"I was tired and in the hopelessness of the moment I just gave in...," Hermione explained as the merry troop had once again gathered in her and Draco's room. The Slytherin had left as soon as he saw the Gryffindors, which was fine by them.
"You just gave up?!" Ginny exclaimed. "You fought so hard, you've even outed yourself in front of the entire school, and then just give up?! That just doesn't make sense! You're a Gryffindor we are enduring!"
"I outed myself by accident Ginny. Besides, he bluntly trampled my feelings twice yesterday, once to my face and once to McGonagall. That, and I relived all the times he stomped on my heart before yesterday, also twice, seeing I told you guys and McGonagall. I was emotionally exhausted and that's without counting the disaster with Miss Winter that you so sweetly mentioned Gin. All that in one day. I just...," Hermione faltered. "My heart couldn't take more of his indifference and offensive refusals. So I promised would leave him alone."
Ginny looked around the room for an answer "But! But this is Snape! If you really like him then... well you'll have to break him down! It will take some time, that's obvious!"
"My heart can't take the abuse it would insure from years of hunting the Professor," Hermione smiled.
Harry turned from looking out the window to the two girls on the sofa. "Don't encourage her Ginny. I think it wise of her to realise the damage that evil old sod would keep on causing her if she continued her hopeless pursuit. He's not capable of real love."
Ron sat in front of the fireplace playing with Crookshanks. "Who died and made you so cynical Harry?" he asked as the cat tried to brutally remove Ron's fingers.
"Everyone?" Harry asked.
"I can't believe you're so hard on Snape Harry. Everyone would have died if not for him and his miracle brew. He revived Fred and twenty-six others. He's a bloody hero!" Ron persisted.
"A hero who killed Dumbledore and who saw to it my parents died. He might only have wished for my father's death, but they both died, and so, almost, did I."
Hermione looked up and straight in to Harry's eyes. "An action he dedicated the rest of his life to repent for. And Dumbledore committed suicide to save you Harry. "
Harry only rolled his eyes. "So, you are pro death-help now 'ey? Geez. You really are in love with the old bustard aren't you?"
"I think I have been telling you for quite a while Harry." Hermione and Harry only glared at each other.
Ginny had enough and stood up and walked over to Harry. She smacked him over the head.
"Ow! What the... Ginny!"
"You listen to me now Harry James Potter! Are you going to grumble about old mistakes and grievances that have been forgiven by the entire wizard community months ago and stand by your friend in her despair or what?"
"HE KILLED MY PARENTS!"
"And He risked his life everyday for the good of the magical community to atone for his mistake!"
"That and he saved our brother Harry." It was Ron who had decided to stop playing with a homicidal cat.
"And I fell in love with him...," Hermione looked with pleading eyes up at her long-time friend.
Harry looked between his friends. Then he sighed and hung his head. "Even if I assent to this, it's too late. Hermione promised to leave him alone."
It looked like Ginny was about to pull her hair and scream. Hermione smiled indulgently, her younger friend had always been a bit of a sap for romance stories. Especially Beauty and the Beast. Of course this time it was Brainy and the Beast.
He looked up at the clock on his wall; she should have been back by now. Surely she wasn't this slow. Maybe she was dawdling to get out of executing the next and considerable difficult part of the brewing.
It wasn't that hard. Not if she had prepared properly.
The potions-master sighed and did what his apprentice should have been back for by now and done.
When he was done he seated himself in his favourite armchair by the fire and reached for his glass. Potion brewing was mostly about waiting, well if one was making the difficult and advanced potions it was.
Severus looked down in to the golden liquid he held. When had he started drinking this often?
Ah yes. When Artemis had brewed Second Breath and left it for Miss Granger to find and force feed to his corpse. When Minerva had the brilliant idea of loosing her magic mirror about the school. When He and Miss Granger found out that their souls loved each other. Astral romance...how silly. When Miss Granger professed not only her soul's love for him, but also her own. Yes. Somewhere in, or around that.
He sipped the whisky and let his eyes rest on the dancing flames.
Miss Granger... Hermione. The girl had promised to never bother him with her infatuation again.
In the flames he saw her lit by moonlight dancing in his arms. He saw her sprawled helpless on the ground. He saw her in a summers dress laughing in the wind....
Hermione would never be able to keep to her promise no matter how quiet the girl was on the matter. She had snuck into his brain and kept bothering him with her love at every opportune moment.
He disgusted himself. She was only a child. Still his pupil, but his dreams didn't care of such trivial things.
Every night they replayed her kissing him or confessing her feelings or dancing with him.
No Miss Granger had made a promise she could never keep. The matter, as she had put it, was bothering him despite what she did.
"FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFKFKFKFKF!" Artemis' brain screamed.
The blasted books that the old bugger had asked for clamped in her arms as she ran out of the library.
Madam Pince had not readily surrendered her precious books to an outsider. She was going to miss the crucial procedure in the potion. She had been working non-stop with that brew for the last fortnight, and she wouldn't put it past the evil bat to just ignore the whole process just to teach her a lesson on the importance of time.
If the bustard did that Artemis swore she would render the man useless for the bushy-haired heroine and every other female on the planet for eternity.
