LOVE AT FIRST PUNCH

Chapter 12 (H)

Hermione ran around the house and down the driveway. She threw open the gate doors. Draco closely followed, catching up to her in an instant. He grabbed her wrist and she spun around to face him, tears running down her face. Hermione noticed Draco gripping her wrist and she tore it away.

"How could you?!" Hermione cried, tears of exasperation still falling.

"How could I-- what?!" Draco yelled.

"Make me care about you!" Hermione tried to wipe her tears away but they kept falling.

"I didn't know who you were just like you didn't know who I was!" Malfoy felt a lump rise in his throat but he shoved it back down.

"YOU WERE GOING TO KISS ME IDIOT!" Hermione screamed, falling to the ground in a heap, her shoulders shaking.

"SO WHAT IF I WAS?" Malfoy replied, sinking to his knees and looking her in the eye. Hermione slapped him across the face and he lept back, rubbing at the spot where she had struck him.

"We could never happen, don't you understand?! You're certainly one heck of a player, Draco!" Hermione rose to her feet, still crying. Tears started to fall down Draco's face.

"Why not-- why can't we happen?!" Malfoy tried to grab Hermione's hand again but she pushed it away.

"Draco we've hated each other since day one. Us would be a disaster!" Hermione exclaimed.

"That's where you're wrong, Hermione." Draco said quietly, tears now streaming down his face. "I've loved you since day one. When you punched me-- all the way back in third year, I knew. When I saw you dancing with Victor at the Yule Ball, I knew. When I arrived home and saw you in my bed, I knew. I knew that I wanted to wake up next to you every single morning. I knew that I wanted you-- all of you, forever. I love you, Hermione Granger. And it's pointless for me to keep denying my feelings for you!"

Hermione sobbed harder. The two stood in silence for a moment before Hermione spoke through tears. "Tonight is where it began and this is where it ends." Hermione turned and began walking back.

"This is not where it ends." Draco pulled her into him by her waist and pulled her face into his. The kiss was full of bottled emotion, feelings, and passion, and it lasted. Until Hermione pushed him away.

"I'm sending an owl to George. I'm leaving. Tonight." Hermione then ran to the front door of the manor, crying all the way there. Malfoy stood in silence, tears running down his face-- his heart broken.