A Piece of Forever

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Nothing belongs to me, sadly, except the plot.

Thanks to the people who reviewed, you are greatly appreciated. I"m sorry about the prologue being so short, this one's longer! Happy reading!

Chapter One:

“I’m really sorry, Hermione,” he said quietly. “I know it was what you wanted but I can’t.”

“You can’t,” Hermione repeated, her hazel eyes narrowing as she added harshly, “Or you wouldn’t?”

“I… can’t,” he said.

“Why?” she asked, keeping her voice light as she stood up from her seat, and crouching to tie her boot, schooling her features into the same expressionless mask that he wore.

“Because it will never work out!” he blurted out, sounding exasperated, irritated and angry all at the same time.

Her fingers on the laces of her boot froze and trembled so hard, they fell from her grip. She had not expected this. She kept her head down. She refused to let him see her face, and she did not want to see his, afraid of what she might see.

“Why won’t it work out?” She was thankful to hear her voice was not trembling.

“Because it’s you,” he said in a low voice. “And me. “

Those words were like a slap to her. She knew what he meant by those words. He still couldn’t get over the fact that she was a Mudblood- the word he hadn’t called her for a very long time.

“If it was any other pair, it would work out, sure,” he said, moving closer, his face carefully blank, not letting a single bit of emotion slip through. “But the thing is, it’s you- Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter and Muggleborn.”

She swallowed twice, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat. She ignored her stinging eyes, forcing herself to swallow her tears. She stood up and gathered her courage, and met his eyes. She was trying to be strong, to be brave, why couldn’t she act like he did? Why couldn’t she mirror that silent, composed and emotionless mask he wore?

“Hermione,” He said softly, stepping closer to her, his hands held out as though to hold her.

She stepped back and for a moment, she saw disbelief flash across his features but the next second, his face was back to the same emotionless expression. He let his arms fall back to his sides. He sighed again.

“Why?” Hermione asked again. “I really want to know, Draco. Why after these two years, when I thought we were already over the fact that I’m not pureblood like you, you still can’t forget that? Why, when I thought you loved me enough to overlook the fact that I’m not, in other people’s eyes, good enough for you, you can’t? I want answers to these questions! After these two years, don’t I deserve that?” She was close to tears. She was sad, hurt, angry, disappointed, all at the same time.

“Hermione,” he said. What was he supposed to say? He panicked silently. His hands slid into his pockets, to clench around the wrinkled piece of parchment on which he had written what he wanted to tell her, but everything had left his mind now that she was here. He closed his eyes and reopened them later, letting out a long heavy breath. He went over her questions in his head, wincing at how painful they sounded.

“Hermione,” he repeated, “I never, never thought you’re not good enough for me. I never looked down on you because of your blood.”

Hermione had lost control over her tears completely; they spilled out of her eyes one after another, unable to be stopped. “Then is it because you don’t love me anymore?” She choked back a sob at the thought of that. She loved him so much… if he didn’t love her back, what would she do?

Draco drew in a sharp gasp at her words. “No, that’s not true,” he said. “I love you, Hermione. How can you think that I don’t…” He broke of shakily. He took a deep breath then continued, “After all these years of loving you, I can’t imagine a time when I didn’t.”

“If that’s true, why?” she asked, reaching out and grasping his coat, shaking him. “I want a real explanation!”

Draco’s head was aching by now. He couldn’t give her what she wanted. She deserved it, hell, of course she did! But he just couldn’t give it to her. He just wasn’t good at explanations. She was crying. Damn, didn’t she know he hated it when she cried? And it just hurt him more knowing that he was the one who made her cry like this.

“Hermione!” He shouted. She stopped shaking him, but his head didn’t stop throbbing.

She let out a small whimper, her honey coloured eyes glittering accusingly at him. He regretted yelling at her immediately.

“I’m sorry, Hermione. I didn’t mean it,” he said.

“You never mean anything you do right?” Hermione shouted right back at him. “You don’t mean to dump me like this after two years! You don’t mean to break my heart when I love you so fucking much it hurts! You don’t mean to break up with me because I’m just not good enough for you, Draco ‘Pureblood’ Malfoy!”

At that moment she was so broken, she wished she had saved every single tear she had wasted on him before so she could drown him in them.

“I never said you weren’t good enough!” He shouted back. Why couldn’t she try and understand? It wasn’t easy for him to do this too.

“I don’t want to hear a single bloody word you have to say! It still comes down to me being a Mudblood, right?” She spat. “I didn’t ask to be born a Muggleborn and I’m very happy being Muggleborn, I’ll have you know. I can’t change who I am and I won’t.”

“I’m not asking you to change, Hermione! I never said that!” Draco protested. “All I’m saying is there’s no way I can be with you anymore and there’s no why, ok? Stop asking why!”

“There’s always a reason, Draco,” she said flatly. “You just won’t tell me.”

He wanted to throw his hands up tear out his hair. Why didn’t she understand? “Hermione, you have to understand-“

“Understand? Why don’t you understand my feelings now instead?” Hermione screamed.

“Look, I’ve said what I wanted to say. It’s not my fault you can’t understand,” Draco said angrily. “I’m sorry.”

He turned on his heel, walking away.

Hermione’s eyes grew wide. She wanted to call out to him, beg him to stay but the words remained stuck in her throat as she watched him walk away from her.

She sank onto the cool ground, burying her head in her hands, loud sobs ripping out of her chest as she mourned her loss.

~*~

Thanks for reading!
Please review. Is it good? Should I continue? This is my first fic and some advice would be nice :)