Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story; all of these belong to the wonderfully talented J. K. Rowling. I also do not own the lyrics used in this chapter; they belong to Joe Nichols. The ‘Spiral-Horned Snorkack’ mentioned in the story is a creation of mine and is a spinoff of the ‘Crumple-Horned Snorkack from JKR, and as far as I’m concerned, she created the thing, and she can keep it. I don’t even know what it looks like.
______________________________________________________________________________
“Hermione, would you mind telling us just exactly what the hell that was that you and Malfoy were doing in Potions today?” Harry bore down on Hermione in the Gryffindor common room where she sat at a table in the sun.
“We were kissing, Harry, I thought that was obvious enough.” She didn’t look up to meet his angry green eyes.
“Hermione! He’s Draco Malfoy! We’ve hated each other since first year!”
“I know that Harry.”
“But—why?” He stared at the back of her head, trying to make her turn around.
Hermione sighed, turning in her chair to look at Harry. “It just happened, okay?”
“But—you kissed him! Like you had been going out for years. Why, Hermione? I thought we were friends!”
“We are.” Hermione ran her hand through her hair.
“But you went and kissed him like he was a good guy? Why? And don’t give me any of that ‘he’s changed’ shit.”
“Harry, I honestly don’t know why—I don’t even know him!
“Then why did you kiss him? If you can kiss a guy that you’ve hated for years like a slut then why didn’t you show that to me?”
“Harry, I—” Hermione started, and fell silent, searching for words.
“Damn it Hermione, I don’t want excuses!” Harry’s face was red, his hands clenched in fists at his sides as he attacked Hermione. “I thought the years we spent together growing up, the months we went out, all that stuff we did, stopping Voldemort—I thought that meant something to you! And now you go do something like this! I thought I could trust you!”
Hermione leapt her feet, her usually docile brown eyes blazing. “It did, Harry! Everything meant something to me! It meant a hell of a lot to me! Damn it Harry, don’t you remember you were the one who broke up with me?”
“I remember that, Hermione! But that doesn’t mean you had to be a sneaky little bitch go run off to fraternize with the enemy!”
“Do you know what happened to me when you broke up with me? Do you?”
“No!” Harry’s voice was disdainful. “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”
“I tried to kill myself, damn it!” she screamed. “And do you know who was there to stop me? Do you know who was there to take the blade away from my skin? Do you know who was there to bind my wounds?” Harry had fallen silent, listening to her rant. “Draco Malfoy, that’s who! Where were you? Oh yeah, I forgot, you were too busy with your new girlfriend to help your best friend deal with her problems!”
“But Hermione—”
“You thought you could trust me? You’re one to talk about trust! You’re off snogging while I am so depressed I don’t think I can take it anymore!” Her voice dropped to a low growl. “And you have the audacity to stand there and lecture me about trust!” She spun on her heel and stalked out of the common room, leaving a shocked Harry in her wake.
My dad chased monsters from the dark
Checked underneath my bed
He could lift me with one arm
Way up over top his head
Hermione swept down the halls, not knowing where she was going, angry tears pouring down her face. She had pushed past several students when one grabbed her arm.
“Grang—Hermione, what’s wrong?” The voice belonged to none other than Draco Malfoy.
Hermione looked up into his caring gray eyes and burst into a fresh wave of tears. Draco pulled her close, his arms close around her. “Shh, it’s okay.”
Students stared openly at the two, shocked at this strange display of affection. Those who had been present in Potions whispered to one another.
Draco scowled at the gaping students. “Don’t you have something better to do?” he snapped, his voice icy over Hermione’s tears. “Move it. Now.” No one had ever refused the darkly commanding voice he used; the students scattered as Draco strode down the hall to the Room of Requirement, a bawling Hermione safely held in his arms.
Once ensconced in the Room, Draco devoted himself to finding out exactly what it was that had made his strong Hermione cry.
“What happened?” was his first question, but it only brought on a fresh wave of sobs. Draco pressed his lips to her hair in silence, his arms tight around her as she cried into his strong chest.
“He—he yelled at me,” Hermione whispered. “He’s never yelled at me before.”
“Weasley?” Draco ventured, thinking back to how protective of Hermione the redhead had been in their fourth year when Viktor Krum came into the picture.
Hermione sniffed and shook her head.
“Potter?” Draco asked incredulously, looking down at Hermione’s brown locks.
She sniffed and nodded, scrubbing at her tears with the back of her hand.
