Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling does.

Trigger warning. Ending involves a sensitive topic.

"Do you think it would be just okay for us to go and surprise them like this?"

"It's going to be alright, Draco. I'm sure your mother and father would be very happy to see us together", Hermione said, with an air of conviction. She turned those beautiful, hazel eyes she knew he couldn't resist on him. "In fact, I'm pretty sure they would be glad just to see their grandson."

They looked over at little Scorpius, who was lying on his side.

Draco wasn't at all convinced. He knew his parents never really accepted Hermione, seeing as she was nothing but a filthy mudblood and that she deserved to be brutally murdered just for existing; but he also knew his parents loved him.

Okay, cared for him. Or rather, cared enough to want him sire a son fit to be called the next heir to the noble Malfoy family.

Well, it's not his fault he couldn't help himself. He truly loved Hermione. He loved the way her eyes would light up whenever they would have one of their witty banters; the way she would always know if he had some problem niggling at him and kiss him until he told her what it was; the way she would cuddle him at night whenever she thought he was already asleep. To put it simply, she was, in every sense, his perfect soul mate. If he was ever made to choose between his parents and her, he would always choose her.

He looked at her and found her also looking at him.

"What?", he asked.

She pointed at his neck, and he felt around his collar.

"Sorry, I forgot."

"You can be so absent minded sometimes, Draco", she said with a slight smile.

"Look at me… I love you," she whispered, finishing the knot. "I always will."

"I love you, too."

It had felt like ages since they had spoken these words to each other. It may have been a little embarrassing, but it felt good to let the words out.

Even now on this peaceful evening, he looked at his beautiful wife staring up at him and couldn't think of a single thing he ever regretted doing with her. They had married a year ago on this day. He couldn't help but smile at his Hermione as he recalled the events that led up to their sudden marriage. He had gotten her pregnant, of all things, during a night of heated selfishness.

It happened on the eve of the Great Battle and they had planned it to be a one-time affair, since neither of them were expecting to survive the war. Both had admitted that one had feelings for the other, but had kept it inside since both knew they could never be. He was a Malfoy, and she, a mudblood; there was nothing more to say. The irony is, what started out as a serious discussion quickly turned into all-out snogging, then one thing led to another and…. Well, you can guess what happened.

When the war came, everything was chaos. Blood was spilled and spells were thrown. In the end, Lord Voldemort had killed Harry Potter, effectively winning the war. Weasley had gone mad right after Harry had fallen and attempted to slay the Dark Lord on the spot, but he was no match and was soon killed as well. Dumbledore's Army and the rest had gone into hiding, going into Resistance mode. After a few weeks of playing cat and mouse, Hermione had been caught by Death Eaters.

Being the last of the Golden Trio alive, a grand ceremony had been held on her capture with the Dark Lord torturing her for all to see. Seeing her all broken and bloody made something inside him snap and made him boldly ask the Dark Lord if he could keep her as a reward for his effort in the war. His request was granted of course, but not without a few Crucio's thrown his way for speaking out of turn.

He had made a spectacle of making her his slave, it was to be expected. He had tortured her using dark hexes and curses, beat her, even went as far as publicly raping her once. But behind closed doors, they were free to do as they pleased. It wasn't easy at first, they were both cold and distant to each other mainly due to their current situation and the effects of war. But books could do wonders, especially when it was his Hermione they were talking about. They both found out they had the same tastes when it comes to books. Hermione was surprised that Draco had even read some muggle ones. They had talked about a lot of things and found out that though their personalities were as opposite as they could possibly be, they had a lot in common. He had apologized to her and she understood that he only did those things to keep them both alive. Within a matter of weeks, they both had fallen in love.

When Hermione found out she was pregnant, she wasn't much surprised. And seeing as she had only ever slept with one guy, it was obvious who the father was. Said father, on the other hand, panicked when he found out. He wasn't ready to be a father, but Hermione was stubborn about wanting to keep the baby. Draco couldn't help but let her do as she wanted as long as she kept it a secret; and a secret it remained.

Hermione, using his wand, had done a very good job of hiding her baby bump with various disillusionment and notice-me-not charms. And up to the moment she gave birth, no one ever had a clue. She bore it all silently. Until today that is.

Today was the day they were finally going to tell the world about their beautiful baby. They couldn't bear hiding anymore. They couldn't bear the pressure his parents put on him to get married. Couldn't bear to witness the world fall ever so slowly in the evil hands of the Dark Lord. They had to break free from all this madness.

Draco held Hermione's hand tightly. They both stared deeply into each other's eyes.

"Are you ready for this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

And with that, he kicked the stool out from underneath them.

Author's Notes: And that's about it. This is an adaptation from a short horror story entitled "Getting Ready". This is my first time writing a fanfic so please be gentle with me. Constructive criticism would be nice. :)