“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
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It was one of those moments where one second felt like one minute, and two seconds felt like two minutes and three felt like three minutes. It couldn’t have been longer than a few seconds for Draco to pull back from Alexis. It couldn’t have been longer than a few seconds when their eyes met, the unmistakeable pain reflected in both gazes. She thought she felt her heart rip in half, but of course that was both stupid and impossible.
“I – I’m sorry,” Hermione stuttered the first words she could think of. And then she was closing the door; unable to stand him looking at her like that, with a stare so piercing she felt there was nothing she couldn’t hide. And right now she couldn’t risk letting him see her pain. Couldn’t let him know how much power he still held even after seven months.
Draco caught the door before it could slam shut in his face, pulling it open hard enough to have ripped it off its hinges. Hermione didn’t stop to look back. She’d have to stop to do that, and if she stopped she was afraid of letting what she’d walked in on really hit her. So she walked fast, as fast as a person in a wedding dress could walk, heels clicking sharply on the bitumen. She counted them. One, two, three, four… Keep going. Don’t hesitate.
“Granger, wait,” he demanded. “What you saw – it wasn’t –”
“I should have knocked,” she said back, her voice higher than usual. The beginnings of a sob bubbled to her mouth when she spoke, and she hastily stifled it with a hand. Don’t cry. You have no reason to cry. He was never yours. Draco’s fingers grazed her elbow; she spun around sharply. “Don’t. Touch. Me,” she warned, her voice shaking but gaze unfaltering.
He stared back levelly. Two seconds that felt like two minutes passed.
“Hermione, I’m so sorry,” came a third voice distantly. Alexis had followed, standing some feet away. “I thought – thought whatever you and Draco had was finished. You hadn’t seen each other in so long. And you were getting married today. I thought –”
“Alexis, go,” Draco ordered harshly. She did not move, blue eyes on Hermione. “NOW!” he yelled so loud and so sudden she jumped.
Alexis was not someone to back down, and she had no real reason to be apologising. Draco was free to do whatever he liked. She was breaking no rules kissing him. And under normal circumstances if any man yelled at her like that they’d get an earful. It was different this time. They all knew it. And so Alexis turned back up the street.
Hermione strode away in the opposite direction. They’d reached the end now, where a forest surrounded the houses here. She heard Draco’s steps crunching under the leaves behind her. Hermione counted to three and faced him.
Her face was worked into a cold mask of indifference that could’ve only been taught to her by Draco. The one he’d used during those first months in the flat. She thought she saw him wince from the hardness of it, but he was still as good at hiding reactions as always.
“Please,” she said calmly, “leave me alone.”
“Granger –”
He was just as calm as she was, which ignited a furious storm in her chest. He was so out of reach, so fucking fine and nonchalant all the time. Did anything unsettle him? How could he be so fine when she was sucking in heaving sobs? “I,” she started, voice constricted, “haven’t got anything to say to you, Draco.”
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A Wonderful Fortuitous Love
Fanfiction"You see, Draco Malfoy, without your sarcastic replies to endure each morning and that arrogance only you could carry, I find myself somewhat missing you." Draco thought the biggest problem living for a year under the same roof as Hermione Granger w...
