A/N: I'm very sorry, and thank you for waiting!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. (oh but Plompy's mine!)

"Imperio."

His voice was strong. But not his will. With her head against his chest, she could feel his rushing heartbeats. The force that should have made her pull away did not come, and her will, her thoughts, remained her own. It was because of this—his weakness—that Hermione decided to be strong. He needed her to do this. Her feelings for him would never be enough to cover the darkness of his past. He deserved a new start, a second shot at life—things her selfish desires could never give him. With every ounce of will she had, she stepped back and took the wand off his grip.

"Valieris Memoria," she whispered, wand aimed at his forehead, her brown eyes on his guilty greys. She could clearly see his suffering, for hurting her, for making her do something so horrible.

This, and all those memories from the past—when he warned them about chamber of secrets and subtly telling her to be careful, when he hesitated to kill Professor Dumbledore, when he denied their identity to Bellatrix Lestrange, the pained look in his eyes when the same woman tortured her in his own home, when his family abandoned Voldemort's side during the war—were all telling her the same thing. Draco was never evil. His conscience, fragile and tainted as it was, had saved him.

Hermione would never take away that truth away from him.

And so with the power he bestowed upon her, she would only make him forget one thing—her love.

"I woke up the next day with no memory of my adventure with Hermione, and very in love… with your mother. I sought Astoria out, proposed, and after a year, married her."

"And then I was born," Scorpius added.

"Indeed," his father answered, turning his wheelchair to face him. "But this doesn't change anything, alright? The moment you were born was the happiest day of my life, and you're the most important thing in my life right now. Do you understand that?"

"Yes father," he nodded. "Makes me think I owe Professor Weasley my life though."

"Why, did something happen in school my dear?" Scorpius jumped at his mother's voice.

"How long have you been there?" His father turned to her, voice louder than usual.

"Just now," she answered, "just came to tell you dinner's ready. You're going to love it." She kissed Scorpius' cheek and then his father's lips, slowly.

"Look at her dress, Harry, just look at it!"

Harry took the Daily Prophet from Ginny's grasp to see the picture she's referring to. It was Astoria Greengrass in her lavish wedding gown, sharing a long kiss with her groom, Draco Malfoy, who appeared to be very smitten. "It's lovely," he told his soon-to-be wife nonchalantly.

"But it's lovelier than what I'll be wearing!" She exclaimed, pouting as she snatched the Prophet back.

"Who cares, Ginny, when you're marrying me?" He told her playfully, eyebrows wiggling. She grinned and he just knew her momentary insecurity's over.

"Do you think she's still coming?" Ron asked from across the table, his fifth mug of butterbeer now empty.

"Of course she is, she knows how important this is to us," Ginny told her brother, folding the Daily Prophet back on the table. "Right, Harry?"

"Yes, she'll come." He answered, but Harry knew that it wasn't the only reason. Yesterday, when he owled Hermione to invite her on this very important dinner, he also broke the news of Malfoy and Astoria's wedding. He told her that it's time to stop hiding and move on.

A year may have already passed, but he could still remember the night Hermione came knocking on his door, crying madly. That was when she poured her heart out, telling him everything about Malfoy. How they met after the war, their deal, their meeting with Malissa Greenhawk who was just recently declared innocent by the Wizengamot, how she fell in love with him in the process, and how she removed all of these things from his mind.

He would never understand why his best friend would fall in love with Malfoy, of all people, but instead of voicing his thoughts, he just listened and held her until she was too weak to cry any more. That was the last time he saw her before she returned to Australia with her parents to hide and heal. Harry was silently hoping that the past year had been enough to mend her wounds.

His eyes landed on the folded Prophet on the table and decided to keep it in his bag, away from Hermione's sight, just in case. Ginny gave him a curious look but he dismissed it with a shrug. "Will try to see if we can still do some minor tweaking for your dress," he said, winking, to which Ginny responded with a fierce hug and a muffled squeal.

"Am I interrupting something," came Hermione's cheerful voice. Ginny immediately detached herself from Harry to stand and embrace her long lost friend.

"Oh dear, we've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, Ginny," Hermione replied, returning Ginny's embrace. That's when Harry saw something clutched in her right hand. A copy of The Daily Prophet.

"You've lost weight, Hermione. What have you been eating? Or are you eating at all?" Ginny asked as she let her go and have a seat. "And wait, why are your eyes so red? If you're sick, you should have told us, we would have rescheduled for you, right Harry?"

