Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his world belong to JK Rowling. I own nothing. I write for fun. Unfortunatelly no money is being made:)

A/N: I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and I love reading fanfics specially Draco/Hermione, I've read many of them, more than I can actually remember but this will be my first attempt in writing one so forgive me for any mistake you may find. Happy reading. Read&Reaview please:)

Summary: This story takes place right after the epilogue of DH, it's my theory of who is the misterious Ms. Malfoy and why Draco and Hermione didn't get happy ending in the book.

In My Place

By Anilem Atarih

CHAPTER ONE: Draco Malfoy and his misterious wife

"Draco Malfoy was standing there with his wife and son, a dark coat buttoned up to his throat. His hair was receding somewhat, which emphasized his pointed chin. The new boy resembled Draco as much as Albus resembled Harry. Draco caught sight of Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny staring at him, nodded curtly, and turned away again."HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (p.755/756)

Draco Malfoy's point of view.

"Is that her?" My wife asked. I was lost in my thoughts when my wife brought me back to reality...

"What?" was the only thing I managed to say.

"Is that her?" she calmly repeated.

"Oh! Her?... Yeah... that's her..." I tried to sound casual...

"How are you feeling?" she whispered.

"I'm fine..don't worry..." I lied giving her a faint smile.

"Eighteen years together and you still think I can't see right through your lies... I'll drop it, for now... let's focus on Scorpius, he's waving at us"

We said our goodbyes to our only child, promising to write everyday. Contrary to popular belief Malfoys treated their children as loving as any other family and Scorpius was deeply loved by every single member of his family. The only difference between my son's childhood and my own is the lack of the Dark Arts Air my father imposed...

After the war, things changed, well most of them at least... the Malfoy name was not related to the Dark Arts any longer and hopefully it will never again, if the events from nineteen years ago taught us anything was to never get ourselves so lost as to follow some crazy nut to the point of almost losing everything on the way including ourselves...

Fortunatelly, now we're ok, many people still stare at us everytime we go to public places and today was no exception... but I couldn't care less, I just worry about Scorpius sometimes, but he's a strong boy, he's always dealt with it with maturity...

You see, we never lied to him, he knows about our past, our status in the pureblood society, almost everything, so he understand the different stares we get...some people look at us with envy, after all today we're the richest wizard family in Europe and Asia and one of the richest of the world and we're the perfect image of the pureblood family...

But some look at us with hate, they just can't forget my father's role as a Death Eater, it's sad to have so many people judging you for the actions your father made and was already punished for them...

I feel through their eyes that they think our family was not punished enough, for after the demetors betrayed the Ministry again, it was clear those things could not be trusted so to punish the former Death Eaters they sought for alternative punishments, my father as most death eaters was condemmed to lifetime home imprisionment and forbidden to use magic freely again, they created a bracelet that was enchanted to keep him inside the Manor and controled his magic abilities, he was reduced to the magic level of a child, all he could perform was simple spells, anything more complex the bracelet would restrain him... some thought is was too soft but there's nothing worse to a wizard specially a pureblood one than to lose your magical power, but at least he was at home with his family...

My mother received no punishments for she was the one who eventually helped Potter and I also got no punishments, just a huge fine, in my trial Potter gave a favorable speech in my defence... it was almost surreal, even today I have difficulties believing that he did it, but I guess he did it for my mother... honestly I never had the courage to ask him.. anyway as my father couldn't be in charge of the family anymore I had to take over Malfoy Inc. and all the family responsabilities...

As I said things changed, we got rid of the Dark Arts collection my father had and my mother remodeled the whole Manor, it's very different from when I was a child, but I like it better now, it's... lighter... guess it reflects our spirit, we are nicer people and my parents learned to tolerate those who are not pureblood, Scorpius doesn't have the same prejudices I had, but nothing can be perfect... even thought my parents are more tolerant people, they still believe in all that pureblood crap that almost got us fucked and so when my father was sent to Azkaban for the first time by the end of my 5th year, my mother informed me of their vow...

From the moment I was born I was magically bounded to my wife. It was a very ancient piece of magic, the Unitas Corpus Curse, used by very tradicional pureblood families around the world which was unbreakable, there was nothing I could do about it, it was either reuniting with my wife and become permanently bounded for life or suffering the consequence of not completing the ritual, which meant death: first for those who could be the obstacle and then for both of us. To make sure that there would be no possible way out of our parents' deal, they also took an Unbreakable Vow, which set when and in what conditions the bound would become permanent, in other words, when and how we were supposed to marry.

How could I marry someone I didn't know when I was so desperatly in love with another woman? And to make things more interesting my bride-to-be was also in love with another man... so you can see it was a very difficult moment for us...

I remember it took me a month to start talking to my parents again, one year to digest it all (which was my 6th year, the best – we started dating in secret- and the most terrifying- I was supposed to kill Dumbledore), another year to accept my fate and plan how I would make the love of my life break my heart with no regrets and a whole other to convince myself that I had taken the right decision... but there wasn't really a choice for us.. and so one year after the Battle of Hogwards we got married feeling extremely unhappy and lying to our beloved ones...

