May, 2017

Draco was slowly remembering every aspect of Pansy that had annoyed him when they were dating at Hogwarts. Her sleeping habits were one of them. She clung to him like a child does her teddy bear, but that he didn't mind so much. Hermione used to do the same, probably still did. Astoria had been a night hugger too. But Pansy moved in her sleep. It wasn't the once every two to three hours she made herself a little more comfy or turned over on her side. No. She moved every half an hour. And every time she moved, Pansy went from gently holding him around the waist to practically sleeping directly on top of him. It was a nightmare without the dream.

Sighing, Draco was staring up at the ceiling after having been woken up for the fourth time that night. As he began to count backwards in a feeble effort to get sleepy again, he heard a tap on his window. An owl was politely waiting to get in. Draco looked down at himself and cursed. Pansy was completely on top of him. It took him a near ten minutes of wriggling, poking, and tickling to ease the sleeping woman from off of him. It was only when he got closer to the window that he recognized the owl as Hermione's. It was hastily written on an old, ripped up piece of parchment and held three words: I need you. Draco didn't need any more prodding. He quickly dressed and headed to his study so that he could Floo to Hermione's place. When he got there his heart broke in half at seeing the usually strong and brave Hermione that he knew a weeping mess. At the sound of the flames she had brought her attention to him and wiped her eyes with a clump of already used tissues.

"I was afraid you weren't going to get my letter." Hermione said as she finished tending to her eyes. "It's so late and you can be quite the heavy sleeper when you're ready."

"What's wrong?" Draco asked as he sat down next to her. "I've known you for years and I've never seen you cry like this."

"It's Ron." She choked out, more tears threatening and succeeding to fall. "He's in the hospital."

"The hospital? What on earth happened?"

"He was just…being himself and trying to help. He had a late night at the Ministry, was heading out to buy something on his way home when he saw a fight. He tried to break it up, but the spells that they were using…one of them got him. Healers have been working on him for hours. I've only been home a few minutes."

Draco stared at her as her crying increased. He had never been any good with consoling. It made him anxious beyond belief and filled him with dread, but nonetheless he did his best. Draco wrapped his arms around Hermione and let her cry as much as she wanted. For a long time the only noise in the room was of her sobbing until he finally found words to say.

"…What did the Healers say?"

"Ron's in an induced coma right now." Hermione sniffled. "Healer said that he could be that way for a couple of days."

"Well, that's not too bad." Draco said with a nod. "Just a few days."

At that Hermione detached herself from Draco's arms and frowned. "The Healer didn't mean it. He may have said days, but the look he gave me? His tone of voice? They said weeks, Draco. Maybe months. Maybe never…"

Hermione suddenly stood and paced in front of Draco as she bit her nails. "Harry wanted to stay with me tonight, Ginny too. I sent them away. It took forever to do it, but I just…I had to. I couldn't take their gazes. I can deal with sympathy, that's fine, but I don't need nor do I want sad faces staring back at me. You were the only person I could think of to give me that. But I had other reasons for asking you here too."

Draco furrowed his brow as Hermione sat down across from him. She rubbed her hands nervously as she spoke again. "I had planned to stay at the hospital all night. I wanted to be there in case Ron… But I couldn't do it. My mind was running ragged. I kept thinking about all the other terrible things that could happen. I thought of Sophie. I thought of Harry and his family. I thought of you. And that's what did it." Hermione added as she ran her hands through her hair.

'I felt so guilty. There I was, in the hospital being told that my husband was in a coma, and all I could think about was you. About what it would be like if it was you in a coma and the possibility of never talking to you again. People shouldn't do that. If you love someone, you shouldn't be thinking of someone else-"

"Stop it." Draco said sternly. He rose from his seat and sat next to her, taking her hands in his. "Never doubt that you love your husband."

"I never said that." Hermione replied as she held back a sniffle. "I'm…afraid that I…love you more than him."

Draco blinked rapidly out of surprise. It took him a moment to collect himself, but when he did he said the only thing that he thought would soothe her. "…No you don't. If you did you would've packed up and left him years ago."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Draco, be serious."

"I am." He said with a firm nod. He then frowned and began to slowly caress her hands. "I never doubted that you loved me, Hermione. Not once in our entire lives together. But you love your husband in a way that you'll never love me. Not because you don't want to." Draco added quickly. "But because you have to. You can't compare two different things, Hermione. Don't ever try."

"But-"

"Don't ever try."

"…Okay." Hermione agreed, more out of defeat than anything else. "But only if you promise me one thing." She looked up at Draco and placed her hands on the sides of his face. "Don't die."

Draco furrowed his brow as Hermione held his gaze. "Hermione, I'm going to die someday-"

"Before me," Hermione corrected. "Don't die before me."

Draco placed his hands over hers and cupped them. He closed his eyes at the feel of her touch and took a deep, shaky breath. "Then you'd leave me alone. But I promise you this. In the end, it'll just be me and you. You hear me? Me and you."

