A/N: A total of 70 reviews. I wish there were more, but I'm thankful anyway (better than nothing at least). So first off, I would like to thank everybody who continuously read and reviewed and also to those who added as favorite. You guys make me want to finish this even though sometimes I don't know what to write anymore…maybe because my mind is on my next dramione? But I did promise to finish this first so you'll just have to wait and see what I come up with next.

For the sake of this story, Draco stopped calling Hermione mudblood in their 5th year and he didn't take the dark mark in HBP.

I think there will be 2 more chapters after this unless I can put another twist in somewhere. But I don't want to overdo it and make it cliché or whatever. We'll see…

I don't own anything from the potterverse.

Hermione sat on the windowsill of the bedroom she shared with Ron in their flat on the fourth floor in muggle London. She absently stared out into the city as the rain drops streamed down her window, contemplating the past days. The dreary weather perfectly complemented her awful mood. She should be happy, right? She had wanted this to happen, but why was she so miserable? No matter what she told herself or how she went about the situation, she would always end up more depressed than she was before.

It was Friday, two days after the Malfoy ball, two days after the announcement that shouldn't have surprised her and two days that she'd been melancholy. She didn't understand why she was feeling this way. She pushed him away, told him to be happy with some other woman and now that he had announced that he would exactly do just that, she couldn't help but feel despair. Maybe deep down, she was hoping that he wouldn't give up on her if he really loved her the way he said he did. She guessed wrong then. She couldn't help but think that she had made the biggest mistake of her life.

It was all over the Wizarding World, the news of the Malfoy-Greengrass Nuptials on Saturday. Yes, they were getting married tomorrow. Draco wanted them to get married as soon as possible so as to start off their life together, as said on the article on The Daily Prophet. Hermione lost her appetite and has hardly eaten anything since hearing the news. She was just too depressed to do anything else.

She sighed deeply for the nth time already. She had lost the love of her life just because she was too stubborn to admit that she loved him too. But it was too late. There was nothing else she could do about it.

Ginny paced the kitchen of Hermione and Ron's flat after checking on her friend through the bedroom door that was left ajar. She was worried about Hermione who hadn't left the room in days. She came every day, hoping to convince Hermione to eat even just a little bit. Today she baked the ultimate comfort food, triple fudge brownies (a recipe Hermione taught her when she married Harry). Hermione always told her how chocolate made her feel better when she was sad, but Ginny doubted it would work this time. It was worth a try anyway.

The 'ding' sound alerted Ginny that her brownies were done. She opened the oven and levitated the baking pan to the table where Harry was eyeing it hungrily as he smelled the chocolaty goodness. He poked his finger in the tempting treat (Ginny bakes a killer one, crusty on the outside but chewy-gooey on the inside) only to be swatted away by his wife.

"Harry! That's for Hermione!"

"C'mon Gin, Hermione can't finish the whole tray."

"I know. I'm sorry, Harry. I'm just worried about her. It's not like her to be so closed off to the world. She hasn't left her room in days, hasn't even picked up a new book to read. Someone needs to talk to her."

"We already tried, Gin, but you know it's like talking to a wall with her."

"And Ron isn't exactly making it any easier. He actually believes that he can still salvage this relationship. He can be such a prat sometimes." Ginny said as she cut the brownies into squares and handing Harry some.

"I'll try to talk to Ron about that. But what about Hermione?"

Before Ginny could voice out her feelings of hopelessness, they heard a knock on the door. Harry stood up and opened the door and was face-to-face with a beautiful redhead. He had a feeling that he was supposed to know her, but he couldn't quite place her from where.

"Can I help you?"

"Hello Potter. Can I speak with Hermione? It's really important."

"Do I know you?" He moved aside hesitantly to let this stranger enter.

"Yes, but that's not important now. I really need to talk to her before it's too late."

"Is it about Malfoy?"

She nodded as Ginny came with a plate of her triple fudge brownies.

