A/N - Before we begin, let me just clarify for those of you who don't already know: This will be the last chapter. As in THE END. Just so you are prepared. ;)

Oh and happy fifteenth birthday to Isadora120...I hope you enjoy your present, from me to you! To everyone else (who are all equally important) this chappie is a bit longer, so I hope you all like that. Sorry that my review replies weren't as long and flowery as they usually are, but I was trying to reply to them all before I updated and I wanted to get this chapter to you! I hope I'm forgiven.

And now, I must give credit where credit is due! BIG GINORMOUS THANK YOU to Pharrah for helping me with this chappie! The plan was all her idea and I must credit her duly. Brilliant idea, my dear. Bloody brilliant.

On with the show!

Hermione went to work that morning feeling decidedly apprehensive about a meeting she was holding before lunch. It was a meeting dealing with the first bill she had written; she was to defend it to the other members of her department, including Newt, and she was nervous as it was her baby. She knew Newt would back her on this, but it was putting it past the others she was worried about.

She settled in her office chair and stacked a bunch of papers, then arranged all her spare quills in the mug on her desk that said "U-No-Poo, the constipation sensation that's sweeping the nation" (a gift from the Weasley twins her last birthday); then she shot up from the chair as quickly as she'd sat down, and had begun pacing her office in a state of agitation when there was a knock on her door.

"Yes, yes, come in," she called hastily, and a harassed-looking young wizard came bumbling in, carrying a tall stack of parchment and parcels, just barely able to balance them all.

"'Ere you are, Miss," he mumbled as he levitated the top parcel onto her desk. Then he turned and left. Hermione glanced at the package warily.

"Specialis Revealio," she muttered, waving her wand over the parcel. It just sat there. Shrugging, she placed her wand on her desk and began to unwrwap the plain brown paper.

Inside was a small velvet box, and a note. Hermione unfolded the note as butterflies began to dance in her stomach. The box was Slytherin green. Could it be…

Tamping down the offensive butterflies, she opened the note.

Hermione,

I'm so sorry that it didn't work out with you and Draco, darling; I would have loved to been able to call you daughter. I hope that we can still be friends, my dear. Please accept this little token from your almost-mother-in-law.

Narcissa

Hermione felt all the air rush out of her lungs in one agonizing breath. Then she pulled herself together, picked up the velvet box, and opened it.

Inside the box was a beautiful letter opener that was an exact miniature replica of Godric Gryffindor's sword, with tiny rubies glistening in the hilt, just like the real one. Hermione picked it up and clutched it to her heart. She loved it; it was perfect. It was a bit strange that Narcissa had given her such a completely Gryffindor present, having been a Slytherin herself, but something had passed between the two women during the time they had thought Draco was dead. There was a sort of unspoken understanding, a friendship that had been forged around their moment of shared despair.

Narcissa hadn't tried to contact her before this moment, but she supposed she understood why. After all, she had walked out without even saying goodbye.

She placed the letter opener on her desk and sat down to write a thank you note to Narcissa. She had barely inked her quill when there was another knock at her office door. Hermione groaned and looked up irritably.

"Come in." The door opened and a grizzly gray head poked in.

"Miss Granger, it's time," Newt said smilingly from the door. Hermione sighed and picked up the parchment her bill was written on and stood. Newt crossed his eyes at her and then winked. Hermione felt just a bit better as she left her office for the meeting.

Draco stood in an alleyway near the Ministry of Magic, trying to gather his wits and the courage to actually Apparate there to see Hermione.

Damn it all, he was unsure of himself, and he mentally kicked himself for it. But it wasn't as if he were some bloody Gryffindor, ready to run straight into an uncertain situation where he might possibly get slapped or hexed and fail miserably at ever getting Hermione back. That kind of run-into-the-lion's-den-and-beard-it-before-it-has-a-chance-to-eat-you nonsense was something he generally left up to Potter and his goody-two-shoes crowd.

Matter of fact, it was Potter who had suggested the idea.

Everything in Draco was telling him "self-preservation above all;" and what he really wanted to do was run the opposite direction. He almost did, but then something happened inside him.

He thought about Hermione. He thought about how he loved her and that he couldn't just sit around waiting for the perfect chance and perfect situation to miraculously fall into his lap. He'd have to make his own chances. And suddenly, he felt something that he'd never really had occasion to feel before.

It began in his toes, shooting up through his entire body through his veins and out his fingertips and the top of his head. It was adrenaline. Suddenly he felt that he could have stormed a castle, taken down all the guards, and slain the proverbial fire-breathing flesh-eating dragon. He felt…brave.

