Some things were best kept secret, that much Hermione knew for sure. Generally she didn't keep a lot from her friends. So close to Harry and Ron as she was that she never felt the need to hide anything. Ever since that first year of Hogwarts and that blasted troll they had shared everything. Being on the run together hadn't helped either, sharing a tent with two hormonal teenage boys was perhaps the most difficult and disgusting thing she had ever done and she had done some disturbing things in the past. She knew things about them that she doubted they even knew themselves. Never had she kept a secret from them. Never that is, until fifth year happened.
The fact that her and Draco Malfoy had been, and still were, together; was a secret she had kept from everyone. Even Harry and Ron. And, as far as she knew - and she liked to think she knew a lot - Draco hadn't told anyone either. If Lucius Malfoy even suspected his son was in love with a mudblood then, well, who even knew? It didn't bare thinking about.
One person did know of course, Theodore Nott. Not intentionally that is. It wasn't like Draco couldn't keep his mouth shut or anything it was more like neither of them could keep their hands to themselves in the library late one night and he had stumbled upon them. They were lucky it was him. So very lucky.
"Well well well... what do we have here" He had smirked into the dimly lit and otherwise empty room.
Draco and Hermione had been caught so off guard that they didn't even have time to right themselves. Hermione was stood there, her skirt hitched so high that her knickers were showing, Draco's hand resting on her thigh and her shirt opened enough to reveal the black lace bra she wore underneath. She silently thanked the gods that they hadn't been caught in an even worse position because, let's face it, it's not like they hadn't had sex in the library when they thought they were alone before.
"Umm…" Hermione had began as she searched desperately for some sort of excuse. Not that there was one. That was something she was still trying to come up with months later. It had been in the middle of sixth year when Theo had found them leaning up against a shelf of old and dusty books that Hermione knew for sure nobody read anymore.
Theo raised a perfectly shaped brow at the blustering witch in his friend's arms and watched as, in the faint light, her cheeks turned pink with embarrassment. As he moved his gaze to Draco's hand or maybe he was looking at her bare thighs Hermione really couldn't tell, Theo looked at his friend and raised that same eyebrow back at him, awaiting an explanation.
Draco didn't splutter like Hermione had. Instead he removed his hand, and begrudgingly so, from his girlfriends perfect thighs where his fingers had been playing with the hem on her knickers and pulled her skirt down, then stood in front of her so the view to her chest was blocked.
Theo laughed. "I've already seen them now mate." He had said with a roll of his eyes.
"Yes, well, I'd really rather you didn't stare at my girlfriend's breasts" Draco had retorted. There had been no way out of the situation but he could try other tactics he realised. So, instead of trying to deny they had been doing anything - because even a fool wouldn't have believed that - Draco had went on the offensive. He glared daggers at his best friend who was like a brother to him and stood protectively in front of Hermione so as to shield her from view and whatever else may happen. The Dark Lord had risen again and this was all the incentive Theo needed to go back and have Draco taken down a peg or ten. It would certainly help the Nott image and Draco could only gag at the thought of just how happy Rowley Nott would be with the information. His only son and heir would be brought up for presentation earlier than expected and Theo would have no choice but to join the ranks of the Death Eaters. Brothers in arms, his father had always called it when they were growing up.
Just as Draco thought this, it seemed that Theo was also thinking the same. Thankfully for Draco and Hermione, being a Death Eater was never something Theo had wanted. He had shied away from anything dark all of his life, his mother had helped of course. Always so insistent that her son was pure. Though Robyn Nott's version of pure clearly differed from that of her husband and his friends'. Theo was raised thinking that pure meant something different, meant innocence, angelic, honest, untainted. Pure meant untainted and if there was one thing his father was, it was tainted. Theo had grown up to associate pure to be the exact opposite of his father and his 'brothers in arms'. He had cringed away from anything remotely dark. When his mother had passed away he carried on with those thoughts, deciding if there was one way he could honour her it would be in that. He steered clear of any and all confrontations and when he started Hogwarts he tried to keep mostly to himself except for when Draco was too tired of Crabbe and Goyle and wouldn't allow him to hide in peace. Oh he was drafted up to war no doubt, raised to it, no son of a Death Eater could get away for very long and Theo's father was rather excited to give his son up, thinking it would bring more vehemence to his family name and their cause.
