AN: Hello there, and welcome to another one of my one-shots. The inspiration for this short story came when I had a dream where someone was getting married and there was someone there who was very sad about it, but wasn't going to anything. The title comes from Taylor Swift's "Death by a Thousand Cuts", which I recommend you give a listen to sometime if you don't know it already.

Draco spent most of the morning trying not to glance at the invitation pegged to the cork board on his wall, but no matter what he did he couldn't help it. He had managed to ignore it for the most part the past six months, but now that it was the day of the event, it was as if it was beckoning him to acknowledge its presence.

With an annoyed groan he went to the shiny piece of cardstock and ripped it from the tack that was holding it in place, opening the window to promptly chuck it into the outdoors, littering be damned. As he watched it float through the air and down to the street, he wished it was raining so that it could just turn into a soggy mess that people could tear to bits with their shoes. Alas, the weather was perfect, and the invite just settled on the ground three stories beneath his window.

"You sure you wanted to do that mate?" He heard the voice of his friend Blaise Zabini sound from behind him. "You might forget the address of where to go."

"Very funny," Draco snickered. "You are well aware that I will not be attending this... thing." Besides, he'd memorized what the invitation said the first time he read it:

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Hermione Jean Granger, daughter of Daniel and Jean Granger, to Callum Morgan, son of William and Vanessa Morgan, at Hampton Court Palace, at six o'clock in the evening on Saturday the ninth of July 2004.

For some reason he hadn't torn up the offending piece of paper right when he'd first received it, instead just sadly putting it up with all the other reminders he had covering his bulletin board.

"Come on Draco," Blaise said as he casually took a seat on the couch. "If it bothers you that much why don't you go do something about it?"

"Because it doesn't bother me." Draco hoped what he said came off as nonchalant and not biting, but the way his hands were clenching the window sill probably told his friend otherwise.

"You're really just going to let her marry some bugger from across the pond then?"

"If he makes her happy then yes."

Blaise scoffed loudly.

"I think you'd make her happier, and I'm not the only one who thinks so."

"Blaise..." Draco sighed as he slumped onto the opposite side of the couch. "It's been five years."

"Yes, and you've finally gotten your life together, don't think she doesn't see that."

"We barely had a relationship though. A one-night-stand does not a relationship make."

He was being obtuse, and Blaise saw right through it.

"Are you seriously relegating what you and Hermione have to a one-night stand?" Blaise balked. "That may have been the beginning, but you can't discount everything that happened after, that isn't fair to anybody. You and Hermione have something together and the three of you deserve to be a family: you, her, and Scorpius."

"I think you should go now," Draco swallowed, standing up from his seat. "You don't want to be late."

"Fine, but make sure you're not late either." Blaise gave a curt nod goodbye before disapparating from the flat.

Draco moaned into his hand and he fell back onto the sofa, thinking back to the single night that had gotten him here.

June 25, 1999

Draco loosened his tie and undid the first button of his shirt, breathing a sigh of content at feeling like he wasn't being suffocated anymore. He quietly walked out onto the wooden bridge, not wanting to make too much noise so he could surprise the girl standing at its center and looking out onto the lake. It turned out to be impossible though, for even though it had been reconstructed merely nine months prior it still creaked; added to that was the fact that Draco was partially drunk and wasn't taking the most graceful steps.

"I can't believe this is really the end," Hermione said when he reached her. She had her own glass of some alcoholic drink in her hand. She turned to look at him, and he wondered at what point she had gone from the plain faced, frizzy haired, Gryffindor bookworm hidden behind school robes; to the young woman before him, whose hair falling down her bare back in thick waves, and who was wearing a light gold satin gown that seemed to hug her in all the right places.

"You could've ended it last year with your friends," Draco pointed out gruffly as he drew his eyes away from her form and to her face, leaning his elbow on the wall next to her.

"It wouldn't have seemed right, not completing my education. You came back, too, didn't you?"

"It was compulsory and you know it," Draco laughed. "In any case, we did it Granger, we graduated from Hogwarts."

"Is it really that surprising?"

"No, not really. What is surprising is that you and I never fucked once, considering all that time we spent together proving that people can put aside their differences and be civil."