And before his Slytherin nature had a chance to talk him out of it, he was Apparating to the Atrium of the Ministry. He boarded the lift and waited for it to stop on her floor. Then he stepped off and strode to her office, ignoring the little witch who was trying her hardest to stop him as he slung open the door. It was empty.

"Sir…sir!" The little witch had finally caught up with him and now had her hand on his arm. He snatched his arm away and nearly growled at her.

"Where is she?"

The petite little blonde-haired witch pulled herself up to her tallest height and despite being at least a foot shorter than Draco, contrived to look down her nose at him. "Miss Granger is busy at the moment, sir, and besides that, she does not wish to see you, Mr. Malfoy."

"Well I don't bloody well care if she told you to murder me on sight, I'm going to see her; and furthermore, I'm going to have a few words with her when I do," Draco snarled, and the little witch, to her credit, stood her ground and stared right back at him, chin held high.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Mr. Malfoy," she said defiantly, pointing to the lift. Draco growled in frustration and grabbed the girl by her upper arms, bending down so their faces were on-level.

"You will tell me where she is, or I will send you St. Mungo's," he muttered darkly. The witch seemed to break in that moment and she began to cry. Oh, hell. She pointed a shaky finger in the opposite direction, at a set of double doors Draco hadn't noticed before. He released her at once, feeling rather low, and patted her shoulder awkwardly.

He looked up. People were staring, and a few wizards who had stopped what they were doing to watch the display were now advancing on him, looking furious. Draco managed a nervous smile and he waved at them sheepishly.

"Er, sorry about that, boys," he stammered. He glanced at the double doors again, and then at the group of angry wizards. Then he bolted toward the doors.

"Oi! Stop, you!" one of the wizards shouted, and they all ran after him. Draco didn't stop as he shouted over his shoulder at them.

"I just need to see," he jumped over a desk, spilling papers and ink everywhere, "Hermione," he skidded to a stop in front of the doors and almost slipped past it, "Granger."

Then he tipped an imaginary hat at the wizards who were storming towards him and pushed the doors open with a flourish.

"Hermione, I—" but he stopped short as he saw the room in front of him filled with people, all seated around a long table with Hermione at the head. She was standing up, right in the middle of making a presentation. She raised her eyebrows at him, mouth hanging open. "I…can come back later," Draco finished lamely, just as the group of wizards caught up to him in a rush and almost knocked him over. They grabbed his arms and pulled them behind his back before he could say or do anything else.

"So sorry about all this, Miss Granger, we couldn't stop him in time," one of the men said apologetically, elbowing Draco hard in the ribs. Draco let out a grunt as his eyes watered slightly with the pain.

"Shall I take this trash out, Miss?" the wizard on his other side said sarcastically.

Hermione looked as if she did not quite know what to do. She shook her head quickly as if to clear it and closed her mouth. Then she looked directly into Draco's eyes and studied him for a moment. Draco kept his mouth shut, but pleaded with her using his eyes. Please, he tried to say.

Hermione seemed to make up her mind.

"No, that's quite all right, Luke," she said loftily, now studiously avoiding eye contact with Draco. "Take him to my office; I'll deal with him after the meeting."

Hermione couldn't have told you what went on for the rest of her meeting. She went through her planned presentation mechanically, but the words were like sawdust on her tongue and she only just managed to make it all the way through. When the meeting was adjourned, she gathered her things and ventured into the hall.

Her personal assistant, Gloria, wasn't at her desk. Hermione vaguely wondered what was wrong, and why she hadn't had Draco thrown out the minute she saw him.

Grumbling under her breath, she turned to her office. The door was open slightly, and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to steel herself for this unwanted meeting with Draco. Then she pushed the door and stepped inside.

He was sitting in the chair in front of her desk with his head in his hands. Hermione's heart skipped a beat. Another deep breath.

"May I ask what your little display back there was all about?" she asked loftily as she breezed past him to her chair. She busied herself with putting her presentation materials away, not looking up at him, but she could feel his gaze on her when he lifted his head.

"I needed to talk to you."

"Oh, what is it that you could possibly have to talk to me about? Another 'business proposition?' If that's the case, I am certainly no longer for hire," she replied icily, finally raising her eyes to look at him, her expression carefully emotionless. Draco looked rather careworn, she noted. He waited for a moment, then spoke, his voice as drained of energy and emotion as he looked.

"Are you through?"

Hermione considered him for a moment. "I am. With you."

That did it. Draco shot up from the chair, his fists clenched and his eyes suddenly full of angry fire. Hermione matched him, gripping the desk as she stood to face him. He looked as if he would very much like to hit her.

