Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!

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The weeks melted into months.

Once the spring began its yearly fade to summer, Hogwarts held its first graduation since the war.

After an entire school year spent sneaking around to fall into each other's arms for a smog or a private cuddle, they found the ceremony a pleasant but brutal formality to endure.

Hermione and Draco had decided they would meet for one last tryst at the party scheduled to follow the main event.

One by one, each student came forward and collected their diploma from Headmistress McGongagall.

After they rowed their way across the Black Lake for that final time and reached the celebration that had been set up on the hillside next to Hogsmeade, both Draco and Hermione felt an anxious sense of excitement course through them.

Parents had come by invitation to share their children's special day.

The Grangers happily spoke to some of the other muggle couples there on that first ever occasion, while Lucius and Narcissa sat alone at their miserable table, still ostracized.

Draco and Hermione spent an acceptable amount of time with their families before they spoke to the classmates they passed as they made their way over to the refreshment stand, close to the woods.

The party was in such a heavy swing that no one noticed the two gradually slipping past the refreshment tent and into the mysterious forest that lay several feet beyond as twilight ended and night arrived.

Hermione carefully made her way through the trees, determined to find Draco before something else found her.

The last of the day's light seemed to vanish as quickly as sand in an hourglass as the dark foliage of the forest suddenly became much darker.

A twig snapped.

Hermione gasped.

She glanced around frantically but found no sign of Draco.

Had he been unable to keep their agreement?

Had he left the party early and let her linger there like a-

A strangled cry left her as a hand grabbed her wrist while another quickly folded over her mouth.

"Don't scream, Granger." Draco whispered in her ear, "They'll here us and then we won't get our snog."

Although they were camouflaged by the thickness of the forest, the couple could still hear the music from the party as Draco removed his hand from Hermione's mouth and led her to the strongest tree he could find nearby.

Hermione sighed as she let her head roll back against the wood while she placed her hands on Draco's chest and grabbed fistfuls of his collar.

"Thought you weren't coming." Draco whispered as he raised a hand to gently cup Hermione's soft, round face while he bent down close to her lips.

"Thought you were going to kill me." She whispered back.

Their eyes closed the second before their lips met.

Their kiss was filled with a warm need as the passionate affectionate ignited between them and threatened to send them both flying through the air.

Draco's hands moved from Hermione's face to grab her hips possessively as she hurriedly released his shirt to cradle his cheeks in her hands, desperate to pull him closer.

It took all that she had not to wrap herself around his strong waist and scream for him to do more, give her more, show her more, right there in the forest.

Hermione's own grotesque use of self-control shattered Draco's heart.

How many years had he dreamed of receiving the kisses his darling had finally started giving him some months earlier?

And yet, she had not mentioned their future once.

Was he no more than a toy for her boredom?

Draco sought to find out the truth as he pulled back from the richness of their deep kiss and gave her lower lip a teasing nibble.

"What will become of us now, Granger?" He asked, his smooth voice unusually rough with an urgent sense of need that made her fore tingle, "Another hour and we'll be gone from this bloody castle."

Her response caught him unpleasantly off guard.

"Draco…….." Hermione scoffed in a tone that was flatly serious, "What are you talking about?"

Playfulness died as seriousness was rudely birthed.

Draco let go of Hermione's lip and pulled back to stare down at her as she stood with her back pressed against the tree.

"Everyone's talking about their future tonight." Draco blinked, "But you've never mentioned ours…….What will it be?"

"...You're not daft." Hermione said with a sigh, "Surely……Listen, surely you didn't think-"

Draco's face fell as she frowned up at him in that staggering moment of mutual realization.

"-I suppose I've surely thought the wrong thing all along, Granger." Draco said coldly as he released her and took a step back.

"What are you doing?!" Hermione cried, "You're spoiling everything! It's our last night together! Can't we just enjoy the moment?"

"It's our last night together, is it?" Draco repeated.

Hermione sighed as she watched his pale features twist in anguish.

