Undeniable Truths

47~ Looking Back

"Mother, Father, I proposed to Hermione. I know you guys may think that was a bad idea, but I'm in love with her and I'm never going to give up my love for her. I've perhaps always been in love with her. No, I'm not going to change my mind, and you're not going to persuade me to not go through with this," I rehearse to myself in my mirror as I untie my tie to get ready for bed.

"You're going to have to tell them sometime, Draco," Granger whispers into my neck as she wraps her arms around my waist.

Turn around to kiss her, "And you're going to have to tell everyone else who I really am. But I think before that you should get dressed in something other than my button up shirt, love, not that I'm complaining. It looks quite nice on you without pants," I reply with a wink.

She giggles, "I thought you might, but I didn't think I was going to tell anyone who you really are."

I give her a confused look, "Why wouldn't you? They'll find out at our wedding."

"I figured the head auror was the last person you wanted to know you're really a wanted Death Eater, " she trails off. "You're still bothered by it aren't you?"

"Bothered by what?"

"By who you were forced to be. Being called a Death Eater," she explains as she wraps her arms around my waist.

I shrug, "It doesn't bother me too much, I'm just not used to anyone remembering what I was. No big deal."

"That's why you flinch every time I mention the term Death Eater," she states.

I take her hand in mine and guide her over to the sofa in our room and sit us both down. I lean against the arm and stretch my legs out to the other arm as she situates herself between my legs and leans against my chest.

She turns to look into my eyes, "What're you thinking about, my handsome boy?"

I shake my head, "You'd think it's silly to be thinking of such things."

"Try me," she jokes.

"I'm thinking about our time together at Hogwarts. How I treated you. How we acted towards each other."

"What did you honestly think of me back then?" She inquires.

"You didn't really catch my eye right away, I won't deny this, but once you did, I swear I couldn't look away." I pause to look into her eyes before continuing, "I didn't want to fall in love, not at all. But at some point I looked right into those gorgeous brown eyes, and holy shit I blew it."

"You foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach," she chuckles in reply.

"After I disappeared, I spent hours, days, months contemplating what I'd say to you if I ever got the chance. But I realized that no combination of twenty-six different letters could ever accurately capture even a sliver of how sorry I am for everything. I was awful to you. My family was awful to you. There are so many things I would change if I could," I look down at both of our forearms, I can see the word Mudblood just peeking out from the sleeve her shirt. I glance over at my dark mark that's on full display before us. I don't know which I regret more.

She notices, takes my arm, and kisses my dark mark, "They mean nothing. I look at our forearms and I see foolishness, but I'm not upset. Neither of us had a choice. These marks are products of the blood running through our veins, but they don't define us. We've both blossomed from them. You rebuilt a life under a different name, I became the brightest witch of our age. Our actions define us, not what others see us as."

It's moments like this I fall in love with her all over again. Moments where it's not all looking forward at the bright future ahead of us, but instead looking back at the past that still comes to haunt us. Moments where we have to reassure each other that the war is over, because even though all is well; sometimes we have a hard time believing it.

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Hey guys, I just wanted to add a note on this chapter because it's one of my favorites I've written so far. I'm not sure why, maybe it's because Hermione finally knows it's Draco and they can freely talk about the war. Please give me feedback on it and let me know what you think. Do you think this type of chapter is good or do you hate chapters like this? I want to give you guys what you like, so let me know!

That you so much for reading!

-Astoria 🐍👑
(Slytherin_Princess32)