"Whoever you are, I hope you can make her feel better. Here, you'll need this and her room's that way." Ginny handed her the plate and directed her to Hermione's bedroom. Eva nodded and headed toward the room, but not before hearing Harry wishing her luck.

Eva entered the room and saw Hermione by the window as she stared outside. She was exactly like Draco, dazed and unaware of everything else. She was sick and tired of seeing them mope around like a bunch of zombies. Why did they both have to be the most stubborn people she knew? It would have been easier if one of them would just let that pride go for once. Stupid pride!

"Want some brownies?"

Eva sat on the bed near Hermione and offered her the plate. Hermione was surprised to see her which made her jump down the windowsill to give Eva a light hug. She was glad she had someone else for company. Not that she didn't like Ginny to be here, she did, but she was just tired of Ginny forcing food down her throat. She just didn't feel like eating that time and she would eat if she was hungry. It wasn't as if she was purposely doing it like an anorexic would. Must be a motherly instinct.

Hermione sat across Eva on the bed, not caring that she was still in her pajamas and fluffy blue slippers. Eva didn't say anything as she nudged the plate to Hermione. She then took a bite out of the crusty brownie only to feel the warm gooey inside spread all over her mouth and exciting her taste buds. That made her realize how truly hungry she was.

"What are you doing here, Eva?"

"I need to talk to you about Draco." She furrowed her brows upon hearing his name, unconsciously putting up that mask of indifference again.

"What does he have to do with anything?"

"Look, just hear me out, okay? But before that, I need to tell you my secret so you could know where I'm coming from about him."

Hermione was confused, but didn't say anything. She waited for Eva to tell her this secret when the redhead pulled her wand out from her purse. She waved it in front of her as Hermione noticed the change.

Her shoulder length red hair was slowly turning in to black, her eye color had changed and minor alterations in her face. Hermione then gasped in recognition. Pansy Parkinson!

She was shocked at first to find out that the girl she had found friendship in during hard times was no other than the girl who used to torment her alongside Draco. She would've gotten mad for all the lying that has been going on, but she found that she was just too depressed still to even care. All she wanted now were answers.

"Pansy? But how—I thought you died at the battle at Hogwarts?"

Pansy and Draco had been close in Hogwarts so he had told her, although reluctantly, when the death eaters were coming. He didn't mean to, but the stress was killing him and it was driving him crazy. He needed someone to talk to and he knew he could trust Pansy.

Pansy and her parents didn't want to get caught up between the war and had decided to relocate somewhere away from all the chaos. The night Pansy went home to pack her things, she had been too late. Her parents had been killed for refusing to join Voldemort's cause. She had no other choice. There was no turning back now. She followed through with the plan her father had told her. She apparated somewhere far away to start her new life. She also modified a glamour charm to change her appearance instead of taking a polyjuice potion. And since then, she lived her life peacefully without looking back. But when she was positively sure that Potter had succeeded in destroying the Dark Lord, she took the chance to contact Draco, hoping he was still alive. And everything else started there.

"No, I left Hogwarts before that. You could say it was a cowardly thing to do. Although both my parents were neutral in the war, their friends have been pressuring them to join the dark side. I was afraid that the death eaters would come and take me like they did with Draco and force me to do things."

Hermione noticed that Pansy was beautiful in her own way with her dark hair, fair complexion and hazel eyes. Gone was the pug-faced look of her childhood, instead she had grown up with a pretty face with a little upturned nose.

"And although he never really took the dark mark, he was given the task to kill Dumbledore—kind of like an initiation of sorts. But he never really wanted to be a part of that."

Hermione scoffed at her last words. Draco Malfoy forced to join the death eaters? That was hard to believe seeing as he worshiped the ground his father walked on. He actually had the makings of a death eater to be if you asked her back in school. But this was the bitterness talking. She knew Draco had a good heart in him, but right now she just refused to believe it.

