Draco and Hermione Discuss Deathly Hallows

Draco Malfoy sat in bed, propped up against the headboard, counting every time he was mentioned in Deathly Hallows in a flattering way. He had found two instances – if you stretched the definition of flattering. He had already counted up every time he was mentioned - 57 and how many of those times he had either been portrayed as scared or crying - 40. It really was enough to put one in a right foul mood.

Although Draco was righteously disgruntled, his irritation was nothing compared to Hermione's anger. She'd been slamming things around in the bathroom for the last thirty minutes.

"Hermione!" he called to her, after hearing her bang the medicine cabinet door closed for the fourth time. "Come to bed already."

The brown-haired woman flounced into the room, flopped down on the bed, and began pounding the pillows to get them into a more comfortable position. She looked over at Draco and saw him putting the seventh in the Harry Potter book series down on his bedside table. "I can't believe you are still reading that drivel!" she complained.

"It is hardly drivel, darling. Ms. Rowlings speaks very highly of you throughout the story."

Hermione huffed, gave up on her pillow, and rolled over to lay her head on Draco's chest. "Did you even read the epilogue?"

"Of course I did. I found the part about my hair to be quite distressing."

Hermione poked him in the ribs. Hard. "What about the part where I'm married to Ron and you are married to some pureblood witch?"

"Ah yes," Draco said thoughtful, as if he had just recalled this fact. "I admit that was most distressing too."

"She promised she'd leave a way for us to be together," Hermione sulked. "Give us a more open ending."

"I'm quite certain she didn't."

"But she could have. What really did that epilogue add to the story anyway? Absolutely nothing. Oh sure, we find out that Harry becomes a wise and caring father and godfather. Big surprise that!"

"Love, it is just a story," Draco reminded her, running his fingers through her wild hair, before kissing her on the head.

"But still!" Hermione complained, about to launch into another long-winded analysis of how J.K. Rowlings took her last book two decades too far into the future, when Draco interrupted her.

"Shush, love. Go to sleep. When you wake up in the morning, you'll still be here. I'll still be here. Nothing will have changed because of a story. This is real life, Hermione. Don't get all caught up in fiction and fantasy."

Hermione slowly took in and released a deep breath. Undoubtedly, Draco was right. As long as they loved each other and were content with their lives, a silly epilogue in a story wouldn't keep them apart.

The End