Disclaimer: I do not own anything; only the plot (if you can realize that there is a plot). Everything else is owned by the brilliant JK Rowling. The first word(s) of every chapter came from the first stanza of the song "Until We Bleed", sang by Lykke Li and done by Andrea Kleerup.
Author's Note: This is a very wordy descriptive ending, since I've literally summarized the whole turn of events. I was planning to make this into a possibly 20+ chaptered work but since school's going to start in June and I figured I don't want to leave a work unfinished, I ended it like this.
And if Cupid's got a gun, then he's shootin'
That gloomy Sunday morning, Draco wrapped his arms around the crying widow of Ron Weasley. The two lay in a bed in Hermione and Ron's former apartment. Hermione found herself revisiting the place after her husband's tragic death, only to be comforted by the man who was the main conflict of her marriage.
Hermione and Ron married six months after Draco and Astoria. But it wasn't about Draco's marriage, but rather her want to settle down and correct her mistakes with Ron. But, at the last minute, she had doubts and went to Draco, asking him to runaway with her. To her dismay, she was rejected, but she secretly hoped their affair didn't stop there. After the wedding, Ron was very happy seeing their families altogether cheering for their union. She felt then that it was her destiny to marry Ron, no matter how much she wanted to change it.
The two produce two Ginger-haired children in a span of three years; a little girl named Rose and a baby boy named Hugo. Though they found it hard to hide from reporters always taking photos of their family whenever they went out, they supported each other and tried their best to protect their children from the flashing bulbs of the cameras. Eventually, they moved out of their apartment and looked for a more private home, which later made them neighbors with Fred and Angelina. With Ron's brother and sister-in-law's help, Ron and Hermione learned how to become better parents and, at the same time, a better companion to each other.
Though she did her best to be a faithful wife, she couldn't stop herself from wanting Draco to be by her side every now and then. As much as raising her children and doing so much work at the Ministry distracted her, she missed his hand caressing her face, his eyes locking with hers, their fingers intertwined. Her need for him only intensified when he started working with her in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures as her Chief Advisor in an annual fundraiser she organized. Those two months of overtime in the Ministry solidified their relationship. After Hermione's departure from the department, their meetings weren't as consistent; at times they won't see each other for months and just satisfied themselves with glances from afar. But she would always wait for Draco to owl a letter or call for an appointment at the Ministry. They would meet somewhere secret and use the time turner so their meetings would be undetected.
However, these meetings weren't sexual in nature. They never made love, not even once. Hermione, however how much she wanted to, couldn't see herself cheating on Ron like that anymore. Draco felt the same way and agreed that they shouldn't dare try and cross that line ever again. They would only see each other, talk about anything they felt like. At times, they would kiss each other passionately, but would leave themselves disappointed of not going any further. This would result to a night of guilt with their respective spouses.
But, all this while, another affair had been taking place already. During Ron and Hermione's wedding reception, Hermione invited Draco and Astoria. This, she concluded, was the biggest mistake she made, when she introduced Ron to Astoria. After thirteen years of being Ron's wife, she learned that Ron and Astoria were also having an affair in the most dreadful way possible: the two were found dead in a car crash in Hong Kong. Draco met her in her apartment in Lee to tell her the news.
"Why was Ron there?" Draco asked affectionately. He cupped her chin to see her red eyes still tearing up.
"He said there was an unusual murder case there that they believed—" she sobbed, looking away from Draco eyes, "to be the work of a wizard. He was supposed to meet the muggle law enforcement there to get more information."
Hermione continued to cry, believing it was entirely her fault that Ron cheated again. She felt it wasn't a coincidence that he chose Draco's wife as well. She could've stopped her relationship with Draco, but she didn't. She wasn't sure if he really knew it was Draco that she was seeing, but if he did, he knew well to take Astoria for his own. It was how Ron thinks, she said to herself, and she was the one to blame for everything.
"What was Astoria doing there?" Hermione asked, almost silently. She couldn't stop herself from sobbing.
"Well, she…" Draco stopped, looking at Hermione uncontrollable crying. He held her tighter and continued, "…she worked as a part-time Architect in the muggle world. She said it was therapeutic to become someone else for a while. And since she said she was good at what she did, I didn't hold her back. She said she had a client that wanted to build a house in Hong Kong."
