Draco Malfoy, the once bad boy of Hogwarts, looked out at the 100's of acres of land he had inherited from his father. He was a lonely 20 year old; he was the only one living there anymore. The house-elves were of poor company, not that his parents were better when they had lived there. Now they were gone, his father dead by his own hands and his mother's insanity caused by Lucius death.

            Draco could not blame his mother's condition on anyone. He had little choice but to kill his father during the war. His secret of being a spy was uncovered, months before the end, and his father was sent to kill him off. It was either live or die fighting, so Draco killed his father. His mother was torn to pieces at the news that Draco delivered himself, knowing that his mother really did love his father, not his choices.

            Draco felt proud of his choices, even though it killed off his family in more ways than one; he knew he made the right choice. He made a few friends in the process, the famous Harry Potter, a few of the Weasley's (Ron is still having trouble to adjusting to Draco's change), and mostly Hermione Granger. The girl who caused this change in Draco in their fifth year, the one who he admired and adored. He had done all of this for her. He hoped to win her love, slowly if anything, but she showed no signs of liking him as anything more than a friend.

            A spot of white caught his eye in the evening sky; he didn't even need to ponder this site. He quickly pulled out an owl treat for his friend's owl. She landed on the banister of his back porch and held out her leg which contained two letters. He untied them after setting the owl treats in the bowl on the table. She flew over to eat as he read the first letter:

            Draco,

Sorry I haven't been over in a while, me and Ginny are still adjusting to being parents.  Lilly said "Da Da" the other day, it was so cute. I did cry over it too.  I think Ginny is jealous about this whole "Da Da" thing, thinks that Lilly likes me better or something.

I don't know if Ron told you (I doubt he did), he proposed to Lavender last night. I can't tell you exactly what happened, I haven't heard from him since before he left. They might still be celebrating.

            Draco shuddered at the thought of what Ron and Lavender might be doing as he read this letter.

Fred Weasley still hasn't been found. As you know The Daily Prophet has been putting up ads about his disappearance. Funny no one knows why he disappeared, but with his type of money anyone could just up and leave to an island mansion for a while without telling anyone.

As for Hermione, I'm sorry man, but Ginny still refuses to say anything about her. If she made me her secret keeper you know I would tell you…maybe that's why she didn't make me it…oh well. Don't stress so much over it man.

Harry

            Draco remembered, very clearly, the day Hermione had ran out of his and everyone else's life, all because of him.

            Wizards all over the world were celebrating the final fall of Voldemort, but none like the one being held at Hogwarts. The whole front line, the most involved wizards were there celebrating like no other, and even more so when Harry proposed to Ginny. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and even Snape were in extremely high spirits.

            Draco had managed to pull Hermione outside to talk. He thought it would be a good time to tell her his feelings. He was nervous and having doubts, he couldn't even think of where to begin.

            "You know, I have dreamt of this day since I first read Dark Wizards of the 20th Century. No more fear of tomorrow. It feels so weird to be completely free, don't it, Draco?" Hermione spoke leaning against a tree.

            "It does feel weird. You know, if you were to tell me in our first year, I would be celebrating Voldemort's fall, I would have laughed without any explanation, and then owled my father tell him of the obscurity of the thought." He chuckled lightly to himself

            "How bout celebrating with a 'mudblood'" Draco stared at Hermione in shock

            "Never refer to yourself as that, you are not a mudblood, you are a full fledge witch and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

            "Hmmm, the great pureblood, Draco Malfoy, no longer likes the prejudice terms. Call the Daily Prophet. I can see the headlines now. "Mudblood Hater Gone Soft: A Draco Malfoy Story"

            Almost an hour slipped by as they talked about random stuff. It was the best feeling in the world to Draco. He couldn't imagine spending his life any other way than seeing Hermione happy, especially if he was the one who made her happy. He prayed silently that he would be the one to always make her happy.

            "What do you want to do now Hermione?" The question seemed innocent enough, even though it had deeper meaning to Draco.

            "Well, I hope to find the guy I will marry. Of course he has to be sweet and kind, someone who will want me to be happy whether I want to be Minister of Magic or a waitress at a bar, as long as it makes me happy. He will always want children; the number isn't important because they are made with love. Oh yeah, and he has to like Crookshank…"

            "I like Crookshank," Draco interrupted. This was it, he was about to jump off the cliff and find out what was at the bottom, his insides churned with nervousness.

            "What is that suppose to mean?" She looked at Draco with a knowing gaze.

            "I love you Hermione, I really do. And all I want is for you to be happy…"

            Before he could finish, Hermione had turned and sprinted across Hogwarts grounds. Shocked by her sudden disappearance, he did not chase after her. She was at the gates by the time he realized what had happened. She would have done apparated away by the time he started running.

            A silent tear streamed down his face as he felt what was at the bottom of the cliff. Rocks, really sharp rocks. And the rocks are still sharp a year later; no word had come from her, and he was beginning to feel that he had lost her for good.

            He slowly rolled Harry's letter up, and turned to enter his house when Hedwig hooted importantly; it took only a moment for Draco to realize the matter, and picked up the second letter. He fingered it inquisitively, no one besides Harry owled him anymore, they all felt too much pity for his broken heart to say anything to him.

            He unrolled it slowly, the writing upon the parchment looked familiar, very small neat handwriting. His heart leapt to his throat, joy over filled his whole body as he began to read.

            Draco,

It has been a long year, hasn't it? I hope you are doing well, when Ginny told me how terribly I broke you heart that night, I felt horrible. But I really had no choice. You became like a brother to me, after all, only Dumbledore and I knew you were not a true Death Eater. I felt proud for you to confide in me, I had no clue that you had actually fallen in love with me, you really scared me.

            Draco's heart slowly fell downward, as the joy diminished. He continued to read:

As you know I have been in hiding, but I have news for you and everyone that I cannot say in a letter. Please come to Lily's first birthday party on December 18th, Ginny already knows that I will be there, and now you do. But only you two know, so please keep it that way, don't tell anyone else Draco.

                                                                                                            Hermione A. Granger

            It was too formal and heart breaking, but the hope still shown brightly that she had realized that she might love him, too. Draco rolled the letter up gently and tucked it into his pocket, and walked into the house, patting Hedwig politely on the head, letting her know he had no letters for her to send that day. At that moment, December 18th seemed much further ahead than it had only minutes ago. It would be a long week.