For: The Pairing Diversity Bootcamp, The 2012 Hogwarts Games
Prompts: Never, Trio Era, "Now that would be telling".
Now That Would Be Telling
By silver-nightstorm
Summary: He never could say the words back to her.
Words: 509
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She'd fallen in love with the movie Ghost when it first came out, one year before she found that she was a witch. After she found herself whisked off to Hogwarts (and, to her dismay, a lack of telly) she made it a tradition to watch Ghost every time she returned from school. It was always her dream to have a love so strong, so beautiful, so magical.
What she got, however, paled in comparison. Oh yes, he was a fabulous lover. That was a given. Draco Malfoy truly deserved his reputation as the Slytherin Sex God but… the emotional aspect was deeply lacking. The one moment when Hermione whispered the words "I love you" in a moment of passion, Draco didn't reciprocate. He didn't even respond with a wry "Ditto".
It wasn't as though Draco didn't like to be seen with her in public. It wasn't like Draco kept her his dirty little secret. Draco loved to be seen with Hermione. It was living proof to himself that he had given up his father's prejudiced ways and become his own man but Hermione still didn't understand why he couldn't say he loved her.
At first she thought that it was because he simply wasn't there yet. But then, he asked her to marry him. And she said yes, of course, because she loved him irrevocably, but he still hadn't said those three little words to her. How difficult could they be?
But she didn't say anything to him. Because despite his inability to say those words, she knew he cared about her so she simply went on, happy with her life. She went on to become the Head of the Department of Mysteries. She went on to be a mother. She went on to be the wife of the Minister of Magic. She went on to be 173 years old and he still hadn't said it.
They had both retired years ago and they spent their lives now in comfortable solitude in Malfoy Manor. They sat next to each other on the loveseat reading various texts in the sort of silence that only comes from years of companionship. They sat that way for years undisturbed until one day, Draco broke the silence.
"You know, it suddenly struck me that I've been a bit silly," he said slowly, taking off his spectacles and folding his hands in his lap. He turned his face towards Hermione's, taking in her wild bushy silver curls and her square rimmed glasses and the way her hands delicately cradled the book in her hands. "I never did tell you how much I love you."
Hermione's head snapped towards her husband and the text she was reading tumbled to the floor as her hands went numb. "You… how much?" she whispered, dumbstruck. After all these years, she had never, not in a million years…
Draco smirked, bringing back the memories of his younger self. "Now that would be telling," he said with a wink and he kissed his dumbstruck, old, beautiful, wife on her forehead.
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Well, it's random, but I hope you like it! :D