Just a smile, that's all it takes

I smiled at them, Ron and Harry, my friends since 1st year; I said it was all okay. I just have to be who they always thought I was.

To cover up that which slowly breaks

The War took so much from all of us, and even with a certain Malfoy as a comfort now, I will never be the same. He's was the same arrogant, irksome, and somewhat mean person he always was, but for some strange reason his bluntness and presence comforted me. After a while I discovered a different side of him. He wanted to help, he was the only one I had ever told about this emptiness, but even he didn't know the extent of it.

It reaches naught the eyes

At Harry and Ginny's wedding I had my first fight with Draco; he claimed that I was cheating on him with Ron because of my absences at night and how I treated him as I danced with him. He didn't know I have work late and hard to keep my mind off things; I have ways of coping with everything that bears down on me from the war, not all of them healthy. But I would never cheat on him. He said the lack of life in my eyes was because I didn't want him any longer. I thought he would understand that I hadn't been, and never would be, the same. I didn't think he did.

But they don't see the disguise

Ron and Harry don't see how much these smiles hurt to fake; they don't see these masks that I have created. They know something isn't quite right but they don't see the lies in every "I'm fine" I utter.

They claimed the know her well

They all could tell me how badly I lied at school; every one of them said I just couldn't. But now they don't doubt my words and strange ways. I lie in every breath now.

But sadly they can't see this hell

My parents are gone, I am haunted by memories of my fights in the war, the torture at the Malfoy Mansion, the final battle, that moment when Harry was supposedly claimed to be dead, Voldemort, the horcruxes, Tom Riddle, the panic, the cutting, everything comes back at night.

She hides it in the fake highs and tries

So many parties, so many late nights, so much alcohol have been used to try and cover up what's truly going on inside. Draco can only keep up for so long. I honestly don't know why he's with me. He was there when Ron broke it off, he was there with his sneer and witty comebacks, but deep inside I knew he's as broken as I was.

They do see the cries

Draco doesn't understand it. I want to let him in, to let him see the darkest deepest fears and things that haunt me. But I can't, I might one day, but not now. I wake up sobbing, wand in hand, and ready to fight off the snatchers as if we were searching for horcruxes once again. I will pant and sob, and he will hold me in a way that I have, and will always, need. He whispers things that I can never make out and kisses the hot tears away from my face. At those moments I know he's the only thing holding me together. Although, that might scare me more than the nightmares.

But they won't believe, and make blinds

All of them see it, Neville, Harry, Ginny, Draco, Ron, Luna, Seamus, Dean; all of the Weasly's, Everyone I know all see it. They just don't know what to do or don't want to acknowledge it.

So if she dies

They have lost Hermione Granger, the bright eyed, bushy haired, know it all that they went to school with. No, she has been replaced by someone who looks almost identical, but inside she has become a whole new being.

Don't you cry, look to the sky

Draco almost gave up on me, so many fights, so many times he had left me heartbroken, and I had returned the favor, but now we are better. We cling to each other; we fix the parts of each other that are bleeding when we are together. Even if we have never fully told each other what needs fixing for nursing. We were alone, after one particularly hard fight, and just made up in the way we know best. I laid my head on his arm and turned my face to his to see he's crying as well as I. He buried his face into my thick hair and I finally made out one of his words that he mumbles so often. I heard a muttered "I love you." I instantly knew he meant it, and I was almost sure I felt the same. In that moment the fear was gone, I didn't hesitate to tell him just how much I loved him too.

And say your goodbyes to that girl you knew

Ron refused to come to the wedding. Not just him though, Harry took a lot of convincing and a lot of prodding from Ginny, but he came in the end. Many others refused as well, or just ignored it. They only were okay with me dating him because they saw that we were both not okay, and they were sure that he was playing me, and that he was just a distraction and a phase for me. They never thought it would mean anything. Wow, did we show them wrong. My white dress is simple, much like the whole affair of the wedding. It's small, mostly because the friends of Draco didn't approve of me or still had a problem with "Mudbloods." Draco had come to hate that word, and couldn't stand half of the people he knew anymore. His parents were no longer alive so they weren't present at the wedding, and no longer had control over their son. So we only had about twenty guests. Still, if I had to let go of half of my friends to be with Draco, I would.

Because under those smiles

Only one smile in the whole ceremony was real, as I pulled back from the kiss pronouncing me Hermione Malfoy, the wife of Draco Malfoy, I smiled like the old me would have. I knew instantly that this was the beginning of a new life, and hopefully all new smiles from the new Hermione. The new Malfoy.

She's already said her goodbyes to you

Ron never forgave me, Harry and almost all of the rest did and they had to accept that I was no longer the same Hermione, but never Ron. I couldn't hate him though, he was still my friend, my first love, and forever lives in my heart. Many said goodbye, but Draco was always there.

So maybe one day, that smile will be true

The new Hermione didn't genuinely smile a lot. No I smiled like crazy all day, and even through my toughest times years ago I never stopped, but it was just a mask. Now I wake and turn to see my husband of six years now still soundly asleep, as beautiful as ever and his hair all tousled about, love surges through me and an uncontrollable smile spreads across my face. I look over his shoulder to see the newborn twins, Scorpius and Rose in there cradles, my smile slowly grows wider. I trace a finger on Draco's angular jaw and he shifts and opens his stormy blue eyes groggily. He gives me a lopsided grin at the sight my real smile. He can always tell the difference, and he pulls me close with his signature muttering. Yes, a smile can hide a lot, but a real one can also mean more then I would have ever thought possible.