Disclaimer: You know already.

This story is dedicate to my Grandmother, who passed away on 22-1-2005

To flamers: I don't take kindly to flames so back off, if you know what's good for you.

Thank you for your reviews!

Melanie: Ok, to answer your questions, "Will Viktor finally sign the papers?" I can't answer that one yet, sorry! "Will I write a next life of Harry and Hermione together?" no, I afraid not, but I will write more H/Hr stories, I could tell you that (smiles) and thank you for your compliments on my music video and the pictures! However, the wedding picture isn't made by me. (gives you a piece of tissue paper by the way) And thanks for pointing that I can't kill Krum, thanks! I think I will just leave him on Earth, so that he won't disturb Harry and Hermione's afterlife…

Aislin: Sorry about your friend…

missradcliffe, cathi, Masked Phantom, Meaka (hands out a box of tissue to all of you)

Chapter 31: 25th of December 2003

The next day, Ron woke up in the morning and the first thing he did was to check on his mother. He washed up and went to his parents' bedroom.

No one was there.

Frowning slightly, Ron turned and just about to go downstairs when he smelt something very delicious and very familiar from the kitchen downstairs.

His mother's home-made pancakes.

Ron ran, he made his way down the stairs as soon as possible and stopped in his tracks at the kitchen entrance when he saw what's in front of him.

His mother was up, pouring syrup over a plate of pancakes.

"Mum?" asked Ron.

Mrs Weasley looked up. She seemed tired but she was a lot better than she was a few days ago. "Morning, Ron." she said and smiled. "Now sit down and have your breakfast."

Ron sat down on the table and Mrs Weasley pushed a plate of honey syrup-covered pancakes towards him. "Now eat up."

Ron stared at his breakfast for a while before he lifted his head and stared at his mother.

"What?" asked Mrs Weasley.

"A-are you okay, Mum?" asked Ron timidly.

Mrs Weasley was silent for a while before she sighed sadly. "Yes, Ron. I have thought about your words last night. You're right. Life has to go on. I may be upset about Harry and Hermione's deaths but I can't mourn about it forever."

Ron was silent.

"Now eat your breakfast." said Mrs Weasley and turned to her other chores.

Ron smiled. "Yes Mum. By the way, Mum?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm glad that you are willing to help yourself."

Mrs Weasley smiled and patted her sixth son's shoulder.

Ron arrivedat Harry and Hermione's house to meet the others and found Fred and Angelina looking terribly upset.

Ron's heart sank. Now what?

"What happened to you two?" he asked his brother and sister-in-law.

"Jemima." said Fred flatly. "We told her that Harry had died and she said that we were lying."

"Now she wouldn't speak to us." said Angelina.

"She will soon enough." said Ginny. "I used to have cold wars with Mum and Dad too. Speaking of Mum, how is she?"

Ron smiled brightly. "She's getting better."

Ginny smiled back. "Thank goodness."

"Well, we better get started." said Ron and picked up the diary.

25-12-2005

Dear Diary,

Happy Christmas! Yesterday and today were the most memorable days I ever had. Not only I got to celebrate Christmas with the Weasleys, Harry and I did the most wonderful thing we ever had done…

On the evening of Christmas Eve, Harry and I got ready to go to the Burrow. Harry got a deep green jumper (the same one that he wore last year) on and I wore a white jumper.

"Hermione, you go first." said Harry, taking the Weasley's presents from the table.

I nodded and Disapparated with my share of the Weasley's Christmas gifts.

CRACK

I appeared right into the front room of the Weasleys. The decorated room looked no different from last year Christmas. This year, all the Weasleys (plus the Longbottoms) sat in the front room, because it was snowing outside.

"Hermione, welcome!" said Mrs Weasley and she gave me a hug.

"Thanks for inviting me, Mrs Weasley." I said, smiling. "Oh, Viktor is not available today, he's busy." I lied.

"What a shame." said Mrs Weasley.

I could see Ginny giggling at the corner of my eye. She knew that I was lying.

"Here're the Christmas gifts for you and your family." I said, holding a huge bag that I had in my hands.

