The Brave at Heart

Epilogue

It took a year before Draco could more perfectly on his own the way he had prior to the war. Hermione was there, through it all, to help him. Together, they worked to be the people they once had been, to rebuild after the war.

Hermione returned to Hogwarts to finish her education. Draco did not follow her. Hogwarts was different. Instead of the hallowed halls, he could only see the people who perished in the battle. Hogwarts changed and Draco needed to rest.

His parents took care of him as he recovered. They respected his wish of living somewhere other than Malfoy Manor. Even they saw the ghost of Voldemort there and the numerous horrific events that took place there. It would always be the place where Hermione was tortured and Luna was trapped for months.

A few months after the war, Draco moved into a flat with Harry and Ron, both of whom began their training as Aurors. His parents pursed their lips but said nothing about his friends. Harry, Ron, and Hermione saved the Wizarding World. Lucius and Narcissa had come to accept they would always be in Draco's life.

For a long while, Draco considered what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He wanted to play Quidditch but with his injury and displeasure from his father, Draco decided to go into work at the Ministry, specifically the Department of Magical Games and Sports. This seemed like the next best option. He was also pleased to be working in the vicinity of Hermione after she finished Hogwarts and started work at the Ministry.

Life continued for the four Gryffindor friends. They did their best to move on from the war. Each week they would gather at the Burrow, where Molly would shower them with love and food.

Harry and Ginny resumed their relationship. They would babysit Teddy together, when Harry took him to spend time with his godson. They were serious about one another. Harry confessed he was going to ask her to marry him. "You should write her a poem," Draco suggested. "Sign it Pickled Toad."

Draco was banned from helping after that.

Ron went to see Lavender everyday following the war. Greyback did quite the number on her. Now, her features were scarred, never to be the same again. All the while, Ron and Lavender talked. And, he fell in love with her. It didn't matter what she looked like. She was perfect to him. They married one year later.

One day, three years after the war, Draco asked his parents to lunch. After exhausting their small talk, Draco turned to the heart of the matter. "I-I'm going to ask Hermione to marry me. I know you want me to marry a Pureblood. I know that the Malfoy line will no longer be pure, but it's just blood. Hermione is a strong witch, it doesn't matter where she came from. Blood doesn't matter. I'm sorry if I disappoint you, but I am going to marry Hermione whether you like it or not."

His parents were quiet for a moment. His parents, who continued to speak with Andromeda after the war, who reluctantly tolerated Hermione at their family gatherings, who even went to the Burrow on Sundays, shared a confused look.

"Draco," his mother's voice was gentle, "we have known for years about this. We were just wondering why it was taking you so long."

"We accepted you were going to marry her a long time ago," added his father. "It's not what we want for you, but our wishes died a long time ago."

Draco knew his parents would never fully forgive him for marrying a Muggle-born. But they had all been through too much for that to stop them.

Draco's proposal was simple. He took her to a nice dinner, and a long moonlit walk. He took her hands into his own and said, "I love you, Hermione Granger. I have loved you since our fourth year. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He dropped down to one knee. "Marry me, Granger."

"Yes," she barely uttered before he slipped an elegant engagement ring onto her finger and pressed his lips to hers.

Everyone was invited to the wedding, including Cynthia Travers, when they forgave and honored her part in the war. Without her, Harry would have died that day in the forest.

Even Hermione's parents came to the wedding. While Lucius and Narcissa ignored their presence, the wedding was amicable, not focused on the politics of wizard blood, but on the love Draco and Hermioen shared.

Nineteen years after the war, Hermione and Draco took their son, Scorpius, and daughter, Rose, to the Hogwarts Express, sending them off to the place where they had so many adventures.

"He's worried he'll be put in Slytherin House," Harry explained of his son, Albus. The train pulled away from the station, off towards the magical school, off to the place that once had been their home.

Draco smiled. "The Hat knows where to put people."

"Greatness, I see," the Sorting Hat had said on that fateful day when Draco Malfoy's life changed. "Greatness." How did it know? How did it know the greatness that awaited Draco in Gryffindor House?

He put an arm around Hermione's shoulders. This life was hard, but it was perfect. He was so thankful that Hat, that ragged old hat, put in Gryffindor, giving him this life. He was glad to be counted as one of the brave at heart.