Just a Kiss

Chapter 35

Seconds turn into a minute and one minute turns into five. Hermione has yet to respond to his announcement. Or rather, she has yet to respond at all. Her mouth hangs agape, eyes as wide as saucers, and her face has gone horrendously pale.

 Draco isn't entirely sure she's still breathing. 

"Hermione," he says, reaching out for her. "Are you alright?" 

Before his hand can land on her arm, she jerks back. Her expression contorts until it settles on a look that he can only describe as disgust. His hand falls back to his side. Her reaction hurts far more than he'll ever care to admit aloud. 

Turning away so he can't see anymore of her, he murmurs, "I understand. I shouldn't have told you, should have realized I didn't have a chance in hell with you." He squares his shoulders and clears his throat. "Why would you like me anyway? Why would you ever fall for me like I fell for you? How could I mean anything but a friend when you're clearly disgusted by the very thought of me touching you now?" He snarls the last part, the words ripping out of him.  

For a moment, he waits for a response. Anything would be welcome. Even if she just laughs and calls him foolish. All that greets him is silence, though. 

"Right, I'll just be going now." Chest aching, he walks away. Down the stairs and towards the entrance of the astronomy tower. At the door, he pauses and glances back up at her. She hasn't moved. "I won't bother you again, I swear on that. It'd be best if I don't see you anyways. Maybe someday we can try for being friends again?" The last words come out in a whisper and he isn't sure she hears them. 

No reaction, not even a twitch. He walks out and doesn't look back again. 

Hermione isn't sure how long she stands alone in the tower, staring at the space where he had stood. It could have only been seconds, or maybe even hours. She has no means of telling the time, not that she can find the need to know it now. 

Her mind has gone completely blank. Her own name isn't even processing. His words have no chance of being understood quickly, and now he's gone. One of her best friends have quite literally ran out of her life. 

She'd be lying is she said that it didn't hurt. 

"Hermione, are you up here?" Feet thunder up the steps to the upper deck. "Thank Merlin I've found you! We've been searching everywhere for you and...Hermione, are you alright?" A warmth blooms over her arms, wrapping around the entire circumference of her forearm. 

She turns slowly, tearing her gaze away from where Draco had stood. "Harry?" Her voice cracks. She tilts her head, feeling rather numb. The only reminder that she's still conscious is the constant heat of Harry's hands on her arms and a terrible ache in her chest. 

"Yes, Hermione, it's me. Are you alright? You've been gone an awful long time searching for Malfoy." The word, his name, sends a spark of pain straight through her already hurting heart, igniting it with a burst of agony. 

She whimpers and presses a hand against her chest. "Harry," Hermione chokes out. "Harry, I've messed up badly." 

"Hermione!" Harry exclaims, "what happened? Tell me what's wrong!" 

Hermione sinks into him, letting him bear her weight for a little while as she launches into a recap of her conversation with Draco. Every sentence, each last painfully uttered word, until she reaches the part where Draco had left. Once she's finished, she buries her face in Harry's shoulder and lets her tears come now. 

"I haven't felt this horrendous since the wedding," she murmurs, voice muffled by his shirt. "I want this feeling to be gone and, more than anything else, I want to have my friend back."