Hermione's home! (A Hogwarts Reunion)

How did THAT happen

Everyone around the table looked like they had seen Fluffy, the massive three-headed dog Hagrid owned. Apart from Blaise, the Italian man just looked at Draco and Hermione with a smirk that let them know he already suspected this was the case.

After a couple of minutes of everyone sitting in silence looking at the couple Harry finally broke the silence "But what about the Australian guy? Did you just make him up so we wouldn't know you were with Draco?"

"I am the Australian guy." Draco said nonchalant, putting Orion on the ground when he started to fuss, setting him free to go play with his new friends again.

"Mate, you're British!" Neville stated the obvious.

"He is, but I never said the guy was Australian! I only said we had gotten together while in Australia." Hermione said smirking, proud of how she had tricked all her friends with semantics.

"But what was Malfoy doing in Australia in the first place? And how did he know where to find Hermione?"

"I can answer that Ron." Said Blaise before Draco could even open his mouth. "You see, Draco here took a particular liking of our dearest Hermione back in 8th year, just ask Nev, Theo, Luna or Gin, everyone knew it!"

"That's an understatement, he was totally in love with her by December!" Theo commented.

"So, we all knew Hermione was going to Australia to look for Mr and Mrs Granger once 8th year was over and, even though I advised him against it, Draco decided to let her leave without admitting his feelings. Unluckily for me, he ended up spending every single day after that complaining about it and mopping on my sofa." He threw a glare at his friend. "After three months of it I had had too much so I talked to his mum and asked her to make him work for the company Lucius had started in hopes he'd get a grip on life."

"I still don't know how you convinced my mother." Draco grumbled from his seat.

"No one can resist his charm." A few people at the table chorused making Blaise chuckle.

"Anyway, Aunt Cissa told Draco she was tired of the company and made him CEO, a month or so after he started buying smaller companies in Australia and 2 years later he made New Zealand the headquarters of Malfoy Industries. Of course, this had nothing to do with Hermione, "I haven't seen the girl in years, for all I know she might be back home." Isn't that so Mr Malfoy?"

"Okay, maybe it had something to do with Hermione." Draco said scratching his neck awkwardly "The day I said goodbye to her before she left for Australia I was sure she'd be back in a few weeks. I mean, she's the Brightest witch of our age, how long could it take her to undo an Obliviate? But then a month was gone, and two, and three and I just had to have her back so I tracked her down in Australia. I watched her every day for a month before I walked into that café."

"A bit creepy Draco." Said Harry under his breath.

"Christmas Eve I could see her from the window and she looked so down and upset. Suddenly I had a memory from Christmas the year before, when all of us stayed at Hogwarts and did Secret Santa, this girl looked nothing like the bubbly one from my memory." Hermione grabbed his hand stroking her thumb on his palm, Aurora now cuddled up in Ginny's arms. "I knew I had to bring that smile back to her face, so I walked in and asked for two mugs of her favourite tea. When I walked to her and passed her the mug I did it as if it was completely normal for me to be in Australia. We stayed there for hours talking and every time I saw her smile my heart was swell."

"Okay, we can tell you were in love with her then and I know the feeling was mutual." Ginny said looking at Hermione as if daring her to disagree. "Why did it take you so long to get together?"

"Cause he's a wimp." Blaise said while pretending to cough.

"Ha ha, very funny stronzo." Draco gave his friend a death glare before turning back to Ginny. "I knew how important it was for her to get her parents back so I wanted to make sure all our attention was focused on that. It wasn't easy but I made a promise to myself that I would only ask her on an official date once we had succeeded."

"That's very thoughtful Draco."

"Thank you Luna." Draco smiled at the younger girl. "When Hermione decided to stay in Australia with her parents my only question for her was in which city she was gonna live in because there was no way I was letting her go again. After 18 months of dating she had started working on her own projects within Malfoy Industries, she had also moved in with me and I just knew I wanted it to be like that forever. So on Christmas Eve I went down on one knee and said "I spent 4 years pretending to hate you, then another 4 years coming to terms with the fact I had feelings for you and finally another 4 loving you. I'm tired of 4 year periods, I want a forever. Hermione Jean Granger, will you marry me?" and she said no."

"How did you say no to that? Even I would've said yes and I was already married by then!" Said Ginny incredulous.

"I wasn't ready Gin!"

"And that's why I kept asking every single month until you were ready." Draco added, stroking her cheek. "Although what I said earlier is still true, I was ready to quit after the 24th proposal in November 2004 and just live as boyfriend and girlfriend forever, but I thought I'd give eternal love one last chance and propose to you for the last time on Christmas Eve for the third year in a row."

"After two years and now 25 proposals I can tell you that you are indeed insufferable, you make me mad every time you say no but it just makes me love you more because you're so certain about all your choices and it challenges me to try it again. Hermione, I now realise that I loved you from the beginning, it was you all along and it will be you forever, wedding or no wedding! However, I'm asking you one last time. Will you give me the best Christmas gift and become Mrs Malfoy please?" Hermione recited his proposal, the one she had finally accepted, all while looking in her husbands eyes.

Draco kissed her forehead before turning back to their friends, most of them swooning at the couple. "And she gave me that gift, only to top it up a second later by telling me I was gonna be a dad." Draco looked away from the table, seeing Orion playing with James and Fred and he smiled, knowing that he was doing a good job raising his son, something his own father had failed miserably in doing. "Two years later we had a little wedding just with Orion, my mum and her parents and not even a year later she gifted me with the most beautiful daughter. And that brings us to now." He looked in his wife's eyes and, although his voice was much lower and softer now, everyone at the table could still hear him and the smile in his voice "You're pregnant."

"I am." Hermione smiled putting her hand on top of Draco's on her small belly.

*°*°*
I know this chapter is very long but this is the last one, at least of the reunion, I still got a 3 part epilogue coming after this.