Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

I Knew it Would Never Work Out
By Silver Sailor Ganymede

"I knew it would never work out", she said, her voice sounding choked with imminent tears. "I just knew it. How could someone like you ever love a mudblood like me?"

"It has nothing to do with that", he replied, regret clearly audible in his voice. "I just can't love you anymore; I love you too much to let him harm you."

"Voldemort won't harm me" she choked. "No, what's harmed me is the fact that you're just not thinking, Blaise. I would rather die with you than lose you forever."

"Gryffindors", he sighed. "Always thinking with their hearts."

"Slytherins" she replied bitterly, "always denying how they feel, never accepting love when they see it."

"No, Hermione, its you who is failing to see, not me. This goddamn war prevents everything from happening. If we hadn't been at war, we might have been able to live happily together as we wished. But as it is, you would be in too much danger around me, and I couldn't bare having to harbour the knowledge that you'd been killed because of me!"

She was silent for a time afterwards, but she then turned to look him in the eyes and said, "even though you're being logical about this, I would rather die with you than live alone without you."

"I'm sorry Hermione", he said. "I just can't be with you now. I wish I could… but I just can't."

A tear fell down his cheek, mixing with the rain and leaving her shocked: it was the first time that she'd ever seen him cry.

"I'm sorry" he whispered. He kissed her tenderly one final time and left her standing in the rain, crying as though the world had ended. And to her it had; she had lost everything; he was all she had; the only one she would ever love.

She looked at him as he walked away, his form growing smaller and smaller, shrouded by the rain, and whispered,

"I still love you. I'm sorry. I should have known that it would never work out… at least, not in times like these."