“But—isn’t he the one who dumped you?” He, at some level of his consciousness, had been aware that the two had been dating, and known that Hermione had strongly depended on him. This was the only thing that made sense to him to create the suicidal wreck that had been the Hermione he had saved.
Hermione disappeared behind a wave of fresh tears, giving Draco his answer. She gasped out the scene in the common room between sobs.
“He called me a bitch, Draco,” she sniffled. “I always thought I could depend on him. And now he hates me, and the whole common room heard him talk about us.”
“Who cares?” Draco said fervently, holding Hermione tightly. “If he is too blind to accept us for what we are then he doesn’t matter.” Instead of reassuring Hermione, his words made her break down once more.
“We’ve been through so much together, Draco. We’ve survived seven years just by our friendship!”
Draco held Hermione tightly as she cried, unable to find words that would help her feel better. Neither saw the door open and close as though someone invisible passed through.
He could loosen rusty bolts
With a quick turn of his wrench
He pulled splinters from his hand
And never even flinched
In thirteen years I'd never seen him cry
But the day that grandpa died, I realized
Harry sat on his four-poster with the hangings wrenched shut, his face buried in his hands.
“I’m an idiot,” he said aloud, thinking he was alone.
“You got that right,” said a voice. Ron pulled the hangings back and set the Invisibility Cloak on Harry’s trunk. “She trusted you, you know. Even though you broke up with her.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Harry moaned.
“She expected you just to accept it, just like she accepted you and Ginny going out. And you yelled at her. Harry, you realize you called her a bitch, don’t you?”
“I don’t know how I could forget.”
“You need to apologize to her.” Ron stretched out on his own bed.
Something inside Harry snapped. “Don’t tell me what I need to do!”
Ron only stared at the ceiling. “I’m just telling the truth.”
Harry was on his feet and yelling at Ron before he realized what he was doing. “She was kissing Malfoy! We’ve hated him since first year! You’re my best friend, you’re supposed to be on my side of things!”
Ron didn’t move. “She was your best friend too.”
“You’re supposed to support me, not her! She was acting like Malfoy made her whole, like he was the only thing in the world that made her happy!”
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe he is?”
“How could he be? He’s a creep, a good-for-nothing piece of shit! He’s practically a Death Eater!” Harry was starting to act hysterical.
“There are no more Death Eaters,” Ron said soothingly. “We defeated them all, Hermione helped the most remember?”
“I know that! And now she goes off and fraternizes with the son of the evilest one! It’s like he’s cast a spell over her while she was too hurt to realize it!” He sat down on his bed, a musing look on his face. “I bet Malfoy found a spell that will bring back Voldemort if he gets one of the trio that defeated him. We have to stop him!” A fierce light burned in his eyes.
“Have you seen them together?” Ron asked unexpectedly. “Have you seen the looks they give each other? Have you seen how they care for each other?”
“Huh?” Harry looked up, jolted out of his thoughts as abruptly as if Ron had hit him.
“Why do you think I had the Invisibility Cloak? I followed Hermione out of the common room. She found Malfoy and then—” Ron sighed. “He took care of her, Harry. He held her close and tried to make her feel better. He got mad that the watching people were staring at them, and yelled at them to leave her alone. He didn’t take advantage of her in any way. I swear he wasn’t thinking wicked anything.”
Harry stared open-mouthed at Ron.
“Harry,” Ron said, taking a deep breath. “I think they’re in love.”
Unsinkable ships sink
Unbreakable walls break
Sometimes the things you think would never happen
Happen just like that
Unbendable steel bends
If the fury of the wind is unstoppable
I've learned to never underestimate
The impossible
Hermione didn’t show up at dinner that night: instead, Malfoy came and collected enough food for two people, and disappeared again, depriving Harry of his chance to talk to Hermione.
But he was prepared. He followed Malfoy out of the hall and out to a secluded place by the lake. Harry was shocked when he saw Malfoy hold Hermione close and how Hermione rested her head on his chest, more trustingly than she ever had with Harry.
“You need to eat,” Malfoy said to Hermione.
“I’m not hungry.”
“That’s irrelevant. You still need to eat.” He held a grape to her mouth. “Come on,” he cajoled. “Please?”
Hermione opened her mouth and allowed Malfoy to put the grape in her mouth. “Oh, all right, I’ll eat.”
Harry observed in amazement as the blond menace of his youth treated Hermione tenderly, as though she were made of the finest glass and apt to shatter at a sudden puff of wind. She was always so strong, he thought. Me and Ron never treated her like that.