"Oh, Malfoy, stop it!" She commanded with a bitter chuckle, "Don't pretend to be the victim here, it's been a lovely few months, it has, but you have to understand, more than anyone else that this……this can't go on forever!"

Draco took a heavy step towards Hermione that caused her eyes to widen.

For a moment, he almost seemed threatening as anger flashed in his gray eyes as his gaze and voice went frigid, "I have spent the last eight years dreaming of what might be between us, Granger." He hissed, "...And now, in a single evening you've not only shown me there's little reason to hope for anything in this world, but also what a grand waste of time I've spent using chivalry."

Hermione blinked as her mind digested his words before he turned and stalked away.

"Draco!" She called out.

Suddenly, the idea of him leaving her there, of being separated from him seemed a greater burden than she could possibly bear.

He turned around with an expression on his face that stopped Hermione abruptly as she rushed to catch up with him.

"Try to understand!" She pleaded as she reached out and grabbed his arm.

A gasp feel from her lips as Draco jerked her towards him in one violent motion, until they were suddenly face to face in the darkened woods.

"I understand plenty, Granger. I believe it's you who need to take your own advice." He hissed.

"...What?" Hermione frowned.

"I beg you to understand," Draco smirked, "That I know what exists between you and me…..And I also realize how incredibly stubborn you are. I will have you as mine, Granger, my mate, my wife, the mother of my heirs…..I will have you, one way or another,"

Hermione feigned offense to hide the flush of arousal that burned her from her cheeks all the way to the core of her body.

As her fingers tightened on Draco's forearm, she had never wanted him as badly as she did in that moment.

"A-And what if I refuse? What are you going to do? Chain me to your bed?" She sputtered.

Draco paused for a second and let his scowl scorch her as he looked her up and down in the pale moonlight that bathed them both, "...That's not such a bad idea, after all."

Hermione clenched her jaw as Draco silently accepted the rejection she had levied on him, turned, and walked back to stealthily escape the woods with the intent of seamlessly rejoining the party.

Beyond waiting a few moments to make it appear as if the two of them had not in fact entered into a first rendezvous, Hermione leaned against a tree while she covered her face with a hand and wept.

What did Draco not understand?

Surely he didn't think that in the wake of the war, the outcome of their doomed entanglement could ever have turned out any differently?

Hermione silently prided herself for her level-headedness as she wiped her eyes and sniffed while she thought of the bravery she had shown by erasing her parents' memories and sending them away during the peak of the war.

That was what set her apart from others.

She may not have been the Chosen One, or a warrior, but Hermione Jean Granger was willing to do what needed to be done.

Little did she realize, so was Draco Malfoy.

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A month passed.

Two.

Three.

The couple exchanged no letters as they began to set up their adult lives in the wizarding world.

Hermione took an entry level job in the Ministry's record-keeping department.

Draco brooded around his manor.

While Hermione worked to establish herself as more than Harry Potter's sidekick during the war, Draco spent his days trying to ignore the screeching sounds of his parents' many arguments and preparing his room to be a suitable nesting space.

He spent a fair amount of time shopping for blankets, pillows, and all manner of silky softness that would make any omega feel welcome.

At long last, towards the start of autumn, the day finally arrived when Draco deemed his project complete.

As he apparated away from his home and traveled through the air using a tracking spell to guide his path, his heart raced with nervousness.

He had not been placed into Slytherin for lack of ambition.

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Hermione sighed to herself that evening as she finally stepped out into the street of Diagon Alley and began her late night walk back to her apartment.

Apparition remained an option, but at the end of each workday, she enjoyed letting the night air clear her head and calm her mind so that she may have hope of sleeping.

The streets were as vacant as usual by then, with one or two stray shopkeepers lurching past as they too headed home.

Hermione failed to notice the footsteps behind her as someone suddenly approached from the crouching stone archway that led to Knockturn Alley as she passed by.

As her undetected follower raised his wand, murmured an incantation, and hit her from behind with a burst of bright light, Hermione failed to notice anything at all as she fell to the ground in a deep sleep.