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"Hey." said Hermione brightly, walking up to the platinum-haired girl, clutching her book to her chest. "Professor Mcgonagall just told us about the ball. Have you got a date yet?" she said rather quickly, unable to hide the excitement in her tone.
"Yeah, I'm actually on my way to ask Katherine out to the ball." nodded Y/N with a bright smile, yet it immediately fell at the look on the bushy haired girls face. "Hermione?" she said uncertainly.
"Don't...Don't you remember what you said last night?" questioned Hermione with a rather shaky voice, although she managed to keep it steady.
"Last night?" repeated Y/N with a bewildered frown on her pale face. "Oh Merlin, I didn't say anything embarassing, did I? I was probably drunk out of my mind, so I was just blabbering stupid things that aren't true." she shrugged.
"I hate you." said Hermione quietly, looking up at the platinum-haired girl with glossed over eyes. "I hate you!" she repeated in a much louder voice now.
"...What?"
"I hate you, Y/N Malfoy!" yelled Hermione, letting her book fall to the floor to grasp the front of the platinum-haired girls robe. "I let you rip my heart to shreds! I let you break me over and over again! I hate you!"
"I absolutely despise you! I hate that I care for you! I hate the fact that even though you treat me like a sack of dung, I'd still do anything for you!" she rambled, her grasp on Y/N's robe tightening with each word she spat as her eyes swarmed with tears. "I hate how you make me feel so alive! How you make me smile till my cheeks hurt! You make me laugh till my sides are sore, but then you completely ruin me after everything!" she yelled, letting out a string of sniffles.
Y/N looked down at her, her mouth slightly parted in shock as Hermione hung her head low, her tears dropping down onto the floor, feeling her knees about to give up on her.
"I hate you." repeated Hermione with a sniffle. "I hate that I care for you. I hate that...I hate that I love you." she murmured tearfully. "Say you love me... just say you'll love me like we promised when we were kids..." she pleaded, looking up only to see the hesitation in those grey eyes, Y/N's lips trembling slightly, her loss of words hinting at the inevitable rejection. And with that, her hands fell to her side, turning her back on Y/N, walking away, with no intention of ever coming back.
Y/N reached out her hand in attempt to catch the bushy haired girl again, but the figure had already disappeared. She let out a sigh and dug her hands in her pockets, making her way to the Forbidden Forest. She was only half way to her destination until she spotted a familiar figure with dirty blonde hair.
"Luna." called out Y/N, walking towards the girl.
"Y/N." responded Luna with a mild surprise expression on her face, her lips curled into a small smile. "I heard everything, I'm a really good listener but I have to admit that Hermione was being quite loud." she said suddenly with a nod.
"Oh."
"If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you just told her you love her?" questioned Luna conversationally.
"I don't love her." said Y/N plainly with a small shrug. "I ended our friendship in the previous year, I moved on already."
"If you were truly over her," began Luna as they walked in the forest alongside eachother. "Why do you get flustered when you catch her gaze? Why does it bother you so deeply to see her smiling with another person?"
"I..."
"You're not over her." said Luna simply with a small smile. "You're in love with her. And you, Y/N Malfoy, are just a tad bit terrified to admit it. She's been with you through everything, right? Through all the tears, all the smiles, when you were at your highest and lowest. She held you in her arms when you fell apart and vice versa. Value a person like that, value Hermione, the person who never gave up on you."
"You don't get it, Luna." sighed Y/N. "It's not my choice. I don't have a choice, it's my parents decision." she said stubbornly.
"So what? Live how you want, love and date the girl that deserves you, and that you deserve and need. As they say, you only live once, right?" smiled Luna.
"You know what, you're right." agreed Y/N with a bright smile. "Fuck it, I'll do what I want. Thanks Luna!" she yelled as she ran to the castle, waving goodbye to the dirty-blonde haired girl.
"Go get your girl, Y/N!" yelled back Luna.
Y/N ran to the hallway, her lips curling into a grin at the sight of the familiar bushy haired girl. She slowly walked up to the figure, but she felt her grin fading as she did so.
"I'd love to go to the ball with you." said Hermione to Viktor, with the widest and genuine smile that Y/N had ever seen her wear.
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I swear the kiss is coming just bare with me