Hermione opened her eyes and was blinded by the Sunlight streaming through the windows. The knowledge that her parents were on their journey to being okay flooded her with relief and happiness, but was quickly replaced by a sudden sensation fo someone breathing down her neck. She was snugly in bed and a masculine arm was casually draped across her waist in a familiar manner. Before she could register her surroundings, she noticed the gold and platinum band gleaming on the left hand on her waist. Her drowsiness left her in a second and she turned to face the married man that now slept next to her in the bed. Naked. They were both stark naked under the covers! What had she done! And when had he gotten married!

She turned around to face him and with her right hand, gently caressed his cheek to wake him up. His lashes fluttered and he stirred a little but his grip on her tightened as he pulled her in closer towards his naked torso.

So now she was in bed with this stupid handsome married git, with her head in the crook of his neck and his entire body draped around her much smaller frame. The fact that she could feel his morning arousal against her thigh did not make the situation any better!

There was clear evidence that they had had sex and that they were in his room in his bed. But all she could think of was that when on Earth had he gotten married and to whom!

She finally managed to free her left shoulder from under her and used both her hands to push him off her gently. Exactly the moment she realised that she had an exact feminine replica of the platinum and gold wedding band on her left ring finger.

She gasped loudly which made him open his eyes sleepily. Had they gotten drunk and married last night?! Dear Merlin what had they done! Before she could ask anything, the Slytherin Prince smiled at her and the next thing she knew his mouth crashed on hers and he was kissing her with a hunger she didn't know he had. She couldn't help but return his kiss and soon his hands were all over her, kneading her tender breasts as he pulled her in for a deeper kiss. Her hands found their way into his soft blonde hair and she was pulling on it for dear life as she moaned in between kisses.

As she finally decided to put all her questions on the backburner for now, she felt her wand buzz. The buzzing got irritating and just as she tried to get out of the bed to stop it, she woke up.

She was back at her apartment in London.

It was all a dream! Of course! She quickly checked her left hand for any ring and for a second she felt as if she saw the band of emeralds that she had worn as Draco's faux wife. High time she accepted it as wishful thinking. What had that man done to her with his silly charms! She groaned with frustration. She knew he was charming with everyone. It was just that he enjoyed getting a rise out of her more than the others, so the teasing had gone from the annoying kinds to the kinds that often left her blushing and breathless, she reasoned.

She made her way to the bathroom and splashed some water onto her face. She ought to get a hang of herself. Just as she was about to turn on the shower, an elegant owl landed on her windowsill and hooted.

Hermione made her way to the owl which gently took the treat from her hand and was on its way even before Hermione could read who had sent the letter.

The Malfoy seal stood proudly on the envelope with a cursive slant that she was not familiar with. She carefully opened the envelope to find another one within, with a letter attached to it.

Dearest Hermione,

Draco informed me how the case that you were working on has been successfully closed even though the mystery of Silvius and Adelia Malfoy still remains. I was told that you insisted on keeping that a secret for the sake of our family and their lives, wherever they might be. I must say Draco's not the only one who is glad you were there to support him on this stance.

You know we cannot afford another scandal after so many years of redeeming ourselves. So, thank you Hermione. And now that I am finally at peace with not only my sister Andromeda, but also the Weasleys, I have decided to throw a ball to celebrate the closing of this case and the beginning of a new era.

Draco must have scared you with stories of opulence from the parties I used to throw, but this would be the first one after the War and the first one where I would like to invite only people that truly matter.

The invites would be sent out tomorrow, but since you would be my guest of honour, I am sending out the first invite to you. Draco would be receiving his roughly at the same time as yours, so he might be equally surprised.

Just the employees of Malfoy Industries along with family and friends would be joining us. A few Ministry officials like the Mr Shacklebolt, the Minister himself also are part of the invitees, but that's about it. Nobody that you should be bothered about would be attending the ball.

The details are in the invite. I hope to receive your confirmation soon. I shall not take no for an answer so don't break an old lady's, heart. In case, you want the date shifted, we could do that. I will make the changes and send out the invites tomorrow.

Regards,
Narcissa

Hermione was deeply touched by the letter, how Narcissa seemed to have gone to great lengths to make sure that Hermione would be comfortable with everything. She put it down and even though she was not fond of huge gatherings and preferred homely ones like the weekly lunches, she knew she would not be able to convince Narcissa otherwise. Plus, somewhere deep in her heart, she knew this was part of Narcissa finding her old self back again. The misery was leaving her gradually and her mental health was getting better and better.

