Falling in Love with the Enemy: Chapter 5: Epilogue
Hermione awoke to the smell of Spring. Time had really passed by and her Seventh year was practically over. Today was the last day-- Graduation Day. It was warm and sunny outside. She slid her legs over the edge of the bed and got her things ready for the shower. She took her shower, performing the drying spell, and got into her clothes. She slid her black robes over her periwinkle blue sundress and sipped her fancy, strappy black sandals on. She styled her hair over to one side, making the curls stand out more. Make-up came on lightly and she declared herself ready.
She walked down into the Common Room and saw that Harry was sitting on the couch, Ginny next to him. Ginny was smiling sadly, knowing Harry wouldn't be here next year. Hermione smiled as she sat down.
"Hey, guys."
"Hi, Hermione."
"Hey, Herm." Hermione looked at the two and broke down and grinned.
"Oh, guys!" Hermione wrapped the two in her arms and they hugged her tightly back. "Can you believe this is it, Harry?" Hermione said once they had released each other.
"No," Harry said, shaking his head, making his black hair flop. Ginny giggled as she played with it, remaining quiet. "Actually, I thought I'd be dead by now...with that whole Voldemort thing going on last year, I seriously thought I'd never graduate Hogwarts. Now that he's gone, I can't believe I'm here." Harry gave her a sideways look. Hermione felt horrible. After all this and he had nowhere to go. Sirius's name had been cleared, but Sirius was living in the muggle world and that was the last place Harry wanted to live.
Ron came down, looking sad. Rachel was coming behind him, straightening her skirt. Rachel had agreed to Ron's date and they soon were an item. Rachel had long brown hair and greenish brown eyes. She was a pretty girl.
"Been busy, eh?" Harry said as Ron sat down. Rachel sat in his lap. Ron grinned lopsidedly. Hermione couldn't help but feel a small jealous pang when she thought about Ron and another woman...
"Not much...Just laughing and rolling and kissing mostly. our clothes stayed on!" They all laughed, except Hermione, who was staring at a picture of Draco she had. Whenever she pulled out the picture, he would stay there until she put him away. Smiling his famous smile and winking, he kept Hermione occupied for hours.
"Hey, Hermione?" Ginny suggested. Hermione came back to the Real World.
"Uh...Yeah?"
"You wanna go to the Great Hall and see how it's being decorated for Graduation? Draco might be there," Ginny said. Hermione smiled and stood up. Why don't you stay here with Harry. I'll go find Draco. See you guys..." Hermione walked out of the Portrait Hole and down to the Great Hall. Lots of little kids and older kids stood watching the Graduation decorations being put up. Hermione searched the crowd for that shiny, silver-blonde head but she couldn't see it over some of the seventh year's heads. They were too tall.
"Need a hand?" someone behind her said. Hermione spun around to see Ron and smiled.
"Could you, please?" Ron searched and then pointed him out to her. She thanked Ron and started towards him.
"Hermione?" Hermione stopped and walked back a step or two.
"Yeah, Ron?" Ron moved closer to her and set his forehead against hers. Hermione tensed at his touch. She hadn't been this close to him in a while...
"I won't tell..." Ron said, leaning closer to her face with his, his eyes closed almost all the way, "if you don't..." Hermione started to pull away.
"Ron, he's my boyfriend and you have a girlfriend! This is wrong..." Ron looked pitiful.
"Hermione, I miss you every second of every minute of every hour of every day! I've lived without you for now, but I need something to hold me over the rest of my life...once you're gone. Not just some little peck on the cheek, either. Hermione, one last time...Please...I need this!" Ron begged, bringing his face close to hers again. Hermione feeling his soft breath on her face, felt herself give in and surrender.
"I won't tell, if you don't tell..." Hermione's lips landed on his and her tongue slipped into his mouth, his beginning to tango with hers. They kissed for about five minutes until Hermione stopped it. "Ron...I have to go." Ron ducked his head down and nodded.
"Yeah...I know."
"I hope you find yourself a family. I hope I find myself one, too. I'll always love you and I have the time I loved you more than that savored deep, deep down in my heart. Goodbye, Ron." Hermione turned away, trying to make herself forget the taste of his lips and his smell and a million other things she loved about him.
"Hermione! There you are!" Draco said. He swept her into his arms and hugged her. "I can't believe it's over!"
"Me neither!" Hermione returned the hug, feeling the warmth only Draco gave off renovating into her.
"You wanna go for a walk?" Draco asked. Hermione nodded and they walked outside. They went over to the lake and it's light blue water gleamed in the sunlight. Hermione sat down on a rock and Draco accompanied her.