"Girlfriend?" Theo had asked as his eyes widened. He had known Draco was seeing someone, he'd been acting too strange for too long so decided to follow him and had been pretty shocked to find out who his companion was. Nevertheless, he hadn't thought they were actually an item. A quick kiss here and a fuck there, yes. But a relationship? Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger together? The Slytherin Prince and Gryffindor Princess, the pureblood who had deemed himself worthier than any other was in a relationship with the most famous mudblood. Harry Potter's mudblood? No. He never would have thought it.
As he saw Draco's fists clench Theo had sighed, this was real, he realised. "Easy there mate, just shocked that's all. I'll keep your dirty little secret" He said with a laugh as he realised the double entendre he hadn't meant.
"Theo…" Draco had started, his face schooled into that hard mask he so often wore those days.
"It's fine, brothers first, right?" Theo joked as he repeated the words from a game they had played as boys.
"This...it's too serious...I can't...I'll have to…" Draco sighed as his body sagged and his wand hand raised higher.
Hermione had known what he meant, they had spent so much time together in the past year that she was sure she knew him better than Harry and Ron, better than himself. Better than herself.
"There has to be another way" Hermione whispered from behind Draco.
Both men had turned to stare at her, Draco surprised she had known what he was thinking and Theo confused.
"I have to Love, we can't-"
"Draco" Hermione started as she put her hands on the side of his face "You can not and will not Obliviate your best friend for us!" She said sternly and, if her hands were not already occupied they would have been on her hips mimicking Molly Weasley.
"For you" Draco corrected her. "I'm doing this for you. I need to keep you safe, Love."
Hermione huffed. It was a conversation they had had over and over at this point. "I can keep myself safe, we both know that."
The pair had stood there arguing for the next few minutes, Hermione's school shirt still unbuttoned as Theo watched them in awe. They really were a couple he had thought to himself and, before he could stop himself he interrupted the squabbling pair.
"If I may?" He asked them before they both stopped talking as if they had just remembered they were not alone and turned to face him, eyes wide and twin looks of annoyance flashing across their faces.
"What?" They called in unison.
"I'd really rather keep my memories and I'll likely just figure it out again anyway" He began "but, what about the Unbreakable Vow?" He finished before Draco could object to not Obliviating him.
"A...what?" Hermione's face had paled. She knew what it was of course but it was magic that should never be taken lightly and Draco seemed to agree.
"No way" Draco almost shouted out.
"It's...not the best idea but...it's not the worst either" Hermione whispered to him and Draco huffed again.
Huffed because he knew, without Obliviating his best friend it was the only option to secure Hermione's safety. He agreed in the end and, after much arguing with Hermione who demanded she should be the one to make the vow; Draco stood with Theo and held the hand of his best friend in the world as he vowed to always protect Hermione, always look out for her and never, ever, under any circumstances tell anyone about their relationship unless it was already public knowledge. Theo made the vow without batting an eyelash and Hermione watched over the pair with tears in her eyes wondering what would have happened had anyone else walked in on them.
And now the war was over, the good side had won and all the Death Eaters had been carted off to Azkaban. Draco included. Thankfully, Theo hadn't been due to get the mark until that summer and so had missed out on the mouth watering meals they served up there. Hermione and Theo had grown close during what little time they had left of that sixth year and they struck up a friendship and bond that would be hard to break. After all, he did vow to always protect her, might as well get to know the witch he was supposed to protect.
It was June now and Draco was still not released. Hermione met with Theo for coffee and sat pulling apart a muffin without eating it. They had had to go into the muggle world of course. Can't show your face in the wizarding world with a Death Eater's son, she thought bitterly. Though, in all honesty, she was glad of the break of reporters everywhere she went. The muggle world was much more peaceful in that sense. Though she never could keep her wand holstered and had it up her sleeve the whole time - involuntary reflexes left over from the war. Something that never truly left her.
"He'll be out soon" Theo promised her as he took a sip of the caramel latte she had ordered for him.
"We don't know that Theo. It's been six weeks. Six weeks! He didn't even do anything. He's innocent! Innocent and they carted him off to Azkaban like-like.." Hermione spluttered.
"My father?" Theo supplied.
Hermione gave a sad looking grimace at the words and sighed. "He doesn't deserve to be there Theo" She said and they both knew she wasn't talking about Nott Snr.
"Well, the pretrial is tomorrow, hopefully you'll have him back before you know it, they can't keep him there forever." Theo said as he tried to console her.
