Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews, and for not giving up one me! To some of you, this FINAL! chapter might make it seem like I'm giving up on the story, but I'm so not. I think this ends it well and cuts down on some of the battle stuff that is important to the story, but not exactly important to read. The gist of the battle is, it's basically like the book (minus Draco being a death eater obviously, lol) and it ends with Voldemort being defeated and Draco just ends up leaving with Lucius and Narcissa, which kinda ruins the whole Draco/Raynea thing (seemingly). The flashback in the beginning should give an idea of what happened between them at the very end of the battle. Anyway, this chapter is fairly light and fun and I hope you all don't mind the flashforward, I just think it's beneficial to the story and kinda makes it interesting, plus I wanted to make sure that this story got an ending cause I didn't just wanna leave it hanging there. It's better than ending with an awful war cliffhanger lol, (i hope). Hope yah like it and that no one's disappointed. Please leave a review!

Oh, and I suggest "Run" by Snow Patrol for the itallics in the beginning and "Yellow" by Coldplay for the bold at the end. I really hope you all like it! Thank you so much for all the support throughout both of my stories, I appreciate it so, so much! Thanks! Enjoy!(:

His cold grey eyes were fixed on her face—in fact, they had been glued to that target the entire time. Even as he was reunited with his parents, even as his mother smothered him in hugs and his father patted his shoulder, his eyes stayed on her.

She was still spread out on the ground, lifeless bodies all around her. Her breath was heavy as she took in everything that happened, and even when her friends swarmed her she kept herself on the cold floor of the castle.

Voices were booming all around her, crying out in victory, but to her ears there was silence. None of this commotion distracted her from staring into his eyes. He was part way down the hallway from her, but the distance seemed much larger and each moment seemed like an eternity. Then, as was expected, he disappeared from her sight. He and his parents had gone.

Gone. It was such a short word, but it held so much meaning. She continued to just stare in that same spot, as if he were still there. But he wasn't; he was gone. And there was no certainty that she would ever see him again.

She felt someone hoist her off the ground and place her on her own two feet and three other bodies pulled her into a group embrace. But she gazed on ahead into the empty space, not quite sure how to act—or how to feel. Suddenly, her surroundings had faded to black and all sound was still drowned out…

Raynea turned over onto her side and her eyelids shot open, the familiarity of her room at the Burrow greeting her tired eyes. She breathed loudly out of her mouth and swallowed. She was plagued by the same dream—well, memory, every night for the past two months. That's how long it had been now; two months since their victory at Hogwarts and the fall of the Dark Lord…two months since Draco Malfoy was ripped out of her life without warning.

It wasn't so bad now, though. She had grown accustomed to his absence. That's not to say that she liked it, but she could deal with it. Besides, there was so much to be grateful for. Their enemies were defeated, she was with her friends again and for once in their lives, every person she loved was finally at peace. More importantly, Ron and Hermione were getting married that day.

Raynea smiled at the thought, then slid her covers off of her bare legs and began to rise to her feet. This action was interrupted as a frantic Hermione burst into the room, a look of utter terror covering her face.

"Rayne! You were supposed to be awake at least half an hour ago!" she screeched. Raynea merely chuckled. This was exactly how she expected Hermione to act on her wedding day.

"We have time, Hermione," she reminded her friend, "Your wedding's not till five…remember?"

Hermione simply inhaled sharply before bursting into tears, prompting Raynea to jump from the bed and go over to comfort her friend.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't do this, Raynea. There's too much pressure and…we're too young and—"

"And you love him," Raynea said with a small smile.

"Well…yes," Hermione admitted, "but—"

"Then you have nothing to worry about." Hermione exhaled and nodded as her tears ceased.

"Thank you."

"Of course," Raynea beamed, "Now go to your room and wait for me and Ginny to get there to do your hair and make-up. You're the bride, so leave everything to us."

"Okay, thanks Raynea. I'll see you in a bit," Hermione grinned before exiting the room, seeming to be at least a little calmer.

Raynea breathed out before heading through the doorway. Today certainly would be a busy day, that was for sure.

Ginny and Raynea had spent a good part of the late morning and early afternoon making Hermione look perfect for the ceremony. They had her hair styled into a twist with a small sprig of flowers pinned to it while her make-up was fairly simple and just played up Hermione's natural beauty. Once that was finished, the two girls left her to get dressed and had to rush to get themselves ready for the wedding. They had been given the honor of being Hermione's bridesmaids, which seemed funny seeing as the three of them had been Fleur's bridesmaids only about half a year earlier. Time really had flown.