September 2020

Hermione had been equally dreading and looking forward to her fortieth birthday. On the happy side, she was glad to be celebrating with her family and her friends. On the down side, she realized that she had actually hit the big 4-0. Although there were still several decades on the way, hitting yet another decade milestone proved to her that time was flying by.

Hermione hadn't wanted a big party. Instead she had wanted an intimate evening with Ron, Harry, and Ginny at a restaurant of her choice and then continuing the night with just Ron alone. But of course, her parents had wanted to celebrate. And when Ron told one person, then that meant he had unintentionally told twenty. The same went for Harry. Before she knew it her home was filled to the brim with people she hadn't seen in ages, food galore, and presents piled to the ceiling.

The festivities lasted well past midnight and Hermione was completely tuckered out. Ron more so since he fell asleep soon after his head hit the pillow. Hermione was a step behind him until she heard an owl pecking at her window. It wasn't often for her to have a sailor mouth like her husband, but after the long, yet enjoyable day, she was in no mood to pull herself out of bed. She was glad she had, however. It was Draco's owl that was hovering outside of her window. After opening it the lively bird dropped a letter at her feet and then flew away. Hermione opened it and found one sole word written in the middle of the parchment: Park.

Hermione glanced over her shoulder and viewed her husband's sleeping form. He wouldn't miss her for an hour. And so she quickly dressed and left her home in order to venture to the childhood park she and Draco still frequented as adults. He was where she knew he'd be: on a bench overlooking the kiddie park full of slides and swings.

"To think we were once small enough to play on these things." Hermione said once she found him. Draco looked up at her and grinned.

"Yeah… And to think that I once hated you on sight." He reflected and then got up from his spot. "And now I'm here wishing you a happy birthday."

"And ruining a good night's rest too."

Draco smiled. "You act like I've never done that before."

Hermione thought for a moment and nodded as they began their late night stroll. "I got a letter from Sophie yesterday. She seems to be liking it at Hogwarts very much. Oh, except for this one thing. She did write, and I quote, 'There's a mean little blonde boy that sits next to me in class. He always makes fun of my hair.' Can you take a guess at what the name of that little boy is?"

Draco couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, Hermione, I'm sorry. I swear I taught him better, but he's got other influences in his life other than me. At least that explains the letter that I got from him today."

"What did it say?"

"'Father, why can't spells fix a black eye?"

It was Hermione's turn to laugh then. "That's Ron's little girl alright… She's the absolute splitting image of me, but that temper of hers belongs to her father."

"In that case my son's going to end up in the hospital wing every other week."

"I'll talk to her." Hermione assured. "Besides, the last thing I want is to have the lovely Astoria Greengrass to send me a million howlers."

"No, you don't want one of those." Draco huffed as he sucked his teeth. "I've been getting one from her every week."

Hermione stared at him in surprise. "What for? For Merlin's sake you've been divorced for five years already."

"They started a month ago when Scorpius let slip that I had a 'new lady friend.'" Draco smirked. Hermione's look of surprise turned into one of interest as she returned a smirk back to him.

"A new lady friend, huh? Who is it this time?"

"A woman I've known for a while. She works in the financial district. We've been doing a few investments with each other."

Hermione kept in her giggle. "Oh, I bet." She shook her head then as their walk through the park took them through an archway of flower-filled vines. "Based on your track record since you've gotten divorced, I'd bet this new love interest to last three to five more months."

Draco laughed. "You know, I can't even argue with you because you're probably right. But speaking of bets, I have a birthday present for you."

Draco paused their walk as he stuffed his hand into his pocket. He took out a small box and gave it to Hermione. "Happy birthday."

Hermione took the box in one hand. She opened it, but looked up at Draco with confusion after doing so. "Money?"

"That's right." Draco nodded. "You may have forgotten our bet, but I didn't. You once bet me ten galleons if something happened between us by the time we turned forty. You've just turned forty, haven't you?"

Hermione picked up the ten galleons that was in the box and rolled them around in her hand. Yes, she remembered now. In all honesty she didn't mean for it to be a real bet, but to know that Draco had taken it to heart made her stomach uneasily flutter. She continued to stare at the money as Draco took her hand in order to restart their walk. Hermione didn't move however. Instead she placed the money back into the box and returned it to Draco.

"Eighty,"

Draco cocked his head to a side and frowned. "Huh?"

"If something happens by the time we're eighty, I owe you ten galleons." Hermione said with a coy smile. "To be fair, you never really had a good shot at winning this bet anyway."

Draco chuckled as he placed the box back into his pocket. "To be fair, I still don't. But that doesn't mean I still won't try."

Author's note: Well, we know that Ron didn't die. I honestly could never kill him. For me, the sweetest part of this chapter wasn't the fact that Draco actually upheld the bet, but the fact that Hermione gave him another shot at it. It says a lot about their relationship I think, as well as their silent hopes.

-WP