Alright, this is the last chapter. After this we can all go read A Moment In Time! *chuckles*

I'm going to take you guys up to the very day that AMIT starts at, only because some people were curious as to what happened when Draco gave Astoria the divorce papers. (:

Thank you guys so much for all your kind words, enjoy, one last time.

Mid July, Rosie Age 3, HPOV

"Can I ask you something?"

I looked over at Ron, who was holding Rosie on his lap while we sat on the park bench.

We came here often because Rosie liked being outside and seeing other kids, and because it was a nice place away from everything - even if we were in the middle of muggle London.

"Sure," I said.

Instead of asking his question, though, he turned to Rosie and said, "How about you go play with James for a little bit?"

Rosie nodded and wiggled off his lap, walking over to the slide where Ginny stood, one year old baby Albus on her hip, watching James on the slide.

She smiled when Rose joined her, and glanced over at the two of us before turning her attention back to the children.

Harry and Ginny had Albus last May, and Ginny was pregnant again, this time with a girl they'd decided to name Lily.

They were really busy.

"It's about the father." said Ron, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I looked over at him, and he looked slightly uncomfortable. Well that made two of us.

"What about him?"

"Well...have you ever thought about telling him? I mean I know you said he wasn't important or anything, but I know you, Mione. You wouldn't want this."

I sighed, "Of course I don't want this, Ron. It sucks to be a single mom - but it's amazing being a mom. I love that little girl with all my heart and neither I nor she needs him."

"But how do you know what he'd think?"

"Because I know him." I said, the words out before I could register what I was saying.

It was true though. I probably knew Draco better than most people, so I was exactly sure of what kind of child he was. He wasn't ready for adult responsibilities.

He hadn't chosen me three years ago, he surely didn't deserve the choice now.

The first two years had been really hard. Even though I'd told Astoria that I wouldn't tell Draco, I couldn't help but want to know what his reaction really would have been. I mean I could say that he would or wouldn't do something, but when it came to Draco my judgement was clearly a little foggy.

Ron had been around a lot, which I was extremely grateful for, because I doubted I could've done this without him.

Molly and Arthur had helped out a lot too, always babysitting when I had to work and Ginny couldn't watch Rose for me.

Merlin, and work had been more than understanding. Kyle had given me an extra month off to just be with Rosie - which I was extremely thankful for.

I was even more thankful for the fact that he kept my pregnancy to himself. The last thing I needed was the whole wizarding world knowing I'd had a daughter - because it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that I didn't have a boyfriend - let alone a husband. And Draco was smart. He'd be able to piece together that either I'd cheated during our...thing or he was the father.

And I couldn't risk that.

So Kyle had kept that fact to himself, so long as I brought him updates on how she was doing - which I did often.

He loved seeing pictures of her -

And my Merlin had she grown.

Her platinum blonde hair had grown to her shoulders in little curls that looked exactly like mine - after that horrendous time between birth and Fourth Year - her eyes were that piercing gray I knew all too well, and the freckles that spattered that regal nose were mine.

She really was an adorable little girl, and the fact that I was able to give her a normal life here in London was amazing. She knew about magic, of course, and she knew that I was a witch and that she was too, but at three years old I figured that was all she needed to know at this point.

"People change, Mione. It's been three years." he said softly, bringing me out of my reminiscing.

"True as that may be for some people, it's not true for him. He'll stay exactly how he is."

He seemed to realize he wasn't going to convince me of anything and dropped the conversation, instead opting to talk about this new assignment he'd gotten with Harry.

They'd both been accepted in the Auror program and climbed the ranks pretty quickly - unsurprisingly war heros were kind of a hot commodity. Especially two of the Golden Trio. Heaven forbid they not be promoted immediately.

The conversation flowed easily, as it most always did, and the awkwardness of earliers conversation was quickly forgotten.

An hour later Rosie and I were headed home. I had finally decided what I was going to do with a rather important piece of jewelry.

When I pushed open the door to our flat she ran in ahead of me, flinging herself down on the couch and saying, "Pwesent, pwesent, pwesent!"

I chuckled, "Yes, present. I'm getting it now."

