So I've had this idea floating around in my head for a few… weeks… just a one shot. Here we go!

Title: How Could I Not Love You?
Pairing: D/Hr
Rating: 13+
Warnings: Massive bits of fluff, little bits of angst. Tiny HBP spoilers! Character deaths, mentioned in passing.

Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of her age, stands staring out the magically enhanced window in her office at the Ministry of Magic. She was otherwise occupied with a reel of memories running through her brain, as her chocolate brown eyes took in the fake scenery in front of her.

Eleven years old Harry, Ron and Hermione, staring up at the massive three-headed dog, before screaming and bolting back through the door…

Hermione pouring over a tomb in the library, while Harry and Ron somehow managed to keep from snoring aloud while "working" on their Potions essay…

"No matter what, we MUST NOT be seen, Harry!" Hermione pulling Harry behind a stack of the huge pumpkins while Hagrid spoke to them in the hut…

Draco Malfoy staring at Hermione with something akin to shock, his eyes staring down into hers, before taking a quick step back and pulling that normal sneer over his face. "What where you're going, mudblood…"

The rain was falling down swiftly over the grounds, though Hermione never noticed is as she hugged her knees to her chest, her tears mixing with the rain. She never heard the footsteps behind her until a long, pale hand held an umbrella out over her head. "You'll be sick."…

Another day, this one bright and sunny, three friends together on the grass, laughing about some joke. Though a pair of dark brown eyes could only follow a lone, lean figure stalking away from the Quidditch pitch, broomstick over one shoulder, green and silver robes fitting neatly to his slim figure…

Hermione sighs and rests her head against the glass of the window, closing her eyes as one hand slides up to rub the chain circling her neck absently, murmuring. "Draco…"

It was Christmas during what would have been her seventh year, the snow had piled up around her home and she and her parents had opened many presents. Yet… "Mione, sweetheart, there's one more down here." Her mother looked at the small box curiously before passing it to her daughter, watching her unwrap it. "I don't kn…" She couldn't finish her words as she stared at the silver chain, an intricate weave that held a small silver hoop, upon which a feather charm had been slipped into place.

Over the years, every Christmas, a few other charms had joined the feather. A snake. A book. A teacup. A broom. She knew whom they were from. She had even seen him in Diagon Alley, twice, since they had left Hogwarts. After their sixth year, Dumbledore's death at Snape's hand, Draco's escape, and the trio's plan to hunt down the horcuxes… Hermione believed she would never see him again.

They had had a strange relationship, yet… she believed that he could have loved her. She had loved him, by the end of it all. The war had gone on, Harry had died in his efforts to rid the world of Voldemort. Almost all of the Death Eater's had been rounded up, tried and almost all of those had been killed. The Dementors' Kiss would have been preferred, but as they had all left to fight with Voldemort, they were being eradicated as quickly as the Death Eaters.

Hermione sighs, before stepping away from the window, watching the snow falling for another moment before turning around slowly. Her dark eyes fall on a patch of bright gilded silver, before her feet slow in her progress to her desk.

It was like a dream.

"'Mione…" That same slight, but oh-so-real, smile that she had seen only a handful of times, twisted his thin lips, as those deep silver eyes that she had known so well, stared across the room into hers.

"D-Draco..?" She could only stare, unable to think, as the smile slipped from his face. She watched him take two neat, efficient steps to the desk and place a familiar small black box onto a pile of papers.

"I just wanted… I thought I could… bring this to you this year. I guess… I guess I shouldn't've." He stops then, looking up into her eyes for a moment before turning on his heel and stalking out quickly.

Hermione was in shock. It was the first time he has spoken to her in over five years. She looks down at the box and opens it gently, before gasping. There, nestled in the black velvet, was a neat white band, with a marquise diamond solitaire nestled between two bands of alternating princess cut emeralds and rubies.

Quickly snapping the box shut, she grabs her wand and runs out of her office, stumbling at the end of her hall to see Draco Malfoy standing in front of the lift, his pale head bent as though he were contemplating his shoes. It was a humble position, and she had never really seen him humbled.

"Draco…"

"Hermione… I know you didn't want to see me, I'm sorry to have come here today of all day's… but I had to… I had to see you. I had to give you…"

"Draco Malfoy, shut up!" The witch grins with tears beginning to stream from her brilliant eyes as she runs and throws her arms around the tall wizard's neck. "I love you, you damned fool. I have loved you for so long, and you had never tried to contact me. Except for Christmas."

The last remaining Malfoy stiffens, then relaxes and wraps his arms tightly around Hermione, swallowing as he could only reply thickly. "Hermione… I have loved you since our sixth year. I began to realize who you were, not what… I'm so sorry. I know I don't deserve you… but…"

She looks up to him with a gentle grin, holding up the box while tears continue to trickle down her smooth, flushed cheeks. "Will I marry you? You've waited too long, Draco Malfoy. How could I not love you?"