Ch. 25 Epilogue. Something Unpredictable.
So take the photographs / And still frames in your mind / Hang it on a shelf / In good health and good time / Tattoos of memories / And dead skin on trial / For what it's worth / It was worth all the while.
It's something unpredictable / But in the end it's right / I hope you had the time of your life
- Good Riddance, Green Day
May rolled into June and the sun started to warm the cold stone halls of Hogwarts. Flowers bloomed in the fields that sloped down to the Black Lake, and students started to sit amongst them, surrounded by scattered books and parchment, their exams looming ever closer.
To her relief, Hermione found herself being able to focus on her work as she used to. Her curiosity was back with a vengeance too – she was frequently raising her hand in class, questions bursting forth from her uncompromisingly. When they left Muggle Studies one day, she noticed that Draco had a satisfied smile on his face.
"What are you so happy about?" she asked him.
He stopped then, his expression becoming serious. "You haven't once checked for your wand all lesson. That instinctive little checking thing you used to do all the time – making sure your wand was there. In fact, you haven't done it for days."
She realised he was right. "Yes. Yes, I don't suppose I do do that much any more, do I?"
He nodded, and made a humming sound of agreement.
She smiled, grasped his hand and they made their way to DADA together.
Exams came, and with it late nights cramming and a suppressed nervousness amongst the seventh and eighth years that made them tense and prickly with each other.
Hermione fell asleep in the library more than once. Sometimes Draco would gently wake her and guide her, exhausted, back to Gryffindor Tower. Other times he would cover her in a blanket, gently force a cushion under her head and sit beside her, focusing on his own books until she woke.
The exams passed without any drama. Except for in the penultimate week, when Ginny came running down the aisle between tables in the Great Hall at breakfast, waving a letter in her hand.
"Oh my – oh gods, Merlin, Harry – I got in – I got into the Harpies!" She collided into her boyfriend's outstretched arms.
Exclamations and congratulations drowned out the normal breakfast chatter.
"We'll have to work out a long distance thing, then," Harry said through a grin. "Or maybe I can get placed at the Welsh Auror Academy…"
They were all talking of their plans once they left school. Theo was accompanying Luna to the Orkney Islands, in search of glumbumbles and horklumps, and then back to the mainland and the rest of Scotland, following in the wake of one of Newt Scamandar's famous journeys.
Hermione and Draco had each applied to wizarding universities, not too far from each other. They were planning on spending the summer at each of their respective homes.
"What are you up to after Hogwarts, Pansy?" Hermione asked, one evening in the Slytherin common room. It no longer felt odd to be there, amongst the emerald green and glinting silver and the shifting shadows of the Lake creatures beyond the glass.
Pansy smiled smugly. "Off to Paris. Working for a PR firm. The salary, if you call it that, is absolutely awful. But I get to get away from my family. And they're giving me an apartment in the seventh arrondissement. You'll all visit me, won't you?"
"Of course darling! I'll need somewhere to stay!" Blaise exclaimed. He had plans to travel – across Europe and maybe beyond. "I have beautiful wings and need to spread them!" he exclaimed. "Metaphorically speaking, of course," he finished, giving Pansy a wink.
On the night of the last day of exams, a party was set up on the Lake shore, as was the tradition every year. This time, there was no unspoken divide among house lines. Nott played his guitar, and Pansy danced with Luna, the light of the fire playing over their faces. Neville gave out cannabis, indiscriminately and generously, mumbling, "I need to get rid of this before the end of term..." Seamus drank too much and vomited into the undergrowth, with Blaise stroking his back, saying soothingly, "That's right, mate, get it all out…"
Hermione and Draco sat a little away from the crowd, her head resting on his shoulder, as they both looked up at the stars: the forget-me-nots of the angels, in the infinite meadows of heaven.
Ron did manage to bring his girlfriend to the graduation ceremony. Lydia was her name, and she gazed around with wide-eyed wonder.
"Isn't this all amazing?" she exclaimed when Ron introduced her to Hermione and Draco. They were standing outside, as people gathered about the picnic tables that had been set up, glasses of elf wine in their hands. "You know, Ron is so good at this magic stuff! The first thing he showed me was how he could make a feather float in the air! Can you two do that?"
