Thanks to dancindiva9567, Don'tForgetILoveYou, Sagendorf24, kromoon23, and Numellote for adding to favorite stories or alerts! Infinite thanks to cakecimut, Divess, WickLobo, and bleh (finally got around to reading it, buddy?) for reviewing.

Following WickLobo's suggestion that they talk (and yes, that is very necessary), I have decided to EXPERIMENT. Bear with me for this chapter – I am very well aware that it may not seem like my usual writing style, seeing as it's entirely dialogue and the narrator is no longer semi-omniscient. And I lied, technically this is the last chapter of this section.

And I know I said something about needing a year from the end of the exile to the point when they'll actually be dating, but I decided that's too long so I went back and changed my previous author's notes. Besides, summer is not that great of a season to start a new relationship, in my mind anyway.

All rights to the Harry Potter series belong to JK Rowling.

- You know, Malfoy, from here, it doesn't seem like much.

- Hm?

- Harry and Ginny's wedding. It was supposed to be the wedding. The one that meant the end.

- Of the war, you mean.

- Yes. Is there ever anything else?

- …No. I suppose not. Not here.

- Not here?

- The magical world.

- Oh.

- Still odd to think that I know a world outside of this one?

- Maybe. Not really. No. I have proof in my closet.

- Proof?

- …The postcards. They're in a box.

- You kept them?

- Didn't I say I did?

- No. You told me you kept waiting for one from where I lived.

- And you told me they were pictures of Scotland.

- I did.

- Well, they're in the back of my closet.

- Why? Aren't those… public documents?

- Yes. No. That is, they would be if anyone else knew about them.

- The Wizengamot -

- They weren't in the reports.

- I thought we had to send them to you.

- You did. Yours were too short. I… wrote fake ones.

- Oh.

- …Do you mind?

- Not at all. Thank you.

- You're welcome.

- You could've just told me. I would've written longer ones so that you didn't have to bother.

- I know.

- Then…

- They were nice. The postcards. Now that I think about it.

- They weren't nice back then?

- I… I thought you said as little as possible to me for a reason. And, you know, I thought, better short than scathing. But I did worry. I did.

- About?

- Why you weren't angrier. I thought you'd… other people didn't exactly hide their feelings in the beginning. At least I knew they were being honest.

- I had nothing to be angry about.

- I… You hadn't done anything. I sent you on a five year exile. You had everything to be angry about.

- I didn't. But I'm sorry I didn't send you longer letters. You'd have seen it earlier, then.

- Seen what?

- That I'm thankful, not angry.

- Thankful?

- That it wasn't Azkaban.

- Oh.

- Don't look so disappointed, Granger. I'm thankful for a lot of things you've done.

- If you're talking about Zabini staying with you -

- That too. But I suppose… the whole thing. The whole five years. I met one of my best friends in the Muggle world.

- Right. Everett, was it?

- Yes.

- …I'm glad.

- That the great Draco Malfoy has a Muggle best friend? Or that your little social project was a success?

- I never… That name, I swear to Merlin when I find the person that called it that -

- Granger, it's fine. It was a project, so it should be called one.

- But it wasn't. I never meant it to be. I just wanted to… show you. Show you who Muggles really are.

- And you have. And you thoroughly proved to us how idiotic we were. So I can't be angry, and you shouldn't feel bad in the least. Not after what… Not when you know what my side would've done to yours had we won.

- … It's not 'we'. You wouldn't have. Pansy wouldn't have. None of you -

- Maybe not willingly. But regardless.

- …

- … I hope you know how weird you are, Granger.

- What?

- For staying here with me.

- You're not making it very hard.

- For saying you trust me.

- I said I trust the man you became. And I mean it.

- I know you do. Which is why you're weird.

- So I'm a little crazy. But if I don't believe in you, who will? I was the one who got those letters. From beginning to end. From bad to better.

- It's not that easy.

- Of course it's not. But I'm trying.

- How can you forget all those things I said to you in school?

- I haven't. They're just less important.

- But they'll be with you forever, Granger. Those words. I'll live with the knowledge that I said those words and believed them wholeheartedly back then.

- Believe me, I'd be lying if I said I didn't hate you at one point in my life. It took me a long time to get here. Just like it took you a long time to sit here, at a top of a hill overlooking a wedding between your childhood enemies, alone with me.

- But I was wrong. And you had every right to hate me.

- But they're just memories. Things you can shove into a box and leave alone. They'll be there, yes, but you're not going to lug them around everywhere.

- …

- The way I see it, there are two boxes of memories: the good ones, and the bad ones. But they're sedentary, and we move on.

- …Speaking of which, Granger, aren't you missing out on a good memory right now? They're probably looking for you.

- You're changing the subject.

- You're the one who talked about moving on.

- Fine. But who's to say I'm not making a good memory right now, as we speak?

- … Is it?

- Yes.

- …

- … It'll go right in that box next to that day I held your hand and you didn't push me away. That day in the courtroom. Or is that a bad memory for you? I suppose it could be… five years is a long time to be away.

- No. It's not bad.

- …All right, then -

- That memory kept me sane for a long time in the Muggle world.

- ...

- The fact that you stood there. That you defended me. That you hated me still, but that you didn't say anything and held my hand instead, because I probably looked scared out of my bloody mind.

- …

- It's one of the most precious memories of my life, Granger. And today… today is the best memory of my life.

- …No.

- No?

- Not yet.

And she kissed him.

Reviews are CRUCIAL for this chapter. I almost feel like they're OOC, but at the same time not.

Your reviews will determine how I deal with their relationship in the future - I have two images of Draco and Hermione in my head, both of which end well, but there are subtle differences in their speech patterns, for instance. I opted for the minimalist approach thus far but obviously that's not going to be the best for later chapters, so please! REVIEW!