A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you guys liked the last chapter. So because this story was a bit angsty and I am sure I disappointed most of you with the way it began, I decided to add two epilogues. This one has only one serious scene, which is very important, and I decided to make the rest of it fluffy. Also, I had already planned these epilogues, but I just wanted to know your opinion in the last chapter. Read the A/N at the end to find out when the next chapter will be out. On with the chapter! 

Few days later......

"Okay, focus, Draco." He muttered to himself. "White shirt with or without black jacket?"

Going to a business meeting, are you? His mind asked, no more like, taunted him.

"I would have been less nervous for a business meeting than this, you know?" He grumbled. "Besides, it's not like I would ever attend one, considering I am an Auror. A specially good one at that."

Can you stop being stupid?

"I am not being stupid." Draco insisted. "I am just..... nervous and awkward, I guess."

You are just worrying yourself over for absolutely nothing, ferret. His mind rolled his eyes.

"My mind is not allowed to call me ferret." He muttered. "My friends and almost friends are enough."

Almost friends? Who even comes in the category of almost friends? He could feel his mind scoffing at that. 

"Well there is Potter." Draco started listing the names. "And Potterette, though I am sure she is not even my friend, more like almost sister. That too because of Granger."

You seem to do a lot of things for her. Oh right, I forgot. The things people do for love.

"Of course I will do a lot of things for Granger." He sighed. "She is my best friend, you know. Been one for nine years now."

Okay so are you going to stop pretending that she is just your best friend or do I need to talk with Narcissa?

"As if my mother doesn't already have my mind under her control."

You don't trust your own mind?

"I don't trust anything my mother does or plans to do." Draco answered. "She is a Slytherin, and really cunning. Though she is awful at lying."

She lied to Voldemort's freaking noseless face, you know? Or did you forget that fact?

"Well I guess she is awful at lying to me." He nodded to himself. "I can read her like a book. She is actually quite predictable."

Like you know that Narcissa will pull your ear and hex you so many times if you mess this up with Hermione. His mind smirked, or well, he imagined it would do that anyways.

"Can you- Oh damn, it reminds me about my original question." Draco sighed and threw the jacket on his bed. "So from your taunting-"

Taunting? I was just saying the truth, Draco. 

"- it is clear that you don't want me to wear a jacket on top of this." He finished, ignoring the interruption. "Okay, so white shirt with silver tie or dark blue tie?"

I don't even know why you are spending so much time on choosing this stuff. You aren't even dressed yet and I bet Hermione will come home any second.

"I am spending so much time on this because I don't want anything to get messed up." Draco reasoned. "I don't want to do anything she doesn't like."

Well in that case you ought to wear a red tie. Or wait, you can wear red jeans, red shirt, red tie and even a red hat.

"Do I look like a joker to you or what?" He rolled his eyes. "Nobody can persuade me to wear red ever."

Right, so you just need to relax for a second. Honestly, why does it even matter what colour tie you wear? And why do you even need to wear a tie? You can do casual, you know?

"But it is our first date!" He exclaimed.

It is not your first date. His mind rolled his eyes. Have you forgotten the relationship you had in your eighth year with her?

"But we also broke up, remember? And then-"

You didn't break up. You just removed Hermione's memories of your relationship.

"Whatever." Draco waved his hand. "The point is, we are thinking about getting together again, and so this is our first date again."

But didn't you already have your first date two days back?

The blond Auror frowned, thinking about that day, when their 'date' had happened.

If you would call it a date, that is, because for Draco, he had no idea.

He had dropped Athy at his parents' house because they missed their granddaughter and wanted to spend some time with her. When he had come back home, Hermione informed him that she needed to buy some books, so she would be going to Diagon Alley.

As if she didn't already have enough books and had to buy more. 

Draco offered to go with her since he didn't really have anything else to do. After they had done their shopping, they went to a nearby café for lunch, and for some unknown reason, the manager assumed they were a couple and guided them to a special table.

A table with rose petals decorated on top of it and heart shaped balloons all around.

Draco had scoffed when he had seen that. After all, why was there a need to do that when it wasn't even Valentine's Day?

But seeing as it was the only empty table available, they had no choice but to sit there.

Draco mentally thanked Salazar that they didn't come here at night. Who knows what they might have decorated the table with?

A candle light dinner perhaps?

After having an awkward yet good lunch, all because of the decorations, the two exited the café and after sending their purchases home, proceeded to roam around Diagon Alley. 

Awfully tired, Hermione and Draco came back to his home in the evening, where they decided to watch one of those cliché romantic movies, probably because they couldn't find the DVDs of the other movies.

Draco suspected Athy must have hidden them somewhere while she was playing with it.

Though both of them could have used Accio any time to get the DVDs, they didn't do it.

Draco wondered why.

Anyways, they ordered Pizza after much thought, because the blond wizard refused to eat any other food, and Hermione wasn't interested in eating anything other than French that night.