"I think I'm going to tell Harry" Hermione whispered so low Theo barely heard it.
"I can only imagine how that conversation will go. Weasley too?" He asked.
"I guess so, if Draco...I don't think I can trust myself to...best they find out from me. Not - not like that" Hermione said anxiously.
Theo reached out a hand and placed it on top of hers "It will be okay" he whispered. "I'll be there. Unbreakable Vow and all" He grinned. "But, oh how I wish I could be a fly on the wall when you do tell Weasley" He joked and they both laughed.
Hermione barely slept that night though, in fairness it wasn't like she wasn't used it. She barely ever slept these days, too worried about Draco to relax.
Since the war had ended she had moved into Grimmauld Place with Harry, her parents' minds had been altered far too much to bring them back and they no longer knew her as their daughter so she had had nowhere else to go.
Ron floo'd to to meet them early that morning, grumbling about having to take Malfoy's side though even he knew he hadn't actually done anything wrong and had seen with his own eyes how reluctant Draco had been at handing them over. Anybody who had been at Malfoy Manor that day couldn't deny that Draco had saved their lives to the best of his ability.
They apparated to the Ministry in a room set up just for their use, Kingsley had been made interim minister and he had made allowances for the trio since they were getting far too much unwanted press. They arrived early and after submitting carefully selected memories they were free to go with promises that they would be in touch when a court date was set and everything had been looked at thoroughly. Hermione was a shaking mess by the time they were to go home and Harry had to side-along apparate her back, him and Ron sharing quizzical looks.
"What's up Hermione?" Harry asked once they got back and she fell to the floor in an unmoving heap while silent tears ran down her face.
How could she tell them? How could she tell these two boys, her brothers, that she had been dating their enemy for the past two years. That she was absolutely and irrevocably in love with Draco Malfoy and no matter what happened she knew, knew in her heart and soul that she always would be? They would never understand. They couldn't.
They had been together maybe six months when Slughorn invited her to his party and things were still pretty casual between them. Casual enough to suggest all they were were fuck buddies. Sure, they got on great, they were interested in the same things and yes his smile did make her heart skip a beat but he had never suggested they were anything more and Hermione, despite her growing feelings for the blonde man, never said anything either. Too scared of rejection. Some Gryffindor she was. So, when she couldn't take Draco to Slughorn's party and, after a petty argument with him she relented to Cormac's advances and decided to go with him. She threw on a pretty red dress and tried to be courageous. That was the night Draco had told her he loved her. He had followed her, of course he had. Gate crashed the party to make sure Cormac kept his hands to himself because everyone in the castle knew he couldn't.
When he had arrived and saw her in the red dress, the hem reaching just above her knees and the fabric falling over her hips and arse just perfectly - he nearly groaned at the sight. Instead he watched and waited. Waited to get her alone so nobody would see and, when he saw her step behind a tapestry he followed her and pulled her close, inhaling her scent and kissing her without waiting for invitation. Hermione barely put up a fight, it took her only a second to realise who had attacked her and when she did she just couldn't resist him. Petty argument or no.
"Why are you here?" Hermione breathed heavily when they pulled apart moments later.
"Keeping an eye on you. McLaggen, 'Mione, really?"
"What does it matter who I date if all we're doing is fucking around?" She hissed at him, her eyes taking on that look of wildfire she always got when she was really angry.
Draco loved that look, she never looked more alive than she did when she looked that way. Of course, that look came with consequences. A fist to the face was one of them. "What if I don't want to just fuck around anymore?"
"You don't know what you want."
"You. I want you."
Hermione scoffed much too loudly and rolled her eyes at him "Sure, Draco Malfoy wants the mudblood" She bit out stiffly.
"Don't. Don't call yourself that."
"It's what I am, you said so yourself."
"I was wrong"
The silence between them was deafening.
"Why are you really here Draco?" Hermione asked quietly, part of her was terrified of his answer but she had to know.
Draco stared a spot behind her, looking anywhere but at her and said, without skipping a beat, "I love you"
Hermione sniffled at the memory as she sat in a heap on the floor. "There's something I have to tell you both, something...you might hate me but...I don't...I can't..not anymore."
