Epilogue

A/N- Alrighty... the epilogue. The last little bit of this story I have yet to write. Thanks for all your reviews, I really, really love you people! Like I said in my last A/N, your reviews make writing this absolutely worth the time and effort.

I didn't exactly plan the epilogue; I decided to go with the flow. I have decided to try and do both graduation and when they're older, but if it doesn't turn out that way in the end, I hope you all enjoyed reading it anyway.

The Great Hall was currently being decorated. It was graduation day at last. Hermione and Harry had realized their feelings for each other and now were a happy couple, happier than either one had thought they ever could be. They were often spotted snogging in the castle in empty classrooms and behind tapestries, much to Hermione's chagrin.

Ron and Lavender were still together, very much in love. Lavender adored Ron for his humorous qualities, although they were usually just Ron's normal, everyday brain lapses. But one had to admit, he could be smart when he applied himself, so that made up for all his faults.

A few weeks ago, Harry had defeated Voldemort once and for all. He was now gone forever, merely a horrible thought at the back of every witch and wizard's head. Dumbledore had asked him to make a speech during the ceremony and he had agreed, although nervous, he felt very prepared. He also had a plan to surprise Hermione and this speech tonight would make everything much easier. The only person who knew about his plan was Ron.

It was no cause for excitement when Hermione was named Valedictorian. It was quite obvious to anyone from the beginning of her school years at Hogwarts that she would indeed hold this position when it came time for her graduation. She would blush furiously and gracefully say, "Well, anyone could have gotten it, really. It just takes a lot of determination and willpower. It's just my lucky day that I got named," But everyone knew that she was secretly very proud of herself, as much as she tried to downsize her title in front of everyone else.

It was four o'clock and the graduation would be held in the Great Hall at five. There were several arrangements hanging on walls and there were many chairs that took the place of the four house tables. Soon, parents would be arriving and Hermione was still in her room, highly anticipating the occasion and fixing her hair while practicing her speech.

"Good evening, everyone. My name is Hermione Granger. Welcome to Hogwarts and the graduation of the class of 1997..."

She stopped when a knock was heard at her door.

"If that's you again, Harry, I'll talk to you later. You keep distracting me!" she said as she earnestly tried to straighten out her hair.

"Hermione? It's Ginny... can I come in?" Ginny said, waiting at the door.

"Oh! Okay... can you help me out with my hair? It's not cooperating today!" Hermione said, just about ready to throw the hair straightener onto the floor and destroy it with a quick wave of her wand.

Ginny entered Hermione's room. Her things were all packed away into her trunk and the room was bare, save for the bed and the other furniture that belonged to the school. She quickly took over the hair straightener and said, "I just wanted to see how you were doing. Harry's a nervous wreck at the moment, walking around practicing his speech like a mad man,"

"Is he ready yet?" Hermione asked, trying to put on makeup while Ginny glided the straightener through her bushy hair.

"Just about I think. He was wearing his robes already when I saw him. Ron was in there with him and they both looked like they were going to vomit with nervousness. I don't even know why Ron was so nervous. He doesn't have to make a speech or anything tonight," Ginny said.

"Okay, have the parents started to arrive yet?"

"I met a few along the way. I saw your Mum and Dad. You can tell they're too pleased for words," Ginny said, adding the last touches to Hermione's hair.

"Oh! That's great! I can't wait to see them again," Hermione said, almost poking her eye with her mascara wand, "I can't wait until I can make my speech. I'm nervous, but I think I can do it without throwing up. Well, thanks for your help, Ginny. I think I'm ready now," Hermione said. She put on her shoes and took one last look at her room and left.

"Mate, what if she says no? Merlin, she might think that we're too young or something and say no, and you know what they say! If she says no once, our relationship will probably not be the same afterwards! And then we could break up and I'll never find someone as good as her and I'll be single forever and—"

"Harry, shut up. She won't say no, because that would be denying what she felt!" Ron smiled at his knowledge burst and Harry stared at him without sentiment. Ron still smiled and continued, "She'll say yes. And besides, there is such thing as long engagements, you know,"

"True... it's not like we'll be marrying the day after tomorrow or anything..." Harry said, trying to reassure himself that Hermione would say yes as he paced around.

"Yeah. But I'll have you know, if you hurt her at all, I'll be sure to knock you out with a frying pan and get Lavender to help me dance my jig on your unconscious body," Ron said, trying to be serious, although failing miserably when he snorted at the thought of whacking Harry in the head with a frying pan.

