Peaceful

Rated M: language, fluff

"Hermione where in the bloody hell are you woman?" Draco muttered to himself.

She was never late, especially for their weekly dinner, but here he was standing outside the restaurant in the bloody cold waiting on her. "She stood you up mate?" the valet said from his little booth.

"Not likely," Draco snorted. "Somethings wrong. She would have called."

"Have you called her?"

Draco snorted again. "I'm a bloody idiot."

He grabbed his mobile from his coat pocket and hit her number. The phone rang twice before she answered. "Where in the blood hell are you Draco? You're twenty minutes late!"

"I'm standing in the cold in front of the fucking restaurant Granger. Where in the bloody hell are you?"

"Think Draco. Where were we meeting tonight?"

Draco opened his mouth to retort but snapped it quickly shut. "Fuck, I'll be there in ten minutes."

Hermione giggled into the phone. "Want me to bring the car around Mr. Malfoy?" The valet asked.

"Heard that did you?"

"Not a word."

"Bring the bloody car around Andrew."

A heft tip later Draco was parking in front of Hermione's flat and sprinting up the stairs. She met him at the door dressed in a grey sweater dress and black tights. "You forgot!"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I forgot. I'm sorry. Work has been nuts and… I forgot, but not that we were meeting. I just forgot where the meeting was taking place. Forgive me?"

Hermione shook her head and pulled him into her flat. Kissing him chastely on the cheek she grinned. "You're forgiven. Now come on, we have a tree to decorate."

A little over an hour later Draco was kicked back on Hermione's couch with a cup of egg nog. Hermione was settled in next to him sipping her own glass and watching the lights of the Christmas tree twinkle in front of them. "This is so peaceful," she murmured. "I'm glad we opted to do this instead of going out to dinner."

Draco draped an arm over her shoulders. "That's me as well," he said nuzzling her hair with his nose. "But you remember why we stopped meeting at each other's flats, don't you?"

Hermione snuggled into him. "Because we always ended up in bed. You don't think we can control ourselves this evening Draco?"

Draco sighed. "Considering that I want nothing more than to strip you bare and have my way with you right now, no I don't think I can control myself."

He removed his arm from her shoulders and stood up quickly from the couch. "I need to go."

"Draco?"

He glanced at her. "Hermione. I can't do this. I can't be here with you and pretend like I don't want more."

"Draco, we agree…"

"Fuck what we agreed!" he yelled. "We sit here and pretend like we don't feel something for each other because we don't think being together is right. Because of what our friends and family will think! Well fuck it Hermione I can't do this anymore!"

Hermione was tearing up and her voice cracked when she spoke. "Draco don't do this," she whispered. "We have been making this work. For months now we have been making this work. Please don't walk away."

"Have we been making it work? I'm miserable and I want more. I want you, Hermione. I want to be with you, to marry you, to have a family with you! I want more than just a chaste kiss on the cheek and my fantasies about what our future could be! Can you tell me you feel any different?"

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. "Draco… I… I want to make everyone happy. You and I together make everyone… miserable."

Draco shook his head. "That's why I can't do this anymore Hermione. It's not about us being happy. It's bloody well about everyone else."

He put his hands on his hips and stared at her. "I am in love with you Hermione Granger. I have been in love with you since the day I met you and it has taken ten years for me to be honest with myself. Those times that I made love to you, that's what it was making love. Not fucking around, not fornicating, but making love and if you could see past worrying about what everyone thinks we could have so much more than… this shell of a relationship."

Hermione was freely crying now, but she hadn't moved from her spot near the couch. "I'm pouring my bleeding heart out here woman! Don't you have anything to say?"

She stood there, unable to speak and watched him with tear filled eyes. "Fuck it," he muttered and grabbed his jacket before storming out of her flat and out of her life.

Hermione stood fixed next to her sofa and openly sobbed. She didn't notice the red headed woman slip silently into the flat and jumped when she spoke. "You are such a bitch sometimes," the red head muttered. "He loves you Hermione. Why are you so concerned about what others think?"

"It's not just 'others' Ginny. It's Harry, Ron, Neville, Luna… you! You guys are my family! What about my parents? What would they think if I suddenly married some billionaire playboy? Draco doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to women. I mean look at us now, we've been in this pseudo-relationship for years and when he isn't with me he's with some model or actress. That's who he is supposed to be with, not plain Hermione Granger."

"Will you get over yourself?" Ginny shouted at her. "The man loves you and you love him! You loved him before you knew anything about him and you love him for the person he is, not for what he can do for you or for how much money he has… bloody hell Hermione wake up!"

"How do you know Ginny? How do you know that I'm not just using him?"

Ginny chuckled. "Using him Hermione? Really? I'm not Harry or Ron or Neville. I see through your masquerade. Don't be an idiot. Go to him and beg him to forgive you for being such an ignorant twat."

Ginny left the flat and slammed the door behind her. Hermione stood rooted to her spot for another minute staring around her tiny flat. Every photo was of her and Draco from various events, but her favorites were of them just chilled out at the beach or skiing. She did love him. She knew she did, but she had never been able to admit it to herself for fear of being rejected. "Hermione you idiot, what the hell are you doing still standing here?"