If Hermione were a betting witch she would have said Harry would have been the more accepting of the two but, with each of them dealing with their own post war grievances, she was never more shocked than she was that day. Harry blew up. He'd been dealing with a lot, blamed himself for all the war casualties and lived with the 'what if's' hanging over his head. Apparently the news that she was seeing Draco Malfoy tipped him over the edge and her best friend actually lost it with her. He called her names she didn't even know he knew. Ron, the boy who hated Draco Malfoy more than anyone else she knew just accepted it like she had told him she wanted a sandwich for lunch. He shrugged his shoulders, asked a couple of questions, gave her a hug and said he hoped things worked out for her. She was left speechless. She packed her stuff up an hour later and, with nowhere else to go, floo'd to Nott Manor.
Theo took her in without hesitation or question, he gave her space to grieve her friendship and a comfortable room to live in and, when the owls started to arrive once Harry had tracked her down he would send them back. He had vowed to protect her and sometimes that meant even from her own friends.
The Ministry owled her three weeks after that day, the court date was set for the following week and all the Malfoy's would be tried at once. Neither of them knew if that was a good sign or not but they started sleeping less and drinking more as each night passed.
Finally the date came around and Hermione and Theo floo'd to the same room she had appeared in last time, they made their way down to the courtrooms as instructed. They were early, too anxious to wait at home any longer.
Ron arrived dragging Harry behind him, he flashed an apologetic smile Hermione's way as he tugged on the robes of the raven haired wizard and kept him as far away from Hermione as possible.
When the Malfoy's were brought in Hermione nearly collapsed in shock at how they each looked. Lucius didn't look much different, he still bore that resemblance of pureblood arsehole they had come to know and loathe and he spat venomous insults anywhere he could. It looked like he was expecting to be free of shackles once the day was over. Narcissa was pale and drawn, she had bags under her eyes and, in the Azkaban prison uniform was barely recognisable. Draco looked the worst and Hermione's feet almost buckled underneath her, had it not been for Theo holding her up she would have collapsed there and then. He had black and purple rings around his eyes, his skin was pale and sallow and he was thinner which was evident even under the far too big Azkaban uniform. His hair was hanging over his eyes and he clearly hadn't shaved since before the battle. His eyes looked dead when they met hers. Hermione sobbed and Theo held her tighter.
Lucius was sentenced to life in prison with ten yearly reviews to check on his behaviour. His wand was snapped. Nobody seemed surprised except for Lucius himself, not even his wife.
Narcissa was released to Malfoy Manor, under house arrest for the next year and with wand probation that meant she wasn't allowed to use magic for the next five years. Hermione sighed in relief that the Malfoy matriarch was free to go home, she deserved that much. The war would never have ended if it wasn't for her.
Unfortunately Draco wasn't as lucky. Despite the overwhelming evidence shared to the Wizengamot, the memories produced by Hermione, Harry, Ron, Snape a few others and himself; he was still found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to ten years imprisonment without the chance of parole. Upon the guilty verdict Hermione's legs finally gave way and she collapsed into Theo's arms, tears streaming down her face. If anyone noticed they never said anything, probably suspecting she was on another 'human rights' mission and left it at that. Ron didn't know what to do but he approached Hermione cautiously and hugged her, told her not to be a stranger and apologised for Harry who seemed like he'd just received the best birthday present in the world. Just before Ron left to get Harry home before a scene started he turned to Theo and said "Take care of her mate". Hermione felt Theo nod his head just once as Ron walked away.
It took months for Theo to get Hermione to leave the house again after that fateful day in July and when she did she was a witch with a plan. She went for a job in the Ministry, and war hero status and all, was given it on the spot. She didn't even care that she had been given special treatment because of who she was. In fact, she played on it, used it to her advantage. If she was going to succeed in her mission then she needed all the leverage she could get. Theo helped where he could of course and, that December Hermione took the position as Archive Assistant in the Wizengamot. It gave her ample time and resources to trawl through old laws looking for loopholes where she could. She was a witch with a plan and that plan was to get Draco Malfoy out of a prison he didn't belong in in the first place.
Being an archive assistant was boring work, truly. It was mind numbingly dreadful. At least once a week Hermione went home with a raging migraine from the stress. The trouble is old laws had loopholes and the loopholes had loopholes and the laws went back so far into existence it was untrue. One day she found a law that dated in the ninth century and it was still in place and, if that wasn't enough, it was still used, regularly. It was utterly barbaric and so far behind the times it was untrue. In the hours that she was actually supposed to work Hermione tried to clean up the older laws to their more modern, twenty-first century times and, on a few occasions she was able to slip something into paperwork here and there that actually got passed in the courtrooms. Though they were barely anything to write home about and, even with these small victories she hated her job. She spent every hour she could spare trying to find something that would free Draco but nothing seemed to help. No matter how far back she went in the laws it seemed the Wizengamot and known exactly who they were putting away and had carefully constructed their sentences with laws that there was no going back from. She didn't give up though, even if he was released a year, a month or a week early it would be worth it and so she carried on. Day in day out, boring herself stupid and learning far too much about laws and customs than the average witch needed to know.