"All I came here for today was to talk to you," he growled through gritted teeth. "To…apologize." It almost seemed to pain him to say the word.

"And what? Did you think you can just waltz back into my life and start this whole mess all over again? I'm not your toy, Malfoy, you can't just pick me up whenever you want and then throw me away when you tire of me. That's all I am to you, isn't it? Some plaything, something to amuse yourself with until the next big thing comes along? Is that what you see when you look at me?"

"Do you really want to know what I see when I look at you?" Draco asked, his voice still angry, but faltering just a little over the last words. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he met her eyes again, his gaze was steady.

"When I look at you, Hermione," her stare wavered almost imperceptibly as he used her first name, but she didn't take her eyes off him, "I see you. You got under my skin when I wasn't paying attention, damn it…and now you won't go away. I can't stop thinking about you; though God knows I've tried. When I look at you, I see…a girl I never thought I'd want in my life, and now…now I don't know how to live without her," he finished, finally dropping his gaze from hers and staring at the ground, waiting. Waiting for her to say something.

But the truth was, Hermione didn't know what to say. She didn't know anything anymore. Furthermore, she didn't know exactly what Draco's speech had meant. After a moment, she spoke.

"What are you saying?"

Draco looked at her like she'd just asked him to explain why blue and yellow make green.

"I…I don't…you know what? Never mind," he muttered to himself and turned to the door, and Hermione fought everything in her to launch herself across the room and stop him as he took three long strides and stood before the door. She let out a small squeak when his hand touched the doorknob. He hesitated for the slightest moment and turned his head a bit to look at her from the corner of his eye.

Hermione gulped. "Draco, I…" but her words fell away as he turned to fully look into her eyes. She'd forgotten how blue his eyes could be. Suddenly they were standing quite close, although she couldn't remember moving from behind the desk, or closing the distance between them. He was staring at her intently, as if he had never seen her before and would never see her again. Then he seemed to throw caution to the wind and he kissed her.

Several things happened all at once. Hermione felt a pressure in her chest that swelled and filled her until it suddenly burst and coursed warm and tingly through her veins, setting her whole body on fire. Her hands were suddenly gripping his arms, holding on for dear life as he crushed her lips with his and his hands tangled in her hair. He seemed to lose all control then, and he backed her up against her desk, laying her down on it and trailing kisses down her neck as she gasped for breath and grabbed at every inch of him she could get.

Oh, it felt so good to be holding him, touching him, devouring his mouth with another fiery kiss as he pulled her back up to him and wrapped his arms snugly around her waist, pulling her close to him. He finally broke the kiss and Hermione made a little noise of protest, trying to catch his lips with hers, but he pulled away with a throaty chuckle. When he spoke, his voice was rough and gravely.

"Hermione." He schooled his elegant features into a sober expression and studied her face for a full minute. "Do you…love me?"

Hermione, startled, gasped and looked down at the front of his robes, trying to wrap her mind around what he'd just asked her. Was he making fun of her? Teasing her? Could he be serious? Draco stiffened at her hesitation, then she felt his arms loosening around her waist.

"I see," he said lowly, then he dropped his arms and turned for the door. Hermione's fuzzy brain became clear all at once, and she reached out for his arm before he could take a step. He looked down at her, and she was surprised to see his face was crestfallen and he looked very tired.

"Draco, don't leave."

"Why should I stay?" he asked, a bit defiantly. Hermione chuckled a bit under her breath in her nervous state and Draco became visibly angry. "So you can laugh at me? I come all this way to tell you I'm in love with you, and you're going to make a joke of me; well, I may not have much pride left, but I do have enough that I won't stand for that," and he turned and grabbed the door handle, wrenched the door open and was halfway down the hall before Hermione could call after him.

"You're in love with me?"

He stopped in his tracks, but didn't turn.

"Why didn't you just say so?" Hermione asked, a bit annoyed, yet amused at the same time. Draco turned and stared at her incredulously.

"What the bloody hell did you think all that was about then?" He gestured wildly with one hand towards her office.

In two seconds she was back in his arms again, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him with wild abandon. After a dizzy moment of kissing her back, Draco seemed to come to his senses and pulled her away to look her full in the face. She smiled playfully up at him.

"I'm going to ask you again, and no games; I don't think I could take it," he said soberly. "Do you love me?"

"I love you," she answered simply, and he was kissing her again.

THE END

A/N - So. Yes, that's the end. Review and let me know how you liked it. I CAN be persuaded to write an epilogue, but only if you all ask very nicely. :D