"You seem kind of nervous, is something wrong?" Hermione asked as she sense Draco's hand twitching next to hers. Draco swallowed.
"N-No! Not at all..." Draco smiled nervously. Hermione smiled reassuringly at him, despite whatever was making him so nervous. It's probably just Graduation tonight, she thought.
***
Draco and Hermione talked quietly for a while before parting to get ready for Lunch. Graduation was at six and all the girls were fretting about their hair and clothes and make-up.
"Why does it matter what we wear?" Hermione said as she brushed her hair. "Everyone is only going to be able to see our faces!" Hermione started to wrap her hair into a tight, twisted bun, but it started to frizz, so she let it down and used a spell to make it fly into an elegant twisted bun that had a golden ribbon wrapped throughout it. That was the color of their Graduation robes-gold. Hermione smiled as some of the girls did their eyes in gold mascara. Some turned up there noses and removed it, but Lavender kept it on, claiming it looked nice on her.
***
When the time for all of the students to get down to the Great Hall came, everyone was fretting with last minute issues and screeching about how their lipstick was too dark or their eye make-up was too heavy.
Ginny walked up to Hermione and spun around once.
"What do you think?" Ginny wore a slim fitting pastel pink dress that shimmered in the light. It fit around her neck, tying in silver in the back. Her shoes were the color of the tied straps-silver. Her hair was styled into an elegant bun with curls hanging down. Her make-up matched perfect and she looked gorgeous.
"You look...beautiful! But, why?"
"Duh, Hermione! You spend too much time worrying about your grades and Draco! There's an Elegant dance afterwards. I saw some people in robes, but some people went back for those muggle clothes. I think the muggle dresses look beautiful! So, I went and bought this one with some change. You know, these don't cost very much!" Ginny grinned. Hermione felt a puncture in her perfect night. She had nothing to wear.
Ginny pursed her lips and tapped her cheek with her finger.
"I suppose-- I'm not supposed to do this because it's in the muggle world--I could summon one of the dresses I saw in the shop I got this one from. You'll love it, I swear!" Ginny waved her wand a couple times, said a few words, and soon, a dry-cleaned bag was in her hand. "Here! See if you like it!" Hermione swallowed and took the bag into Ginny's dorm where no one else was. She slipped the dark bag down around the dress and gasped.
"Oh...Ginny!" Hermione threw the bag on the floor. The dress was a light periwinkle blue and it seemed to have some kind of sheer smoothness to it. It had no straps and it had a long skirt. The skirt was pulled up with a triangular pendant holding it up. Underneath was a lighter blue skirt. A lighter blue shall was draped around the hanger. Hermione quickly threw her clothes off and scurried to get the dress on. She wound the skirt in between her arms and changed her nicest heels to the light blue color of the shall. "It's perfect! Thank you! You're my very best friend!"
"Oh, Hermione!" They embraced for a second before Harry's voice called on Ginny. Hermione wished Ron's would call on her, but Ron's called on Rachel. Rachel looked gorgeous, of course. Hermione went downstairs, Harry grinning as he watched her and Ron watching with a sad expression.
Professor McGonagall stood in the middle of the Common Room, holding their Graduation robes which fit over their outfits completely. She handed Hermione one, whispering in her ear, "You look great! Draco would be proud!" Herminoe blushed as McGonagall grinned and winked. Hermione, with the help of Harry, slid the golden robes over her dress and took a deep breath before letting a tear slide down her cheek and hugging Harry tightly.
"Out of everyone, even Ron and all my girlfriends and Draco, I'll miss you the most, Harry! You were the big brother I never had! I love you like I love no one else! You're my very, very best friend!" Harry squeezed her tightly back.
"Ditto to you, Hermione! Ditto to you," Harry said, smiling.
"Let's get down to the Great Hall, now, Gryffindors!" came Professor McGonagall's voice. They all filed out, most with a date. Hermione felt lonesome, but she didn't care.
***
Once they got into the Great Hall and saw all of the fifth and sixth years in the further back seats and all the empty rows with all the house coats on them. That's where they went to sit. Professor Dumbledore walked up onto the stage and cleared his throat.
"Welcome! It is in my great sadness that I have to let all of these children leave me! Welcome to this year's Graduation Ceremony!" Everyone clapped and Dumbledore got the certificates ready on his little podium.
"We'll be doing Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and then Gryffindor. Here goes..." Dumbledore read off all the names and when he got to Draco's, Hermione stood and whistled, clapping furiously. Draco smiled at her and winked, just like in his picture. Hermione's heart melted.
Finally, Gryffindor was read off.
"Lavender Brown!" Lavender glowered and went up to snatch her certificate.