Hermione shot him a look of disapproval at his choice of words. "Do you always have to be so vulgar?"

"What? Fucked?" He teased and she rolled her eyes.

"And what gives you the idea I'd be interested in doing that?" She said as she took another swig of her drink.

"Don't tell me you don't feel the sexual tension between us Granger. I glance at you, you glance at me, we flirt-"

"We bicker," she corrected him.

"And everyone else in the universe would consider it flirting," he grinned playfully.

"Well then," she started, straightening her shoulders and setting her drink on the ledge. "What are you waiting for? Take me Malfoy."

Draco raised a brow at her candid response, having been prepared for some more objections, or just to be outright shut down. "Right here?" he asked, and his eyes began to widen when he noticed she had started to pull down the zipper at the side of her dress.

"We'd be caught if we went back inside. It's dark enough out here and I've been told that doing it up against a wall is quite exciting."

"We don't have a wall, Granger."

"We have a pillar," she smirked, letting her dress pool to her feet, revealing she had been wearing underneath but a pair of red lace panties.

"We have a pillar," Draco breathed.

Throwing caution to the wind, he pushed her up against said pillar and devoured her mouth, silencing the drunk giggle she had let out.

He didn't know Hermione had this wanton side of her, but he was going to enjoy the opportunity for as long as he could.

His head was pounding when he woke up the next morning, naked and tangled in sheets that weren't the green they should've been. The night before was a fuzzy mess, and he assumed it was going to take all day for him to remember even a sliver of it. He tried to move his hand to his head to massage it, but it was being pinned down by something, and when he turned to look he nearly yelped.

Granger?!

The surprise alone was enough for him to quickly jerk his arm out from under her, sending her rolling off the bed.

"Ow!" she screeched. She scrambled up off the floor, and Draco's breath caught at the sight of her bare breasts, for when she had fallen over she hadn't been lucky enough to take any sheets with her. With a squeak she quickly grabbed a fistful to cover her.

"What- How-" she stammered.

"I think," Draco began, closing his eyes and pinching his nose. "We finished on the bridge and then remembered that this handy room existed, so we decided to do it again up here."

Hermione groaned as she went about the room collecting her things. "Of all the things to do on my last night at Hogwarts and I spend it with you."

"You weren't complaining last night," Draco pointed out with a smirk. "If you recall, it was mostly your idea- both times."

"And it was your idea the third," she said snippily, immediately regretting the comment when Draco leered at her. "In any case, don't think this is the beginning of some whirlwind fairytale romance with a happily-ever-after at the end."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Draco chuckled.

"What time is it?"

"A quarter past eight."

"That's only forty-five minutes to be at the boats!"

"Relax, Granger. The house elves have already packed up all your things, and this is the Room of Requirement- if you want new clothes it will give you new clothes."

"Yes, but I also need to shower."

"There's one right there," Draco pointed to a corner of the room that had been empty until she mentioned the need for a place to bathe.

"Fine- but don't even think about joining me."

He had joined her, and she didn't push him out. Instead they had indulged in each other one more time, despite not being inebriated to justify it.

They had gotten dressed and said their goodbyes before heading out to the boats, which would be one final ceremony marking their graduation. They knew they'd rarely see each other again, but Hermione still made him promise not to tell a soul about what had transpired between them that night and morning, especially not Harry or Ron.

Little did she know that it was going to be an impossible request.

It was merely two months later that they were in the same orientation at the Ministry, and after awkwardly asking him to join her for lunch, she told him the news: she was pregnant, and it was definitely his because he was the only person she had ever been with- and she was going to have the baby.

Draco was stunned to say the least, and not sure what she expected from him, but she made it clear with her next few words that she expected nothing; he could be as involved as he wanted to be.

It hadn't been in his plans at all, becoming a father at nineteen, but there he was. His decision on what to do had been immediate: I want to be involved.

He attended all of her appointments, and did anything he could to make her pregnancy comfortable. Much to the dismay of his mother and Hermione's friends, they had decided to move in together in a flat in muggle London.