She quickly penned down a letter exclaiming how it was truly unnecessary but she did not want to deny everyone a night of attending a great ball thrown by Narcissa. And that she was rather excited for it and the Friday two weeks from now would be perfectly fine.

With the letter done and sorted, she rushed through the motions and hurried over to her office.

Draco was back at his apartment and had been spending much more peaceful days and nights. His Mother had admonished him for not trying hard enough to woo Hermione. All that Narcissa Malfoy did was sing praises of the former Gryffindor, all day. As much as he admired the witch himself, there was only so much that one could hear about another person from their own Mother.

Narcissa had warned him that he better take Hermione out on a date soon or else she would start meddling. And as it turned out, she had. There lay the invitation to the ball where he would be allowed to step in only if he brought along Hermione as a date! How utterly ridiculous! He would not be allowed in his own House!

All day in office, he sat wondering how he could ask Hermione to be his date, without actually sounding like a baffled baboon. He had started to prepare a speech in his head already. But, the need for a speech didn't last long. It was half past six and he was still in his lab. The Floo went off and in walked the object of his desires and torment, Hermione Jean Granger.

"Hey!" she said meekly.

"Hey!" Draco replied, putting down the phial of potions that he had been trying to study for the past one hour.

"Got the letter, huh?"

She nodded as she dusted off her clothes.

"My mother can be frightfully firm."

She chuckled at his revelation, "I realised that."

"So?"

"So?" Draco asked, seeming confused. Was there anything else that he was supposed to know about? Did he miss something in the letter or otherwise? Hermione moved towards him and was soon standing next to him. She gently placed her hand on his arm and looked at him.

"Thank you." was all she said. Draco murmured, "What? No. I mean why?"

"My parents. It's the best thing anyone has ever done for me. The most thoughtful. And or all that you did for me when we were stuck in the past. And..everything Draco." With that, she stood on her toe tips and gave him a sweet peck on his cheek. That little shy kiss probably was more laden than the explosive time that they had spent in the Cottage, exploring each other's bodies.

Hermione now looked keenly interested in their shoes as she looked down while continuing. "You are a great person Draco. Never doubt that. You might have been a git back at school, but you were loyal and never a coward. I am sorry if I ever thought those things about you, but you are so much more. And in the past, I might have been a little stand-offish, but that was nothing against you, I just didn't know how to act as a wife. Whereas, you? You would make someone a wonderful husband one day." With that, she gave him a sad smile and turned to leave as quickly as she had appeared.

"Hermione!" He called out in a rush right when she reached the fireplace.

"The Ball? I mean will you be my date for my Mother's ball?"

Hermione gave him a dazzling smile as she consented before flooing away.

That night when she went to sleep, she felt a little less guilty if mistreating Draco and a lot happier that he had asked her to the dance. She had hoped he would, but somewhere the narcissist in her had constantly been telling her that why will he take you when he can take the gorgeous pureblood witches that are ready to drop dead at his beck and call.

Draco was taken aback by Hermione's visit. She had dropped in out of the blue and the entire conversation had felt like a dream. The only proof that she was ever there in his lab was the Floo powder that had spilt from the fireplace when she stepped in.

Blaise Zabini was fairly impressed that his best friend had grown a backbone and had the brains to ask Hermione to the dance before some dimwit like McLaggen would pester to be her date. However, he could not understand how on Earth did the Draco Malfoy, Malfoy heir, Slytherin Prince, King of Ferrets, fall in love with Hermione Granger, Brightest Witch of our Age, Gryffindor Princess, Champion of all possible Causes. Of course, Draco had said nothing of that nature. But Blaise had grown up with the strange chap. He knew his silences better than anybody else. Draco's actions spoke much more than his words. And his actions were always subtle. The fact that he cared enough to be thoughtful towards Hermione apart from having great respect for her from the beginning meant that Draco felt a lot more strongly for her than he cared to admit. And the young Malfoy had admitted to being attracted to the bushy haired brunette, which was a huge confession coming from him.

Blaise sat in the parlour, waiting for his friend to turn up. Narcissa was busy preparing for the ball and had employed extra house elves for the task from S.P.E.W., a fact that had overjoyed Hermione. Both the young lads, along with Pansy and Theo were expected to help her prepare and Merlin knew what would happen if they refused. Nobody wanted to face the wrath or emotional blackmail at the hands of the Malfoy Matriarch.

