A/N: OHHH WHAT'S SHE GONNA SAY! I know! The last chapter was Forever and this is And Always… make the connection Forever and Always… Heeheehee. I love writing, I have so many ideas that they are hopping around in my head like little energizer bunnies… I have decided a lot of things…

Chapter twenty six: …And Always

Hermione didn't know what to say so she just looked at him with a big goofy smile on her face. Her facial expression answered the question and he stood up and smiled back at her.

"I'm taking that as a yes." He said picking up her left hand and sliding a ring onto the third finger.

"Oh, Draco!" She said finally finding the words to speak again "of course it is a yes!" She threw her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to hers and kissed him.

"Yeah, I got that from that cheesy smile you had plastered on your face a moment ago." he said earning a playful slap on the arm. "Sorry" he said quickly.

"What makes you want to spend the rest of your life with me?" She asked truly curious as they stood there. She had seen people divorce each other simply because they didn't want to be with the other person for their entire lives. "How do I know you wont change your mind?"

"Hermione, I want to be with you forever, you are the only person I can be honest with, tell all my secrets to, that can cheer me up and that when I'm away from; my heart aches." he said moving a strand of hair out of her eyes. "I'm not going to change my mind, Hermione, I want to be with no one but you."

"Are you positive of that?"

"Absolutely, never been more sure of any thing." He kissed her forehead.

"I love you Draco." she whispered as she rested her head on his chest.

"I love you too Hermione." He said, and he truly meant it.

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"They look so cute together." Ginny said as she looked out of the large common room window. She could see two figures standing on the lake and she didn't need Omnioculars to see who the people were, but that's only because she knew Hermione was out there.

"They do don't they." Harry said walking up to Ginny and standing behind her.

"Who are you talking about?" Seamus and Ron asked as they also walked over to the window.

"They would kill us if we told you, but form here you can still tell that they love each other." Ginny said sighing, sometimes she believed love was dead in this world full of hate and evil.

"Yeah," Harry said, "two of the most unlikely people on earth that have ever fallen in love."

"Harry, Love happens even in the darkest of times, it happens no matter who you are, where you are or even whatever you are." Ginny said smiling up at him. "Just use my parents as examples, My mum fell in love with that man and had two daughters with him." She whispered this so that Ron couldn't hear her.

"I guess that even evil can love, making that our darkest weapon." He had no clue how right he was.

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"Draco, are you going to tell your mum?" Hermione asked while they were hiding behind a pillar on plat forms nine and three quarters. They were going home for Christmas.

"My mum, yeah, My dad, no." He said. "Mum will be happy to know, she loves you as if you are already part of the family." He wasn't exaggerating,

"Okay, that's good. I wish I could tell my mum, she hates you." Hermione said honestly. She had heard how her mother spoke of the Malfoy's. Even knowing that she wondered how her mom would react to the engagement.

"That's okay. It only takes one parent from either side to sign the papers." He said to her. They were planning on getting married in the summer after their sixth year. In a magical wedding if you were underage you only needed a parent to sign from one side, and it didn't matter which, and that would be Narcissa. They hadn't told any one about the arrangement yet but Hermione was going to tell Harry and Ginny over the break.

They were planning on eloping, they didn't want a large wedding and they had heard about a nice Wizard owned chapel in Las Vegas Nevada U.S.A. The only people they were going to tell and invite were Narcissa, Harry, Ginny, Blaise, Luna, Taylor and Cherokee. They were only inviting Taylor and Cherokee because Draco didn't want the Gryffindors outnumbering the Slytherins resulting in Blaise feel uncomfortable. So now they would have to tell two more people about the wedding.

"We will tell everyone after the war though, right?" Hermione asked when she heard Amethyst calling out for her.

"Yes, the moment Voldemort is dead." He told her, and for some reason she flinched. Hermione hated her dads guts but he was still her dad.

"Okay, Draco, I love you." She said and then ran off towards her mother.

"Hi, mum!" She said and her mother hugged her.

"I have missed you sweetie, how was first term?" Amethyst asked as she apperated them to her large mansion.

"Oh, it was fun, well except for seeing Katie get cursed." She said sadly. "We all miss her."

"Oh, I was hoping you weren't one of the ones who saw that." Amethyst said disappointedly, "No child should have to watch or endure that."

"It was horrible, mum, I wish I could un see it." She said sitting down on the couch and magically sent her bags to her room.

"I also wish that you could…" Amethyst froze looking at Hermione's hand and she grabbed it. "Hermia Lily Riddle, what in the name of Merlin is this?" The woman said angrily. Hermione had to hand it to her mother, she wasn't dumb. She looked down at her gold ring with it's large garnet stone.