But considering she was biased with Pizza, they decided to order it. 

And also drank wine with it for some reason Draco still hadn't found or understood.

Absolutely drunk, the two fell asleep on the couch at midnight. With the movie still playing in the background.

The actor and actress in the Muggle movie had just confessed their love to each other when Hermione and Draco had fallen asleep.

Next morning, both of them had sighed in relief when they found no awkwardness between them because of the position they had woken up on the couch.

Which was, Hermione laying her head on his chest with her legs sideways, and her arms wrapped around his waist. Draco had his one arm around her shoulders and the other rested on her arm which rested on top of his stomach. 

Draco was brought back from his memories when he heard the front door open.

Shit.

Hermione was back.

And he was standing shirtless in his room with the door open.

"Draco?" Hermione called him. "Can you come downstairs? I need a little help."

"Of course." He shouted and hastily picked up the white shirt lying on his bed and walked outside while buttoning it up.

He stopped in his steps when he saw Hermione stumbling as she tried to put her heels on while trying to take out her wand stuck in her hair with her other hand.

"What the hell are you trying to do?" He asked her.

"Training for the ballet." She rolled her eyes. "Come and help me, you idiot. I can't get my wand out of my hair and these heels are irritating me a lot and I just can't put them on."

"Hold on." Draco muttered and walked towards her. He swatted her hand as she tried to take her wand out, and instead, calmly and gently took her wand out from where it was stuck in her messy bun.

With the same wand, he muttered a charm on her heels so that she could put them on easily.

"Thank you." She sighed. "I was trying to put my hair into this hairstyle I saw in a magazine using my wand, but well, I ended up with my wand stuck in my hair."

"And what about the heels?" He asked. 

"Oh they are Ginny's." Hermione rolled her eyes at that. "According to her, I apparently don't have enough heels so she decided to lend me a pair of them for the gala. She wanted me to try them on right then and there when the gala is literally going to happen after two weeks. I don't even know what happened with them when I stumbled as I entered the house, but I was unable to put them on again."

It was then she noticed what he was wearing. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Why?" Draco tried to act innocent.

"Oh well you don't normally wear such fancy clothes at home, so I thought you were going somewhere." She shrugged.

"Well you are right about that." He nodded. "But I am not going anywhere. We are going somewhere."

"What?" She raised her eyebrows at him. "And why are you telling me about this just now?"

"I thought I would ask you when you came back home. Do you fancy eating out tonight?"

"Of course-" She stopped as she realised why he was constantly fidgeting with his collar, something he did when he was really nervous. "Is it just dinner or something more?"

"Well......" Draco scratched the back of his neck. "You can consider it as a date."

"Consider it?" Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "Is that your weird way of asking if I will go on a date with you?"

"Well if you have understood the meaning then get ready in ten minutes. We have a reservation." And without waiting for a reply, Draco went back upstairs.

"Typical Draco Malfoy." Hermione rolled her eyes again and followed him upstairs.

"Don't take hours to do your hair again, Draco!" She shouted on the way to her room. "I won't be waiting for you."

Inside his room, Draco once again struggled with which colour tie he should wear.

"I don't even know why I am this nervous." He muttered. "I have gone on so many dates in the past. I used to be the heartbreaker and Slytherin Prince in Hogwarts for Salazar's sake."

You know that Hermione is not like those other girls, his mind reminded him.

"Thanks for stating the obvious." Draco grumbled. "But she is still mesmerized by my good looks."

Whatever helps you to sleep at night, ferret.

"Hey what had I said about calling me that?" He protested. "But seriously, I want this to be perfect. I am already nervous enough because this is the first time I am going on a date with someone since...... Astoria left. And honestly, if it weren't for her, I wouldn't even be going on this date. I would have happily stayed alone."

"But I made a promise to Tori to move on, so I have to." Draco continued. "And I can't mess this up because I don't want to hurt Hermione anymore than I already have. Salazar, I even messed up while asking her out on a date. I think I have moved on from the fact that she hid things from me, and hurt me, and I know that she has done that as well. So technically, this date should not be awkward or feel forced. But you know what? If it is, then I don't think we will go on anymore dates. We both deserve better than to force something on ourselves."

After his long rant to himself, Draco looked at the ties lying on his bed.

"So what say, my dear mind, blue tie or silver tie?"

At the end, Draco decided to go with neither. 

Instead, he chose a grey tie. 

The restaurant they had gone to was Hermione's favorite one. So far, their date had gone well. 

It just felt like old times, when they used to go on secret dates in their eighth year. 

But this was different too. 

They both were grown up, and had different priorities. 

And as they waited for their bill to arrive, Draco decided to approach that subject. 

"So, there is something we need to talk about." He started. "Do you think we will be good together again? Or has this date gone well enough to have any future dates?" 

"I think so." Hermione slowly said. "It feels familiar, Draco, all of this. And I think I will like to see where this goes. But it is okay if you don't want that."

