"I love you," Hermione said at last with a quiet weight to the three words, and Draco watched her press her lips to his Mark and look up with him with those warm brown eyes. Her gaze held everything he wouldn't have expected; love and comfort and compassion, and Draco realised that Hermione was the only person who had seen him as he truly was and loved him anyway. Perhaps his mother did, but if she did she certainly didn't show it very well. Hermione was waiting and Draco's throat was choked, and embarrassingly enough, he found himself unable to speak, unable to say it in return.