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Draco quietly stood in the doorway of Hermione’s home office with a blue knit throw around his shoulders, the one Hermione had made for him last Christmas. Crookshanks head popped up from the small couch he was napping on sensing another person near. He twitched his ears and made eye contact with the blond in the hallway. Draco tilted his head towards the bedroom at Crookshanks as the cat stretched and hopped off the couch towards him.
Hermione, still working, hardly noticed the blond but looked up when Crookshanks rubbed on her legs underneath the table on his way out. A few seconds later she heard a soft click of the door behind her, signaling her cat and husband had left her to work.
Initially, Draco was not the biggest fan of Crookshanks, especially when he insisted sleeping on the same bed as Hermione. But since going public with His relationship with the famous muggle born, and his consequential disinheritance from the Malfoy family, Draco had found a soothing comfort with the orange fur ball.
Hermione would try and soothe him with her words and kisses as Draco mourned for the emotional loss of his family, but he claimed it wasn’t her responsibility to heal him after being shunned by his own family. But deep down inside, Hermione felt guilty for being one of the reasons his parents refused to talk to them. She knew he was struggling with depression, something he wasn’t too keen on explaining to others, except his therapist. She still drove him to the appointments and held his hand in the waiting room, but never pushed him to to talk. She listened when he talked, wiped his tears away and let her fingers comb though his hair lovingly.
He had more good days than bad days but Hermione knew days like today, his mothers birthday, were especially difficult. She pulled herself from her desk, waving her wand around it to send her books back onto the shelves.
She walked past the kitchen where a bouquet of white roses and a single carnation laid, still wrapped in a soft pink paper with a ‘return to sender’ stamp over his mother’s neatly scripted name. Hermione carefully unwrapped the flowers and placed them on a vase on the breakfast table. As she placed each flower, Hermione let tears fall from her eyes. One for Narcissa, one for Lucius, one for Draco, one for her and one more for the pain and loss he had gone through. She knew he didn’t deserve this.
She wiped the tears from her cheeks and made her way towards their bedroom. Draco was on his side, facing away from her and with his hand on crookshanks body curled up next to him. She let the door click softly behind her as she slipped out of her robe and slippers, leaving her in a pair of cotton boxers she stole from draco and one of his old sweaters that always seemed to slide off her shoulder. She stared at his silhouette in the dark for a minute, feeling her heart break for him. Hermione slipped herself into the bed behind Draco and wrapped her small arms around his waist, intertwining their legs together and kissing the back of his neck.
“I love you,” kiss “forever”, she whispered.
She felt Draco exhale and squeeze her hand in response. They laid there, exhaling when the other inhaled, molding to each others’ body, and existing as one. She felt him shuffle and turn his body to face hers. He kept his eyes closed but Hermione could see the previous tears that had not yet dried. His cheeks and the tip of his nose were tinted pink , the same color as the wrapping paper the flowers were in. His mother’s favorite color.
She curled her smaller body around him, letting his head fall under her chin. From the other side, Crookshanks moved up to the empty pillow and settled, making sure his tail still reached Draco, incase he needed him. Hermione quietly thanked the half kneazle for looking after Draco. She wrapped her arms protectively around Draco as he let out a heart wrenching sob. His body shook and his breath caught as he struggled for air. Eyes filled with tears and throat congested with unsaid words, Draco pulled himself tight around her.
She cried with him. She cried for him. She cried for her Draco.
They hugged each other until he caught up with his breathing. Her hands was combing through his hair when he finally spoke up.
“Hermione?” He asked quietly, voice muffled from being pressed against her neck.
“Mmhm?”
“Can we go see mum and dad tomorrow?”
“Of course Draco. Anytime, you know that.”
“Can we, um”, his voice faltered a bit but before he could continue, Hermione cut him off.
“Bring Crooks?” She smiled above his head, towards crookshanks, who’s ears were perked, intently listening to the conversation.
“Yeah, bring crookshanks, I think, um, I think he likes it when we take him with us”, he tilted his head up to watch her.
“Of course, I would never deny the fur-ball”. She smiled at him, meeting his eyes for the first time that day. She let one of her hands scratch lightly against his scalp as she tried to soothe all the pain and hurt away.
“Hermione?”
“Yes?”, she brought her lips to meet his forehead.
“Forever,” he exhaled, “I love you”, he whispered, like their own little forever secret.