She's Been Busy - Dramione

Draco

A/N I own none of the characters! Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and no profit is being made from this story. This is just for fun, leave me alone Joanne. Also trans rights are human rights and we do not welcome TERFs in this space <3

Draco Malfoy was doing his very best not to cry. That would shatter his carefully pieced together illusion, and his wife would laugh at him. It was really quite difficult not to feel emotional though, when, by all the gods, he had missed his wife like hell. He assumed everyone thought they'd run off to have sex, and whilst he was absolutely planning on doing that later, right now, he was just holding her. Breathing in her scent, his face buried in the mass of wild curls he'd missed so much, he held her as close to him as he could physically get. The last time he'd seen her, he'd made her promise to move on, to be happy, as he'd assumed he'd be gone for the full 25 years he'd been sentenced to, and he couldn't bear the thought of her languishing around, wasting her vast potential, waiting for his sorry arse to get out of prison. She'd ignored him, obviously, but she hadn't languished. She'd fought like hell to get him out, and woe betide anyone who stood in her way. He was sure he'd got a bit hard when she'd put the guard in his place earlier, especially when she was wearing his favourite outfit of hers. That had been intentional on her part, he knew that. He'd never known beauty like hers. She was radiant, light pouring from her, refusing to allow him to remain in the dark where he'd been hiding. In eighth year, with his prejudices long forgotten, he'd fallen hard and fast for her. It hadn't been pity that Hermione had shown to him and Theo, it was outrage on their behalf. She'd seen injustice, and she'd known that she could help, so in classic gryffindor fashion, she'd told everyone else to go and fuck themselves, and had resolutely sat with them for every meal for the rest of the year. Even being at the slytherin table, McGonagall hadn't said a word, perhaps allowing Hermione the space to do as she pleased, considering her actions in the war. She had more than earned that right. Theo wasn't entirely correct about his secret crush. He'd harboured feelings for the witch long before the Yule Ball, but it was that night that cemented it for him. It had been as though every other person in the room was in black and white, and she was the only one in colour. She was all Draco could see. There was a reason his favourite colour was periwinkle blue. The day he'd asked her to marry him, he had cried. Just as he was crying now. He gave up trying to hold the tears back, Hermione knew already that he was a soft sap. She held him a little tighter.

"I love you." He whispered into her hair that was becoming more than a little damp.

"I love you too." She replied.

He hadn't allowed himself to think of her in a long time. Not properly. In the beginning, he'd clung to his memories of her like a life raft, as the cold loneliness seeped into his bones and he struggled to adjust. As time went on, he just missed her. It was an entirely different form of torture, being separated from his soulmate. Because that's what she was. He'd told her to live, to forget him, because he loved her too much to imagine her solemn and withdrawn whilst he was away, he refused to be an anchor. That didn't mean he liked imagining her loving someone else. It had made him sick to his stomach, in fact, and that was why he resolved to think of her no more. He carefully packed away everything he had of her, and forced the mental box to close, burying the feelings deep. It made him empty, but empty was fine. Empty didn't hurt anywhere near as much. Now, to find out that she hadn't strayed from him, that she had been steadfast and strong enough for the both of them, it made him love her all the more. The second he had seen that red shirt, the box in his mind had exploded, his body flooding with the emotions he hadn't allowed himself to feel for so long. Hermione was everything to him, nothing else mattered anywhere near as much. She'd done so much for him, for his mother and father, for his closest friends, how did he ever get this lucky? He didn't deserve her, that he knew for sure, but he was also selfish. Now she was back in his arms, he dared anyone to try and separate them. Never again, he silently promised.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked him quietly, leaning up to wipe away his tears.

"I am now." He replied, holding her face in his hands and simply taking her in. She was so beautiful. The most beautiful witch he'd ever seen. He'd been hers before they were ever a thing, but from the first time they kissed, he knew he was whipped. Completely gone. He'd do anything she asked. Anything she wanted, he'd give it to her.

"You are beyond spectacular, do you know that?" He said, and she scoffed. "Ah, no, now is not the time to be humble. Look at everything you've achieved, Hermione, it's insane. You're amazing, absolutely mind-blowingly incredible. I don't have the words."

"You'd have done it for me. I wasn't just going to lie down and leave you in there. We're in this together, Malfoy, I wasn't letting it happen."

"You're so scary." He smiled. "I think Pansy might be in love with you."

"I'll have to let her down gently, I'm already taken." She smirked, eyes sparkling.

"Damn right you are." He leant down and kissed her properly for the first time that day. The world faded away, it felt as if it was just them. He had no thoughts, it was just her. After all this time.

He leant back to look at her face again. She smiled. "Did you wear this on purpose?" He tugged gently at the hem of her shirt.

"I might have done. My husband told me once it was his favourite."

"He's certainly a lucky man. Do I know him?"

"Probably not. He's nothing special, just lanky, blonde, a giant softie." She beamed.

"As long as you don't tell anyone, Granger." He pulled her into another hug, resting his cheek on the top of her head.

"Sworn to secrecy, Malfoy." She replied, slightly muffled with her face in his chest.

"Merlin, I missed you." He said. She hummed in response. Another wave of tears threatened to escape, but he didn't hold back this time. They fell freely, and Hermione laughed softly, feeling her head getting wet once more.

"Are we going to have to send for the sorting hat? I'm holding a hufflepuff right now, I'm certain." She laughed.

"Just missed my wife." He muttered, burying his face in her hair yet again. It was maybe the thing he'd missed most, waking up next to her, suffocating on her wild curls that always found their way across his face in the night. They hadn't stayed together often, but those few times had only confirmed to him that this was what he wanted his life to be like. On the rare occasions she straightened her hair, he always made it known that her curls were his favourite, despite her being stunning regardless. She could shave her head and wear a sack for the rest of her life and he'd still think she outshone any other witch on the planet, but the curls had a special place in his heart.

"Do you want to shower? It's been a long day, you could change?" She asked, looking up at him, once again wiping away his tears.

"I will. I just need this a little longer." He once again wrapped his arms around her, and she laughed.

"I'm not going anywhere, Malfoy."

"I know. You're staying right here for the rest of time."

"Might make work a bit difficult."

"Don't care."

"Alright, get in the shower, you idiot. I'll be in here, I promise." She removed his arms from her, and walked over to the wardrobe, grabbing leggings and a shirt.

He raised an eyebrow at the shirt.

"Isn't that mine?" He asked, looking at the green fabric in her hand.

She looked down at the shirt, and back at him, and laughed. "I just got into a routine, I guess. It's your quidditch one. Smells like you."

"Now who's the softie?" He smirked.

"You. Definitely you." She laughed, throwing her balled up socks at him. "Shower, Malfoy, do it." She pointed at the bathroom.

He walked towards the bathroom, stopping in the door and turning back to her.

"I love you, Hermione." He smiled.

"Love you too, Draco." She smiled back, tilting her head at him.

He looked down at his feet, entirely content for the first time in a very long time, and finally closed the bathroom door.