One_Step_Closer

One Step Closer
Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/61298377.
Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: F/M
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Relationship: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Characters: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy
Additional Tags: Angst, Hogwarts Eighth Year
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2024-12-13 Words: 1,033 Chapters: 1/1
One Step Closer
by caplanbuckybarnes
Summary
They can't be together, not after everything they've done. But yet....
The evening was still, the last remnants of daylight slipping through the windows of the room
that had once felt so cold and distant. The walls of the library were lined with shelves upon
shelves of ancient books, but the atmosphere now felt different—more intimate, more
personal.
Hermione Granger stood by the window, her arms crossed tightly over her chest as she stared
out at the moonlit grounds of Hogwarts. The silence of the room felt suffocating, the weight
of the conversation hanging between her and Draco Malfoy like an unspoken truth.
It had been months since they’d last spoken—months since the war, since everything had
changed. And yet, here they were, back in the same space, both feeling the pull of something
they didn’t know how to name.
She hadn’t expected to find him there when she entered the library earlier that evening. Draco
Malfoy. Her former enemy. The one who had once made her life hell and whose family had
caused so much pain. Yet, the man in front of her now was different. The sharp, biting
sarcasm was gone, replaced with an uncertainty that left her wondering what he was really
thinking.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Hermione said, her voice quieter than she intended. She couldn’t
help it; seeing him here, after all this time, still stirred something deep within her. Anger,
resentment, but... something else too. Something she wasn’t ready to admit.
Draco’s gaze softened, and he took a slow step forward. “I know,” he said, his voice calm but
heavy. “But here I am.”
She turned away from him, feeling her heart race as she tried to keep her composure. “We
shouldn’t be together anymore, Draco. I’m supposed to hate you,” she murmured, her breath
catching in her throat as the words slipped out.
Draco flinched, as though the words had physically struck him. His eyes flickered with a mix
of hurt and frustration, but he didn’t look away. “I never wanted you to hate me,” he said, his
voice low, almost pleading.
Hermione spun to face him, her eyes narrowing. “Well, it’s a little hard not to after everything
you’ve done. After everything your family—”
“Don’t,” he cut her off, his voice sharper now. “Don’t make me out to be some villain. You
know what I did. You know I didn’t have a choice.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but he continued, taking another step closer to her. “I wasn’t
the one who started the war, Hermione. You know that.”
He was so close now, their breaths mingling in the space between them. It was intoxicating,
the way his presence seemed to fill the room, like gravity pulling her toward him against her
will.
“I didn’t have a choice, either,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “I had to fight. But that
doesn’t change everything you were, everything your family was. Everything we—”
“I know.” Draco’s voice softened, and for a moment, he looked almost... vulnerable. “I’m not
asking you to forget everything. But I can’t keep pretending like I don’t feel this.” His hand
reached out tentatively, brushing against hers, and Hermione’s breath hitched at the warmth
of his touch.
She pulled back slightly, her heart racing as she looked up at him. “Feel what, Draco?”
“You,” he said simply, the raw honesty in his eyes making her chest tighten. “I feel you.
Everything that’s been between us. All the things I said, all the things you said.” He exhaled
shakily, stepping back for a moment as if trying to collect himself. “But it doesn’t change the
fact that I want to be here with you. And I can’t ignore that anymore.”
Hermione’s head spun, her thoughts tumbling in every direction. She had spent years
convincing herself that Draco Malfoy was just a product of his upbringing, a boy lost in a
world of hatred and division. But that was the problem, wasn’t it? He wasn’t that boy
anymore. He wasn’t the same person he had been when they first met.
“You can’t just decide that,” she said, her voice trembling. “You can’t just... waltz back into
my life and tell me it’s all okay. We can’t be this. We can’t be together.”
Draco stepped toward her again, his hand resting on her shoulder as he gently turned her to
face him. His expression was steady now, his eyes fixed on hers with a quiet intensity. “I’m
not asking for forgiveness. I’m not asking for you to forget.” His thumb brushed across her
cheek, his touch so light it almost felt like a dream. “But I can’t keep pretending that I don’t
want you. That I don’t love you.”
The words hit her like a thunderclap, leaving her breathless.
Her pulse quickened, her heart pounding in her ears as everything inside her screamed to
walk away, to leave, to turn her back on the past and the pain that Draco Malfoy had caused.
But in the face of him, in the depth of his eyes, she realized there was nothing left for her to
fight anymore.
Instead, she kissed him.
It was slow at first, tentative, but as their lips met, it felt like the world snapped back into
focus. The years of anger and resentment seemed to fall away, washed clean by the warmth
of his mouth on hers, by the way his hands cupped her face gently, as though he were afraid
she might vanish.
Draco pulled away, his forehead resting against hers. “I know it’s not easy. I know I’ve ruined
everything. But I need you to understand—what we have, what we could have, it’s worth the
fight.”
Hermione closed her eyes, her breath shaky as she let the moment sink in. “I don’t know how
to be with you, Draco,” she confessed softly. “But I know I don’t want to let you go.”
Draco’s smile was small but filled with relief, and he pulled her close, resting his chin atop
her head. “Then we’ll figure it out together,” he whispered. “One step at a time.”
And for the first time in years, Hermione allowed herself to believe that maybe, just maybe,
love could be worth fighting for after all.
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One Step Closer

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/61298377.

Rating: General Audiences

The words hit her like a thunderclap, leaving her breathless.

Instead, she kissed him.

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