"It's a ring, mum." Hermione said as if nothing were wrong. She should have known that her mother wasn't going to believe that one bit.

"Hermia Lily Riddle, don't you dare lie to me. That ring is too damn expensive and old to be just a ring." she had never seen her mom look so angry.

"I- I… It's just a ring mum. There isn't anything else to it." She lied, and figured that it wasn't working. "I bought it with some money that I had saved up."

"No, Hermia! This ring couldn't have been that cheap, this ring is probably older than grandma Merope's grandmother. It has to be a family heirloom of who ever gave you this."

"Mum, really." She said pulling her hand away.

"That only means that I don't like him." Amethyst said, "Mione darling, that can only be an engagement ring." She seemed more hurt than she did angry and Hermione now for not being honest with her. "I would at least try to like him if you will only tell me." all the anger was gone

"Mum, people wouldn't understand, let alone his father…" She started to say but she froze when she realized what she had given away.

Her mothers eyes lightened up at the confirmation, she wasn't mad she even kind of seemed okay with it. "You know who I married, the least you can do is tell me who your marring." she was hurt, "I wont tell anyone, not even his parents."

Hermione was already at the top of the stairs when she decided to actually tell her mom. "Draco Malfoy." Hermione said as she turned the corner and after she was out of sight she started running down the long ornately decorated halls to the other set of stairs that went up to the third floor, which was were her room was.

She lay on her bed for thirty minuets crying before she heard a knock on her bedroom door. She didn't answer it, she didn't want to talk. She just lay there staring at the top of her canopy bed that had burgundy drapes covering it.

Her room was large and looked like it belonged to a princess, she was surprised that her mom didn't know about Draco seeing as Hermione had pictures of him and her all over her room. She had remembered back in her first year she had cast a spell that took pictures during picture worthy moments. There were even pictures of her with Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Seamus and a bunch of other people. She rolled over onto her side and stared out her window that was next to her big Mahogany desk.

"Mione' please let me talk to you." Her mother said. She rolled over again so that her face was planted into the pillows surface

"Go away, I don't want to talk." She said loudly into her pillow making her words muffled but still audible.

"Mione, I'm not mad at you, I even understand. Just please let me in." Hermione gave in, not wanting to listen to the knocking anymore, and picked up her wand and waved it making the door open. A few seconds later she felt her bed move as her mom sat down next to her.

"Hermione, look at me." Amethyst said gently, and she grudgingly looked up at her mother. Hermione's face was red, sticky and had hair clinging to it. She saw no anger in her mothers expression, only worry. "Hermione, are you sure that you love him?" she asked looking at her daughter with concern.

"Yes, Mum, I love him more than air, more than water and more than Gravity." She said confidently, "If I were stuck on a deserted island and I only had one thing, it would be Draco." she said making her mother smile "I have loved for years now, Mum, it's not something we just jumped in to."

Her mother smiled at her again. "Sweetie, I don't want you to get hurt, and I heard that he treats you horribly." she said with concern in her voice again.

"It's all an act mum." She explained, "We don't really want a lot of people knowing that we are together, well not yet at least. His Father wouldn't like me and my other best friend is Harry Potter." she sighed. "You have to understand that to the Death Eaters I am a traitor even if their leader is my father."

"That is very understandable, I would have done the same thing under those conditions." Amethyst said and her expression changed to an expression that could only say one thing; she had an idea.

"Oh no." Hermione moaned and threw her face back into her pillow.

"What? You haven't even heard what I have to say yet." her mother said excitedly.

"I don't have to hear it to know that it involves me." She said with her face still buried into that pillow.

"Hermia Riddle, it really isn't that bad." she snapped.

"Fine, what is it?" Hermione finally asked raising her head out of her pillow.

"I want you to invite him over, I haven't met this boy." Amethyst said enthusiastically. … We could invite Ginny Alice as well." She said on a side thought.

"Oh that will be tons of fun." Hermione said knowing that she was in for a rough two weeks.

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"Draco, how wonderful it is to meet you." Amethyst said hugging her Son in law to be when he finally visited on Christmas eve. That hadn't really been the reaction any of them had been expecting, well Hermione had, Ginny especially was shocked . She had heard her mother say how much she hated the Malfoy's, and this was astonishing.

"It is a pleasure to meet you as well Mrs. Riddle." Draco said as politely as he could. He had called her riddle because her and her husband hadn't really ever gotten a divorce, they were just separated.

