EPILOGUE
Hermione sat in her office, waiting for her next client to arrive. She had been in her job for two years now and now a day went by where she felt undervalued or that her skills were not utilised.
She had attended a muggle university and studied Social Work before landing a job in a crisis homelessness centre. She worked closely with many community and government organisations to assist those who were facing homelessness.
The people she worked with were so varied, she never experienced the same situation twice. That was why she loved her job. She developed relationships with the regulars and found true meaning in her life by doing what she could for people who came to her with nothing.
She looked around at the things she had accumulated in the 2 years since she had started working and smiled. The framed photos on her desk were evidence of a life well lived.
A teenage girl with long wild red hair looked out at her from beside the Hogwarts express, while a younger boy and slightly younger again girl, both with perfectly straight immaculate blonde hair, stared back in another frame. They occasionally pulled faces and pretended to paint with the props that were around them for the photo. A separate frame housed all three children who were jumping on each other and playing in a field.
The fourth frame held a photo that was most dear to Hermione's heart.
She stood in a white gown beside her new husband, and when he looked at her, he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. It depicted their wedding day perfectly. So many things had tried to prevent them from that day, so many things had gone wrong. So many people had said that they'd never work, yet here they were. Draco was everything to her. Even now. It had taken a while to stop calling him Malfoy, and she recalled, as a first anniversary gift, she promised to call him by his first name. It was a fond memory.
Hilary entered her office and smiled when she saw her gazing affectionately at her wedding photo.
"Come off it, Mrs Malfoy, we all know you're still head over heels in love, please, just don't rub it in" she said.
Hermione looked up at her friend, pulling herself out of her reverie. She had poached Hilary from the ministry when she got this job and was so glad she did. Hilary had become her best friend and they worked together with incredible ease.
"It was such a magical day" she said.
"Yes, once the wind went away" Hilary said, handing her the file for the next client.
She quickly skimmed through it and a grin spread across her face.
"Is he finally ready?" she asked.
"He says he is" Hilary said.
Hermione picked up the phone and dialled a number she knew all too well. When the voice answered on the other end, Hermione made her case for her recent client.
"I know he's accessed his allocated number of nights in accommodation, but we're willing to house him… No, not till next week….. Tuesday….. That's all we can do. Look, its been a journey just to get him to access our service, the way he has been treated, specifically by people within your organisation is abhorrent and for him to ask for something… Yes, I agree….. No, well if he wanted to make a complaint, he'd have done so when the security guard kicked him out….. He was homeless, of course he was filthy…. A week? Perfect, I'll start the paperwork" she hung up, happy to have had a success with the 'system', which was horribly successful at letting people down.
"So…?" Hilary asked.
"He has a week, then he's in one of our rooms" Hermione said, getting up from her chair. She made her way down the corridor and into the communal space which was bustling with activity.
In the floors above where she worked, rooms that were funded by the government as well as rooms that Hermione's organisation rented on behalf of people who ere homeless helped those in need. On the bottom floor, an inviting community drop in space for the people who weren't ready to leave homelessness yet. A place they could come together, socialise and remember that there were people out there thinking of them.
It had initially been a tough concept for Hermione. She wanted everyone off the streets, but sadly, solving homelessness wasn't as easy as putting a roof over someone's head.
She was greeted happily by the most downtrodden of people, by the very ones who ordinary people would cross the street to avoid.
She made her way through the people eating their breakfast and sat across from the man who she had just fought for.
"You ready?" she asked.
"For what?" he asked her. She knew he hadn't expected anything. He had appealed time and time again to the people in places of power to give him a roof over his head, if just for a few nights when it was freezing cold outside.
"For your new life" she said.
"They agreed?" he asked.
"They did" she said with a smile.
"Wow, miss, thank you, thank you so much" he said, standing and moving to her so he could hug her. It wasn't the first time someone like him had hugged her. She made small achievements every single day, but to the people she worked with, they were often life changing. And they usually resulted in affection of some kind.
"Come on, how many times do I have to tell you, call me Hermione" she said, patting him on the back before leaning away to signal for him to pull away.
"Sorry, sorry, yes" he said.
"So, you stay in the temporary room for a week, then you're with us on subsidised rent" she said.
His happiness spread among the others in the room, until there was a general sense of joy about the place. Most of these people would go back to sleeping under bridges that night, but today, there would be one less. Today, it inspired hope in others that they too would eventually have a place to call their own.
