What i'd let burn—

^^^- Flashback: Year 6 -^^^

^^^Save for the occasional student seeking the serenity of a vacant desk, the library remains still this late, filled only with the faint aroma of ink and weathered paper.^^^

^^^The air seemed to thin, turning icy as my gaze snagged on a figure lurking in the periphery. It was Draco Malfoy.^^^

^^^He sat isolated by a tall, arched window, his pale features illuminated by the cold, skeletal glow of the moon. For a boy who was typically a whirlwind of sharp-tongued malice and unbearable arrogance, his silence was terrifying. He looked hollowed out. Occasionally, he would tear his eyes from his parchment to stare at the silver orb above with a look of such haunting desolation that it made my pulse flicker. He moved with the mechanical, joyless precision of a man awaiting an execution.^^^

^^^Then, as if sensing the weight of my stare, his head turned. His grey eyes, sharp and fractured like broken glass, collided with mine. For a heartbeat, the mask of the arrogant pure-blood shattered, revealing a raw, jagged fear that mirrored the darkness outside. He didn't look away; he simply watched me watching him. It felt like a physical blow.^^^

^^^I wrenched my gaze away, the heat of a sudden, irrational shame rising to my cheeks. My heart hammered like a trapped bird. I couldn't shake the image of those fractured eyes; it felt as though I had reached behind a curtain I was never meant to touch.^^^

^^^Across the room, Draco didn't move. He watched the top of her bushy head as she feigned sudden, frantic interest in her parchment. Granger, he thought. The name no longer tasted like a slur, but like a leaden weight. Of all the people to see me like this.^^^

^^^A bitter, jagged spike of panic flared in his chest. He wondered if she could see the Mark beneath his sleeve through the mere intensity of her stare. He wanted to sneer, to hurl a familiar insult to bridge the gap of his own vulnerability, but his throat felt constricted by invisible wires. He turned back to the window, the moon offering no comfort-only the cold reminder that while she was safe in her world of books and logic, he was drowning in a sea of shadows he had no hope of escaping.^^^

^^^The library's silence curdled into something suffocating. Unable to endure the weight of his ghost-like presence, I gathered my things with trembling hands and fled.^^^

^^^When I pushed through the portrait hole, the atmosphere shifted to a jarring, familiar chaos. Harry was hunched over the "Half-Blood Prince's" book, his quill frantically scribbling notes like holy scripture. Ron was draped across an armchair, thoroughly occupied with Lavender Brown.^^^

^^^The contrast was staggering. Harry was losing himself to a dead man's secrets. Ron was losing himself in a hollow romance. And I was the only one left shivering from the cold I'd brought back from the library.^^^

^^^I stood there for a heartbeat, a ghost in my own home, waiting for the familiar tether of my friends to pull me back to earth. But the tether was frayed. Neither of them flinched as I approached the fire.^^^

^^^"Harry," I said, my voice sounding thin and brittle.^^^

^^^"Hermione, you're back," Harry muttered, though his eyes never left the page. "Listen to this-the Prince found a way to shortcut the Draught of Living Death just by using the flat of a blade instead of cutting. It's so simple it's almost stupid."^^^

^^^"Perhaps because 'simple' isn't always 'safe', Harry," I replied, my frustration bubbling up. It was hard to hold onto the terror of Draco's eyes when Harry was acting like he'd discovered gold in a dusty textbook. "You're following instructions from a stranger who didn't even want his name on the cover."^^^

^^^"It's just a better way of doing things, that's all," he said with a distracted shrug.^^^

^^^I turned away, looking for some grounding logic from Ron, but found only a different kind of distraction. Ron poked his head out from behind a curtain of Lavender's blonde hair, looking flushed and dazed. "What? We're just... having a break, Hermione. S'not a crime."^^^

^^^I stood between them-one friend obsessed with a dead man's ink and the other lost in a cloud of cheap perfume. The cold I had carried from the library met the heat of my temper, and the result was a sudden, sharp explosion of "enough."^^^

^^^"Oh, honestly!" I cried, my voice ringing out and finally-mercifully-breaking the spell.^^^

