CHAPTER FIVE: EPILOGUE – FIVE YEARS LATER

Hermione lifted the small, wooden box from within Draco's old school trunk and walked out of the walk-in closet to their bedroom, holding it up. "What's this?"

Her husband looked up from playing patty-cake with their daughter on their bed, his hands still gently gripping the tiny fingers. The man was totally enamored of their baby girl, who had been conceived in love that afternoon they'd mated, and Hermione was enthralled by the depth and strength of his fatherly bond. She couldn't help but worry just a little, however, that all of the overly-excited, new parent touching might be pampering and overly-indulging Lyra, but then she reminded herself that Draco had, at one time, despaired that he'd never have a child of his own. Lyra was his blessing, proof the curse was finally broken, and so Hermione almost always conceded and allowed him his small indulgences. Besides, their child was growing so fast, and she knew that in another few years, she wouldn't want to be so frequently held or touched. Already, in fact, she asserted her independence, usually by flinging her wild, dark-brown curls over her small shoulders, staring up at them with bold, self-confident grey eyes and planting hands on her hips, reminding all of the grown-ups in the area that she was a big girl and could walk just fine on her own.

"Where did you find that?" he asked.

His evasive tone only made Hermione all the more curious. "In your old school trunk, near the bottom corner, under all of the books and notes." She nimbly shook it, not hearing anything inside rattle. "What's in it?"

Draco was silent for a few moments, so she tore her attention away from the new find and looked over at him, wondering at his sudden apprehensive features.

"Open it and you'll see," he nodded with his chin in the box's direction.

"Is it safe to do so with Lyra in the room?" she asked, concerned. Anything peculiar and enigmatic in the magical world usually had surprising repercussions for being disturbed, she well knew. The last time she'd opened something cagey, she'd gotten a face full of screaming note pages as the restricted book's trapped spirit let her know its displeasure at being disturbed. Harry had warned her about that particular tome, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her that one time.

Her mate nodded. "It's fine. Though you might think me… um, strange… after seeing it."

The thrill of the unknown gripped her. If there was one thing Hermione enjoyed, it was a good riddle to solve. Excitedly, she waddled to the bed, shifting her bulk to sit upon the mattress beside her husband, rubbing her distended abdomen to calm her child, who kicked in annoyance at her enthusiastic movements. "Your son is letting me know his displeasure with lunch, I think," she wryly grinned, putting the box down next to her.

Her husband reached out and lovingly stroked her belly, and instantly the little boy within her quelled his ruckus, as if sensing his father's gentle rebuke. Draco chuckled. "He's eager to come out and see us, I think," he teased. He turned to Lyra. "Would you like to meet your brother soon, baby? Just two more months to go!"

Their daughter yawned while simultaneously, haughtily shaking her head. "He can stay right where he is," she declared in a sleepy voice like the Princess she play-imagined herself to be. "Boys are icky." She sheepishly grinned at him, realizing her faux pas immediately. "All except you, daddy."

Both parents laughed at their daughter's audacity. "That's right, sweetheart," Draco confirmed in a low, soothing voice, gathering his beloved child into his arms. She snuggled against his neck and closed her eyes, preparing for her afternoon nap. "Boys are icky, all except for me. Just remember that, okay?"

"Okay, daddy," she confirmed and promptly fell asleep.

Honestly, the girl could pass out anywhere and be dead to the world in seconds. It was an innate gift Hermione envied of her. She shook her head. "You spoil her too much," she whispered good-naturedly to her husband.

"I know," he mouthed back with a fresh grin that lit up his beautiful features. Smile creases lined the sides of his eyes, showing that age – and happiness – had finally caught up.

Turning her full attention back to the box, Hermione rubbed her hands together in anticipation and lifted the lid… and gasped. Inside was a snowy white handkerchief, stained dark red with splotches of blood. Her blood. Her virginity. With tears in her eyes, she looked up at Draco, astounded. "You kept it?" She looked at the memento of their first touches together that afternoon in their sixth year back at Hogwarts and felt her heart melt all over again. "Why?"

Scooting across the coverlet, adjusting Lyra in his arms, Draco came up beside her and cupped her cheek. "To remind me of how much you cared for me. It gave me some hope during a time when I had none of my own."

Twin trails of wetness streaked down her cheeks in both profound sadness and joy. "You hid it in this box, at the bottom of your trunk to keep it from You-Know-Who, didn't you?" They did not speak the Dark Lord's name in their house, especially with Lyra around. When she was older, they would eventually explain it all to her, but there were too many years between now and then to live without his memory to darken their doorstep.

Draco nodded. "I'd take it out and look at it sometimes when I was alone during that summer after sixth year, or in my dorm during seventh, when you were gone off in search of the… 'artifacts'." Horcruxes, he meant. Another word they would not speak of in their home, for those were dark magical spells. "It was my only connection to something good," he admitted, love shimmering in his arctic grey depths. In his tone, that confluence of two voices – his Veela and him – came together again as he spoke. "To you, my mate, although I didn't understand your ultimate importance to me at the time."

Her fingertip reached out and touched the fabric. It was stiff with age, but the magic of the bond that had existed between them even then, although neither knew it, was still present as a small tingle across her skin. "But you felt it somehow," she smiled, captured again by his gaze. "Your heart knew. Just like mine."

He nodded. "So, you don't think me odd for keeping it?"

Hermione shook her head. "It's the same reason I asked you for the Mirror of Erised." She looked over into the corner of their cottage bedroom, where they'd moved after getting together, leaving his London flat – and that part of his life – behind, and spied the mystical object that had forever changed their lives with one, simple vision. It was covered with a sheet to keep it from being used, but just its mere presence was strangely comforting. "It's a weird reminder of hope for a better future."

Draco leaned in and kissed her, his free hand traveling from her cheek to her rounded tummy again. "Definitely a better future."

He left to put Lyra down in her bedroom, but quickly returned to make gentle love to her for the rest of the afternoon in their bed. Throughout it all, he caressed and nuzzled her abdomen, assuring she reached her pleasure twice before finding his own, cherishing her as only a true mate could.

In the afterglow, they held each other, and Hermione smiled in sincere satiation into his chest, pressing her cheek to Draco's strongly beating heart and lightly dozing. She marveled at the realization that she was no longer tortured by thoughts of their previously missed chances, of the ten years they'd lost or of the questions as to why. Now there was only contentment and happiness and love to fill the spaces of her mind and heart. There was a future to look forward to, and the past, as far as Hermione was concerned, was finally able to be laid to rest.

~FIN~

AUTHOR'S FINAL NOTES:

This concludes "The Mirror Series: Forbidden Desire." I hope you enjoyed this short journey with me. Look for the next installment of this on-going fic series to come in the near future, and be sure to read my first entry already posted for this challenge, "The Mirror Series: That Which You Most Desire."

Please review if you could! I'd love to know your thoughts!