The pair lay under the stars until it was late, Harry watching them always. Hermione fell asleep with her head on Malfoy’s chest, her arm across his hips, content with his arm around her shoulders. Malfoy’s gray eyes watched her sweet, sleeping face in wonder—and, Harry noticed, just like Ron had said, never tried to take advantage of her.
When the moon was high, Malfoy woke Hermione gently. “Hermione, you really should go to bed now.”
“Hmm? But I’m comfortable,” she replied, looking into Malfoy’s eyes.
He smirked, and Harry sensed a different feeling behind the smirk, no malice, but amusement. “I am too. But you know the Gryffindors will be worried about you.”
“So? I don’t—’
“Hermione.” Malfoy held her chin. “You still need to go to bed.”
“Oh, fine.” Hermione sat up and stretched languidly. “Draco, look at the moon!” Hermione was transfixed by the sight of the moon illuminating the lake and the stars reflecting in the water. “It’s so beautiful!”
Malfoy sat up and put his arms around her, pulling her against him. Harry tensed, expecting Malfoy to try to hurt her, but Malfoy only whispered in her ear, “Not as beautiful as you.”
Hermione laughed, a sound that Harry had not heard for days. “You flatterer.”
“I know.” He kissed her cheek. “Come on, it’s late.”
“Let’s stay here for tonight,” Hermione suggested.
Malfoy raised his eyebrows. “You do realize what that’s going to do with your reputation don’t you?”
“Screw my reputation,” Hermione said recklessly. “I don’t care.”
“But I do. Come on, let’s go.” He stood, pulling Hermione to her feet. They walked hand-in-hand to the entryway, Harry following, parting ways with a chaste kiss and a murmur goodnight.
And then there was my junior year
Billy had a brand new car
It was late, the road was wet
I guess the curve was just too sharp
I walked away without a scratch
“Malfoy, wait.” Harry pulled off his Invisibility Cloak as he followed Malfoy.
Draco turned. “What do you want, Potter?” His voice was hard as nails and as cold as ice.
Harry sighed. “Look, I need your help.” His insides writhed at asking the ferret for assistance, but he really needed it.
“My help? Keep talking.” Draco leaned casually against the wall, crossing his arms, viewing Harry out of cool gray eyes. His hands were clenched into fists as he tried to hold himself back from punching Harry for what he had done to his sweet Hermione.
“I know what Hermione’s like when she’s mad, she won’t talk to the person who made her mad.”
“She’s not mad. She’s hurt, and you were the one who hurt her.”
“All, right, she’s hurt, and I need your help to help me mend that hurt.” Harry ran a hand through his already rumpled hair.
“What, no accusations of my using her? No blame for what happened?” Draco arched his pale brows at the shorter boy in front of him.
“No!” Harry’s green eyes blazed. “I-I saw you two together. And you didn’t do anything to hurt her.”
“You’d already hurt her enough. I suppose you know what happened in the library that day you broke up with her?”
“She told me while she was screaming at the top of her lungs, yes,” Harry said shortly. “That’s why I need your help. I want to apologize, and I want to be her friend again, but I know how she is. She won’t acknowledge me.”
Draco nodded once.
“I really want to make things right between Hermione and I. Ever since first year we’ve been close, and this really hurts me too.”
“Then why did you yell at her?” Draco asked, his face expressionless.
“Because,” Harry sighed. “Because I was mad about her finding someone else so soon, because I thought she was kissing you because she wanted to spite me, because it was the one thing I wasn’t in on.”
“You called her a bitch.”
Harry groaned. “I know that. I was just so angry, it fell out before I realized what I was saying.”
“That’s a pretty lame excuse.”
“I know. But that’s how it happened.”
“What about Weasley? Is he the reason you’re doing this?”
“No. Ron made me realize what an idiot I am.”
“Give him my compliments for accomplishing that.”
Harry made a face. “Because of what he said, I followed you tonight, and saw how you treated Hermione. I don’t understand it, but you make her happy, do you realize that Malfoy? Did you realize that you’re the only one she trusts now?”
They brought the helicopter in
And Billy couldn't feel his legs
Said he'd never walk again
But Billy said he would and his mom and daddy prayed
And the day we graduated, he stood up to say:
Draco looked at Harry, slightly caught unawares. “I am?”
“She always tied me and Ron into one person,” Harry explained. “When one of us did something, aside from Ron’s usual arguments, she ignored us both. So now that I’ve yelled at her, no matter what Ron says to her, she won’t listen.”
“And what does your stupidity have to do with me?”