She grabbed her keys, phone and jacket and sprinted down the steps. She stopped short when she saw him leaning against the trunk of his car with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. She walked slowly to him. "Draco," she said leaning next to him against the trunk. "I'm an idiot."

"Tell me something I don't know Hermione."

"Alright," she took a deep breath. "Do you remember when we were five and I met you at that park with your nanny? I couldn't understand why your mum was so much older than mine, but you explained that you had two mums, one that had you and one that took care of you and I just took it as truth. We pretended to get married that day and played house in the castle. You told me I would always be Mrs. Malfoy and that one day we would get married for real."

He snorted. "I didn't know what a Malfoy was, but I liked you and wanted to play with you every day."

He snorted again. "The first time I realized what being a Malfoy meant was your 12th birthday. I showed up at your party in a church dress with my stupid little homemade framed photo of us from the park and I felt so out of place. All the other girls were dressed in cocktail dresses and you were in a suit and tie. Your mum frowned at me and told my mother I was supposed to be in semi-formal attire. I cried because I thought I was going to have to leave, but you grabbed my hand and pulled me into the ball room with the other kids and told your mother to shove off."

"I thought she was going to kill me," he said with a chuckle. "But she realized that day that I was serious about you."

She smiled at him and nudged him with her elbow. "Then you invited me to be your date to the governor's ball when we were sixteen and your mother was so distraught that I wouldn't be dressed appropriately. My parents couldn't afford to purchase a dress and all the things that went with it so you and Pansy Parkinson took me out and turned me into a princess for the evening. Your mother was shocked, but I remember your father laughing and telling her that the ugly duckling had become a swan."

"You were beautiful that night, but I've always thought you were beautiful Hermione in whatever state of dress."

"I've always thought that I wasn't good enough to be your friend let alone anything more than that Draco."

"I've never made you feel that way."

"No, you haven't. You've always made me feel loved and cherished and I am an idiot for letting others get in the way of those feelings."

Hermione watched him for a moment before she made a rash decision. She stood in front of him and got down on one knee on the cold ground. "Hermione, get up. What in the bloody hell do you think you are doing?"

"Draco Abraxas Malfoy…"

"Get up Hermione," he said menacingly.

"Hush, you are interrupting me. Now, Draco Abraxas Malfoy, I have loved you since our first wedding when we were five. Would you do me the honor now of spending the rest of your life with me? Technically we're already married, but we just need to make it official."

He grinned at her and pulled her up from the ground. "Do you mean it Hermione? Do you really mean it?"

She teared up at the uncertainty in his voice. "I want to marry you Draco. I want to have your children. I want a happily ever after with you and only you. It's only ever been you," she whispered.

"Only?"

"Only."

He smirked. "Would you believe me if I told you it had only ever been you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't lie Draco."

"I'm not," he said wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "It's only ever been you."

She eyed him cautiously. "But you've always seemed so sure of yourself. You've always been… capable."

He smirked. "You can learn a lot from the internet love."

She kissed him then. It started off soft and gentle and slowly built into a raging heat that had them both panting when they pulled away. "What will your mother say?" Hermione whispered against his neck.

"About bloody time," he murmured.

"What?"

He fiddled with his jacket pocket for a minute before pulling out a small black box. He flipped the lid open to reveal a diamond and sapphire ring. "I bought this years ago and have carried it with me every day waiting for the perfect opportunity to ask you to marry me Hermione."

"What?"

"I asked your parents for their blessing a decade ago and my mother helped me pick out the ring. Everyone knew except you. It's crazy, I know, but I had to let you come around to how you felt on your own. I just didn't realize it was going to take this long. I thought for sure the first time we made love that would be the perfect opportunity, but I woke up the next morning and you were gone."

"I was terrified," she admitted. "I was so worried that I had ruined what we had with my feelings and then it happened again and again and I knew it had to stop before I couldn't turn back. I couldn't live without you, but I didn't think I could live with you either."

"We need to have better communication love. We can't go through marriage like this at all."

"Agreed," she said kissing him again.

This time Draco knelt on the cold ground in front of her. "Marry me Hermione?"

"Always," she said extending her left hand to him.

"Now it's bloody cold out here. Let's go upstairs and warm up."

"I've the perfect way," she said taking his hand.

Ginny Potter stood in the doorway of her flat and grinned as the love birds made their way down the hall. "What is that I see on your left hand there Hermione? It's about bloody time."

"Shut it Ginny," Hermione said hugging the woman's neck.

"Thanks for the advice red," Draco said hugging her as well.

Hermione's mouth dropped open. "You gave him advice?"

"I told him to walk out on you and see what happened. It worked didn't it."

"I hate you Ginny."

"Feelings mutual Hermione. Now go make a baby, but don't be too loud about it, I just now got James back to sleep after your earlier shouting match."

Hermione blushed and Draco winked at Ginny. "I'll do my best to make a baby," Draco said with a smirk. "No promises though, it might take a little more practice."

~FIN~