The war had ended three years ago, and the last Hermione had heard two years prior was that everyone was doing fine. Luna had been admitted into St. Mungo's where she'd be given the proper medication and attention that she needed. Harry and Ginny were happily married, and Katie and Justin were engaged. Neville had finally gotten over Luna and had proposed to Hannah Abbott, a pairing she hadn't quite seen coming, and George had gotten over both Fred and Ron's death and had finally married Angelina, a wedding Hermione had purposefully missed. Seamus, Dean, Terry, Michael, and all the others had found girlfriends of their own. Everyone had been adjusting slowly after the war, all except her.

Hermione sat on her bed at midnight under the dim light of her old lamp as she had done for years, tears streaming down her face. She held a weathered, old letter written in a complicated code in her shaking hands, and was reading it diligently, tears falling onto the already stained paper. It read:

Hermione,

If you have received this, my death has probably already been confirmed. I'm sorry for leaving you, but you have to know I wanted to leave quickly for your sake more than mine, and I wanted to fight for what you really loved and for what you and I wanted. Now look here, I want you to forget about me. Don't think about me, don't live in the past. I don't want that for you. Burn this letter as soon as you read it. Hermione, I just want you to be happy. So burn this letter and forget about me. You are a wonderful and beautiful girl with so much potential. Don't let my death slow you down. I know you can do it.

Love last,
Draco Malfoy

"HOW COULD I FORGET ABOUT YOU, YOU STUPID TOSSER?!!!" she screamed, and smothered her face with a pillow. The letter dropped to the floor, but she didn't bother picking it up. She curled up into a ball and wept for everything; for his death, for her lost love, for her life that she had thrown away once she had received this letter.

Hermione Granger was pathetic. She lived for nothing and for no one. Her life had resulted into nothing after Draco had died. For a year, she got a job at the push of her friends, and she went there robotically every day and read different letters from Draco every night. Then, a year passed, and she had shut herself out from the world completely, her only tie still being a part of the Ministry. She continued to work, but was even more robotic. Her loss took a toll on her, and she couldn't live with it. So she didn't live at all. It was as if she were nothing but a walking, working, weeping carcass.

A knock on her door startled her. It was midnight; who would be at her door in the middle of the night? In fact, who would be at her door at all? Perhaps Mrs. Jones from across the hall asking for sugar again at odd hours of the night. Making sure all traces of her tears were gone, she walked to the front door of her flat in bare feet and carefully opened the door. She peeked out, and gaped.

For a moment, she was at a loss for words.

"Wha…What the hell are you doing here?!" she gasped when she found her tongue again, and the man outside shifted his feet, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Can I come in?"

Hermione slammed the door shut, took in a deep breath to calm herself, then opened the door again. "F-Fine."

The man nodded and walked in slowly. He pulled off his black hood, revealing messy, white-blonde hair, hair she had missed running her fingers through, stroking, and touching. He turned to look at her with his grey eyes, eyes she hadn't seen in three long years. His weary body still stood strong, although thinner than she remembered, but his face was tired and he looked as if he had aged years and years.

She had to make sure he was real.

When she went to him, his hands were more callused, his lips chapped, his face rougher, but he was still there, in her flat, all in one piece, safe and sound, and obviously not dead.

After several intimate, desperate kisses, she clung to him tightly, afraid to let go, and buried her face into his shoulder, sobbing. He was holding her tight as well, his own head buried in the crook of her neck.

"Merlin, Hermione, you don't know how much I missed you," he breathed raggedly, and Hermione pulled back, tears still dripping down her face.

"YOU STUPID BASTARD!!!" she yelled, pushing his shoulder away. "YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE FUCKING DEAD AND NOW YOU'RE HERE IN MY FLAT TELLING ME THAT YOU MISSED ME?!!! I MISSED YOU MORE BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD WHEN YOU OBVIOUSLY WEREN'T, BUT I WAS HERE ALL THE TIME AND YOU STILL KNEW I WAS ALIVE!!!"

"Hermione! Calm down!"

She was hysterical, and she knew it, but this was all just way too much to handle.

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM THE FUCK DOWN!!! I SPENT THREE YEARS OF MY LIFE WISHING YOU WERE STILL ALIVE WHEN YOU WERE, AND I WASTED THREE YEARS OF MY LIFE WISHING I COULD DIE AND BE WITH YOU WHEN YOU WERE ALIVE ALL ALONG!!!"

"Hermione! You didn't read anything in my letter, did you? I—"

"NOT READ ANYTHING IN YOUR LETTER?! I READ EVERY SINGLE BLOODY WORD FOR THREE BLOODY YEARS!!!" Hermione was absolutely livid.

"I told you to burn that letter! I told you to forget about me! I TOLD YOU TO MOVE ON!!!"

"I CAN'T MOVE ON WITHOUT YOU, YOU STUPID TOSSER! I LOVE YOU!!!"

Draco's breath caught in his throat, and his warm grey eyes locked with her brown ones.

"Stop yelling and just listen to me. I'll explain only if you'll cool down," he finally replied calmly.

