Disclaimer: Still have not received the call from J.K. Rowling saying I can own... I have a feeling she's not gonna call.
A/N: I had zero intentions on having this be the last chapter. As I got towards the end, it just felt right. I'm still a little unsure about it considering this is not the way I had planned on finishing it (at all!) but you, the reader, are always right so you tell me... Just please try not to flame me.
Chapter Thirty-Two
"You're going to die! Don't go in there! DON'T GO IN THERE! See, now you died, what did I tell you? Stupid muggle." Had Hermione known Draco would be one of those types of people who just had to yell at the movie screen, she would not have suggested movie night.
She had gone to such efforts as buying a TV and what Draco likes to call ''that box that plays stuff that moves'' and installing it; Without much help from Draco who just wound up caught in all the wires. At this moment, she wished she hadn't gone to all the trouble.
"There's blood on the walls you idiot! Why the bloody hell are you going in there? See, there goes your head." Were it not for Draco's constant documentation of the movie, Hermione might have actually been scared.
"There goes the killer!" Hermione turned to glare at him. "He's right behind you, look behind you he—mph!" Hermione giggled at the murderous look on his face. Throwing a pillow at Draco's face was apparently a good way to get him to shut up.
"Think it's funny do you?" he glared at her.
"Me?" she asked innocently, "Whatever do you mean?"
"You threw a pillow at my face." he shifted his body so that he faced her.
Hermione's jaw dropped in mock shock, "Who? Me? I'm not sure what you mean. But if I did, I think it would be something like this," she whacked him with the pillow again and knowing better, ran away this time.
Clutching the bowl of popcorn she dashed out of the room with Draco right behind her. She ran around in circles around the small island in the middle of the kitchen, watching Draco carefully and switching directions every time he changed his.
Getting tired, not to mention dizzy from constantly switching directions, she tried a new approach. She set down the bowl but not before grabbing a handful first and throwing kernels at at him a couple at a time as she made her way out into the large back yard. There was a clearing in the middle but surrounding it were trees that stretched on and on forming a forest of their own.
In the dark chilly night she made her way into the tress and hid behind a large one. She ate the rest of the popcorn she held as she waited and hoped she didn't sound as loud as she found herself to be. Her breathing came out ragged and the chewing seemed to echo in her ears as adrenaline pulsed through her veins.
She tried hard to listen for Draco but couldn't really make out any noise. Every time she thought she heard something a wind would come and stir the leaves overhead to the point that it was all she could hear.
"Boo!"
"AH!" Hermione jumped back and hit her head on the tree as Draco jumped in front of her, seemingly out of nowhere. "Ow," she rubbed the spot on her head.
"I'm sorry," he frowned, massaging the spot for her. He kissed the top of her head. "Better?" he asked.
"A little." she shivered.
Noting that she was cold he suggested they go back inside.
"Here," he said, lifting her into his arms as he kept her close so that his body heat would keep her warm.
"Honestly Draco, I'm not disabled just because I hit my head. I can walk just fine," Hermione argued.
"Fine, just trying to be a gentleman." Draco said as he set her down and purposely pushed her with one had while the other grabbed onto her firmly. "See, you've lost all ability to stand without falling over. No, it's best you let me take you inside." he smirked as he picked her up once more.
"Very funny." obviously, she was not amused.
"The great Hermione Granger has problems letting others do nice things for her, this is front page news! I'll be sure to give Rita Skeeter the inside scoop in the morning."
"Oh wow, two jokes in the span of 5 minutes. Someone thinks they're funny."
"My love, that is just one of my many amazing traits."
"Ego trip," she stressed out the last bit.
"Is not, it comes with being a Malfoy. Besides," Draco added, "You think it's sexy." he said, winking at her.
"You sure are special Mr. Malfoy." he brought her inside and laid her down on the couch. The movie was paused and he sat down next to her. He stretched out one leg on the couch as the other was on the ground keeping him from falling off. He grabbed on to the back of the couch, trapping her. He brought his face down towards her and kissed her gently.
Draco gently bit her lip and gave her one last chaste kiss before letting go. "How about I show you how special?" he winked.
You don't have to be some sort of rocket scientist to figure out what that meant. But for the great Hermione Granger, who is the smartest witch of our time, she wasn't quite up to speed, "What?" she asked, confused.
"Would you like to go upstairs?" he said, head slightly nodding towards the stairs.
"Why would I want to go upstairs?"
Draco sighed and stood, "Bloody Merlin, what do you think I'm trying to say?"
"Surely not what you're trying to say."
"Well... I am. I mean, look, if you don't want to it's fine. Maybe it's too fast that's fine, I'm okay with that, I mean, I can wait." he rushed out as his nerves got the best of him. "I mean I'm not some hormone crazed teenager, I can wait. It's not just that I'd like to, I like you and I think you like me and it's been a while and I just thought that..." he shook his head "We can wait, that would be fine... if you want to, I mean I'm totally okay with that." he felt more embarrassed than he had ever felt.
How utterly humiliating. He had never felt to much like a complete idiot. He was a Malfoy for Merlin's sake! Malfoy's didn't get nervous around girls, he definitely never had. But she was different, Hermione was different. Draco actually cared what she thought, unlike all the girls before. This was, she, was more. And it was completely new, and completely terrifying.
If Hermione had shown her true emotions at that moment, she would be roaring with laughter. Draco Malfoy, nervous and blabbering like a lunatic! But she had to give him credit, it was still ridiculously charming and cute. "I'm sorry, did I hurt the Malfoy ego?" she grinned and watched the look on his face that resembled a very embarrassed deer in headlights, and eventually sighed.
Hermione refrained from rolling her eyes and said, "Do the honors," she stretched her arms open and he smiled in excitement. He bent down and took her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he lowered his head in order to meet her lips.
And with that, he happily carried her up the stairs and into his room and did what he did best. He loved her.
When it was said and done, they kissed and as they broke apart her eyes met his and in that moment as her bright brown eyes looked up at him, he felt a feeling he had never felt before.
He felt calm, at peace with who he was. He wasn't always the best guy, the nicest guy, the perfect son, the perfect leader, or the ideal friend.
He wasn't always the ideal human being. Perhaps his change had come too late but as he looked at her, he knew this was not true. If it had been so, she would not be laying next to him at this very moment, hair sprawled on his bed in every which direction looking more beautiful than any women he had ever seen.
It felt as if his past, was in the past and as though it didn't matter anymore. He felt like he could put all the bad things that he had done, and that had happened to him, to bed and move forward. With her, anything was possible. With her his future, his life, seemed oddly bright.
He wanted to live in this moment forever. He felt love, and felt loved. He felt it pulsing through his veins to the point where he was grinning like a madman. He was so deliriously happy that he allowed the words that he had said to so few, be said.
"I love you."
She seemed slightly surprised and he wondered if he had said the wrong thing. It took forever, an hour, days, maybe even a week. In truth, it only took ten seconds before she herself smiled wholeheartedly and said, "I love you too."