"Hermione looks gorgeous," Ginny said with a smile as she and Raynea headed out into the hallway.

"I agree," Raynea told her, "We do good work."

"Of course we do," Ginny laughed, feigning haughtiness, "I'm really looking forward to tonight. It'll be so much better than Fleur and Bill's wedding."

"Yeah, because you'll have Harry as your date this time," Raynea teased.

"Oh, please," Ginny said as she blushed, "Bloke's lucky I decided to take him back."

"Yes he is," Raynea giggled, "You should tell him that."

"I do," Ginny chuckled, "…every day."

"Good girl."

The two approached Ginny's room and parted from there so that they would each have time to get ready. Raynea was glad that they had lucked out again when it came to bridesmaids' dresses. Hermione had chosen lovely, figure-flattering, spaghetti strap lilac dresses. They had a slight sheen to them that added some extra appeal and, of course, Raynea would be adding her own personal touches to make the ensemble more complete.

About an hour later, she was ready. Her usual long, loosely curled, brown hair was transformed to have springier curls and was pulled into a low, side pony tail that rested on her neck and flowed down almost to her belly button. She chose to put a white lily where the pony tail began, and it was positioned to be right behind her ear. Before she headed out to check on the boys, she gave herself the once over.

"Not bad," she said aloud, just to reassure herself. After another moment, she traveled up to Ron's room, wondering if he was as nervous as Hermione had been.

"Hey blokes," Raynea called out as she knocked on the door and peered inside the room.

Inside, Harry was sitting down on Ron's bed, dressed and ready to go. Meanwhile, Bill and Charlie seemed to be having some sort of argument in the corner of the room and George was trying desperately to help Ron with his bow-tie.

"You have to pull it through the loop," the groom-to-be said in annoyance as George continued to struggle with the article of clothing.

"Shut your trap," George teased, "I'm trying to help you, here."

"Well, bloody hell! You've got it so tight, you're gonna pop my head off!" Ron bellowed, shying away from his brother and treading over to the mirror. Harry and Raynea merely exchanged amused looks.

"Let me do it, you idiots," Raynea laughed as she crossed over to the mirror and began to fumble with Ron's tie. After about ten seconds, she had it tied perfectly, much to the boys' amazement.

"How'd you do that so fast?" Ron inquired in awe.

"I'm a girl, I have to know these things," Raynea chuckled.

"Alright, well, it looks like all the men are ready to go now," George announced proudly. Then, everyone's attention was directed to Bill and Charlie, who still seemed to be in the middle of a heated feud.

"Get your arses ready! Our boy Ron's about to get married here," George shouted at his two older brothers. Bill and Charlie immediately stopped arguing and cleared their throats awkwardly.

"Er…yeah, we're ready," Charlie said, trying to make light of the ominous air in the room.

"What were you two going on about?" Harry asked curiously.

"Well, uh—"

Bill interrupted Charlie and took a step forward, a bright smile on his face and one hand behind his back.

"You see, Ron, I was all set to give you my wedding gift, but Charlie here was going on about what a bad idea it'd be," Bill explained.

"That's because it is a bad idea," Charlie added on, "Don't listen to him Ron. Our brother is an ass."

"I also happened to be the only 'ass' here that's married, so let's listen to my advice, shall we?" Bill pointed out triumphantly. He held out his hand, which contained a rather enormous bottle of Firewhiskey. "Here's a little liquid courage for the ceremony. I wish you a long and happy life with your girl, Hermione."

"See? Like I said…he's an ass," Charlie grumbled. Ron seemed to disagree with Charlie, for a look of consideration covered his face as he reached for the bottle.

"Are you mad?" Raynea demanded as she ripped the bottle from Bill's hand before he had a chance to give it to Ron, "I am not letting you walk down that aisle like a drunken idiot!"

"Well, I might need it," Ron returned nervously, "What if I trip? What if something goes wrong in the ceremony? What if Hermione doesn't show up?"

"She'll be there, Ron. Trust me," Raynea assured him, "You don't need Bill's 'gift' to get yourself down the aisle. Everything will be fine."

"She's right, mate," Harry said, "It's gonna be great."

"Merlin, it's nice to have some other voices of reason," Charlie exclaimed, "Now, if you all will excuse me, I will be downstairs waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive."

With that, Charlie exited the room and was followed by George, who was quite amused be the situation that had just arisen.

"You'll wish you'd listened to me," Bill said, shaking his head, "See you out there, little brother." He clapped Ron on the shoulder before running out after his other brothers.

"Forget everything that he just said, Ron," Raynea said to her friend, "Bill's just…"

"An ass?" Ron suggested, using the term that Charlie has used to describe him previously.

