Closure

CLOSURE

(Sequel to "Not Just a Game")

[Chapter One]

"I can't believe this!" Hermione scoffed. "What do you mean you're transferring to Durmstrang?"

Draco looked away. "Look, Granger, this whole you-me-Potter thing isn't working out." He sighed. "I still love you, but I lost, so you belong to Harry now."

Her hateful eyes burned a hole through his chest. "So what? You just played me off like some pocket change? You two decided that a Quidditch game could settle this? What am I? A trophy?"

He bit his bottom lip. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well sorry just isn't enough!" she screamed.

"You didn't exactly come back to me, or even tell me that you still wanted me this past year, did you?!" he hollered equally loud.

She slapped him.

"Those things don't need to be said, Draco Malfoy."

And she walked away from him for the last time.

[]

"Vell, knowing Herm-own-ninny, she vill get ofer it."

Krum's mispronunciations cracked a rare grin on Malfoy's face.

"Are you sure? Because she seemed really mad at me."

Krum gave him a sideways smile. "Ve still tok to each other, and she teels me how sorry she is."

Draco sighed. "What am I going to do?"

"Get off your butt and go bak and teel her how sorry you are too!"

He shook his head. "It's not that easy, Viktor."

"Sure it is! I go with you."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Viktor nodded. "Weelly."

[]

Ginny and Blaise entered the Great Hall together, chatting in a secretive manner.

"So Malfoy is coming back?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, and not only that, he's bringing Krum with him!"

"Viktor Krum?! What's he trying to do? Start a love square?!"

Blaise chuckled.

"What about Hermione?"

"What about Hermione?"

"Well, has she mentioned Draco any?"

Ginny sighed. "Only when she's extremely emotional."

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "Girls are so weird."

"It's only been a month! Plus, school is wrapping up, so she doesn't have time to worry about things like that. This is her final year for Merlin's sake!"

Blaise nodded in pretend agreement.

The oak doors behind them opened again.

The hall fell silent. They turned around.

Hermione gasped. Harry growled.

Krum strolled in. Draco followed.

"Very niss to see you all again!" Viktor announced. Hermione ran up to him and gave him a hug.

"How have you been?!" she exclaimed.

Krum looked over his shoulder, and she froze like a statue.

"D-Draco?"

Draco nodded feebly. "Hi."

Harry was standing beside Hermione now. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Can't I pay my friend a visit?" Krum asked. "Come, everyone, let's eat."

[]

The only person who actually talked during breakfast was Krum. Everyone else was buried in the uncomfortable tension that surrounded them. After breakfast, Krum insisted that he and Harry play a quick game of Quidditch, and before Harry could object, he was halfway to the pitch.

That left Hermione and Draco to themselves. Neither of them knew what to say.

"So...you look good," Draco said nervously. Hermione blushed.

"Thanks, you too."

Both of them were looking everywhere but at each other. The silence between them was unnoticeable compared to all the noisy thoughts running through their heads. Finally, Hermione began the conversation.

"Why'd you leave?"

Draco blinked blankly. "You know why."

"No, I really don't. You could have stayed."

"That would have only made things worse."

"How?"

"Because you know I can't stay away from you. And you can't stay away from me."

She looked down. "Then, why'd you come back?"

"To win you back. To let you know that I still love you, more than anything on this planet. And to say that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Hermione."

She began to cry. Slow at first, it was unnoticeable, but then she collapsed into his arms and cried on him like she did before.

He held her tightly and buried his face in her hair. It was then that Harry and Krum returned. Both were speechless.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Harry scowled darkly.

Draco's neck snapped up. He kept one arm around Hermione so she wouldn't run to him. "I want a rematch Potter. But this time, she decides."

Harry clenched his fists. "She's mine, Malfoy. You walked away from her...it's your own damn fault. You're too late to change that."

Draco advanced on the scrawny scar-faced boy. "Don't tell me what I can't do, Pothead."

Harry socked him as he did the first time they fought over Hermione. Draco bounced up this time and hit him right back.

Harry staggered away, amazed.

"I'm not letting her go," they both said. Draco took hold of Hermione's arm and began to walk away, but Harry caught her free arm and kept her grounded.

"She's with me, Malfoy."

Draco searched Hermione's eyes. She looked away.

Hermione then screamed in frustration. Nothing in particular, she simply screamed. Krum shook his head and walked over to her.

"Maybe ve should do this some other time?" he proposed.

Draco nodded. "Yeah, some other time."

He walked away.

[]

"Vat do you feel, Herm-own-ninny?" Krum asked as he soothingly rubbed her back.

She sniffled and wiped away a stream of tears. "I don't know..." she sighed.

Her voice was jagged and soft. Krum put an arm around her.

"I'll always be here for you...if you need me, you know."

She looked up at him and nodded slowly. He kissed her on the forehead. He almost looked like he wanted to kiss her on the lips, but both knew that now was not the time. Hermione looked away from him and buried her face in her hands.

"It's so wrong..." she began.

"Vat?" he asked.

"Me...Draco. Two years ago, if someone told me that I would fall in love with Draco, I would have laughed til I cried. But now...if someone tells me that I'll never be with Draco, I would cry...I would cry." She lost her breath again and sobbed uncontrollably.

Seeing her cry made Krum want to cry himself. He sighed softly.

"Herm-own-ninny, if you loff Draco, why are you wif Harry?"