"I asked him to come runaway with me, disappear and just live a peaceful life. He refused saying he needed to protect his family. And that was all the leverage the Dark Lord needed. He was threatened to kill Dumbledore. He had no choice. They would kill his mother if he failed and they very well knew that Narcissa was everything to him."

"And you're telling me this because?"

"Because both of you are too stubborn for your own good!"

"I can't see how this is helpful."

"I just want you to understand why he did what he did so just listen, okay? If after this you still refuse to believe the truth, then it's up to you. I won't bother you ever again." Hermione grudgingly nodded.

"During the war he had fought against the death eaters and with the testimony of Potter of the events at the Astronomy Tower, his valuable information about He-Who-Must-Be-Named and his changing of sides, he was only sentenced to two years of community service for helping the death eaters break into Hogwarts. Did you ever notice that even though his two years were up, he continued with it?"

Hermione did notice, but said nothing.

"Or the fact that everything he worked for was for you?"

"What?"

"You heard me." Pansy said with a smirk on her face.

"I don't believe you."

"He donated a library—for you. He devoted his time solely to the children's ward at St. Mungo's, helping build a new wing—again, because you worked there. All your projects and proposals, they were all funded without question, he was the one who persuaded the others to back it up, even giving his own money to your cause. All of these things he did just for you, Hermione."

"I—I don't understand."

"He had liked you since Hogwarts."

"That's not true…" The more Hermione thought about it, the more she realized that there were some truths to what Eva—err Pansy (she was going to have to get used to calling her that) was saying. He had stopped calling her mudblood after their fourth year. Sure, he was still mean to Harry and Ron, but his tormenting of her had decreased. And he didn't single her out of the crowd the way he did before.

"He even made a move on you—"

"No, he didn't! I don't even remember having a single civil conversation with him. You must be mistaken, Pansy."

"He did. But you blew him off. Anyway, that was the past. We're talking about the present."

"Wait! If he did like me back then, why has he never approached me before?"

"You were with Weasley! And like I said, you blew him off before. That's a blow to a guy's ego, especially to a guy like Draco. He may act all confident and arrogant, but deep inside, he has a lot of insecurities. That's why he's so mean to everybody, pushing everybody away and not daring to get close…he's covering up the fact that he's actually fragile, human. Of course, his father was also a factor in his development, but he wasn't mean because he wanted to be. He was just afraid of what people would think of the real Draco."

"I still don't believe any of these. If he loves me, the way you say he does, how come he's marrying Astoria tomorrow?"

"Because he loves you too much it's hurting him."

"I don't see the logic in that." Pansy sighed. How can she make this stubborn Gryffindor understand? Merlin strike her with lightning now!

"Granger, he loves you so much that he's letting you go. You told him you wanted to work things out with Weasley, even kissed him in the middle of the street; of course Draco would think you love the bloody git. He's hurt. He just wants to get over you."

Hermione just stayed silent as realization hit her. She could feel the tears fall freely now.

"You're the first girl he's ever loved like this."

"I think I want to be alone right now."

Hermione crawled under her thick, fluffy blanket, lying in a fetal position. Before, she only thought that she had made the biggest mistake of her life. Now, she knew for sure that she did.

Oh my gods…Draco loves—loved me. He really loved me and I threw it all away. And now it's too late…he's getting married tomorrow and I'm left with what? I'm left at the beginning again—with Ron no less!

Pansy left the room and closed the room behind her. The Potters looked at her hopefully, hearing everything Pansy had said through the open door. She sadly looked down and shook her head sidewards.

"I'm sorry. I tried my best."

A/N: With only 2 chapters left, can we make it to 100 reviews? yes? Puhreeettty puhleassseee! i am still very desperate to reach that triple digit (desperate enough to withhold the next chapter? maybe...). so please don't forget to review. let me know all your comments, violent reactions, questions...whatever! just review :D