by Meriadoc
 
 
 

Dearest Draco,

How are you and everyone else? I do hope you’re all right. How are the trainees getting along? I must say that I’m
quite nervous about letting young, inexperienced wizards handle battle. Not only do we have a bit of a chance of
losing, but they, the trainees, I mean, might get harmed a great deal.

I’m not much used to writing to you, as I’ve never been away from you so long since your… proposal. And my
acceptance. I still have the ring, of course. I’ll think about you every time I look at it. How I wish I could join you there,
I admit I’m quite jealous of the girls, like Susan and Lavender, whom the army took with it as nurses. I still don’t
understand why I can’t be there with you, but it must be for the best.

Please don’t worry about me; I’ll be out of harm’s way at Hogwarts, as long as Dumbledore is here.

And please be safe. I don’t know whatever I would do if you ever get hurt. I would most likely drive myself insane, and we don’t want that, do we? And… every morning I wake up and wonder if you’re all right, if you’re still alive. I don’t like this uncertainty at all. Please always be careful. For me.

I love you more than anything,

Hermione
 
 
 
 

My Hermione,

The Dark Lord has found out where we are and his army attacked yesterday. Don’t worry, I didn’t get hurt too much – just a
small curse, but I’ve got my right foot back now. I didn’t know Crabbe could hex someone that badly, the idiot. No one was
killed, but fourteen were badly injured. One of them is Ron, that’s why he can’t write back to you right now. Don’t be vexed;
Madame Pomfrey has it all under control.

There is definitely a traitor in the midst. We were only three days at our previous Unplottable location when they came. Harry is
sending out a few spies, and that’s all I can say, lest this letter be intercepted.

The trainees are doing for better than I imagined they would. I’m glad to say that these ‘inexperienced wizards’ will be quite
good in battle.

Do believe me. It is for the best that I didn’t let you come. Yesterday, one of the nurses nearly got shot with Avada Kedavra.
It is only by a lucky chance that it missed her. You see why I left you there; it is far too dangerous here.

I promise I’ll be all right. I agree – not knowing if you’re all right and if I’ll be all right has me at my wit’s end, day in, day out. I
do hope you’re right about Hogwarts being safe.

Ron says for you to tell Ginny that he’s all right, as he is incapable of writing right now and refuses to let anyone dictate,
because, I think, ‘Ginny’s been on a paranoid streak lately’.

Thanks for giving me a reason to live. If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be living right now. I love you, too.

Draco
 
 
 
 

Draco,

Thank you for your letter. You’re the only thing keeping me from jumping off a cliff right now, too, but I swear if
anything happens I wouldn’t be able to restrain myself from doing just that.

I do hope you spot this traitor soon. It is far too easy nowadays to trick anyone. Do be careful, because, I can tell, this
spy may be closer to you than you think. I don’t know if that’s me or the coffee talking, but I know, from years in this
against-Voldemort thing that nothing is what it seems. Watch out for yourself, and don’t trust too many people. Not
that I need to tell you that, though.

The dementors have deserted Azkaban, as you may have well heard. They didn’t put it in the Prophet, subscriptions to
which I’m not sure any of you have, but Fudge had a heart attack yesterday. It’s not too big of a loss, I daresay, but
news spreads around quickly, and those still trusting in the Ministry are losing hope, which makes things harder than
they are already. A lot of people are panicking, and I can’t do anything to reassure them.

Please tell Harry to expect an owl from me – I have the information about the amulet he was asking Dumbledore and
me about, and have included a few rolls of parchment on it. I just don’t know if it’s safe to send out information like
that when Voldemort could be stalking our owls, but Dumbledore says it’s safe. I think he slipped in a charm or two
before sending that one out.

And Ginny is a tad too busy here to write, but she got Ron’s message and will be writing him when her hands aren’t as full. She also says she’ll be joining you there if she has to. I wish I could too.

Please write back, and don’t worry, and take care of yourself.

All my love,

Hermione
 
 
 
 

Dearest Mione,

Thank you for your bits of unnecessary, but still warmly received, advice. And I do think that’s the coffee talking, for we both
very well know I can take care of myself. But somehow, as much as I don’t want you worried, it is kind of pleasant to have
someone trouble herself to think about me.