She made an effort to stop crying, but it was another minute or so before she could answer his question.

"Harry has always been there for me," she said. "And I've been friends with Harry every since we came to Hogwarts. And we've been enemies with Malfoy for just about that long too. Don't you see, Viktor? I feel like I'm betraying him whenever I'm with Draco. If I choose Draco over Harry, I'm not only betraying Harry, but I'm also betraying all of my friends."

Krum shook his head. "No...you're vrong. Draco has changed, you know that. I saw it immediately ven he came to Durmstrang. He's a changed man, Herm-own-ninny, and only true loff could have done that to someone so foul."

Hermione bit her lip to prevent another self-generated waterfall. Krum smiled at her.

"Thanks, Viktor," she whispered. He nodded and they both sat there, looking into space for another hour.

[]

Draco hung upside-down on his broom, thinking about what he's done. Hermione seemed happy when they arrived, and now, he only made her sad again. Maybe she never loved him.

Maybe she never loved him.

These words carved their way through his brain.

"She never loved me," he laughed bitterly. "She always loved Harry. She'll always be in love with him."

He sighed and closed his eyes. The pain that was melting his chest away was too much for him to take. He grabbed his temples and screamed as loud as he could. When his voice cracked, he melted away into tears.

There was nothing to live for now, or so it seemed. Why was he still here...God was probably laughing down on him. He inhaled sharply and opened his eyes. This is it. He didn't want to live anymore.

He let his legs slip off of the broom and then he felt himself fall through the soft sky. He didn't know when he stopped falling, and he could have cared less.

[]

"What? When?" Harry asked urgently.

"Just now! A third-year Hufflepuff said he was going to train when he saw Malfoy falling out of the air!"

"And he didn't catch him?!"

"If he tried, I'm sure he'd be dead now too."

Harry froze. "He's dead...?"

The messenger shrugged. "Might as well be...I heard he'll never wake up again."

Hermione gasped. Both Harry and the messenger spun around, unaware that they had a second audience.

"Hermione--" Harry began as he ran to her.

She collapsed onto the ground. Krum barked at Harry, and he stopped in mid-step. Then he bent down and picked the fragile girl up into his arms.

"I'll take her to the hospital, you'd better stay away from her for a while." His tone was almost threatening. Harry could only nod and back away.

Madame Pomfrey rushed to him at once when he entered the infirmary.

"Oh, I was worried that this would happen," she whispered. They laid Hermione down on a bed next to Draco's. Krum took a good look at the once proud and invincible blonde boy. He looked so weak now, beside the fact that his chest was barely rising and falling enough to provide him air.

"Is he going to be okay?" Krum asked quietly. Madame Pomfrey looked like she was about to cry.

"I'm doing everything I can," she said. "He should make it through the night."

Krum gave her a curt nod and excused himself. Everything was so still once he left. Two unconscious bodies occupied the school hospital, and they were all each other had.

[]

Hermione opened her eyes a while later. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious. The last thing she remembered was hearing that Draco had died. Her breathlessness threatened to overtake her again. She tried to focus her eyes on something, but couldn't. Everything was white. There was nothing for her to see. What was going on?

"Hermione."

She tried moving her head, but she couldn't, all she saw was white - a world of nothing.

"Don't be afraid, Hermione. I'm here."

She squinted her eyes to see who or what was talking to her. She couldn't tell whose voice it was.

"Focus. Can you see me?"

She moved her lips to say no, but nothing came out.

"Come on, Hermione. Try."

She closed her eyes and cleared everything from her mind. Who was talking to her? Who did she want to be talking to her? She opened her eyes again. A faint outline of a man came into sight.

"Good girl," the voice said. "Now what are you doing here?"

"I don't know...where am I?" she asked, surprised that she found her voice.

"Limbo, I guess. The place between life and death."

The faint outline of a man became crisper, and now she could see his clothes - it wasn't hard since he was wearing all black.

"Who are you?"

The voice laughed. "Suffering from amnesia or what? You know who I am."

"I do?"

She focused even harder on the figure now. His hands, feet, and body materialized.

"Wait - I don't want you to see me just yet," said the voice. She relaxed her mind.

"Why not?"

"Because you might be disappointed."

"About?"

"Hermione, you're about to die. So am I. And what you're doing now is seeing the last face that will flash through your mind before you go. You're about to see who you really love. - Of course I've already seen mine, but I was allowed to stay here with news that you were coming."

Hermione found herself smiling. "I already know who I love," she whispered.

A pale face slowly materialized before her, and she laughed happily at her recognition of it. First, his pointy chin became visible, then his thin red lips (which were now placed in his infamous smirk), then his sharp nose, and what took her last breath was his eyes. Those cool grey eyes that gazed back at her.

Only he could have looked at her that way - like there was nothing in the world but her. He reached out for her, and she saw her own arm extend to take his hand.

"I love you, Hermione."

"I love you too, Draco." She kissed him..

[]

At exactly 12:00 midnight, both Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger sprang up in their hospital beds. They were holding each other's hands across their beds, how that had happened, no one knew. They looked at each other for a long moment, then burst out into a hearty laughter.

Madame Pomfrey rushed into the room, ready to be Madame Guillotine. But at the sight of the two young lovers, all right and healthy again, she couldn't help but leave them alone. This was the divine will after all.