Redemption.

Chapter 24

"Dad!" Draco looked up from the paper he was reading and looked down at his son, Scorpius. He was Draco in miniature, with the same silvery blonde hair and grey eyes. But their similarities ended there. His personality was more like his mother's...kind hearted, someone who would fight for justice, caring, understanding and all the other things he loved about his wife.

"Yeah?"

"Tell us the story about you and mom!"

"Yes, dad! Please?" Draco eyes shifted to his daughter, Aurora, who looked remarkably like Hermione. (Something he had been hoping for, when Hermione said she was pregnant for the second time.) But then, she was unlike Hermione in all other aspects. He could himself in his daughter- cold, calculating, but still loving to those who mattered most and fiercely protective of her loved ones...she was everything he didn't hate about himself.

"You've both heard it a hundred times." Draco said, hiding his smile behind the Daily Prophet.

"DAD!" they whined together.

Draco sighed. He knew they weren't going to let go. They'd inherited their mother's stubbornness, after all. "All right." he said, setting the paper down.

"It started 19 years ago, when I was a first year at Hogwarts, and there was this really annoying, bushy haired Know-it-all that I really, really hated. She hated me too. She thought I was arrogant. I thought she was bossy. As the years progressed, there was a time when I hexed her...there was a time when she punched me in the face." 

He paused here, as the kids did their customary roar of approval at Hermione punching him. 

"Then after the Great Wizarding War, we met again for our last year at Hogwarts and...I felt like she was less annoying. She felt like I was more handsome."

"Please." came a voice from the kitchen doorway, and Hermione walked in, using her wand to lay down breakfast on the table. "You thought I'd become more beautiful."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Anyway, then one fine summer night, after we'd both graduated from Hogwarts, we were on a date in Paris, and we had an argument."

"What argument?" the kids asked together, though they had heard it over and over again.

"About who loved who more. I told her I loved her more than she did, and she called me some colorful names for that."

Hermione chuckled at this.

"But you said that you hated each other!" Scorpius said, frowning. "How can you love someone you hated?"

"Just shut up and listen, Scor." Aurora drawled, crossing her arms over her chest and throwing back her curtain of brown hair.

Draco continued. "Then she got pissed off, and punched me on the face again, right in front a thousands of people, and she yelled, 'You're a git, Malfoy!' "

"Then?" Scorpius and Aurora asked simultaneously. This was their favorite part.

"Then that's it."

"Dad!"

"Then I did the most random thing." 

"What?" The kids asked impatiently.

"I asked her what her surname was. And she said-"

Hermione cut him off and spoke, smiling as she remembered the words. "You call me Granger all the time, Malfoy. It hasn't changed since I was born."

"She said those exact same words." Draco smiled at his wife. "You know the rest." he told their kids.

"Dad!!!!!!!!!" they screamed.

"How many times do you want me to do this?" Draco asked, peering at them both. They didn't answer.

Draco sighed, and got up. He got down on one knee in front of Hermione, and conjured up a ring with his wand, much like what he had done, years ago, on that wonderful night in Paris. It was always the same, a green emerald held in place by two diamonds that sparkled even in the dark.

"Then it's about time it changes from Granger to Malfoy. Will you marry me, Hermione?"

"A thousand times over." Hermione laughed as he made her wear the ring, even if there was already one on her ring finger.

"Wow." Scorpius said, looking dreamy.  

"I'll have to add this to the collection." Mrs.Malfoy said, returning to her room, as Scorpius trotted after her, babbling away. 

Aurora stared at her father, and he looked back at her. 

"Dad, mum is muggle born, isn't she?" she asked, looking a lot like her mother, but sounding a lot like him.

"Yes." he answered carefully. 

"Some of the kids in school say it's a bad thing to be a muggle born. Is it true? Does it matter? Being a muggle born?" 

He ruffled her hair slightly and said. "No. It doesn't matter in the slightest."  

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Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy then grew old together. The watched as their son and daughter grew up, fell in love, married and each had their own families.
Draco and Hermione loved each other till the end...stood by each other during the ups and the downs...their love burning like a talisman against all the people who tried to break them apart.

Hermione looked at their entwined, wrinkled hands, and thought of how lucky she was to have spent her life with a husband like Draco. They sat on the terrace of the Malfoy Manor, looking up at the stars, just like old times. Hermione glanced at him. His silvery blonde hair had receded back, and the wrinkles had taken hold of his pale skin. His jaw was week, unlike what it had been, once upon a time.
His grey eyes didn't look shattered like they had, all those years ago in the Prefect's bathroom. They were full, complete and filled with peace and love- Love for her.

To her, he still looked like the cocky, and arrogant Slytherin she had punched in their third year.

To her, he still looked like the tall, lean, and sexy man who had fallen one one knee and asked her to marry him.

To her, he still looked like the ecstatic, handsome groom he had been, the day they made their vows to each other...

Draco looked at his wife, her grey-brown hair, falling around her face, the stars reflecting off her brown eyes, which looked tired, but content. He counted the age lines on her forehead, and the crinkles around her doe-shaped eyes. He thought of what a lucky man he was to have got an angel like her. He silently thanked whoever was sitting up there, for giving him the one person in his life, whom he loved more than anybody else.

To him, she looked as bold and stubborn as she had on the day she punched him.

To him, she looked as sweet and beautiful when she had told him 'Yes'. 

To him, she looked as radiant and angelic as she had on the day she walked down the aisle towards his awaiting arms...

THE END.

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Those who read this note from the Author, 

Thanks for sticking till the end.

So there you have it! I really really hoped you liked the fan fiction. This is my first ever Dramione fan fic, and though it's not the best, I wrote it with all my heart. 

Cheers to all Dramione shippers! xD

Love y'all

La icepopsickle.