The move from Ministry of Magic to a grass roots homelessness organisation came easily to Hermione. She had spent so much of her time and skill wasted at the DMLE that eventually, she gave up. She still attended work, but the effort to at least attempt anything was gone. There was nothing for her to do. That's when she began studying Social Work at a muggle university and somehow managed to fall into this job.
At the end of the day, Hermione bid farewell to her colleagues and made her way out the front doors. She was waved off by a small girl who had been staying in the temporary homeless accommodation with her dad before Hermione had gotten them subsided rent in one of their family rooms.
She hopped in her car and drove the short distance through traffic to a parking lot where she parked her car and disapparated home.
The house wasn't a castle, that's for sure, but it wasn't a modest flat either. It was just luxurious enough for Draco and the children and cosy enough in many places for Hermione.
Her children Scorpius and Lyra greeted her at the door and she hugged and kissed them as they told her about their day. They had both been attending a muggle school and were doing rather well. Scorpius was in his final year while Lyra was a year below. Hermione missed Rose more than anything, but the 15-year-old was more than happy to be away from her younger siblings.
Draco greeted her in the parlour beside the library with a glass of wine, which Hermione was all too willing to accept before collapsing into the chaise lounge and toeing off her shoes. Instinctually, Draco took her feet, sat on the end of the lounge and began rubbing each foot while she hummed in appreciation.
"How was work Mister Minister?" She asked him.
"Easy. Didn't save any lives today. How about you?" he asked her.
"Amazing. That man I was telling you about? The one who has refused to ask for help, finally reached out. And we helped him. It was incredible. It gave the younger ones hope for the future" she said.
"That's great. I knew you would be incredible at this" he said.
"As much as I knew you'd be the best Minister for Magic Britain has ever seen" she said with her eyes closed as her feet relaxed into his expert fingers.
They continued their banter for a while before Draco's hands began making their way up her legs beyond her knees and to the inside of her thighs.
She waved her wand at the door and shut it, hearing it lock with a click, before divesting herself of her clothes and his and succumbing to his expertise.
Hermione's life was no where near how she had once envisioned it. She had, at one point, thought that she would be miserable forever, in a relationship with Ron that was going no where fast.
Now, though, Ron was in an on again off again relationship with Susan Bones, who he had gotten to know when she started renting the flat above the shop. Ron still, even now, remained living at the Burrow. Hermione didn't ask questions, but Rose had always mentioned the fights and arguments that occurred between Ron and Susan. If Rose was correct, they were horrible, yet perfect for each other. Their son, Hugo, who was two years younger than Lyra, was absolutely unruly. Hermione had met him only a few times, but every time, he was wild and uncontrollable. A testament to his parenting. Hermione felt sorry for him but knew that as soon as he went to Hogwarts, he would be ok.
As it turned out, throughout their entire relationship, Ron had been talking to other girls on a text message dating service. The whole time that Hermione thought Ron hadn't been using his phone, that she never saw him with it, was because he didn't want her to see that he had been playing her almost as much as she had played him, all along. It eased the guilt a lot.
Hermione, Harry and Ginny began drifting apart as soon as Hermione left Ron. They tried so hard for so long to hold it together, but as time went by, Hermione couldn't hold onto something that just wasn't working and chose to let go. Harry and Ginny had two more children, Albus and Lily, who were the same ages as Scorpius and Lyra. It made Hermione happy to know that they would all go to school together and have the opportunities that she had had, to befriend a Potter.
George eventually moved on and married Angelina Johnson and had two children. Hermione attended their wedding and was shocked to hear from a drunken George that he had spent years being in love with Hermione, finally giving up on her when he found out she was with Draco.
Bill and Fleur had one other child after their son Louis was born. Dominique completed their family, and the Weasleys were thrilled when all of the grandchildren were confirmed to be magical.
Percy, still as strong as ever with his wife Penelope, hadn't had another child, simply opting to raise Poppy as an only child, surrounded by cousins. It was enough for them.
Mostly, people were happy for Hermione. But best of all Hermione was happy for Hermione. She loved Draco now, perhaps more than she ever had in the past.
She would live one thousand lifetimes just the same way again, if it meant she had an opportunity to be with him.
AN - No amount of thank you's will ever convey how much it means for you, whoever you are, to have come this far. I really hope the epilogue wasn't a let down.
I'm so happy to be finishing this now. Its 11:30pm on the 15th June 2020 and in half an hour it will be 12 years since we officially became a couple.
Final note: I actually do not condone cheating. I think that there are times when someone leans on a person outside of their relationship for comfort and 9 times out of 10 it is not ok. There's that 1 though. When things fall into place. When lives and relationships are complicated. When things are not black and white. Sometimes... you just need to trust your heart.