"Oh you shouldn't have…" started Mrs Weasley.

CRACK

"Hey, my future son-in-law is here!" yelled Fred.

"Hi, my future father-in-law!" said Harry and grinned. Then he turned his attention to me. "Hello, Hermione. Nice jumper, by the way."

I smiled. "Thanks."

I could hear Neville and Ginny laughing.

"What are you two laughing at?" asked Mrs Weasley.

"Nothing." sang both of them. Ginny gave me a wink and I winked back.

Since it was still snowing outside, all of us sat in the front room. It was crowded, but really nice and warm.

"Here you go boys, cookies baked by all your wives!" said Mrs Weasley, placing a huge tray of home-made cookies on the table. They looked so cute, there're shapes of gingerbread man, Santa Claus, stars, Christmas trees and so on.

"All right!" cried George, reaching for one of them.

All of us took some and they tasted great. I wished I could cook that way too, but my experience with the pumpkin pie proved that I'm bad at muggle cooking.

Some of us played board games in the front room or just chatting. Harry and I played with Lethe (her parents had gone talking to Ginny's parents). She had grown so fast and looked pretty with her hair tied back in two ponytails using the hair bands that Harry and I bought for her. I smiled at myself as I watched her and Harry building up cubes on top one and another. I knew that I wouldn't have a kid like Lethe in this life…

We sorted out the Christmas presents so that we would know which belonged to whom, and then we did a bit of Christmas carolling. Ron was a terrible singer. We stayed late until 12am, when we could celebrate the arrival of Christmas with open bottles of Butterbeer. We drank to our hearts' contents and I thought that this Christmas was one of the best ever.
When Harry and I got home (not together, of course), we put our Christmas gifts from the Weasleys under our own Christmas tree. We decorated that tree a few days ago. It was small, with a lot of glittering decorations on it and a golden star on top. It looked so pretty.

Suddenly, Harry yelled, "Ah, I forgot!"

Then he ran upstairs and came back down with a tiny box in his hand. He smiled and showed me the gift box. "This is yours."

I smiled back as he placed the box right beside Percy and Penelope's gift. I had already placed Harry's under the tree that morning.

Harry got up. "There." He turned and suddenly gave me a hug. "Happy Christmas, Darling."

I hugged back. "Happy Christmas." I whispered.

We kissed.

The next morning, Harry and I sat among loads and loads of wrapping papers as we unwrapped our presents. We decided to save our presents for each other for the last so we opened the rest first. Since Neville and Ginny knew that we were together, they gave us a pair of crystal clear glasses, with identical patterns at the rims. Good, Harry and I could use them for breakfast.

Then we received jewellery, books, jumpers, Quidditch souvenirs, bags of sweets, and lots of other stuff. Finally, Harry reached for my gift.

He shook it. "Hm, what is it?"

Then he unwrapped it and lifted out a deep green woollen scarf. It brought out the colour of his eyes and had his initials, HJP, in black bold letters at its end. "Oh my God, did you buy it or knit it?"

I was silent but my smile gave away my answer.

"You knitted it."

I nodded.

"Wow, thanks, Hermione." said Harry and he leaned forward and kissed me gently.

I picked up the tiny box. "Now this is a tiny gift."

Harry didn't say anything.

I removed the wrapping paper and opened the cardboard box.

Silence.

"Oh my." I said finally.

In my hands was a velvet box. Then with my trembling fingers, I opened it. My hand flew to my mouth when I saw my Christmas gift.

It was a ring with a heart-shape diamond on it. Harry gave me a diamond ring for Christmas.

"I know you can't marry me but at least you could throw the old ring away and replace it with this one. You could tell the rest that Krum bought you a new one. No one will know the difference except you and me." said Harry seriously.

I looked up at Harry. My vision was blurred with tears and I rushed forward to hug him. I couldn't express how much I love him and his gift. "Harry, thank you, thank you so much, I love it…"

Harry wrapped his arms around me.

"Harry, dear, put it on for me." I whispered and released him.

I extended my left hand to him and with a tug; Harry pulled away the band that had tied me to my darn marriage. Then he gently placed the diamond ring into its place. After that, he kissed the ring and my hand softly. "There."