“I need you to convince her to listen to me, if only just to hear my apology. I know I was stupid, but I really need you to help her understand that too.”
“Why should I?”
“I don’t have an answer to that.”
There was a silence. “At least you’re honest,” Draco said, after making Harry squirm. “All right, I’ll do it, on one condition.”
“Anything.”
“You won’t ever hurt her again. If you do, I’ll take care of you myself.”
“Deal. Malfoy, you don’t know how much this means to me.”
Harry turned to walk away, but was stopped by Draco’s voice.
“Potter, wait.”
Harry faced the blond-headed boy with appraising green eyes.
“I lied. There is something else, but I have already promised to help you. Will you listen?”
“Yes. It’s the least I can do.”
“Since Hermione and I are—dating—I think there’s something between us that needs to be reconciled.” Draco did not look at Harry. “I want to make a fresh start with you.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want Hermione to feel pressured to have to keep her love life and her social life separate. Because I know how much animosity between us could hurt her, even if we treat each other fairly civilly in her presence.”
“So you’re saying you want to be friends?” Now it was Harry’s turn to watch the other boy coolly as he searched for words.
“Ah—acquaintances,” Draco said carefully, “With the potential—in time—to become friends, instead of enemies.”
“I see.”
“I know it will take time to—not erase, hmm,” he picked his word delicately, “resolve, our past, but I know it will help Hermione tremendously, and be one less thing she has to worry about.” Draco looked at Harry, waiting for him to show any sign of emotion at all.
Harry stepped toward Draco, extending his hand. “I’m Harry Potter,” he said simply.
Draco exhaled, releasing his tension, firmly grasping Harry’s hand with his own. “Draco Malfoy.” Their eyes met, and they smiled tentatively at each other.
Unsinkable ships sink
Unbreakable walls break
Sometimes the things you think could never happen
Happens just like that
Unbendable steel bends
If the fury of the wind is unstoppable
I've learned to never underestimate
The impossible
They were standing a window, watching the sunset when he asked her. “Hermione?” Draco said, savoring the feeling of having Hermione firmly wrapped in his arms. “It’s been a couple weeks now. Do you think, maybe, you’d be willing to talk to—Harry?” The name still rolled awkwardly off his tongue.
Hermione stiffened. “Why?”
Draco made a face as she freed herself from his arms and turned to look at him. “He’s tried to talk to you. Would it hurt to listen to him?”
“He hurt me Draco,” she said in a pained voice. “I don’t know if I can.”
Draco was torn apart by the distress in her voice, and reached to pull her back to safety within the circle of his arms. “Maybe it would help to heal the hurt,” he whispered into her hair. “You know you can’t go on like this forever.”
“You need to read Anita Liberty’s book, “How to Heal the Hurt by Hating.” It’s very good,” Hermione said into his chest.
“But maybe hating isn’t the best way to heal the hurt,” Draco said gently.
Hermione sighed, slipping her arms around his waist. “Maybe not.”
“So when he talks, you’ll listen?”
“Yes,” she said sullenly.
“Good.” Draco turned her face upward and touched his lips to hers. “Now that’s settled, let’s go somewhere more private, shall we?”
Hermione smiled, but as they left, hand in hand, Harry turned the corner. He glanced at Draco, getting a slight nod.
“Um, Hermione? I was wondering if I could talk to you, alone?” Harry knew he was walking on thin ice.
“You may.” Hermione felt reluctant to let go of Draco, but he seemed to think it was for the best. “I’ll wait by the lake,” he whispered as he released her hand, and with a gentle kiss on her cheek, left them.
Harry wet his lips nervously. “Hermione, I know that what I said hurt you, and I’m really sorry—”
“Saying ‘sorry’ doesn’t make it hurt any less.” Hermione folded her arms. She didn’t know what it was that she wanted from him, but she wasn’t moving till she heard it.
Harry made a face. “I know it doesn’t, but that won’t stop me from trying. I was an idiot Hermione, and I know why. I was jealous, I think, because you had gone off and found yourself someone new, someone better than me. And then you showed it in the most flamboyant way possible, and I—I was angry. It was as though you had forgotten me. I couldn’t take that.”
Hermione’s mouth twisted. “You should have thought of that sooner,” she said. “I don’t think we’ll ever have that closeness that we had before the fight again. But I accept your apology.” She spun on her heel and walked away, away to the lake, where Draco waited.
