A Hard Year

22

A/N: Well this is the final instalment of A Hard Year' and I would like to say thank you to all those that favourites, alerted, added and everything else. I hope this is the ending you were all looking for, for Hermione and Draco. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I Own Nothing.

The lake twinkled prettily as it trapped the last few rays of sunlight in the gentle ripples of water that lapped the sandy shore. The sky was painted with a kaleidoscope of pinks, crimsons and golds that outlined two shadows sitting peacefully on the water's edge.

A woman, not long since a girl, was held closely at the other's side as they both watched the sun fall asleep upon the world. The man that held the other kissed her temple softly clutching at a small box inside his trouser pocket.

"I've never seen it look so beautiful."

She smiled contentedly as she continued to absorb the beauty, love and happiness that surrounded them both.

"You're beautiful."

He whispered against her smooth and supple skin, aglow with the golden sunlight.

A gentle blush infused her ivory cheeks and he smiled amusedly at the way he still made her so nervous.

"I can't believe Caelum's 3 already."

The angelic blonde haired boy had been entrusted in the care of Harry and Ginny for the evening whilst Draco spent the evening with Hermione.

"I know it seems like yesterday doesn't it."

Draco bowed his head at the memory of Hermione's bloodied body and twisted limbs. That day he'd almost lost her and she was irreplaceable. The painful possibility that it could just be him and his son at this moment in time tormented his thoughts always.

"What's wrong Draco?"

Worry overcame her once relaxed and carefree tone as Hermione noticed the torment in his eyes.

"I'll never be able to think of that day without remembering that I almost lost you."

Hermione moved gently into his lap, her hands moulding to the sides of his face lovingly.

"I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

Draco's hands rested possessively on her hips and held the soft curves of her body close to his as he pressed his lips firmly against hers. She was his saviour and she had saved him in every way that a person can be saved.

"Have I ever told you that I love you?"

He sighed in between passionate kisses.

"You might have mentioned it."

She giggled musically as her hands drowned in the depths of his platinum curls.

"I want to make you mine."

He whispered as he once again reclaimed her tempting lips.

"I am yours."

She replies assuredly. Hermione knew that she could never belong to anyone else.

Draco gently turned Hermione in his lap and rested her carefully beneath his body in the bed of sand below.

"That's not what I mean."

Hermione lay confused beneath him as she tried to unravel his enigmatic gaze. Draco smiled in adoration; if only she knew how irresistible she looked when she cannot figure something out. He thought amusedly to himself.

Draco proceeded to bend his arm and reach into the depths of his right trouser pocket to retrieve a small, velvet encased, black box.

"Draco what's going on?"