I walked back into my room and over to the jewelry box that I hardly ever opened.

I took a deep breath and lifted the lid, the shimmering emerald drawing my eye immediately.

I picked it up, thinking back to the time he'd given this to me. Three years ago for a rather interesting Christmas.

I couldn't help but wonder if he still had the watch I'd given him.

Probably not.

With a resounding click I shut the box and headed back out into the living room.

She was practically bouncing off the couch with excitement, and when she saw what I was holding her eyes widened.

"Pwetty! For me?"

I smiled and sat down next to her, "Someone gave this to me a while ago, and I think that they would have wanted you to have it. Do you want mummy to put it on for you?"

She nodded, her eyes wide.

I charmed the necklace so the chain was shorter to fit her better, and then closed the clasp.

Somehow giving her the necklace felt right. Like even though Draco couldn't physically be here, he was still with her - in a way at least.

It was the best I could do.

I stood up, pulling her with me, and asked, "What do you want for dinner?"

"Pancakes!"

I chuckled, "Alright, but only because I love you."

I wuv you too!" she said, clapping her hands and jumping around the kitchen.

My life wasn't perfect, but it was amazing nonetheless.

August, same year, DPOV

Anniversaries were an interesting occasion in this house.

Today symbolized the fact that I only had two years left in this arranged marriage.

Though excited as I might be at the prospect of divorcing Astoria, our relationship had gotten better - well better than it was for those first eight months.

Though she still shagged other men, she didn't do it around here anymore, which was something to count my lucky stars for.

We were civil, sometimes we even joked around, and I found that she wasn't as horrible as she'd first been. She could hold a conversation, and on rare occasions she even managed to get me to forget about Hermione, if only for a few minutes.

That first lunch had been awkward. We'd discussed all the necessary things that needed to be said in order for us to move forward.

The fact that I didn't love her - and wouldn't - and the fact that she would continue her business with other men, but not how she had been doing it.

As painless as that may seem, it took us forever to get to that exact point.

Now that we had, though, things weren't as horrible as I thought they'd be. They still sucked, because she wasn't Hermione, but still.

I'd take what I could get.

"Have you seen my earrings?"

I glanced up from the mirror I'd been staring at and shrugged, "I have no idea where you keep your jewelry."

She sighed and adjusted the straps on the black cocktail dress she was wearing for dinner.

We did things like this often - went out to appease the people. Holidays were spent in front of the camera, showing off how happy we were, anniversaries were spent at extravagant places, feigning love over some expensive foreign dish - anything and everything to convince people we were happy.

And apparently it'd been working for the past three years.

We were young, or so the papers kept reminding us, and it was amazing that two twenty one year olds could maintain such a healthy relationship.

The thought alone made me laugh. There was nothing healthy about this relationship, and we definitely acted our age.

Drinking, going out, partying, sleeping around - however we could occupy the time best.

I'd slept with five girls in the past three years, and all of them had been when I was drunk off my arse.

I wouldn't have done it, but the fucking dreams I was having made it bloody impossible not to want to screw some witch - any witch - just to get the images of Hermione writhing underneath me in -

Fuck.

I took a breath and focused on my reflection again, straightening my tie for the hundredth time.

"Alright, I'm ready."

I grabbed my coat and then took her arm, apparating to the restaurant in the middle of Hogsmeade.

As we'd expected, photographers were there already. We'd tipped them off to the location earlier, so we were prepared for the barrage of pictures and flash bulbs that went off.

My arm was securely around her waist, and she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my cheek - which of course caused more camera flashes - before we walked into the restaurant.

This was my life.

It wasn't that it was completely horrendous, but I didn't exactly favor my time with Astoria in all these lavish places - though I did love lavish places - I would have rather been there with a different witch.

"Could you, for one damn night not look at me like you wish I was her?" she asked over the rim of her wine glass, glaring at me.

I sighed. We didn't usually fight about my "mystery woman", but the closer we got to our five years being up, the more she'd bring it up.

Which I didn't exactly appreciate, because being reminded of Hermione wasn't exactly a painless experience.

