CHAPTER 16

As February came to an end and winter began to slowly melt into spring, Hermione decided to move out of Summer's Bluff and back in her parents. Draco could do nothing as he stood in the wings, watching as she began to pack her things. On the day that she left she came to see him, the usually vibrant air of sunshine she carried around herself was no longer there as she faced him.

She said nothing as she slowly placed the house keys she was given onto his desk. She did not look at him, only stared at the white wall behind him as she spoke, her voice soft and low. "I'll draw up the divorce papers and send them to you when they're done."

Draco said nothing as he stared down at the golden key, lying bare on his desk.

"You don't have to worry about telling my family about the separation, I'll tell them. Tell your family that I'm sorry it did not work out between us." She paused, taking in a deep breath to steady herself before continuing. "Thank you for giving me your one year. I hope that when we meet again for the last time—we can still be—friends." She finished and turned around before the bundle of emotions she had been containing burst before him, as it had done so that one night.

Draco watched as she hurried out of his office, leaving the soft scent of lilies behind. Slowly he reached out to pick up the golden key, staring at it. Quietly he opened the top drawer in his desk and lain the key there before closing it shut.

Once home Hermione had broken it slowly to her family, telling them that her relationship with Draco was no longer working and that it had pushed them to bring an end to it. She gave reasons and excuses to convince her family and herself as well, why it would have never worked.

The Granger's seemed to have understood, or at least said they understood, and asked no more questions from her. They watched her silently as the days passed and gave her sympathetic looks. When her cousins came over to help console her with jokes about women not needing men and saying that she was better off without them, Hermione only gave them polite smiles and nodded. Anyone seeing her now could see that she was longer herself, gone was the always smiling Mya, gone were the twinkling of joy and the flare of like in her eyes.

Always quietly she would excuse herself from conversation and leave a crowded room, she spoke little of anything and sometimes wondered off in a daze and rarely left the house. Her family worried over her, but did not know how they could help, so they watched as she suffered in silence.

A week passed before Draco received a call from Hermione's father. A few words were exchanged, and not on any friendly terms, and then it was over.

The Stars did not take news of the separation well, his parents asked him to carefully thing it over before the decision became final in April, but his only answer to them was a blank stare.

The brothers took the news with a few frowns and muttered words, but otherwise said nothing more. Lacy on the other hand refused to see or talk to him. But a few days after his announcement she arrived at his office with a bucked of chocolate fudge ice cream and two spoons. They sat in his office for the rest of the day and ate, talking about how he had started the tradition of a bucket of ice cream with her after she had been left broken hearted when her first crush called her ugly.

And as the days passed, his family watched him as he swamped himself in work. He practically lived in his office, rarely leaving it. When they spoke with him it was as if he digested their words and threw them out when they left his office. No one had ever seen him so deaf to the world around him, not even when he had last closed himself off to the world.

When March came to a close and April came it was as if each passing day was held off not wanting to end.

One week left before they would meet again at the place where it all began.

"You okay Hermione?"

Hermione looked away from the window to see her mother watching her from the doorway.

"I'm fine."

Mrs. Granger sighed and walked into the room. "These came for you today." She said and handed Hermione a yellow envelope before coming to sit beside her on the window seat.

Hermione took it, forcing her hands not to shake as she set it aside, already knowing what was in them.

"You can talk to me about it you know. You don't have to let it consume you."

"I know mum." She said, turning away from her mother to, once again, stare out of her window.

"You love him still, don't you?"

Hermione turned back sharply to stare at her mother, "What?"

"You may not say it or show it in any form, but whenever one of us mentions his name your eyes light up as if the whole world were laid at your feet. If you still love him, why are you here?"

Hermione stiffened her back and looked away, "Because he doesn't love me."

"Are you sure about that?"

"He never loved me to begin with." Hermione confessed.

Her mother remained quiet, waiting for the rest of the story.

"He was never going to love again, because he already had someone he loved and she had caused him to lock his heart away from love. He asked me to marry him because I asked him too."

"You can never force a man to marry you unless he saw something in you."

Hermione gave her mother a dry laugh, shaking her head, "You don't know the half of the story behind why we got married."

"Then tell me."

