Giving Into Temptation

Chapter Six: The End of the Past and a New Beginning

She was curled up in an armchair in the sitting room when a knock came at her front door. Wiping away tears from her eyes and setting aside the photo book she had been leafing through, she got up to answer it. When she saw Draco on the front stoop, she had half the mind to slam the door in his face. But the desperate look in his eyes made her step aside and let him in.

"I'm sorry to bother you. It's just... Pansy found out... and she made me leave."

"Ron broke off our engagement."

"What?!"

"He asked our neighbor if they had noticed anything suspicious going on around here, and when she told him she'd seen you come to the house... and that you didn't leave till late... well... he packed up his things and left. He wrote me a note." Hermione gestured to a piece of parchment lying on the table next to the armchair and Draco walked over to pick it up.

Hermione,

I thought I could forgive you for what happened earlier. I thought maybe it was all a misunderstanding. But then when I happened to ask Diana if she'd noticed anything weird going on here while I was gone, she told me Malfoy had come to the house and didn't leave till late. I don't want an explanation for that. I'm pretty certain I can figure out what you two did during that time. I don't know why you bedded him. I don't know how you could even let him into the house. But obviously our relationship meant nothing to you. By the time you read this I'll be gone. I don't want my ring back. Keep it. Throw it away. Do with it what you will. Don't try to contact me. As of now, I have nothing to say to you. I hope it was worth it. I really do. Have a wonderfully horrid life with Malfoy. May you be miserable together.

Ron

Draco set the letter back down on the table and turned to face Hermione.

"He has a way with words, doesn't he?"

She scowls at him, even as tears leak from her eyes. He moves toward her but she holds up her hand and he halts in his tracks.

"I loved him, Draco. I loved him since out third year. I didn't tell him till fifth year... when I thought we were going to die. After that we were inseparable. Then he started working at the twins' shop and I never saw him. But I... I saw you... I talked to you... and... and I..." she trailed off, trying desperately to control herself. "I don't know what happened. I was lost... and you found me." She gazed at him, their eyes locking. "You found me when I felt invisible. And now... I don't know what to do. You've broken me, Draco. You've broken me so completely, and without you I can't ever be whole again. I thought I felt that way with Ron but I didn't. I didn't feel anything as intensely for him as I do for you. So tell me... tell me how I'm supposed to go on. What am I supposed to do? I can't love you. I can't. It goes against everything I've believed in for half of my life. But I can't stop it. The feelings are there and they're eating away at me. I can't stop thinking about you. I close my eyes and I see you. I long for you to touch me, and it's wrong. It's all wrong."

Hermione dissolves into tears, collapsing in a heap on the sitting room floor. Draco kneels down in front of her, reaching for her hands and grasping them tightly. They are so small and delicate, yet strong, just like the girl they belong to.

"Hermione... I always thought I'd never be able to like you... ever since I met you. My father put it in my head that your kind was beneath me. I couldn't think anything else. Then he died and his rules and beliefs died with him. I was my own man. I could form my own opinions. And when you came back into my life, I couldn't hate you. I tried. I thought of you as a Mudblood, even after we made love. But those thoughts were insubstantial. They meant nothing because they weren't based on how I really felt. Every day I saw you I was happy. Every moment we spent together fulfilled me more than a lifetime with Pansy ever could. I am sorry I broke you and Ron apart, but if I had it to do all over again I'd have made the same choice. I don't regret our night together and I never will. You filled the emptiness in my soul. And even if you don't want to believe it... and you think it wrong... I love you."

She met his eyes, saw the tears brimming on his pale lashes, and knew he was sincere. She leaned over and kissed away his tears, ever as hers wet his cheeks. Then he lifted his face a bit and their lips met. The kiss was brief yet full of passion. Maybe this isn't wrong. Maybe we have a future together.

'And maybe the sky is pink,' another voice said in her head. 'You can't trust him. He is poison. He will only hurt you in the end.'

But she found herself ignoring the voice as Draco pulled her close. She'd lost Ron, that much was obvious, but if Fate had landed her in Draco's arms who was she to fight it? So she wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening their kiss. It was the end of all that was familiar to her, and yet she found she wasn't afraid to move forward into the unknown, so long as Draco was there to catch her if she should fall.

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