"No," I said simply, picking at the food on my plate.

"Why not?" she snapped

"Because there isn't a night that I don't wish you were her." I said softly, staring over her shoulder at the reporters in the window.

I looked over at her when I realized she hadn't responded, and her eyes looked glassy.

Was she crying?

Why?

"Astoria,"

She looked at me and blinked a few times before she responded, "I just...I wish...I wish things were different."

I raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

She let out a sigh and said, "I wish you were willing to try this with me - for real - not this fake bullshit we're doing."

I shook my head, "I told you I can't. We talked about this."

Extensively.

We'd gone over this countless times. I'd told her that just because we were being civil didn't mean I wanted anything further with her. She'd continued shagging her men and I thought the issue had been resolved.

But apparently not, because for fucks sake, the bint looked hurt for some ridiculous reason.

"I thought if I gave you time -"

"Astoria, please stop." I said, too tired to fight with her in this restaurant on our fucking anniversary that didn't mean a fucking thing to either one of us.

"No, I thought that you would realize that I cared about -"

"Because you fucking everything that moved really gave me that impression -" I stopped myself and took a deep breath. None of that really mattered. "Astoria, I don't love you. I can't love you. I made that perfectly clear."

She didn't say anything, just sipped on her wine some more.

We ate in silence for the rest of the meal, and when we left she barely managed to convincingly cling to my arm - unbeknownst to the photographers, she was digging her nails into my arm hard enough to draw blood, and as soon as we apparated back to the house I pushed her away from me.

"Are you fucking insane?" I snapped, rubbing the spot where four crescent shaped marks marred my skin.

"I hate you, you know that?"

I snorted, "I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I gave a fuck."

She glared at me, and if looks could kill I would've been dead, but since they couldn't she simply said, "I'm glad your little mystery girl is avoiding you. You deserve it, you arrogant bastard."

I sat down on the couch, ignoring her retreating form, and called a bottle of Fire Whiskey to myself.

Arrogant bastard? That was the best she could come up with?

Ha. I'd heard far worse from Hermione, on more than one occasion.

I couldn't be forced to care, at that point, and I hoped that I drank myself into oblivion. I hoped I would drink myself stupid enough to dream of Hermione and actually believe that everything was okay again.

Halloween, Rosie age 4, HPOV

"Well aren't you just a pretty little princess!"

Rosie clapped her hands and beamed up at Ron, who had stopped by to walk with us.

We were meeting Harry, Ginny, James, Albus, and baby Lily at a coffee shop down the street to go trick-or-treating.

"Mummy magic-ed it for me!"

Ron chuckled and lifted her up while I grabbed her coat, and mine, and we headed outside.

"Well you look great."

She kissed his cheek and said, "Thank you Uncle Ron."

As soon as she saw James she wiggled out of Ron's arms and ran towards him, the two of them discussing candy and other things four years olds talked about.

"Well don't you just look adorable." I said, giving little Lily a kiss.

She smiled and grabbed my hair, before Harry detangled her hand with an apologetic smile.

"What is it with babies and your hair, Mione?"

I rolled my eyes at Harry and said "Who knows?"

"Come on, let's get a picture!" said Ginny.

Ever since Lily had been born she'd been taking pictures of everything. She said she didn't want to miss a thing.

Not that I could blame her. I did the same thing with Rosie.

We still took pictures, but not as many. The scrapbook was already filled to the brim.

Rosie and I had looked at some of her baby pictures and she'd clapped and cooed at herself - in a typical Draco fashion - and it had made me laugh.

Not cry, laugh. I was finally starting to put my life back together, and I'd even been out on a few dates - none of them were all that interesting, but I had fun and that's all that mattered.

That's not to say that I still didn't cry on certain occasions. On certain nights when my bed was so unbearably empty and I could hardly force myself to breathe through the sudden onslaught of pain. On certain nights where Rose would do something so Draco and it killed a little part of me. On certain nights when being alone was just too much to deal with.

I thought I would lose it when Rose asked me who her daddy was. The conversation had come up because Angela and George had two children and their eldest, Fred, had asked her who her father was.

