A Better Man, A Better Life

Chapter 2

The sunlight shone through the windows, throwing beams of light across her face. She turned over, pulled the covers over her head and snuggled into the crook of his arm. Draco smiled to himself and pulled his wife closer to his bare chest. He laid there stroking her hair and listening to the sound of her breathing. Her breathing calmed him. On the nights when he would lay wide awake as if sleep would never reach him, he would listen to the rhythmic flow of her breath and eventually sleep would succumb him.

As he lay there now, his wife curled next to him, brown hair strew across her back, Draco smiled to himself as he remembered the first night they had slept like this.

**FLASHBACK**

Tonight was their third date. Draco had planned for them to spend the day by the sea. It was her favorite place to visit and he knew it would be a fantastic surprise.

She'll never see it coming, he thought. Although with her being the brightest witch of their age she very well could have figured it out. He didn't have much time to worry about it as the doorbell rang, pulling him from his thoughts. Rising from the couch, Draco walked over to the front door only to find her standing in the entryway.

"What?" she said at his questioning eyebrow. "I'm anxious with excitement. I can't figure out where we are going. I've been thinking about it for days, trying to guess based off the very little information you've offered and..." She stopped herself as she realized Draco was laughing at her.

"What?" she asked for a second time. "What is so funny?"

"You," he said. She flashed him a smirk. "Do you realize you talk a thousand miles a minute when you're anxious?"

"I do not!" Hermione protested, unable to contain her smile. Draco walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You do."

Before she had any further time to protest Draco apparated them away and the pair landed on white sand upon their arrival. After blinking away the sunspots, Draco looked down at Hermione and saw her beaming from ear to ear.

"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed. "Draco Malfoy, you sure know how to win a girl's heart." He shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant but the smile that crept onto his face gave him away.

After a long day of swimming and laying in the sun, Hermione curled up next to Draco and the two watched the stars and talked late into the night. Neither had realized they had fallen asleep until the next morning when they awoke in each other's arms covered in sand.

**END FLASHBACK**

Draco was pulled out of the sweet memory when he felt his wife stir awake beside him.

"Good morning," he whispered into her hair. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Good morning."