HERMIONE'S POV:
I was so confused. I had just kissed Draco Malfoy.
A week ago, I would've shot myself in the foot before even considering doing something like that. But even more confusing was the fact that he seemed to have wanted to kiss me but then he had ran off.
Why had he ran away? What was it about me that drove men away?
I lowered myself down onto my shins and sat for a while, staring intently at the wall as though that would get me any answers. I picked myself up and walked the rest of the way to the Gryffindor common room in a daze.
I didn't see hide nor hair of Ron the whole time.
DRACO'S POV:
I wasn't sure exactly why I had ran. I just felt like I shouldn't have been there at that time. I shouldn't have been with her. It was an undeniable urge. And it had given me time to think.
I had finally kissed her. But now, I was complicating her life by being in it. I was causing problems for her and Weasel-bee.
I didn't want her to have to give anything up for me. I wanted to be good for her. Like Weasley was.
But I never could be; I was a Malfoy. My father expected me to be a death-eater in the future and on top of that, I was the arch nemesis of Potter (not counting Lord Voldemort). I couldn't belong with her no matter how much I wished otherwise. It was time to face reality.
I would tell her exactly how I felt about her and then I would leave her alone. I knew she couldn't feel the same. She might've said she liked me, but it wouldn't be enough.
I laid in my bed and stared at the ceiling, trying desperately to sort through the tidal wave of emotions overcoming me. I was only giving myself a headache, so I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the pain.
I fell asleep.
RON'S POV:
I knew it was stupid and selfish of me to want her and to be so overprotective when it came to other guys with her… But I couldn't help it. I felt like, after all of these years of being just her friend and wanting to be more, I had staked some kind of psychological claim on her.
But then there was Lavender. I was sure she didn't feel near as strongly about me and Lavender as I did about her and Malfoy, but I knew it still did get to her.
'You need to get over her!' came a small voice in my head. That voice had been acting up lately… Maybe I needed psychiatric help.
I needed to talk to Hermione.
I sat in my room all day, staring at the ceiling, looking for answers there. The entire time, all I got were some bits of upraised spackle, shadows thrown across the ceiling, and the occasional fly.
When I finally fell asleep, I had the worst nightmare I've had since the one about being covered in spiders and not being able to find my way out when I was 7.
I was standing in the middle of the hallway beside the astrology tower again. I heard voices coming from the other side of the door and this time, I knew who it was immediately. I walked in, somehow already knowing that they couldn't see me.
Draco stood, facing the window with his face in his hands and he looked like he might be crying.
Hermione stepped out of the shadows and reached a hand up to rest it on his shoulder.
"Oh, Draco." she said, sympathy thick in her voice.
He turned halfway back to her, his eyes red and his smile bittersweet. I didn't want to see Malfoy this way. Vulnerable. It was harder to think of him as the horrible person we all knew and hated. It was harder to blame Hermione for wanting to trust him.
Hermione left her hand on his shoulder, but moved to face him in the light from the window.
"Thank you." Malfoy said, placing one of his hands over hers on his shoulder and squeezing it gently.
They stood there staring in each other's eyes for a long while. It seemed as though nothing was going on, but I could feel it in the air like a tangible force. They were about to do something I would hate myself for sticking around to watch. But I couldn't make my feet move.
Both pairs of eyes went unfocused and I tried to close my eyes, but I couldn't even blink. Malfoy's hand snaked its way behind her neck and brought his mouth crashing down on hers.
The stupid kiss only lasted about 5 seconds, but it hurt as if it had been 5 hours.
He kept his hand cradling her cheek and they had their foreheads rested against each other. He rubbed his thumb in circles over the soft skin of her cheek.
I could feel the heat of my anger burning hotter and hotter with each second.
"Draco?" she said softly.
I hated when she called him that. Like they were friends.
"Yes?" he whispered raggedly.
"I love you." she said, kissing him once more on the cheek and then dashing from the room.
He stood still, staring out the door after her, his hand lingering softly on the spot where she had kissed him.
"I love you, too, Hermione." he whispered so quietly I had to strain to hear him.
Even in my dreams, I had to sit back and watch helplessly as their love grew.