A/N: Well I know it's been a really loooong time I haven't updated but here it is! The last chapter of the story!
A big thanks to all those who reviewed! You are great!

And I will love you, baby - always

And I'll be there forever and a day - always

I'll be there till the stars don't shine

Till the heavens burst and

The words don't rhyme

And I know when I die, you'll be on my mind

And I'll love you – always

(Always, Bon Jovi)

It's been already a month since our graduation day. Since that fateful day that changed me totally. But now it's just a memory. Just a memory that he will probably try to forget. Just a memory that I, on the other hand, lived again and again.

All these precious moments are kept inside me and they will never faint. It is a sweet torture to remember his every move… His hand stroking my hair, his arms holding me tight, his fingers caressing my neck, his lips meeting mine. We almost kissed. Almost. Just almost. Oh, and the feeling of our lips touching, haunts me ever since.

I knew I had to get over him. To tell the truth I tried to convince myself that I indeed regarded him as my friend and nothing more. For once again I caught up in the same old trap. And it had no difference this time. I couldn't fool myself anymore.

We spent together many hours a day, which made things worse for me. He was helping the twins with their joke shop and I visited him every time he was alone. And every time we were together was unique. And unforgettable. I get used to spend more and more time with him.

However, the last week I went with my parents to Greece so I haven't seen him since I left. And I have terribly missed him. This week was rather painful than entertaining. I was always fond of holiday trips, yet this time I wasn't even interested to learn about the ancient magic of the place. My mind was always occupied by the thought of him.

And the thought that he leaves tomorrow for the auror training is unbearable. I really don't know how am I going to get through this. Tonight I'll see him for the first time in the past 7 days, and for the last time in the following few months. We will only owl each other until Christmas. And this is not enough. Not enough at all.

We will go out tonight. Of course Ron and Ginny will come with us too. Harry was at the Borrow today to say his goodbyes to the rest Weasleys. It's really hard to believe that he is leaving. If only I had chosen to be an auror too, we would be together now. But finally, I decided to become a healer- after Pomfrey's advice. But maybe it is for the best. He will meet other girls and I will meet other boys who will not have to be my 'friends'…

Anyway, I have to get ready now if I want to be on time. I chose a nice dark dress and let my hair down. I use a little make up and lipstick. It took me more time than usually to dress myself. I never paid too much attention to my looks, but this time unconsciously, I wanted to look good. I wanted him to notice me.

When I was ready, I glanced at my mirror for the last time to be sure and took my handbag. I would apparate to Diagon Alley where we would meet. I am a little nervous but as I take a breath I apparate at the place we arranged. As I open my eyes-I always close them while apparating- I see him walking my way.

"Harry!" I shout as I walk closer to him. He hugs me and he gives me a kiss. Unfortunately on the cheek!

"Hermione! How are you? It's been a long time"

"Indeed." I answer smiling.

"I missed you. Well tell me, how was it?"

"Well it was nice. I liked the place. And it was very interesting. You know, Greece has a long history in magic! And I got very excited that I had the chance to learn about it and…" I said lying as I was trying to appear normal and pretend that everything is as always.

What else could I say anyway? 'I don't have a clue how it was because I was staying at my room all day and feeling miserable because the only thing that was in my mind was you'?

"This is my Hermione! But I believe I didn't ask for a detailed description of ancient Greek magic!" He answers with a smile.

"Oh, come on" I smile as I hit his back.

"Well, where are Ron and Ginny?" I ask

"Oh, didn't I tell you? They won't come. Mrs. Wesley wanted them to do something. I don't know exactly what to tell you the truth. But anyway I was with them the whole day. It was a little weird though when I was leaving. Mrs. Wesley bleared and gave me all sort of advice but it was sweet nevertheless." He said with a little smile.

"I still haven't realized that I am leaving." He added bitterly.

"Indeed it is difficult to think that I will see you again at Christmas."

"But now cheer up! We have a few hours ahead! Shall we go?" I ask trying to change to the subject. I had enough crying the past days- I wasn't going to start now again.

"Sure! Where to?" he asks

"Wherever you want." I answer

"How about going to 'P2P' ?" he asks again.

"Ok" I answered as I took his hand and started walking.

'Portkey To Paradise" or 'P2P' for short is a lovely, new café-bar in Diagon Alley. With a pretty romantic atmosphere

I should say!

We walked together hand in hand and I felt that something was really different but I tried to avoid it. "We are friends," I kept repeating in my mind.

After a long and torturous 3-minutes walk, we arrived at the café. We sat at a small table in the back and ordered butterbeer.

"It's a nice place, isn't it? Wonderful decoration." I say breaking the silence. There are candles and flowers everywhere and the music is slow. You can feel that there is something magic in the atmosphere.

"I was the one who suggested it, my dear! It had to be good!" he answers smiling.

"OK, let's pretend I didn't say that! You are unbelievable sometimes! You know that? Oh, and I believe that your ego has multiplied since the last time I saw you!" I say and we both laugh. I loved the way we teased each other and I know I will miss that.

"I think I already miss you." He states suddenly as if he was reading my mind. Maybe, after all, the occlumency lessons with Snape taught him something!