Hermione looked down at her hand lying limp in her lap, "I always hated that I was the only one who did not have anyone. Oh I had family and friends that loved me, but I never had anyone to call my own, never had someone that I could say to others 'that's him'. I wondered if something was wrong with me, for never having a guy to approach me, or not ever finding the right one. I wondered if I was the one who had closed herself off to relationships or if I was never meant to be in a relationship. I envied my cousins when they brother their boyfriends over, all blushing and giggling, when I had never had any of that. And I don't blame them; I blame myself because I was the one that denied me that. So when everyone was getting married or engaged I wanted to be happy with someone too, and being stupid and desperate I said yes to the first man that came to me."

"Draco is—he was supposed to be someone I could go and show off, saying 'Little Mya has someone and she's happy' and I really was happy, even if it was a lie to begin with. But nothing in life is ever as you plan it out to be, is it? Somewhere along the way I lost track of what was real and what was fake. I began to fall, hard. It wasn't because he was the first one to hold my hand, or kiss me, he was the first one for everything, but he was much more than that."

"But I forgot that to him it was all a ruse, just as mine had been at the beginning to fool my family."

Hermione looked up to meet her mother's gaze, "I do love him, I understand that, but I cannot force him to love me back when he cannot. And I'm not being noble or anything when I say that I'll let him go. I think its better this way, and I promise I'll smile and laugh again, but right now I want to be unhappy. I want to be unhappy right now, because I want to be happy for the rest of my life knowing that I loved him."

Mrs. Granger smiled, tears gathering in her eyes as she pulled Hermione into her arms for a hug.

She sat outside in the park on the bench, waiting for him. Their year and day were up, and all too soon. She watched as he walked toward herm memorizing his face and the way he moved for the long future ahead of them.

When he stood before her he was silent, looking at her with shadow cast eyes, slowly he came to sit beside her, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket along with a lighter.

She smelled the first touch of tobacco as it hit the air, but she said nothing, wanting also to remember that smell. They sat in silence for a while, watching as people jogged past and as birds landed on the wide walkways to pick at bread crumbs left by people in the park.

"Here are the papers." She said, finally breaking the silence as she handed him the yellow envelope.

He took them from her fingers, not bothering to look at them.

"You can take care of the rest of it." She said, staring down at her now empty hands.

He said nothing, just continued to puff at his cigarette.

"Your ring," She began when she noticed that she still wore his ring on her fingers.

After all those weeks that had passed, she had never bothered to remove the ring off of her finger, and as she began to do so now he bowed her head blinking rapidly as she struggled with it.

"Throw it away. Sell it. It won't matter to me."

She ceased her struggle and nodded quickly; too afraid to speak least she gave way to tears.

"I—I guess this is goodbye then." She managed to say, finally turning her head to look at him.

He nodded, showing no form of emotion as he finished his cigarette and crushed it under his foot before standing up, leaving her to sit alone on the bench.

"Bye. Tinkerbelle."

His expression did not change as he looked down at her, his cool gray eyes giving nothing away, just like that first time they had met.

She became very still as she saw his hand slowly reach out, one last time, to brush her bangs behind her ear. Then he turned away and without looking back he left her.

She stood up and watched as he disappeared into a black car, his body closed to her view before she finally let the tears burning her eyes fall. She shook with the sobs that came from her body and then slowly as her vision blurred she collapsed.

"Jean." Silence.

"Jean?" Nothing.

"Mya?" Blank.

"Hermione?" Black

"Hermione."

Slowly her eyes opened, and as her vision clears she saw her brother, Bradley. A slow smile appeared on her lips as she reached out for him.

"Bradley." Her voice was hoarse.

He took her hand and squeezed it.

"Hell Mya, you gave me a scare there."

"Sorry."

Bradley shook his head, curse, let go of her hand to stand, and started to pace beside the hospital bed. "When I get my hands on Malfoy, he is going to regret the day he set sight on my sister; that bastard. I want to rip him up piece by piece and—"

"No," She said in the loudest voice she could manage, which was more a whisper than anything. "It wasn't him."

"The hell it wasn't!"

"Bradley. Please. Just—leave him alone. It wasn't just him, I have to responsibilities for my actions too."

"Jean—"

She shook her head, "I'm really tired."

Bradley sighed and came back to sit by her side, "I'll go and get the doctor."

And before she could protest he was already up and gone.

