Chapter Thirteen
"Hey, Hermione?" Draco whispered into her ear. It was too loud in the school's gymnasium to speak regularly.
"Yeah?" She beamed up at him.
"Are you ready?" He smiled back when she nodded.
Draco didn't need to qualify what she was ready for, as it was a blanket statement. Graduation was over, they had dinners and parties to attend, but it was the after — the beginning of a new chapter of their lives — that he was really referring to.
"I can't wait," she responded before kissing him softly. "I'm more than just ready."
Draco's deep chuckle and tightening grip on her hips told her that he understood. Yes, they were sad to say goodbye to their childhood home. Yes, it was scary to move forward in a world they really didn't know much about, but they were ready for whatever would come their way.
As long as they were together, they could do anything.
"What time do you want to leave tomorrow?" Draco asked while brushing kisses across her collarbone. They only had minutes, if that, before both sets of their parents, would descend upon them and all hell would break loose.
"Not too early, I want to cook breakfast for dad before we go," Hermione sighed as she melted against him. His sweet affections always made her feel like a glob a gelatinous goo.
"Noon okay, then?" He knew she was worried about leaving her father to fend for himself. It had been just the two of them for almost seven years.
"Noon's perfect." She couldn't wait to start settling into their apartment, to begin the next chapter of their lives, together.
"I can't wait to fall asleep next to you and wake up with you in my arms," he breathed his words against her cheek when he spotted his mother running towards them. "Every. Single. Day."
Hermione blushed but couldn't contain her smile. Their parent's hadn't been thrilled with the idea of them moving in together but relented when the couple couldn't be swayed.
They had been inseparable since birth. Where one went, the other followed.
And that would never change.