Chapter 2: All Things Must Come to an End
After their first date, things changed. They started talking and seeing each other more and more. Things were great, and she was happy. Hermione felt this new, different attraction or connection between herself and Draco. She felt like she was as important to him as he was for her. That they could talk about anything and not have to worry about what the other thought, cause no matter what they said, nothing would change their opinion of the other. Hermione remembered spending most of her free time with Draco at his place. Not Malfoy Manor but Draco's very own place, he inherited it or something, Hermione couldn't remember. They spent most of their time watching movies, cuddling, kissing, and laughing. Everything was fine, it was perfect until one day, everything changed.
Everything was normal. They were watching a movie and talking, it was normal until half way through the movie Draco leaned over and started to kiss Hermione's cheek, and slowly made his way to her neck and began kissing he there. Hermione turned to look at him and He turned his attention to her lips. He was kissing her lips, with her kissing him back. They made out for a few moments, when suddenly Hermione felt Draco's hand making its way under her shirt and was now playing with her pant line. Hermione blushed. At first she wanted to say no, and stop him because she'd never let a guy get so close to her there. It was weird, but even though she was scared, she didn't want him to stop either. So she said nothing, and let his hands roam freely around her body. After several moments of heated passion, Draco's lips left Hermione's. He was panting, hard, but quiet to where Hermione couldn't really tell. She could only really tell because she put her hand on his chest and could feel his heart racing. It was almost racing as fast as her own, she then wondered if he could hear her heart beating, since it seemed like it was beating so fast and loud to her.
He looked at her and smiled. She smiled back. They looked at each other for the longest time without saying anything, then he broke the silence. The next thing that came out of Draco's mouth took Hermione by surprise to where she had to ask him to repeat it one more time so that she was sure of what he had said.
"I said: We should have sex sometime."
She looked at him, hard, trying to see if he was joking or something. He wasn't. He stared at her as well, waiting for an answer. Hermione didn't know what to say. She wanted to, ever since they had started "this," she wanted to. She thought about it a dozen times, but now, now that he had offered she didn't know what to say. She wanted to do it, but feared the outcome of it. Every girl Draco had been with intimately had said that about around the time after they started having sex he lost interest. Even though Hermione felt different from all the other girls, she feared that she'd become one of them. Just another notch on his belt. Just another nameless face he had sex with. As she thought of this she noticed something, they'd been doing this for at least two months now and yet she hadn't heard him call her his girlfriend, nor did they ask each other out. She looked up at Draco and said:
"Draco, what are we?"
"What?"
"I mean, what are we doing? I never asked you out and you didn't ask me out, so are we a couple?"
"No."
"Then what are we?"
"We are friends, but—"
Before Draco could finish his sentence Hermione pushed him off her and got up to leave.
"Hermione, don't go."
"Why? So you can keep using me? I thought you were different Draco. I thought, I seriously thought I meant something to you, but I guess I was wrong. About everything."
"Hermione wait—"
But she was already gone. Hermione apparated to her room and without changing into her pajamas, she got into bed, pulled the covers over her head, and cried.
Hermione woke up the next morning to an owl tapping at her window. She took one look at the color of the bird and knew exactly who it was from:
Draco
She looked at the letter. At first she felt like burning the letter, but then wondered what the letter said. After a little debate with herself, she decided that curiosity got the best of her and that she would read it then burn it. So she took the letter from the bird and opened it.
Hermione-
Look, I'm sorry about what happened last night, I don't know what I was thinking. I don't know what to say other than 'I f*cked up, and I am so sorry.' I hope you aren't mad still, or hate me. I would understand if you did though, and if you never wanted to see or talk to me ever again.
-Draco
She read the letter over and over again. She then looked at the owl and shooed him away, telling him to fly home to his master. After the owl left she folded the letter nice and neatly and then put it in the drawer where she kept all of the letters and gifts he had given her. She wasn't going to burn it, it was too sweet, and pathetic. He had apologized, and that was really all she wanted. She didn't care about what he said, just that nothing was brought up into the open. That neither of them talked about their feelings in the open, and that wasn't just his fault, but hers as well. They should have been upfront from the beginning, and maybe if they talked it out they could have a relationship. Hermione wanted to go to his place and apologize herself and talk about it with him, but she remembered that she had plans. So, she figured he could wait and suffer, until tomorrow when she could write him.
