A Letter To Hermione

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters used in this story. J.K. Rowling does. I merely use them to my will.

A/N: This is post HBP, which means if you haven't read the sixth book yet, don't read this, there are a bunch of spoilers and I don't want to ruin the book for you.

I hope you all like this; I just got a crazy idea. It's short but sweet.

Enjoy!

A Letter to Hermione

"Hermione, do you have a lover?" Lavender asked as Hermione came back to her room following the battle in which Dumbledore died.

"What?" Hermione asked, completely taken aback by this statement. Lavender just pointed at the bed. On it there was a red rose and an envelope that said "My Love" in green ink. "Oh Merlin," Hermione whispered and walked over to the bed to pick it up.

Lavender, only wanting to get back at Hermione for stealing Ron wanted more than anything to read the letter, but it wouldn't open to her, and when she tried to look over Hermione's shoulder all she saw was a blank piece of parchment. But this is what Hermione read:

My Love,

By the time you receive this letter, I will be either dead or far away from here. If I had a choice in this situation, please know that I would never do anything to hurt someone, especially you. I ask only that you forgive me for what I have done or failed to do. I don't care if Merlin, the Saints, or God himself forgives me; all that matters is if you do.

On your bed you will find a rose. This rose is a wonderful symbol of our relationship. The red petals are the beautiful, sweet smelling part of the rose. Red is for Gryffindor, red is for you. The green stem is the support, it is the thorns that protect the flower, it is the part that makes it hard to get to. Green is for Slytherin, green is for me.

Together these two parts make a rose, a beautiful yet forbidden flower that has been given to loved ones since the beginning of time. This is our relationship, beautiful yet forbidden.

They say that two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do. In that case if the right I was supposed to take in my life was to live my life as I had been living it, then I have made three lefts from this path.

My first left was at the beginning of this year. You and I were fighting about something that I don't even remember anymore and I pushed you. You fell into the lake and when you stood up, covered from head to toe in mud, I laughed as I was expected. My thoughts being that the mud showed a perfect reflection of what was within. Then I saw as something grabbed your leg, you were pulled under the water and I laughed again. A minute or so later I realised that you were not surfacing. I faced a huge internal conflict at this point, I had to go against all of my beliefs that you were below me so that I could save you, because killing off one of Dumbledore's favourite students definitely would not give me the chance to get close enough to do what I had to.

I jumped in and killed the Grindylow that had grabbed you, but when I brought you back up to the surface, you weren't breathing. I had lost my wand when I was swimming and in that fact could not ennerverate you. I needed to give you mouth to mouth. Now this was my next internal conflict because I didn't want to contaminate myself. If I saved you I risked contamination, but if I didn't I would have my pure-blood intact but I wouldn't have my life because Voldemort would have killed me.

I risked contamination.

When you started choking up the water and vomited twice you finally seemed to realise it was me, Draco Malfoy, who saved your life. I did not wish to be reprimanded and quickly dashed off to the castle.

My first left, I saved the life of a Muggle-born.

After I saved you, being the noble Gryffindor that you were, you just had to thank me. I tried to get away from you, avoid you at any cost, even spending more time in that godforsaken Room of Requirement. But one night during Prefect duties, you caught me in an alcove off of a secluded hall. You said a quick thank you and I, being the polite one, said you're welcome. I made to walk off but before I could get three feet, you had spun me around and planted a kiss on my lips. I tried to resist at first and pull away, but it felt too good and I was already contaminated so I fell into it.

The next thing I knew we were lying on our spread-out robes, sweaty, naked and sated on the floor of an abandoned classroom. It was when I took your virginity and saw the red blood that I knew that you were not dirty, I was not contaminated, there was no such thing as pureblood or Mudblood. They were both blood and they were both red, thick and sticky.

I thought that you would avoid me after that, after seeing the ugly mark on my arm, but you didn't, you came back for more. Every chance you got you would jump me during prefect's duties, and I didn't mind one bit.

My second left, I made love to a Muggle-born.

My third left was long after that, in early May. I was in the bathroom, telling a ghost what I had to do, that no one could save me from it. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I knew you would try to interfere and that meant more of a risk of my mother's life. But while I was there, I looked up to see Potter in the mirror. We threw a couple of hexes back and forth. Finally, he sent one at me that hurt like hell. It slashed me open in three places and I was bleeding profusely. Snape came in and saved me, he took me to the hospital wing where I passed out from the blood loss.

When I woke up I heard you whispering in my ear. You didn't know that I was awake and in that crucial moment you said the three little fateful words that change a person's life from the inside out. I found your hand with mine and when I opened my eyes, I saw your hazelnut brown ones staring down.

I reciprocated the words.

My third left, I fell in love with a Muggle-born.

Now if you think of this saying in terms of directions, if you take three lefts you do not end up on the road that you were originally supposed to turn right on. You end up on a road parallel to it, but in the same direction.

I am now on this new road. This road that may have different obstacles; construction, potholes, etc. But it may have a detour, or an exit that will take me to a better place than my original road couldn't have taken me, or this road might also have a dead end. This different parallel road is the one that I am on now, and it is because of you and the three lefts that I made with you that I had this opportunity.

I just want you to know that whether we see each other again in this life or the next, I will always love you.

Never forget me.

Draco Malfoy.

Hermione set down the tear-stained letter and picked up the rose. A tear fell on it and she smiled as she whispered, "I love you, too, Draco."

A/N: Please, please review and tell me what you think.

Love and Lemons

Brittany