SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - Should've Said No

r+h4ever1 · 02-15-2008, 05:35 AM

Greetings SS Administrators, Moderators, Staff, Members and Guests! My name is Shannon, and I am here with a special Valentine's Day One-Shot Song Fic! This fic was requested by the lovely Sydnie (iheartdan). The song I used was Should've Said No by Taylor Swift. At the request of Miss Sydnie, the fic features one of her favorite ships: D/HR. Suspend your disbelief for a moment. The story takes place post-DH...a very different one than J.K. Rowling wrote in the epilogue.

(I know that it was just Valentine's Day, the day of love, but I thought this could be another reading option for those who don't particularly like this day.

)

Either way, I hope that whatever your Valentine's Day preference you enjoy reading it! Thank you so much for taking the time to do so! It means a lot to me.

**DISCLAIMER**: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. Furthermore, the song Should've Said No was written and sung by Miss Taylor Swift, and rights belong to her and Big Machine Records. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

If you are looking for anymore fics to read, I have a few more to choose from:
One-shots:
Another Beginning - Sa9+
Shades of Gray - Sa9+
The Luckiest Woman - Sa9+

Full-Length:
There All Along - Sa9+
Its sequel: Until Death Do Us Part - Sa9+

Still in progress:
As the Embers Die - Sa13+

Without further ado, Should've Said No:
-----------------------------------------------------------
It's strange to think the songs we used to sing
The smiles, the flowers, everything
Is gone
Hermione Granger sat in the dark room staring blankly at the door through puffy, watery eyes. Her mind raced at the same pace as the ticking clock beside her. With each passing moment, the dull numbness faded and thick anger and sickening pain replaced it. An iron grip of betrayal squeezed her once-beating heart repeatedly, each time harder and crueler than the one before it. Her usual calm, deep breaths came in short, tight gasps as her lungs sought something more than air. The hot tears stung her burning cheeks, and for the first time for hours, she let out a loud, painstaking sob.

It was over. She knew it even if he didn't...yet. There was no other way. And yet, the thought of it ending when everything was finally right made her heart sink to the very dark pit of her aching stomach. Finally, she had moved on. Finally, Harry and Ron had accepted them. Finally, she was happy.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong!

The clock shrieked eight o'clock's arrival and thereby his as well. The door knob slowly, hesitantly, turned, and the door inched forward, cautious shoes coming into view. She did not even blink as his ashamed, hanging head entered the room, his betraying hands clutching a bouquet of roses. She did not flinch when he slowly turned to shut the door. But she averted her wounded gaze away when his pale face lifted and his guilty gray eyes looked behind his blond hair at her.

"H-Hi," he whispered, the syllable stabbing her heart further.

Yesterday I found out about you
Even now just looking at you
Feels wrong

"You're home," she said, her sobs shaking her voice.

"I come bearing gifts," he responded, acknowledging the bouquet, a small smile beginning on his pale lips.

He waved his wand to ignite the lamp, illuminating the cozy living room and his broken girlfriend. The starting smile paused and died, his eyes growing wide in horror and shame.

"You brought me flowers?" she sniffed, a stray tear sliding down her face. Her eyes were daggers now.

"Yeah," he mumbled hopefully.

"It's not Valentine's Day," she said quietly.

"Well, I know, but..."

"It's not my birthday."

"Yeah, but I thought I'd..."

"Oh, so this must be a guilt present, right?" He remained silent as she stared him down. Her shaky sigh made him cower in shame. "Do you have something to tell me?"

"N-Nope," he said, looking away from her. There was silence, and the longer it was, the more difficult it became for him to be in his own skin. "Er...I...I'll go put these in water, then."

He made his way towards the kitchen in determination, but her next words...very cold and soft...stopped him in his tracks.

"I know."

He turned to face her, his face draining of the little color it naturally possessed. He looked sick to his stomach. He gave out a small moan, and the bouquet of flowers slipped out of his grasp and landed on the floor in a heap.

"You...you know?" He swallowed with difficulty, his voice cracking. "H-How?"