I'd known the day would come, but I had hoped it would've been a little later.

"Mummy, why does Fred and Roxanne and Lily and James and Albus have daddies, but I don't?"

I sighed, running a hand through my hair, trying to think of a four year old friendly way to say this.

"Well," I said, shifting her onto my lap, "Your mummy and daddy had a complicated relationship back in school."

"Complicated?"

I nodded, "Things just didn't work out, but...but I know he'd love you very much if he were here."

I didn't know if that was true, but the way her face lit up let me know that my lie had been worth it.

"Do you think you and daddy will ever fix it?"

My eyes widened for a moment before I composed myself, "No, sweetheart, I don't think we will. But you've got lots of people who -"

"But they're not my daddy!" she pouted.

I sighed, "But they love you, and they would do anything for you, just like daddies do."

She seemed to switch gears out of nowhere, and asked, "So is this daddy's hair?"

I nodded.

"And daddy's eyes?"

I nodded again.

She snuggled closer to me and I thought that I should have been crying at the mere thought of Rosie missing her father's presence in her life - but I wasn't.

I was okay - as okay as I was these days anyway.

"Does daddy hate me?"

"What? No! Of course not. Don't ever think that." I said, shifting her so I could look down at her.

"But he's never here. James sees Harry every day."

"If there was any possible way he could be here, he would be." I said, brushing her curls out of her face and casting a silent calming charm.

I didn't know how I was supposed to explain this to her. It was literally impossible at her age.

So I didn't. Instead we just sat on the couch until she fell asleep.

Seeing Astoria and Draco in the papers was quite the regular thing, and they always looked bright and beaming on positively gleeful every single bloody time.

I didn't see much of them anymore, because I avoided Hogsmeade like the plague, and the only time I set foot in the wizarding word was to go to work, so I didn't read The Daily Prophet as often - which was probably better for my sanity anyway.

Even though certain things were getting easier, other things weren't, and I guess that was just something I was going to have to work on.

Seems like I had the rest of my life to figure it out, though.

End of December, DPOV

I ran my hand over her sides, relishing the way she looked above me, before pulling her lips back to mine.

She groaned into my mouth and the sound went straight south.

I ran my hands up and down her back as she moved her hips over me, the only thing separating us was our underwear - my green silk boxers, her red lace thong.

I slid one hand up to tease her nipples and the other down to her soaked panties, lightly stroking her clit through the fabric.

"Oh Merlin, Draco." she moaned, her teeth nipping at my neck.

I pushed her back so that I was hovering over her and slowly slid her panties down her legs before tossing them behind me and moving between her legs.

She was positively dripping.

I slowly lapped at her folds, and she moaned above me, her hands tangling into my hair and tugging.

I turned my attention to her clit, sucking it into my mouth and sliding a finger into her tight pussy, and before I knew it she was coming undone.

I crawled back up her body, placing light kisses along her skin, before capturing her lips in a kiss.

She wrapped her legs around my waist and I didn't need her to tell me what she wanted, I already knew.

I slowly slid into her, relishing in the feel of being surrounded by her heat, before I started moving, keeping the same slow pace.

In the back of my mind I knew this wasn't real, but I wasn't willing to acknowledge that yet.

I focused, instead, on her breathy moans in my ear, and her nails on my back.

"Oh Merlin, Draco. Don't stop, don't ever stop."

I groaned and began pumping in and out of her faster.

"Draco, I'm about to -"

"Well fuck me." I groaned, kicking the covers off myself as I contemplated if it was worth it or not to go take a cold shower.

After a few minutes of trying to fall asleep with the worst hard on I'd had in a while, I shoved myself out of bed and walked into the bathroom.

Fuck me.

Hermione Granger was still in my head.

Not that I expected her to leave anytime soon.

Last Day Of July, Year Five, DPOV

I was fucking ecstatic.

Tomorrow would end the five year marriage contract, and now, at age twenty-four, I was more than fucking ready to live my life.

Blaise had just gotten back from another trip, so we were at a pub celebrating my almost-freedom.

"So have you told Lucius?"

