had been defeated. For the better part of the time, Hermione had spent with the Weaslys while hunting for a place of her own. As the days passed, the hole in heart grew more and more prominent. She felt a sense of loss that was incomparable to anything she had ever felt before in her life.

Her parents were dead. Gone. Killed by death eaters the night before the battle at Hogwarts. Grief at their death tore her apart everyday.

And he hadn't come back to her. The thought ate away her senses from the inside out.

"Hermione. Are you sure you don't want us to stay a little longer?" Harry inquired, walking into the living room. Harry and Ron had been helping her all day with the move.

"I am sure Harry." She said smiling at her best friend.

"Let's go out for a bite together. It'll be fun. I don't think I am ready to let my Hermione go away from us yet." Harry said softly, his brilliant green eyes looking a little sad.

Hermione went up to hug him. "Oh Harry, you silly goose! It's not like I am moving away to another country! You can visit me any minute of the day. And we will probably still get to hang out just like old times."

"But you'll have your own job now and you will be living alone, are you sure you'll have time for us?"

"Of course I will." She assured. "And make sure that no matter what happens in life and who you are with, you will always have a little space just for me, okay?"

"Sure Hermione." This time Ron quipped as he returned from the kitchen, "you'll always be our special girl! Now look here, I have food the food my mum sent in the kitchen. And mum has ordered you to drop by the burrow at once if you need anything. I have to leave now, Hermione. Got a hot date tonight." He pecked her on her cheek and Hermione gave him a hug as well. She had forgiven him a long time ago. "See you soon, Hermione. Coming, Harry?"

"You go, I will take a minute." Harry turned back to Hermione and said seriously. "Hermione, how are you holding up? Tell me honestly."

Hermione shuffled on her feet, "My parents died without any knowledge of having a daughter. The man I love seems to have abandoned me for good but that doesn't stop me from missing him every single second of the day." She produced a hollow laugh. "But I am holding up pretty well, Harry."

"Do you want me to talk to Malfoy? I know that Slytherin git is probably just too scared to come and face you."

"No! Harry he will have to come to me when he's ready. Otherwise things will fall apart all over again."

Five minutes after Harry had finally left, Hermione was curled in s fetal position on her couch, crying her heart out as she thought back to that morning a year ago when Draco had left her all alone for good…

***

It had been a wonderful and a sad night for both of them. Now, he held her from the back, spooning her, kissing her neck and stroking her curls with his face. After a while, Hermione started to feel wetness around her neck. His breaths came heavy and short.

Immediately, she turned in his arms to face him, cupping his cheeks and kissing the tears away.

"Hermione," he choked out, "I wish… if there was any way… Merlin, I don't know what to do!"

"Draco, come over to the good side. Fight with us. Fight so that this can all be over." Hermione whispered.

"You don't understand. Hermione, you and your friends have only had to face him a few times. But I have seen him at his most evil. I have seen the way he plots, tortures and murders. You haven't seen half of what he is capable of or what he has in store for the wizarding world. He will kill my parents, Hermione. He will destroy them. He won't finish me off that easily but he will torture me with the death of my family and everyone I care for!"

"Dumbledore can protect you-"Hermione stated to insist when he cut her off.

"He wasn't able to protect the Potters or Sirius black and many others. They all died in the end. No one lives once Voldemort targets them. Potter got off so many times by sheer luck, Hermione, you have to admit this. And don't you understand the danger you are putting yourself in by associating with me?"

"Draco, I am a mudblood and Harry Potter's best friend." Hermione said grimly, "I think am already in Voldenort's list."

"Yes," he cried, "and if I change sides, he will target you even more because you dared to turn a pure blood against him. I won't have that, Hermione, I wont!"

She had nothing to say to him after that. She only held him close to her through the night. Until he feel into a troubled sleep. Until she too drifted away into the darkness knowing that he wouldn't be in her arms when she woke up in the morning.

***

Hermione cried. With every tear that she shed, she relived a fresh new memory. And with each memory came fresh bouts of pain.

She cried for the lies she had told herself for so many months. She cried for the parents who had died without any knowledge about the existence of a daughter. She cried for Draco. She cried for the baby she had lost.

***