Chapter 10

My Mistake

~Chimera~

a/n: ta-da. This is my first multichapter completed story ever, so don't mind me while I do a happy dance. I know you probably wanted a longer story, with longer chapters, but I'm just getting the hang of it. I have ideas, but I don't know how to fill them up properly. But practice makes perfect. Thank you to everyone that has reviewed thus far and everyone that will review, I really appreciate your opinions.

a/n: (20/07/2011) no, it's not an update, the story is complete. However, I just received a wonderful review (that's yours Corinne), and since I can't answer her (because the review was anonymous) I really wanted to somehow respond to her message. So, though it's not much, I want to dedicate this final chapter to all my reviewers thus far, because they deserve it.

Corinne – I think your review was a lot more throat constricting than most of my chapters. Thank you so much. like a trip to Hogwarts

*if you do leave anonymous reviews, I am sorry, but I won't be able to update my story every time to respond to them, but know that I read them and I really appreciate you taking the time to give your opinion in regards to my work.

Warning/reminder: English is not my first language, so you might encounter mistakes.

Draco's POV

I got home from a tiring day at work. Of course Potter and his superman complex had to go in without waiting for me, get hurt and leave the rest to me e.i catch the bad guys and apparate him to Mungo's. If it weren't for his friend I would have probably left him there. Stupid idiot. But since his best friend is a witch that not only saved my life, but also makes me breakfast every morning, I couldn't very well leave him there.

I look at the wedding band on my finger and smile.

We were out on a coffee break when I proposed. One moment she's eating her coconut ice cream like a little girl, smiling at me and excitedly putting me up to date with her patients at St Mungo's, and then a man passes by us with an elf humbly following. She gets up and starts lecturing the guy for hours on end, relentless in her pursuit of the elf's freedom.

I decided not to interfere, but upon seeing her go from being my innocent Hermione, to a fully grown, emancipated (and scary) woman, I realized that she was it: the rest of my life.

'Can you believe the nerve of that guy, calling the…'

'Marry me'

'And I just couldn…what?'

I pulled her to me and looked up into her eyes. 'I love you. I'll always love you. Marry me'

And just like that she said yes, no fancy Malfoy heirloom, no pre-planned trip, just two people that knew the full extent of their life.

Sometimes I even ask myself what she was thinking when saying yes. I am hardly the best husband and I was an even worse boyfriend, not to mention that our relationship evolved from being enemies, before the war, to being allies during it. I looked her up after the war, not so difficult a feat seeing as she was always in the paper. I asked her to go out with me as a thank you gesture for helping me during the war, when my mother died. Not being my usual idiotic self, I was able to realize what a fantastic person she was: smart, compassionate, hard worker, and beautiful in her very own way.

She had clearly been attracted to me at least physically for some time, and she let slip that she thought I was smart, but other than that it took some time for her to warm up to me. I always felt like something was drawing her back, away from me. After one year of dating, I finally found out what the problem was.

We moved in together eleven months from our first date. Giving yet another story for the newspapers to put on their front page. Apparently two war heroes were bound to end up there.

One month after moving in together, I did what no boyfriend should ever do. I mistakenly encountered her diary, and stupidly gave all my best to open it, curiosity licking at my wand.

And I found it, the reason she still held back. Right there, in a couple of pages, my history stood. I read about the mysterious stranger that plagued her thoughts everyday, and I understood that since that story had no finality she just couldn't let go, she couldn't give herself to me whole. I got incredibly mad about that. I didn't tell her what I had done, but I started looking for fights everywhere. We ended up splitting for a couple of weeks, in which I did my research, combining what I remember, with what I had read in her journal. We got back together eventually, and after another week I managed to put things together and I finally found my answer.

I married her soon after that.

There isn't a day that I am not happy to come home to the beautiful woman that is my wife. But there are days, like today, when I see her doing this exact thing: looking out the window deep in thought. I know what she's thinking. I know who she's thinking about.

I know she loves me, but I also know that at times she loves him more.

And as I touch the time turner underneath my shirt I look at her again, thinking I should tell her, but I don't because I don't deserve all of her, because after all, it was (or would have been) my mistake that I had to fix. I deserve to be jealous of myself…