Whenever I see you,
I'll swallow my pride
and bite my tongue
Pretend I'm okay with it all
Act like there's nothing wrong

- Cry, Kelly Clarkson

Summer, 2003

June

Hermione glanced up in surprise as a package was held in front of her eyes. She looked over her shoulder and grinned to find Draco standing behind her. He raised his eyebrows and without a word wiggled the package at her. She gave him a curious look as she took it from him. "What's this?" Hermione asked.

Draco gave her a small half-smile and shrugged as he walked around the bench to sit down next to his girlfriend. "I got you a present," he replied.

Carefully Hermione unwrapped the brown paper, only to shriek in delight when she saw what it was. She threw her arms around Draco's neck and hugged him as she cried, "You got me the new edition of Hogwarts: A History!" Hermione pulled back slightly so that she could look into Draco's eyes. "How did you get this? It's not due to be released until next week!"

He kissed her lightly. "Let's just say it pays to have connections." Draco winked at her.

Hermione shook her head in amazement, looking down again at the precious book in her hands. She was grinning so much that her cheeks would probably start hurting soon. "Thank you Draco." Hermione kissed him again before pulling away completely to run her hands reverently across the book's cover. "But what's the occasion?"

"No occasion." Draco wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulder and instantly began playing with one of her curls. "You've just been working so hard lately, and focusing so much on other people, that I thought you deserved something just for you."

Hermione glanced up at her boyfriend, waiting for the catch. Draco Malfoy might be generally "reformed" but he was still a Slytherin through and through, and he rarely did anything just for the sake of doing something nice. He wasn't watching her expectantly though, simply staring dreamily out at the park. Hermione mentally shrugged and decided to just go with it.

Hermione smiled to herself. It was a beautiful summer's day, she was curled up with her sometimes-loving boyfriend, and she was holding her favourite book in her lap. She didn't think this day could have been any better if she had planned it. And for Hermione, that was saying a lot.

July

"Go on Draco. Do it. Say it."

Hermione was angry and upset. And so she was goading Draco. Trying to force him into saying something they both knew he wasn't capable of.

Hermione scoffed and glanced around at their surroundings. She couldn't help but think of how ironic it was that they were having this "discussion" in Flourish & Blotts - the backdrop for two break-ups already. Hermione looked back at Draco with a bitter smile as she remembered the scene she had witnessed almost four years ago. "Astoria knew the truth you know," she said.

Draco frowned at her. "What are you talking about now?"

She shook her head as she crossed her arms over her chest – the only (worthless) protection her heart had. "The truth about you. She knew you didn't love her, and though in her paranoid mind she may have rationalised it by claiming you loved me, deep down she knew the truth. Just like I do." Hermione took a breath and stared hard into Draco's eyes. "You can't love. You don't understand it and you have no idea what it is. That's why you can't say the words."

Draco opened his mouth, desperate to utter a retort, to argue the point, to prove her wrong. To speak the words she longed for. But nothing would come.

Hermione's next words were quiet but they reverberated around Draco as if they had been shouted. "I want to break-up."

"What?" Draco yelped. "Hermione, don't do this. Please."

He wanted to continue but her eyes silenced him. "I deserve to be loved properly Draco. I've finally learnt that after so many years of just settling. I deserve to be told over and over, every day, in actions and in words of just how much someone loves me. And since we both know you can't, I'm going to end things now and save us both a lot of pain in the long run."

Before he could protest or try to change her mind, Hermione whirled out of the bookstore, her wild, untameable hair flying out and surrounding her like an angry storm cloud. Draco fell back against the bookshelf and stared at the spot that just a moment ago had been occupied by his girlfriend. His next words were a whisper – heard only by the old, dusty books that she worshipped so much.

"I love you."

August

Draco pounded on Hermione's door, puffing from having run up four flights of stairs. Why she had to insist on living in a flat in Muggle London, where no one could Apparate straight to her front door, he still didn't understand. He was feeling somewhat nervous and he hadn't really planned what he was going to say. All he knew was that he had to get Hermione back.

He stepped back slightly as Hermione opened the door. "What do you want Draco?" she asked wearily.

"Granger, marry me," he blurted out. He hadn't expected those words but once they were out he decided they were the right ones. He wanted to marry this woman, this crazy, pedantic, know-it-all. Draco just had to convince her now as well.

Hermione blinked. "Sorry, say that again?"

"Marry me."

"You're proposing?"

"Yes, Granger, I'm proposing. That's generally what the words 'Marry me' mean." Draco was frowning slightly.

Hermione crossed her arms as she leant against the door jamb. "Hey, don't get snippy with me. I haven't seen you for a month and then you suddenly turn up here with a marriage proposal?"

"Only because you've been avoiding me!"

Hermione's eyes dropped to the floor. "I thought it might be easier that way."

Draco scoffed. "Easier? To just avoid our problems rather than facing up to them and dealing with them? I thought you were meant to be a Gryffindor."

She looked back up at him, her eyes flashing with anger. "Oh, so things have suddenly changed have they? You're not going to slink away like the Slytherin you are just to get out of saying something you find just the teensiest bit hard?" Hermione shook her head slightly. "Look at us. You can't even propose without us getting into a fight about it."

Draco sighed. "Hermione that's who we are. And that's what I love about us."

Hermione's eyes widened at his words. Draco continued speaking, "There I said it." He reached out a hand and cupped Hermione's cheek. "I love you." A smile was starting to pull at the edges of her mouth. "I love you. I love you."

With a wide grin Hermione pushed herself up onto her tiptoes, threw her arms around Draco's neck and kissed him hungrily. Oh, she had missed doing this. As she pulled back slightly she whispered, "I love you too."

Draco had a grin on his face that made him look like a little boy at Christmas time, the grin that only appeared when he was alone with her. "So marry me then," he said.

Hermione watched him carefully, still with the smile on her face, and then nodded. All she said was, "Okay."