Hermione had tried to visit Draco the second she was able to but upon arrival at Azkaban had found out he hadn't authorised visitation for anyone, not even his own mother. Thinking it was an oversight she owled him as soon as she got home and when a raven arrived back two months later telling her it wasn't an oversight and that he didn't want to see her ever again, that he didn't love her anymore and probably never had to begin with; That she should move on and be happy with someone who deserved her; she crumpled into a ball and sobbed herself to sleep. Days later, the initial heartbroken reaction and the pains that came with it were slowly subsiding and Hermione saw the letter for what it was; lies. But she had vowed to stay true to him, had vowed to wait for as long as it took and there was no way, on heaven or earth, that Hermione Granger would go back on her word.
It had been the night before Dumbledore's death they had last spent together, the night she had vowed to wait for him as long as it took. She knew he had the mark, there was no way he could hide it from a witch like her, she was far too curious by nature to let a secret like that slide. She comforted and consoled him. She didn't know Voldemort's plan for him however but she had guessed that it was bad when Draco wouldn't tell her even the smallest detail. She didn't push, too scared she might push him away.
The night before that fateful night they had met in the Room of Requirement, somewhere they would meet up whenever they both managed to sneak out and would spend the hours making love and sleeping in one another's arms, relieving each other of the burden of their nightmares.
"I love you" Draco whispered into her skin as they lay, legs tangled around each other and kissing what skin they could reach in their post coital bliss.
"Mmmm" Hermione replied, still so far out of it that her mouth couldn't fully form words yet.
Draco sat up then, and, looking down at Hermione then back at the brand that marked his arm his face twisted into a grimace.
"It's okay" Hermione whispered when she saw it.
"You deserve better" He sighed resignedly.
"I deserve to have the man I love" she said, her tone just daring him to argue back.
Draco bit his tongue. "Hermione..." He said softly though his voice was laced with anxiety.
"Mmm?" She asked absentmindedly as she burrowed closer to him.
"When this war is over...I mean...maybe it's too soon...but I don't know what's going to happen to me and you're the only thing good I have and I don't want to throw that away but if you win...if Potter finally ends this mess-"
"When" Hermione corrected.
"When" Draco had agreed. "When Potter ends this mess, they'll send me to Azkaban, providing I'm still alive of course" he said bitterly "and, I don't know how long I'll be there. I'm trying so hard to be good but there's only so much I can do with this brand on my arm and a madman breathing down my neck" Draco sighed.
Hermione cupped Draco's jaw with one hand and looked into those silver-grey eyes "I'll wait" she whispered.
"I can't ask that of you" he whispered back, not daring to look away.
"You're not asking, I'm telling"
"And when I'm free? When it's all over? What then?"
"Whatever you want Love" Hermione replied as she watched a tear run down Draco's cheek.
"I want you. For the rest of forever. Mine."
"Then I'll wait. I'll wait a thousand years if I have to." Hermione said as she wiped that tear away and one of her own escaped.
She wrote to him weekly and, every two months without fail an angry looking raven would arrive at Nott Manor with eight unopened letters. It didn't stop her. She knew he was opening Theo's mail however, and it hurt to know he was refusing any form of contact with her but she never gave up on him. She had promised she would wait a thousand years if she had to, ten was nothing in comparison, surely?
It turns out ten years was a lot longer than Hermione thought. The first two were full of raw grief and, though that feeling never left her, she eventually was able to navigate her daily life easier and save the tears and tantrums for when she got home and only had Theo for an audience. The third year she found a coping mechanism; firewhiskey. The sixth, seventh and eighth she threw herself further into her work. She was promoted to head of her department in the fifth year but never once did she give up. She hated her job more and more as the days went on but, knowing there was nothing else to do but try she never gave up hope. She still sent the letters.
