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Two years later
“Babe, have you seen my earrings?”
“Which ones, love?”
“The diamond ones.”
“You’re going to have to be more specific, they all have diamonds.”
Hermione huffed as she rounded the corner into the bedroom. “The diamond ones with the emerald drop that you gave me for Christmas.”
Draco stood from where he was seated on the bed, eyes scanning the boudoir table before selecting a small, black box. He opened it before handing it off to Hermione, the earrings she described sitting flush against the velvet interior. She plucked them from the box and quickly fastened them in her ears, before smoothing down the short, cream-coloured silk dress she wore. Draco had a new-found appreciation for her in this colour. It made her skin seem even more tan than usual, her natural glow accentuated even more by the swell of her stomach underneath the skirt of the dress.
“Did Harry and Ginny say they were going to meet us at the Ministry?”
Draco nodded, fixing his cuff links, the ones with the Malfoy family crest. “Ginny was dropping James off at the Burrow first.” He straightened his collar, giving Hermione a grin as he held out his hand. “Ready to go get married?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Hermione beamed and took his hand, her heels clacking on the hardwood floors of the Manor they called home as they made their way to the parlour Floo.
It had been Hermione’s idea to elope, one that Draco had wholeheartedly agreed with. Neither of them wanted the big weddings that Harry and Ginny and Ron and Lavender had, all they needed was each other for the rest of their lives. Oh, and the happy surprise currently tucked under the waistline of Hermione’s dress, a souvenir of sorts they had brought home from the night they got engaged. In the Burrow, of all places. Draco was beginning to see the appeal of the place, the warm and inviting walls feeling like a deep hug from a loved one, nurturing and comforting all at once.
Harry and Ginny were waiting in the Ministry for them as they stepped out of the grate, Ginny’s arms cradling her own growing baby bump. She was ecstatic that she was pregnant at the same time as Hermione, the pair making plans for future play dates. With Hermione having a girl and Ginny having another boy, Draco had drawn the line at setting up a betrothal agreement.
“There are plenty of ways we’re already connected to the Weasleys, we don’t need to be connected by marriage too.” If Draco had it his way, his daughter would never date anyone.
Ginny pulled Hermione in for a deep embrace, while Harry settled on a handshake into a half-hug, seeing Draco start to get emotional over their big day. Draco took Hermione’s hand once again as they made their way to the lift to the Minister for Magic’s office, rubbing soothing circles on the back of her palm as they rode all the way to the top floor, passing by Hermione’s offices. Within a month of James’s first birthday, Hermione had secured a transfer to the Ministry in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and was finalising her move back to the UK. As the owner of the manor, Draco had welcomed her into his home readily, soon turning it into their shared living space. The walls that once housed one of the darkest wizards in history were now full of sunshine, bright colour palettes, and fresh blooms from the gardens.
The lift doors opened to the Minister’s office, Kingsley Shacklebolt seated behind his desk as the group entered the room.
“Draco, Hermione, right on time. I see you’ve brought your witnesses?”
Hermione nodded nervously as Draco squeezed her hand.
“Ready?” he whispered to her. She squeezed his hand back.
“Ready.”
Kingsley ran them through the proceedings, explaining how the elopement ceremony would work, before he asked Draco for their wedding rings. Draco pulled a small box from his trouser pocket, two gold rings nestled inside. One a thicker solid band, the other thinner, laced with diamonds. Hermione had baulked at the amount of jewels she would soon be wearing just on her left ring hand, but Draco had reassured her that she was worth every stone in the world.
Kingsley took the rings from Draco, tapping them with his wand as they glowed a bright gold, his binding magic flowing through the metal. Kingsley handed the solid band to Hermione, who slid the band firmly onto Draco’s left ring finger, while Draco took the diamond-studded band and pushed it shakily onto Hermione’s finger, directly above her engagement ring, the ring he had seen in the Gringotts vault before Ginny and Harry got married.
Draco grasped Hermione’s arms just below her elbows as she gripped him in a similar position, tears welling in her chocolate brown eyes as they stared into Draco’s molten silver ones.
“I, Hermione Granger, take you, Draco Malfoy, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in health and in sickness, to love and to cherish, as long as we both shall live,” Hermione said shakily.
While they were free to write their own vows as their ceremony was bound by magic, they had agreed to honour Hermione’s Muggle heritage by reciting the traditional Muggle vows. Draco repeated the same vows, a tear slipping from his eye as he recited the last line. Kingsley performed the binding magic, ropes of golden light shooting from his wand as they swirled around Draco and Hermione, twining their way around their connected hands. The swirls felt warm on Draco’s hands as he felt his own magic erupt from his palms, surging through the soft skin that connected him to the love of his life. His arms where her hands gripped him felt warm, her magic flowing as freely through his veins as the tears flowed from her eyes. The beams of light coursed through their veins before dying off into sparks floating to the ground as the binding ceremony was completed.
“I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. Draco, you may kiss your bride.”
Draco used his already-strong grip on Hermione’s arms to pull her in close, crushing his lips to hers as he sealed their fate with a kiss. He was briefly aware of the sparse claps behind them from their friends, but all that mattered in that moment was the woman in his arms, with his ring on her finger and his child in her stomach.
Draco pulled back to lean his forehead against Hermione’s, using his thumb to wipe away her tears as she smiled against him.
“My husband.”
“My wife.”
* * * * *
Draco and Hermione had decided to forgo any kind of reception or fancy dinner, instead choosing to partake in one of their favourite activities; a home-cooked meal together on the outdoor patio that Draco had built by hand, no magic necessary. Draco’s hands found their way to Hermione’s hips more often than usual, his lips brushing against every inch of her skin as they prepared dinner together, working in harmony before taking their plates to the patio. Draco had enchanted glimmering orbs to light the dark sky around them, highlighting the glow of Hermione’s skin in the night air.
While he liked seeing her in beautiful gowns and dresses, this was how he liked her most. Baggy sweatpants, an over-sized t-shirt, hair free to run as rampant as she wanted it to. The first time he had woken up to her in his shirt, he had wanted to get down on one knee and propose right there and then, in her tiny one-bedroom apartment in New York. He knew from then that she was it for him, and no other woman would ever compare.
After dinner, they retreated to the living room, Draco sprawled out on the couch behind Hermione, his fingers tracing lazy circles on her abdomen as their daughter kicked at his hand. His face was nuzzled deep into her hair, the scent of jasmine soothing him as Hermione rested her hand on his arm, her rings shining in the dim light of the flickering TV screen.
“Love?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you happy?”
“Immensely so. Are you?”
“I’ve never been happier in my life.”
“You wait until the day our girl arrives.”
“You may be right there, Granger.”
“Actually, it’s Malfoy now.”