Chapter 19: Hermione

Chapter 19:

Hermione:

Draco had collapsed onto the bed the moment they arrived. Severus barely fared any better. He had eyed the bed longingly and had started to head downstairs when Draco whispered, “Stay with me.” She watched as he lay down on the bed next to Draco tenderly.

“Hermione, your parents… Voldemort will be able to take down my wards, if given enough time… Have them go someplace safe.” Her thoughts were along the same lines, so she agreed to go back. It had not taken much convincing for her parents to realize they needed to leave. They’d watched the battle from inside, shaking with fear. She stayed with them until they were safely within the airport, told them she’d find some way to email them when it was safe for them to return, and then kissed them goodbye. Voldemort had no understanding of Muggle transportation, so she felt only the slightest worry leaving them.

When she returned, she found Draco sound asleep while Severus was sitting in bed, a pensive look on his face.

“It’s true, isn’t it, what Lucius said?” She was hoping he’d deny it, but her instincts told her it made too much sense.

Heavily, he nodded. “It’s true.”

“Then all of this, all we shared, it was a lie?”

“No. I… I’m not a good man, Hermione. All I wanted was to survive, no matter what the outcome of this war. I played both sides. I wasn’t fair to you.”

She felt her eyes water as she realized he’d just been using her.

“You never cared for me… did you…” Her throat tightened, preventing her from saying any more.

“Hermione… please, let me finish. Please.”

She shrugged in response. What else am I going to do? I’ve thrown away my life for you already…

“The Dark Lord—Voldemort—he wanted me to seduce you to find out what Potter was up to. As I said, all I wanted was to survive… but the truth is that I wanted to seduce you as well, not to use you to find out about Potter, but because it’s been years since I’ve seen an intellect as powerful as yours captured inside such a beautiful person. You intrigued me. I wanted to spend time with you. And the more time I spent with you, the more I began to care about you… It didn’t take long, Hermione, before I was using the… Voldemort’s… orders as an excuse to quiet the warnings my mind was trying to raise. I could tell myself I was just doing his bidding and that I wasn’t…” She watched him pause, as if saying the next words were a struggle. “That I wasn’t falling in love with you.”

Stop. Everything stopped. He sat there, frozen with the words just off his lips. The room brightened and suddenly everything burst open within her all at once.

“You’re in love with me?”

“Yes.”

“Then… all of this… you…” She didn’t know what to say.

“Yes.”

She found herself in his arms before she could think of what to say. He held her, planting kisses all over her head.

“Then you forgive me?”

Nodding happily, she said, “Yes… And I have my own confession to make, as well. The private lessons were just a pretense to spy on you.”

A snort, and then, “I figured as much.”

Sometimes I forget how smart he is.

She kissed him back then, letting her lips trail over his hair, his forehead, and finally onto his lips. Nothing was hidden between them anymore; there was no longer any reason to hold back. She knew he loved her, and he—Wait, I haven’t told him I love him!

Pulling apart from his happy mouth, “I love you” slipped from her lips as naturally as air. He hugged her tighter. Over his shoulder, the figure of Draco, still sound asleep, caught her eye.

“What about Draco?”

“I cannot deny that I care about him deeply…”

Startled, she realized he’d misunderstood her question… and that she felt no jealousy at his admission.

“No, no, you misunderstood me… I… well, I care about him, too. And I think he cares about me.”

“If it were anyone else, it would bother me… but…”

“You don’t mind that I also care about Draco? He, um, he kissed me earlier.”

“No, I don’t mind. And what about you? Does it bother you that I care about Draco?”

Surprised, she found herself shaking her head.

Then rose from the supposedly sound asleep body a voice, “What about me?”