Apocalypse and You | Dramione

August 13th, 2003.

August 13th, 2003.

On days like today, Draco woke with the hope of smelling Vanilla, wrapped in his emerald green sheets and the sound of his mother calling him to eat in the dining room. To feel the safety of magic running through his veins.

Yet on days like today, Draco woke up with his back pressed against the bathtub, the cold wall of it sank into his skin and coated his body with goosebumps.

There was one positive to waking up in a bathtub three sizes too small. He would wake up with Hermione's face buried in his shoulder and the breaths of her gentle snore pressing against his skin.

She's your safety, now, Draco.

"Are you awake?" Draco whispered, running his fingers beneath her jumper, so that he could caress her stomach. It was soft and gentle. So feminine. So lovely, so very much Hermione.

She let out a small grunt for a reply, twisting uncomfortably. The bathtub wasn't big enough for them, not really. Draco never understood why they didn't sleep on the couch, or even set up a bed on the floor. Or in the bedroom.

Hermione had told him she hadn't stepped one foot inside her bedroom since her parents were dragged away in the black van.

She said it reminded her of the Graveyard.

Draco soon came to believe the Graveyard was her biggest fear.

"I think it's raining again today." Draco whispered, words hot against Hermione's forehead. He kissed it gently. She tasted like roses, like cinnamon, like summer rain and strength and joy.

For a minute, Draco thought he had tasted this before. In some other life. Some other place. It made his chest hurt with uncomfortability and familiarity all at once.

Maybe it was just deja Vu.

Or maybe he really did know her in a past life.

The thought made him smile.

Draco felt slender fingers run through his hair, hair that threatens to sit at his shoulders and he felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.

"Can you hear it?"

Draco could hear the rain pattering against the cracked glass in the bathroom window, strong yet desolate and soft, relaxing all of his senses.

Draco thought that this moment was perfect, laying half awake with his body connected to the one he loved, one that loved him, while the rain fell around them like a blanket.

He felt as if they were the only people in the world right now. Maybe they were, maybe the world was empty, just him and Hermione left to live, left to love.

It wouldn't have surprised him, not anymore.

"You like the rain, don't you?" Hermione finally spoke, voice croaking, full of sleep. "Is that why you went into the garden a few days ago, to feel the rain?"

Draco hummed, simply playing with a long brown curl that hung from Hermione's face.

He noticed how Hermione had spread her legs so that they were hanging over the edge of the tub, to make more room for him.

"I went into the garden because I felt so trapped in here" Draco spoke truthfully.

He didn't want to offend Hermione, or her home. Though that's how he felt and he knew Hermione understood. Hermione always understood, she understood everything.

She understood Draco better than he understood himself.

Always be grateful for her, Draco.

Because he had to be grateful. He broke down often. He threw plates and he cried and he crumbled. He was broken. His insides were torn in half the day his mother was ripped from the cottage he lived in.

Hermione understood. Hermione held his hands while he trembled on the floor. Hermione picked up the shattered glass from the floor after he broke bowls and plates and glasses. Hermione allowed him to yell when he had to scream and shout. Hermione understood.

"I hadn't left the house since the day you pulled me inside. I was scared, of going into the garden, scared of being seen, but I couldn't help myself, I wanted to feel the rain on my skin and smell the air. Just for once."

Draco felt a kiss on his neck before Hermione was pulling them both from the bathtub and into the living room area. His hands were wrapped around Hermione's, like a warm blanket on a winters day. comfort.

"What do you want to eat today?" Hermione asked, her voice still laced with sleep and with tiredness.

She opened the fridge, but there wasn't much inside. there There was no milk left and there was no more to buy at the store, because the power has gone on that side of town now too and all the milk left in the fridges had gone clumpy.

Draco feared the day the lights in her, their, home flickered and turned out as well.

"I don't mind." Draco shrugged, following her into the kitchen like a lost puppy, like a puppy on a leash, connected to her by the hip.

He loved that though; having someone to care for him, someone to call his own. Nobody had cared for him this way since his Mother.

"Anything is food, why don't you try and see if they have any tins of soup, maybe we could have that."

"I think I saw some tins there, last time" Hermione shot him a small smile. Draco smiled back, not anticipating the strong kiss that was pressed against his lips. The kiss was laced with determination, laced with love.

"What was that for?" Draco asked, another kiss falling against his lips. And then another, and then another.

"I just love you." Hermione stated. Draco believed her. "I love you more than I ever thought I could.

A twinge in Draco's heart tells him he had heard her say that before.

It confused him, but he didn't think on it.

"Shut up" Draco punched her side, playfully, of course, He was struggling to hide his smile, so much that his cheeks hurt. "You so cringe."

Hermione shrugged and walked towards the door to put his coat on, because the summer rain was coming down strong. Draco always felt sad when he watched Hermione walk out of the door, into the apocalypse, alone.

Draco wished he could go with her, hold her hand through the deserted streets, laugh with her, run with her. But Hermione won't let him, he himself wouldn't let him. He's too afraid, he's too broken from the memory of watching his mother being torn from him.

He promised her that one day he would go with her.

"I'll see you in a little while" Hermione said, her cheeks budding into a smile. Draco kisses her, caressing her back underneath her coat. "I'll get us some nice food, wait for me, until then."

Draco nodded, sliding his body free from his girlfriends hold.

Is she your Girlfriend, Draco? No, She's your soulmate.

"Okay, stay safe" Draco told her, he meant it. of course he did. The country seemed deserted, but he can't trust anyone, or anything. He still had a pit of fear in his stomach every time Hermione left, anxiously waiting for her return. "I love you, Mione."

"Always." Hermione picked up the plastic bag that sat by the door, before descending into the rain.