A/N: Everything, except the stuff you don't recognize, belongs to JK Rowling and her utter genius.

Chapter 19: Epilogue

"You have to go," Hermione said for the third time. It was 11:30 and he needed to leave. She didn't want him to; in fact, she was extremely excited about the fact that after tomorrow night he would never have to leave her again. But for the time being, he needed to leave.

"Mmmm, I have thirty minutes," he mumbled and went in for another kiss.

She allowed one more kiss then pushed him away gently. "Draco, it will take you that long to get out the door."

He took her face in his hands and looked into her dark, expressive eyes. This woman had lived in his dreams for so many years after he'd lost her but here she was. He ran his thumb over her cheek. She was his again and it killed him every time he had to leave her. But he wouldn't have to very soon. "I guess we could go to the door now."

She smiled and stood up from the couch, pulling him up behind her. "You have until 11:55."

The second they reached the door, he pushed her back against it. "Now you're just being cruel. You're robbing me of four minutes."

"Draco, it's unlucky to see the bride before the wedding," she reminded him breathlessly as he kissed her neck. "And we've already had enough bad luck to last a lifetime."

He stopped and looked back to her eyes. She was right. He didn't like to believe in superstitions but he also didn't want to tempt fate. They had done everything they could to make their relationship right this time. They didn't have to hide from anyone since they had a total of one friend between them. They had kept their physical intimacy to a minimum so they could focus on building a stronger relationship. And he wasn't moving into her house until they got back from their honeymoon.

Malfoy Manor would remain empty for the time being. It had too many bad memories for both of them.

"I love you, Hermione," he whispered intensely. "I love you."

"I love you too."

He kissed her fiercely.

"Draco, darling—"

He kissed her again.

She took his face in her hands and held it away from hers. "You have to leave."

"Fine," he pouted. "But after tomorrow there's no getting rid of me."

She smiled and he could've sworn her eyes twinkled. "I can't wait."

.-.-.-.-.

"You look beautiful, Hermione," Zofia assured her when she looked in the mirror for the sixth time to make sure nothing had changed. "Of course, Draco would probably marry you even if you were missing an eye."

She sighed. "It's not like it matters. You're our only guest."

"Hey," Zofia said sternly and took hold of Hermione's shoulders. "It does matter. It would matter if you two were the only people in the room. Today is about you two starting your life together. No one else matters."

Hermione pulled her friend into a hug. "Thank you. You're so wise."

"Besides, I'm pretty sure I saw two other ginger heads out there." She winked at her friend and hopped out of the room.

She smiled and she looked in the mirror one last time. It really was the happiest day of her life and it had been a long and sometimes painfully bumpy road to get there. She was so ready for this.

The music started and she took one last breath as a single woman and walked through the door.

Not only were Fred and George seated in the small room, but Lee Jordan was with them as well as Nessa. As happy as it made her, she barely noticed. She only had eyes for the tuxedo clad man at the front of the small room. He looked so handsome, not that he didn't every other day, but today…there were no words.

Draco's eyes were glued to her as she walked toward him. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears; every step she took made it less likely that she would come to her long forgotten senses and run from him… again. And she looked amazing. He knew that at some point in his had found her unattractive but at that moment he couldn't possibly understand why he would have ever thought that. She was the most beautiful person he had ever met, inside and out. And now she was his forever.

.-.-.-.-.

Hermione smiled to herself over her morning tea. She couldn't help herself, even if she looked a little crazy. She was too happy to hold it in.

Shuffling feet entered the small kitchen behind her. "Good morning, love," he mumbled and kiss the top of her head. "What's for breakfast?"

"Porridge," she said brightly.

"Why?" he groaned.

She stood up and went to the stove to get him a serving. "Because it's good for you."

"Not a good reason," he mumbled and dropped onto a chair.

Her smile widened and she sat the steaming bowl in front of him. "Eat up, grumpy."

He moaned and picked up the spoon. "Why are you so…awake? We barely slept four hours last night."

A guilty blush crept up her cheeks. That was her fault, but her hormones were going crazy and she couldn't help herself. Especially when he'd come out of the wash room in nothing but a towel and damp, ruffled hair. He only had himself to blame really.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked after she'd stared at him for nearly two minutes.

"Of course, darling."

She rested her elbow on the table and set her chin on her fist. "How do you feel about babies?"

"What kind?" he asked with the remnants of his last bite still in his mouth.

She blinked at him a few times. "Human ones."

"I'm for them," he said, still staring at his cereal.

Her jaw fell open. She knew he was tired, but this was ridiculous. She tried again. "How would you feel about one living here?"

"Why?"

That was it. "Draco," she said firmly.

He finally looked up. "What?"

She was staring at him in disbelief. He wasn't normally this thick…even when he was sleep deprived. "Were you listening to me?"

"Yes," he said defensively. "You asked me how I felt about a human baby living here." He looked down at his bowl for a second. Then his whole body shot out of the chair and he looked down at her wide eyes. "Baby?"

Apparently he got it. She nodded. "Baby."

"We're gonna have a baby?" he whispered.

She smiled the smile that made her eyes twinkle. "Yes."

He pulled her to her feet and into a bone crushing hug. "Are you positive?"

She leaned back and looked up at his face. "I'm a witch."

"And the best of your age too," he laughed and kissed her soundly. "We're gonna have a baby!" He swept her up into his arms and twirled her around the kitchen. Then he suddenly stopped. "This isn't hurting the baby, is it?"

She laughed and kissed his cheek. "No, love, she'll be fine."

His smile softened. "It's a girl? How do you know?"

She cocked an eyebrow and smiled.

"Right, witch." His grip on her tightened and he kissed her temple. "You're going to be the best mother."