"Yeah," he answered, looking at Hermione. She must have cried after seeing the paper, making her late for dinner. "You okay Hermione?"

She looked him in the eye and nodded. "Yes, Harry."

"Ahem."

Harry grinned at Ron's attempt to get Hermione's attention.

"Hey Ronald," she turned to him. "How have you been?"

"Well… actually…" He just watched as Ron struggled to voice his thoughts. "Harry, I think it's time to order, yeah?"

If there's one thing that Scorpius missed the most about his mother, it was her cooking. Even Plompy couldn't compare with Astoria's kitchen magic. He found himself wondering if Professor Weasley could possibly best his mother in this department.

"I heard you discussing Hermione Weasley earlier, what was that about? Are you having troubles in her class, Scorpykins?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes at the mention of his nickname. "It's just Scorpius, mum, and no, I'm fine with Muggle Studies. My professor just happened to be of great help when father had an accident with his chair recently."

"Draco, is that true?" Astoria asked, slicing her salmon louder than necessary.

"Yes," Draco answered seemingly too focused on his food.

There has been an awkward five minutes of silence, before his mother exploded.

"That meddling little whore!" Astoria's knife and fork clanged on her plate as she dropped them.

"Watch your language Astoria, your son is here. Scorp, can you give us a minute?"

"No," he answered. "I think I should know what this is about, father." He was honestly just too tired of being clueless.

"Yes, Scorpius is old enough to know his perfect father's dirty little secrets."

"Scorp, I already told you everything there is to know."

"No, you listen to me Scorpius." It was the first time that his mother address him that way, and it surprised him.

"You think I left your father because of his condition?" She asked, and he nodded slowly in response.

"Yes, and that you have another man."

"What a joke! Yes, I left for Cormac, but it wouldn't have happened if your father was only faithful to me!"

"What do you mean?" He asked, not looking at his father.

"Your father is in love with that bushy-haired slut who thinks she can have everything just because she's best friends with Harry Potter!"

"Astoria, please…"

"You've been seeing her even before the accident?" This time Scorpius looked at Draco, but before he could defend himself, Astoria cut in.

"Absolutely! I started to have suspicions when he started looking at me differently, like he didn't know me at all. I thought it was just a phase so I endured and tried everything I could to win his attention, but he treated me like a ghost." Her voice started to break and tears stained her face but she kept going.

"In my desire to know what went wrong, I watched him closely, searching for clues, until one day I saw him smiling while reading a piece of parchment. I knew that smile. That's the smile he used to give me, and it just hit me. My husband has another woman. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the home-wrecker was Hermione Granger-Weasley."

"It wasn't like that Scorpius, believe me."

"Alas, fate took her husband away because she took away mine. The howler I sent her that day paled in comparison to that." She took the napkin from her lap and wiped her lips. "I'm going to bed. I've lost my appetite."

"I wonder what's taking Harry and Ginny so long," Hermione said, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Actually Hermione, they're not coming back."

"What do you mean they're not coming back?" She asked facing Ron, whose eyes were already on her.

"Because I have something to tell you, 'Mione," he answered, and she didn't know why, but hearing that nickname again brought tears to her eyes. Maybe she just missed Ron. Maybe she just felt guilty. Maybe she was hoping for another pair of eyes to look at her that way, but it would never happen.

"Hey, I haven't even started yet," he teased, gently wiping her tears. She smiled at him.

"What were you going to say?" She whispered, voice hoarse from all the crying.

"That I'm really sorry for leaving you. I've been very miserable Hermione. I realized that I can't live without you. Hell, I've never loved anyone else after you." Once again, her tears came. If only she had been as loyal as Ron, maybe she wouldn't be hurting this much. She closed her eyes to just let the tears flow, and when she opened them, Ron was already kneeling down the floor, looking up at her.

"'Mione, my feelings haven't changed. If it's not you, I'd rather live alone all my life."

Hermione was not sure if her feelings will ever change, but she knew she could not stand being alone anymore. Ron loves her, and once in her life, she also loved him. Wasn't that enough?

"Will you marry me?"

He's gone, Hermione. He doesn't remember you. You'll never be with him again, she told herself. And before she could change her mind, she gently held Ron's face in her hands, looked into his eyes, and gave him her answer.

"Yes."