Three days past since Draco wrote that letter to Hermione and she hadn't written back or gone to see him. She meant to but was busy hanging out with Ginny, Harry, and Ron and forgot all about it so when a green flash of light lit Hermione's entire room in the middle of the night, it would be an understatement to say that she was a little scared. She screamed a little. A shape of a man started to form where the green light was. When the light disappeared, Draco's body appeared.
He came! Draco came, why?
Hermione tried to hide her smile but she couldn't suppress it, she was too happy. Draco was here, in her room, for her.
Wait. Draco is in my room, in the middle of the night. What if I woke my parents up with my screams, and saw this. What would they think-"
But before Hermione could panic anymore Draco cut into her thoughts.
"Hermione?"
Draco sounded so sad, like he was about to cry at any given moment, so, without even thinking, Hermione asked:
"Draco, are you okay?"
Draco stepped closer to her to where the light from the moon was shining on him, he didn't look sad, just confused.
"Um, are you?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I bet?"
She looked at him confused, she wasn't sure why he was acting so weird.
"Um, because of what happened the other day. You never contacted me, so. So I thought you hated me… I thought, I thought I lost you."
"Oh, oh! No I'm not mad, I was just busy, and forgot. I'm real sorry."
"Oh, okay. So, what now?"
Hermione thought for a moment. She wanted to be with Draco more than anything, but felt that he wasn't ready for a relationship, so she said:
"Um, I donno, what do you think?"
"Well, are you mad at me?"
"No."
"You hate me?"
"No. I can't hate you."
"We still friends?"
"Yeah, we are still friends."
He looked at her as if thinking about what to say next. He looked like he was trying to figure out what to say, to not hurt her feelings, so she decided to help him out.
"Look, I get it. You're not ready. It's fine. I'm fine with being your friend. I'm perfectly happy with being just friends with you."
He looked up at her, a little confused then said:
"Just friends?"
"Yeah, just friends"
He looked at her again, studying her, then slowly put his head down and whispered:
"Okay."
"Draco, it's late, and we have school tomorrow, I'm sorry. We will talk later."
"Alright."
He looked at her and gave her a weak smile. She went to hug him but instead got a kiss on the lips. It seemed too fast, almost dream like. He kissed her lips then held her face in his hands, kissed her forehead and got up and left.
For awhile things seemed okay. They were talking, not hanging out as much, but they were still talking. But even that began to fade. At first Hermione figured it was because of classes but it had been months since they actually hung out and when they did it was for a few minutes, between classes, nothing more. After awhile even that disappeared. When she questioned him about it he'd never answer. The first half of the year had come and gone, and winter break was just a few days away, and she hadn't seen or heard from Draco in two months. So when she heard his voice in the hall she got excited and practically ran down it to see him. She was smiling, she was so happy to see him she couldn't contain it. They'd barely talked and so they hadn't talked about the events of the summer at all. She turned the corner and almost ran into him. Draco Turned to see who it was. When he saw it was Hermione he smiled at her, but right away she could see it wasn't his smile that she loved, but an awkward kind of smile. An uncomfortable, forced smile. Hermione was about to say something when a cute little first year broke the awkward silence:
"Draco honey? You were saying?"
"Uh, oh."
He then turned his attention back to her and then acted as if Hermione wasn't there, as if they didn't know each other. So many emotions were going through her, she wanted to yell at him, hit him, cry and then throw herself into his arms so that he could comfort her. Instead, she walked away, and was able to get all the way up to her room before breaking into a million pieces and then crying herself to sleep.
The next morning Hermione went to breakfast and did her normal thing… But when classes were over she was walking down the hallway when someone called out to her. She turned to see Draco running up to her.
"What Draco?"
Draco looked a little confused and said:
"Hermione. You okay?"
"Oh me? I'm fine! Just perfect!"
She said it with such sarcasm, such malice, anyone could tell she was lying.
"Um maybe I should go."
"Yeah. That would be a good idea."
Draco looked at her one more time then turned on his heels and strode away, obviously confused, hurt, and mad.
A few hours later Hermione got a letter that one of her roommates gave to her.