Hermione felt Draco stifle a laugh. "Yes. Yes, we can," Hermione said, warming to Lydia's innocence and her clear respect for Ron, despite her brash bubbliness.
"Wingardy levisum, isn't it?" Lydia asked, looking at Ron for confirmation.
"Wingardium leviosa," Ron said, stressing the correct syllable.
"See? See how good he is!" Lydia gushed.
Draco's grip tightened around Hermione's hand.
A pink hue of a blush was creeping up Ron's face, as he said softly, "Yeah, well. I had a good teacher for that spell in particular."
Hermione smiled and giggled into the curve of Draco's neck as they went to get more wine. "She seems nice. I think she'll be really good for him."
"Yes. Lovely," Draco said dryly. "I'm going to need a large glass…"
On the last day of term, Hermione charmed her packed trunk and overflowing satchel down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room.
Her housemates were bustling about in a last minute panic. Neville was trying to cajole a non-venomous tentacula into a cloth sack, whilst Seamus hunted around for a lost quill, mumbling, "My mam gave me that...she's gonna kill me if I can't find it…"
Eventually, they started to all gather about the portrait hole and step though it. But in that moment, a movement in the periphery of Hermione's vision made her stop. It was the flickering of light that came from the assortment of candles that stood on the mantelpiece. The emblems on their sides were still visible: a toilet seat, a sprig of lavender, a Muggle camera. Their flames were lively and bright, just as bright as the first day they'd been lit.
"Shouldn't we put them out?" Hermione asked uncertainly.
"They'll be fine," Parvati responded. "The flame is specifically charmed so that they won't set fire to anything but the candles wick. And besides, we couldn't put them out if we wanted to. Those candles aren't going out anytime soon. Remember what I told you: they'll continue burning for as long as the living remember those who are lost."
Draco was waiting for Hermione by the dirt track where the thestral-drawn carriages were lined up, ready to take their luggage to Hogsmeade Station.
After they'd charmed their trunks up into a carriage, Draco eyed Hermione's overflowing satchel dubiously. "Are you trying to smuggle half the books from the library out the castle?"
"No," Hermione said indignantly. "I have this for you."
As she scrambled about in her bag, a jumper fell out. A moss green, cable knit jumper that was clearly too big for her.
"You're finally giving me my jumper back?" Draco had an amused grin on his face.
"Oh, no, I – um – was hoping I could keep that. For now, at least."
"Of course you can keep it. I'd like you to."
"Thank you… It was this that I wanted to give to you." She pulled a Muggle CD Walkman out of her bag, along with a CD in a plastic case.
Draco's eyes lit up. She could tell he was happy with the present. "Oh. This is great! Thank you. I've been wondering how these things actually work," he said, taking the Walkman and CD from her.
"I made a mixed CD for you. It's, erm, all my favourite songs..."
Draco started reading through the list of songs she'd written on the case's cover: "Good Riddance, Green Day; Wonderwall, Oasis; Creep, Radiohead…sounds...interesting." He grinned at her.
She beamed back at him, and pulled her satchel onto her shoulders. "Well, I think you'll like some of them…they're all songs I've listened to during my years at Hogwarts, especially this last year. I think they'll always remind me of my time at school now."
"Great – that's, that's cool. I can't wait to hear them." Draco carefully placed the CD and Walkman into his own bag, before taking her hand. "Ready to go?"
"Yep." They were going to her parents' first. Hermione was keen to spend more time with them, and introduce them to Draco. "Take me home, Draco."
He leant towards her and kissed her tenderly on the forehead.
"I'll take you anywhere you want to go," he said softly.
And so, hand in hand, they walked down towards the Lake shore, towards the rowing boats waiting to take them across the shimmering water, and on to the rest of their lives.
The End.
A/N:
As always, and for the last time, a huge thanks to Frumpologist and scullymurphy for being amazingly encouraging alphabetas.
I hope you're enjoyed this story. Your thoughts and feedback are, as ever, cherished and treasured!