Perfection

On a green, grassy hill overlooking the ocean Hermione and Draco sat together. This would be their last moments together before they would have to move away from each other, from their love, from their present life.

It was a commonly known fact that Draco was the son of a Death Eater, was going to become one, if not already. There was no way around it; Malfoys were made to be evil.

Hermione was class valedictorian. She had already visited the site in which she was to begin training to be an Auror. That was to start one month after graduation.

They were complete contrasts, from different worlds. She was a Muggle and he a pureblood. He was a Slytherin while she was a Gryffindor. And in personality they couldn't be anymore different, but somehow they got together and found something special, true love.

But they never told anyone about their love, lying to everyone they knew and meeting in secret. It was all worth it. The lies kept them together, and kept them from death.

"Today's our last day together Draco," Hermione grieved. She looked downwards, refusing to look at the face she had fallen in love with, the face that at the end of the day she would have to say good-bye to forever. "I never ever wanted this day to happen."

"And you think I did?" he asked defensively. He didn't want to hurt Hermione, not ever but his future was not in his hands. "I don't want to become a Death Eater just as much as you don't want me to be one!"

"Then why are you going to turn into one of them, Draco? They'll take away that prince I know now and turn him into a monster."

"You know why Hermione," Draco sighed. He slipped his arm around her neck and pulling her to him. Her head finally rested on his broad, muscular shoulder. "It's because of my father."

"And what if you choose not to listen to him?" she protested, trying to hide her tears. But her determination was useless. Her tears poured out of her eyes just as much as they would if she didn't try to stop them.

"Don't make this any harder then it already is, please." Draco paused and brushed away the tears in her eyes. "You know it is my father, he won't allow me to be anything except a Death Eater."

"Why can't you become an Auror? I know you aren't evil."

"I just can't Hermione!" Draco screamed yet his face stayed much the same, stone faced. This was one of the talents Draco had learned from being around his father so much, how to hide all emotion. This was usually beneficial, unless he was trying to keep someone close to him in which case it just pushed them away. But he rarely felt that way, except now.

"I just really don't want you to become a Death Eater, Draco!"

"I know, Hermione," he said, smoothing her hair. Her hair was no longer bushy; instead, it was in smooth, perfect ringlets most likely because of some charm. "I know," he whispered. Her spirit and determination was two of the things Draco respected most about her, two of the things that made him fall in love with her, two of the things that made it so hard to break away.

"Why can't you stay, Draco? You know I love you, right?"

"And I love you, Hermione." He lifted his head from her to look at the waves crashing upon the jagged rocks upon the shore. Hermione and Draco were like the waves, floating across the ocean peacefully, beautifully - and then the in next moment being brought to a thunderous halt by something out of their control.

"Draco, I was thinking..."

"Hermione," Draco said irritably, "I want to stay for the light too."

"No, it's not that. Why can't we do something crazy, like run away?"

Hermione was always the sensible one, he the bad dangerous one. How the tables have changed once there was a need. Now she was the adventurous one, and he needed to be sensible, even if it meant them being apart. Even if it meant he'd lose that special perfect love, even if it meant pain for the both of them.

"You know we can't do that," he whispered, wishing with all his heart that it would work but his brain knew it wouldn't.

"Why not? It would be perfect!"

"The Dark Lord would have us both killed, Hermione, I wouldn't be able to live or die knowing I caused your death. I wouldn't ever be able to!"

"What about causing me so much pain that death seems even better?"

"Death would never be better for you. You can help the world, you have talent, brains, love to give." Hermione could help the world, he could not, she was a healer, he a killer, she would have to live on, help mend all the damage that he would cause. "You'll find another love, someone who can be everything you wanted, someone who would never break your heart, someone other then me."

"But you are who I want, Draco!" Hermione pleaded.

"But I am not who you are destined to be with, I could never be. We can all just think of us as a fling." He wanted more than anything to just take her in his arms and whisk her away to fairy tale land where they could live happily ever after, if only their lives allowed it.

"Do you really believe that all we are is just a fling?" Hermione asked. Despite his words hurting her, she knew that he did love her. They were definitely more then a fling but it might as well be, because their lives were so different.

Draco did not allow himself to speak but his eyes said it all. There was a mixture of almost every emotion mixed in his usually emotionless eyes. Love was mixed with longing; despair with confusion, it was all there. He didn't need to say a word.

Draco turned to face her one final time in his life. He gave her a gentle hug and pecked her on the forehead. He longed to touch his lips to hers but that would just bring even more pain for them to handle once he had to leave. He took in her scent, an intoxicating blend of flowers that was far more subtle then any other girl's perfume he had smelled in his life, it allowed Hermione to shine through. Hermione the girl he had fallen in love with, the one that he would lose, and the one that he would pain.

He couldn't take the torture any longer. When he finally mustered the strength, he swiftly stood up and turned his head. Hermione reached her hand out to hold him but he was already out of her reach. He began to walk away silently, off to begin his new life as a Death Eater.

"I love you, Draco!" he heard behind him, but he did not dare look at her. It would break his heart.