Disclaimer: Am I going to need a mallet to beat it into your head that I do NOT own Harry Potter, its characters, its world… Draco Malfoy… Dammit I own nothing!

Hermione rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, slightly anxious, deciding to let Malfoy break the ice. After a few minutes of unbearable silence, Hermione couldn't take it anymore. With a big gulp she tried to squash all the butterflies in her stomach. It didn't work. She tried again. Still unsuccessful. Oh freaking well. Hell, if she can take on Voldemort, most evil and terrifying wizard of all time, and his Death Eaters she could surely take on this little chat with Malfoy.

She sighed. They weren't going to get anywhere with this.

Clearing her throat slightly and meeting his gaze once more, "Malfoy."

He continued staring at her, wordlessly. Hermione stared into his eyes and saw a mixture of emotions pass through. None stayed long enough for her to decipher.

"Malfoy, we're here for a reason and we can't leave until-"

Malfoy glared at her, "I know."

"Then start talking!"

"I, for one, have nothing to say to you."

Hermione couldn't exactly say she wasn't expecting him to be mad but that still stung her a bit. She'd given up pretending to herself along with everyone else that she didn't care about Malfoy. Merlin, she hated making apologies but if she was going to have any chance whatsoever of having this man back in her life then she would get on her knees and beg for his forgiveness if deemed necessary. Though, she seriously hoped he wasn't that angry with her. She did after all still have some dignity.

"Mal-" She cleared her throat and swallowed. "Draco. I- I'm sorry. For what happened. Between us. Over the summer." Merlin, why was she talking like this? It's like her tongue was broken!

He glowered at her. She was apologizing and he was glowering at her! Well, alright, she knew she deserved it.

"You should be. It was your fault."

Hermione's jaw dropped. Wasn't he supposed to be apologizing too? Yes, he was! "Excuse me?"

"You shouldn't have lead me on."

"I- What- I didn't!"

"Yes. You. Did."

"Draco, I'm not quite sure you understand…"

"Are you going to insult my knowledge and memory, now?"

"No! What I meant was I don't think you fully understand why it was I did what I did."

"I'll admit it, Granger. You played me. You're the only girl I've ever met that I actually completely fell for, the only one that wasn't head over heels for me, the only one that played me. The Draco Malfoy. Are you proud of yourself?"

This was not going the way she expected. Then again she wasn't quite sure what it was she was expecting.

"Hear me out, please, Draco."

"Why should I?"

"Because you don't get it! I didn't play you! Well… its not what I was trying to do. If I did do that…" her voice had slipped to a mutter by the end of her sentence.

She sighed. She was going to have to explain herself. About everything that went on through her head during the summer. She absolutely hated this.

Taking a deep breath she explained, "In the beginning you can only imagine how much I was dreading having to spend the entire summer with you. I didn't know what to expect except for the worse…" she stopped, not quite sure how to continue. She was good at explanations of spells, curses, magical objects, anything that could be learned from books. Explaining her feelings, her mind, her thoughts? Not so much.

She decided to just spit it out. She closed her eyes and muttered, "I definitely didn't expect to fall for you," She wanted to look at him, see his reaction but she was too scared as to what she would see.

"Come again?"

He was torturing her. She just knew it.

"I-" she cleared her throat again "I fell for you." She risked opening her eyes and looking into his.

His eyes were narrowed, watching her face curiously. As if he was trying to find the lie within the planes of her face. He opened his mouth.

"Let me finish" she blurted out before he could say anything. "I didn't expect to fall for you but I did. I tried to deny it; to ignore it; pretend the feelings weren't there. It didn't work. Finally, I admitted to myself that I did like you. But that didn't extinguish all the problems, all the complications that would come up if I had let myself get involved with you in that way. I know. I know I shouldn't have cared what the others would think, what would happen, or any of the things that I did think of. But I couldn't help it. I can't help it. It… it's just the way that I am. Anyway, that night, when you tried to kiss me… I was afraid I was already too far gone and I couldn't risk falling for you any more than I already had. I decided it wouldn't work between us; like I said too many complications. So I walked away. Soon enough, I regretted it. Honestly, I'll admit that when I'd turned my back on you I wasn't really thinking of you and your feelings and for that I apologize. I guess I just didn't know that you cared that much. I was going to talk to you about it the next day but… well, as you know we got some surprise visitors and I didn't have the chance to. It wasn't like you were that eager to, though. Talk to me, I mean. When I got back, I tried forgetting about you. I truly did. Again, I failed. Miserably. It frustrated me to no end. As you would know by now, I'm not exactly keen on failing… And… well, now were here…" she trailed off and took a deep breath. She watched his face carefully.

Draco stared at her, still searching for a lie she assumed. Finally he said, "What exactly do you want me to say to that? That I forgive you? That I'll welcome you back with open arms? That even after what you put me through we can just kiss and make up?"

Hermione blinked. "I-"

"No. You said what you had to say; now its my turn. I listened to you; now you listen to me."

"I was just going to answer your questions!"

"Oh, yes 'cause we all know that it'd kill you if you weren't to answer one damn question. Listen, you put me through pain I've never had to go through. I've been through pain people wouldn't even imagine, living the life I did but never, not once, did I ever go through what you made me feel." Draco paused. He wasn't really sure on how to go about this; he wasn't one to share his feelings much because it made him uncomfortable and it really wasn't anyone else business what went on inside his mind and now he found out it was a lot harder than one would think. He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. Maybe it'd be easier if Hermione wasn't scrutinizing his face, so he turned around.

