Draco sat in the corner of the little coffee shop and looked around him. The other customers were all bright and happy, taking shelter from the pelting rain; none of them took any notice of the morose blond man. He checked his expensive pocket watch and glanced at the door again. She was late.
Once again he ran through his little speech in his head. He hadn't got halfway through it however when the little bell tinkled as the door opened.
There she was. She didn't look too different, the same wild beautiful hair and intelligent brown eyes. She was a little thinner now however, less healthy, her cheeks were pinched and her cheekbones a little more clearly defined. She was taller now though and it looked like she hadn't smiled or laughed in a long time. He still thought she was beautiful though. She shook out her umbrella and removed her cloak.
Behind her Harry and Ron entered, and Draco thought it was a good thing they were there because as soon as Hermione saw him she frowned and turned to leave. Her friends stopped her and talked to her encouragingly. They physically turned her round and Ron gave her a little push towards him.
Draco smiled and got up as she approached him. There was a little awkwardness as to how he should greet her, but she seemed to find it endearing.
He ordered her a coffee and she was a little pleased to see he remembered how she liked her coffee. She refused to show it however.
They chatted awkwardly about what they were doing these days, but the conversation was stilted and forced, and she refused to look at him. They carefully avoided the war and school.
After that they lapsed into silence.
"I miss you." he said, barely above a whisper.
She looked at him carefully and saw that he meant it. "You hurt me. You were the one person who never would, and yet you did." She said coldly, but quietly.
"Let me explain. My father was furious with me for falling for you so deeply. He was always trying to persuade me to dump you. I held firm though. You were the best thing that ever happened to me, and I wasn't about to let that go."
"And yet you took the Dark Mark. Why?" it took all her iron will to remain firm.
"I only took it because I had no choice. You know me, I would never join them of my own free will. The only way I would have joined them is if they threatened the person I love the most. I didn't care if they threatened me, which they did, but it had no effect. So they got to me through you. They said that to test my love I would have to take the mark, and do what they wanted, otherwise they'd kidnap you and do horrible things to you before forcing me to watch you be murdered or even worse; to force me to kill you. It was the only way I could save your life."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I knew you would say that it didn't matter. You'd tell me to stand firm and defy them; that you could handle any torture they inflicted on you. That whatever they did to you wouldn't matter, as long as I stayed true to my principles. I was going to tell you, I swear. But you found it before I could, and then you didn't give me a chance."
"I wanted to. I felt sure that they'd forced you, I thought I knew you better. But Harry wouldn't let me be alone with you. He'd tell me off if I even looked at you. Harry said he'd been expecting you to turn on me for a while; the happiness just couldn't last. He never liked you and he never thought it would work out between us. He never let me talk to you after that. I thought at least Ron would be on our side, but he held firm too." Hermione's hand wandered to her scar.
"Does that still hurt?" he said with concern, indicating it.
"Not as much as your betrayal."
"I'm sorry for both. I never ever wanted see you hurt, especially at my hand. I was just trying to protect you."
Hermione was silent for a while. "I see that now. I tried to hate you, I thought it would make it easier. But I still can't manage it. I dream about that last day all the time. I was never happier than when we were together."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I let my father ruin it all. Hermione, I still love you. I never stop thinking about you, and it's killing me knowing that you don't love me anymore."
"I said I couldn't hate you. I never said I stopped loving you. Call me a fool if you like, especially after everything you've put me through but I still love you."
Draco beamed at her. "You do?"
Hermione shut her eyes and nodded. Draco leant across the table and kissed her gently on the lips. Her eyes shot open and she stood up quickly.
"I can't do this." She cried before running from the coffee shop.
Draco, also on his feet, looked at Harry and Ron, sitting unobtrusively nearby.
"Go after her." Ron urged.
Draco nodded and left. He searched Diagon Alley but there was no sign of her anywhere. Then he spotted her. She was sitting on the steps of a vacant shop, shivering in cold having forgotten her cloak and clearly weeping into her knees.
Draco sat beside her and hesitantly put an arm around her. She looked up but she didn't recoil as he had half expected her to. Instead she leant against him.
"I'm sorry I ran out like that. I panicked."
"It's alright, My. I know why you did. It's too soon for anything like that isn't it? I just…I want you back in my life. I've been in a dark place for ten years, and you were the only light in it."
"I know the feeling. I feel like I haven't seen the sun since that last very hot day. I haven't been warm since that. Harry and Ron are great, but they're not you. I could never have with them what I had with you."
"You were my world. And my sun and moon. Imagine living without any of them for a decade. I wanted to give up sometimes, but then I'd see a photograph of the two of us and remembered that life was perfect with you in it, and I hoped that one day you'd be back in my life."
Hermione smiled and grasped the front of his shirt. "I want you back in my life. I want things back the way they were, when you were mine and I was yours. I want to get back that feeling I felt when I told myself I was going to be Mrs Draco Malfoy. I want wake up with you next to me every morning. I miss your little jokes which weren't that funny but I'd laugh anyway to please you. I miss your laugh, and your protecting embrace. I miss hearing your heartbeat when you held me, and the way mine beat in tandem with yours. I miss the kiss that makes me never want to let you go, and that smirk that makes my knees buckle. I miss how special you made me feel; when you looked at me it was like I was the only person in the world. I miss the goofy little dance you used to do when you realised you were going to get some that night. The same dance you did when you beat Ron at chess, or when I made you happy in some little way. I miss the way you'd spontaneously kiss my cheek or my forehead for no reason whatsoever, and how you'd reply that you 'just felt like it' when I asked why you'd done it. I miss how you wouldn't let me get out of bed in the morning without kissing you first. I even miss your snoring, even though it did keep me up half the night. I miss the way you smelt when you held me close. I miss how safe I felt in your arms; nothing could hurt me because you were there to protect me. I guess I just miss you."
Draco kissed her forehead tenderly. He fished in a pocket and brought out the engagement ring. "Ron sent this with the letter, although he said he didn't know what good it would do. I want you to be mine again. You. All that you are. Good mood, bad mood, scary time of the month, unpredictable mood swings, all of it. I want you to be my wife. I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side."
Hermione smiled and took the ring from him. "It felt so right, sitting there on my finger. I wore it through the war, as though you'd come rushing back to me because I was wearing the ring you gave me. After that I took it off and shut it away, taking it out again just to look at it, missing you and missing how empty my hand looked without it, and I'd think how empty my life was without the person who gave it to me."
Tenderly Draco took her chin and tilted her face up to meet his. Kissing her lovingly he slipped the ring onto the engagement finger and took the hand, plaiting their fingers together, telling her without words that her life wouldn't be empty any longer.
Back in the coffee shop, half an hour later, Harry and Ron were beginning to get a bit nervous. In their minds they imagined the worst scenarios and it was with great relief that they heard the little bell tinkle as Hermione came back in with Draco, still holding hands.
They got up, not knowing what to think. Hermione exchanged a grin with Draco who beamed proudly back and yanked their clasped hands into the air so the engagement ring was clearly visible. Harry and Ron cheered and the rest of the coffee shop applauded, just because the couple looked so blissfully happy.
