The day of the wedding, Draco felt as if his whole world had ceased to exist.
He hadn't shaved since he had seen her last, he didn't find reason to. A dark perpetual shadow had taken it's place on the lower portion of his profile as if it had a stake to claim. He had just kicked a blonde out of his bed. He was beyond formalities now.
Dinner and breakfast were certainly out of the question. He had tried to pretend it was her. But it wasn't her, no one could ever take her place.
It was just a pathetic attempt at filling the emptiness that had formed a veil over his world.
The little things she did like nibble on his ear or whispering sweet nothings, or even screaming his name at the top of her lungs could never be duplicated.
The thing he would miss the most, though, was how they would just lay together in silence afterwards. Her tiny frame in his arms, and the need to talk completely expelled. The girls he had slept with as of late were much too chaste, and hardly provided a distraction from his own turbulent thoughts.
He quietly buttoned up his favorite green shirt and pulled on his shoes, not bothering to do a once over in the mirror.
His image disgusted him.
It was the image of a coward who was too scared to fight for his love. His right. Instead he just stood by as everything slipped through his fingers, like salt. That was all that was left of his empire. His name. Pillars of salt.
…..
He had cornered her in the library the day before Christmas vacations when he finally gathered up the courage to ask her.
"Marry me granger."
"Shh!... someone might hear you."
"I don't give a rats ass," he hissed looking around them.
The library was empty. She wandered down the isle examining the thick textbooks.
"I'm looking for the transfiguration book professor Snape assigned us. I can't seem to find it anywhere, help me would you. I think it's called…."
He grabbed her arm, pressing her against the bookshelf.
"What are you doing? Someone might see us!"
"The library is bloody empty, it's a Friday night."
"Then what are you doing here?" She raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Damnit Granger that's what I've been trying to say. Marry me."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"Aren't you worried my filthy blood would ruin your bloodline?"
"That's hardly a concern now. In case you've forgotten we have shagged on more than one occasion."
"Get off of me Malfoy. I hardly have time for your games now. I have to study for Snape's test."
"Shut up granger! He spoke much more loudly than he had intended to.
"I'm not playing games. I want you to marry me."
"No", she said simply.
"Well, why the hell not?"
"Because I want to marry a gentleman not a git that is practically forcing me into matrimony. You are supposed to ask Malfoy, not command me."
Her chocolate brown eyes were lit with amusement while his own expression softened up a bit.
"Miss Hermione Jane granger will you marry me?"
"Sure", she giggled. "And we could move to a muggle city like Paris and have dozens of children", her hands moved in the air animatedly.
Draco felt an all too familiar pang of hurt in his heart. She didn't think he was serious and he didn't know how to convince her otherwise.
Perhaps another time, he consoled his heart.
"Yeah and have Weasley at the wedding as my best man," he smirked, wrapping his fingers around the box in his robes.
...