It was a struggle for most of the people around them to get used to the idea that not only were they friends, but they were going to share a connection for the rest of their lives. Harry was more accepting than Ron, which still mostly rang true in the present, but both decided it wasn't worth cutting Hermione out of their lives. They swore to be the best uncles to her child, no matter their feelings towards its father.

Draco's mother, who was of course shocked by the news, came around as soon as Scorpius was born, overjoyed at the fact that there was a male to continue the family line, even if he was half muggle-born.

Scorpius. He emerged with small cry, and a head of hair that was as platinum as his fathers and had a hint of curl.

Draco didn't know why Hermione let him choose the name of their son, but she did. He was nonplussed when she signed the boy's name on the birth certificate as 'Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy', and not 'Granger' or 'Granger-Malfoy'. It was a gesture he'd be forever grateful for.

For the next two years they were a seemingly happy family, though unconventional. When they first moved in together Hermione had determined that they should just stay platonic, and he had reluctantly agreed. They didn't share a room, and they didn't sleep with each other; the only affection they showed were the occasional hugs and pecks on the cheek. The arrangement worked for them.

There were moments where he thought that they could possibly be something more; like when their gazes lingered on each other longer than necessary, or they engaged in their usual playful bickering, or when they shared in the joy and pride of Scorpius learning something new. Draco would catch himself wanting to reach out to her and touch her in a way that showed he cared for her more than she knew, but he always held back, not wanting to risk ruining what they already had.

Then it all fell apart anyway.

December 26, 2002

"Draco."

Her voice barely registered as he swirled the firewhiskey in his glass. His room was dark with only the moon giving it light, but it was probably for the best; it hid the destruction he had set upon the space.

"Draco, I'm going to leave now. Scorpius is already at my parents house with the rest of our things."

He supposed he should've reacted to the news, but he expected as much, so he continued in his silence and staring out the window.

She moved herself in front of him, getting down to her knees so she could make him look her in the face. He could tell she'd been crying when their eyes met, the moonlight reflecting the streaks of tears on her cheeks, and he knew his current state of stoic drunkenness wasn't helping. He didn't want her to go, but he couldn't find it in himself to speak.

"I'm sorry that I have to do this," she choked out in a whisper. "But I can't help you anymore. It isn't good for Scorpius if I'm taking care of you too. You can visit with him on the weekends if you're up to it, Blaise can owl me. Remember, he's moving in tonight so don't hex him when he enters."

Her attempt at humor did nothing for him, and he could see the gears turning in her head on ways to make him talk, before giving up.

He didn't want her to go. Why couldn't he tell her he didn't want her to go?

"I... I love you Draco. Please take care of yourself."

With a swipe of a tear and a soft kiss on his forehead, she was gone, just like his father and mother before her; but at least she was still alive.

Lucius Malfoy had been murdered by means of poison the day before he was to be released from Azkaban, and upon hearing the news, his wife suffered a fatal heart attack. In a matter of two days Draco had lost both his parents, and become the heir to Malfoy Manor.

The events took a toll on him, causing him to spiral into a depression only made worse by frequent alcohol consumption. There just had been so much left unsaid between him and the man who had raised him, and he'd been planning on repairing their relationship, hoping his father would accept his new life with Hermione and Scorpius.

His mother had been a light in all three of their lives, showing through her actions as doting mother-in-law and grandmother that the Malfoy's had in fact turned a new leaf.

Now they were both gone, leaving him nothing but ownership of a home where too much had happened, and he had no intentions of ever bringing his family to.

Draco became a shell of a person, barely eating, sleeping, or talking. The grief and anger had become too much to bear. Hermione did her best to keep him alive, but with Scorpius being only two, there was only so much she could do. After six months of valiant effort, she made the decision to move back to her parents' home with their son.

So it became Blaise's turn to babysit Draco and try to get him help.

His first action was to throw out all the alcohol in the flat, and cancel Draco's weekly delivery. Hermione had tried to do this, but Draco's signature had been needed, and unlike the Gryffindor, Blaise didn't mind engaging in a bit of forgery.