She charmed her feet to run just a bit faster than she was actually able to do. It was not a good idea. She lost control and a bit of her vision and then ... BOOM!
All her precious time-consuming books flew up in the air and scattered like autumn leafs. Heavy leafs. Leafs of the rock-tree, if there was such a thing.
She glared at the green glad figure equally as knocked of his feet as her. She didn't stop glaring has her heart skipped a beat. Quidditch gear and messy hair aside, she would recognise him anywhere.
"A-Ari?" Draco asked. Like he didn't have two storm coloured eyes that could melt your heart to see with.
"No the Tooth fairy." She stood up and brushed off her dress. Now she wasn't only going to mutilate Snape she was also going to massacre Malfoy.
"You still studying under Snape?" he asked as he also took to his feet. One of her books had landed near him, hopefully it hit him during its dissent. He picked it up.
"Is that suppose to be a joke?" she bore her most detesting stare into him.
"What? No! I was not trying to insinuate anything." He gestured at the book he was holding. "Potion Naps, Comatoses, Deep Slumbers and Other Sleeps, by Horrense Tyron, III," he read off the cover. "I just assumed...."
"Then why did you ask?" she kept the ice clear in her voice. She didn't bend down and pick up the other three books. It would bee a sign of weakness. Or possibly trust. Artemis just stood there glaring at him.
He smiled an almost tired little smile and handed her the book. "It's nice to see you again."
That hit her like a ton of bricks. He wasn't supposed to be nice. They were not brought up to be nice. She was taken by surprise. Artemis blinked one too many times but settled quickly. A hard edge of doubt entered her voice as she took the book.
"Really...," she pulled at the book. He didn't let it go. He held it just as steady as he held her gaze.
"Yes."
She yanked the book out of his grasp. Her eyes burned. Not only with rage, but with held back tears. She had missed him. She wanted him. She needed him. But he had broken her heart. He had joined the people who had damaged her father, who had made her mother so cold. He had chosen them over her. Yet she wished for nothing but to hold him in her arms again.
She bored her eyes in to his. The orbs pulled at her, at her heart, but she showed nothing but anger. "You have no one but yourself to blame Malfoy," she spat at him.
"You asked me to choose between you and my family. To turn my back on my beliefs, the magic world, on everything I knew, to become a muggle. I couldn't do that."
"You chose to become a murderer and to turn your back on humanity instead. How honourable. Does it feel good now Malfoy?"
"Could I do it all again...," he faltered. This wasn't like him. He showed emotions. Just like at that stupid ball when he told her he still loved her. Just like his face had done in the Great hall yesterday when he thought she slept with Snape. It was unsettling. "...I would come with you."
And yet again he hits her with a sack full of bricks. Bustard.
She blinked. That was all she revealed of her surprise. She wasn't going to show emotion even if he apparently bared his heart every fifteen minutes these days.
"But you didn't. You chose them over me," she kept her low and voice matter of fact now. No need to shout when whispering would cut just as deep.
He bowed his head. His blond hair fell over his face in a very flattering way. Artemis wished he would never slime it back up.
"I love you," he told the floor. "Always have, always will."
Ari summoned the rest of her books.
"I told you I would never love a man who bore the Dark Mark."
He lifted his head again. His eyes, his face, his lips. Oh his lips, they tasted so sweet. She had a flash memory of how wonderful they felt against her own lips, her cheek, her neck...
"I made a mistake, are you so cold that you can't find it in your iced heart to even try to forgive me?!"
He was angry now. He looked more like his mother when he was angry. Apparently Narcissa had saved the day and Potter, according to the paper.
She just looked at him and then stepped around him.
He grabbed her arm.
"You are that callous?" his voice was raised and his perfect eyebrows where drawn together, half irate, half questioning. "Is there nothing left of me in your heart? When I learned you saw me in that mirror I just hoped your love for me hadn't died but...," he was almost pleading now. Not nearly as sexy as when he was angry.
So easy it would be to drop all the books with her principles and just fling herself around his neck. So easy....
"Answer me woman!" he screamed at her still figure. She just stood there staring emptily in front of her. Draco lifted his free hand and turned her face towards his. "At least look at me." She looked. "I'm sorry. I-I love you Artemis Winter. I love you," he whispered.
Draco closed the distance between them and tilted his head so that their foreheads rested against each other.
Ari didn't try pull away. She didn't know if she could. "I would do anything to get you back Ari, anything. I'd swear off magic, I'd move to the muggle world. I'll cut of my arm to remove that evil tattoo. Please Ari please...."
He had his eyes closed. She stared at him, her face blank. She didn't know what to feel.
They stood so, forehead to forehead. Him holding her close. Silent.
His breathing was all she heard. Was she breathing? She didn't know.
He loved her. He was sorry. He hadn't actually killed anyone. He would change it if he could. And most importantly, he hadn't died. What more could she ask of him?
She saw his face grow pained as she didn't say anything. Artemis bit her lip. Then she spoke, in a low voice she asked, "Would really you cut it off?"
His eyes opened and they were very shiny. The grey storms more beautiful than ever.
"For you? Yes."
She smiled. He smiled too
"You might not have to."
His lips were more wonderful than she remembered, and hadn't he grown a bit?