As the eighth year came to an end and the ninth anniversary of the final battle crept upon them, Hermione started to panic. She wasn't sure why, it was what she wanted; time to fly by, but the more it did the scarier it got. Especially considering Draco still hadn't opened a single letter from her in all the years he had been gone.
She was still close to Ron, maybe not as close as they used to be once upon a time but close enough. Four years after the battle he had gone on a date with Pansy Parkinson and, one thing led to another and before she knew it the pair were married with a daughter and so her friend was off living his life, being all grown up and manly. He had completed his three years of Auror training, signing up with Harry as soon as the ministry allowed and the pair had become a huge success in the DMLE.
Harry on the other hand had remained bitter, single and depressed for a long time until a chance meeting with Daphne Greengrass completely turned his life around. Ginny had left him when she heard what he had done to Hermione (though never the why) and never once looked back and, from the way Ginny told her it wasn't like he even asked her to. Daphne on the other hand seemed to bring the old Harry back and, seven years after the battle Hermione was inundated with letter after letter of apology. She didn't forgive him, not at first. It wasn't until Theo and Luna were stood in front of her, piles of letters in their hands and told her to look at her own life; look at Draco being locked away. They made her see life was too short. So eventually, in time, she learned to forgive him but she could never forget that when she needed her best friend the most, the man she considered her family; he had refused her all over a petty schoolboy rivalry. Theo and Luna had become an item around the sixth year and Hermione continued to lived at Nott Manor with them though the place was so big she barely even recognised the other occupants unless she wanted to. Luna's friendship had become sacred to Hermione and besides Theo, Harry and Ron she was the only other person to know of her history with Draco.
Having Luna to confide in was probably one of the better decisions Hermione had made in her life, her blonde friend had quickly become Hermione's cheerleader and would sit up night after night pouring through ancient tomes, deciphering runes and other ancient languages trying to find the smallest loophole they could. Luna would sit curled up next to Theo and the three of them would drink glass after glass of expensive firewhiskey well into the night.
Theo and Luna married after a whirlwind romance though Hermione could tell they were destined and, she reasoned, if anyone, anyone at all deserved a chance at a happy ever after, it was Theodore Nott. After barely a month of dating where Luna didn't leave Nott Manor once and Hermione heard and saw far more than she wished; the pair were married in the gardens of his ancestral home with just Hermione and her father as witnesses. It turned out Luna was a very fertile woman and not two weeks later the witch announced she was pregnant. The newly wedded Nott's named Hermione godmother to their twin boys Castor and Pollux born in the June of the seventh year.
Ginny ended up dating quidditch player after quidditch player before finally falling for the charms of Blaise Zabini and the pair lived together and pretended they were only doing so because it was cheaper and more convenient and not because of something so ridiculous as love. Everyone else knew the truth of course. Ginny Weasley and Blaise Zabini were probably as besotted with one another as Theo and Luna were.
It seemed that life and love moved on.
Hermione couldn't decide if the ninth year was going too fast or too slow, as each day passed she grew more and more anxious. She had promised Draco she would wait and she had. Never once had it even entered her mind to move on. She couldn't. There was no way. She belonged to him and there was no way to be happy, truly happy, without him.
Half way through the ninth year the panic attacks started when she came across the one letter he had sent her since he was sentenced. The one where he said he didn't love her and probably never had. She started to wonder after that if she had been a fool or not but Luna set her right and though she would never ask Theo about what he and Draco wrote about she did wonder if he ever mentioned her. If he ever asked after her or if he really did fall out of love with her. Her gut told her he was pushing her away, telling himself it was better all round if she moved on but still something niggled the back of her mind that maybe, just maybe, she was wrong.
On the ninth year, tenth month and twenty-ninth day she handed in her resignation, she hated her job with absolution. It bored her, it drained her and it made her sick. She drank more to numb the migraines and she just wanted free of it all. In all of her time working for the Ministry she had never found a single thing; nothing that would accomplish getting Draco released even a minute earlier than his sentence allowed. The Wizengamot had been extremely thorough and the Malfoy's had been made an example of.
That month passed by in a hazy blur, Hermione's boss had practically begged her to stay but she had no inclination to do so and nothing could change her mind. They advertised the position and she readied herself for being jobless. Luckily for her it wasn't like Theo had taken any form of rent off her over the past ten years and every small thing in the house had been paid for out of the Nott vaults, he wouldn't even hear of her paying for Firewhiskey; said it was some duty of purebood customs or other such trite that she knew to be wholly false since she knew every law and custom there had ever been. She let him have it though. He took the vow seriously, too seriously sometimes. And if he thought not letting her pay her way was another way for him to look after her then who was she to complain? She had become closer to Theo than she ever had to either Harry or Ron and counted him, Luna and their twins as the only family she had left. So she let them look after her while her vault grew with each passing month.