It was during the following week of withdrawal that Blaise was able to convince Draco to check himself into a rehab, under the stipulation that unless he completed the program he wouldn't be able to see Scorpius. When Draco protested that Hermione had made no such demand, Blaise broke it to him that the requirement did come from her, she just didn't have the strength to tell him.

Defeated with the idea that he may never see his son again, Draco spent the next six months at a treatment center in Diagon Alley.

It had been hard, and involved more than just purging his alcohol addiction- a painful and at times rage inducing process- but he emerged free of all his demons, and ready to move forward.

Unfortunately, he hadn't been the only one who decided to do so, and at his welcome home celebration, Hermione gave him the news that things would not be returning to the way they were.

"Will you and Scorpius move back in?" Draco asked, hopefully. He didn't mind Blaise, but he'd much prefer his son and Hermione for daily company.

Hermione looked down, sheepishly. "No, Draco. I don't want to pull Scorpius out of his preschool and... I've started seeing someone."

"Oh?" It came out as a single breath, and Draco could feel his heart breaking a little.

"It's nothing serious yet... but I think it's best if I stay at my parents home for the time being."

Draco spent the next month reacquainting himself with Scorpius at the Granger's. It was a huge relief to him that his son remembered who he was, and hadn't lost any affection for him. He only wished the same could be said of Hermione.

She wasn't keeping her distance; she'd stay in the room when he came over, playing with him and Scorpius, and they'd even go on outings together, almost as if they were a complete family. But she never sat or stood close to him, and she'd keep most of their conversation to the topic of Scorpius. The only time she strayed was when Draco asked her about the man she was seeing.

Draco met Callum Morgan the next weekend. He was a nice enough bloke; dark hair and eyes, tall, and much too handsome. He worked in the Muggle Relations Department of the American ministry, which was how he and Hermione had the chance to meet.

For the next year Draco watched from the sidelines as Hermione and Callum's relationship evolved, trying to keep the growling jealousy in him at bay. It was just as hard seeing Callum bond with Scorpius, and it took both Harry and Ron telling him that Scorpius knew who his father was, to not go crazy.

That fateful Christmas Day when Callum decided to propose to Hermione at the Weasley's Holiday party may have been one of the worst of Draco's life. All of her family and friends, including him, were in attendance, and he wondered where Callum got the balls to pop the question in front of not only an ex-boyfriend, but her former lover who happened to be the father of her son.

"You alright with this?" Harry had asked as Draco stepped out into the cold winter air, wanting to escape the joyous celebration. He felt like he'd forgotten how to breathe.

"I have to be don't I? It's not like I have some sort of claim on her."

"You're still her son's father," Harry'd reminded him, a poor attempt at making him feel better.

Draco merely nodded in response before apparating away.

Yes, he was Scorpius' father, which made it even harder to put distance between him and the woman he was finally admitting he loved.

Scorpius, seeing his mother with someone, wondered why his father was alone. So at his son's urging, Draco began dating.

He became reacquainted with Astoria Greengrass at one of Blaise's parties. He'd been friends with her sister Daphne during school, and took her out to Hogsmeade once on a date. She was a beautiful witch, dark haired and sensuous. They talked easily since they had much in common, and for a moment he thought there was a future for him without Hermione.

He had of course been wrong.

"I don't think this is going to work out Draco," Astoria had sighed sadly as they sat in a small cafe in Diagon Alley. She was looking down at the coffee cup in her hand, her fingers rhythmically tapping nervously against the porcelain. "I can tell your mind is somewhere else, even now. We don't talk like we did those first few weeks... I don't even remember the last time you genuinely smiled at me. And we haven't been intimate since that first time over a month ago- you barely even touch me."

She was right. They'd slept together once, something he'd put off longer than he had in the past, and then every time she tried to initiate after he'd always rejected her with some excuse, like being tired or having to wake up early the next day.

The truth was no matter what he did, he couldn't get the image of Hermione out of his mind: soapy and wet, pressed up against the wall of a shower as he made love to her with perfect clarity. He could still hear the little whimpers she'd made as he slowly thrust into her, his nose and lips grazing along her shoulder blade, wiping away the water droplets that'd settled there. He could still feel the way her walls had clamped around him as she came with a guttural moan that was matched by his own release, before slumping against him with a heady breath.