Hermione gave another loud sniff, and when she answered, her voice was thick and weepy. Her eyes focused on the pile of roses. They were beautiful, clearly the best money could buy. In full bloom, its color was deep and rich. Their strong, green stems could not protect them from the fall, and the stray petals lay about gracefully, the scattered baby's breath helpless next to the beauties. Each stem offered leaves and numerous small and vicious thorns. She felt like laughing. How ironic. The red rose symbolized love, of course, and what a perfect gift! But every rose had its thorn, and she had found hers.

"Pansy told me," she replied after a moment, her voice trembling with tears and betrayal. "She called here just after I got here for our date tonight. She wanted...She wanted..."

Hermione let out a giant sob, and covered her mouth, trying to block out the horrendous sound. Her shoulder's shook with the effort, but she could not bring herself to look at him. He was tainted. He was everything she had always known he was. And she couldn't bear that thought. After years of believing that no one was a lost cause...

"She wanted to 'thank you....for this afternoon.'"

Draco stared at her, unable to think clearly. How could he have been so stupid? Of course Pansy wouldn't keep it a secret. It was Pansy for crying out loud! He mentally kicked himself, trying to block out the memory of his stupidity.

"Hermione..."

"Don't say my name," she whispered dangerously. "Don't you dare say my name."

"Look, we were fighting..."

"Well, I thought we'd be able to solve our problems with each other!" she shrieked at the roses, tears streaming steadily now.

"Look, I was mad and upset and confused," he said, his tone pleading.

Tears had started to burn in his own eyes, and he tried to shove them back down. He did not want to show this weakness. He had to let her know that he knew that what he had done was stupid and wrong.

"So naturally, whenever you're mad or upset or confused, you go to Pansy Parkinson for that kind of comfort!" she yelled.

She jumped up off of the couch and walked determinedly toward the pile of flowers. In one fluid motion, she picked them up and threw them at him, the bouquet hitting him squarely in the face. He gave a grunt of discomfort, but did not yell out at her. He deserved it. He deserved nothing short of a good beating more like. Breathing heavily, Hermione stormed up and down the living room, her arms folded, her weeping eyes staring firmly and furiously at the floor.

"Look, I was just thinking that she could help me..." he began again, but he immediately regretted beginning this sentence.

Hermione was not stupid. They both knew why he had gone to see that cow in particular.

"Oh sure," she snorted hysterically. "Yeah, I'm sure she could help you. By undressing herself?!"

She picked up one of the old Malfoy heirlooms - a big, golden snake with an M carved into it - and threw it at his head. Draco moved quickly enough so that it missed his head by inches and hit the door, creating a dent in the wood, before sinking with a dull 'thud' on the floor.

"Hermione, look at me!"

"I can't look at you!" she said, continuing to pace. "Looking at you will only make me angrier. The very sight of you makes me sick to my stomach, Draco Malfoy!"

The words hit him with the fury of a Bludger, hitting somewhere inside his chest. He slowly made his way towards her, his feet feeling heavy, his muscles aching under the guilt he felt. He grabbed her firmly by her shoulders, and she fought him, screaming and crying, trying to lash out at him. Eventually, he got her into a firm hug until she gave in and sobbed into his chest, cursing him, something unnatural for her. The swear words did not come easily to her at all, but she meant every one of them, and it made him hurt inside.

You say
That you'd take it all back,
Given one chance
It was a moment of weakness

"Look, what I did was so stupid," he murmured, smoothing his shaking hands over her wild, untamable hair. "If I had the chance to take it all back, I would in a heartbeat. It was a moment of weakness, and I just wasn't strong enough."

"Bugger off!" she sobbed into him, trying to hit him again, but his arm held her there securely. "I hate you!"

"I'm so sorry, Hermione!"

"Just go away, Draco Malfoy. Harry and Ron were right. Everyone was right!" Her voice was muffled, but he could hear every stinging word clearly. "I should never have thought you could change! I should have never trusted you!"

"Don't say that, Hermione, please," he begged.

He shifted so that he could hold her in place and gaze into her tortured, chocolate eyes. He found his own steel gray eyes swimming with his own regretful tears too, and he sniffed down at her.