The things we had to do in order to protect our beloved ones and ourselves weren't easy... She told hers that she had been using him, that he had been a hobby while she had been waiting for me, her rightful husband, that she always knew she was engaged to another and never had the intention to be with him and he believed... they never spoke again...it broke her heart but it kept him safe... as for me I knew mine would see the truth in my eyes so I had to hurt her, hurt her so badly that she would be the one to break up with me and that's what happened...

"Draco, Draco, darling, are you listening to me?" my wife once again brought me back to reality.

"Sorry honey, I guess my mind was elsewhere, what were you saying?"

"In fact I was asking if we could go now... I feel the effect of the potion is wearing off and I don't know how much longer I can keep the Glamour charm on me..."

"Sure, I'm sorry" and then we left Plataform 9 ¾ and went back to the Manor, I took her to her room and when I was about to leave she whispered:

"Could you stay over? I could use some company..." she smiled a bit.

"Of course, just let me change to more confortable clothes, I'll be back in a sec..."

When I came back my wife was already changed and resting peacefully on her bed, she looked so fragile even with the enchantments "guess they'll wear off now" she said and they did, there was my real wife, pale, weak, barely able to breath, she had been sick for almost a year now, she barely had energy to get out of the Manor, she could only go to the Plataform because of the potion she had drunk which gives her more strength but leaves her weaker and the Glamour Charm was one she used a lot, we still had family appointments, and on these occasions she would use it, make her appearence and excuse herself after an hour or so, nobody but our family knew she was this sick...

"Are you sure you don't want to try that new treatment?" I asked her not for the first time.

"Draco, I think we have already had this conversation..."

"But..."

"No buts... I've been sick for over a year now... so it leaves me just one more... I don't wanna drink some potion which may give me another year, a year in which I'd barely be able to hug my son... no...I'd rather live this one year sick but still able to be myself, to hug my son, to take a walk at our gardens..."

"I understand you... I'd probably make the same choice"

"Besides... not even the healers are sure if this new potion works in my case...anyway... I think it's time to tell Scopius the truth... that I'm not going to get better and that this is probably going to be our last Christmas together..." she said with tears in her eyes...

"Ok" was all I could say.

"Ok... never thought you would agree so fast..."

"You're right... it's better to give him time to digest it all..."

"Thank you"

"Please, you don't have to thank me..."

"I mean, Thank you for everything... I never really thanked you before for what you did for me and for the wonderful husband you've been to me..."

"Honey, really, you don't have to thank me... and why are you talking about what has already been... just because you're sick...it doesn't..."

"No Draco... Let face it, I don't have much time left, so I think it's time for me to start working on my unfinished business... we never really talked about how our lives were before this marriage was forced upon on... all we know about each other's past is that this marriage ruined our chances to marry the ones we really loved... and don't get me wrong... I love you now, but we both know we didn't get married because of love..."

"I know but I don't think this is the time to..."

"And the only think I know about the only girl you ever loved...

"But I love you..."

"Now... as I love you now... but... this love we have is something we built and we work hard to keep it... sometimes it even feels like you are my best friend... but that's it, the love I feel for you is not like the one I felt for Takeshi... and I know you feel the same..."

"Please, Sophie let's not get to this... I really don't think it's worth bringing all this memories back... what good will it bring?"

"It will help me take this feeling out of my heart... Let me talk so that I can clean my soul... I feel like if I don't talk about it, I will not be able to leave this world in peace..."

"Pease, don't talk like this, you're not..."

"But I will be... and soon... I'm not even sure if I will be able to see the new year coming... Just do it for me... I need to get it out and I'm sure you need as well... I could see it right through your eyes today... you couldn't even look at her direction..."

"No, I told you... I'm fine..."

"Please, Draco, let's be honest... you don't have to lie to me... you're not ok and it's ok not to be...at least she doesn't hate you..."

"She doesn't hate me? How would you know?..."

"I caught her looking at you when she thought nobody was looking... pity you were too busy pretending not to care..."

"But..."

"See... we need to talk about it..."

"No we don't, we don't need to open wounds that took so long to heal, you know what happened and I know what you had to do..."

"Open wounds that took so long to heal? Draco, please, they never healed!! They may not hurt now as badly as before but they're not healed!!" Sophie said in that kind of tone that I knew I had pissed her off, so I let her go on "Besides you don't know everything... you don't.. like I don't know everything about your story... what we told each other was a short less painful version... I want to tell you mine so you can tell me yours..."

"Ok, your wish is your command Ms Sophie DeiLux Shizumu Malfoy"

"How many times I've told you not to call me by my full name Mr. Draco Lucius Malfoy?"

"Hundreds? Thousands? It doesn't matter, I love to see the face you do, besides it always distracts you from more serious issues... Seriously now, I never got it why you decided to keep all your family names..."

