A/N: I think this would qualify as an emotional chapter.
The following week had proved difficult for Draco. His mind was reeling with images of Hermione and Donovan, wondering how his life would have been different had he not went along with that stupid bet. He couldn't help but wonder if they would have gotten married, raised Donovan and possibly another child and lived a happy life. He sighed and decided he needed to talk to Hermione again, one way or another.
The next day, Draco apparated to the property, giving Her time to realize someone had arrived. He walked towards the cottage slowly, wand in his pocket with his hands up in surrender in hopes she wouldn't go through with her threat and hex him.
"Hermione, I want to talk to you." He called out when he noticed her face peek at him through the window.
Hermione then sighed herself and opened the door. She had decided to talk with him the next time he showed up because of the letter Donovan sent her, asking her to talk to him. She suspected that Draco had put Donovan up to it at first but the more she read his letter, the more she realized it was just a request from a confused kid that wanted his parents to get along.
"I'm not going to hex you, You can put your hands down." She stated from the door.
Draco lowered his hands slowly but still didn't put it past her to hex him for the fun of it. When he finally reached the door, he lowered his hands completely and said the first thing that came to his mind.
"I'm so sorry." He stated with a lowered head.
Hermione closed her eyes and willed back her tears. She had wanted to hear those words from him for years, spoken with honesty like he just had. She stepped closer to him and reached out, pulling him closer towards her. She never expected to do that considering all the work she put into erecting walls to keep people out, but seeing Draco looking honestly broken had sent one of her walls crashing down.
Strong arms wrapped around her waist and his face buried into her stomach as his shoulders sighed in relief.
"I need to tell you everything." He mumbled, not pulling his face away in the least.
"Then lets go inside." She stated as she pulled away, giving Draco room to climb the three stairs that led inside.
Once inside and the doors were closed, a silence fell over the pair who seemed to struggle to gain their composure.
"I didn't want this to end up this way." Draco suddenly said as he went towards the couch, "I never planned for anything to backfire as bad as it did."
"Meaning?" Hermione asked as she took the spot next to him.
"Meaning I was stupid and should have never taken the bet or at least told you about it and what I had planned."
Hermione was slightly confused, she knew he had taken the bet, but why would he have told her? Wouldn't that have made the bet void?
"It started as a bet" he continued, "But I never expected to actually fall in love with you. I never wanted to hurt you and planned to make things right with you on train back home."
She remained quiet, letting him say what was on his mind without interruption.
"Please believe me when I say that when we made love, I did love you… I didn't do it because of the bet. I planned on having my cake and eating it too but now I realized what a mistake I had made."
"Why didn't you just tell me? I would have went along with it."
"I didn't think you would… I just wanted to make it through the bet and once we were on the way home, I planned on telling you everything."
"Then I received your letter and I searched everywhere for you, I wanted to tell you the truth before you followed through with you letter. I only knew where you were once I spotted you on the bridge and Saw Harry and Ron running towards you. I tried to get down there as fast as I could but between the running through corridors and up the stairs, my body was hurting not to mention the fear of loosing you was killing me inside and making it hard to breath."
Draco grew quiet and despite his best efforts, he couldn't stop the stray tears from falling.
"I wanted to pull you from the bridge and claim you right there. I didn't care what the others thought and I didn't care if they knew that I had actually fallen for you."
He paused again and looked right into her eyes, "When you fell, my heart stopped beating, my chest hurt like fire had ripped through it and it took every ounce of strength I had not to jump over after you. I watched, frozen until you were no longer in sight and the memory of you falling with you hair billowing behind you… has stuck in my head for years. I've never forgiven myself for what I did and planned to live alone for the rest of my life. I didn't deserve to be happy after what I had done to you."
Hermione had tears streaking down her face as he spoke. She didn't know that he had actually fallen in love with her, she never in the last 11 years expected it.
"I didn't know" she said softly, "I thought it was all a game… a plot to humiliate me. I was in so much pain because I had thought you had honestly used me and with Harry and Ron acting like they were… I just didn't have any options available."
"They have beaten themselves up for years over this, Hermione, we put our differences aside while we searched" He had to stop and clear his throat, "When we searched for your… body. We put all things aside and searched for hours for any signs of you, in hopes that somehow, someway, you had survived the fall. The others eventually gave up but the three of us searched for months trying to at least find your body – we became friends when we were all going through that."
Hermione rubbed her hands over her face, trying to stop the tears from falling harder. She didn't notice as Draco stood from the couch and walked closer to her, kneeling on the floor between her legs. He pulled her hands from her face and used his hand to lift up her chin so that she was looking into his eyes.
"I never stopped loving you, Hermione, and never will. I just need to know you forgive me – please tell me you'll forgive me." He begged