"Seamus Finnigan!" Seamus smirked as he went up and he looked somewhat like Freddie Prince Jr., Hermione thought. You've been watching too much muggle TV!
"Hermione Granger!" Hermione smiled radiantly as she went up, slowly, watching Draco clap with glee and whistle and watching Harry clap proudly. She looked at Ron and saw that he was smiling with love at her. No matter what I do, he's never going to fall out of love with me!
"Neville Longbottom!" Neville tripped on his way up, making everyone laugh.
"Parvati Patil!" She almost tripped on her dress which flared out under the Graduation robes, but she didn't.
"Harry Potter!" Many people stood up and whistled. MAny people clapped and some fifth year girls in the back screamed, "WE LOVE YOU, HARRY!" Harry chuckled and accepted his certificate with a proud smile.
"Dean Thomas!" Dean waved and grinned as he jogged up to get his certificate.
"And last, but not least, Ronald Weasley!" Ron blushed as many people also stood and clapped and whistled. He had helped Harry destroy Voldemort last year. Rachel stood up on her chair and screamed, "RON, WILL YOU MARRY ME SOMEDAY?" She almost fell off her chair but Ginny caught her. Ron laughed and smiled widely as he walked back to his seat.
"Now, we will give out certificates for the Head Boy and Girl! Mr. Harry Potter and Ms. Hermione Granger!" Hermione and Harry made their way back up onto the stage and accepted the certificates...
***
About half an hour later, after all of the other small awards, the dance began. The fifth and sixth years were told to leave unless they had an escort. Rachel and Ginny were the only ones staying.
They removed their Graduation robes and Hermione caught sight of Lavender accidentally lifting her dress up and revealing her underwear for a second. She laughed so hard she nearly split the sides of her own dress.
"Hermione?" Hermione turned to see Draco. He looked handsome in his tuxedo. Hermione danced with him a few times and when the night was almost over, Draco told her he'd be right back. Ginny wandered over while Draco was gone with a sly smile.
"Hermione! Can you believe this?"
"Believe what?"
"He's going to--"
"Excuse me, I was wondering if I could make an announcement?" Draco said on the stage, the microphone in his mouth. Everyone stopped dancing to watch. Hermione was close to the stage, Harry and Ginny next to her. "I just wanted to tell everybody that my journey here was not easy and that my journey for love was even harder." Draco paused and smiled at Hermione. "But, at last, I am here, about to make the announcement I only dreamed of!" Draco looked deep into Hermione's eyes from the stage.
"Hermione Granger, the love of my life and the girl who guided me through good and bad, I just want you to know you're absolutely perfect and I don't want you to ever change! So..." Draco reached into his pocket and Hermione's chest tightened. "So that's why...That's why I want you...You..." Draco suddenly became nervous, a small case in his hands. He bewitched the microphone to stand beside him so they could still hear him while he opened the small case in his hand. He held the prettiest diamond ring Hermione had ever seen in the air. "Hermione Granger, love of my life, will you marry me?" Draco asked, looking nervous and hopeful. Hermione felt tears well in her eyes and she couldn't stop them from sliding down her face. She broke into sobs, nodding her head feverently. Harry had to wipe away a tear and Ginny hugged Hermione.
"I love you, Hermione!" Draco said before leaping off the stage and picking Hermione up and twirling her in his arms. They cried and cried and a jealous Ron watched. Sure, he felt happy for them, but he couldn't help being jealous of Draco. God, he wished that was him twirling her around. He would always love Hermione more than he was supposed to, no matter what.
***
Hermione stood on platform nine and three quarters, Harry in her arms. She was rocking him gently as she cried into his chest. He patted her back, cooing.
"I'm gonna miss you! I really will, Harry! Oh...Harry!" Hermione sobbed harder. Harry held her back and let her hang on Ron for a minute. Draco wasn't anywhere around from what Ron could see, so he snuck a quick kiss on her forehead. She straightened up and touched her lips gently and quickly to his.
"Goodbye, Ron. I love you...Goodbye, Harry...I love you, too...Write me, sometime! Okay? You promise?"
"We promise..." Harry's eyes told her he did. Hermione went over and kissed Draco, promising to see him soon.
"I love you..."
THE END!
{A/N: Yah...PLEASE R/R! Thanks to all my reviewers! I know TEssie reviewed this and I know some other people did -- I son't remember half of you, I'm sorry! I THANK YOU ALL! THANKS!!!!!!!}
{IDEA FOR A SEQUEL!}
{{ I have an idea for a sequel! It's how Draco's and Hermione's family try to tear Draco and Hermione apart after a dark secret is discovered...Sound good? Tell me if I should write it along those lines...REVIEW! THANKS!}