"Are you mental? Of course not." I said, taking a long chug from my Fire Whiskey.

Blaise chuckled and said, "That's probably for the best."

I nodded, scanning the Three Broomsticks for the rare chance that Hermione would be here - she wasn't, of course.

"So what are you going to do?" he asked after a few minutes.

I shrugged. I hadn't exactly thought of that.

Astoria and I hadn't been speaking for the past month, so I'd moved back into the Manor, at least for now, but I was sure to get kicked out when he realized what I'd done.

My mother normally would've been the one to calm him, but since she still wasn't back from her five year vacation I would just have to deal with my father on my own.

I wasn't worried, though, because I owed him absolutely nothing anymore. I wondered if I'd ever owed him anything in the first place.

Five years had given me a lot to think back and reflect on, and I could see a thousand things I should have done differently - a thousand opportunities to make things right.

I had been an idiot back then - an idiot for marrying Astoria and an even bigger idiot for staying married to her when I so obviously loved Hermione.

Five fucking years and that hadn't changed. I loved her. Still.

I didn't think that'd ever change.

"I'm not sure yet." I said, finally answering his question.

He chuckled, "Going to go pay your mystery girl a visit?"

"I hope so." I said quietly.

Luckily he didn't comment on it. Whether he didn't hear it or he just knew me well enough to know I didn't want to talk about it - I didn't know, but it didn't matter.

"So how do you think Astoria's going to react?"

I laughed, "She's not speaking to me right now, so I'm not exactly sure how me showing up with divorce papers is going to go."

Blaise chuckled and said, "Well I'm glad you're about to be a free man again."

"Me too, mate. Me. Fucking. Too."

~OoOoOoOoOoOoO~

"Sign these."

I dropped the divorce papers in front of her, tossing a pen on top for good measure.

She had been sitting at the kitchen table when I'd apparated in, and she'd proceeded to ignore me studiously.

"Astoria, sign the fucking papers."

She shrugged, picked up the pen, signed her name seven times, and slid the stack over to me.

"Is that all?" she asked, her voice devoid of any real emotion - which didn't surprise me in the least.

For all her talk, Astoria didn't really give a damn either way - and for that I was thankful. I didn't want to have to fight her over the damn divorce.

"You didn't read it."

"Why would I? They're divorce papers right?" she asked, staring up at me, a bored expression on her face.

"I left you the house, and everything in it." I said, picking up the papers and heading for the door.

"Why?" she called, still seated at the table.

"I don't want the reminder." I said simply, before stepping outside to bring the papers to my lawyer so he could have everything finalized and I would officially be a single man again in less than three hours.

~OoOoOoOoOoOoO~

After I'd gotten the papers finalized, and was officially single, I made my way to the Manor. I had one last thing to do before I could fix this giant fucking mess I'd created.

I wasn't worried about facing my father. I was pretty sure I knew everything he would say, and I honestly couldn't care less what he thought.

The only thought in my head was Hermione, and how the fuck I was going to fix this.

Hell, I didn't even know where she lived - except that it wasn't in the wizarding world.

Which didn't narrow down my options too much.

Though I knew she had to be close since Potter and Weasley were Aurors and she worked at Buxom and Brant.

I ran a hand through my hair, a hundred scenarios about what could happen running through my head.

I just wanted her back, and no matter what I had to do, where I had to go - I didn't care.

This apology was five years too late, but I hoped - by Salazar I hoped - that she'd somehow be able to forgive me for what a fucking idiot I'd been.

I was different now. I'd grown up. I'd had five years to let myself wallow in self pity - and I was done. It was no ones fault but my own that I was in this mess, so it'd be up to me to fix it.

And I would. I had to.

Because I loved her, and I hoped that she still loved me too.

I just wanted to take the time to thank all you wonderful people who favorited, reviewed, followed, and enjoyed this story. It was a lot harder to write than I first thought it would be, but I'm glad so many of you stuck by me and encouraged me to keep writing.

Endings always kinda suck, this one more so than others because it's not a happy ending - yet. But still, I'm happy with how this turned out, and I hope you all are too.

Until next time,

Lucinda