EPILOGUE

End of May 1998

On graduation day, emotions and congratulations and good spirits were galore. It was a gorgeous spring day, and students were finally finished with their wizarding education–something to be celebrated to the highest degree. Hogwarts had a small ceremony for the graduates, held in the Great Hall, and Draco and Hermione had been asked to prepare a small speech for the departing graduates.

Besides that, they had not seen each other for most of the day, being caught up in the busy buzz of celebration and spending the last of their year with their closest friends. It was after dinner and its subsequent gatherings that Hermione and Draco finally bumped into each other, back in the Head Prefects dorms, perfectly startled to find one another there.

"I thought you were going to that Slytherin party."

"I thought you were out at the pitch with the Gryffindors."

"I am going, just later."

"Me too."

Draco couldn't help but tease. He forgot, until he had already spoken, that it was his typical behavior. "Hermione at the Quidditch pitch. A strange thought."

"What do you mean, I go down there all the time to see my friends. I won't be flying, if that's what you're insinuating."

"Of course not. No one could forget that first flying lesson first year."

"I'd like to forget it, thank you very much."

Hermione rolled her eyes nearly politely; nervously. They hadn't really had that much time to talk or be around each other, not after the conversation and the confession. She wasn't sure what to do. Say something? What about? Instead, she just skirted around to her room to grab the jacket she had been looking for.

Draco was also frozen in his words, not sure how to approach her after his awkward spilling of guts to her. How was she supposed to react to him telling her he loved her? Hated her? Whatever. He went into his room to change out of his school robes in favor of a more laid-back outfit for the evening.

Hermione, in her hurry to leave, and Draco, in his path to the bathroom mirror to fix his hair, collided in the hallway, stuck at an impasse. Their eyes met. There was no avoiding their stuckness, they would either have to acknowledge it or ignore it, and both seemed impossible.

"Are you leaving already?" he asked, his hands pausing at rolling up his shirtsleeve.

"Yes, I've got to dip."

"Alright," he said, looking down at her.

There was a brief moment of heavy waiting before they both moved, softly, quietly, like it was only the path of least resistance. Their eyes fluttered closed as they leaned together, Hermione just slightly on her toes, to meet in the middle in a gentle, necessary kiss. The low hum of electricity in the air around them seemed to crackle at the touch, and neither of them could ignore it, even as they pulled away. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, almost a completion of the kiss.

"I'll see you later, though," Hermione said, brushing past him to the door, betraying only the slightest hesitation to leave.

"See you later," Draco echoed, cognizant that he would be looking forward to the time when that was true.

With that, Hermione slipped out of the portrait door, heading left towards the Gryffindor party, and Draco would follow soon after, heading to the right towards the Slytherin dorms one last time.

They both smiled as they walked in their different directions. It was true that after they left the hallowed walls of Hogwarts, there was truly very little that would keep their distant lives connected. With only one day left in their dorm together, there was a strange bittersweet end on its way. However, there was no worry, strangely. Things would be how they would be. In a few days, they would be going their separate ways, just as they were now.

But there was always the middle, where they would most likely find each other again somehow, if it was meant to be. Probably at the beach house, which had just been deeded to her by Zabini.

Thanks, Blaise.

THE END