Author's Notes: Well, here it is. The last chapter. The end. Will Cho get what she wants? Read and you'll find out, but first, let me say a couple things. I know I say this every time I upload, but I really, really want you people to understand how much you mean to me, as readers, and reviewers. Thank you so much for taking the time, and the patience to review and tell me what you think, it means so much to me!

Audrey Lebeke: You have been such a part of this, thank you so much for everything- the late night plots, and the amazing friendship. Hope you got the ending that you wanted...

Gwendolyn James: My fellow authoress, and AF girlie, as well as Fanfiction Stalkers- thank you as well for your kind words, and advice, and ongoing support of all my fanfics, not only this one.

Karri- Granger: I'm so used to seeing your name on my review lists, it's like seeing one of my BETAs on here all the time. You have faithfully reviewed every chapter of this one, and many others, and I appreciate that very much!

Logical Raven: I know! I think I read that particular fanfic...well, you know in my mind, no matter how much angst I put our poor main character through, I'll always be a Cho/Harry shipper to the end, even in canon, if he gets with someone else. You are an awesome writer, and I feel extremely grateful that you take the time to review.

PippinMyHobbit: Thank you! Haven't seen you on for a while, but thank you very much for the very nice reviews!

Michael Taravera: I've updated! I hope you like it, the ending and everything...thank you for reviewing!

Apple-tree: Thank you very, very much! I can't say thank you enough!

FSI: Here it is...the end...I've updated as fast as I could! Thank you for the beautiful reviews, and email.

Aiyko- Chan: I feel so bad...I didn't mean to make you cry! Hopefully Cho will get her happy ending, and you will too...

Little Eirtae: Finished...it's really finished...and here it is!

Okay everybody, a quick note before you start reading- no matter how bad it gets for Cho, or how horribly angsty it gets, and/or parts when you want to throw heavy things at me, just keep on reading till the end. Just trust me on this!

If my heart had been broken when you went out with Ginny, then right now, it's being torn into pieces. Millions and millions of tiny little fragments, each meticulously ripped, and then thrown on the floor, stomped on, and burned in an acidic solution.

My life is in turmoil.

After you broke it off with her, I thought that everything would be perfect, like a fairy-tale ending to a beautiful book. I let myself hope, and dream, stupid, unrealistic thoughts, about you, about you and me. About us together.

I learned a long time ago that those perfect endings were only for books, only for starry-eyed little girls with the rest of their life ahead of them, untainted by death, or anything else horrible. I used to be one of those little girls.

Used to.

But not anymore. I've had too much in my past three years to ever become half of that little girl I was. I gone through too much pain, too much depression, too much misery and anguish...too many tears to ever become that little girl again.

I don't know if I even believe in love anymore. It's hard; it's extremely hard to lose faith in something that you have held by your whole life. Love was my motto, it was what I put everything into, and took everything out of. I truly, honestly, believed in true love.

But how can love be true when it causes so much hurt, so much sadness? Why were we humans cursed with the ability to love someone so much that you feel as if you can never catch your breath, that amazing, spine-tingling, death-defying, hold-me-as-tight-as-you-can-so-I-don't-fall-from-up-here-in- the-sky feeling of being in love? Why?

I've learned now, that love is always followed by pain, love is always followed by hurt, love is always followed by something horrific. And because of that, I can't trust love anymore.

I don't think I will be able to ever trust it again.

That day, at least a month after you broke it off with her, that day you came and sat down next to me at the lake, I really thought it was my second chance, my second chance to make it work. That day changed me forever. I remember every word of the conversation and I will never forget it, because that's the day I found out that love was just a word, the day I found out that love is not real. Love is dead.

You came down, and sat by me. I was too shocked to do anything, but stare, stare at those astonishing emerald eyes of yours...they were so mesmerizing.

I spoke first, even though my brain is on Autopilot. "Hi." I whispered.

You smiled a shy smile at me. "Hello." Taking a deep breath, you said the words that I had wanted to hear...oh, I don't know since when.

But you did say them.

Biting your lip, you seemed really, really nervous, and uncomfortable. I was the first to break the silence, and I don't know what in the world possessed me to do it.

"Harry...do you...I mean...well...do you still...?" I trailed off, aware of how utterly idiotic I must have looked.

You looked at me, no, you really looked at me, you looked almost through me; as if I were made of see-through glass, and you could peer through into my soul and my heart, and see everything there, everything shallow in me, everything dark and sad in me, every feeling I fought so hard to oppress, and even the happy things in me, like glimmers of sunshine in the shadow I call my soul, and you nodded your head slowly.

I felt a huge wave of happiness sweep over me. It was odd, lately I had been so gloomy, and then, suddenly ecstatic. It's like when you jump from a hot steamy bath, to an ice –cold lake, or vice versa.

"Me too." I whispered. I wondered what was going to happen next. This was one of those moments where it borders, and lingers, between something and something else; in this case, perhaps a kiss, or not a kiss. Just like the fairy tales.

You seemed as if you were fighting some internal struggle within your soul; I know that look often.

Finally you spoke. "Cho-I can't-We can't be together."

I was frozen. "I thought-"

"I do really, really like you, but I can't afford to take any chances. Not after Cedric, not after Sir-" You fell silently suddenly, as if saying that person's name made you feel pain like pain that scars you, scars you deep on the inside.