"Well I'll have you know, I have no intention of hurting Hermione," Harry said, still pacing out of anxiety.

"Good. Anyway, mate, you gotta stop jumping around. You're making me nervous and I'm not the one who's proposing!" Ron looked at his watch, "Well, it's time. Are you ready?"

"Yes, I think so," Harry said as he felt his pocket for the engagement ring he had bought for Hermione. To his relief, it was still there. "Let's go," he said.

The boys made their way to Great Hall, saying hello to a few parents that they came across. They spotted the other seventh years in a room beside the Great Hall. The room was a buzz of several students, each excited about the graduation. Several students were crying, mostly girls. They spotted Hermione and Lavender, who were trying to comfort a sobbing Parvati. They made their way towards them and stood, waiting to be called into the Great Hall.

Minutes later, someone opened the door. It was Professor McGonagall. "Everyone!" she said over their loud chatter, "Please place yourselves in alphabetical order like we practiced. I wish you all good luck tonight. It's normal to be a little nervous, but don't let your anxiety get in the way of you having a good time,"

Everyone obeyed her instructions and after some confusion with Neville being in the wrong place, they were ready. "Follow me," she said, much like she did back in their first year. Everyone's tears dried up as they walked to the entrance of the Great Hall. They met Dumbledore there and he took over, leading them down the aisle between the chairs, some relaxing music was playing. Hermione bit her lip as she saw exactly how many people were there. She saw the entire Weasley family, with their flaming red hair, waving as she walked past. She saw her parents, beaming at her as they waved.

Soon, they reached their destination at the front. Harry and Hermione broke apart from the students as they walked further up along with Dumbledore.

They took their seats beside the podium, which was where Dumbledore walked next.

"Good evening, everyone!" Dumbledore said, with the usual sparkle of light in his blue eyes, "Welcome to the Graduation of the class of 1997! This large array of students have worked very hard to come to where they have gotten to in life, and I wish them all the best of luck in their upcoming travels. Without further ado, I would like to ask Miss Hermione Granger, this year's Valedictorian, to come up to the podium. Miss Granger," he said as he gave her a wink and walked down from the podium to sit with the other staff members.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Hermione Granger. I would like to talk to you of my experiences of entering a world I thought only existed in fairy tales. I am Muggle-born. My parents are respectable dentists who used to know as much about the magical world as I did, before I got the letter that changed my life," Hermione smiled and looked at her parents who were about to burst with pride at their only child.

"I was almost eleven. I had returned home from my day camp one day to find a mysterious letter in the post addressed to me. Startled, I opened the letter with shaking hands. When I first read it, I thought it was a joke. It said that I was a witch and that there was a school of magic out there somewhere, waiting for my reply. I was about to throw it in the bin, but then the letter started to glow and heat up in my hands. I opened the letter again, curious as to why it was glowing. When I looked at it, at the bottom of the letter, there were new words that I was sure had not been there before. It simply said, 'Magic will get you through.' It was then I truly believed that there really was a school out there that taught magic. I rushed to my mother and showed her the letter. I explained what had happened and she, fortunately, believed me. A few days later, I received another letter, this time by owl post. It explained how to get to Diagon Alley and that if I wanted to attend Hogwarts, I was to send a message back by owl."

Hermione paused for a moment to look at the entire gathering. They were all listening intently to her speech. A few of the other Muggle-borns nodded at her story, since the same thing had happened to them.

Hermione then continued, "When I got here at Hogwarts, I was intimidated. Yes, I, Hermione Granger, was intimidated. I may not have seemed like it, but deep down, I was afraid. I didn't think I could be as good a witch as the children with pure-blooded parents. So I worked hard. I read and read some more. As most of your children could tell you, I was usually found in the library, soaking up more information to feed my hungry brain. I had to prove myself, so I threw myself into my studies. It was at the end of my first year that I realized I was smarter than I thought I was. It was when I helped Harry Potter thwart Voldemort for the second time, along with Ron Weasley. That moment, although extremely frightening, really brought light to my eyes. I was as good of a witch as anyone else, if not better. It was then I really began to call Hogwarts home. Hogwarts is my home and although I am sad to leave it, I know that one day I can return here and still get the same feeling of warmth that I have felt for the past seven years. Hogwarts was and always will be our home. With that said, I would like to congratulate the graduating class of 1997, magic really did get us through!"

