Disclaimer: I am not now and never will be JK Rowling. Pity as I would love her mind!!!!

Summary: Hermione reminisces as she prepares to marry a man she would never have forseen her ending up with.

How She Got the Man of Her Dreams

It was here at last, the day she had been waiting for, forever, and hadn't even realised it.

She sat putting the finishing touches to her makeup and hair in the mirror on the dresser she shared with her closest female friend Ginny Weasley. Thankfully, she was alone, Ginny had realised how frustrated she was getting with Mrs Weasley and Luna and the interruptions from Harry and Ron and so had made them all leave promising Hermione that she would return to get her when it was time. It gave her time to sit and reflect on how she came to be here at the burrow getting ready to start a new life with a man who for many years she couldn't bare to look at never mind kiss!

Thinking back, she supposed it had started at the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry had fulfilled his destiny and had finally killed Voldemort. They had all been gathered in the Great Hall, many people had been celebrating, and many mourning lost ones. She had still been buzzing from the fight, adrenaline still pumping through her body and after making a round of the Hall to ensure all her friends was there and to pay her respects to fallen comrades she had decided she needed some fresh air.

She had left intending going back out into the grounds and walk down to Hagrid's hut to sit and think but she had found herself walking the familiar corridors, now ravaged by the battle that had taken place. She of course had ended up in the library; she chuckled to herself upon realising where she was. It was typical of her to end up here straight after a war. It was as she entered the familiar room she had felt that she was not alone. She had spun round, wand raised to find herself face to face with him.

She hadn't been that close to him in a long time. The effects of the war had been evident on his face and in his eyes, he had lost weight and had looked as thought he hadn't slept in a bed in weeks. She had backed away from him almost terrified, he had started his fight against them that night but she had witnessed him turn against his family and Voldemort to help Harry at the end. It was he more than she or Ron who had held off the remaining Death Eaters long enough for Harry to do what he needed. She had been confused at that point and now with the adrenaline once more surging through her body she had demanded to know what he wanted. His answer had surprised her. He had simply stated that he wanted to apologise to her for the misery he had caused her. The shock had made her lower her wand and in that moment he had crossed to her and had taken her in his arms and kissed her.

She had of course intended to fight him, pushing him away but instead she had responded. She had returned his kiss and it had led to them ravishing each other right there in the library. It had not been a tender loving union but she knew afterwards that it was exactly what she had needed, what they had both needed, they had taken from each other the peace and comfort they had craved. Neither of them had spoken afterward both lost in their own thoughts and when they silently rejoined the crowd in the Great Hall it was as though it had never happened.

Although Harry had defeated Voldemort, the war was not yet over. There were still many Death Eaters who had gone to ground and still needed captured and brought to justice. Until that happened she, Ron, Harry and their friends could not move on with their lives. They had spent the next few months searching and fighting those Death Eaters who had been closest to Voldemort and who had fled in the wake of his death.

Of course he was now fighting alongside them. The Order had welcomed him warmly and he had not disappointed them. She had been amazed at his knowledge of the inner workings of Voldemort's inner circle even though she knew that he himself used to be part of it. He had worked closely with her, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna among others, teaching them some defensive Dark Arts that they otherwise would never had known. He had also showed them how to apply two of the Unforgivable Curses. He had been taught well and even though he knew all three refused to teach them the Killing Curse, which was fine by her as she, had been unsure of needing to know the other two.

It had become some sort of ritual for the two of them. After each battle they secretly sought each other out, it started out emotionless for both of them and was often over before it had began and it had always taken place in, on or near the battlefield they had just left. They had never talked during their meetings and had never discussed it afterwards, ever.

If pressed to say why it had happened she would have answered then that it was their way of coping with what they had to do and how they had to do it. Everyone had his or her own way of coping at that point. Harry and Ginny would spend every spare minute shagging each other senseless, Ron, Neville and some of the other guys would drink themselves stupid or sleep with inappropriate women or if they were feeling really shitty both and Luna just withdrew into herself more and more. This had been his and her way of dealing with it.

Slowly however things between her and him had changed. She was unsure when or how but over time they had started to seek each other during breaks in between battles. He would seek her out in the house they all shared and they would sit in silence with each other, sometimes just holding each other, other times she would sneak to his room in the middle of the night, and it didn't always end up with them having sex. Even in Order meetings they had started to sit next to each other and they had found that they could even hold decent conversations as well.

Therefore, it had continued like that for months. They would meet up for sex or whatever, whenever they felt like it yet they still didn't discuss what was going on. It wasn't until she had caught herself staring at him throughout an important Order meeting that she had realised her feelings for him had changed. Considerably. She noticed her stomach doing little flip-flops every time they were near each other and she found herself thinking of excuses to speak to him more than necessary. She had been sure it wasn't just her either, he had started a little habit of coming to the library while he had been working with the excuse of bringing her cups of tea and other little things.

Her suspicions had been confirmed when Harry, Ron and Ginny had cornered her and demanded what was going on between the two of them. She had blushed furiously and denied that anything was going on, they hadn't been convinced and when they had given him the same treatment and received the same vehement reply they had simply known.

It had been Ginny after growing tired of seeing them trying not to look at each other or touch each other who had tricked them both in to meeting in the kitchen one night.

Ginny met them there along with Harry and Ron. Their three friends then proceeded to tell them that they knew something was going on and even if the two of them couldn't see they belonged together they could. Harry had told her that she deserved to be happy and the past few months were the happiest he had seen her in a long time so even if he could still be an insufferable prick at times he couldn't be all-bad could he.

With that the three of them had left. Sealing the door shut behind them. There had been an awkward silence where she had sat shyly across from him hoping that he felt the same as she did. Eventually he had moved from where he sat. She had watched curiously as he had come around to her side of the table and had taken a seat beside her, he had turned her so that they were facing each other, knees touching. He had leaned towards her taking her face gently in his hands and he had kissed in a way he had never kissed her before. That kiss had told her everything her heart had wanted to know. She had simply melted into him and had, at some point explored each other on the kitchen table in a way that they never had before.

Afterwards they had talked for hours. Properly. About themselves and what was happening between them. They had both agreed that things had progressed beyond being a booty call or a coping mechanism. They had decided to start dating and once his father and mother had been incarcerated in Azkaban they had announced publicly their relationship. Three months later they had been engaged.

Now she was getting ready to walk down the stairs of the burrow and out into the garden to marry the man of her dreams. A man she hadn't even known was her soul mate until a year ago and now she simply couldn't imagine life without him.

She gathered herself together and stood to take one last glance at her old life. She was leaving this room Hermione Jane Granger and she would return later as Mrs Draco Malfoy. She couldn't wait. Life for her was now just beginning.

THE END

A/N: I know that there are some grammatical errors and I did try to fix them as I went so please don't yell at me for them.

I am not and never will be a writer. I simply have ideas that I write down. This story idea has probably been used before and much better than this but I can honestly say I have never come across it. It hit me when talking to my friend about how women can use men as much as the other way round.