The last chapter…the very last…this entire saga is over, done for.
I'd like to thank all you wonderful reviewers who stuck with me. I'm very fond of each and every one of you for taking the time off from your busy schedule to read this story. A special mention to Lilly, my official one-and-only, who is both my greatest critic, and admirer. Love ya, Lilly!
I'd also like to thank RT (aka Katrina), who listened to all the nonsensical babble about this story, and put up with all my mood swings (Im carefully omitting the bit about where she teased me about fishboy.) Thanks a bunch…I'm sure all the ideas for the sequel will turn up fine.
Well…
Onto the LAST chapter…
CHAPTER 38
When Hermione came out, Draco was still crying silently. Bright tears slid down his cheeks, and off his chin. She sat down next to him, and put an arm around him. Both were silent for a long time.
Finally, Draco sniffed, and smiled at her through his tears. 'Hey…' he said, softly.
She looked up at him.
'Talk to me, Draco. What's the matter?'
'I don't know,' he said, quietly, after a pause. 'Everything is…I'm not upset about mother. But you must see that…the affect isn't quite…'
She slipped her hand into his. 'I know.' She whispered. 'I already miss Lisa a lot. She was my best friend…' her voice trailed off.
'What did you tell Fudge?' Draco asked, after a pause.
Hermione smiled a little.
'Long story,' she muttered. 'It involved you being bewitched my Chadwick, and held hostage at the Department of Mysteries. And Lisa-.' She faltered. 'Missing, presumed dead.'
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
That afternoon, Harry and Ron came to meet them at the Malfoy Manor. Both looked grim, and hugged Hermione first.
'Are you ok?' Ron asked, quietly, she nodded. 'Yes. I spoke to Dumbledore this morning after Fudge left.'
Harry nodded. 'We know. He told us the story. The real one, that is. He thought we should know.'
'I would have told you anyway,' Hermione told him.
Harry shifted a little in his sat. Both he and Ron seemed to be hiding something. Hermione felt a sudden fear.
'What's the matter?' she asked.
Harry looked her in the eye.
'Mione…when I spoke to Dumbledore, he sounded worried. The fact that Voldemort's supporters were strong enough to create a second Death Repel astounded him. He thinks that if a battle should come about after he's had time to fortify his soldiers, we would definitely lose.'
Hermione just nodded. She had been thinking that too, at the back of her mind.
'Well,' Harry sighed. 'I'm leaving, Mione. I'm going to leave with a few members of the order, form a sort of Resistance, if you might call it. Dumbledore and the others met up and planned everything. We're leaving tonight. I can't tell you where, because I've been pledged. We're going to accumulate as much force as possible, and attack as soon as possible. But the chances are still against us. And I don't-.' he swallowed. 'I don't think I'll be seeing you for a long, long time…' he didn't say it, but Hermione sensed the 'Maybe never' in his voice. Her tongue had glued itself to her palate, and her heart was beating furiously. She managed to her pry her tongue off, and asked mutely 'what about Ron.'
Ron looked at the floor.
'Hermione…' he began, carefully. 'I'm Harry's best mate…and I'm not gonna leave him. I'll go with him wherever he goes.'
Harry just sort of smiled at him. Hermione felt her world falling apart. She didn't even realize it, till they bade her farewell, and left after the last hug. She didn't realize it as she sat down on the floor, and stared at the fire that was burning in front of her despite the heat.
But she did, as the flames began licking at the edge of the mantelpiece. She realized that she would probably never see them again. All those years together, of close friendship…she would never see Ron's goofy grin, and Harry's green eyes again.
It was over.
XXXXXX
The future was uncertain, hazy. Harry and Ron left that night, and Hermione did not hear from them for a long, long time. She and Draco were still extremely shaken from their truant, and left the Manor for some time, and went to stay with the Weasleys. Molly, who was still grieving over Ron welcomed Draco as her own son.
Lisa never left the missing, presumed dead list. Her parents spoke to Hermione three days later, and she could see that they still hoped they might see her again. She felt her heart break, but did not say anything.
Nobody really recovered from the shock. Even Mrs. Weasley felt that Hermione had changed, but wisely, no one said anything.
XXXXXXX
One night, Ginny rushed into the house, a large smile on her face.
'A letter from Ron!' she cried. 'I just got it! They're ok!'
A huge cheer swept the room. Hermione clapped happily, knowing that her friends were safe.
Ginny turned to her.
'Mione, he's written a separate one to you. I didn't read it.' And she handed her,
Hermione simply took the letter and left the table. No one said anything as she opened the door and walked out of The Burrow.
She walked past the garden, and past the little meadow behind it. At once, she came to a gentle slope, and limbed up. After about ten minutes, she found herself at the edge of a sheer drop down a hill, shrouded with thick pine trees. Peering down, she could see a stream, winding through.
This was her abode of solitude, where she came when she needed to think. She opened the letter, and began reading it.
Dear Hermione,
I'm not bothering with telling you where we are and what we're doing. Everything you need to know is in the other letter. This letter was written to you, because I need to tell you things which I probably should have before I left.
You were always the practical one amongst us, the last to do something rash or stupid. But you've changed. You've had options in front of you the whole time, and you never took them. Why did you marry Draco? To save your job? You could have got a perfectly good job someone else, and you know it. Why did you work so hard to save him from Fudge? And to prove him innocent? Why did you follow him right into danger? It isn't the practical Hermione that I know…
I'm really missing you and everyone there. This is why people like Voldemort shouldn't exist. He tears apart friends, kills families, and forms enemies…
Maybe I'll see you again. But I promise I'll always think about you.
Love, Ron.
Hermione folded up the letter, and slipped it into her pocket.
She looked at the sky, and the bright moon right ahead of her. chill winds bit her shoulders, as wild thoughts rushed past her head.
'Control,' she said, quietly to herself. 'I did all this, Ron, instead of practically, because I wanted control over my own life. I didn't want practicality stop me from doing what my heart told me do. I'm not just anything to be pushed around….no pawn on the chessboard….'
She began walking back. As she slipped past the meadow, she murmured to herself again, 'Pawn on the Chessboard…'
She smiled, turned around and left.
END