"You cannot wear that to a ball! Seriously! NO!" hollered a very pregnant Ginny. "Why not?" whined Hermione, holding the slim fit black dress in front of her shoulders.

"Because it might make you look sexy, but it is so boring! I mean come one! Don't you think Draco would look amazing in a tuxedo and you would look rather boring next to him in this?"

Hermione sighed, putting down the dress. "I have had enough of fluffy fancy dresses for a lifetime, Ginny. I literally wore them every day when we got stuck back in time. I doubt it will make any difference to Draco. He has seen me in every possible dress."

"Who said anything about impressing Draco? I had just said you shouldn't look too simple next to his handsome self. Do you want to impress him? I doubt you need any clothes for that." The red head smirked when her friend blushed a shade that matched her hair's.

"Um..no! I just...it's just that I really don't want to buy another crazy ball gown. The dress I bought for the Yule Ball has never seen the light of day after that night. So, I think it's rather unnecessary."

Just then, an owl swooped in through the window and left a little package next to Hermione. The brown paper wrapped package had a note attached to it.

Hermione,

I do not know what you might be wearing for the ball, but I was hoping you could use these. Consider them a gift for saving my son and bringing back his old self. I can't thank you enough. Hope you like them.

Narcissa Malfoy

Hermione removed the wrapping and found a black velvet box within. Inside lay a pair of emerald earrings so exquisite that she could not help but gasp loudly. A pair of emerald drop earrings gleamed from within. Attached to two round emeralds were two tear-drop emeralds. The jewellery was simple and elegant and way too expensive!

"Malfoy really went ahead of himself this time. Instead of raiding the family vault, he actually went and bought you these this time! Wow!" Ginny gushed.

"Yes, but the other Malfoy sent these."

Ginny gave a puzzled look.

"They are a gift from Narcissa." Hermione handed over the note to Ginny.

"I cannot accept these! They are too expensive! Perhaps they have done enough! Draco gave me enough jewellery already, seriously! The Malfoys need to know that am not even fond of jewellery! Urgh!"

"But they have never given you anything you haven't liked, have they? Plus a wedding ring was necessary to play the part of his wife and Draco just got you the one which seemed to suit you the best. And the necklace was something you guys already had and he just wanted you to wear it for the night, that's what you told me, right? And since both are now back in time in the Malfoy vault, hopefully, this is technically the only one actually gifted to you."

"But I can't accept these, Ginny." Hermione sat down looking at the box in her hands.

Ginny stood next to Hermione and gave her a reassuring squeeze. "But returning them as it is, might hurt Narcissa's feelings, Hermione. Why don't you wear them to the ball and then return them later? That way she wouldn't feel bad that you didn't like or use them and you wouldn't feel guilty for accepting such an expensive gift?"

"I should probably right back to her about this."

Hermione penned a letter to Narcissa, raving about the earring and how she couldn't accept them as a gift for they were too precious! She ended the letter by saying that she loved them a lot and would thus wear them to the ball, but she apologised for she wouldn't be able to keep them.

With that done, Ginny managed to convince Hermione to buy a new dress that might be simple, but at least match the beauty of the earrings. Hermione refused to buy any of the opulent dress robes available at Madam Malkin's, so the two witches soon made their way to Muggle London, after all, Muggle fashion was way ahead of their times anyway.

Back in Diagon Alley, Blaise Zabini was now getting irritated with Draco trying on so many various tuxedos. Tuxedos were not a common wear in the Wizarding World so the choices were limited, but for the first time, Draco insisted on trying all of them to ensure that he picked only the best. Draco was usually so sure of himself that he knew what he wanted without even trying, but he seemed nervous.

"Draco they literally all look the same!" the Italian sighed.

"Okay. Yeah. You are right. Fine, I will take the one I wore previously in that case, and can you arrange for a pocket square, please? In a shade of red?" Draco asked turning to the sales assistant.

As they left, Draco asked Blaise to wait for him at the Leaky Cauldron for he had to go pick up something from another shop. He had to reassure the dark haired man that he wouldn't spend ages trying to choose things, for he just had to pick up an order he had placed last week.

Later, the two men apparated to the Potter's as per schedule. Harry looked like he had not slept in a while.

