Painful Things

12|The Confession

12|The Confession

Have you ever got the feeling that what you always dreamed finally came true? Well, that’s what Hermione Granger feels right now. It’s been a month actually since Ron broke up with Lavender and with little advices from Draco every day, it came to this moment.

Her body is shaking in excitement but no words are coming out of her mouth even if she wants to shout right now.

“Will you be my girlfriend, Hermione?” Ron repeated his question. This time, she gathered all her Gryffindor courage to answer him in one word.

“Yes.”

Everything in her life now is perfect. The guy she’s in love with for many years is now her boyfriend, her friends are still there, and her grades are remarkably high. And most of it is because of a certain blonde boy.

It’s been a routine for the both of them to meet every night in the room of requirement during midnight so when the clock strikes twelve, Draco walked into the room as Hermione stood up to acknowledge his presence.

“Hi, I have some good news!” Hermione squealed in excitement.

“Oh, what is it?”

“Ron and I are now together!” She saw some sadness in his eyes the moment she said those words but it was quickly changed into happiness.

“Well, Congratulations Hermione.”

“Thank you so much, Draco. I couldn’t have done it without you.” She said.

It was a little different from their other conversations because this time, Hermione did the talking and Draco was just listening.

“Hey, why are you sad?”

“Um, nothing.”

“Something’s going on. I know it, Draco.”

“I guess you don’t need me anymore now that you and Weasley are together.”

“Where did you get that thought? Of course I still need you. I still need your advices, you know?”

“I guess I’d still be seeing you here in the Room of Requirement?”

“Even outside this room. You are my friend now, Draco. You can talk to me whenever you want.”

“Wait a minute, friends?” he asked and then smirked.

“Well, yeah. We have been calling each other in first name basis so I just assumed that we are already friends.”

“Sure, my friend.”

“Draco, I need you answer my question honestly.” She said in the middle of their conversation.

“It depends on your question.” She rolled her eyes at him and he laughed.

“Why are you doing this?” She asked anyway.

“Doing what? Talking to you?” he answered.

“What I mean is that, Why are you being nice to me? Why are you helping me? What do you have to gain from all of this? Why the sudden change of heart?” She blurted out.

“Okay, because you are my friend, because I want to, your attention, and because I may have realized something.” He answered.

“What? I did not understand what you said right now.”

“Well, I realized in the war that I’ve been living the life I don’t want and that I needed to be nice to people for a change. And then, I thought about you and how I bullied you all these years. When we came back here, I was still mean to you at first because you know, ‘Old habits die hard’. And as time passed, I thought that if I still ridicule you, what change would that be? So I stopped calling you a mudblood and gave you all the help I could offer. However, I didn’t see one thing coming. I started liking you more and more.” He confessed.

“Wow, you know that I love Ron, right?” She asked.

“Yeah, I know but I just wanted to let that all out. This is a bad timing and I just ruined our friendship, did I?” He said nervously.

“Don’t worry. We are still friends. Besides, it isn’t your fault that you like me. I’m sorry but I just love Ron and we’re together now.” She said.

“Don’t worry. I don’t plan on getting you from Ron, Why would I even help you with him if I want you all by myself? I only want you to be happy.” He said.

“You’ve got a point, Draco. Thanks again for helping me make my dreams come true.”

“No problem, Granger. No problem.”