You’re right, we’ve cut off our subscriptions to the Daily Prophet, but we still know a few snippets of the goings-on out there.
The Dementors have fled Azkaban, but I don’t think they’ve joined the Dark Lord yet. I suspect they’re weighing their chances
of winning and having battalions of souls to feed on. Typical.

I had thought the rumours about Fudge’s medical emergency were, well, only rumours. And you’re right, it is to our
disadvantage that it happened at such a time – the last thing we need is for the people to panic. It’s been bedlam, I’ve heard
even the Muggles are suspecting something’s wrong.

Speaking of Muggles, I learned from a source that Voldemort isn’t attacking them as much anymore. Probably using all his
energy for this battle, no? Good for the Muggles, bad for the Wizarding world.

Ron is able to walk properly now, and finally able to write, the same as Longbottom, Flinch-Fletchley, and Thomas. A few old
Ravenclaws were hurt, but I’m still not feeling too good towards them, as they seem to doubt where my loyalties lie. If it
weren’t for the current predicament, and for our need of soldiers, I would have cursed their smart little heads off. It’s amazing
how brainy some people can be, and not have any common sense at all.

Harry says thank you for the information. He says it will surely be helpful, and would be writing you to tell you himself, but
unfortunately he’s occupied with memorizing the data you sent over.

I really do wish I could tell you how much I miss you and long for your presence here – what an inconvenient time to fall in love,
huh? – but my eloquence has its limits, as you know. I can only hope you know how much, for it will be a great pain for me if
something were to happen to either of us, and you remain in doubt of whether I really do care for you. I want to see you again
more than anything, and will try my best to live through this whole thing just to be in your arms again.

Love Always,

Draco
 
 
 
 

Draco,

Things have gotten so serious that Dumbledore, who is acting as a sort of Minister of Magic by decision of the governors (as always – Fudge never really acted like a Minister, did he now?), is actually considering letting the Muggle Prime Minister, tell the Muggles about all the goings-on so they can prepare themselves. But then, how can they prepare themselves from facing Dark Magic? Even we, with magic, can’t do much but fight them, and we’re not even sure we’ll win – so what can Muggles do? And I don’t think they’ll be able to keep level heads when told, as the Muggle Prime Minister will have to tell them all about us, which will be a shock to more than a few. It might sound very unlike me to diss Muggles like that, with my parents being Muggles and all, but I’m sure we all have enough on our plates without worrying about being burnt at stakes (not that that will do any good, but it will surely be a considerable waste of time).

Do send my regards to Neville, Justin, and Dean. I haven’t seen them in ages, except when I spotted Dean buying a copy of PlayWizard from Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley five months back, but that doesn’t really count. And don’t mind the Ravenclaws, I’m sure they’re just suffering from after-effects of whatever injury they might have endured. Though I don’t blame you for wishing hard luck upon them… I admit it’s rather rude of those twits to say that to your face. If it’s any consolation, I don’t have any doubt about your loyalties, as do Dumbledore and Harry, and Ron, though I think he’d rather bed a Blast-Ended Skrewt than admit it outright. We trust you, and hope you trust us.

As Harry might have told you, Dumbledore is coming over in a few days – he has trouble communicating through
fireplaces, not to mention bonfires (I think Ash is his natural enemy, if you can call it natural). He can’t Apparate over,
of course, but won’t be coming over by broom, either. Actually, I’m not sure how he will be coming, he hasn’t told
anyone but Minerva. Don’t fret over our safety here, for Albus has assured me we will be alive and well even in his
absence. I swear, that man is hard to understand; I still don’t get him after nearly a decade of knowing him.

I miss you, and it’s getting harder, not seeing you, every day. I’m stopping myself from sobbing so you won’t have to
peruse a tear-stained letter, but I assure you I yearn for the day when all this is over and we can get back and marry.
Mother tells me it’s stupid to have made an engagement with a man who’s going out to war, but I’m confident our pact
is for the better. Please come home safe. I must have said that a thousand times already, but I can’t help it.