"Mate, you okay?" Blaise asked as Draco looked at Harry with a look that one could mistake for concern on Draco Malfoy's face.

"Just really tired. Haven't really slept at all. And the amount of work at the office just keeps increasing."

"What is keeping you up?" Draco asked grabbing a chair.

"My wife. Never get your wife pregnant. I mean am glad we are going to have a child, but Ginny is even more emotional and excited about things than before!"

"So uh, it's the hormones I guess."

Harry's red face gave them the answer and they burst out laughing. "You can't be upset that your wife wants sex! Ask Theo! He practically has to beg Pansy." Blaise managed to say in between his laughs.

Harry shot them both with a dirty look which made them just laugh louder.

"Fine. Laugh all you want. We'll see who is laughing at whom when your wife is pregnant with your first, goes all ballistic on you and you have no idea what to do."

At that, an image of Hermione standing with her back to him, came to Draco's mind. She stood facing a window. She then turned and smiled at him sweetly. He took in her radiant smile, her messy hair piled on top of her hair and the muggle loose clothes that she wore. What took his breath away was her swollen belly and how it made his insides swell with pride that this is what he wanted. Her. A future with her.

Harry walked out of the room to retrieve the files that they had to discuss before the next meeting was scheduled with the Minister for potions that Malfoy Industries had planned to create for Aurors that worked on-field. With Harry gone, Blaise noticed Draco's lost state and quickly punched him playfully. "Thinking of how soon you can shag Hermione with mini Malfoys? Aren't you."

Draco scowled at being found out and decided to reprimand Blaise, instead. "Oh shut up! There's nothing between us."

"And that's why you asked her to the ball and not Astoria?"

"No. I asked her simply because I know she had no one else worthy enough to bring with her, plus the ball is in our honour, so it's just convenient that we are with each other."

"So no feelings?" Blaise asked in a mocking tone.

"I don't feel, Blaise." Draco stated frankly. Even though this once, he was lying with a straight face, blatantly.

"You slept with her if am not wrong? And that was just once while you could have had her as many times as you dared? Whatever happened to the go-getter Malfoy? Since when did he become so concerned about the feelings of the girls he bedded?"

"Hermione isn't like those girls. Plus, if I did anything wrong to her, she would hex my balls off and I quite like them on me, thank you very much. Plus, it would hardly be sensible to vex her and screw the reputation that I built. I am on good terms with two-thirds of the Golden Trio and I had like to keep it that way."

"Suit yourself." Blaise dropped the topic as Harry returned with the files to the drawing room where they were seated next to the fireplace.

A stunned Hermione stood in the hallway, near the main door from where she had overheard the entire conversation. She could not believe how naive she had been! She had almost fallen for his charms! He was still nothing but a slimy Slytherin prick. Ginny stood next to her with an expression that mirrored her shock. "I am sure he was just trying to avoid Blaise's accusation of having feelings towards you." she tried to reassure her friend and herself.

"I think I need to be alone. I will see you later. Thanks, Ginny. And don't tell anything to anybody, please." With that, she turned on her heel and left just as quietly as she had arrived.

Ginny saw the hurt and remorse etched all over Hermione's face. She knew it was a bad idea to let her be alone at a time like this, but there was nothing anybody could do to fix Hermione's wrath at the moment. Ideally, she should talk it out with Draco and then send him after her to apologise. But he was right, she would hex off his balls.

So she waited until the guys finished their discussion and then asked Draco to stay behind for a while. She wanted to speak to him. Alone. This made Blaise and Harry raise their eyebrows, but her tone made Harry glad that Draco was being subject to his wife's scrutiny and not him for a change. What they discussed, unfortunately, could not be heard even with the improved Extendable Ears that George had gifted Harry. Ginny was also a Weasley after all and knew that Harry would try that, perhaps. So, Blaise and Harry simply stood in silence while the duo discussed God only knew what in the drawing room.

(A/N)

Hello!

I am sorry for uhh, this? But I need to clear out a few things so this. Plus, I really don't want to finish this story. I have grown very attached to it. Hehe

Anyway, I will post the last chapter on 14th of February for this book. A symbolic end, maybe? Or just an easier date to remember by all means. However, there are just one or two more chapters to go before this ends.

Hope you liked it :)

XOXO
Mili

P.S. The person who left a guest comment on Chapter 22, thank you! I am so happy you liked it so much! I hope you had left a name so that I could thank you with that a little more personally