"Mrs. Malfoy."

Hermione sat alone with the doctor in the hospital room, waiting for what he had to say to her.

"You have to be taking better care of yourself."

She nodded. The doctor looked up from his clipboard and gave her a frown.

"Do you know, Mrs. Malfoy, that you are about two months pregnant?"

Silently Hermione looked up to stare at the doctor.

"What?"

The doctor stood up from where he sat to come and stand beside her. "Mrs. Malfoy, you are currently about eight weeks pregnant."

Hermione raised a hand to lie on her abdomen, she was pregnant. She was going to have a baby. Draco's baby.

"Tell me again why you're going?" Bradley asked as he watched her pack.

"I really need to get away for awhile. And Sam needs company."

"Sam does not need you to—"

"He doesn't need me, but right now I need him."

"You have me here. Mum and Dad. And—"

Hermione stopped her packing to come and stand before Bradley, bringing his face down to meet hers with her hands.

"You are going to start a new project in Australia. You won't be here and I don't want you to stay just because I'm so called 'heart-broken'. And Mum and Dad have enough to worry about with the dentistry."

Bradley pouted, "You only need Sam because he lives away from civilization."

Hermione shook her head and laughed her first laugh in so many weeks. "He lives in the country side of France."

Bradley frowned, "Same thing. Plus he'll do what you tell him to."

"No he won't. Bradley you know Sam better than anyone."

"Anyone other than yourself."

Hermione stopped, thought about it and then smiled nodding. "Bradley—"

"Alright, just be sure to call and—"

"I know. I know. I'm only going to Sam's."

"And he lives in a different country."

Hermione sighed. "Tell everyone I love them. I'll call, email, write, send pictures, etc."

Bradley hugged her, his arms tightening around her. "You're not going to tell me why you're leaving in such a rush."

"Bradley I—I can't."

"Hermione, if you won't tell me—"

"When I'm ready I'll tell you and everyone else. Okay?"

"Alright." He hugged her again, "You know I love you right?"

"Love you too." She said, and closed her eyes letting herself be held and wrapped in arms that loved and supported her.

When the plane took off two hours later, she looked out of the tiny round window, saying goodbye to her family and friends.

Saying goodbye to Draco.

AN: Sorry for the long wait again! I went on a trip with some friends this week. I really hope you like this chapter. It's not very long but still I hope you like it. I cried writing this chapter too so I hope to bring tears to your eyes again, hopefully.

Here is my reply to those of you who have reviewed chapter 15:

KraZiiePyrozHavemoreFun: Thanks for reading and saying that this is Epic!

Eisette: Thank you! She reminded me of a wood nymph and I just had to call her that. Hope you enjoy this chapter too!

romancegirl92: Yes a big twist, but not the only one. I'm really happy to hear that you like my other story too! Thank you.

wanderingcub: I was going to put up a tissue alert for this chapter but it seemed like a spoiler so I didn't. Thanks for reading!

Catuhh: Here's the new chapter, hope you like it. Thanks.

Spunkywave77: AHH you're addicted to my story? That's like the best compliment I've ever had! I know they're really stubborn but what can you do? They're Draco and Hermione. Hope you like this chapter too!

Oceanmina101: Yes stupid Jessica. I hope they can fix it too and soon! Thanks

Zee C: Aww don't hate me! I didn't mean to make you cry but if it makes you feel better it made my heart break too!

123Aqua123: Thanks for liking this story! Hope you enjoy the rest of it.

snakesandemeralds: It is sad. I don't like writing sad stories but I had too. Hope you enjoy this chapter too!

boohoo: Yes they are very stubborn that they can't even tell each other their feelings for each other. Draco didn't mean to raise his hand against Lacy he just wasn't thinking straight and was frustrated. Thanks for reading. Hope you like this chapter too!

XXJamesLilyCutestXX: My heart broke too when I was writing this chapter. It is awful but it has to happen. Hope you enjoy this chapter too!

Ashlee: Yes I'm allowing anonymous reviews so I'm going to look forward to hearing from you again! Thanks for reading and reviewing!

For those of you who reviewed to Chapter 15 or any of the previous chapters I appreciate it a lot! Thank you so much for taking your time to write them!

And for those who haven't reviewed, thanks for reading!