Good Apple, Bad Apple

                                    

                                          
Time passed quickly now that danger was off their heads. Students returned to Hogwarts to appear in their exams. There was something else Hermione was busy with too; she didn't tell anyone she got a job yet. She had applied in the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. She was adamant on doing something special for all creatures to make their lives better, especially the opressed ones. She also realised that she was finally nineteen years old and had to move out of her parents's house. 
She had not pictured herself to be engaged while in the process of finding a stable job and moving to a place she could call her own. Soon after her exams were done with, her parents helped her find a small, cozy little apartment for herself. Everything was finally going her way.
Draco, for the first time in his life, had experienced what being the change felt like. All this time, he had hated Harry and his friends for changing the world, saving it from evil and making it a better place. Now that he had experienced doing the same, he did only what he thought would compensate for the evil he had taken part in; he applied to be an Auror.  
After their exams were done with, they began planning for their vacations.
Hermione had asked him to come see her new place the day they boarded the Hogwarts Express to go home. Draco was stuck in a conundrum; now that Hermione had her own place, what did she think about the future? Draco wanted to marry her as soon as possible. He was dying to discuss all the chaos of questions that ran wild in his mind. 
They shared a compartment with Neville and Luna this time. There was some excited chatter about their engagement for a while, and then came the questions. 
"Soooo, when's the big day you guys?" Neville asked teasingly. 
"Very soon." Hermione looked at Draco for some help.
"Yes, really really soon." Draco smiled.
The discussion jumped from topic to topic, what the wedding theme was going to be, who would be the maid of honor and best man, to completely different subjects like how their exams went to what their career choices were and why.
The train journey passed in what felt like no time to Neville and Luna and all the time in the world to Draco and Hermione; they both didn't know any answers to questions related to their wedding. 
When they unboarded the train, Neville and Luna went their seperate ways. Draco held Hermione's hand and gave her cheek a soft kiss. 'Don't worry about a thing, we have a lot of time to talk things through.' 
 **
Hermione felt extremely excited as she showed the empty apartment to Draco. She had only set the sofas and coffee table, and so their voices echoes as they admired her new place. 
"Merlin's beard!" Draco exclaimed when she showed him the automatic shower sttand and washbasin. "Muggles doing this without magic, that's amazing." 
"Technology's the magic of our world yeah," she laughed, inviting him to sit on the sofa next to her. "Well, I would offer you cookies and milk, but you see I haven't set anything up yet."
Draco reassured her he was full. There was a shared moment of silence between them before he couldn't control his curiosity any longer.
"Hermione..." he tried to approach the topic as carefully as he could. "I don't mean to rush things, but I want to know when you'll be ready for the next chapter of our life."
Hermione gave him a shy glance. "I'm just waiting for my job to be stable."
Draco smiled, but didn't say anything. Hermione knew there was a lot of ambiguity in her answer and Draco was getting worried about it. 
"Is there a problem?" she put her hand on his shoulder and pulled near to him. 
"No... there's no problem." He smiled at her, giving her head a small kiss. She looked up at him, knowing there was definitely a problem. 
"I want to know what you're thinking." Hermione hugged him. He held her hand and took a deep breath. 
"Good things always slip away from my hands so fast." he squeezed her hand. "I'm so scared of losing you."
She put her arms around his neck and gave him a reassuring kiss. "You won't lose me."
"I feel like I've been so terrible, maybe I'll be punished for my evils by you being taken away from me."
His eyes, his smile not concealing the hurt his thoughts were causing him.
"A bad apple that spoils all the good apples if it's not taken away from them, that's how I think of myself. I don't want my mistakes to cost you your happiness."
Hermione never knew there was a philosophical side to Draco. "You're not a bad apple, Draco. You're a good apple who was too close to a bad one, and you distanced yourself from it in good time."
He chuckled sadly at her response. "I didn't distance myself from it Hermione. I let it affect me for long enough."
"And you cut the spoiled portion off before it could infect all of you. It isn't so easy Draco."
Draco looked at her, adoring her, yet feeling his heart pained more by how nice Hermione was to him. He knew his actions in the past could not be reversed and nothing could make up for his mistakes.
"Draco?" She looked up at him and gave him a small smile. "How would three months from now be to choose a wedding date for?"
His eyes widened and colour filled his face. He held Hermione close and hugged her tight.
"Yes, yes, that is perfect." He tried to conceal the tremble in his voice.