As a wise man once said, "ask us no questions, and we shall tell you no lies." I use that quote here today as some of you may wonder what took me so long to update. I hope you enjoy the update. Also, the story is starting to wrap itself up. It is telling me that there will be six more chapters. I hope to finish it soon! Then I'm working on either a Drarry fic or a Hermione/Sirius fic. I can't decide, maybe I'll make a poll and ask you guys for your opinion!

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Chocolates and Flowers and Wine, Oh My!

"There's no need to be afraid." A voice said from the doorway.

Hermione turned towards the owner of the voice.

"How? How long were you standing there?" Hermione asked, ignoring the fact that someone had got through her wards without her consent, or maybe she purposely allowed a loophole so a certain someone could enter whenever.

"Long enough. Listen Hermione," said Draco Malfoy as he stepped into the room. The pair forgot about Ginny, who was actually quite glad to be excluded. They were in their own little world and she had no intention of bringing them out of it. It was about bloody time that they fessed up to their feelings.

"Hermione, dear Hermione," Draco said, taking her hands into his. "I want to ask you something."

"Anything Draco, anything," Hermione said, her heart racing a million miles per second.

"Hermione, I realized I never want you out of my life. I should have chased after you, but I didn't. I want to do this the proper way. Will you allow me to court you?" Draco asked her, pulling out the first of many gifts.

"Oh Draco!" She cried out as she accepted a beautiful yellow rose. Ginny nodded approvingly, which Draco noticed out of the corner of his eye. He thanked her silently, and turned his gaze upon the brown eyed woman that he had come to love.

"It was you. It was you all this time!" She exclaimed. Draco nodded, waiting for her answer. He waited nervously, crossing his fingers behind his back inauspiciously.

She hesitated. "Draco…" She looked down at the rose while both Draco and Ginny waited to see what her answer would be. "Draco, I never expected this. I must say I am surprised."

Draco nodded encouragingly.

"And while I am flattered…" Hermione paused. Draco's heart dropped. He hoped and prayed to a god, any god, if there is one, that her next words were not the ones that he was dreading. "I must say, I haven't the slightest idea what a wizard courting ritual is like."

Draco let out a laugh. In all of his years of arrogance and self assurance, this was the one moment where he wasn't so sure of himself. He let his true self out and at a great risk. But thankfully, it was her lack of knowledge of pureblood rituals that caused her hesitance.

"Draco, who would have thought? I wish Harry had gone through a courting ritual with me," Ginny said regretfully. "It's such a lovely ritual. It lasts a total of seven weeks, seven being a powerful magical number. Through those weeks, the wizard will prove his love for his desired 'courtee' if you will, using a number of special gifts. He chose the yellow rose as the first symbol for the first week. You can opt out if you wish, or you can go through the courting. It's up to the witch to decide," she explained.

"I couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you Ginny," Draco said, thankfully.

"So, I get to choose whether or not I will accept his courtship?" Hermione asked.

Draco nodded, feeling his heart flutter uncomfortably.

"Well there's only one answer." Hermione looked at Draco intensely. "How can I say anything but…" She resisted the urge to smile. Truthfully she enjoyed making Draco doubt himself for the first time in all the years she knew him. Draco continued to look at Hermione, a new found sense of despair began to show up in his expression. Hermione let the smile take over; she was done making him doubt himself. "Oh Draco, how can I say anything but yes?"

Draco smiled brighter than Hermione, if that was even possible. It took him all the strength he possessed to compose himself. He wanted nothing but to stay with her but he knew how these pureblood rituals worked, and they forbade him from doing anything but was required. He didn't quite know how the ritual worked per se, but he knew it was some sort of binding magic and he had to follow the rules 100 percent.

"I shall be seeing you tomorrow, Miss Granger," said Draco, walking out. Hermione just nodded and stared as he left her flat.

"Well it's about time you two figured things out," huffed Ginny, who was standing next to the slightly shocked Hermione.

"Did that really just happen?" Hermione asked. "Pinch me, I must be dreaming!"

Ginny knew that was just a muggle expression, but she leaned towards Hermione and gave her a sharp pinch on the shoulder nonetheless. "Nope, you're awake." Ginny grinned.

"Ouch!" Hermione yelped. She rubbed her shoulder crossly. "It's just an expression."

But of course, Hermione wasn't mad or annoyed at Ginny. The two girls sat down and discussed Draco while sipping tea for the entire morning.

"Well Ginny, I must get to work," Hermione said after they fell silent for the first time since Draco left.

"Have a great day." Ginny smiled knowingly, but Hermione didn't notice.

Hermione apparated to the ministry and made her way to the lift where she saw no one she was great friends with. She nodded politely to a wizard she knew was an auror before making her way to her office.

"Oh Hermione, you might want to run down to your office," Tabitha giggled upon seeing her boss enter the department. Hermione gave Tabitha a curious glance before walking swiftly to her office.

Hermione gasped when she opened the door and peered inside.

Her office had been packed with vases full of yellow roses. There was just a small path clear of vases that allowed her access to her desk.

"Courting, am I right? That's so romantic," Tabitha sighed. "If I may, Mr. Malfoy is very good looking. You are so lucky."

It took Hermione a couple of seconds to realize that Tabitha was standing next to her. "I am, aren't I?" she breathed softly. She made her way to her desk and immediately found a note from Draco.

