While You Slept

While You Slept

Returning to school proved to be a problem. Neither one of us were ready to give up our time together, and Harry still wasn't ready to face Ron and Hermione after his attempt at suicide.

I can't believe how stupid I am for that. I can't believe that I could have been so wrapped up in my own little world that I couldn't just tell Harry that I loved him in the beginning. Things would have been so much simpler for us if I had done so, and he wouldn't have felt so horrible that he thought that the only way for things to get better was for him to die.

How many people even knew about the engagement? Father, Mother, Pansy, her parents, Blaise, Harry, Hermione and I. That's it. No one else knows. So how can the world be in shock that, not only did my first engagement end without my getting married, but that I was with the man of my dreams?

Why should I even care? Things change, my family is changing. It no longer matters to us what the public thinks. Things are changing in this world. Voldemort has risen and he will soon fall. I will be there when he does.

I will be there to give my Harry the strength he needs to be the one to bring hope back to our world.

He is the only one I care about. He is the only one I need. He is the only one I want.

That's why I'm practically shaking right now. It's the night before classes start and I'm about to ask the most important question of my life.

He's sitting at his desk, writing a letter to Hermione that he's going to owl to her rather than just give it to her. He still can't face them, and he's done a damn good job of avoiding them. I don't think they've even seen each other since we've been back. For all Ron and Hermione know, Harry's left the school for good.

He sighed and put his quill down. He picked up his wand and sealed the letter shut, then gave it to Hedwig, who had been sitting on the desk next to him.

"You okay?" I asked as he rose from the desk and walked over to me. He sighed and sat down before he shook his head. "I will be," he answered.

"Mind if I ask you something life-altering?" I asked.

He looked up at me confused. "Such as?"

"Will you marry me?"

His eyes grew wide with shock, something I had expected.

"You think that's a good idea?" he asked. Not something I had expected.

"Why wouldn't it be?" I asked. "I love you, you love me, there's nothing stopping us."

"I can think of one thing, even if you can't."

"Oh, yeah?" I asked. "What?"

"First off, the press. I know you don't care or anything anymore, but, don't they have enough shocking news with your parents' divorce and their new marriages and children? Do you really want to give them more to write about?"

"Is that your biggest concern?" I asked. I chuckled. "Let them have their field day Harry, let us have our happiness."

"There's one more thing," he said before I could continue. "My biggest concern."

"Voldemort?" I asked, reading the way he was talking and fidgeting.

He nodded. "He goes after the people I love, Draco. I can't risk him doing that to you. I can't risk him reading about it in the papers--given who we both are, it will be there, and on the front page no doubt. If he finds that, he knows that your family is not on his side. He'll probably already know it because of whom your father is marrying. It's no secret that Remus is a part of the Resistance and on my side. Why would a true Death Eater fall in love with and marry a werewolf, let alone someone who wasn't even a Voldemort supporter?"

I nodded. "I understand, Harry, I really do. But...if I don't ask you now, I could lose you tomorrow."

"You're not going to lose me."

"Oh really?" I asked, taking a hold of one of his hands. We didn't need this reminder, but I exposed his scar anyway. "I almost lost you once, Harry Potter, and by Merlin, I am not going to do it again. You are the only thing that matters to me, Harry, and if I don't ask you to be mine forever, I'll be the one dying."

He blinked several times, I figured he was holding back tears, and then he kissed me.

"I will marry you, Draco Malfoy," he said softly.

There was a knock on the door and it opened.

"What do you mean by this, Harry?" Hermione demanded, holding his letter in her hands.

Harry's face suddenly turned to stone. That scared me. What had he written in that letter?

"I meant exactly what I said," he answered her coldly.

"I don't understand," she said, her voice shaking. "Why, after what he did, would you still love him?"

That's what he wrote about?

"Hermione, we can talk about this some other time, right now is not--"

"We can talk about this right now!" she yelled, interrupting him. "Don't you see, Harry? Don't you understand? He said he hoped you would lose! He said that he hoped you would off yourself!"

"He didn't mean that," Harry said, defending me. "And if you can't see that, then get the hell out of here, Hermione. Do not make me choose between my friends and my fiancé just because you hold a grudge."

"Fiancé?" Hermione asked, not missing a thing.

Harry nodded. "Draco and I are getting married, Hermione. Have you got something to say to that as well? Do you think I'm too young? Do you think it will only end horribly? Do you have something else to say that will make me hate you?"

She looked like she was about to start crying. She shook her head. "Congratulations," she said softly, turning around and walking silently from our room. Harry got up and shut the door.

"What did you write her about?" I asked.

"I told her why I tried to kill myself," he confessed. "And I told her what happened after you showed up in the hospital wing."

I nodded. "She doesn't understand," I said, stating the obvious. "Ron won't either."

"But at least she knows. She'll tell Ron--he'll be furious, but he'll know. Since I can't quite say it out loud yet, I can't tell him."

"Things will get better, Harry," I swore. "Here," I said, giving him my ring. "To make it official."

"But you've waited your whole life for this ring," he protested.

I shook my head. "I want you to have it. I'll get another one next year."

"Draco--"

"It's yours," I said stubbornly. "No ifs, ands, or buts."

He smiled and I put it on his hand.