She'd been perfect.

And she'd tainted any hope he had of being with another woman.

So after a short three months, his relationship with Astoria came to a quiet end, and Draco decided he'd date after Hermione was married. Maybe her being officially off the market would be enough for him to move on.

Now the dreaded day was here.

Draco glanced at the clock and saw the wedding was only a few minutes from starting. He wondered how beautiful she looked, and how she was feeling. He wondered if Scorpius was behaving himself or running amok while his Uncle Ron chased after him.

Suddenly, there was an urgent knock on the door. Draco opened it, and was greeted with the last person he expected to see.

"Potter?"

"Malfoy."

"Shouldn't you be at the wedding-?"

Harry was certainly dressed for the occasion, donned in a muggle tuxedo with a burgundy bow tie.

"You need to go to her. Go to Hermione."

"What are you on about?" Draco asked, and Harry pushed passed him into the flat.

"She doesn't want to go through with it. The wedding was supposed to start fifteen minutes ago and she's still standing in her bridal room looking like she wants to climb out the window. So you need to get over there, and stop her before she does something she'll regret."

"Which would be?"

"Marrying the wrong person Malfoy!" Harry said like it was the most obvious thing.

"And what if you're wrong? What if in the time it took you to get here she changed her mind and she's walked down that aisle and made her vows?"

"Ginny would've contacted me if that were the case," Harry answered smoothly, as if he'd anticipated the question. "I never thought I'd be saying this, but I know Callum is not the one she wants to spend her life with. For some diabolical reason, it seems that it's you."

"And you know this how?"

"I just do!" Harry said exasperated. "I've been her best friend for fourteen years, I pick up on things alright? So can you please stop asking questions and just go?"

Draco closed just eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose as part of him was saying to leave right that moment, and another was fearing the cold sting of rejection if she had already made her choice.

"If you're wrong Potter..."

"I'll tell Oldman to give you a raise, and I'll let you lead all new cases for a year," Harry offered quickly.

With his heart thumping loudly in his chest, Draco apparated, landing in the dead end of an alley way.

He ran out towards the street, the grounds of the palace ahead of him.

Please don't let me be too late, he begged.

He nearly jumped when he heard the familiar call of "Daddy!" shouted at him. A mixture of elation and apprehension filled him as he turned to see his son- tow headed and dressed handsomely in suspenders- sprinting at him.

Hermione was close behind. She had the skirt of her wedding gown clutched in her hands, along with a pair of silver heels. Her hair had been pinned back and the lace veil covering it was blowing behind her, leaving her shoulders bare.

She was beautiful.

Draco caught Scorpius in his arms and squeezed him tightly. "Mummy's not getting married!" The boy said jubilantly as Hermione reached them. Her cheeks were tinged pink from her and Scorpius' run, and she was catching her breath.

"She isn't?" Draco asked searching her eyes, and when Hermione looked right at him and shook her head with a teary smile, every part of him leapt for joy.

"How...?" Hermione began to ask.

"Potter," Draco smiled, and she let out a chuckle.

He slowly reached out to touch her, resting his hand under jaw to move her closer. "I was worried I'd missed my chance."

"No, you're right on time," Hermione said and she let out a gasp as Draco brought her lips to his for the first time in nearly five years. They were as soft and warm as he remembered, and he wondered why he'd allowed them to be apart for so long, berating himself for it. He was never letting her go again.

There was an abrupt tug on his ear, and he and Hermione both laughed as Scorpius sliced his hand between their faces to separate them.

"Let's go home," he demanded, burying his head in his father's shoulder.

Draco looked back at Hermione, and he knew from the wide grin that took over her face, and the glittery shine in her eyes, that she shared her son's sentiments.

Draco nodded, and gently took her hand in his as he repeated Scorpius' words.

"Let's go home."

Fin

AN: Thank you for reading and please leave a review of your thoughts. I do plan on posting a chapter from Hermione's POV in the near future, so be on the look out.

If you liked this please check out my other Dramione one-shots and stories (Disparem and Till Kingdom Come are my personal favorite things I've written).