Valentines Day 2002
“I have loved you every day since my 14th birthday and I will continue to love you each day til we are old and grey.”
Hermione stared at Ron in shock, at his hands wrapped around hers as he bent to one knee. The wrong knee, but she couldn’t find her voice to correct him. The ground seemed to be falling away underneath her as the dreaded question started to form on Ron’s lips.
“Hermione, will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?”
Tears started swimming in her vision as she tried to focus. The entire Weasley family is right there, waiting for her answer. This is what would make everyone happy, so just smile and nod. That’s all they need to convince themselves that you’re happy. Hermione takes a deep breath, brings her signature smile to the surface, and nods as tears stream down her cheeks.
Nobody knows that you aren’t crying for joy, so keep smiling until you can get away. Hermione lets Ron slide a ring onto her finger as she leans in and kisses him meekly. They are soon swallowed up in a crowd of well-wishers and joyous congratulations, and Hermione keeps smiling and trying to bury the feeling of despair burrowing into her heart.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
At the first moment Hermione could sneak away from the Weasley’s celebrations without raising suspicions, she did. Nobody seemed to notice her sneak out and even if they did, the Weasleys were used to her wandering away.
The Burrow had been filled with a feast of food, laughter, and a revolving door of well-wishers for multiple hours after the news broke that Ron and Hermione were engaged. Hermione had been nauseous the entire time, so her escape from the cramped house was a relief. She ambled down the path, absent-mindedly twisting the slightly too-big ring on her finger as she reflected on what her life with Ron would be like. The joy on Harry’s face as he watched his two best friends marry. The red curly-haired children with hazel eyes running around the yard while she made dinner in the kitchen and Ron flooed home from the DMLE. A quiet, idealistic future where my family is happy, but I’m left to mourn what could have been. With this thought, Hermione apparated away from her fiance's home.
She lands in a clearing full of the beginnings of wildflowers, surrounded by towering trees. Her eyes land on the rope swing her love built for her in 5th year and the inscription on the tree above.
Some Sweet Day, We Will Live As One
D.M. & H.G
Just seeing the inscription again made tears rise all over again, but she needed to be strong. Hermione needed to be here right now, to do one last thing before she signed her life away to Ron and never looked back. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a signet ring with the Malfoy crest and rolled it over and over in her hand as she sat down on the rope swing. Am I strong enough to do this?
Hermione remembered her real first kiss was under this tree during her 4th year. Draco had been assigned as her partner for Potions that year and Snape had demanded they find a way to work with one another despite of differences. After a disastrous class, where they blew up a Wolfsbane potion due to double adding ingredients, Draco suggested a truce. They would be civil until their partnership ended. Harry and Ron were so against this truce that they didn’t speak to Hermione for a solid month and a half. During their absence from her life, Draco quickly became her study partner for every class they shared. Hermione couldn’t put a finger on when they had become friends, but soon enough, they were spending more time just chatting instead of studying.
One particular evening, the ever-charming Draco asked Hermione to sneak out of the castle after dark with him for a surprise. He had found a clearing in the forest behind Hogsmeade that was breathtakingly beautiful and set up a small picnic of muggle delicacies for them to enjoy together. He had convinced a muggle-born student to give him some of her Oreo stash, a few different fizzy sodas he’d found while visiting Muggle London, and even a package of Twizzlers. They stayed out all night talking and stargazing. At midnight, Hermione felt his lips against hers and then he was gone.
The next day, Draco asked Hermione to be his girlfriend. Judging by how Harry and Ron had reacted to the idea of a truce between them, Hermione asked that they keep their relationship a secret. He agreed, especially since he knew his father could never hear about this.
They secretly dated through the remainder of 4th year and all of 5th year. Draco and Hermione would meet in their secret clearing and spend as much time together as they could. Harry and Ron didn’t seem to notice Hermione’s disappearances much while they focused on the life-and-death situations they were constantly trying to dodge.
The day before 6th year started, Draco came to Hermione, pale as the moon, and made her promise to hold out hope for him as the world changed around them. Hermione was scared, but he reassured her that nobody could break their love. Draco made her a promise that day that nothing would break their true love and gave her a ring to symbolize his undying love for her. She wore it every day with a concealment charm on her hand, only showing it in the brief and rare moments Draco was able to sneak with her that year.
They parted ways the night Dumbledore died with a kiss and a renewed promise to not lose hope in one another as they found themselves on the opposite side of the war brewing.
Neither of them returned to Hogwarts for their 7th year.
The next time Hermione saw the love of her life, he was fighting in the Battle of Hogwarts. They only had time for one short kiss, before the fighting broke out.
Only a few moments later, her soulmate was killed after he jumped in front of a Killing curse aimed at Harry. This allowed Harry to kill Voldemort, but Hermione's whole world was shattered at that moment.
Draco was honored as a hero and not a Death Eater after the war ended, but he left behind a gaping hole in Hermione.
Sobbing, Hermione found herself back on that swing, grasping that signet ring for dear life. Looking down at her hands, she unconcealed her promise ring and stared at the engagement ring next to it. You are strong Hermione. You will survive this life of heartache and be reunited one day with your soulmate.
As her tears dried, she pulled out her wand and added another inscription to their tree.
Some Sweet Day, We Will Live As One
D.M. & H.G
Death Cannot Stop True Love.
All It Can Do Is Delay It For A While
Hermione carved a little shelf into the tree below the inscription, just big enough to allow the signet ring and her promise ring to lay next to one another.
No matter what, Hermione's heart would always belong to Draco Malfoy, even as she married Ron Weasley to make everyone else happy.