“Are you frightened?” Hermione asked, her voice floating through the darkness.

It was almost pitch black, save for the light that filtered in through her gauzy curtains from the moon. She was wrapped completely in Draco’s arms, her head on his chest while his chin rested on her hair, their legs tangled together. His hand traced small patterns on her back, trying to soothe her into sleep.

“Always, but what in particular are you asking about?” Draco replied softly.

“About tomorrow…” she said.

They had stayed up late into the night discussing the hunt for the horcruxes with Harry, Lucius, Narcissa, and Theo. All had agreed that not only was Nagini more than likely one, but that the final horcrux was hidden at Hogwarts. Since they already had Hufflepuff’s cup, Salazar’s locket, and the sword of Gryffindor, that only left something of Ravenclaw’s.

It was Narcissa who brought the idea of the diadem to the table, as her uncle Orion had been obsessed with the idea of possessing it. So, after lots of discussion they’d agreed to go to Hogwarts to speak to Severus.

There were many times throughout the night that it looked to her as if Harry was having an out of body experience – seated around a table of Malfoys and Slytherins discussing the mission Dumbledore had given him. He’d watched with wide eyes the way Lucius had embraced Hermione, kissing her cheeks and whispering into her ear before he and Narcissa had left for bed.

“Yes, I’m frightened of tomorrow,” Draco said honestly, pulling her back into the moment. “Once we are in the castle it will be difficult to stop word getting back to the Dark Lord that Harry is there searching for something. We have to be prepared that he may come looking for him.”

Hermione nodded – it was an eventuality she was already aware of. The Dark Lord had been frightened when she’d first told him Harry was searching for something. It was obvious from the way he’d asked her into his mind, keeping their conversation secret to those around him. She wondered if he could feel each time a horcrux was destroyed – if he could feel the life force draining from him.

She hoped he did.

She hoped it was painful.

The tips of Draco’s fingers touched beneath her chin, tilting her face up to his.

“Are you frightened?”

Hermione swallowed, thinking of her revelation. Of Harry being a horcrux and what that meant in the pursuit of the destruction of Voldemort. She pushed her head back down against him, taking a deep breath.

“Yes, I’m terrified.”

A single tear strayed from her eye, landing on the skin of his chest. Just for a moment, Draco stilled before he pressed her away, his thumb wiping at the moisture.

“You said once that you didn’t regret a moment with me, but you regretted every moment that brought you to the Dark Lord…” Draco started softly, his thumb caressing her cheek.

Hermione nodded.

“I regret nothing – not a single thing,” Draco continued. “I would do it all again, every single bloody thing, if it meant that even for a moment I got to hold you in my arms. No matter what happens tomorrow, I won’t regret it. Not a second of it, just for this time here with you.”

Her breath caught in her throat as she felt the tears begin to fall.

“I love you, Hermione Jean Granger. And if tomorrow is my last day of this life, I promise I will find you in the next.”

The sweetest pain circled Hermione’s heart.

“Do you promise?” she asked breathlessly.

Even in the dark, she could see the gleam of Draco’s smile.

“I promise,” he answered.

Before she could say anything else, his lips closed over hers. It was a different kiss than they’d shared in the past – it wasn’t frantic or needy, nor was it desperate or full of longing. This kiss was undeniably sweet and tinged with goodbye.

His fingers traced the planes of her face as she did the same, trying to memorize the pattern of his likeness so she could recall it at a moment’s notice. She savored the heat of his body pressed against hears as her hands moved lower, tracing the muscular curves of his chest and the way the scars from the sectumsempra curse created jagged lines through them.

Breaking away from the kiss she leaned down, pressing her lips to each scar in turn, as his fingers wound through her hair, slid down her neck and over her shoulders.

Memorizing her.

But before she could move any lower, Draco guided her face back up to his and kissed her, swiping his tongue along her bottom lip. She sighed, allowing him entrance as their tongues tangled together, his hands sliding down over her chest and cupping her breasts.

Hastily she drew her nightgown over her head and tossed it somewhere into the darkness of the room.

His movements were unhurried, savoring . His thumbs caressed the peaks of her hardened nipples and she moaned as Draco swallowed the noise. She let one of her hands trace the same path as her mouth, sliding her fingertips against the downy hair below his navel, then under the waistband of his pajama bottoms.

A low ache blossomed inside of her at the feel of his hard cock against her hand, jumping as the tips of her fingers brushed the smooth length of him. Draco gave the most delicious groan as her teeth tugged at her lower lip and he gave a short thrust into her hand.

“I love you,” she whispered against his mouth. “ I love you, I love you, I love you .”

While she worked him, one of Draco’s hands continued to tease her breast while the other dipped lower. His fingertips traced the length of her thigh, before curling beneath her knee and hiking it to his hip. He skimmed around the soft flesh of her backside, up the skin of her low back before pulling away from her, forcing her hand to slide off of him.

Gently, he rolled her onto her back before sliding down the length of her body, pressing kisses to her nipples, to the slightly raised scar between her breasts from the curse Dolohov had hit her with, to the raised edge of the scar against her thigh from Karkaroff.

“We may be covered in scars,” Draco whispered against the skin of her inner thigh. “But, in this moment together, I find myself whole.”

His fingertips caressed her skin lovingly as he pressed her thighs apart, his tongue laving against the sensitive skin there before licking up the center of her with the flat of his tongue. She moaned, her head thrown back against the pillows as he continued to lick and suck, feasting upon her like a man dying of hunger.

Her fingers tangled into his platinum locks, pulling him tighter against her.

“ Draco ,” she whimpered as he pushed two fingers inside of her.

Stars burst behind her lids as she came, her body bowing from the bed with the force of her orgasm. He kissed her thighs, nipping and sucking the skin there as his fingers slowed before he sat back.

Slowly, he flipped her over, drawing her up onto her knees and ran a hand down her spine. Kissing the skin of her neck and the space between her shoulder blades before shuffling off his bottoms.

“Widen your knees for me, love,” he whispered, helping her as she shuffled her legs wider apart. Then, she felt the tip of him press against her entrance. “Okay?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Yes, please,” she answered, groaning with the sensation as he pushed inside of her.

One of his hands found her breast while the other swept her hair to the side. Her back was pressed against his front as he moved slowly, luxuriously inside of her. Hitting spots she’d never known existed until now.

Their magic danced around them in gold and silver sparks as he thrust into her. It had never felt like this before, this worship of each other – this need for connection and understanding. The sadness that seeped into the edges of their kisses mingled with the gratitude of their joining.

Gently he turned her face to his, leaning over her shoulder to bring their mouths together as his other hand slid down to circle her clit.

“Come for me, Hermione. Come for me,” Draco whispered against her mouth.

Her body trembled as his thrusts became more erratic. Both of them careening to the edge and then falling off the other side. They came together and broke apart again and again until their bodies stilled, and in the wake of their goodbye, tears streamed down their faces.

Slowly, Draco lowered them down onto the bed. He didn’t slide out of her and she didn’t ask him to. They merely lay in the dark, breathing in the scent of one another.

And if tomorrow is my last day of this life, I promise I will find you in the next.