Draco fixed Hermione's hair away from her wet face. He didn't know what else to do to comfort her and himself. He knew Astoria had known that he was seeing someone other than her, but she never brought it up. She just continued life normally, not bothering to ask who it was and why he was doing it. Instead, Draco saw her becoming more caring towards Scorpius, their first son, which will now be their only son.
"Did you have any idea that she—" Hermione wiped her tears and felt that she did not need to finish her sentence.
"No. Did you?" Draco took her hand and held it firm on her abdomen. He felt Hermione's head finding its way on his shoulder.
"No." With one last heavy sigh, Hermione stopped herself from crying.
Silence enveloped their embrace, only the sound of cars from outside interrupting it. A few minutes later, Hermione broke the embrace and sat up on the bed. Draco did the same. They knew they had another task at hand, telling their children. As they stood up, they composed themselves and decided to continue their talk over coffee. The news was still unknown to the public, as Draco requested a media black-out from the Minister of Magic. He knew that it won't do any good to them if the public found out about it too early with information they shouldn't have to know.
Walking towards Florance's place that early morning, they remained silent and discreet. No one was really there to feast on their presence but seeing them together in public wasn't really ideal for either of them. It was around 7 o'clock in the morning when they arrived at the café. They ordered two cappuccinos and two slices of chocolate cakes.
"Did you tell Harry about it yet?" Hermione asked, handing the menu over to the waiter.
"I was with Potter when the Minister told us. He is the Head of the Auror Department, after all." Draco sighed, placing his hands together on the table.
"But, why didn't they call for me? I'm his wife." This was said almost blankly, with a hint of disbelief.
"They probably figured Potter would be a better candidate in breaking the news to you."
"Well, why wasn't he the one to tell me the news? Does he know you're the one telling this to me now?"
"He does. I told him I would and that he should tell the rest of the Weasley's what happened."
Their orders arrived and once again they fell silent. They both knew the next topic would be their children and how they could possibly tell them about their mom and dad's death. After taking a few bites of their cakes, they continued with their discussion.
"Should we visit Hogwarts?" Draco uttered softly, putting down his cup of cappuccino.
"I think we should." Hermione took another bite of her cake and asked modestly, "Should we… tell them the truth… about Ron and Astoria?"
"No. I think it's only for us two to know. Or three, counting Potter."
It surprised Draco that Harry wasn't shocked about Ron and Astoria being in the same car. However, he looked concerned and sad about his friend's death. Harry was the one who suggested the possibility of the media black-out for a certain amount of time. He also helped Draco formulate a story that would somehow cover up the Ron and Astoria's affair, taking out memories from their brains so no one could get it and know anything more than what the papers will say when they give their statements and show the Daily Prophet the green light.
"Do you think Harry will tell Ginny and the rest the truth?"
"No. We already talked about it earlier this morning what we're going to say. They were well acquainted, so whatever story will be believable. After eating dinner at a local restaurant together, Ron offered Astoria a ride to the hotel where coincidently they both stayed in. Then the accident happened."
"I can't believe Harry would agree to lie to the Weasleys." She finished her drink, uncertain of how she felt about Harry lying to Ron's family.
"I don't think he wants your husband to be remembered as a cheating bastard. I wouldn't want people to remember Astoria in such an unpleasant way, myself." Draco said sadly. He can't look straight at Hermione's face, still not recovering from the sight of it crying a few moments earlier. It had been a long time since he last saw her cry; he had thought it would've been the last of it.
"So, that's what I should tell my children then?" She looked directly at Draco's eyes, trying to figure out what he was thinking about.
"I think it would be best if we didn't tell them the truth. They're good friends, you know; Scorpius and Rose. It wouldn't do them any good if they found out about the truth." Draco said in straight firmness.
"How are we so sure that they—" Hermione stopped herself in the sight of another set of customers entering the café. Assuring herself that they were muggles, she looked back at Draco with an inquiring look. "Are you really sure?"