^^^Harry jumped, his quill skidding across his parchment in a jagged black line. Ron leaped nearly a foot into the air, causing Lavender to let out a startled squeak.^^^

^^^"One of you is being recruited by a textbook, and the other is being eaten alive by a girl who smells like a confectionary shop!" I shouted, gesturing wildly between them. The secret weight of what I'd seen in the library-the image of Draco's pale, haunted face-burned in my throat, but I clamped down on it. That was mine to carry; I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of knowing how much it had shaken me.^^^

^^^"Hermione, Merlin, keep it down-" Ron started, his face turning a shade of red that matched his hair as he tried to untangle his limbs from Lavender's.^^^

^^^"I will not keep it down, Ron! I am tired of being the only one in this trio who stays focused while you're busy with... whatever that was!" I turned my glare to Harry, who was opening his mouth to defend the Prince. "And don't you dare tell me how 'brilliant' a shortcut is, Harry. If that book told you to jump off the Astronomy Tower to save time, you'd probably ask if there was a specific way to tuck your knees!"^^^

^^^Neither of them spoke. They just stared at me, blinking in the sudden, sharp silence I'd created. Even Lavender looked momentarily cowed, clutching Ron's sleeve with wide eyes.^^^

^^^"I'm going to bed," I snapped, gathering my cloak around me like a shield. "Since you're both clearly too 'occupied' to notice anything beyond your own noses."^^^

^^^I didn't wait for an apology. I turned on my heel and stormed toward the girls' staircase, my footsteps thundering against the wood. Every step away from them felt like a victory and a heartbreak all at once. When I reached the door to my dormitory, I slammed it shut, finally letting the shadows of the room swallow me and the memory of Draco's gaze whole.^^^

^^^- End of Flashback -^^^

^^^"Looking back, I think that's when it started," Hermione whispered, her voice a ghost of a sound in the quiet of the Shack. "I felt this weird pull toward you. I knew you were carrying something heavy even before I knew what it was. If I'd only known it was Dumbledore's death hiding behind those empty, troubled eyes of yours back then..."^^^

^^^"Did you?" Draco asked, his voice low, already knowing the answer.^^^

^^^"Mhmm." She nodded, her gaze fixed on him with an intensity that made the air between them feel thin.^^^

^^^"Don't look at me like that, Granger," he rasped, his hands stalling as he finished the bandage.^^^

^^^"Like what?"^^^

^^^"Like I'm pitiful."^^^

^^^Draco secured the final strip of linen around her arm, his fingers lingering on her skin for a heartbeat too long. She didn't pull away. Instead, she slid from the bed with a quiet, deliberate movement, settling onto his lap. The hem of his shirt brushed his knees as she claimed his lips in a kiss that tasted of desperate necessity-a dark, quiet collision that left them both breathless.^^^

^^^When she pulled back, she held his gaze, grounding him even as the shock of her touch still flickered across his face.^^^

^^^"Don't mistake this for pity, Draco," she said, her voice sharp with a cutting honesty. "Pity is logical. Pity is safe. This... I don't even know what this is. I spent years telling myself I hated you, or that I felt sorry for you, or that I was just curious about the boy in the shadows. I tried to categorize you like a potion's ingredient because the truth was too loud."^^^

^^^She leaned into his space, her forehead resting against his.^^^

^^^"I'm terrified, Draco. I'm not even sure if this is right, or if I'm losing my mind along with everything else. My head is screaming at me to run, but I'm still here."^^^

^^^. . . .^^^

^^^"I fear losing you."^^^

^^^. . . .^^^

^^^"I fear that one day I'll wake up and the world will still be spinning, but you won't be next to me."^^^

^^^. . . .^^^

^^^"I fear losing the man I love-and I'm terrified because I don't know how to exist without this ache anymore."^^^

^^^. . . .^^^

^^^"And I hate that. I hate that I would let it all burn... I'd let the whole world turn to ash, just to keep you breathing."^^^

^^^A/N ^^^

^^^I found this chapter quite challenging to write, largely due to uncertainty regarding the specific dynamics I wanted to establish between the characters. However, I am pleased with the final result and truly enjoyed the creative process. I hope you find it as engaging to read as I found it to write.^^^

^^^Thankyou ^^^

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