Many Thanks to I_was_BOTWP for her excellent beta reading.
"I will not hear another word of this folly, Draco. If you insist on continuing your little dalliance until you find a proper wife, you will see to it that not a single word of it appears in the papers or you will be disowned. Do I make myself clear?" Lucius Malfoy's voice was deadly calm, but the venom in his words left no room for doubt as to how serious he was. He fixed his son with a piercing, icy gaze.
"Perfectly," Draco replied, before turning on his heel and leaving the room. The door shut behind him with an audible click. The weight of all his personal belongings, hidden in his pocket just in case, thanks to one of her undetectable and nearly infinite expansion charms, threatened to glue him to the carpet as he started up the hallway.
He nearly ran into his mother, who had been hovering outside the door. Taking a deep breath he addressed her in a whisper.
"I'm sorry, mother. I tried."
Falling into step beside him, she looked at him, likely noting displeasure and determination written clearly on his face. Worry began to etch itself into her features.
"Draco, my dragon, be reasonable!"
He said nothing and continued to walk calmly but quicker now, away from his father's study. His mother hurried after him.
"Please, my son. Just give him a little time, and he is sure to relent," Narcissa pleaded.
Stopping abruptly, he turned to face her.
"She deserves better than this. I have given him more time than I should have!" Draco growled with a barely concealed temper. "Nothing matters more than her!"
Seeing her stricken expression, he realised abruptly what he had just said. Tears began to well in her eyes and he nervously brushed a hand through his hair.
"I mean...you know that...family, but…" Draco straightened his tie absent-mindedly. "She…"
"She is everything to you, as she should be." Narcissa spoke softly and her eyes filled with tears as she looked up at her only child. She reached for him and embraced him tightly, in a way she hadn't since he had been a small boy. As she pulled back, he watched her gently pry open his clenched fist and deposit a small box in his hand.
"You may need this, then." She smiled at him.
He stared at the little box, navy velvet with black silk trim, the Black Family Crest proudly displayed on the top. He knew without looking what he would find inside. His mother was right, it was time.
As he stepped through the Floo into the flat they shared, he spotted Hermione waiting with her hands clenched together and her teeth worrying her bottom lip, barely seated on the edge of the settee. She jumped up when she saw him.
"How did it go?" She nearly ran to him and brushed the soot from his collar as she looked up at him.
"About as well as I thought it might." He sighed. "He says I'll be disowned if we go public."
"Oh, Draco! Should we cancel the interview?"
The look of pure concern on her face, without a trace of resentment, nearly brought him to tears. He didn't deserve this woman, but he would be crazy to let her go.
"No. We don't cancel."
"Are you certain? We could reschedule, give ourselves a few weeks to think it over." She paused, her mouth still open as her eyes roamed over his face.
"The only thing I'm certain of is that my life wouldn't be right without you in it. And I'm so tired of hiding the best thing that's ever happened to me." Draco breathed deeply, looked into his favorite warm brown eyes, and slowly dropped to his knees. "I know that I may have less to offer you, come this time tomorrow. But I sincerely hope you never doubt the depth of my affection for you—it is the best of me, I swear it. Hermione, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"
Before he could even catch his breath, Hermione had fallen to her knees in front of him and pressed her lips fervently to his, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.