He thought for a few moments on how to say what it was he wanted to say. Then, he realized he wasn't really sure as to what it was he wanted to say. He decided on just letting whatever words come out of his mouth. Like people said, the faster the better. The corner of his lips quirked up a little and he stifled a chuckle at the double meaning in those words. He shook his head, slightly; now was not the time to be thinking of such activities.

"I- Damn it! I fell in love with you. I, too, tried to deny it but obviously it didn't quite work to my advantage. I was daft enough to actually believe that there was a chance that you returned those feelings." He stopped. There wasn't anything else to say on the matter. He turned around and stared into her eyes. "That's all there is to it. End of story."

Hermione blinked a few times trying to push her tears back to where they came from. She took a deep breath to keep emotions in check. "What if it isn't?"

"If it isn't what?"

"What if it isn't the end? What if there's more to it?"

"More like what? There is nothing more!"

"What if… I, too, fell in love?" She wanted her voice to come out strong but it had come out in a whisper.

He cocked an eyebrow at her and simply shook his head.

"Don't shake your head at me! Say something!"

"What do you want me to say? That I believe you? That that's great and we can just forget about everything that's happened?"

"What will it take for you to believe me?"

He barked a laugh. "I don't trust people easily, Hermione. You were one of the few who gained my trust; but you're also someone who broke that trust."

Hermione opened her mouth a but no sound came out. She shut it again and her eyes pleaded with Draco. Draco shut his eyes.

"I fell in love with you. Now, I'm getting over it. Soon enough, I'll move on."

She couldn't help it; tears flooded down her face. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Well, the last few months weren't how they were supposed to be. Angrily, she swatted away the tears. So she was that easy to get over, huh? Then, fine. Then, he should be easy to get over, too. The only reason she couldn't stop thinking about him was because she felt guilty about what she did; the pain that she saw in his eyes that night. The day after. It haunted her.

Draco never cared about her feelings before but Hermione wasn't like him. She cared about people. Former enemies or not she didn't like causing people pain unless completely necessary. That night was unnecessary.

His eyes, though, the pain she saw in them. That was it. The only reason she held on for so long; but if he was already getting over it, the pain, then fine. There was no need for her to feel this guilt anymore. Absolutely no reason. Now, she could and would get over him. In fact, she shouldn't have any feelings, whatsoever, for Draco, anymore.

So then why was it that she still did?

No. Forget the guilt. That had nothing to do with this. Well, maybe a little. Not much, though. The real reason why she held on for so long? Because she really was in love with the man standing in front of her. Those words came out of her mouth for a reason. Just because he wasn't willing to believe them it didn't mean that she didn't either. These were her feelings, after all. She and only she knew exactly what she was feeling. And she'd just have to prove it to him.

Taking a few long strides positioned Hermione right in front of Draco. Draco looked at her curiously, cautiously. He still remembered, very clearly, one of those times when she walked to him like that. That time in their third year and she'd punched him, nearly breaking his nose. And she had that exact same look on her face; that annoyed yet very determined look.

Hermione reached up with both hands and yanked Draco's head down until his lips crashed down on hers. Standing on her toes she kissed him forcefully, trying to show him just how much she truly loved him. Slowly, Draco's lips responded to hers and his arms encircled her waist. Her arms wrapped around his neck while her hands ran through his hair. His arms crushed her to him and she couldn't have thought of a better feeling. He lifted her up and brought her to the dining table, setting her down not once breaking their kiss.

They only broke apart when they finally needed to fill their lungs with air. Draco broke away but only enough to touch his forehead to hers and look into her eyes.

Hermione smirked up at him. "Still don't believe me?"

Draco got a mischievous glint in his eyes. "No, I don't think I do." He started kissing her jaw and made a trail up to her ear and then whispered, "I think I need more proof than that." Hermione shivered and she smiled delighted. She'd be more than willing to prove her love for him.

Who would've thought that in the midst of the insanity that took place that summer that love would've blossomed? Love really did present itself when you least expected it.

There is the very, very long-awaited conclusion to this story. Now, I can really say that this story is finally finished. Now, I know a lot of you probably want to punch me in the face for taking so long and I don't blame you but I don't have an excuse for my absence other than I had to make my life my priority. And that's all I'm going to say on the matter. As for why I'm updating SODI instead of posting a new story? Well, I figured with how long it took me to get this up that most people who were waiting for the sequel had already given up and since most of them had this story on alert I figured there as a more likely chance of them running into this if I posted it here. And I really do mean it this time when I say this is the end.

So, did this chapter suck? Probably. I'm not that happy with it but I needed an ending and this is the only one I could produce. So I apologize for the long wait you all had to endure for this short, sucky chapter. I know I suck. Ha. But at least this story is officially finished and for that I am happy.

I just have to thank all of my readers and reviewers one last time. Thank you all for sticking with me and this story for the long amount of time it took me to finish it. I appreciate all the support and encouragement you gave me. Reading your reviews really did make my day. And if you never reviewed I appreciate you taking the time to read my story. So again I thank all of you.

P.S. For old time's sake why don't you go click that little link at the bottom and tell me what you thought.