"I think I want that too." Draco said before he could think about it. "Salazar, I am rubbish at this." After a self deprecating and nervous laugh, he continued, "I had never imagine I would be with someone else when I started dating Astoria. And now when I am on a date with you, it doesn't feel real."

Before she could say something, he groaned. "Salazar, I feel like a foolish man on his first date right now."

"You are so cute, Draco." Hermione chuckled, ignoring his glare at that. "And honestly, I feel the same. When I had left England, I knew there was no chance that we could be together if I ever came back. I even tries going on dates to move on from you, but they never went further than just first dates. Well except for the one with Carl, but it was just a trap."

"So there hasn't been anyone in all those years?" He asked her.

"No one." She nodded. "Part of the reason was because I always wanted to come back here one day. And I think the other reason was because I was scared of telling someone why I had to leave England. You should be honest with your partner, and I wasn't ready for someone to know about it."

"Do you think we can keep this," Draco gestured between them, "secret for now? It is just that I don't want anyone else to influence this. I want us to continue this on our own pace, and see where it goes. And if it doesn't work out in the end, then I guess that's it."

"Then there is Athy too." He continued. "She is too young and I don't want her to know about us being together. For her, you are just my best friend and she is already quite attached to you. If she gets to know about us, not that she would understand anyways, and if we separate our ways in the future for some reason, it will hurt her so much. And I don't want that. Also, I don't want my princess to think that I am replacing her mother, because that would never happen, and you know that. I want to wait until it gets serious between us to tell her anything."

"I agree." She placed her hand on top of it and squeezed it. "So then what are we? Are we really in a relationship now?"

"Well," Draco started as the waiter brought the bill to their table, "I should first pay for our dinner, my dear girlfriend."

And as Hermione blushed and chuckled at that, Draco felt something he hadn't felt ever since Astoria had left him.

Free.

He felt free. Free from the hurt, the guilt and what not. 

As he exited the restaurant with Hermione on his arm, Draco didn't feel guilty or that he was hurting someone's feelings. Perhaps this is what Astoria had wanted for him.

And he had made a promise to fulfill.

Hermione smiled lovingly at the blond man beside her as he laughed at something she said. Despite the fact that they had not uttered those three special words to each other since their discussion about them getting together and also Draco admitting to her that he loved her at her belated birthday party, Hermione knew that the feeling would never go away.

Was this what forever felt like? She thought as Draco wrapped an arm around her shoulders and talked about some random thing.

And if it did, then she had no problem with it.

---------

"So what do you think is happening at Hermione and Draco's date?" Pansy asked as she entered the living room while carrying a tray in her hands.

"How do you even know they are on a date?" Theo asked her.

"Ginny told me." Pansy answered. "Apparently, Draco had to take her help to get a reservation in Hermione's favorite restaurant, and she reckons it is for a date. Ginny even told Narcissa about this."

"Then why isn't Red and Potter here to discuss about that?" Blaise asked.

"Albus scraped his knee while playing." Luna answered. "And James got a little bruise as well. So Ginny and Harry had to stay at home with them."

"But we didn't come here to discuss whatever the hell Hermione and Draco are doing on their date." Theo whined. "If they are even having one, that is."

"Oh hush." Pansy narrowed her eyes at him. "If you and Blaise-"

"Hey, I didn't even say anything." Her fiancé protested.

"Don't want to discuss anything, you are free to leave right this instant." Pansy ignored Blaise's comment. "Luna and I are enough, right?"

"Of course." Luna nodded. "Besides, I always thought Hermione and Draco would be good together. She keeps the nargles away from him, you know?"

The other three exchanged confused glances which went unnoticed by Luna for she was smiling dreamily by thinking of something.

"Well if my Luna-" Theo started.

But was cut off by Blaise. "My Luna? Can you get any sappier and stupider?"

"Is staying here then I would too." Theo glared at his friend. "I don't have anything special to do otherwise anyways." 

"So right, that leaves you, Blaise." Pansy crossed her arms in front of her. "You can leave if you don't want to discuss anything."

"You can't be serious." He gasped. "You are kicking me out of my own house?"

"No, I am kicking you out of my house." Pansy smirked, lifting up her left hand and wriggling her ring finger. "Fiancée, remember? Besides, this house was my choice anyways, when we were looking for houses, remember?"

"That is not the point here!" He exclaimed.

"So are you leaving or not?" She asked, going back to the kitchen. "Hurry up, I am baking apple pies and I need to know how many I have to make."

"You two bicker like an old married couple, you know?" Luna commented, looking between Blaise and Pansy.

"Oh please." The Italian wizard snorted. "That's Hermione and Draco. Have you ever heard their arguments? I feel like throwing them inside a broom cupboard whenever they start arguing."

"Answer." Pansy demanded.

"I will stay for apple pies only." Blaise muttered. "Bloody woman blackmailing me."