You can see that I've been crying
And, baby, you know all the right things
To say
But do you honestly expect me to believe
We could ever be the same?

"Listen to me, Hermione," he begged, caressing her face. She flinched, but could not get out of his grasp. "I never thought I would be so lucky as to fall in love with you. I was so cruel to you when we were younger, but I was an idiot and brainwashed. Now that I've known you and your love, I can't live without you. But I know we can get past this, sweetheart. I know we can. It's us. Potter and Weasley weren't right. We can withstand anything!"

"You're complete git, do you know that?" she asked him. "Do you honestly think that we can ever be us again after this? We cannot go back. There are just some things that we can't change. We can't go back."

"That's not true, Hermione," he said, whispering now.

He let her go, and she moved away from him. They both looked at each other, both wounded, both haunted, both at a crossroad.

"I believe in second chances, Hermione."

"I did too," she replied. She shook her head and let out another moan of agony. "But after this..."

"I..."

He stopped when Hermione's eyes grew wide again as though she had just discovered something else. She pointed at him furiously, her tears relentless.

"I gave up Ron for you!" she said, her voice full of longing and accusation. "I killed him the day I chose you! Our friendship will never be the same because I chose you! I loved you! And all this time, he's the one who truly loved me!"

"I truly love you!" he pleaded, trying to grab her hand, but she wrenched away.

"Then I don't want to be loved."

You say that the past is the past,
You need one chance
It was a moment of weakness

They stared at each other for another few moments. Their heartbeats beat faster and faster, their emotions rising higher and higher, their hearts breaking more and more, the separation between them growing larger and larger. He didn't want her to go. She knew she had to let him go.

"Why did you do it?" she wanted to know. Her voice was calm again and terribly sad. "Why when you had me? Sure, we never...you know...but I told you I wanted to wait. I wanted to wait until..."

"I know!" he moaned again. "It was stupid, Hermione. It was so stupid, and I'm so so so sorry. I'm so sorry, Hermione."

"But Pansy?" she murmured. She gave a loud sniff and a large hiccup. "The one person who I truly...? How could you, Draco?"

"Please," he said yet again, trying to take her hand. Unsuccessful once more, he cried out. "The past is the past. I can't change it. No one can. But we can decide what's going to happen next. I beg you, Hermione. Give me one chance. That's all I need. I can make it up to you. I swear that I will do what I can to make it up to you. I told you. It was a moment of weakness, Hermione. I hate it, but there it is: a moment of weakness."

Hermione watched him, her heart breaking in two. The words sounded great. He said the perfect things. She could understand weakness. But he didn't understand. A moment of weakness?

Her voice was small: "And you said yes..."

Understanding lit up his eyes, and he let out a horrible sob. "NO! NO, HERMIONE! NO!"

You should've said no,
You should've gone home
You should've thought twice before you let it all go
You should've know that word, bout what you did with her would
Get back to me...

"I can understand weakness," she cried. "I can forgive. But I can't forgive something like this. You should've said 'no' plain and simple. It's not hard; people do it every single day. You don't say 'yes.' Period. It's over."

"No, Hermione, please, listen..."

"I'm not listening anymore," she said, grabbing a tissue and blowing her nose, wiping her running eyes. "There are things you have to be strong enough to do, especially something like this. If you're lonely, you come home and talk to me. You should think and use your brain, not your groin, before you throw something this good away. You know what? After everything that happened over the past seventeen years with us...we were a miracle, Draco."

"Hermione..."

"I'm just amazed that you thought she'd keep her big mouth shut," she mused, wiping her nose again. "She's been in love with you her whole life...and hated me for a majority of her life. Surely you knew I'd find out eventually?"

"I wasn't thinking clearly!" he insisted, dropping to his knees. "I know what I did was wrong. But..."

And I should've been there,
In the back of your mind
I shouldn't be asking myself why
You shouldn't be begging for forgiveness at my feet...

"There is no 'but,' Draco," she said, now frustrated. "You just don't get it, do you? I don't care how appealing that pugface may have been or what she did to seduce you. I should have been there in the back of your mind...not an afterthought! There is a big difference there!"