Hermione smiled down at her peers, who were applauding very loudly. She looked at Harry, who stood up from his seat, beaming at her. She looked at the rest of the audience; they too were up from their seats as they clapped raucously. Some of the Slytherins remained seated, but Hermione didn't let this bother her; she expected it, after all.

She said a brief thank you into the microphone and went to her seat. Harry gave her a hug and said, "Good job, Mione... You really worked the audience there,"

"Thanks, Harry. It's your turn next. You ready?"

"I better be; it's too late to turn back now anyway,"

"Good luck," Hermione said as she gave Harry a peck on the cheek.

"Thanks," I'll certainly need it.

Harry waited for Dumbledore to finish introducing him and he walked up to the podium. All eyes were on him and for a brief moment, Harry felt more nervous than he ever had in his entire life. This is it, he thought when he began to speak into the microphone.

"Hi, everyone. I am Harry Potter, the boy who defeated Voldemort," he looked to Hermione for some encouragement; she was nodding him on, listening to his every word. He glanced at the crowd and saw that no one had flinched at the Dark Lord's name.

"I lived the first eleven years of my life thinking that my parents had died in a car crash and I was living life as a Muggle. But somehow, I was the one who was born to defeat Voldemort. I'm not going to say that it wasn't hard, because it was. It was excruciating for everyone I loved. When I was eleven and met Voldemort for the second time in my life, I was scared. I fought back as hard as I could, and for a first year student, my attempts were feeble. My friends had gotten me that far with their good chess playing skills and smart logic. I fought for them. I was lucky though. My mother had protected me from harm all those years before. Her love was running through my veins then and still is now. She protected me from Voldemort when I was a little baby and still did all those years I had to face him. I faced Voldemort again in my second year, in the Chamber of Secrets. He was young and called himself Tom Riddle and lived through Ginny Weasley, the sister of my best friend, Ron Weasley. I got there just in time. I'm not going to call myself a hero, because I wasn't. I had help. Believe it or not, the Sorting Hat and Fawkes, Dumbledore's trusty Phoenix, saved me. Without them, I would not be here now and neither would Ginny Weasley,"

He looked at the Weasley family in the crowd. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were in tears and Mr. Weasley was looking at him, encouraging him to go on. He looked at the rest of the crowd. Many people were reduced to blubbering like infants.

"In my third year, I met my godfather. Sirius Black was my godfather. He was innocent and we had tried to prove him so. It took lots of work, and once again, I had my friends helping me, this time 'my friends' included my father's other friend, Remus Lupin,"

Harry stopped his speech to look at the audience in front of him with a pained expression on his face. He really hated his speech, and hated it even more as he kept going. He didn't want to talk about Sirius. Then he remembered what was to come at the end. That kept him going.

"When I first really met him, we were in the Shrieking Shack. He told me the whole story from the beginning. He had not betrayed my parents. It was the rat of a man, Peter Pettigrew. He was there. He had always been there, since my first year. Peter Pettigrew was an unregistered Animagus. Ron Weasley owned him, he was his pet rat. To this day, one of my biggest regrets was when I set him free."

Harry choked back a sob and continued, "In my fourth year, I was entered into the Tri-Wizard competition without my knowing. I went through each and every one of the tasks, but when we went through to the third and final task, I lost someone who had become one of my friends. Cedric Diggory, a noble Hufflepuff, and fellow Hogwarts champion,"

Harry felt tears gathering in his eyes and saw that the crowd was crying even harder now. "The last task was a maze. To get to the middle, we had to defeat many savage beasts. Cedric and I both made it to the center of the maze at the same time, and we both touched the trophy at the same time, deciding to share the victory. Little did we know that the trophy was a Port Key that brought us straight to where Voldemort was waiting. He... he..."

Harry stopped and wiped at a tear that was coming down his face and took a deep breath, "He killed Cedric. All he wanted was me. My blood. He ordered Wormtail, who is Peter Pettigrew, to cut me. With my blood, Voldemort could live. We dueled, but since our wands have the same core, Phoenix tail feather, our spells did not work properly on each other. Out of his wand came all the spirits of the people he had killed, in reverse order. First came Cedric, then many others and finally, my parents. They all encouraged me and I made it out of there alive. I got back to Hogwarts carrying Cedric's dead body. I felt so bad afterwards, having to return Cedric to his parents in that state,"

Harry stopped again. Everyone had silent tears pouring down their faces.