Due to war contributions and efforts Hermione had been awarded an Order of Merlin; Second Class and a substantial sum alongside it that meant she wouldn't have to work again if she was careful, add that to a sizeable salary for the past nine and a half years with no outgoings and she wasn't exactly poor, in fact she was rather well off. Not as well off as her pseudo-brother of course but there was more than enough in her vault to live comfortably.
Hermione received a reminder from the Wizengamot the week before Draco's release, letting her know of the time and date it was to happen. A courtesy since she had given evidence at his trial. She imagined Harry and Ron got them too but never got a chance to ask. The day before the tenth year anniversary, the first day of May in 2008; Hermione packed up her office and left the Ministry for the last time as an employee, vowing never to take another government job again.
The twins, now nearly three years old, had been sent to stay with Luna's father by the time she arrived home, she wasn't sure if their absence was a relief or a burden. She imagined they would have taken up much of the night playing games and reading stories as they often did but now she was left with nothing but her thoughts.
When she got back to Nott Manor the three of them sat around a subdued dining table and pushed food around their plates in silence. After they had decided they had sat long enough to placate the Nott elves - all of whom were paid and treated as fairly as any human, at Theo's insistence and not Hermione's (though of course she would have insisted had she needed) - they each emptied the contents of their plates and retired for the night.
Nobody spoke the next morning; it was a sombre affair and Hermione had to take three calming draughts before they even got to the courtrooms at twelve that afternoon. Lucius was due to have his first review and, in a move that had been too cleverly designed to not be political; father and son would be presented together. They met their friends there, Ron and a very pregnant Pansy arrived with Harry and Daphne, Ginny and Blaise followed while Narcissa stood holding Andromeda's hand.
Hermione stood between Theo and Luna, clutching them both tightly, her grip surely hurting them though neither complained.
Father and son were presented wearing near identical prison uniforms, only their identification numbers set them apart. Lucius didn't look all that different since the last time she had seen him Hermione thought to herself before her eyes rolled over to Draco. Her heart stopped. It had been just two months shy of ten years since she last saw him and yet, despite the prison uniform, despite the long hair that made him look like his father, the still sallow skin and dead eyes, despite the fact he looked like he hadn't eaten in the whole ten years - if she ever needed verification that she still loved him - still loved the man that was sat in a chair made out of Devils Snare - she had it. Her heart almost broke at the sight; she stifled a sob.
Draco refused to look at her.
Lucius' review came first. Politics. And in a move that shocked nobody he was denied freedom. Again.
Finally it was Draco's turn and, after his prison record was revealed to be clean, after the Wizengamot finally agreed he had served his time they let him go, back into civilisation. Just like that. Ten years later.
Hermione didn't wait for them to lift the spell on the chair. She kicked off her shoes and ran down the into the centre of the courtroom and, just as she got there he stood, his eyes lifting to meet hers, the room quietened but they didn't even notice.
Draco stood and stared at Hermione, twin tear tracks marking her face.
'Time stands still
beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything
Take away
What's standing in front of me
Every breath,
Every hour has come to this' Draco thought as he took a step closer to her.
"I have died everyday waiting for you" Hermione said shakily.
"Darling don't be afraid I have loved you for a thousand years and I'll love you for a thousand more" Draco managed to choke out before she threw her arms around him and they collapsed into one another sobbing in relief.
Draco kissed Hermione's forehead and she melted into the touch just as she had all those years prior then, in a move that shocked everyone, Draco lowered himself to the floor, refusing to let go of Hermione's hand and said "Eleven years ago you promised me that if we came out of this alive, if we survived you would be mine, forever. Hermione, will you marry me?"
The tears doubled and Hermione just about managed to say "Yes" before he was back in her arms again and they clung to each other not caring for once about the press, about the hateful slurs or the whispered rumours.
The gathering crowd gasped, Narcissa sobbed, their friends cheered - even those who didn't know what was going on, reporters snapped pictures and Lucius shouted mudblood slurs before Theo and Ron simultaneously shut him up with a muffliato charm.
All was well. Sort of.