She turned around, fury starting to grab hold of her. The sadness of the end slowly ebbed so that she could feel the burning anger taking over her. She sought her cloak and swung it around her shoulders. Meanwhile, he stammered, stumbled, and sobbed for her to stay and talk things out. She couldn't, wouldn't do that. She had too much self-respect to stay with him any longer.

"I am on my knees, Hermione," he said, looking up at her. He looked awful now. His gorgeous face was swollen with blotchy purple tear stains, and his pained expression made his eyes dull. "I am begging you for forgiveness."

"You shouldn't be, Draco," she said quietly, moving towards the door. "You shouldn't have to be asking for forgiveness. I shouldn't have to be forgiving you for anything like this."

"You did it once before!" he argued.

"I forgave you for calling me 'Mudblood.' I forgave you for making part of my adolescence hell. I forgave you for betraying all Wizarding kind and leading to Albus Dumbledore's death. I even forgave you for letting me be tortured by your psychopathic aunt! But this is one time too many, Draco Malfoy. Goodbye!"

She pried herself out of his grasp and headed for the door as he shouted for her to stop. She turned the handle, but didn't leave just yet. She looked back at him, a sick curiosity overcoming her.

"I can't resist," she said, shaking her head. She clenched her jaw challengingly. "Before you go, tell me this: Was it worth it? Was she worth this?"

"Hermione, I love you," he said feebly, his voice weak as he knelt cold and alone on the floor.

She stared at him with disdain and fury.

"Go to hell," she said.

"So that's it, then, is it?" he asked as she exited the threshold. "This is it? We're finished? This past year meant nothing to you?"

As she began to slowly close the door, her voice was stone cold and lifeless...but barely above a whisper.

"You should've said no, Baby, and you might still have me.

The door slammed with a vengeance on a sobbing, broken Draco Malfoy, and a relationship doomed from the very beginning.
--------------------------------------------------------
Once again, this fic is dedicated to Sydnie! I hope you all enjoyed it! Please feel free to leave comments! Thank you all so much for reading. You have no idea how much it means to me! THANK YOU!