"Oh, Harry, I will miss you too. And you know that. But it's not that you will lose me. We will owl every day. I even may visit you before Christmas, if I can. And you'll see that these 5 years will be over before you know it." I tried really hard not to sound sad and not appear the situation tragic.

"Yes, you are right. Besides, that was my dream. To get away." he adds finally.

It's really funny that his greatest dream was my greatest nightmare. A nightmare that was going to come true so soon. And I can do nothing about it. As much as I would like to wake up.

"You know," he starts "I received the program of the lessons. It's really fascinating and…" he kept on talking about his new school and he seemed really excited about it.

It was like the old times. When we were sitting by the fireplace of our common room and talked about everything. When the only thing that we needed was the company of the other. And this time is no different from the other ones. We laugh and now and then he takes my hand and strokes it. Why can't we stay like that forever?

Time passes rather quickly. It feels as if someone is playing a nasty trick to us, to separate us sooner than we want. As if someone is counting down the time that is left. 10 hours… 9… 8…. And it is unbearable.

"Shall we go?" he asks finally.

"Sure" I answer a bit disappointed. I don't want to go home.

He put a galleon on the table (he never lets me pay for my drink when we go out, so I just thanked him) and got up.

When we finally got out he asks "Now what?"

"Now what?" I repeat after him.

"What will we do now?" he asks.

"I thought that we would leave." I answer simply.

"Well as it seems, for the first time, you thought wrong!" he says and gives me his best smile.

"Did you really believe that I would let you go so easy?" he continues and smiles again.

"If you insist that much, I will try to tolerate you a little more" I say with a smirk.

"All right, if it is so hard for you, you can go" he says with a fake sadness in his voice.

"Are you kidding? Where did you say we were going?" I smile and grab his hand and started walking making our way to an unknown destination.

"Well as I remember, I was the one who asked that question. But unfortunately never had the chance to get an answer" Oh, God, I adore this guy.

"Hmm, I don't know. Nowhere." I say simply.

"Could you please explain to us- who don't happen to own such a high level of intelligence- what nowhere means?"

I laugh and answer, "Well 'nowhere' is a complex word. It consists of 'no' and 'where', and usually means in no certain place. And to make it even simpler for you, in this case 'nowhere' means that we walk with no predefined destination. By the way, do you want me to add subtitles under the phrase 'predefined destination'?"

"Ha ha! Funny" he says sarcastically although he laughs too.

"But OK, that's fine with me. As far as I am with you, I don't mind going even in nowhere!"

I turn to him and he smiles.

"Really. I mean it. I depended on you in the past years. And you help me as you can't imagine." He looks at me, I smile and he continues.

"And I'll never do something without asking your opinion first. Even if sometime I decide to get married I will ask you."

"Well my answer would be 'I do'!" Hey, I surely didn't say that.

"What?" he asks and turns to look at me with an amazed look.

"I do"

"You do?" he asks even more surprised- if that was possible!

"Hey, calm down. I am only joking." I said and forced a laugh.

"Thank God" he says to tease me.

"Ok, I'll remember that" I say trying to appear hurt -although it was not that hard.

"No, I strongly believe that anyone who would be with you will be very lucky. And if he hurt you in any way, he will have a mark of my hand as a tattoo in his face to remember his fault." He tells me as he was making a promise.

"So now you act like the big brother I never had?" Well I kept myself from saying that in that way he had to slap himself.

"You know that I care about you Herms" he says in such a sweet way.

"I know it" I stop walking turn to face him and throw my arms around him. I want to cry so I try to say something funny.

"So, now that you're going away how exactly are you going to punch that git-boyfriend of mine? Via owl-post?" I say smiling as I still hold him.

"You know that I will be with you whenever you need me. No matter how far away, I'll always be with you" he says while he pulls me closer and hugs me tie. We are so close that I can feel his hear beating fast. And my own heartbeat matches his. For a second I feel that both our hearts are beating as one.

I didn't count the time that we stayed like that. We neither talked nor moved. We are just holding each other and I am trying to memorize the sense of his embrace. I can't exactly put in words how I feel now.

Suddenly he steps back and looks at me. "It's very late. Shouldn't you go home?"

"Indeed. I was supposed to be at home a lot earlier. But I had a much better time here with you" I say smiling and he returns the smile.

"And you have to get up early at the morning. So we'd better be going." I add.

"As you wish my lady!" he says with this sweet tone in his voice.

I hug him for a last time. "I am going to miss you a lot." I say.

"I am going to miss you too. Very much"

I hold him tie like I'd never let him go. Then again he steps back and looks me straight at the eyes. I look him back without blinking. Then very slowly he leans forward, and touches my lips with his own.

It was a simple kiss on the kiss that lasted a little more than a nanosecond. A kiss so unexpected and brief that in the future I will doubt its existence. A kiss that I will recall at my memory every time I will feel alone.

When he opened his eyes, he hugged me once more and whispered sweetly in my ear "I love you".
I step back escaping for his embrace not knowing how to react.

"I have to go." I say hastily and apparate at my house, not before I see a single tear in his eye.

I am alone again. Alone and depressed. I stare at the sky and whisper "I love you too" while a certain phrase keep ringing in my ears.

'Friends till the end of time'.

A/N: So what do you think? Please review whether you liked it or not. I consider writing a sequel, so tell me your opinion:-)