"Well…yeah, basically."

"Right," Ron nodded.

After a moment, Harry rose from Ron's bed and headed towards the door.

"I'm gonna go down and get lined up with Ginny," he told them, "And don't worry, Ron, everything is gonna be great." He offered each of them a bright smile before disappearing down the stairs. Ron started breathing more heavily once he and Raynea were alone in the room. She wasn't surprised that he was starting to panic.

"Harry's right; everything will be perfect. I promise," Raynea smiled before pulling her best friend into a tight embrace.

"Thanks Raynea, you're a good friend."

"I know," she joked. They both giggled briefly before another moment of seriousness passed over them.

"You're getting married," Raynea said, as if the idea were completely surreal.

"Yeah," Ron grinned nostalgically, "It feels like we were just eleven, you know? Like we all just met, and now…"

"Yeah…" Raynea nodded. There was a short pause, "Well, we better get down there."

Ron inhaled and headed towards the door with Raynea right behind him.

The ceremony couldn't have gone by more smoothly. Everything was perfect, it was a beautiful day and Hermione looked radiant as she walked down the aisle in her exquisite, white dress. Everyone was ready to party when it came time for the reception. There was dancing, laughter and happiness everywhere. Couples in love would take the floor during slow songs, and everybody would join in when there were more up-tempo numbers. Raynea had the pleasure of dancing with all of her friends, and during slow songs she'd pick a different partner every time. First, she got to dance with Harry, then George and during the latest fast song, she broke off from the group and demanded that Percy Weasley dance with her.

"I do believe that this song is just a little too fast for my taste," Percy sputtered off as Raynea grabbed his hand and dragged him into the crowd.

"Come on, Percy. You need to loosen up," she told him with a chuckle.

"I'm quite loose enough, thank you," he shot back.

"Please? I won't take 'no' for an answer."

"Raynea…"

"Please? You only live once, Percy Weasley!"

"Well…alright, just this once."

Raynea burst into several fits of laughter as she fast danced with Percy, surprised that such and uptight guy could be such a successful dancer. She was glad she had convinced him to go onto the floor. She was determined to make sure that everyone had fun that night. It was destined to be a night to remember.

After another hour went by, Raynea had had her fill of dancing for awhile. Plus, the last five songs had been slow, and there seemed to be no end in sight of them. In the meantime, she plopped down at one of the tables that was set up and decided to indulge in some water. It was quite hot out; it was late in the spring, after all.

More time passed and, unfortunately, Raynea felt herself starting to get depressed. Couples in love were dancing all around her and she couldn't help but envy them. It was times like these that things really began to get to her, though she tried very hard to stop these feelings. It was just awkward for her, the fact that all of her best friends seemed to be paired off, and she was the only one that was still alone. She hoped that they didn't notice. Suddenly, Raynea's negative thoughts were interrupted as Ron crashed into the seat beside her.

"Hey, you," she said with a grin, "Shouldn't you be with your wife?"

"She's dancing with her dad," Ron told her, "Besides, I'm beat. I feel like I've been on my feet for hours."

"Ron, you have been on your feet for hours," Raynea chuckled.

"See?" he said, "Bloody hell…"

There was a short pause.

"So, are you happy?" Raynea asked as she smiled.

"So, so happy," Ron replied.

"Good, kid," she said, "You deserve it."

"Thanks, Rayne."

Another short silence passed over, and Raynea was a bit taken aback by what Ron said next.

"I know it's been hard for you, since you haven't heard from Draco or anything," he began, "but you're not alone Rayne, you've still got your friends."

"Yes I do," she agreed, "Thanks, Ron…now, go back to your wife! Forget this pity party, you've got some celebrating to do."

Ron nodded and offered her a bright smile before heading back out onto the dance floor. Raynea's grin faded slightly as he disappeared into the crowd. She decided that maybe she needed a little reprieve from all this intense partying. After another moment, Raynea rose to her feet and treaded out from the backyard around to the front of the Burrow. There was more of a breeze there, and it was definitely much quieter. The scene around her was quite serene. The wind was blowing, but everything seemed calm for some reason. The sun had just set, but she could still see all around her, for the lights coming from the backyard were rather bright. Things had been great, and the night was beautiful, but Raynea still felt emptiness inside her and she questioned whether or not it could ever be filled. She gave herself a moment to ponder this before shaking her head to expel the thoughts from her mind. She exhaled heavily and prepared to return to the backyard.