Shannon

02-15-2008, 05:35 AM	#1 (permalink)
r+h4ever1 SS Featured Author Snidget Join Date: May 2004 Location: The Burrow Posts: 2,923	Should've Said No - Sa13+ Fan Fic Queen Greetings SS Administrators, Moderators, Staff, Members and Guests! My name is Shannon, and I am here with a special Valentine's Day One-Shot Song Fic! This fic was requested by the lovely Sydnie (iheartdan). The song I used was Should've Said No by Taylor Swift. At the request of Miss Sydnie, the fic features one of her favorite ships: D/HR. Suspend your disbelief for a moment. The story takes place post-DH...a very different one than J.K. Rowling wrote in the epilogue. (I know that it was just Valentine's Day, the day of love, but I thought this could be another reading option for those who don't particularly like this day. ) Either way, I hope that whatever your Valentine's Day preference you enjoy reading it! Thank you so much for taking the time to do so! It means a lot to me. DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. Furthermore, the song Should've Said No was written and sung by Miss Taylor Swift, and rights belong to her and Big Machine Records. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. If you are looking for anymore fics to read, I have a few more to choose from: One-shots: Another Beginning - Sa9+ Shades of Gray - Sa9+ The Luckiest Woman - Sa9+ Full-Length: There All Along - Sa9+ Its sequel: Until Death Do Us Part - Sa9+ Still in progress: As the Embers Die - Sa13+ Without further ado, Should've Said No: ----------------------------------------------------------- It's strange to think the songs we used to sing The smiles, the flowers, everything Is gone Hermione Granger sat in the dark room staring blankly at the door through puffy, watery eyes. Her mind raced at the same pace as the ticking clock beside her. With each passing moment, the dull numbness faded and thick anger and sickening pain replaced it. An iron grip of betrayal squeezed her once-beating heart repeatedly, each time harder and crueler than the one before it. Her usual calm, deep breaths came in short, tight gasps as her lungs sought something more than air. The hot tears stung her burning cheeks, and for the first time for hours, she let out a loud, painstaking sob. It was over. She knew it even if he didn't...yet. There was no other way. And yet, the thought of it ending when everything was finally right made her heart sink to the very dark pit of her aching stomach. Finally, she had moved on. Finally, Harry and Ron had accepted them. Finally, she was happy. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! The clock shrieked eight o'clock's arrival and thereby his as well. The door knob slowly, hesitantly, turned, and the door inched forward, cautious shoes coming into view. She did not even blink as his ashamed, hanging head entered the room, his betraying hands clutching a bouquet of roses. She did not flinch when he slowly turned to shut the door. But she averted her wounded gaze away when his pale face lifted and his guilty gray eyes looked behind his blond hair at her. "H-Hi," he whispered, the syllable stabbing her heart further. Yesterday I found out about you Even now just looking at you Feels wrong "You're home," she said, her sobs shaking her voice. "I come bearing gifts," he responded, acknowledging the bouquet, a small smile beginning on his pale lips. He waved his wand to ignite the lamp, illuminating the cozy living room and his broken girlfriend. The starting smile paused and died, his eyes growing wide in horror and shame. "You brought me flowers?" she sniffed, a stray tear sliding down her face. Her eyes were daggers now. "Yeah," he mumbled hopefully. "It's not Valentine's Day," she said quietly. "Well, I know, but..." "It's not my birthday." "Yeah, but I thought I'd..." "Oh, so this must be a guilt present, right?" He remained silent as she stared him down. Her shaky sigh made him cower in shame. "Do you have something to tell me?" "N-Nope," he said, looking away from her. There was silence, and the longer it was, the more difficult it became for him to be in his own skin. "Er...I...I'll go put these in water, then." He made his way towards the kitchen in determination, but her next words...very cold and soft...stopped him in his tracks. "I know." He turned to face her, his face draining of the little color it naturally possessed. He looked sick to his stomach. He gave out a small moan, and the bouquet of flowers slipped out of his grasp and landed on the floor in a heap. "You...you know?" He swallowed with difficulty, his voice cracking. "H-How?" Hermione gave another loud sniff, and when she answered, her voice was thick and weepy. Her eyes focused on the pile of roses. They were beautiful, clearly the best money could buy. In full bloom, its color was deep and rich. Their strong, green stems could not protect them from the fall, and the stray petals lay about gracefully, the scattered baby's breath helpless next to the beauties. Each stem offered leaves and numerous small and vicious thorns. She felt like laughing. How ironic. The red rose symbolized love, of course, and what a perfect gift! But every rose had its thorn, and she had found hers. "Pansy told me," she replied after a moment, her voice trembling with tears and betrayal. "She called here just after I got here for our date tonight. She wanted...She wanted..." Hermione let out a giant sob, and covered her mouth, trying to block out the horrendous sound. Her shoulder's