WERE DRACO AND HERMIONE HAPPY?
Draco and Hermione were happy, much happier than either of them ever expected to be.
DID DRACO AND HERMIONE MARRY?
They did not. I feel like they regarded themselves as married, but in my mind, their relationship was a bit like Audrey Hepburn and Robert Wolders.
Because of how few choices they’d had for so long, being together for the rest of their lives because they chose to each day was important to them, especially for Draco. I feel like he had a lot of ongoing guilt and insecurity that perhaps Hermione stayed with him because he made her make so many promises to him in the past about always being his. So she gave him always in daily increments.
DID HERMIONE EVER LOSE HER MEMORIES AGAIN?
Things got spotty for her towards the end. She’d get worried and ask Draco where Aurore was, and he’d have to remind her that Aurore had grown up. But her life was very focused on Draco, so she’d lose track of other things, or suddenly get a bit lost in previous point in time, but Draco was always a part of wherever her mind went, and she’d be able to stay calm as long as he was with her and he’d reassure her and remind her that they were safe.
DID DRACO OR HERMIONE DIE FIRST?
Hermione died first. Her use of the Dark Arts caught up with her in the end. I don’t think she died young per se, average life expectancy for a Muggle but young by Wizarding standards. It was very peacefully, in her sleep, with Draco, and they both knew that she was fading. So they’d said their goodbyes and done all those last things. But, after that, I go back and forth about how long Draco would have lingered, because there’s a part of me that thinks that his is a heart that would only beat a split-second longer than Hermione’s. That as soon as he knew she was gone, that would be it for him.
But then there’s another part of me that feels like Draco would want to be the one who told Aurore that Hermione had died. I think Aurore would know that Draco was not going to be around once he lost Hermione. But I think he would have said goodbye to her.
As to the specifics, I’ve always tended to think that if he ever really wanted to die, he simply would. Its kind of a sad twist on Hermione’s wish in the pre-flashback chapters about being able to die by simply wishing it fervently enough, I tend to think that because of the runes Draco could do that, and that once he didn’t have Hermione anymore, he would.