"Dearest Hermione,

Thank you for giving me a chance.

Love,

Draco"

Just one sentence, but it meant the world to her. She did not even notice when Tabitha walked back to her own desk. All that mattered to Hermione was Draco. Hermione couldn't prevent a giant smile from overtaking her face. Of course she should be thanking him for rescuing her in her time of need. All she could do now was enjoy the moment. "What did I do to deserve him?" she questioned, but she did not want things any other way.

The next few months went by in bliss. Draco had done many nice things for her. One time, he had surprised her with a box of chocolates and an invitation to a restaurant. There, they had a lovely conversation, much of which was actually spent recounting tales of their time in Hogwarts. While most of her memories of him were not so pleasant, he revealed many details of his life that had been up to then unknown to her.

Much to her delight, Draco took their courtship slow. She was glad that he wasn't rushing her and that he was giving her time to recover from her awful divorce. He loved to shower her with flowers and chocolates. He clearly knew Hermione well, she was one of those romantic saps, and unfortunately, Ron had been the opposite of romantic. Sure he would get her flowers every now and then, but he would never remember that her favourite flower was a yellow rose. Draco knew without asking her. She wondered if fate was laughing at them now. Hermione had been married to Ronald Weasley, one of her best friends, her sweetheart, and the one she knew deep in her heart that she would end up with. She let out a bitter laugh. Fate took quite the twist. Funny how she now loves her former worst enemy, the one who would waste no time insulting her whenever he could, the one who would cause her many sleepless nights spent crying. No longer.

Well, he still caused her sleepless nights. Her heart would flutter every time she thought of him. Much of this ruminating was done at night, therefore she was unable to sleep, but she wouldn't have it any other way.

DMHGDMHGDMHGDMHGDMHGDMHGDMHG

Hermione woke up and rubbed her eyes. She yawned loudly as she made her way to her closet. She had fallen asleep shortly after coming back from work, extremely tired by the amount of work she had to do. The only thing that motivated her to wake up was that Draco had asked to take her out at night. She had no idea what he had in mind, but she trusted him with all her heart.

He had told her to dress light and comfortably, so she chose a loose black cotton dress. She put on a knit sweater and waited for Draco to pick her up. Right on cue, he apparated outside of the door and waited, He not only wanted to give her time to get ready, but he also wanted to give himself time to gather his thoughts.

"Ok, calm down Draco," he sighed. Ever since his reconnection with Hermione, he has felt different. Although this had started as a last request from his mother, it had evolved into, dare he say it? A longing. A sense of compassion. The feeling of panic when he thinks of life without Hermione. "Why did I ever treat her that way?"

Before he gets all mushy with remorse, he decided to knock on the door.

"Coming, just give me a minute!" Hermione called out from somewhere in her flat. Draco waited patiently, but thankfully, Hermione was not like other girls he had gone out with. She wasn't vain, immature or snobby. She was the opposite of that, she was rather refreshing. Hermione opened the door and smiled when she saw the bouquet of roses Draco was holding.

"Oh Draco, you shouldn't have," she said. "So, where are we going?"

"I thought we would go on a picnic. What do you think?" he asked her, holding out his arm. She took his arm and allowed him to apparate them to the spot.

Once there, Draco set up the blanket and the food and drinks, which he had stored in a wallet similar to Hermione's own magical bag.

"Hermione, you look absolutely breathtaking," Draco told her honestly.

Hermione blushed, not used to the sort of treatment she received from Draco. "Thank you, you look rather dashing yourself."

Hermione accepted a cup of tea and smiled at the atmosphere of this whole gesture.

"Why Draco?" she asked after several minutes of silence.

"Why what?" Draco asked, taking a sip out of his own teacup. "Why go through all of this?" She asked. "Because," Draco replied simply. And that was all Hermione needed. She smiled sweetly at him. They sat in silence, not moving, just staring at the stars. "If we get married," Draco began, "and we have kids, our first son will be named after a consellation like I was." Hermione considered this. "Like what? Little Dipper?" She stuck her tongue out at him. "Very mature," he noted. "I meant more along the lines of..." He trailed off. "Scorpius." "Scorpius?" "Yes. What do you think?" Draco asked. "I think that you need to slow down honey," Hermione teased. "I suppose so," Draco sighed. Who would have thought he would be discussing potential children with the 'mudblood'? Oh, how times have changed. "I love you Draco."

"I love you too," Draco replied. Never had any words he spoke held more truth than the ones he just professed. "I love you."

He leaned in daringly and kissed her. Hermione did not fight it. Her heart did not protest, her mind did not try to come up with reasons as to why she shouldn't kiss him, her body responded to him. Never had she believed in the notion of a kiss being absolutely powerful, but on that night she became a believer. She felt a shock of electricity course through her body, energizing her. She felt no inclination to stop, but neither wanted to do anything else. If she were to die right now, lips locked and fingers intertwined, she would die the happiest girl in the world.

I cannot even begin to tell you how extremely difficult this chapter was to write. I rewrote this chapter like five times before I was less hesitant to present it to you guys. So any feedback would be lovely, and thanks to everyone who was ever so patient with me. I'm sorry if I disappointed you. Only about five more chapters!

-Cadi