"Holloway, I don't like being linked to my husband, you can just call me Ame." She was being way to polite. "Shall we go to the Drawing room." Draco looked at Hermione as they followed Amethyst into the Drawing room; which was just as extravagant as the rest of the house.

"Wow," Draco said looking around the room, "I never thought I would find a house, besides maybe the Queen's palace, that was bigger than Malfoy Manor." he was so taken aback that it was funny.

"Tom actually inherited this from the Slytherins. I put wards up that would keep him out a long time ago." She said sounding proud. "He wasn't always so horrible, once upon a time he was just a misunderstood orphan." The three teenagers exchanged looks of disbelief.

"I was heartbroken when he killed all of my friends… The McKinnon's, the Potter's." With that she seemed to snap out of her daze. "I am so sorry, sometimes I get carried away in the past." She said with tears in her eyes. Hermione who was sitting next to Draco got up, as well did Ginny, and the went over to their mother and tried to comfort her.

"Mum, he had a lot of people fooled." Ginny said

"He still has a lot of people fooled." Draco said thinking of his father, aunt and every other Death Eater.

"That is a very bad habit he has always had." she said looking up again and then changed the subject as Hermione went back to sit with Draco , "So you thought you were going to marry my daughter with out letting me know huh?" That was the reaction they had expected thirty minuets ago.

Draco paled as he tried to find an answer "I… Well…We…" He stammered over words. "We were going to tell you… just after." he finally said under Amethyst's glare.

"Ah, I'm just pulling you wand, I'm not angry with you." She said laughing, "You really aren't as bad as I thought you were, you are nothing like your father."

"Thank god." He said thankful that he was nothing like his father.

"If Mia can trust you and like you than so can I." She said, and just like that Amethyst accepted him, when she had so greatly hated him the day before.

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"That went better than I thought it would." Draco said as they stood alone near the fire place some time later, he was going to floo home.

"Yeah, and I thought she was lying about trying to accept you, if I could." She was smiling up at him. She had no doubts about marring him in a little over five months. "My mum is just simply amazing."

"She is, especially seeing as she didn't kill me for dating you for two years with out her knowing, well seeing as I have loved you even longer than that…" he said thinking about something.

"Hey, you should probably get going. You father and mine will probably be wondering where you are." She said remembering that her father was being housed at Malfoy manor.

"Yeah I guess your right." He said frowning, he didn't want to leave. He leaned forward and kissed her passionately. Soon Hermione found herself up against the wall, more specifically it was a bookcase, and his tongue moved into her mouth. They quickly found themselves getting carried away and forgetting that they were in the Drawing room but quite honestly she didn't care. She found herself lost in this kiss and if felt like no other that they had shared

His hands moved up her shirt and rested on her waist as her hand tangled themselves into his hair. They stood there like that for several minuets and then her hands moved down to his shirt and started un buttoning buttons just as he started sliding her shirt up. It wasn't until she had his shirt undone that they heard someone clear their throat and they realized where they were and jumped apart.

They saw both Amethyst and Ginny looking at them and they both blushed. Draco looked as if he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar… Hermione say how Ginny was trying not to giggle at what she had just witnessed but soon gave in..

"Not in my house you don't." Amethyst said glaring at them humorously and Hermione felt herself blush even more. "I guess you two shouldn't be left alone together until June." She said and they continued to blush even more. Draco finally had his shirt re buttoned and he tuned to her and kissed her once more and stepped into the fireplace.

"I love you, Drake." She said smiling.

"I love you to Mi." And then he disappeared and she had to turn around and face ger mother and sister.

"I really didn't expect that!" Ginny said when she stopped giggling. "I mean we left you alone for ten minuets and you are taking your clothes off."

"Ginny, we just got carried away." Hermione said turning, if possible, even redder.

"Ginny Alice, stop teasing you sister. It isn't very nice." Amethyst said and then Ginny said goodbye and flooed home.

"We should probably talk." Amethyst said sitting down next to Hermione who had sat down on the couch and covered her face with a pillow.

"Oh, Merlin!" She said loudly.

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A/N: so is it okay? I know nothing to major happened but I think that was done tastefully… I wouldn't write anything I wouldn't let my mom read… I know she has been trying to find my story… So HI Mom if you are reading this. Lol… though I would prefer she didn't because I really don't like family reading my stories… So what do you think about this chapter? I love knowing what everyone thinks and even on the worst days my reviews cheer me up. It is like 12:43 right now and I should be in bed… but I wanted to finish this chapter before going to bed so here it is, it is even late enough to post it! Lol I hope to find a bunch of reviews in the morning or well later… ~Taylor (slytherin at heart)