"I'm going with Harry and Theo," Hermione declared, her tone resolute.
Draco cocked an eyebrow at the Head Girl as she flopped down beside him on the leather couch, her curls tickling his cheek as she leaned into him, swinging one leg over his, a knee-high-clad calf brushing against the fabric of his trousers.
"And just how many butterbeers were involved in the making of this decision?" he drawled, lifting his arm so that she could better wriggle into his side, hand tucking a rogue curl behind her ear.
Hermione turned to him with a dazzling smile, her eyes half-hooded with sleep. "You're the one who stocked this party, Sir Head Boy," she sing-songed, gently tapping the end of his nose with her index finger.
"And you're being evasive," Draco shot back easily, a smirk playing at his lips.
She scrunched up her face at him and stuck her tongue out before invading further into his personal space, now fully crawling into his lap and nuzzling her face in the crook of his neck.
"What have I said about you using me as your personal mattress?" he grumbled, arms instinctively wrapping around her small form to hold her securely in his lap.
He felt Hermione smile against his neck.
"Drop me, then," she said with the nonchalance of knowing that he would never let her fall to the floor.
Ignoring her, Draco absently ran his thumb back and forth across her thigh, observing their common room. The room was abuzz with music and the laughter of their friends, the cacophony of the many conversations intermingling harmoniously with the joy in the air. He wondered to himself if this what Hogwarts would have been like, had baseless hatred not plagued the entirety of their formative years, forcing allegiances far before they had ever stepped foot onto the grounds.
A pensive sigh broke his reverie.
"Must be nice," Hermione mused sleepily, wrapping her arms around him.
Draco craned down to look at her, following the direction of her gaze. His eyes landed on Potter and Theo slow-dancing in front of the fireplace, glowing in oranges and reds as they swayed, oblivious to the room around them. The blond felt his heart clench at the blissful look on Theo's face, silent gratitude for the Git Who Lived settling over him.
Not deterred—never deterred—by his silence, Hermione sat up slightly, removing her face from his neck to face him fully.
"They just have It, you know?" she said, her voice wistful.
"Don't get sappy on me now, Granger—invasion of personal space is where I draw the line," Draco deadpanned, giving her a pointed look.
"They'll have the happiest of homes, don't you think?"
Their impending graduation had sent Hermione on a nostalgic frenzy as of late, the smallest thing setting off speeches about how proud she was of her friends, their generation, of him—and there was no stopping her once she started. Over the weeks, he had tried every line of defense and settled for strategically grinding coffee beans in her Muggle burr grinder to drown out her soliloquies, lest her Gryffindor tendencies rub off on him. And not at all because her bright eyes and the genuineness shining through each of her words and emphatic nods made him feel things that he would rather not feel.
"Harry's been on his own for so long. Even with me and Ron beside him—he was ultimately in it on his own. As the last horcrux. There was nothing that Ron nor I could have done; it was his final battle to have. But to see him like this—" Hermione pauses, fingers tightening on his shirt, "—so content. The love, the partnership that Theo brought into his life..."
Draco watched the glow of the candlelight dance across Hermione's face, her eyes welling with tears. He understood her with an empathy informed by the past eight years of growing up together—on opposite sides, at times, but inextricably linked. His arms tightened around her as she trailed off before shaking her head then giving him a watery smile.
"Anyway. Like I said, I'm going with Harry and Theo. I think they would give him the most loving home, should something happen to me—"
"Granger, your fixation on the possible event of your death is an unwelcome hangover from the war we're all hankering to leave behind—it's a celebration, for Merlin's sake—"
"—and Theo and Harry would be wonderful parents, don't you think? They'll take wonderful care of him. Where Harry lacks in fastidiousness, Theo will be perfect, tending to his needs—"
"That's a generous way of saying that Theodore has a giant stick up his arse—"
"—and Harry will no doubt love coaxing him to play, and where Theo will be a bit stricter, Harry will balance him well as the fun parent—"
"—Granger, I absolutely forbid you from leaving custody of our children to Pottyhead and Theodore—"
"—and" Hermione stopped abruptly, both of them freezing as his words hung in their ears.
His heart pounding frantically in his chest, Draco began to formulate escape plans in his mind, his survival instinct kicking into gear. His feet tapped against the plush carpet, urging him to run, yet Hermione tangled in him on his lap made it impossible. Teeth gritting, Draco only turned to look at her when he felt her arms reach up, her small hands settling on the sides of his face.
"Our... our children?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows furrowed, teeth gnawing at her bottom lip.
"I—" he scrambled for an out, body going rigid beneath her, before he released a long breath.
"You heard what I said, Granger," he said, training his greys unflinchingly onto her browns, watching her eyelashes flutter as she blinked rapidly.
"Cat got your tongue, Granger?"
Draco attempted a smirk, mustering all the confidence that he did not have. Seconds seemed to transform into hours as he watched the sleepiness in Hermione's eyes become replaced with something else. She brought his face closer to hers with the hands that were still held his cheeks, their noses nearly brushing.
"Is this your way of asking me out, Malfoy?" she asked, her teeth on her lips, biting back the smile that threatened to bloom on her face.
"For the smartest in our Year, you're being slow, Granger—I think it was rather clear that it was a proposal—"
Hermione cut him off by descending her lips onto his, his hand immediately weaving into her hair as the other held her to him as he would, long after they entered life beyond the grounds of Hogwarts. In the background, they heard cheers and whoops from around the room, Theo calling out, "Fucking finally, wankers!" and the gentle thud of Harry's elbow in his side.
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