"Hermione, I saw the memories myself. The minister took them to confirm if it was just indeed a car accident. But he chose me and Potter to look at them instead. In the memories, I heard them talking about lying to us, and how they should maximize their stay in Hong Kong as much as they could. They even talked about previous trips to other places and how they would like to repeat it again." Draco took her hand and sighed, "I don't want to believe it myself, but it's true."
"This is my entire fault, I think." Hermione took her hand away from Draco and slid it below the table. "If I hadn't been seeing you after I married Ron, he probably wouldn't have cheated again. He wouldn't have chosen your wife. None of this would've happened. Everything would've been fine."
A tear escaped from her eyes again, alarming Draco to wipe it off her face immediately. But before he could touch her face, Hermione already wiped it with her thumb. She looked again at the man in front of her and put her lips in a thin line, fighting the urge to cry as if her life depended on it. She knew he wasn't fond of seeing a woman cry. She composed herself and calmed herself down on her own. She let out another deep breath, composing her apology in her head.
"It's none of our faults. We didn't do anything wrong over the thirteen years of our marriages—"
"I lied at the altar the moment I promised to love Ron more than anything in the world. I broke my vows to Ron the moment I kissed you. Draco, I love you so much, and now this love had made the people we cared about lose their lives. I don't know how I'm going to forgive myself."
"Don't you think I feel bad for knowing Astoria's dead? Don't you think I feel horrible knowing the mother of my child is gone? Please don't put everything on your shoulders, Hermione." Draco licked his lips, preparing himself from another rationale from Hermione.
"But it's still my fault, if I hadn't been with you at all, I don't think they'd have the slightest idea of wanting another lover."
"It wasn't our fault that Astoria left for Hong Kong to be with Ron. It wasn't our fault that they died. We did our best to stay away from each other, but when they couldn't provide us the love we needed, we couldn't deny ourselves of accepting the fact that we still loved each other. Hermione, I know you know that point in time when Ron was always away for work as much as Astoria was to me. You can't blame yourself for wanting happiness like they did." Draco hadn't planned these words to come out of his mouth, but he knew he meant what he said. He couldn't bear Hermione regretting loving him.
"I just don't think seeing each other after this would be respectful to their memory." Draco's eyes widened, knowing the nature of her next words would be. "I think we shouldn't see each other, for the children, for everyone."
"Hermione, we've been hiding like this because of everyone for far too long. Everything we've done was for them. Isn't it time we do what we want?"
Draco couldn't put up the charade that he was strong, aware that Hermione won't be there for him. Hermione looked at him, understanding well how he felt. But, as she always did, she wanted to do what she thought was necessary.
"As much as I want to tell everyone about us, I don't think the right time to do that is any time soon. I don't want you getting hurt on what other people would say." She placed her hands on the table again, immediately taking Draco's cold hands. "Our spouses' just died. I think we should grieve properly before anything."
Draco took her hand and kissed it, looking her straight in the eye in sorrow. His own eyes started to tear up; afraid of the next days he had to spend knowing his Hermione won't be there with him to grieve his wife's death. He wanted to feel her warm embrace to help him feel a little better. He placed her hand on his cheek, not stopping himself from sobbing. This made Hermione's tears visibly falling again on her face.
"We'll be better off this way, Draco."
Hermione took her hand away from Draco once more. She opened her purse and took out money to pay for their coffee. They both stood up from their seats and walked towards the door side by side. When they both arrived at the portkey that will take them to the Ministry, they took a moment to have one last look at each other. Draco couldn't stop himself from hugging Hermione; he felt horrible and wanted to remedy his pain, not only from losing Astoria, but somehow losing Hermione in the process. After a few more minutes, Draco let go of Hermione, wiping the abundant tears flowing from both their eyes.
Arriving at the Ministry, they stood a few steps away from each other and got ready for future lives to be lived apart.
Author's Note: If you've read the two chapters, you'll compare the outcome to be a little parallel. In the previous one, they were away from each other then they became friends. In this one, they were 'technically' together then they were forced to be apart.. It's my take on Dramione. It's beautifully sad, the two of them "not" happening.
Thanks for your reading! I hope you still leave me reviews; I terribly need guidance over here. Kisses and bubbles! :)