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Chapter Ten

The Hero's Graveyard

Hermione knelt in the soft dirt. It had rained last night, and she felt the moisture soaking her jeans. She ignored this. In an hour she was visiting the Weasley's at the burrow, and she would change anyway.

Gently she touched the cold stone in front of her. It sent chills up her arms. Running her fingertips over the Slytherin crest, the name, and the date she sighed. Ten years, and it didn't hurt any less to see his name there.

Draco Lucius Malfoy

5/6/1980 - 15/5/1996

Beloved Friend

She recalled the day like it was yesterday. Sometimes, she saw the green light in her nightmares, and his empty face. It still brought tears. She remembered his parents being sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban. Ron, Harry, and Ginny had sat with her through the trial, held her hand, comforted her. They did that throughout the arrangements she had to make for her old friend.

Since the day they had lowered the casket in she had visited him every Friday, every week, every year. The cemetery she placed him in was beautiful, yellow, and blue wildflowers grew everywhere. It was where the hero's in the war were buried. Lupin, Tonks, Creevey, Fred, and so many others.

"Not a day goes by that I don't think of you, Draco," Hermione started quietly. "You're still one of the best friends I've ever had. We were a good team. To death," she wiped away her tears. "I love you. I should have told you. It was foolish of me, but I think... I know you knew that. I know you loved me too."

"Mommy," a singsong voice of a little girl floated to her from the gate.

Hermione looked over her shoulder at her family, and smiled. Her daughter, five years old with curly, and vivid red hair, light freckles over the bridge of her nose. She stood there impatiently in the emerald dress Harry, and Ginny had bought for her, or rather Ginny bought while Harry waited for her, bored out of his mind she was sure. Ron stood behind her, shrugging his shoulders at their daughter's anxious behavior.

Hermione pressed a kiss to her fingers, and brought them to the stone. "See you next Friday, Draco."

She walked over, her daughter running halfway to meet her. Hermione swept her in her arms, and the girl laughed. "Caitriona Weasley you can't wait five minutes? You get that from your father," she grinned at Ron who rolled his eyes.

Hermione kissed her daughter's forehead. Caitriona, courage, and purity. Though Ron insisted that the meaning was the only reason he allowed his daughter to be named that, she knew better. He knew of the letters, and had come to accept Draco's friendship to her, albeit late. They both felt they owed him a lot, for warning them, and not only saving her life, but everyone else's in Hogwarts. Naming their daughter a name he clearly loved, what better way to repay him.

She reached up kissing her husbands lips. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too, always have."

A fake cough came from Caitriona, and Ron laughed tickling her stomach making her giggle. "And we love you, too."

As a family they walked out of the hero's graveyard, feeling the peace they didn't have in their schooldays, all thanks to those who left too soon.

A/N: The ending to this story was very different from what I had originally planned. It changed from the point when Draco pulled Hermione into the empty classroom during the war. I had planned on him kissing her, and both of them surviving. I just felt that in this story Hermione, and Draco might have had the potential to become more than friends, but at that point they were nothing more. As far as Draco's death is concerned, I couldn't imagine him living through it. In the books, sure, but not in this story. Believe me, I didn't off him to be cruel, I simply felt that it worked better. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it nonetheless. I really loved reading all of your comments, so thanks to everyone that reviewed.