shook with the effort, but she could not bring herself to look at him. He was tainted. He was everything she had always known he was. And she couldn't bear that thought. After years of believing that no one was a lost cause... "She wanted to 'thank you....for this afternoon.'" Draco stared at her, unable to think clearly. How could he have been so stupid? Of course Pansy wouldn't keep it a secret. It was Pansy for crying out loud! He mentally kicked himself, trying to block out the memory of his stupidity. "Hermione..." "Don't say my name," she whispered dangerously. "Don't you dare say my name." "Look, we were fighting..." "Well, I thought we'd be able to solve our problems with each other!" she shrieked at the roses, tears streaming steadily now. "Look, I was mad and upset and confused," he said, his tone pleading. Tears had started to burn in his own eyes, and he tried to shove them back down. He did not want to show this weakness. He had to let her know that he knew that what he had done was stupid and wrong. "So naturally, whenever you're mad or upset or confused, you go to Pansy Parkinson for that kind of comfort!" she yelled. She jumped up off of the couch and walked determinedly toward the pile of flowers. In one fluid motion, she picked them up and threw them at him, the bouquet hitting him squarely in the face. He gave a grunt of discomfort, but did not yell out at her. He deserved it. He deserved nothing short of a good beating more like. Breathing heavily, Hermione stormed up and down the living room, her arms folded, her weeping eyes staring firmly and furiously at the floor. "Look, I was just thinking that she could help me..." he began again, but he immediately regretted beginning this sentence. Hermione was not stupid. They both knew why he had gone to see that cow in particular. "Oh sure," she snorted hysterically. "Yeah, I'm sure she could help you. By undressing herself?!" She picked up one of the old Malfoy heirlooms - a big, golden snake with an M carved into it - and threw it at his head. Draco moved quickly enough so that it missed his head by inches and hit the door, creating a dent in the wood, before sinking with a dull 'thud' on the floor. "Hermione, look at me!" "I can't look at you!" she said, continuing to pace. "Looking at you will only make me angrier. The very sight of you makes me sick to my stomach, Draco Malfoy!" The words hit him with the fury of a Bludger, hitting somewhere inside his chest. He slowly made his way towards her, his feet feeling heavy, his muscles aching under the guilt he felt. He grabbed her firmly by her shoulders, and she fought him, screaming and crying, trying to lash out at him. Eventually, he got her into a firm hug until she gave in and sobbed into his chest, cursing him, something unnatural for her. The swear words did not come easily to her at all, but she meant every one of them, and it made him hurt inside. You say That you'd take it all back, Given one chance It was a moment of weakness "Look, what I did was so stupid," he murmured, smoothing his shaking hands over her wild, untamable hair. "If I had the chance to take it all back, I would in a heartbeat. It was a moment of weakness, and I just wasn't strong enough." "Bugger off!" she sobbed into him, trying to hit him again, but his arm held her there securely. "I hate you!" "I'm so sorry, Hermione!" "Just go away, Draco Malfoy. Harry and Ron were right. Everyone was right!" Her voice was muffled, but he could hear every stinging word clearly. "I should never have thought you could change! I should have never trusted you!" "Don't say that, Hermione, please," he begged. He shifted so that he could hold her in place and gaze into her tortured, chocolate eyes. He found his own steel gray eyes swimming with his own regretful tears too, and he sniffed down at her. You can see that I've been crying And, baby, you know all the right things To say But do you honestly expect me to believe We could ever be the same? "Listen to me, Hermione," he begged, caressing her face. She flinched, but could not get out of his grasp. "I never thought I would be so lucky as to fall in love with you. I was so cruel to you when we were younger, but I was an idiot and brainwashed. Now that I've known you and your love, I can't live without you. But I know we can get past this, sweetheart. I know we can. It's us. Potter and Weasley weren't right. We can withstand anything!" "You're complete git, do you know that?" she asked him. "Do you honestly think that we can ever be us again after this? We cannot go back. There are just some things that we can't change. We can't go back." "That's not true, Hermione," he said, whispering now. He let her go, and she moved away from him. They both looked at each other, both wounded, both haunted, both at a crossroad. "I believe in second chances, Hermione." "I did too," she replied. She shook her head and let out another moan of agony. "But after this..." "I..." He stopped when Hermione's eyes grew wide again as though she had just discovered something else. She pointed at him furiously, her tears relentless. "I gave up Ron for you!" she said, her voice full of longing and accusation. "I killed him the day I chose you! Our friendship will never be the same because I chose you! I loved you! And all this time, he's the one who truly loved me!" "I truly love you!" he pleaded, trying to grab her hand, but she wrenched away. "Then I don't want to be loved." You say that the past is the past, You need one chance It