"In my fifth year, no one believed that Voldemort was indeed, alive again. They all thought it was some crackpot story that I came up with to gain attention. The death of my godfather had to happen before the truth was believed. That year, I had met up with Voldemort at the Ministry of Magic. He had lured me there. He made me believe that Sirius was there, held hostage by him. What he really wanted was for me to be there so he could hear the prophecy that was made about him and me before I was born. That year, I had been having dreams about Voldemort. I saw myself almost behind him, attacking people. To stop this, Dumbledore had Professor Snape teach me Occlumency so I could block Voldemort out of my head, because if I could enter his, he would probably be able to enter my thoughts as well and it would not be safe."

Harry wiped at more tears and began again, "We fought in the Department of Mysteries. The Order of the Phoenix had come in to save me and all the other students that came with me. In that very place was where Sirius Black died, killed by his own cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange. He fell through the veil, trying to dodge one of her spells, never to walk on this earth ever again," Harry stopped and bit his quivering lip.

"Harry?" it was Professor Dumbledore, who had come to his side, "Can you continue?"

Harry pushed back his tears and put on a brave face, although in his eyes, sadness could be seen.

"Voldemort had not heard the prophecy that night. Neville Longbottom, a good friend that I will never forget, had accidentally dropped it. When we left the Department of Mysteries and entered the main lobby, Voldemort was there. We fought with him and nearly brought down the whole building. In the end, he disapparated. The minister of magic, Cornelius Fudge, was there. He finally decided to stop lying to you all about the truth, and soon, everyone knew that Voldemort was back."

Harry looked at Hermione again for more encouragement. He got over the worst part of his speech and he spoke once more.

"One person had heard the prophecy once before. That was our Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. Sybill Trelawney, Hogwarts' resident Seer, was being interviewed for a position for Divination teacher. At first, Dumbledore was not even thinking about hiring her, until near the end of the interview, she had a sudden vision. It was the prophecy. In short, the prophecy was that Voldemort and I could not live at the same time. One of us had to murder the other."

Harry hesitated and took a breath before he continued his speech. "I had tossed that around in my head all summer. Then my sixth year began. It started out normal enough, but I knew that I would be seeing Voldemort again. My sixth year was almost over and we finally met once again, in Hogsmeade, at a party the school was holding in the town to lift our spirits during the war. Although Dumbldore had as many Aurors as he could around, somehow Voldemort had snuck his way in. His lackey, Wormtail, was as usual, by his side. But now, he had no Death Eaters. Many of them were caught and put in Azkaban. The rest were frightened and would not return his call. We dueled. We almost brought down all of Hogsmeade. Many students were injured. At the very end, Voldemort gave out a laugh and disapparated again. Then I realized that he was a coward, always running away from the scene."

Dumbledore got up from his seat again and patted Harry on the shoulder. "My seventh year, this year, he came again. Now it was the eighth time I saw Voldemort and I knew that I was going to kill him before he even got the chance to run away again. Unfortunately, last summer, his Death Eaters had broken out of Azkaban and joined his side once more. This year was a year of many killings on his part. Every one of his followers, the ones who had been too frightened to join him when he called, were brutally killed. Then I found out that Professor Snape was in danger. No one thought that he was going to come after him; Professor Snape wasn't a Death Eater anymore and hadn't been for many years. But Voldemort had no mercy. I found that out one night when I had forgotten to clear my mind before I went to bed. I had my suspicions, but I wasn't very sure. It was this vision that I had that confirmed my thoughts. I entered Voldemort's mind, and I saw him. He was flying over Hogsmeade. I woke up immediately and sought out after Professor Snape," Harry stopped to look at his Potions professor. On his face was a vague smile.

"I found him in a corridor; he was making rounds, looking for any students out after curfew. I warned him about what I saw, and at that moment, Voldemort had landed outside the front entrance to the castle with his faithful Death Eaters at his side, ready to get Snape. We quickly informed Dumbledore and soon enough, every member of the Order of the Phoenix was there. Soon, both Ron and Hermione were there, fighting alongside the Order. We fought hard. As I was dueling with Voldemort, I remembered the best bit of advice my best friend Ron ever told me. It was to never deny what I felt. Towards Voldemort, I felt hatred. I knew that I had to really mean it when I said 'Avada Kedavra'. Before Voldemort had to the chance to run away again, I remembered all the reasons why I wanted to do this, and before I realized, I had muttered the words 'Avada Kedavra'. The curse hit his chest and he fell, never to terrorize anyone ever again. The irony is, when Ron told me those words, he meant them in a better sense. To never deny how much you loved someone. I had never thought that those words would help me defeat Voldemort. Now, I make it a habit of not denying what I feel. But if I didn't do the thing that I am planning to do next, that is what I would be doing."