"A boy gave it to me and demanded that I give it to you and that you read it immediately."
The girl looked at her and walked away. Hermione looked at it, no name, so she opened it. When she unfolded the paper she noticed why there was no writing on the envelope, cause both knew that if she knew it was from him, she would have tossed it out the window.
Hermione-
Are you okay? I got worried after I saw you this afternoon, what's wrong?
Draco
She thought about throwing it away and not even bother to write him back, but then figured that if he seriously didn't know she should tell him. So she wrote him.
Draco-
To be honest? Yeah I am not okay. I was so hurt when I saw you with that girl. You knew I liked you, and yet you ignored my feelings, and it hurt, and sucked when I saw you with her, but now I know you don't want a relationship with me, which sucks but I will have to get over it. I should have known even though you never told me how you felt. I should have known that you weren't interested in me.
-Hermione
Not a full day went by, since she gave him the letter, he wrote back.
Hermione-
I'm sorry, I really am, but how could I know that you liked me? You never actually said anything, and if you didn't know how I felt about you, you should have asked, I know I should have.
Draco
She stared at the note, and then began to cry. Why hadn't she asked? Things would have been different if only they'd asked what they felt about one another. If only they told each other how they felt all along, it would've been different. So before she left for the winter break she wrote him another note.
Draco-
Did you ever really want a relationship with me?
-Hermione
Now, after weeks of waiting, hoping for a letter, it finally came, and here, Hermione had the answer to her question she so desperately wanted answered. Here she was holding it, and yet she was too scared to know the answer. Finally, after wasting half the day debating on reading it, or not, she decided. She took the letter and opened it and quickly unfolded the paper, read it, then stared at it.
Hermione-
I did. I so badly wanted to have a relationship with you. But things change.
-Draco
She stared at it and read it again and again. Finally after reading it an 8th time she dropped it on the floor as she fell to her knees, she put her face into her hands and began to cry, hysterically. After hours of crying she sat there on the floor. Grabbed a piece of paper and wrote. Wrote one final letter to Draco Malfoy.
The next morning the letter arrived at Draco's place. Draco quickly opened it and read the context of the letter.
Dear Draco-
You're right, things change, and I just need to deal with it. I'm sorry for everything, how everything happened, and for how it all ended. I wish things were different. I really do But there is nothing I can do to change it and I'm sorry. I wish things would go back to normal but it can't, and I'm sorry for that as well. I'll see you around Draco, goodbye.
Always, Hermione
Draco read the letter and knew that this wasn't a letter that meant things were okay, and that they'd still be friends, but just by looking at the letter, with its water-tear stains and smudges. He knew it was a farewell letter. That being his friend was too painful and heartbreaking. She was ending it, was letting him go, cutting him out of her life completely. Draco looked up and began to think, but his thoughts were interrupted when the perky first year hugged him from behind.
"Hey, what's that?"
Draco looked and saw that she was gazing at the letter in his hands. He quickly crumpled it up and threw it in the nearest trash can and guided her out of the room while saying:
"Nothing, come on, let's go eat."
"Sure, okay. What do you feel like eating?"
They walked out of the room. A minute later Draco came back in the room, telling her he had forgotten something, quickly grabbed the crumpled paper out of the trash and tried to smooth it out as much as possible, then opened a drawer in his desk. The drawer was full of papers, full of letters. They were every single letter Hermione had given him, except for one, one that was not written by Hermione but to Hermione. Draco wrote it a few months back. He opened it and read it for the 1000th time.
Hermione-
I'm sorry it took so long to tell you this, I just didn't know how to tell you. That night I asked to have sex with you, I really didn't mean it, I mean I wanted to, I'm a guy! But what I really wanted to say was that I loved you. I do, and at the time it scared me, I didn't know what this feeling was. I didn't know how to tell you or express it so I freaked and tried to push you away. I'm sorry Hermione, you are the most important person to me and I don't want to do anything to hurt you. Or push you away, so until I know your feelings for me, I won't tell you mine.
Yours, Draco
Draco smirked at the letter:
Gah, what a fool I was, I should have known how she felt.
He dropped both letters into the drawer and closed it. He muttered a sealing spell, sealing the drawer, and then walked out of the room.
The End