Author's Note:

Hey, once again, apologies for the late chapter, but seriously, writer's block was bad and there's nothing to cure that except time and thought.

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day (AKA My birthday!) and enjoy this fairly long chapter with one of my first cliff hangers at the end.

As always, please review as it is really good for a writer to get feedback! (Also helps chapters be more quality and quantity)

Love you all! Enjoy!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Don't want to let you go

*Song of the chapter: Lies by Maria and The Diamonds just because it's a good song*

I had been crying for days. At first it started as small and quiet tears, but then turned into rocking back and forth on my bed at night, trying to not wake the other girls who had returned from break. I knew it had been the right thing to break up with Draco, we needed some space, but the other part of me wondered if things would ever be the same again. After we had both had some time apart, what would happen? Would he discover he didn't love me and I that he wasn't right for me? Would those conclusions be possible? I didn't know what to think, I was tired, I was upset, and I had extremely limited options of people to talk to about my situation. He had a side to him that I didn't like, and had never liked, but up until that point, I had, for the most part, ignored it, only worrying about being caught and spending time with him.

I found myself sitting in the library during my free period on a Wednesday, trying to think about the words on the page in front of me, and not thinking about him.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap

My ears perked up and turned towards the tall windows against the wall. A pitch black owl touched his beak to the glass again, encouraging me to stand up from my seat. When I had unlatched the window, the bird came in, along with the rays of sunlight that had been melting the most recent snow.

The sound of chirping birds and dripping trees momentarily distracted me from the large owl's presence. The dark animal held out its foot as I untied the rolled parchment, and flapped away when I had finished.

I sat back down and began to read, not knowing what to expect in the least. Almost immediately I recognized the handwriting and, surprisingly, the words.

'Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.' -some famous muggle bloke named William Shakespeare

I'm sorry... Was Draco Malfoy sending me love poems by Shakespeare?

The corridors were filled with loud students, but I could only hear the thump of my own feet and my breathing. Every other sound was dulled out of my head as my brain lay in deep thought. Draco was making a real attempt. At what, I couldn't quite tell, however. Did he do this because he wanted me to see him use muggle poetry? Or to simply let me know he missed me?

The truth was, and there was no way I could ignore it, I just really missed Draco too. But how was I supposed to trust him? How could I be sure he was doing the right things? I wondered if I could truly ever be certain about his motives.

I couldn't, but maybe love is about taking a leap of faith, knowing that there's a possibility of landing hard.

I slept almost peacefully that night, despite the fact that my troubled heart pondered over all that had happened between the two of us. My dreams were confusing and I couldn't remember any of them the next day.

I rolled on to my side, annoyed by the tapping noise that woke me. "Can someone please shut that black owl up?!" One of the girls in my room yelled from their bed. My eyes shot open as I peered out the window. However, my eyes were still blurry from sleep and it was hard to twist my head in the right angle to see out.

Sighing, I threw off the warm covers and walked to the window, once again opening it for the amber-eyed and black-feathered bird.

'Love is the hardest habit to break and the most difficult to satisfy.' -Drew Barrtmore the note read.

I don't think it was possible for him to understand the way this made me feel.

The little time he took out of his day to somehow look up quotes about love from muggles, made my heart truly break for Draco.

But I couldn't give in. I couldn't go running back to what I had put an end to for the right reasons. How weak would it be if I couldn't hold my resolve for less than a week? I needed to get away from all of this, I needed to stop finding myself in situations where my heart felt drawn to be in his loving arms.

Many more notes came from Draco's owl over the coming weeks, some poems I had never heard of before, and others ancient quotes I had known my whole life. I made sure not to respond to any of them, I didn't know if I could handle myself if I tried to sit down and write a note to him, but my heart tucked away that tiny feeling that almost overtook me each time.

"Hermione."

I looked up from the couch by the fire to see Harry looking at me with sad eyes. When I turned my head to Ron next to me, I saw a similar look.

"Yes?" I asked with a small breath.

"I know we've let you be for awhile now, but, don't you think we should talk about... You-know-who and-you know-what?"

"The Dark Lord? I assume that's who you're referring to as 'you-know-who'." I said, averting my eyes back to the page in my lap.

Ron gave a chuckle.

"Hermione, please. I just want to know one thing-what did you really ever see in him?"

Little did he know, I had been pondering that question for weeks. The only difference was, I didn't ask myself the question in past-tense. Whatever I saw in him, I knew I must still be seeing.

What do I see in him? I asked myself. The flames continued to dance in the fireplace as I continued to think, leaving a long pause.

"Someone who is misunderstood. Someone who is expected to be one thing due to social ranking, but doesn't fit to the mold. Someone who also wonders if they really have a place in the world. In short, Harry, I see myself, but also so much more. He made me feel like nothing else mattered, and that is a dangerous feeling, but then again, how am I expected to even attempt to control feelings that are beyond what I can comprehend? Draco Malfoy is still the most Insufferable prat I know, but you know what? I can sure as heck be the exact same way."

When I had finished, the burning feeling in my chest continued to spread all over. I had finally managed to relate all that I had felt, and was still feeling.

It also wasn't hard to notice that everyone in the room had stopped to listen as my voice had eventually grown higher. I didn't dare to glance around the room, however, for fear of not being able to take the looks I was being given.

The boys were silent as I looked each of them in the eye in turn. "I can't pretend he doesn't have rough edges. I can't ignore that he has previously insulted and hurt you guys, but I also know that he has changed more then you can imagine."

"Does he make you happy?" Ron spoke up for the first time.

"Yes."

"Then just make sure that we have nothing to do with the reason you're avoiding him." Harry said quietly. "Because if he makes you happy, then who are we to possibly stand in your way?"

"My best friends in the world. That's who you are." I said, and I reached out to engulf them in a big bear hug.

"Doesn't make him any less of a prat, though." Ron said in a dead serious voice.

"I know." I whispered with the smallest of smiles.

Oh, how screwed was I?

I held on to the flyer as I looked closely at the details. The Hogsmead trip was this Sunday, this Valentine's Day, to be exact. I found my hands grasping at thin air a minute later as the rest of the Gryffendor girls squeaked over the date of the trip. I sighed, debating whether to go.

The answer is yes, I reminded myself, because you are most certainly not going to mope around the castle on Valentine's Day just because you are without a significant other. You are going to eat your weight in chocolate and enjoy yourself.

The day quickly arrived, and I found myself among the clatter of students ready to leave the castle walls. I, as you could tell, was not part of the clatter, but I was still happy to go, all the same.

The small town was truly enchanting during the end of winter time. One of our last snows of the season drifted in the air, landing on rooftops and lamp posts and children's hats.

It was a quite snow, with no wind or flurries, although, it was hard to enjoy the pleasant silence when your classmates were nothing but loud. Footprints covered the streets as people went in to get a drink at the Three Broomsticks, or to shop for sweets at Honey Dukes, or go into the quaint little tearoom across the street.

I still found peace in it all. To be away from stressful emotions and lingering decisions that must be eventually be made.

I went around and looked in the windows of all the shops, stopping only once to purchase a chocolate bar (which was quickly devoured). I hurried past the Tearoom full of couples making out, and found myself at a dead end. The shops stopped as they met the first trees of the forest, and I found myself just starring up at the sky, resulting in snowflakes meeting my face in a cold greeting.

"It's beautiful, is it not?" A voice asked a few feet in front of me. I tilted my face bank down, and found my eyes locked with someone I had not expected to see.

I know, not that dramatic of a cliff-hanger, but I felt that this was a good place to stop. Tell me what you think of this chapter!

Stay Awesome!

~ThePondFamily3