Hermione glared at him, breathing raggedly, but couldn't turn away in fear that he would disappear and leave her all over again. Instead, she hugged him tightly again, so that if he did disappear, he would take her with him.

"Merlin, I'm knackered," Draco groaned, and Hermione pulled away, holding on tightly to his strong arm instead. She looked into his beautiful grey eyes that held a gaze that gave Hermione butterflies in the pit of her stomach, but it was one she could not explain. To say his eyes were two warm pools of grey would be much too poetic and sappy for the likes of Hermione Granger. Even to say his gaze was smoldering and held such fervent love for her would make her sick. It was an indescribable, loving look of the sort, as if he was staring deep down into her heart and imprinting himself in there.

She finished her sentimental observation and took him to the couch in her one-room flat.

"How did you find me?" she asked as they sat, then moved her hands down to one of his cold, callused ones, holding it tightly. He smiled wearily and cupped her cheek with his free hand, stroking the faded scar on her cheekbone like he had so long ago. Hermione couldn't close her eyes; she wanted to take in as much of him as she could before he went away again.

"You worked at the Ministry. I just had to go there and look up your files. It wasn't very difficult."

"Why did you say you died? Where did you go?" Hermione whispered, looking down at their hands. Malfoy sighed, moving his hand down to her warm neck. Hermione shivered at his touch.

"When I left, I knew I was going to be risking my life, and I wrote you a letter. I gave it to Mr. Weasley and told him to give it to you if I didn't come back in six months."

Hermione's tears were drying on her face as she listened to his story. It was all making a little sense.

"Arthur knew…?" she asked in disbelief. Draco smiled at her, and he slowly nodded.

"Towards the end. I don't know how he found out, but he knew somehow, and when I asked him to give you the letter, he just smiled and took it."

"He told me that you really loved me," Hermione whispered, and Draco's eyes hardened at that.

"Was the seal broken on the letter?" he demanded, and Hermione shook her head.

"No. And it was in code anyway, so how could he have read it?" Draco sighed.

"True. Well, he was the only one I could really trust, so I gave it to him. Then we said our last goodbye, and I left. I stayed in the Malfoy Manor under the Dark Lord's watchful eye for a long time, collecting my own notes and information, and when I knew I finally had enough, I sent the information to the Order twice, having a feeling that the first owl wouldn't get through. And I was right. The first owl was intercepted, and I knew I was in trouble."

"We must have gotten your second owl then…" Hermione said slowly, and Draco nodded.

"And this was the part where I knew my life would be in danger. I knew most of them had their suspicions of me, and this only confirmed it. So that night I ran off."

"You idiot!" Hermione interrupted, angry. "You shouldn't have even gone and stayed there!"

"Yes, but look at what it resulted in! The war was over in a few days."

"So? It left me alone, wasting my life away thinking you were dead! Where were you once Voldemort was defeated?"

"I was still on the run. There were still Death eaters searching for me for revenge, and I still wasn't safe. So I hid and was almost intercepted several times, but I escaped with my life and little else."

"Like Luna's dream," Hermione said slowly, and Draco closed his mouth and nodded.

"Three years later, I heard that all the Death eaters were captured and that the Ministry had slowly restored London a bit and it was safe enough for me to go back. And immediately when I did so, as tired as I was, I went back to London and to the Ministry where I looked up your files and came here."

"You…you mean you just came back!?"

Draco sighed and nodded. Hermione felt overwhelmed again and had to kiss him. He groaned and tightened his hold on her.

When she pulled back, Draco sighed again.

"This is why I had to come back here first."

Hermione blushed and grinned at him, her first grin in a long time.

"I still think you're an idiot for going there in the first place. But I feel loved that you came here first. I still can't believe you're here right in front of me."

She put her hand in his hair, then traveled down to his face, feeling his facial features as if she were reading brail. She smiled.

"I promised you in my mind, Hermione, as long ago as that was, that I'd come back into your life, so you better believe it," Draco said with a smile of his own, and suddenly moved forward to envelope her in a tight hug.

"Am I dreaming? Will you go away when I wake up?" Hermione whispered hopelessly.

"No, Hermione. I'm here to stay with you," he said softly in her ear. She felt him kiss her neck and murmur something.

"What?" she asked, and he pulled back to look at her, his grey eyes shining with unshed tears.

"Marry me, Hermione."

Hermione's eyes widened, and she realised that, in the depths of her very soul, she had wanted him to ask this years ago. She suddenly laughed, unnerving Draco a bit, and just kissed him.

"Yes, Draco Malfoy, I will marry you!" she said between her short kisses. He chuckled and held her tight against him again.

Hermione rested her head on his shoulder, relishing the feeling of being in his arms again. She could live in his arms forever, and this time, there was nothing that could ever chase that thought away. This time, she could truly let herself love him and trust him, like he loved and trusted her. Forbidden? There was no such thing now.

Author's Note: it's done! finito! thanks everyone for reading this! it's been a pleasure to write, and i hope it was a pleasure to read too!! review and tell me what you think about this, and if this ending satifies. please review and give me your thoughts on it!!! thank you! i appreciate all reviews! -LoVeDoNtHaTe