"Serves you right for going against Pansy." Theo stated.

"I didn't even say anything." He exclaimed. "It was you who was whining about that."

"You are so whipped, Blaise." Theo snickered, ignoring his friend's comment. "She has you wrapped around her finger."

"You say like it is not the same with you and Luna, Nott." Blaise retorted.

"Oh please." He snorted. "It is not at all like that. I am not whipped. And nobody has me wrapped around their finger."

"Theo," Luna turned towards him, "I heard there are Wrackspurts spotted in a town near Wizarding Italy. How about we go there tomorrow? My father has already gone there today morning."

"Of course." Theo answered, reluctantly as it is, because he still couldn't understand a thing about his girlfriend's stories about the creatures which he didn't know even existed or not.

"You were saying something earlier, Theo." Blaise smirked at him. "Something about not being whipped, I recall. Oh and also, not being wrapped around anyone's finger. I think this is a proof contradicting them, right? Wouldn't you say so?"

Theo glared at him.

Though he could do only that as just when he had taken his wand out and pointed it at him to hex him, Luna had smiled dreamily at him.

Salazar help him, Theo thought as he put his wand back inside, He was actually head over heels for the blonde witch sitting in front of him.

A few minutes later, Pansy came back to the living room, carrying a tray again, but this time with apple pies instead of cups of coffee and tea.

The four friends sat together on the couches and armchairs, discussing about their friends' date as they ate the delicious apple pies.

Apparently Narcissa had taught Pansy how to make the best apple pies after they had graduated from Hogwarts.

But still, the four people swore, nobody made the apple pies better than Narcissa Malfoy.

Finally, the discussion was finished much to Theo's joy and the apple pies as well much to his chagrin. 

Well he didn't really have a problem with discussing about his best friend's date with his supposed best friend. He would have happily done it any other time.

But this time, he had wanted to play Quidditch and also wanted to spy on Hermione and Draco.

Though since they didn't know where the two had went, and apparently Harry refused to give them his Invisibility Cloak, because if he wasn't able to go, then why should anyone else go as well?

Not that Theo and his girlfriend, and Blaise and Pansy would have fitted under the cloak anyways.

"Hey, do you remember what Draco announced at Hermione's belated birthday party?" Pansy asked the group. "Do you think one of the reasons for that is because of them thinking to get together?"

"I thought the reason was just Hermione's job." Blaise muttered as they all thought about the party and what Draco had announced.

Flashback

"Why do you have your hands on my eyes, Draco?" Hermione complained as the two entered the blond wizard's house. "Don't you trust me to keep my eyes close?"

"No." Draco answered. "You are too stubborn and impatient, witch. I don't trust you to not listen to me because you want to see the surprise."

"It is not actually a surprise, Draco." She insisted. "I know there is going to be a belated birthday party for me, you told me that earlier."

"But you don't know who all are involved-"

"Everyone." Hermione cut him off. "That's what you said."

"Whatever, Granger." Draco grumbled. "But there is still a surprise for you. So be patient, my best friend, and I am sure you will love it."

He removed his hands from her eyes just as there was a shout of, "Surprise!," echoing throughout his living room.

Hermione's jaw dropped and eyes widened as she saw her parents standing in front of her wearing S.P.E.W badges on their chests. 

"Mum, Dad." Her lower lip wobbled and she immediately wrapped her arms around the two of them as tears of happiness fell from her eyes.

Her parents were equally as happy to see their daughter, and they hugged her back, together mouthing thank you to Draco who stood smiling at them.

After they had wished her a happy birthday, Hermione asked how they were able to come here, because as they had said to her on a call yesterday, when she had asked when they will be back because when they had first come for visiting her in St Mungo's, they had go back soon because of some work, her parents had told her that they wouldn't be able to come as there were no tickets available on the flight.

And Hermione was too weak to do long distance apparition to Australia.

And when she had asked Draco while they were in Paris that if her parents were going to be there in the party, he had told her the same thing, that no tickets were available.

But Draco Lucius Malfoy, her precious best friend and the man she was in love with, was freaking unpredictable.

"It is all thanks to Draco, honestly." Jean smiled at her daughter. "He called us yesterday informing us about the party he had planned, and asked if we would be able to come."

"And when we told him we wouldn't be able to because of what we had told you," Robert continued, "He appeared at our house early in the morning, well according to your time, anyways. And after apparating us here, he told us to stay at his parents' house and only come here when you two would leave the house."

"You git." Hermione chuckled through her tears and hugged Draco tightly. "Thank you so so much, Draco, for this. I can't believe you did this for me."

"Anything for you, Granger." Draco whispered as he wrapped his arms around her.

"And wait," She frowned as she pulled back from him, "You did two long distance apparitions, despite the fact that you were injured just a few days ago. You do know how dangerous it was, right?"

She smacked his arm as she said this.

