"I was an arsehole. As you already know. I...detested her when I thought of her at all, and I used to say some rather fucking awful, despicable things about her. And Pansy just repeated a handful of the worst of them back to Hermione." Draco groaned quietly to himself, feeling nauseous. Scared. What if Hermione decided that this was what tipped the balance? What if this was what finally made her loathe him? He had told her so many horrible things about himself – when would the weight of it all grow heavy enough to break what they had? To smash her feelings for him to bloody sickened smithereens?