Hi there. Sorry it's been so long, but... I dunno. I wanted to make this longer, but it seemed about right the way it is, so... plus I'm completely swamped. Next chapter is in the process... and, it will be... shall we say... even more entertaining...
ciao. Jacinta.
Harry and Ron were unbearably neutral over the whole thing.
They didn't congratulate me, they didn't talk to Draco.
It was rather depressing.
The rest of our friends were great. They were all very positive about the whole thing. They all liked Draco from his time in the Order. Bill and Fleur even let him hold baby Genevieve when she was born on New Years Eve (he was so nervous, but he looked so sweet with a baby in his arms... which, incidentally, is what he said of me...).
But Harry and Ron couldn't forgive him for school. Or, for being so… I suppose, pleasant, though 'Draco' and 'pleasant' don't really jive... all of a sudden.
Not that he was pleasant all the time.
He was still sarcastic as ever. And snide. Mischievous. Obnoxious, narcissistic. Egotistical. Chauvinistic.
But I loved him all the more for it.
I loved him more then I could possibly say.
It's funny how that works.
If you had told me, even a year ago, that I would be as good as engaged, and to Draco Malfoy at that, I would have told you you were insane. And maybe even jinxed you because you were so obviously deranged.
But now, I can't imagine anything more perfect.
………………………………………….
Over the break, I started, almost unconsciously, planning our future together.
I would dream of where we would live (probably Malfoy Mansion, though would Draco really want to live there with all those memories of his parents?), what our children's names would be (Edward for a boy, Elizabeth for a girl, maybe?…), and occasionally, in the margins of the notebook he had given me, I would doodle (Hermione Jane Granger-Malfoy. Hermione Jane Malfoy. Mrs Malfoy. Mrs Draco Malfoy…) while I daydreamed.
Completely irrational, completely out of character, but somehow, it felt completely natural.
Through the rest of the break, Draco and I would sit together quietly at the hearth of the Weasley's large living room fireplace. The same one which I had found him in front of on Christmas Eve, despairing over his father's deeds. I would write, or read aloud, and he would rest his blond head on my lap, or me legs, or my shoulder, listening to my voice, or my heartbeat. It was those almost-silences which were most golden.
'Hermione.' It was on the last day of break, during one of these silences, when he breached the subject of what we were to do about the other students. But mainly Harry and Ron. 'What do you think?' he asked from my lap. 'Will the other two thirds of the golden trio accept this?'
I slowly and deliberately placed my bookmark in the large leather volume Harry had given me for Christmas, and shut it softly. It was only once the book was sitting comfortably on the couch beside me when I replied.
'Eventually,' I told him, drawing the word out. 'Harry might accept it. Ron…' I felt him shift, and I looked down at his silver eyes. He was staring apologetically up at me. 'What?'
'I'm sorry.'
'For what?'
'If I wasn't so damn appealing, we wouldn't be in this mess.'
I chuckled humourlessly, and laid my head back against the couch. When he heard me sigh, Draco pulled gently at my Weasley-jumper'd arm and muttered, 'Hey. Hey.'
'What?' I asked, opening my eyes a crack to look down at him.
'If they love you half as much as I do, they'll get over it.' He sat up and ran his arm around my shoulders. I buried my face into his arm and sighed again.
'I just don't want to have to lose them to have you. Or vice versa.'
He rested his lips on my temple for a moment, and then withdrew, but only enough so he could rest his chin on my head. 'You will never – ever – lose me.'
Sorry again. Gosh, it seems all I do is apologize! After the... 20th?... I should be free more... and especially the week of the fourth (my birthday!... and when all my projects are due...)
Anyways, please review - it encourages my writing... and yeah. Hope you enjoyed!
Love,
Jacinta.