"Oww, woman." He grumbled. "And our feisty witch is back."

She couldn't help but smile at that and didn't protest when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him. "You deserve everything, Granger, and I will do as much as I can for you." 

"So you will join S.P.E.W as well?" Hermione teased, gesturing to everyone who was wearing S.P.E.W badges on their chests.

Except Draco, of course.

And well her too, but she wasn't informed about it. Though she gladly pinned the badge to her dress when Athy and James brought one for her.

"No, that's where I stop the boundaries." Draco shook his head. "I might be comfortable seeing everyone else supporting it because it is your belated birthday so I got the idea of everyone wearing it, but as for me? No. I am not interested in this spew rubbish."

"It's S.P.E.W." Hermione corrected though she was just happy that her best friend had decided to include something she had been quite passionate about in his planning.

As he guided her towards the table on top of which a five tier cake was lying on, he also gestured to everyone to pay attention.

"Okay so we have news ." Draco cleared his throat, and after taking permission from Hermione, he continued, "We are-"

"In a relationship." Blaise finished his sentence for him and everyone immediately started cheering.

Hermione and Draco's eyes widened and they immediately cast Silencio on everyone.

"Shut up, Blaise." He grumbled. "We are not in a relationship. The news is that Hermione is not leaving anymore, she will be staying here only."

They frowned when nobody responded and realised they couldn't respond. So they immediately removed it.

Still nobody responded. 

"Hermione was leaving?" Pansy asked in confusion. "When did that happen?"

"Oh I remember." Theo exclaimed. "Hermione told me about that on our date."

"Can we not talk about that?" Draco groaned.

"Wait you went to a date with Hermione, Theodore Nott?" Narcissa narrowed her eyes at him.

Theo gulped when he heard that. It was never good when Narcissa used someone's full name.

"And you didn't even tell me about it when you and Blaise came to visit me in the Manor, Theo." Lucius complained.

All this time, Draco was glaring at Theo. Intensely glaring at him.

"Don't worry." Hermione whispered to him. "It wasn't a date. I had made it clear to him that we will hangout as friends. Just friends."

Draco relaxed upon hearing that.

"Jealous, Malfoy?" Theo smirked at him.

"You wish." The ex Slytherin Prince retorted.

"It was my line." Harry muttered but no one paid attention to the Chosen One.

"Also, how is the guy you like, Hermione?" Theo asked. "Weren't you going to Australia for him?"

"Which guy is he talking about?" Draco asked his gryffindor best friend.

"There is no guy like that." Hermione sheepishly admitted. "I was just lying to him."

"I was literally going to tell you that Draco loves you when you told me that, Hermione." Theo shook his head.

"What?" Draco yelled. "The hell is wrong with you, Nott? Stop spreading rubbish news."

Though, when Hermione frowned at him, Draco leaned in and whispered, "It was for everyone. You know that I love you, Granger."

"But wait," Ginny interrupted them, "What is this about Hermione leaving?"

Rolling his eyes, Hermione and Draco explained everything to them. From the Australian job contract to the one Kingsley had given her.

At the end of it, everyone was smiling and also complaining that neither Hermione nor Draco told them about it.

"We also want to tell you something." Jean announced.

"We have decided to permanently shift back to England." Robert grinned at everyone. "We will do it as soon as we can."

Hermione smiled widely and hugged her parents once again.

When she was about to cut the cake, someone tugged at her dress and she turned around to see Athy standing there.

Giving her the best puppy dog eyes. "Mi please?"

Hermione shook her head and laughed, picking the little Malfoy up. But when she almost lost her balance due to the heels, Draco took his daughter from her.

Athy clapped the loudest when they cut the cake, which was of her favourite flavor, and she even smeared some of it on Draco's face.

And Draco couldn't complain of course, his daughter had him wrapped around her finger.

Then there was the fact that Narcissa would scold him if he scolded Athy.

Freaking unfair treatment and partiality by his mother. 

Flashback over 

"I really think they are going to be in a relationship." Luna nodded. "Draco is head over heels for her, and Hermione will look good with him as well."

"Oh can you imagine the headlines?" Pansy chuckled. "Auror Draco Malfoy is whipped for Muggle born Auror Hermione Granger." 

"More like the blond ferret fell for the Brightest Witch of Her Age." Theo added.

"Forbidden romance, more like." Blaise thoughtfully said. "I wonder what Narcissa would have done if Lucius was against Hermione and Draco's relationship this time as well."

"Oh I bet he would be running away while she chases him with her wand." Theo smirked while thinking of that happening. 

---------

"So what do you think Hermione and my dragon are doing on their date?" Narcissa asked the others.

"Wait, they are on a date?" Jean frowned. "How come nobody told me about this?"

"You disappoint us Hermione Jean Granger." Robert shook his head. "You should have told us that you were going on a date with the man you have been in love with for years."