She laughed and her heart fluttered a little at the total confidence in his voice. "We'll see about that."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Draco watched his pregnant wife waddle into the loo to go one more time before bed. She had just entered the waddling stage last week and it was sign to him. He needed to tell her what he had been up to for the past few weeks. She wasn't going to like it, he had prepared himself for her hormonal over reaction, but he had to do it. This place was simply too small. He loved it but it was too small. The other bedroom was stacked to the ceiling with boxes of books that wouldn't fit in the book store and their little girl could only sleep in a bassinette in their little room so long.

Hermione waddled back into the room and scooted onto the bed. Draco immediately put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Darling, I've been thinking and it's clear that we need more space."

She looked up slowly and suspiciously. "Okay, what's your point?"

He took a deep breath before he dared to speak the words. "Maybe it's time we considered moving into—"

She pulled away from him slightly. "No. Absolutely not. If you want more space than we can buy another house."

"Hermione, we already own two houses—"

She crossed her arms. "So we can get rid of yours."

Another deep breath. "You know I've tried, Hermione. I can't sell it to a Muggle and no witch or wizard will get near it."

"Including me," she added without missing a beat. "You know I have horrible memories in that dreadful place." She shuddered.

"I know, love, so do I, trust me. But I've been working on it. All I ask is that you come see it tomorrow. You won't even recognize it, I promise."

She glared at him but leaned against him again. "Fine, I'll look. But if one thing looks the remotely the same, I'm leaving."

He nodded and kissed the top of her head. "Fair enough."

"What do you think?"

Hermione turned a complete circle in the centre of empty master bedroom. It had actually been his bedroom but he'd knocked out a wall and made it larger and the original master bedroom was just another guest bedroom. This was the one space in that house that he actually had some happy memories.

"Was this your parent's room?" she asked, purposely trying to sound impassive…but failing.

He smiled. "No, this was my room. I just made it bigger."

"Oh," she said and took another turn.

"You haven't answered my question. What do you think?"

She sighed and looked him up and down. "If I didn't know better I would think that it was just another massive house."

He smiled. "It is. Only, now it is going to be our home where we will raise our family and have hundreds of happy memories."

She narrowed her eyes at him but her lips soon curved into a smile. "Yes we will."

He immediately moved and pulled her into his arms. He had put a great deal of thought into the renovations so everything would be perfect for her. He'd even gone to her childhood home and copied some of the designs. He wanted her to love it. At one point in his life he had loved the house and he wanted to give it a chance at a new life like he'd been given.

He kissed her soundly on the lips then gently on the tip of her nose. "Thank you." He ran his hand over her protruding stomach and sighed contentedly. "Do you want to keep your house?"

She laid her head on his shoulder. "We don't need to. And we can actually sell that one."

He nodded. "Just don't tell anyone I lived there."

She immediately looked up and took his face in her hands. "Stop that, it's—"

He took hold of her hands. "Stupid, I know. But I don't care. I have you and we're having a baby and that's all I care about."

.-.-.-.-.

"How about Margret?" Draco suggested as he flipped through the name book.

Hermione was lying on the hospital bed and her contractions were getting closer together. She was in between at the moment and they were discussing baby names because they still hadn't decided. "Why are you so stuck on "m" names?"

"I like the way they sound."

She nodded and looked at the clock. "Well not Margret." Her face contorted and her hand immediately grabbed his and attempted to crush it. "How did my mother ever do this?"

"And think, she didn't even have powerful potions to help."

Hermione glared at him. "It still hurts."

"I know." He covered her hand with his. If he could take the remainder of the pain away from her he would without a second thought.

She blew out a deep breath and her hand relaxed. "Melanie?"

"Err, she'd get called "Mel" or "Lanie" and I don't like those."

She shrugged. "I didn't really like it. It was just the first "M" name I thought of."

He laughed. "This is serious, Hermione. We're having a baby today and we don't have a name."

Another contraction hit. They were getting much closer.

"I am aware," Hermione said breathlessly when it had passed.

"How about Medea?"

She scrunched up her nose. "Medea? Historically speaking she wasn't exactly a role model."

He shrugged. "I know, but it has a nice ring to it and the only nickname you can get out of it is "Dea" and that's not bad."

"It is cute," she admitted. "But I don't know about giving her a name with a negative association…"

Draco looked away guiltily. "Especially when her last name already has one."

"That's not what I meant, Draaaaaaaaaoooooooooow!" she screamed in the middle of his name.

Two healers ran in the room and one took a peak under the blanket. "Mrs. Malfoy, you're about to have a baby."

"Believe it or not, I can feel that!" she yelled back.

Draco took her hand, no matter how bone crushing her grasp and kissed her forehead. The second healer gave her another potion for the pain and moved the end of the bed. Unholy moans and groans were coming out of Hermione and Draco was concerned.

"Should she be in so much pain?" he asked nervously and not without accusation.

"Magic can only help so much," the healer in charge mumbled quickly. "I need you to push, Hermione."

It seemed like an eternity but soon enough Hermione let out one long groan that melted into the sound of their baby girl crying for the first time.

"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, you now have a healthy baby girl."

Draco kissed his wife and then watched as the tiny baby was laid in her arms. She was wrinkled and pink and she was still crying but she was still one of the most beautiful things he'd seen in his entire life. "She's beautiful."

"Hello, Medea, I'm your mum," Hermione whispered and kiss the tiny head as gently as she could.

"Medea?" he asked with a smile. "I thought it was negative."

Hermione gave him a worn out smile then looked back down at the tiny miracle. "She can redeem the name."

"Just like you're doing with mine," he whispered and kissed her again. "Welcome to the world, Medea Malfoy. I'm your Dad."

A/N: The complete sequel "Fatum Amoris: The Fate of Love" is also available! As well as the in-progress alternate part II "I Have Nothing". Happy reading!