Harry smiled at the audience and slowly turned to face Hermione and said, "Hermione Granger. You have been by my side at every battle against Voldemort, never showing fear under the pressure. Since our first year, we have been together fighting battles and trying to overcome them together,"

Hermione felt her heart leap right into her throat. Was he asking me- no... he couldn't be!

"I love you for everything you've done to help me. I want to fight more battles with you right by my side, but not just as my friend or my girlfriend. I want to fight more battles with you as my wife," Harry walked to Hermione's side and dropped to his knee and Hermione felt her stomach twist up into knots. He pulled out the ring from his pocket and said, "Hermione Jane Granger, would you do me the honour of being my wife?"

Hermione's eyes widened and she hugged him fiercely. "Yes!" she squealed, "I'd love to Harry!"

The entire room shook with the boisterous applause and cat calls coming from the audience when Harry slipped the ring onto her finger.

Harry got up on his feet and whispered to Hermione, "I never knew Ron's piece of advice would be so handy,"

"MUM!" yelled a small girl to her mother.

"Yes, dear?"

"James bit me again! I liked him better when he had no teeth!" she exclaimed.

"Now Lily, you know he needs teeth just as much as anyone else. Come here and grab his teething ring,"

"Fine, mum," said Lily. Lily was four years old and she was the splitting image of her mother, Hermione Potter.

Hermione was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the Daily Prophet, patiently waiting for her husband to come home. She and Harry had decided to have a long engagement and they married three years after their graduation from Hogwarts and they had their first child, Lily, a year later. Hermione was on maternity leave from her position as Charms teacher at Hogwarts. She had James earlier on in the year and now he was going through the teething period.

Her daughter came rushing into the room, holding out her arm. Hermione looked at it and saw the prints of her youngest child's meager set of teeth embedded into her first born's arm.

"Ooh, that looks bad, honey. We'll have to take you to St Mungo's and have your arm amputated right away," Hermione said, clearly joking.

"Mum! No! Not St Mungo's!" her daughter protested. Hermione laughed and gave Lily the teething ring. "Just give this to your brother. He should stop biting you,"

Lily smiled and ran off to play with her brother again and Hermione went back to her newspaper.

"Kingsley, I have to go! Hermione and the kids are waiting!" Harry said to his boss.

"Fine, go on home then," Kingsley said, smiling at Harry's dedication to his family.

Harry disapparated with a pop and he found himself in the middle of his kitchen. Hermione looked up at him and smiled, "Glad you're home. It's absolutely hair raising in here. James keeps biting Lily,"

Harry laughed and gave his wife a hug. "Let's go see them then,"

They went to the living room and sat on the couch. A woosh was heard from the fireplace and Ron's head suddenly popped up.

"Uncle Ronnie!" Lily exclaimed.

"Hi, you guys! Harry, Hermione! Guess what? I proposed to Lavender! And she said yes!"

"Really? I'm so happy for you Ron... you finally stopped being a hypocrite and started following your own advice!" Hermione said. Harry laughed in agreement.

"It's about time, mate. You should've asked ages ago. She was waiting for you. I'm surprised she hadn't popped the question herself,"

"Yeah, well... at least I finally did! Well, I need to go now. Mum's waiting back at the Burrow,"

"Okay... see you Ron. Congratulations!"

"Bye Uncle Ronnie!"

"See you later, Lily. You too, James. Bye, Harry, Hermione," Ron said. He disappeared from the fire place and Harry and Hermione smiled at each other.

"Finally." They both said.

Closing Remarks: That's the end! There's nothing left of this story... I hope you liked the epilogue... it's the longest part of this story. All those speeches. I'm glad to get them over with. I was dreading to write Harry's cause I knew his was going to be a lot more complicated than Hermione's. But I did it, and I'm proud! So please leave a review and tell me what you thought! Oh, and could you please look at the prologue for my newest story, 'Will You Hold My Hand?'? Thanks.

--ProjectPink