"And I don't know what was going through your head, Draco Lucius Malfoy." Lucius rolled his eyes. "You have been ranting about Miss Granger for years now, and when you decided to go on a date with her, you don't tell me anything." 

The blond wizard then frowned and looked at his wife. "How come you know that they are on a date? Did Draco tell you and not me? Oh this is partiality-"

"Oh hush." Narcissa rolled her eyes at him. "You can stop your whining, Lucius, Draco didn't tell me. And remind me to scold him for not telling me later."

"But then how do you know that they are on a date, Narcissa?" Jean asked her. "You are not a, what is that word, oh right, Seer, are you?"

"I wish I was one, but I am not." Narcissa sighed. "Actually Ginny told me that Draco had asked her to help him with getting a reservation in Hermione's favorite restaurant. It makes sense that he would choose it as a spot for their first date, right?"

"My wife is a gossip queen." Lucius whispered to Robert. "She knows everything that happens in the Wizarding World. I am surprised she isn't a reporter, you know?"

"I can hear everything that you are saying, you know?" Narcissa glared at her husband.

"Scratch the idea of a reporter," Lucius whispered to Robert the moment his wife turned away from him, "Narcissa should be a spy. A damn good one at that."

"I can still hear you, Lucius." Narcissa hissed. "Be prepared to sleep in the basement tonight, no, scratch that, you can sleep there for a few days until I say otherwise."

Lucius gulped as Robert snickered at that.

The Malfoy patriarch would now have to face his wife's wrath, that too because of his son. Draco should be lucky he wasn't in the Manor right now.

Well at least his wife wasn't making him sleep in the gardens with the peacocks.

"Oh wait, I have a better idea." As if reading his mind, Narcissa turned back to him. "Instead of the basement, you can sleep in the gardens. But don't you dare do something to my rose bushes or I will make sure the peacocks will be chasing after you."

"Weren't we discussing the topic of Hermione and Draco's date?" Lucius asked, changing the topic before Narcissa could say anything further.

Though his wife knew exactly what he was trying to do, she decided to let it go. But only for this time. "Oh right. Do you think they would have danced at the restaurant they have gone to? I heard there is live music in the restaurant."

"I think so." Robert nodded. "Do you remember the way they danced at Hermione's birthday party? They looked so beautiful dancing together."

The other three nodded in reply as they remembered the night of Hermione's birthday party, and how the ex Gryffindor witch had danced with her ex Slytherin wizard.

Flashback

"May I have this dance?" Draco's eyes sparkled with mischief as he bent down and offered his hand to Hermione who was sitting next to Ginny on the couch.

"There is not even a dance floor, Draco." Hermione whispered, noticing everyone was watching them.

"Do you think I care about that?" He raised his eyebrows at her. "It is my home and I can do whatever I want, and however I want. So if I want to dance with my favorite best friend-"

"We are offended, Draco." Harry, Blaise and Theo said together, each of their hands on their chests where their heart was in mock hurt.

"-I will dance with her if she wants too, with or without a dance floor." Draco finished, not reacting to the three wizards interrupting him except for sending a glare their way.

"I am talking with Ginny right now, Draco." Hermione made a poor excuse, despite the fact that she wanted to dance with her best friend, but she hated the attention they were getting. "I am sure she wouldn't like you interrupting-"

"Oh just go on and accept his offer." Ginny pushed Hermione off the chair. "I was anyways trying to make you go and ask Draco to dance, seeing as you have been staring at him for the past ten minutes."

"You traitor." Hermione hissed to Ginny as she placed her hand in Draco's and allowed him to lead her towards the centre of the room.

"Good to know that I am so handsome and distracting, Granger." Draco whispered to her as he pulled her closer, placing his hands on her waist, as she placed hers around his neck.

"Shut up, Draco." Hermione tried to glare at him but failed, thinking about how much he had done for her today. "Your ego is already big enough as it is."

"You wound me, Granger." Draco made a poor attempt of getting offended but grinned as a familiar song began to play.

Hermione's eyes immediately searched for Harry as her favorite singer began singing the song. Sure enough, the Chosen One was standing in a corner, his wand pointed at the speakers.

Her traitor of a best friend, she thought. He knew this was one of her favorite songs and so he just had to play it.

On top of that, it was a romantic song which she had told Draco about in their eighth year.

"As long as you love me," Draco sang along the lyrics, "We could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke."

Hermione rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, dancing along to the song and smiling while listening to Justin Bieber's beautiful voice.

Flashback over

"It was so beautiful." Jean smiled widely. "hey looked like they were just made for each other. Like soulmates, you know?"

"Or like Forbidden Romance of two ex enemies." Robert commented.

"I am just glad I took plenty of pictures that day." Narcissa grinned while thinking of her camera. "I can't wait to put them in the album."

"Oh yeah." Lucius muttered. "She has made a mess of my study while putting the pictures in the previous albums she had made."