“Don’t give up on us,” Harry said to her back. At this, Hermione paused, his words searing her heart, and flung herself into his arms, sobbing. Harry held her like a brother, and bent his head over hers, and cried until he thought his heart would break.
So don't tell me that it's over
Don't give up on you and me
'Cos there's no such thing as hopeless
If you believe:
The next day, the afternoon sun shone brightly on four brightly smiling young people, enjoying the spring weather, and their new and renewed friendships.
Ron, the forever unstable freckled redhead, lounged on the grass, reflecting on how the four of them had forged their friendships. One he had made on the train ride coming to Hogwarts; one had needed the intervention of a giant troll, but then had become the third of their trio; and the last was once his enemy, the one person he never thought he would be able to get along with. But time had wrought a change on the boy, and now Ron regarded him as an extension of himself, as he regarded his other two friends.
Harry, the messy-haired, scar-marked boy, stared at the clear blue sky with his candid green eyes. He rolled over to look at Ron, and smiled as he remembered all of the things that they had done together. Surveying the girl, he thought of all the things that she had done for him and Ron, and all the things she had sacrificed to keep them out of trouble on their many times. And the last, the newest member, who had once been his fiercest rival, called to mind all of their confrontations, and how hard it had been to reconcile them. The bond between them now was only possible now because of the girl.
Draco lay flat on his back, his arm around his beloved. He had never known happiness so complete, so filling as the happiness that lay over the four of them, as thick as anything. He had everything he wanted: Harry, once an enemy, now his firmest friend, and in whom he could confide his insecurities, and find an understanding born of similar circumstances to his own; Ron, the one who could make him smile no matter how serious the situation, and whom he could always depend on helping him out in a fight; and then there was the goddess laying beside him, the one who had changed him forever, and the love of his life.
Hermione could not stop smiling. She lay cuddled against her love, Draco, and within the circle of her friends. Each of her friends she knew she could trust beyond death, and Draco, well, he was something else. She nuzzled against his chest, gloriously happy. She never realized that she was the golden glowing link that held the other three together; if she were taken out of the picture, they would have been thrown to the four winds, never to forge the strong friendships that they now had.
As the golden afternoon faded into dusk, a girl with bright red hair and a girl with long, wavy blond hair called out from the doorway of Hogwarts. “Ron! Harry!”
The two looked up, and smiled.
“Excuse us,” Ron said, as he and Harry got up and left the pair left on the grass.
“Hurry,” called the blond to her red-haired boyfriend. “The Spiral-Horned Snorkack might get you.”
Ron smiled as he swept Luna into his arms. “We can’t have that now can we?” he whispered in her hair. She shook her head, and giggled as he kissed her neck. Ron released her, and she took his hand, pulling him away into the castle.
Harry laced his and Ginny’s fingers together, leading her down a different path through the castle halls, neither needing any words to express how happy they were to be together.
Meanwhile, Draco and Hermione got up from the grass and walked down to a secluded part of the lakeshore, where they stood contemplating the sky.
“Hmmm,” Hermione sighed contentedly. “Look at the stars, Draco, they’re beautiful.”
The pale blond smiled as he hugged Hermione to himself. “Not as beautiful as you,” he whispered in her ear.
“You say that every time,” Hermione accused.
“I mean it every time.” Draco fumbled with something in his robe pocket.
“What are you doing, Draco?” Hermione asked him, only to be answered as he dropped to one knee in front of her.
“Hermione,” he murmured, presenting her with a black velvet box. “Would you do the me the honor of being my wife?”
Hermione gasped as he slipped a beautiful silver ring set with a diamond onto her finger. “Draco—I—” Hermione was rendered speechless by the rush of ecstasy that coursed through her body. “Yes!” Draco stood and wrapped her in his arms as the moon rose over the lake, reflecting on the gently rippling waters.
The stars reflected in Hermione’s soft, doe-brown eyes and in Draco’s silver-gray ones as the two danced to a song only they could hear.
“I thought having you was impossible,” Draco whispered. “I thought having friends, being happy, being loved, I thought all of that was impossible.
Hermione laughed softly, and kissed her betrothed. “Nothing is impossible.”
Unsinkable ships sink
Unbreakable walls break
Sometimes the things you think would never happen
Happen just like that
Unbendable steel bends
If the fury of the wind is unstoppable
I've learned to never underestimate
The impossible
A/N this is the end of the story. and i want to thank my wonderful beta Kyoureshi for checking over the story and pointing out a really obvious mess up (i think i had Harry and Hermione making up and then hating each others guts forever and always or sumthin like that) but its fixed now. please review!
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