was a moment of weakness They stared at each other for another few moments. Their heartbeats beat faster and faster, their emotions rising higher and higher, their hearts breaking more and more, the separation between them growing larger and larger. He didn't want her to go. She knew she had to let him go. "Why did you do it?" she wanted to know. Her voice was calm again and terribly sad. "Why when you had me? Sure, we never...you know...but I told you I wanted to wait. I wanted to wait until..." "I know!" he moaned again. "It was stupid, Hermione. It was so stupid, and I'm so so so sorry. I'm so sorry, Hermione." "But Pansy?" she murmured. She gave a loud sniff and a large hiccup. "The one person who I truly...? How could you, Draco?" "Please," he said yet again, trying to take her hand. Unsuccessful once more, he cried out. "The past is the past. I can't change it. No one can. But we can decide what's going to happen next. I beg you, Hermione. Give me one chance. That's all I need. I can make it up to you. I swear that I will do what I can to make it up to you. I told you. It was a moment of weakness, Hermione. I hate it, but there it is: a moment of weakness." Hermione watched him, her heart breaking in two. The words sounded great. He said the perfect things. She could understand weakness. But he didn't understand. A moment of weakness? Her voice was small: "And you said yes..." Understanding lit up his eyes, and he let out a horrible sob. "NO! NO, HERMIONE! NO!" You should've said no, You should've gone home You should've thought twice before you let it all go You should've know that word, bout what you did with her would Get back to me... "I can understand weakness," she cried. "I can forgive. But I can't forgive something like this. You should've said 'no' plain and simple. It's not hard; people do it every single day. You don't say 'yes.' Period. It's over." "No, Hermione, please, listen..." "I'm not listening anymore," she said, grabbing a tissue and blowing her nose, wiping her running eyes. "There are things you have to be strong enough to do, especially something like this. If you're lonely, you come home and talk to me. You should think and use your brain, not your groin, before you throw something this good away. You know what? After everything that happened over the past seventeen years with us...we were a miracle, Draco." "Hermione..." "I'm just amazed that you thought she'd keep her big mouth shut," she mused, wiping her nose again. "She's been in love with you her whole life...and hated me for a majority of her life. Surely you knew I'd find out eventually?" "I wasn't thinking clearly!" he insisted, dropping to his knees. "I know what I did was wrong. But..." And I should've been there, In the back of your mind I shouldn't be asking myself why You shouldn't be begging for forgiveness at my feet... "There is no 'but,' Draco," she said, now frustrated. "You just don't get it, do you? I don't care how appealing that pugface may have been or what she did to seduce you. I should have been there in the back of your mind...not an afterthought! There is a big difference there!" She turned around, fury starting to grab hold of her. The sadness of the end slowly ebbed so that she could feel the burning anger taking over her. She sought her cloak and swung it around her shoulders. Meanwhile, he stammered, stumbled, and sobbed for her to stay and talk things out. She couldn't, wouldn't do that. She had too much self-respect to stay with him any longer. "I am on my knees, Hermione," he said, looking up at her. He looked awful now. His gorgeous face was swollen with blotchy purple tear stains, and his pained expression made his eyes dull. "I am begging you for forgiveness." "You shouldn't be, Draco," she said quietly, moving towards the door. "You shouldn't have to be asking for forgiveness. I shouldn't have to be forgiving you for anything like this." "You did it once before!" he argued. "I forgave you for calling me 'Mudblood.' I forgave you for making part of my adolescence hell. I forgave you for betraying all Wizarding kind and leading to Albus Dumbledore's death. I even forgave you for letting me be tortured by your psychopathic aunt! But this is one time too many, Draco Malfoy. Goodbye!" She pried herself out of his grasp and headed for the door as he shouted for her to stop. She turned the handle, but didn't leave just yet. She looked back at him, a sick curiosity overcoming her. "I can't resist," she said, shaking her head. She clenched her jaw challengingly. "Before you go, tell me this: Was it worth it? Was she worth this?" "Hermione, I love you," he said feebly, his voice weak as he knelt cold and alone on the floor. She stared at him with disdain and fury. "Go to hell," she said. "So that's it, then, is it?" he asked as she exited the threshold. "This is it? We're finished? This past year meant nothing to you?" As she began to slowly close the door, her voice was stone cold and lifeless...but barely above a whisper. "You should've said no, Baby, and you might still have me. The door slammed with a vengeance on a sobbing, broken Draco Malfoy, and a relationship doomed from the very beginning. -------------------------------------------------------- Once again, this fic is dedicated to Sydnie! I hope you all enjoyed it! Please feel free to leave comments! Thank you all so much for reading. You have no idea how much it means to me! THANK YOU! Shannon __________________ Last edited by r+h4ever1; 02-15-2008 at 06:01 AM.