AN: So... not very long, but meaningful. This was a struggle to write, and then I got into it and managed. I'm sorry to tell you that things are beginning to draw to a close. We're still going, but I'm not going to force out this story longer than I can. It'll be great for me to finish it before school starts for me. I've got a plan for four chapters, but I'll see if there's any more beyond those.

I have a new goal: try not to get irritated at people.

My family is very irritating. I'm failing miserably. But I'm trying, so I guess that's something? My friend texted me this last night: "If you rearrange the letters in 'depression' you get 'I pressed on'. Don't give up." It made me smile, truly smile. I screenshotted it. For any of you guys struggling out there, even if it isn't depression or a mental illness and it's just life weighing down on you, don't give up.

Please check out my new story, Living to Die. Only two chapters so far, but I really feel it.

U_U

~~AlicornEagle11

(I know I forgot that in Deluxe Hot Chocolate and Upsetting Acquaintances, here to make up for it.)

Disclaimer: I'm getting tired of these Disclaimers. I'm not J.K. Rowling, and I'm going to stop wasting my time on these Disclaimers after this chapter. If you can't tell I've put disclaimers, check the previous however-many-chapters-I've-written chapters.

My dearest Draco,

It has been far too long since I last heard from you. How has school been, Darling? Have you found a girl? It is a mother's greatest dream to have her son married to a lovely woman, after all. Please come home for the Easter holidays. Your father and I are both feeling dreadful, having not seen your face since before the school year. And I would love to hear all about the girl I know you've found. Call it a mother's intuition.

Lovely wishes,

Mother

— || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || —

Mother,

School has been fine. Classes are boring. Yes, I've found a girl, but I doubt you and Father would approve of her. But she advised me to choose my own path, and I believe that that is very good advice. I do not know if I will visit for the holidays. You know me and Father do not get along well enough for it to be peaceful. I don't want to put you in that position.

Draco

— || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || —

Draco,

Your mother has informed me of two things that you neglected to tell me yourself. Apparently you are not coming to the Manor for the Easter holidays. You cannot avoid your family and your duty forever. You will be coming home.

Second, she told me you are courting a girl. Who is this girl? I would certainly like to know. And perhaps bring her along when you come back. I would like to know my future daughter-in-law.

Your father

Lucius Malfoy

— || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || —

Valentine's Day. Also known as the Day of Hell.

Hermione grimaced as she walked into the Great Hall. It was completely smothered in red and pink ribbons and hearts floating everywhere. It was absolutely disgusting.

She sat down in between Draco and Pansy, across from Daphne and Theo. Even the food was red and pink and it made her sick.

"I can't do this all day," she muttered to Draco. "Please tell me we'll be able to escape this.

"Oh, no, I'm going to make both of us suffer this stupid day meant for people who can only be romantic one day of the year," he replied sarcastically. She rolled her eyes in response.

Since it was a Saturday, there were no classes, and she was thankful for it. Both of them had agreed that they weren't romantics and going overboard for Valentine's Day was pointless and a general waste of time.

But Hermione had no idea what to do with her day. Daphne and Theo had already decided they were celebrating the holiday, and Pansy and Blaise would tease her mercilessly. Draco had told her yesterday that he had things to do, which left her up to her favorite hobby: wandering.

There was no spectacular reveal of a hidden, unknown room as there was the last time. She walked through the eight floors, and with how large Hogwarts was, it took a few hours. And perhaps that was assisted by her slow pace and her absolute refusal to focus on anything. She ended up rewalking the same corridor or going in circles several times until she realized.

It was only lunchtime once she made it back down to the Great Hall. Oh, how she longed for this day to be over already.

As she ate lunch, Pansy and Blaise both kept giving her knowing smiles that made her frown internally. Of course, she was smart enough to not actually frown, because it would merely make them more smug than they already were. She didn't need them more smug than they already were.

After lunch, she decided to head to the lake. It was always calmer, more peaceful there. The inky darkness of it was soothing, somehow. She spent the rest of the afternoon at the lake, just sitting and staring.

Her existence was pitiful.

On her way back to dinner, a white paper crane flew toward her. She read the elegant cursive before smiling to herself and changing the course of her path.

Meet me in the Room of Requirement.

She headed up the staircases to the seventh floor. She trusted Draco, and she trusted that she wouldn't have a mental breakdown this time. She wondered what he had planned.

She walked three times past the wall until the door appeared. She was not prepared for what was behind the door.

It was a serene beach. As it was February, it was sunset, and the colors were beautiful, especially over the peaceful blue waters. On the white sand was a rectangular cherry dining table with two chairs on either end. Silver plates and crystal champagne flutes lay on the spaces in front of the chairs. Draco stood behind the one on the far end.

"Draco… what's this? I thought we weren't doing anything special for Valentine's Day."

"Originally I wasn't going to, but I figured, why not?"

"Of course you did."

He shot her a grin and she found herself smiling back as he pulled out her chair for her.

"So, we're having dinner."

"Draco, we're having dinner… on a beach… at sunset."

"So?"

She just shook her head fondly at him and sat down. He joined her on the other end of the table and snapped his hands. Penne al Forno appeared on their plates, and champagne in the flutes. She gaped at him.

"H-how?"

"I have an inside man… er...elf. Don't kill me?"

She rolled her eyes at him and picked up her fork, beginning to eat. She couldn't get mad at Draco anymore. Somehow she was physically incapable of that. It was an unusual feeling.

They chatted idly, joking around and Hermione found herself smiling far more than she was used to. That thought made her smile some more. Happiness was rare and just a passing glimpse if it was there at all before she had really gotten to know Draco. Now, she was smiling so much.

When their plates were clean and their glasses empty, they sat on the sand, dipping their feet in the water. Draco put an arm around her shoulders and she leaned her head against his chest. He conjured a glittery gold rose and tucked it behind her ear, making her smile against him.

"I'm sorry."

She looked up at him, tilting her head.

"What are you sorry for?"

He ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes. It was the most vulnerable she had ever seen him before. Even after all their nights in the Astronomy Tower, their date in Hogsmeade, and their morning chats.

"I'm sorry for — for everything. Fuck it — I'm sorry for the way I treated you before everything all went straight to a pit in hell, for that — that word I would call you, for not doing more —"

She kissed him.

She didn't know what prompted her, and it wasn't much more than their lips touching and lingering for a moment. But when she pulled away, she pulled up her sleeve, where her mudblood scar was.

"You were just a child, Draco. I was too. We all were. I don't blame you for any of that. There's a reason I rarely spoke out against you, unlike Harry and Ron. As much pain you dealt, you had to deal with tenfold. Don't apologize for surviving. And that word? I've embraced it. It doesn't have to be an everlasting scar. It's part of a beautiful picture that will always be with me, because I want it to. Don't you dare apologize for things you had no control over."

"But —"

"No buts. I don't blame you for any of it. I forgive you for everything you didn't have a choice for. But you don't need my forgiveness, Draco." She looked him dead in the eye. "You need to forgive yourself."

"If I forgive myself, will you do the same?"

She hesitated.

"I've seen it. The way you avoided Luna, the way you blame yourself for everything. I know that look, because I see it in the mirror every single day. I can try to forgive myself, but then I want you to do the same. Because you aren't to blame for anything, either. It's not your fault that you can't control so much. What you could control… it's nothing you need to blame yourself for. So forgive yourself."

"I — I can try."

"We can try together."

She kissed him again, and this time she didn't pull away. He pressed her closer, and she forgot everything else. Everything but him. Draco.

"Happy yad s'enitnelav, Hermione."