"Stop whining, Lucius." Narcissa rolled her eyes as the others laughed. "And don't be so dramatic. Honestly, Draco constantly threw tantrums when he was younger because he inherited your habit of whining."

----------

"Oh hey, Hermione, Draco." Harry greeted as he opened the door of his house and saw his best friend and her supposed best friend standing there.

Fine fine, the Boy who Lived reluctantly admitted. Draco was his friend too, but only because of Hermione. Honestly.

"Potter." Draco nodded back at him. "Thanks for letting Athy stay here."

"Oh you know how James would have become angry at me if I hadn't." Harry chuckled as he let them inside his house. "James and Athy have been playing since you dropped her here."

Sure enough, as they entered the living room, the two years old witch and her four years old best friend were sitting on the ground, playing tea party.

"So, how was your date?" Ginny asked as she saw them.

"Date? What are you talking about?" Draco asked, too quickly. "There was no date."

"Exactly." Hermione nodded. "We were just eating out, because we wanted to eat something different and purchase a few things as well." 

"Oh really?" Ginny raised her eyebrows. "But I don't see any bags of your 'purchases' in your hands."

"Oh well we already send them home." Draco answered and before she could say anything else, he picked Athy up and told her it was time to go home.

For which he received an angry and irritated glare from Athy.

However, ignoring her protests, Draco disappeared from there, Hermione following him after a few moments. 

"Such a duo of liars." Ginny commented, Harry nodding at her statement.

Draco carried Athy upstairs and gave her a bath, which wasn't an easy task because she just wouldn't listen to him.

A stubborn Malfoy trait.

Thankfully, she didn't protest when he read her a story about Hogwarts, and quickly slept, clutching her ferret and dragon soft toy.

He saw Hermione standing near the door and grinned at her. "So I saw something in the teely vision, Granger." 

"Oh really?"

"Oh yes. I saw a boy kissing the girl when they reached her doorstep." Draco leaned in and quickly kissed her. "Good night, Granger."

Hermione blushed as she touched her lips with her finger. "It's a television, Draco."  

--------

Next day......

"You don't have to go if you don't want to, Granger." Draco said as he leaned against the doorway, watching his girlfriend remove the non existent creases from her Auror uniform.

His girlfriend.

Salazar, he would be dishonest if he said that it didn't feel good to say or even think about that.

"I have to." Hermione muttered. "I need to do this, Draco, I need to get the closure. I know why Roger did all of that stuff, but I still need to look him in the eye and tell him that I didn't let him win."

She sighed and turned away from the mirror to face her boyfriend.

Her boyfriend.

Godric, it felt good to think of him in that way again. Specially because it has been years since she had given it a thought.

"I am just nervous, I guess." She whispered. "Scared, too. I know it is all over and all the Death Eaters have been captured but it still feels like they are there. The nightmares aren't helping in the matter either."

Draco sighed and walked towards her, wrapping his arms around her as he let her bury her head in his chest. "It is normal to feel like that, Granger, I do too. I feel nervous and scared too."

"Even now when I close my eyes, I sometimes see you and Athy lying on the ground in front of me, except that in the nightmares, I don't arrive in time to save you both, and see Dolohov standing near you both, with a knife in his hands." He continued as he gently rubbed her back. "Then sometimes I dream about how I found you when Roger had kidnapped you three years ago."

Hermione wrapped her arms around him tighter as she shivered while thinking of that awful memory. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't arrived in time." 

She pulled away a bit to meet his eyes. "And Godric, I didn't ever apologise for letting Athy get hurt that day, did I? I am so sorry, Draco, I don't know how I let that happen-"

"Hey, hey." Draco stopped her. "None of that, okay? None of it was your fault, so you don't have to apologise. In fact, I should thank you for saving my daughter. You didn't even care about your own life while protecting Athy, and for that..... Astoria and I will forever be grateful to you."

Hermione nodded. "I was just so scared then, you know? I didn't even care what spell I had in my mind when I pointed my wand at that Death Eater. I didn't even care whether or not it was a dark spell."

"Does that make me a monster?" She continued. "The fact that I didn't care who I was hurting? Does that make me a bad person?"

"Not at all." He shook his head. "You did what you had to do to save Athy. Protecting someone doesn't make you a monster. And I think....... I know that if I had been in your place, I would have probably used an Unforgivable and not given a single thought about it afterwards. Does that make me a monster?"

"It doesn't." She answered. "It just shows how brave and caring you are, Draco. You are a good person, no matter what others say. You shouldn't blame yourself for anything."

"Then you don't get to do that either." Draco whispered and wiped her tears away, and she hadn't noticed that she was crying until he did that. "Don't undermine yourself, Granger, you are the Brightest Witch of Our Age after all, as you remind me everyday."

"And I would never stop doing that either." Hermione weakly chuckled and pulled away from him. "We should go now, let me just grab my bag."