"Am I late?" asked a quiet voice from behind her. Raynea's eyes widened and excitement rushed through her. She thought maybe she was dreaming, but the hope inside of her told her that she wasn't. After another second, she slowly turned around.

Draco Malfoy was standing before her, his hands in the pockets of his classic, black suit and a small smile—not a smirk—plastered across his pale, pointed face. Raynea couldn't speak for a moment; she was in complete and utter shock. But somehow, she was able to force herself to form coherent sentences.

"What're you doing here?"

"I was invited, what'd you think?" he answered, "Potter sent me an invitation a week or so ago, said that I was welcome to come."

"Oh…er…I wasn't expecting to see you…"

"Well, here I am," Draco said, only a hint of haughtiness in his voice.

Raynea shook her head, so surprised by the situation before her that she didn't even know what to say—or think, for that matter.

"So, you never answered my question…" he pointed out.

"…huh?"

"Am I late?" He smiled, slightly cocky.

"…doesn't matter…"

There was a period of time where the two just stared at one another, the breeze blowing and soft music ringing in the background. This moment seemed surreal to Raynea, even more so than the idea of Ron and Hermione being married.

"Why did you come here?" she questioned with honest curiosity.

"Oh you know, music, free food, possibility of sneaking boos…" Draco trailed off with a shrug. Raynea cocked an eyebrow and smiled.

"…and, you're here. That was a big part of it, too," he added on. Raynea's expression became more solemn as he said this. She looked down at the ground for a moment before returning her gaze to his face.

"I know that the way I left was…" he trailed off again, "Well, anyway, it doesn't matter now."

"I guess," Raynea agreed breathlessly.

"What the hell does that mean?" Draco demanded.

"It means…I dunno…"

"Well…has it changed…for you?"

"What?"

"Has…er…"

"What?"

"Just give me a bloody moment to collect my thoughts here," Draco said nervously as he squeezed his eyes shut and paced the area in agitation.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but am I seeing Draco Malfoy acting…nervous?" Raynea teased.

"Very funny, Raynea," Draco shot back, "You know, I was actually trying to be serious, here."

"Were you?"

"I was. I had…something to tell you."

"Spit it out, then."

"It's not so easy, McCoy. I'm not the most articulate guy in the world, you know," Draco snapped.

"Just say it."

"Let me think for a moment…"

"Draco…"

"Just shut up for a second!"

"Just say it!"

"…I love you," Draco yelled, "There, ya happy?"

Raynea's expression softened as her breath hitched in her throat. She had wanted to hear those words from him for so long, but for some reason she was hesitating now.

"You left…"

"…I know, but I didn't want to. I just needed to make things right with my parents."

"I know that. It's just…"

"What?"

"It's been hard…with you gone…"

"Yeah," he said quietly, "for me, too."
A short silence passed over them, and the wind continued to blow.

"How do I know that I can trust you to stick around?" Raynea asked.

"You just gotta grit your teeth and do it, Raynea, because I'm not going anywhere. Not again."

"I do too, by the way."

"What?" he questioned.

"I love you," she verified.

"Oh…well, I'm glad we have that cleared up."

It was so odd for Raynea to see him get so calm; she liked it, though.

"I dunno, Draco. I don't know when you're just gonna pick up and leave me again. This isn't the first time that it's happened."

Draco sighed heavily before reaching into his coat pocket and holding up a ring. Raynea felt her stomach drop and her respiratory completely shut down as she stared upon the silver band with a medium sized diamond on top. She hoped she hadn't just completely lost her mind. She couldn't take it if she was imagining all this.

"Maybe this will put your bloody mind at ease," he said with a nervous smirk. She continued to merely stare at the ring as tears flooded her eyes, but none of them fell.

"So, what'd ya say, McCoy?"

"…your parents hate me…"

"And?"

"You're an ass…like, all the time…"

"You've known that about me for years," he reminded her.

"If you leave me again…"

"Not gonna happen, Raynea."

"But…"

"Didn't you do this when we decided to start dating, too?" Draco asked in annoyance.

"Yes…"

"See? I knew it, why do you always do this? You're so ruddy—"

"No, I'm saying…yes."

"Yes?" Draco repeated in shock as an honest smile formed on his face.

"Yes," Raynea laughed before she beamed.

"You do know that if you marry me, you'll have to shag me, right?"

"Yes!" Raynea giggled.

"I always knew I'd get you, McCoy," Draco grinned.

"Just shut up and kiss me, Malfoy," Raynea said as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He smirked.

Author's Note: Draco might have been a little different in this part, but I was trying to make it semi more romantic ish, but still have him be himself. I hope it worked, lol. Please review! Thanks a ton(: