Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Cheers to her!

Thanks to Lyras from Perfect Imagination, my beta! And to slytherinrules85, she nudged me to post it here. Whoo.

"Lemon", by Mae.

Was it just her imagination or had he just looked at her?

No, it wasn't; she recognized that sour taste in her mouth immediately. She needed to get rid of it - of him - feeling him in her mouth was quite disturbing.

Yet, the most disturbing thing at that moment was his eyes. His brief glance at her, the spared look, intended or not... bitter. Yes, Hermione thought, bitter was the best word. Along with his unnaturally pale, tired face it gave him a slightly ghostly appearance.

She observed him out of the corner of her eye as he wiped his mouth with an elegant, emerald green napkin. That simple movement made her face twitch; she felt the sourness again, doubled and tripled. He stood up, grabbing his schoolbag, and rushed out of the Great Hall. Hermione noted that his seeker reflex appeared to have abandoned him; he had to swing his hand two times to actually pick the bag up.

Hermione threw the fork she was holding in her hand onto her plate, where it landed with a loud clank. A second later, she was already rushing after him, mumbling a hurried 'see you later' to her classmates.

Something was wrong, she could tell... though letting her thoughts in didn't even cross her mind; she pushed them to the back of her head. Not yet...

She caught him on the stairs to the seventh floor. Already breathing hard, she gripped his arm and pressed him against the nearest wall. Before he could even gasp, her lips clashed against his.

Metallic, the word rang in Hermione's ears as she tried to recognize this new taste that they shared. Instead of acid that she expected; of the lemon that she always felt at times like this, when they were together. Something was different.

When she pulled back there was no change in his expression. His eyes had a look of arrested surprise, his palms were pressed to the wall behind him, even though she'd thrown all of the past week's frustration into the kiss.

She tried to gather her thoughts to speak, but when her mouth opened, no sound came out. She sighed and leaned against his chest, the same one he'd proudly puffed out on every possible occasion a year ago, and the same one that this year was hidden under too many layers of rich clothes. It was a good way of hiding his loss of weight, after all. He smelled of sharp cologne, a smell she didn't expect.

Hermione felt her shoulders being grasped, and she was pushed away. The blond stared at her as if he was seeing her for the first time in his life. A struggle was noticeable in his eyes, as if something wanted to get out, words or thoughts, but they were blocked by an invisible force.

Hermione's hands fell to her sides. He really did it.

"It's over, isn't it?" she whispered, staring into his silver eyes, which hardened immediately.

It really was.

"Don't you ever touch me, Mudblood", he snarled, glaring at her and running past, not even sparing another look. And she hoped that she'd get the last look, although it might be just as bitter as the one fifteen minutes ago.

She straightened out her clothes, holding back all the feelings that seemed to be attacking her simultaneously. She knew that this would happen someday, and now it was the time to move on. But even if she was ready for this - she thought she was - she couldn't brush off the tears.

"I've bought a book about memory modification," Draco said, his expression becoming serious. Hermione didn't notice, though, because at that moment she was observing the bright and serene stars above. Star gazing... that was one of the few things that they both enjoyed. And stars in France looked so different to those in London or Hogwarts.

"It's a fascinating thing, but very dangerous," she mumbled, never taking her eyes off the sky.

"Granger... Hermione... I'll have to use it. On myself."

Her head turned towards him sharply. "No! Why? Oh... Dra--"

"I have to. Understand, it'll be over soon. I don't want to live with a memory of this," he cut her off, sighing.

"You want to forget about us? Do you really still hate me so much?" she whispered with a hint of anger in her voice.

It took a full minute before he answered. "It's not like that," he said softly, "you know I don't hate you anymore... if I ever hated you before, I don't even know now... you'll never understand this."

"So maybe explain it to me, Draco, please... I'll understand..."

The desperation that he heard felt like daggers digging into the Slytherin's skin. But he had no other choice. If he knew about them...

"I can't, Hermione, I just can't--"

"You're just taking the easy way out! You won't even remember us, and I'll have to live with it every day? Seeing you being hateful to me again? You think it'll be easy for me?" she yelled, standing up.

"So remove that memory, too!"

"No!", she sobbed, tears welling up in her eyes, "unlike you I want to keep this memory in my heart and cherish it!"

He growled and stepped over to her, claiming her mouth with his angrily. He still couldn't figure out why when he kissed her he felt lemons; their first kisses were sweet like sugar, like his favorite type of Honeydukes chocolate. They slipped on the wet grass under them and he fell on top of her, never breaking their contact. He knew it had to be their last one, so nothing would interrupt it.

It lasted until they both had to breathe. Hermione inhaled the brisk smell that now clung to Draco, reminding her heavily of freshly mown grass. Over his shoulder a star was falling, and the girl silently wished he'll never forget me.

He got up and turned around, so that the Gryffindor girl was facing his back.

"Goodbye."

They were his last words before he left her there, lying on the wet grass outside.

"Look, Hermione, a falling star! Make a wish!"

She sighed and re-read the same passage in her book the tenth time. "Ron, don't be silly, it won't come true anyway. It's just rubbish."

Harry eyed her cautiously. "Is everything okay?"

"Of course it is, Harry. Shouldn't you be trying to get that memory from Slughorn now?"

FIN.