When she stood next to him again after a few seconds, he intertwined his fingers with hers and kissed her forehead. "You are brave, Granger, a very brave person, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Though Draco let go of her hand as soon as they arrived at the Ministry.

And Hermione understood.

They weren't ready to go public yet.

After all, they had just started dating yesterday, it hasn't even been a full day yet, and they didn't want anyone to influence their relationship.

They would keep the facade of being just best friends for now, they both thought as they made their way to the court room.

"The Wizengamot has made a decision." Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, announced after the break the jury had taken after all the testimonies had been heard. "We have decided that Mr Carl Jack Roger would be given a punishment of three years in Azkaban, and two years probation after that, followed by two years of restriction on his use of magic. If found out that he follows the probation properly, the Wizengamot might reduce the time he had to spend with restricted magic. The Wizengamot-"

"Minister, there is something I want to say something, if I may be granted permission for that." Draco exclaimed before Kingsley could finish the hearing.

"Proceed, Auror Malfoy." Kingsley nodded at him.

"Auror Potter and I had first hand seen how skilled and talented Carl Roger exactly is during his interrogation." The blond wizard started. "We couldn't help but be impressed by his use of magic to enter the Ministry discreetly, and we thought how talented he would be as an Auror. If you would allow, I suggest Carl Roger be allowed to become an Auror after his prison time ends, due to which, he shouldn't be given probation and restricted use of magic should only be there against very dark magic." 

"Fair enough, Auror Malfoy." Kingsley said after a few moments, and members of the Wizengamot nodded at his statement. "Mr Carl Roger will be allowed to become an Auror, should he choose to be one, that is. The Wizengamot is adjourned."

Draco breathed a sigh of relief at that and nodded at Harry, who was as pleased as the blond wizard upon hearing the news.

As they made their way out of the Ministry, they were stopped when suddenly someone called them. "Auror Malfoy! Auror Potter!"

Harry and Draco frowned as they saw Carl standing a few feet away from them, two guards on his either side. They made their way towards him, Hermione following behind Draco.

"I just wanted to thank you for what you did for me." Carl told them. "Thank you for making the Wizengamot give me way less punishment than I deserve, I know it happened only because of your testimonies. And for also giving me a chance of getting a job when the punishment is over."

"I did what I should have done, Roger." Draco told him, and Harry agreed with him. "Dolohov had tricked you, and you were driven by revenge. I am glad Dolohov is getting the Dementor's Kiss like he deserves, but you don't deserve it. You were just misguided, and I was once too, years ago. Even if the situations were different, I know how you feel right now. And as for giving you the offer of the job, it was right. You deserve it, Roger, and I hope you won't waste this chance."

"I won't." Carl promised. "And I apologise to all of you for whatever hurt I have caused. Specially you, Auror Granger. I used you and it wasn't right of me. I don't deserve any of your forgiveness, nor do I expect you to accept my apology. I just wanted to apologise."

Hermione nodded and just when they turned to leave, Carl stopped them. "Can you please let me visit my brother's grave before I go to Azkaban? I haven't gone there since 1999, when his funeral was there."

Harry nodded and after giving some instructions to the guards, the trio and Carl apparated to the graveyard.

Hermione conjured some flowers and gave them to Carl, who placed them at his brother's grave.

"I hope you are happy, wherever you are, little brother." Carl whispered, blinking back tears which threatened to fall from his eyes any second, as he looked at the grave.

Rest in Peace

Liam Timothy Roger

1980-1999

Beloved son of Jonathan and Anna Roger. 

A wonderful son, amazing brother and loving friend, who made this world a lot brighter. 

When they came back to the Ministry, they found Carl's parents and his sister waiting for him.

"I did the right thing by doing this, didn't I?" Draco whispered to Hermione as they saw Carl hugging his family, and apologising to them again and again.

"Of course." Hermione leaned against him. "I am proud of you, Draco, really. You did the right thing."

"Finally I have surpassed the great Hermione Granger." He smirked at her. 

"Shut up." She smacked his arm. "You git."

"Oww, witch." Draco rubbed his arm. "Is this violence is what I have to deal with for the rest of my life? I don't know if I want to continue dating a beaver like you."

For the rest of his life, together till eternity and in every lifetime.

They were soulmates, and now nothing can keep them apart.

Hermione could deal with his pratness, if it meant being loved by her best friend always.

Draco could deal with her stubbornness, if it meant being loved by his best friend always. 

They both could deal with the Wizarding World, and specially that Rita Skeeter, if they were together. 

A/N: That's it for this chapter. It was 8000+ words. Hope you guys liked it. So Hermione and Draco have had their first date and now they are finally together. Also, the Wizengamot scene wasn't much longer, because we already know all the details, so it didn't make sense to repeat what they all did twice. Random question: One thing you don't like about Harry? Answer in the comments below. Vote, comment and please share my story. Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you! 

Next chapter on 11/4/21(Sunday). 

Until next time.