Okay, this is it for this one. Whether or not I do more with the characters all depends on if I can come up with a plot and make it work. Thank you all for reading an especially, THANK YOU TO ALL WHO REVIEWED!!!!! You guys are so amazing. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this final epilogue, though it has nothing to really do with the main characters.
Ron stepped out into the night air, the frigid air bit through his clothes. Idly, he scanned the trees. He'd come out as an excuse to get away. God, she was getting married. Just a few months ago she'd told him she loved him and left for Hogwarts.. Now she was engaged and had a teenage daughter who looked up to her, as Ginny had looked up to his mom. It was bewildering.
And that wasn't what bugged him, he'd be the first to admit that. It wasn't that she'd replaced him without even looking back. After all, he'd tried to break up with her. The relationship never stood a chance. He couldn't offer her what she needed, what she deserved. Commitment, tenderness, love. He'd never even made a real attempt. He hadn't even acknowledged her affection that day by the train, just pushed her on the car and said goodbye. The fact that he didn't try, that he couldn't figure out how. Now that bothered him.
"Do you always stand outside in the cold snow after deciding to play the big brave hero." A voice asked from behind him.
"I didn't get much of a choice this time." He already knew who it was, had her face in his mind. Ms. Lily, at least that was what he'd thought Malfoy had called her. Last time he'd seen her she'd been both scared and furious, maybe that was why he remembered her with a gleam in her eye. He turned, expecting the husky voice to match the woman he had in his mind. It took all of his power not to gape when he saw her.
Her fiery hair lay not loose as she had worn it before, but clipped at the base of her neck with a simple flower pinned in it. Her blue eyes were sparkling in the dim light of the stars and seemed to be laughing though she had stopped. The fact that his heart did a roll meant nothing to him. She wore a simple dress the color of the flower she wore in her hair, a deep and contrasting shade of purple against her snowy skin. As a reflex to his intent stare, she smoothed the fabric of the skirt. "I know it's rude, but I saw you out here and curiosity got the better of me."
"You were at the ball?" He asked the obvious, not to be funny but because he couldn't think. " I didn't see you."
But she'd seen him. She'd had the greatest view of the entrance from where she had sat most of the time. "I was, yes." She laughed, refused to allow hurt to enter. "I'm afraid my date ran off with some Slytherin hussy." She came to stand next to him in the night air. "He was a dud anyway. No harm, no foul."
"Is he still breathing?" He asked, succeeding in getting a chuckle out of her. "Seriously though, it's freezing out here, you should get back inside."
"I'm fine." She lied. They'd been so lucky. It was only mid-February but all the snow had melted away in time for the dance. Their luck was obviously changing as the dreaded snow fell in huge clumps at alarming rates. And going by the massive clouds, it wasn't going to end anytime soon. Yea, one last blizzard.
"You're a horrible liar." He shook his head, pulled her under the shelter of the roof.
"I'm not a child." She complained, yanked her arm out of his grip. "You don't need to treat me like one."
"God, I don't even know your first name and your already a pain in my ass." He threw his hands up in frustration. There was nothing he hated more than a difficult woman, and yet nothing he loved quite as much.
"Tanya." She glared. He looked at her oddly for a moment. "My name, it's Tanya. Not that it matters, we'll probably never see each other again after tonight."
"Well it's certainly been interesting knowing you." He smiled at her. "Goodnight." And with that he turned and walked back inside.
"Goodnight." She muttered as she too headed in but took a different hallway with the intent of clearing her head. Though she passed a couple of students, no one stopped her. She walked blindly, found herself staring at the gaping hole. It wouldn't even be looked at until morning and the teachers trusted the students not to throw themselves out of it tonight. She sat down, let her feet hang down off the jagged edge and stared out at the beautiful snow. It wasn't so bad right here, both inside and outside. If only she could sit in the middle of everything, the perfect in between.
Someone sat next to her. She looked over at them. She'd met her now and again, Mel. And yet again, this poor girl was the entire reason these people attacked the school. She didn't want to know what it was like to be in the middle of a family feud, to have the weight of a parent who obviously despises you. But she wasn't about to say anything about that. "How's David doing?" He was a great guy.
"He's asleep," Mel yawned as quietly as possible. "I couldn't sit still any longer, I just needed to get out of there." She looked at Tanya, smiled a little. "You looked like you could use a companion."
"I guess you could say that." Tanya laughed once, "I tend to think way too much when I'm by myself."
"I have the same problem." Mel looked toward the falling flakes. "Beautiful, isn't it? Even if it's cold and unwanted."
"Yeah." Tanya leaned against a piece of wall. "Beautiful."
And as they talked away, everyone else was finding their own way to close the night. Hermione and Draco were in a meeting with McGonagall, David was in the hospital wing for the rest of the night, Ron had found his way down to the Hogs Head, and Harry had taken Ginny home the moment the excitement was over. It was a mundane end to a crazy and screwed up day.
