His fingertips traced a line down her bare arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake. Their tongues were slowly dancing together, moving in time with the music of the ocean waves. Alone in their private paradise, cocooned between stark white sheets.
She could almost feel the heat on her arms now. She looked out at the dark forest, she didn’t want to be here. She wanted to be with him on their island. The heat from the fire was nothing compared to the warmth of sand under her feet. The forest was terrible company, no sounds at all, just darkness.
They had talked for hours. A silent promise to not speak of the next day, not now. This was their time. In this bed, they were allowed to be vulnerable,allowed to be themselves. They both laughed, held each other while they voiced their fears, and fell asleep to whispered promises of later, and forever.
She threw more pieces of kindling on the small fire. Her beaded bag bumped her hip, the letter he wrote for her tucked away inside of it. Hermione knew she was alone, Ron and Harry were in the tent asleep. She slipped the three page letter out and started reading it. She had already memorized what it said, but she could almost hear his voice reading it back to her.
Hermione,
You looked so peaceful I didn’t want to wake you. I don’t know if this is the right thing to do or not. It’s probably not, but I don’t care. I have told you this before but keep this as a reminder. Hermione I love you! I love your smile, I love your wild, uncontrollable hair. I love how inherently good you are. I love how absolutely brilliant you are, and how witty you can be. Love, you are the light in my dark world. You know how utterly pathetic I am at big romantic gestures so you will just have to settle for this. I could write a book about every little detail I love about you. Once this war is over that is what I intend to do for you. A tome of a book, all about the small insignificant things that make up the million and one reasons I fell completely in love with you. Merlin alone knows what I did to trick you into loving me.
She always rolls her eyes when she gets to that part. Draco always said he tricked her into loving him, but she knew the truth. She had crashed into love with him, not fallen, but crashed - fast and hard. Draco Malfoy consumed her every fiber. Her heart and soul belonged to him, the real him that only she got to see. The person who loved books just as much as she did. The person who challenged her, made her think. The one who saw her for more than just a smart witch.
Love, I need you to try not to be the headstrong gryffindor that I know you are. I know, I know, you can’t help it. Potter and Weasley don’t deserve you saving their sorry arses every day, please have a smidge of self preservation. I’ve seen you in action, you're a closet slytherin. If you need an example just think jar, and Rita Skeeter. Slytherin! Think Umbridge, and the dark forest. Slytherin! You amaze me Hermione Granger.
His words brought tears to her eyes. They always do. She has read this letter over a hundred times and each time it still makes her heart swell. Damn this war! She just wanted to be with him. She folded the letter, and placed it back in her bag for a moment. She needed to walk the perimeter again and recheck the wards.
“ If you're really going to go through with this you are going to learn basic survival skills.” Draco said huffing.
“ I know basic survival skills Draco, I wouldn’t be that obtuse!” She countered back.
Draco shot her a look and started firing off questions. “ What wards are you going to use? How many days can you stay in one place? How do you plan on cooking your meals without attracting animals.”
She watched the nightlife as she walked the little dome around their campsite. An owl flew through the trees. She wished for news from home, from him. It would be utterly foolish to think about sending an owl, but she did. Just for a moment she thought about writing to him, telling him she missed him and that she was ok.
“Hermione, It's time, ward yourself in your dorm!” Draco rushed out as he pulled her back towards the Gryffindor common room.
“ I thought we would have more time! I’m not ready for this Draco.” she searched his eyes, they were blown wide and full of terror.
“ I know. He has decided now, I have to make sure you're safe first. This should be over in an hour, don’t come out of your dorm. Swear to me Hermione, you will stay put!”
She stopped running and yanked him towards her. She grabbed his face into her hands
“ I’ll be fine. Draco you are a good person, you deserve so much better than this and I’m sorry. You keep yourself alive, do you hear me Draco Malfoy. Do whatever you have to do to come back to me!” She crashed their lips together.
His arms wound around her pressing her to him. His hands roamed over her body until they were grabbing handfuls of curls. His fingers moved and grabbed her chin forcing their lips to part. “ I love you Hermione. Don’t ever forget that. You are mine!” She took a step back and grabbed his hands and squeezed. “ Yours forever.”
She slowly stepped back, their fingers entangled until the last moment. He dropped his hand from hers and turned in the direction of the Astronomy tower.
Hermione made her way back to the fire. She pulled out her copy of Romeo and Juliet, the photo of the two of them laying under a palm tree was her bookmark. They had read this book together while on the island. He heart ached watching him in black and white smile and kiss her cheek repeatedly. Draco never liked this story, and said the ending was unrealistic. How fitting two loves stuck on opposite sides of a war. She hoped their story didn’t end with one or both of them dead. No, they had promised to come back to each other. She would get back to him.
Two star crossed lovers fighting a war much bigger than either of them. Like that silly book of yours, except our story will be different. We will find each other after this, we will live. Hermione, our story will not have a tragic ending. Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon. Just know love, the night always ends, the sun rises. I will think of you in the sun, happy and beautiful. I will find you once this dark war is over and the sun rises for us.
I love you
Forever yours
Draco Malfoy