Undeniable Truths

53~ I can't

I stare down at the words written in front of me.

~My Love,

I will always love you. A part of me always has. It's killing both of us to be apart, but to expect you to give up your family and your inheritance just to be with me would be cruel.

No. What would be cruel is to expect me to give you up after I've finally found you.

I will always remember the happiness that you brought into my life. You've changed me so much more than you could ever imagine. You made me back into the person I was in Hogwarts.

With you, I was confident and caring and beautiful. Most importantly, I was happy. Sure, everything wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, but that's what made us work.

We were real.

I wish we still were, Hermione. Please tell me she feels the same. This letter is killing me.

I will tell my children about the love that gave me everything that I lost back. I will tell them how sometimes, whether you are 11, or 21, or 78 you will meet someone who will start a fire in you. They will give you so much love and hope that will never go away.

But the saddest, most awful truth is they are not always the person whom we spend our lives with.

I could be. Just come back to me and I will be the person whom you spend your life with. I promised you that when I proposed, I haven't taken it back yet.

I've been trying to figure out the best way to describe why we're not together. It's not as simple as "You want me or you don't."

I know that.
I hate that.

I also know keeping you in my life might kill me. But letting you go will.

Just know, that you will always be in my heart. There will always be a part of me that longs for you. My body will always feel the ghost of your touch and how you always knew how to set every nerve on fire.

I just hope that some day we will be able to be together and not feel like we're missing part of ourselves. Maybe, if your parents could just accept us, we could've made this work. But I could never expect you to give up the most important people in your life. I am not a cruel person.

You're the most important person in my life and you leaving me alone if the cruelest thing I have ever had to live with. I would rather be hit a thousand times with Crucio than to live without you...

I love you, Draco. I hope you can forgive me.

Love,
Your Granger

I put down the letter and reread it for the tenth time tonight. How could she expect me to move on? She is the only person I have ever loved more than my parents. She is the only one I could ever willingly give my parents up to be with.

But she sees it as cruel to ask me to do that. I could live without them, but her? Asking me to live without her is like asking me to live without air.

It's simply not possible.

*+*+*

I lift my hand to knock, but hesitate. Can I really do this to her? It could either fix or ruin any possibility I have with Granger.

Finally, I knock once, twice, and wait.

I hear movement from the other side of the door before it opens before me.

"Draco, what're you...?"

"I can't do this..."