Ten Years Later ✔️

5|At the Reunion

Once Harry got over the initial surprise at Hermione's appearance, he realized that she was holding hands with a little boy, who looked maybe around Jame's age. After that, his attention moved to her other side, where Harry was utterly shocked to see Hermione's arm locked in Draco Malfoy's.

Harry blinked a couple times, and then leaned over to ask Fleur, "Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or is Hermione with Malfoy?"

Fleur glanced over to where Hermione was, and then turned to Harry and said happily, "Oh, yes, those two are married. And they 'ave the most adorable children, sometimes Hermione brings them to the Burrow with Ginny and little Luna when Bill and I are visiting."

Once Harry got over the initial surprise, he couldn't help but wonder how he didn't see this coming. He had guessed that Draco might have had a crush on Hermione at school, as sometimes Harry caught him staring at her without the usual disgust he wore when tigers were around. It had never really occurred to him that Hermione might actually fit for Draco, but now that it occurred to him, they were both witty and very talented at magic, and they both seemed very happy together tonight.

Harry looked around, suddenly wondering whether or not Ron had seen the two together. He finally found him at the refreshments table (of course he would go straight for the food) talking to Neville Longbottom, and decided that as long as Ron was distracted, he should probably go catch up with Hermione. He had a bad feeling that later he would probably be trying to pull Ron away from the Malfoys, most likely to prevent murder, and that he should talk while he could.

Harry turned to Kandy. "I think I want to go talk to Hermione. Will you come with me?"

Kandy nodded, "Of course." So the two made their way to the other side of the Great Hall, on their way to greet Hermione... and Draco.

When Harry and Kandy approached, Hermione's back was turned, but Draco's noticed. When he saw the approaching pair, Draco tapped on his wife's arm, interrupting her from her chat with Ginny and Pansy, who had just returned from taking the children to the classroom where the kids were staying, and pointed towards Harry and Kandy.

Hermione turned, and her face broke out into a wide smile when she saw Harry, who returned the grin. She rushed forward and gave Harry a hug crushing enough to rival Molly's. When Hermione pulled out of the hug, she was still beaming.

"Oh, Harry, it's great to see you again!"

"It's amazing to see you, too," said Harry, grinning even wider at Hermione's excitement. "I believe we have a lot of catching up to do. But I want to start by apologizing about leaving so suddenly. It was just, the war was hard, and I really just needed an escape. I was going to come back, but then," Harry put his arm around his wife, "I met this beautiful witch--"

"Oh!" shouted Hermione. "Are you--"

"I'm his wife, Kandy," she finished, smiling. Hermione took in Kandy's blonde curls and shining blue eyes.

"It's nice to meet you, too," said Hermione, now hugging Kandy. "I'm Hermione, and I promise, I'm not usually this excited, but today is just a really special day."

"Harry's told me all about you."

"Do you have kids?"

"Two, actually. James, who's four, and Mark, who's two."

Harry looked over at Draco, who had been watching the conversation in amusement. "So, Hermione, I heard you got married. And was it two kids?"

"Yes," she said, a bit of her happiness being replaced by nervousness. "And-- er, you know who I'm married to, right?"

"Malfoy? Yeah, and I just wanted to say, although it's a little late, congratulations."

Draco then came up and put his arm around Hermione's waist. "And you're not the least bit upset about Hermione marrying a Malfoy?"

"No, not really," said Harry. "You two seem happy, and I know that if you ever did anything to Hermione, she could hex you into next week."

Draco chuckled. "That, she could."

Harry sighed. "I just wish we had stayed in touch."

"Why didn't we?" asked Hermione.

"Well, I just got so caught up at work-- I'm an Auror, you see-- and my new family, that I was just too busy to write many letters or visit, and then, you didn't send any owls, so I just figured... Well, I don't really know what I figured."

Hermione looked confused. "But I did try writing you, Harry. The owl always came back with the letter still sealed in the envelope, having never been delivered."

"Really?" asked Harry. "That's odd." He frowned, and then it dawned on him. "Oh! Oh, now I get it. We moved into a bigger house a few years ago. I didn't think to give you the new address, because some owls seem to be able to find their destination without address, just using names. But yours must not have been able to."

"I told you that owl is dimwitted," muttered Draco.

"He is not dimwitted, he's just a bit different, that's all," argued Hermione.

"Whatever you say," said Draco, looking away. Harry smiled. Some things about Hermione had never changed.

"Anyways, I really do forgive you, Harry," said Hermione.

"Thank you," said Harry, "And I'm really hoping that we can become good friends once again, as we've decided to--"

Ginny chose that minute to interrupt, having noticed something.

"Guys, Ron's on his way over here."

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Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.