Love,

Hermione
 
 
 
 

Mione,

I don’t want Dumbledore to tell the Muggles either. What if we do win, and the Muggles still know of us? Then they’ll go right
ahead with the discriminations and killings and burnings. We’ll have to do millions of Memory charms to wipe out their
memories after that, and it’s some job for the Squad, don’t you think?

You’ve been Owling your mother, then? Has she told your father? I want you to know this is entirely your decision, to leave him
in the dark or no, I mean. (Do your parents still remember that incident at Flourish and Blotts’ before second year? I most
certainly hope not.) Though I would prefer if you told him, I’m no good at this marriage thing. Father already decided whom I
would marry before I was born, which is Pansy Parkinson, and I’m sure you’re aware how gratified I am that the engagement
with Pug-face didn’t ensue.

Mother knows about the engagement – I forgot to tell you that I informed her of it before I left. She promptly fainted at the
news (‘She actually accepted!’), but recovered enough to say that she’s perfectly glad for us. Lucky she didn’t pick up on
Father’s racism mania. She’s nearly as worried about me as you seem to be, from her letters. She said to greet you in her last
one, actually.

Yes, it is quite a relief to see (or read) you say you trust me, as your confidence means the world to me. Frankly, Ron can bed
as many Blast-Ended Skrewts as he wants, because your opinion of me makes up for all that school-day-grudge thing.

My love never wavers, and I find myself actually believing that proverb ‘Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder’, if you’ll
excuse the corniness. I love you as much now as the day I proposed to you, though I daresay those were happier
circumstances. I swear I’ll get home if I have to kill Voldemort for it, the bastard. And I hope you’ll be waiting for me there.

Truly yours,

Draco
 
 
 
 

Draco,

I’m so very glad your mother agrees with the engagement. I was actually afraid her reactions would be… something
else over again. You can’t blame me, though, I barely know Mrs Malfoy. To think I’ll be called that soon!

Father knows, and he almost fainted like your Mum, according to mother. So we don’t have to inform him together –
besides, I know how awkward a situation would be like to you. And it would be quite embarrassing to have you witness
my father faint.

They were both surprised that their little girl is getting married, really, but not as much as they would have been
without Dor. Dorothy says hello, by the way. And I showed her a picture of you, and she was ever so jealous. She’s only
fifteen, of course, but is already planning for marriage. Imagine that!

Oh my. Harry said in his last owl that you people are getting ready for battle. Can’t tell you how much I dread the
thought of you being in the battlefield with those awful wizards. The dread, the anxiety… I don’t know how much I can
take. I can only hope you’ll be back, alive and well, to wed me, for I haven’t looked forward to anything as much in my
whole, entire life.

Hermione
 
 
 
 

Ever-dearest Hermione,

The battle will start, by the feel of it, in the next two days. I don’t know how long it’s going to last. Hell, I don’t know how long
we’re going to last. Hopefully it will be short. Everyone is dreading it, for sure, except Harry and Dumbledore, who ‘want to get
it over with’. Harry’s being really irritable and uneasy, though you really can’t blame the man. I, for one, want it over as soon as
possible so I can come home, but I’m still not looking forward to being out there in the field.

Glad you’re looking forward to the nuptial.

Please wait for me. Will be home soon. I look forward to your letter and am treasuring all the others you sent me.

I love you for ever,

Draco
 
 
 
 

Draco,

Please be careful. Don’t die on me, please… That was really stupid of me to write, but I can’t help it. If you’re injured,
stay put, don’t be too eager to go out there and get yourself killed. I duly regret ever letting you go.

Be careful. I love you, you know how much.

Hermione
 
 
 
 

Dear Mione,

As you may have heard, the war is over! We’ve won. Be glad, my love. I am. I’m coming home! It’s over! Please wait for me
there.

Draco
 
 
 

Disclaimer: I don’t own JK’s ever-so-lovely world, I just live in it.

A/N: Well, I’ll leave you to figure out what happened and what happens. Want me to write how they get married? Or the
proposal? Do review, or email me.
 

Come Back To Me (sequel to Billet-Doux)
I'll See You In Heaven (alternate sequel to Billet-Doux)