Chapter 30: Proposal at Tiffany's

Hello, lovely readers! I have a few announcements to make:

Sorry. There might potentially be a novella that chronicles all of the things that went on during Draco and Hermione's eight year. But I honestly doubt it. I have thought about it, but the chances of it actually materializing are quite small.

More about it will be in the section at the end of this chapter.

Enjoy!

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I will love you as a drawer loves a secret compartment, and as a secret compartment loves a secret, and as a secret loves to make a person gasp, and as a gasping person loves a glass of brandy to calm their nerves, and as a glass of brandy loves to shatter on the floor, and as the noise of glass shattering loves to make someone else gasp, and as someone else gasping loves a nearby desk to lean against, even if leaning against it presses a lever that loves to open a drawer and reveal a secret compartment. I will love you until all such compartments are discovered and opened, and until all the secrets have gone gasping into the world. I will love you until all the codes and hearts have been broken and until every anagram and egg has been unscrambled.                   -Lemony Snicket

Just as she was about to leave, Draco apparated in front of her, slightly out of breath.

            “Wh--,” Hermione began with a shocked expression on her face.

            “I know you have a lot to say, you usually do, but for once in your life listen to me,” Draco began. “If family legends are to be believed, Malfoys’ only do this once in their life so I’m going to put a charm on you right now so that you don’t interrupt me.”

            He pointed his wand at Hermione and muttered, “ and immediately Hermione felt rooted to the spot and could only move her eyes.

            “When I came back for eighth year in Hogwarts, I was ostracized by mostly everyone other than a few Slytherins. My parents were on trial and everyone treated me like a death eater, which I suppose I was. They either feared me, despised me, or felt disgusted by me. Sometimes all three. You were the only one who was an exception to this rule. You were the only one who treated me like I was a regular person. Well not completely. You treated me like Hermione Granger would treat Draco Malfoy. You despised me because I made your life living hell when we were younger, not because I was a death eater. No matter how profusely I’d deny it, I enjoyed your company. The corridor patrols, the classes, especially potions, the detentions, and perpetual arguing. At some point during that year, I fell for you. And I fell hard. In case you ever wondered, it’s because of me that guys were too scared to ask you out.

            “Anyways. It was at the Christmas Ball that I realized that I had fallen for you. I guess I should’ve realized earlier, especially after Slughorn’s amortenia lesson. You once asked me what I smelled when I smelled amortenia, I smelled green apples, Guilty by Gucci, and your Japanese cherry blossom shampoo. I should’ve realized then that I had fallen in love with you, maybe I did. But I told myself that I just happened to like the smell of Japanese cherry blossom shampoo. Stupid excuse, but it was the lesser of the two evils, or so I thought.

“Anyways, my realization during the Christmas Ball added to the general vibe of the night, led me to forget for a moment our situation. For that moment, I was just a wizard who was in love; not the heartless, infamous Draco Malfoy who is too cold to fall in love, and you were just a beautiful witch, not Hermione Granger the last girl in the world who would like me. So I did the first thing that came to my mind. I kissed you.

            “I ended up spending the entire night wondering what I should do. Whether I should tell you I love you and basically change the courses of our lives or pretend like nothing has happened. At last, I decided, being the selfish creature I am, to tell you the truth. But before I could do so, the Weasel proposed to you.

            “That knocked me into my senses. I realized that what I was about to do was extremely selfish. Media would’ve made your life living hell, your friends would’ve been angry with you. People would begin to hate you too. So I decided to leave your life.

            “Four weeks ago, when I saw the newspaper article about the Weasel and Astoria, I felt a flutter of hope. I hoped I’d get another chance at what could’ve happened. I told myself that I just wanted to get revenge. In reality, I just wanted to see if you could possibly harbor feelings for even after five years.

            “As our time together came to an end, I realized that although five years had passed, I still didn’t deserve you any more than I did five years ago. So I decided to leave you to Weasel once again. Walking away from you was the hardest thing I ever did in my life.

            “It was only when I left and came here, did I realize that I had made the worst mistake of my life by giving you up for a second time. But I’m not making this mistake again.

            “I fell in love with you during eighth year and have loved you ever since. Though I have made plenty of stupid decisions that may suggest otherwise. Never in my life have I met anyone so funny, sarcastic, charming, nerdy, smart, stubborn, beautiful, witty, wonderful, and bushy haired as you. After I fell in love with you, I fell in love with my life.”

            Getting down on one knee, he produced an emerald green velvet box form the folds of his cloak, opened it to extract a beautiful diamond ring and asked, “So, Hermione Granger, will you marry me?”

            His question met deathly silence.

            Draco was convinced that he just got rejected. “I must be the first Malfoy, in the history of Malfoys’ or perhaps the history of proposals, to ever be rejected,” he thought speechlessly.

He looked at Hermione to find her eyes widened and trying to convey a message to him. A message along the lines of, “The spell, you idiot!”

            “Oh! The spell! ” Draco muttered the counter curse, casuing Hermione to unfreeze.

            “How dare you curse me?” Hermione screeched. “How dare you curse me and then forget about it? First you leave me here, making me think that you hated me then you come and---,”

            “Hermione, will you marry me?” Draco interrupted.

            “Marry you and be stuck with you for the rest of my life?” Hermione asked. “Absolutely,” she replied with a huge smile.

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http://www.wattpad.com/story/1377519-pride-of-a-granger-%26-prejudice-of-a-malfoy