I was thoroughly confused now. "You mean you don't want Voldemort coming after me?"

"That...and there's something else too...I just can't be with you, Cho. You have the rest of your life ahead of you...and I'll always, no matter what, be the one Voldemort's after. He'll use anything to get me, and I can't let him use someone whom I care about again to lure me into a trap."

My head was spinning again, and I felt the lead weight come back onto my chest, heavier this time than ever.

I want to scream, to cry, to do something to let out a tiny portion of all the emotions I'm feeling at the moment. I want to yell at you for being so stupid, and yet, I want to hug you all the same for caring about me.

My voice is filled with feeling, and pain the next time I speak, I can't let you do this without trying to do something about it.

"Harry..." All the words I had in my head fly out. Everything I needed to say seems pointless, and unimportant.

"Life is nothing without love, Harry." My voice breaks, and I look away.

You gently touch, my hand, making me look at you again. Smiling sadly, you say, "But if I lose you, then who will I have to love?"

That does it. I can feel myself breaking inside, dying, drowning, falling apart. How can you be so awful, and yet, so very beautiful at the same time?

I want to laugh, and weep at the unfairness of it all; the unfairness of life, the unfairness of you and me, or what we could've been.

To think; isn't it ironic that when we finally confess our feelings for each other, you push me away, not because you don't love me, oh no, it's because you do love me that you're pushing me away, it's because you do love me, maybe more than I could ever know. You do love me, and that's the very reason you can't love me.

And that fact makes it hurt even worse.

So, I listened to you. I ignored you whenever I see you, brushed coldly past you in the halls, with a face of marble, when inside, my heart is breaking ten times over. I can see it in your eyes, you feel the pain too, but it's hidden, hidden under many layers of bright green.

I wish I could camouflage my feelings as well as you can, but I'm afraid I can't.

I wish for a lot of things; I wish that you had told me how you felt sooner, I wish that I hadn't been so stupid last year, I wish that I had never said yes to Cedric when he asked me to the Yule Ball, I wish Voldemort never existed, I wish we could love each other, as we are, without ever having to worry about evil overlords, or death, or sadness, or pain, I wish we could just love each other.

I wish I still believed in love. I wish I still believed in fairy-tale endings. I wish I still believed in sunshine, in happiness, in roses, I wish I was still that starry-eyed little girl who believed that love could triumph over anything; death, anguish, misery, hurt, even evil.

But I'm not that starry-eyed little girl, with the pale roses in her cheeks, I'm not that starry-eyed little girl who did believe in true love, and I never will again be that girl.

And so, bearing all this in mind, I board the Hogwarts Express for the last time. I cast a lingering look at the familiar castle...I will never go into it again as a student.

Good-bye Hogwarts...and goodbye Harry...

It's raining. Not pouring rain, mind you, but a light dreary gray drizzle. It fits my mood well, almost too well. I've come on the train early, not wanting to deal with hyper second years, and sobbing seventh years.

I find a compartment, and pull out a book, trying to distract myself. Eventually, Marietta and some of my other friends come in, and chatter about the most trivial of subjects.

I can hear the train's whistle blow. It starts moving slowly...

Suddenly Marietta points out the window. "Cho, isn't that Harry Potter?"

I jump up from my seat, wondering what you were doing outside, and why you weren't in a compartment with your friends.

I can see you running alongside the moving red train, you're mouthing something, something I can't hear over the engine of the express. Then it strikes me- you're mouthing my name.

Without thinking, I leap up from my position at the window, and blindly race through the train corridors, with only one thought in my mind; to get to you.

I can hear people shouting after me, shouting my name, and calling for the train to stop. I've reached one of the doors now. Wrenching it open, I look outside, and I can see you coming closer; you're sprinting almost.

I didn't notice the rain, I didn't notice that the train stopped; all I knew was that I jumped off of the train, and ran towards you.

You met me halfway, breathing heavily, but your eyes were as dark and as lovely as I've ever seen them before.

It was almost like the world stopped spinning, everything was frozen except you and me.

"I don't care if Voldemort is watching." You whispered to me, gently cupping my face with your hand, moving closer, and closer, until I could count every raindrop on your eyelashes...

In that instant we kissed, in that moment your lips touched mine, I felt as if I could do anything; fly up into the highest star, dance on the slimmest moonbeam, cry, laugh...anything.

I felt, that I could have truly produced the most amazing Patronus on the face of this earth at that minute.

I didn't care that we were kissing in front of the whole student population at Hogwarts, most of which was leaning out the train's windows.

I could hear Marietta's snort of disgust, Hermione Granger's sigh of contentment, and Ronald Weasley's roaring laughter. But I didn't care.

Because, I knew then, at that very second we kissed, that true love does in fact exist.

And, believe me, it's worth any amount of pain you have to go through for it.

Author's Notes: Wow. It's done. It's really done. I can't believe it. These past few weeks have been awesome for me. Thank you all, so, so much for your beautiful, and kind support of this story that started out as something to do when I was bored. I put a lot of time, and my own theories about love, and pain, because in reality: I really do believe that true love does exist. This is my first story I have ever completed, so it's a milestone for me. I cannot stress how important you wonderful readers have been to me, because if nobody read it, I would have never continued it. Thank you, for being there to read this. Thank you for being the lovely people you are! Review and tell me what you think...about the ending, or the whole story in general.