A/N: Here is the epilogue! Sorry it took a bit longer to post than I had anticipated! I got slammed with work (even though we start break on Wednesday), and it took up all of my time. There was also the fact that my parents are evil, and decided to severely punish me (AKA: take away my cell phone and my INTERNET for several days) for something completely stupid, but now I'm ungrounded! One other thing! I was wondering if one of my readers would make a trailer for this story. Because I think that would be the coolest thing in the world! How about this? If you make a trailer for this story, you'll get a sneak preview of the sequel!
NotADeamYetNotANightMare: Thanks SOOOOO much! Probably one of the best five-word reviews that I've ever had!
Aria657: Maybe I didn't hide some of them as good as I thought! But I'm glad that you were paying attention!
bananafreak97: OMG! New reviewer! I'm glad you like it!
P.S. Just because I was interested, I put all of the chapters for this story (including this epilogue) into one Word document, and I discovered that it was almost 30 pages exactly! And when I counted all of the reviews that I had for this story before posting this chapter, I had 30! Amazing, right?
*Graduation Day*
It had taken seven years, but they'd done it. They'd finished their N.E.W.T.s, and were finally graduating from Hogwarts. Everybody's emotions were a mixture of joy and disappointment. Although none of them would miss the classes and the work, they'd miss their friends, their Houses, the school that had been their home for so long.
The graduating seventh-years were sat in chairs in the middle of the Quidditch Pitch. The stands were filled with first-through-sixth-years and various family members, as well as some members of the general public. Most of the seventh-years had been nervous as, one by one, they walked to where the Headmistress waited to give them their certificates. But now, they were listening to their valedictorian (Rose Weasley) give her speech.
Except for Albus Potter. He was mentally freaking out, and not paying any attention to his cousin. He had a problem, and he'd put off telling anyone about it until today, the last day. He was nervous about the reactions of his loved ones, and was trying to figure out the best way to tell them. What was the best way to tell your family, friends, and girlfriend that you had been accepted to a magical college in another country, and you wouldn't be coming home for an undetermined amount of years? Albus suspected that there was no 'best way'.
Out of everyone that he had to tell, Albus believed himself to be the most nervous about telling his girlfriend of six months, Sarina Zelaya. He knew that, come the start of the next school year, she'd be studying to be a Healer at St. Mungo's. She wouldn't be able to come with him to America, and they'd both be too busy to visit each other very often.
Albus went through different possible conversations between him and Sarina. Each one ended with Sarina never speaking to him again. But that wasn't something that Albus wanted, so he'd move onto the next conversation. He was so absorbed in his daydreams that he didn't notice that Rose's speech had come to an end, and his fellow graduates were cheering as they stood, shooting sparks into the air in the colors of their (old) Houses.
"Al?" inquired Sarina when she was the first one to reach him. She recognized, from the look on his face, that her boyfriend was lost in his thoughts, so she gently shook his shoulder. When he snapped back to reality, he looked at her in surprise.
"Rina!" he said, almost shocked. Sarina looked at him, confusion evident on her face. "Everything alright?" she asked.
"What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine," Albus replied distractedly. Sarina knew better than to push him, so she suggested that they each go to see their families, and then meet up later tonight at the graduation party the Weasleys were throwing at The Burrow.
~Later that night, at The Burrow~
When Albus arrived at the party, he had already overcome one hurdle. As soon as he had gotten home, he had told his parents about going to America. They had been very proud of him, but had expressed some annoyance at the fact that he had waited so long to tell them, considering that he was leaving in only a week or so. Now he just had to tell the rest of the family, and Sarina. He'd leave Sarina until last, he'd decided. But that plan wasn't going to work out because Sarina approached him as soon as he walked out into the crowded backyard.
"Hey," Sarina purred as she wrapped her arms around Albus' neck and gave him a light kiss on the lips. She grinned as she unwrapped her arms, noticing that Albus was speechless. Of course, she didn't know that he was speechless for a totally different reason. She never would've guessed what was going to happen next. Albus could barely believe it, himself.
"I'm breaking up with you!" Albus shouted, and suddenly the music (pouring from a source that Albus couldn't determine) stopped, and everyone went deadly silent. The only noise was the sound of crickets chirping. Everyone had an expression on their face similar to what a Muggle would look like if they encountered a ghost.
"…what?" Sarina gulped. She was desperately hoping that her ears were playing tricks on her. There was no way that Albus was spouting such…blasphemy!
"I'm breaking up with you," Albus repeated, slower this time. He received looks of shock and confusion from everyone. He even thought that he saw one or two people looking at him with disappointment in their eyes, but he couldn't be sure.
"But…but…why?"
"I got accepted into a Wizarding College in America," Albus admitted, receiving a round of gasps from all of the people that hadn't known about his application (so, pretty much everyone). "I'm not going to get many days off, and I know that you're going into training to be a Healer, which we all know is pretty time-consuming. If we were both going to be in the same country, or even on the same continent, I'd figure out a way for everything to work. But I'm going to be across the pond, and it'll be too hard for us to get to each other on a regular basis.
"So I think we should break up…at least, for now. It's not that I don't love you anymore – believe me, I don't think I've ever loved anyone more – but I don't want our separation to put a strain on our relationship. I promise you, though, that we can pick right back up from here when I'm home for good."
"You…want me to wait?" Sarina choked out, trying to make sense of it all.
"Essentially, yes. I'm asking you to wait for me until I've finished my schooling, and then I want you to marry me," Albus declared as he fell to one knee. Sarina gaped in shock as Albus pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket and held it open to her. The box contained a gold ring topped by two small pearls.
"Is this…?" Sarina could barely speak. She was overwhelmed by all of the emotions that she was feeling.
"No,this isn't an engagement ring," Albus chuckled, "It's a promise ring. It's a promise that I will come home to you, and when I do, I'll present you with a proper engagement ring. Will you accept this promise?"
Sarina only nodded, tears freely flowing. Albus grinned at her as he slipped the ring onto her finger. Then he stood and hugged his eventual fiancée, amid cheers from family and friends. Right now, Albus didn't see how life could be more perfect.
A/N: That's it! The end of In Your Arms! My second completed multi-chapter fanfic! I think I'm going to cry! Although this story is only a little over a month old, I've grown very attached to it and the characters. We all know that the story can't end like this, so that's why…there will be a sequel! That's right! Sarina, Rose, Scorpius, Albus, Hugo, Lily and all the rest will be back for another 'adventure', but this time, there is more at stake!
I know that you're all probably itching for some information on the sequel, but, unless I want to give away the whole story, there's not much I can offer you. But right now, I shall present you with all the information that I can!
The title is…Homecoming! The sequel was actually the original story idea, but I decided that you guys needed to know more about the characters, so In Your Arms was born! The prompt that started the fic is "Welcome Home". The story is set around Albus and Sarina, and all of your favorite characters from In Your Arms will be featured, along with some new ones. It'll also contain a little gift for one of my reviewers…That's all I can say!
"Give us a quote!" you say? Well, if you insist…
"She gave up. If I was her, I would've given up too. Did you really think that you could promise so much, and make her wait so long for it? Well, you can't. That's not how things work. You're too late."
Is your interest peaked? I hope so! Homecoming will be 'published' today, so that there's basically no wait (and yes, I do realize that I am an amazingly epic 'author'). Be prepared!