"Well, we got married because of them, right?" she said calmer now, saying her full name always made her lose her focus "so, I always figured it fit, besides it saves the part in which the newspaper would have to say them anyway..."

"Who would have imagine that our families had decided to bind their fortunes throught us?..."

"And from the moment we were born... you know it still irritates me how we had no choice in this... I remember when my father first told me... I was 6 and was packing my things to leave for school..."

"Six?? You started school with six?"

"See, that's what I told you... we've been together for over 18 years and we don't really know anything about each other's past... I don't want this... I want to die, knowing you, my husband, and knowing that my husband did know me, not just superficially like we have been living, I want to live what's left of my life fully..."

"We can do that..." I said finally giving up to her wish, like I wouldn't eventually anyway "why don't you start?..."

"Well, let me start by the beginning:

As I was saying, my father told me when I was 6, at the time I really didn't pay attention, it only hit me when I was 16 and was telling my mother about the boy of my dreams... Takeshi...

When my father lifted his eyes from the newspaper he was reading and said 'you better enjoy this little romance while you can...do whatever you want with this boy or any other boy you may fancy... just remember to keep yourself pure for your wedding...'

I just couldn't believe it, my father, the most feared wizard in Japan, the master of the oldest Pureblood family in the world telling me to go whoring around, it had to be a joke... it was only when I looked at my mother's face that it finally hit me... I was really going to have an arranged marriage...

I always thought it was a possibility if I didn't get a fiancee that didn't meet my father's standards but... at that moment I realized that I wasn't going to be offered what my parentes managed to get, he could choose my mother, my mother was in love with him... it was so unfair that I don't remember getting angrier than I was that day, I screamed, yelled, and shut myself for the rest of my vacation...

On my last day at home my mother told me 'Sophie darling, I know it's awful, and we are sorry, but when we did it we thought it was for the best, your father and I wouldn't go for anything but the best for you... that's why we did the unbreakable vow to your future husband's family and they shared our view by taking the vow as well, if you persiste, we are all going to die but I know I'll not blame you... We thought that by making this match you would have the perfect marriage and our gradchildren would be both perfectly healthy and wealthy...Your father and I were the fisrt to realize that if we keep marrying our cousins we wouldn't have better children but quite the opposite, squibs have been born both sides of our family, not only in the Shizumu but also in the DeiLux, imagine that? The DeiLux the oldest French Purebloods having squibs in the family? So your father and I got married, both of us from old Pureblood family but from different continents and you and your brother prove that's the future for the Pureblood families... luckily we were in love but we knew it's hard to happen... darling, the Malfoys are the oldest and richest family in England... it's the perfect match, we are equally weathy and with the best quality in blood...

The rest of the story you know... My father explained there was no way out, unless I wanted my family and I to be dead... I hated him then... and... when I went back to my last year at school...I broke Takeshi's heart..."

My wife Ms Sophie DeiLux Shizumu Malfoy, daughter of the Master Shizumu, the most feared and respected wizard in Japan and Ms DeiLux Shizumu, the most important witch in the French society, was crying... I remember seeing her crying twice in 18 years, in our wedding night and when Scorpius was born, both by different reasons, the first time I saw her tears they were bitter, the second time they were of happiness and today...they were of sorrow, longing...

"Draco?" Sophie was looking at me, waiting... her tears were gone...

"I'm sorry, Sophie, what did you say?"

"I said Thank you...you've been a wonderful husband, you helped me live my life without him, you gave me Scorpius who makes my life worth...and when I'm gone..."

"Please Sophie, do you really have to talk like this? Everytime you talk like this, I feel guilty for.."

"Let me finish, please, When I'm gone, I want you to promise me you won't feel guilty about my death, it's not your fault I'm sick, it's mine, you gave me 18 years of a wonderful life with you and 11 with our son... I never thanked you for our wedding night, you could have walked away, after all I wasn't pure then, was I?... You could have claimed that my family hadn't fulfilled their part of the deal and be free... but you covered for me, you completed the ritual..."

"Of course I did, you say I could have walked away? I couldn't! How would I live with myself knowing that my refusal caused the death of you? But... by completing the ritual knowing you were not pure, I gave you your illness..."

"Please Draco, don't do this to yourself, you didn't give me my illness, you gave me life, I gave myself my illness, if I hadn't been so stubborn, if I had followed my head not my heart, I wouldn't have been silly enough to give my purity to Takeshi... I just refused then to have my first time with someone I didn't love... I'm going to die because I didn't respect what the curse demanded 'purity of the maiden' back then I didn't really care if I'd live or die...That's why I thank you Draco Malfoy, you gave me life...Never forget it!... And promise me you won't blame yourself!"

"I..."

"Promise me"

"I promise you"

"Thank you... now it's your turn... your story from the beginning... and I want the details this time, and a better description of her... what's her name? You never told me..."

"Her name?...It's Hermione..."

A/N: I hope you liked the chapter, let me know if it's worth giving it a try and writing about Draco's story and Hermione's point of view. Thanks for reading and I'm sorry if you didn't like!