A gift for triinmic, who made me a super awesome signature on PFF :)

Short but sweet. I've never written Draco before... Wrote it all in one evening, so hope it's not complete crap. Never thought I'd write a Dramione...

UPDATE: for those who haven't noticed the "Complete" status, and have said they're looking forward to reading more: sorry to disappoint. This is a one-shot.


Sunset
By: 93 Diagon Alley

Hermione sat up on the astronomy tower, taking in the glowing reds and oranges of the sunset. It was the day before graduation; the last night she'd spend at Hogwarts as a student.

The war had ended a year prior, and she had been offered the job of Transfiguration professor - as long as she finished her final year of schooling first. It was the job of her dreams, and she couldn't send in her acceptance soon enough. Harry and Ron, however, had chosen to take a different path - they had been selected for Auror training, and they jumped into it wholeheartedly. Actually, the only other people from her year that returned to properly finish their Hogwarts career were Neville, Dean, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Blaise Zabini, and, surprisingly, Draco Malfoy. As a result, they had all become a fairly tight-knit group of friends, despite whatever their relationships had been before the war. In the end, they had all ended up on the side of the light, and so they got their deserved second chances; even the Slytherins.

The trapdoor leading to the tower squeaked open, signalling the arrival of someone else. "Not now, Ginny, I told you I'd like to be alone for awhile," Hermione said with a sigh, not turning around.

"Not Ginny," a decidedly masculine voice announced.

"Oh! Draco!" Hermione exclaimed, turning around to see her companion. "What are you doing up here?"

"Same thing as you, probably; came here to think," he replied, walking over to the ledge and sitting beside her.

She hummed noncommittally, and they sat together in silence for a bit.

A little while later, when the sky had sunken into dark purples and blues, Hermione spoke. "Will you miss it?"

"For a few months, maybe," Draco replied. "But you can't miss what you never lose."

"Cryptic," she murmured. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Draco grinned to himself before responding. "It means I'll be back here on September first."

Hermione turned her head quickly to the side to look at him. "You're going to be a professor?"

"I'm taking over for Slughorn," he replied. "I'll finish my mastery by the end of August."

She threw her arms around him and hugged him close. "Oh, that's wonderful! I'm so glad to know we'll be working together. What caused you to make this decision?" she asked as she drew her arms back to herself.

"Truthfully?" he asked quietly, not looking in her direction.

She softly placed her hand on his forearm. "Of course."

He turned his arm over in her grasp and slid it backwards to gently intertwine her fingers with his own. "I didn't think I would be able to go ten months out of the year without seeing you."

She gasped softly as she looked down at their joined hands. "I...I'm not sure what to say to that."

"You don't have to say anything," he replied quietly, rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand. "I don't expect anything from you. I just want to take things as they come."

"Alright," she replied, scooting closer into his side and resting her head on his shoulder.

They sat quietly again for a little while, watching as the final light faded into the dark blue of the night sky, before Hermione broke the silence with a whisper.

"Draco?"

"Hrmm?"

"I'm looking forward to seeing what happens."


Posted: 24 September 2012
Word Count: 564