Chapter Nine

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the rights to all the character's in this story.

Hermione came through the fireplace to find Draco in the same spot on the couch she had left him in. He looked up at her with sadness in his eyes, which ripped a whole inside her chest.

She moved forward and rushed over to him dropping to her knees in front of him. "I am so sorry," she said as she reached her hand out to find his. "I never should have asked Harry to do what he did, I was being selfish and a coward."

"No you weren't Hermione. You were thinking of the greater good. It was my punishment for taking something I never deserved. I never deserved you're love."

"How can you say that," she asked anger in her tone.

"Because I didn't change the way I thought because I had seen the error in my ways, in my beliefs. It was because you had made me fall in love with you, I didn't care about anyone else. All I cared about was you, and weather or not you were gonna make it out of the other side a live."

"Draco,"

"No Hermione, I wasn't a good person. I did things I am not proud of."

"You were trying survive something you should have never been apart of. Harry might have been the chosen one, but you were the boy who didn't have a choice. You were a product of your upbringing."

"You told me once, that I had a part to play, and my survival depended on how well I played it. Leaving you that night was the hardest thing I had ever done. When I got home, that was when the true hell started. He was living in my house, my father had been reduced to something lower than dirt. He punished me, for not being able accomplish my task. When I could escape back to Hogwarts I finally felt some relief. I was still plagued with the never ending fear of what would happen to you though it was in my every waking thought and my darkest nightmares. I knew that you would be with Potter, but the two of you had managed to disappear off the face of the earth. No news of the two of you was at least not bad news." He pulled her into his lap, needing the feel of her body pressed against his own.

"I went home for the Easter holiday. The Dark Lord was away, looking for the elder wand. My home though wasn't what it had once been, the screams from the dungeons were to hard to listen to, I found myself escaping to the gardens trying to find peace, but being left a lone with my fear nearly drove me to the edge. Then that night, you three were brought to the manor, and my fear reached new heights. I knew with just a touch they could send for him, and I knew if that happened there was no way any of you were going to make it out alive. I was scared that one of them would find out about us. When you looked at me though it was with indifference, as if you hardly knew me. I was confused by it, Snape had taught me Occlumens. I searched your mind for any clues, I think you were to scared out of your mind you didn't even notice me there. I couldn't find a trace of me there. It was as if what we shared between us never happened. I thought someone had found out about us, and that they were trying to punish me for it. It wasn't till after the war when Potter approached me did I learn the truth. That it was you."

"I didn't do it to punish you,"

"I know that now,"

"Why did you never tell me, why didn't you fight for us,"

"When the war was over, you were with Weasley. You seemed happy, with no burdens. I wasn't going to take that from you. You of all people deserved to be happy."

"And why not after we had broken up,"

"When things didn't work with the two of you, your names had been plastered all over the paper. The scandal of what he had done, I knew that it almost destroyed what little peace you had regained. I wasn't going to drag with through that all over again. After the trailers I took my punishment. I went to university, and when I was done I came to the ministry. I became a lawyer because it was what you were doing. I think some part of my brain thought if I could just be close to you, that maybe you would start to remember me, remember what I had been to you."

"But you didn't stay long," she said remembering his short time in her department.

"They say the opposite of love is indifference. You were indifferent to me, you hardly gave me the time of day outside of the cases we had been assigned. It became to much, I was still so in love with you. I had thought it would be some sort of comfort just to be near you. It wasn't though it made the pain of it all unbearable. What I hadn't counted on was truly enjoying being a lawyer so when Eric Hughes approached about the job at the firm I took it."

"To get away from me," she asked sadly.

"No to start over, I had come to terms with the fact that I was never going to have what I once had with you. I needed to move on from it. I had to start building a life that didn't include you in it. It was the only way I was going to survive. Potter he has been a good friend. He's talked me round when I needed it."

"Then the Marriage Law happened?"

He laughed "Yeah, Potter told me that this was my second chance. He knew how you felt, he knew that being forced into something was the last thing you wanted for yourself. After everything we had lived through it wasn't right. I said no at first, I was going to respect what you said you wanted all those years ago. Potter though was a dog with a bone. He told me I wasn't the same person, he told me I was a better person now. I had done it not because of you, but for me. He even pushed Nott and Zabini your way. Hoping I would get jealous and make my move. He was right though, there was no way I was going to let the two of them take what was mine."

"So you showed up in my office," she said smiling, thinking about that first meeting.

"You know the rest,"

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

"I hadn't really decided. We had started over, and I didn't want to ruin it."

"You kept my letters though,"

"They were all had left of you. To remind me that the pain meant something. What we had was real."

"It was real Draco, it was very real. More real than anything I have ever felt. Harry said he took the memories, and placed them so deep my conscious mind would never know they were there. It left a void though, I have felt empty for so long, like I was missing this vital part of me. Now that I can see the whole picture I can see what I had been missing all along, and it is you."

"Harry told me to never give up,"

"I'm glad you didn't. I don't know if we would be here now if you had,"

"Married," He said with a smile.

"Yes married," she returned his smile.

"Hermione, I am in this. Not because of that stupid law. I don't want just five years with you, I want a whole life with you. I want to hold your hand when we are old and grey and be able to say that we made it."

"Oh Draco I want that to," he let a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

"Come up stairs with me, I want you in our bed. I want to show you how much I missed you, let's start trying for that family we didn't think we were ever going to have," she smiled before getting up and taking the hand he was offering her.

...

That weekend they could hardly drag themselves out bed longer enough to eat. They had been making up for lost time. She was sure six weeks later when the stick turned pink, it had been that weekend they had conceived their son Silas Warren Malfoy.

Their whole world changed the moment Silas came into it. Hermione didn't think she could love someone else as much as she loved Draco, Silas though showed her that she had enough love to do just that. He was the spiting image of his father, right down to the steal grey eyes.

Two years later they welcomed another boy Oliver Draco Malfoy who was the mirror image of his mother. Dark brown hair and warm chocolate eyes. Their world was complete, they had two health boys. Life though threw them a curve ball though and just 11 months after Oliver was born they welcomed a baby girl they named Clara. She was a mix of both of them, rich chocolate color hair and the most piecing blues.

Clare hadn't been planned, she was their Christmas surprise. They loved their children, they loved the life they created together. Everything they had gone through to get them to where they were was worth it.

It was crazy, how something as stupid as a Marriage Law had gotten Hermione everything she didn't know she needed. Looking back on it now, she wouldn't change a thing. Sometimes life was cruel but sometimes it was the most magical thing you could ever imagine.

The End

Author's note: thank you everyone for taking the time to read this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much I enjoyed writing it! I've got another store taking shape in my head so keep a look out for story titled 'Scandalous' which will be about everyone's favorite couple. Thanks again!