He held my hand affectionately. "Now there's one more thing."

"What?" I said softly.

"Wedding pictures."

"What? But we are not…"

"Married? Yeah, but we could still take them."

"How?"

"There's a muggle bridal shop in London. It still opens today and it is giving out discounts for any couple who wants to take their pictures. I know about it from my colleagues." said Harry and gazed into my eyes. "Come on, Hermione, let's go for it. Today is our first anniversary as a couple. If we couldn't get married in this life, we could at least take pictures, for the taste of it."

I stared at my boyfriend for a long while before I nodded.

The weather was cold in the December morning. Harry put his arm around me to keep me warm. I placed my own arm around his waist as well as we walked down the streets of London. The chilly, strong wind blew our hair wild.

Finally, we reached a bridal shop at the far end of a street. The glass window had misted up due to the weather but I could still roughly see a lovely model of a woman wearing a wedding dress.

We went into the shop and the young lady behind the counter looked up when we pushed the door open.

"Hello, what could I do for you?" asked the lady, smiling.

"Yes," said Harry, taking off his new scarf. "My girlfriend and I would like to take some bridal pictures."

"Very well then…" said the lady and turned her head to the inner part of the shop. "Joshua! Artemis!"

A young man with golden brown hair and a woman with long black hair came to the counter. "Yeah?"

"Artemis, get your camera ready. We are going to take pictures." said the lady.

"Okay." said Artemis and she went to the back of the shop again.

"By the way, what's your name, Sir?" asked the lady.

"Evans, Daniel Evans." lied Harry.

"And your girlfriend?"

"Emma." said Harry simply.

"Fine. Miss Emma, why don't you come with me and choose the gowns you want, Joshua could take your boyfriend to choose what he wants."

I nodded and went with the lady. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Jane." said the lady.

"My middle name is Jane too." I said, smiling.

Jane smiled back. "Cool."

She led me to a huge part of the shop, where loads and loads of gown were on display. Jane gave me a 'take-whatever-you-want' gesture.

I smiled. "I don't know which one to pick."

Jane studied me carefully. Then she clapped her hands. "Aha!"

She went to a dress rack and picked out a dress. She offered it to me. "Go and try this one."

I took it and went to the dressing room. I put on and for the first time, I get to see what the dress looked like. It was actually a V-neck gown with white satin at the bodice. I stepped out and found Jane talking to a lady with black and brown streak in her hair.

"Ah, here's the lovely bride!" said Jane when she spotted me. "This is Jolene; she's going to do your hair."

I smiled at Jolene and she smiled back. She quickly led me to a dressing table and took out a hair spray.

Everything happened in a flash. All I knew was that a few minutes later, I looked like a beautiful bride, waiting to get married.

Jane clapped her hands when she saw my final look. "Wonderful! You looked fantastic!"

I got up and found Jolene folding her arms, smiling in satisfaction at her work. I swirled around to let Jane have a better look.

"Great, let's take you to your boyfriend…"

When I was being led out, Harry was talking to Joshua. Harry looked fantastic in his black suit and black tie. Then he looked up at me and his jaw dropped open. Joshua laughed and pushed his jaw back into its place. "First time ever to see your girlfriend so pretty, huh?"

Harry blinked and said, "Um, yeah, yeah…"

I giggled.

"Come on, the photographer is waiting." said Jane. "Jolene will lead you two in, Joshua and I will stay behind and choose a few more outfits…"

Jolene led me and Harry to the studio and while she was in front, Harry pulled me to him and whispered, "You looked great."

I smiled. "Thanks."

Jolene bought us to the studio and Artemis was there, with her camera ready on the tripod and huge lights up. In front of her was a huge white blank space. Artemis smiled at us and told us to stand right onto the space.

For the next few minutes, Artemis told Harry and me where to stand and when we were in our positions, she took our pictures. Sometimes, she and Jolene would drag a sofa or a chair over and I had to sit onto it while Harry stood behind.

"Lean forward, Mr Evans, that's it… closer…"

For the first time after 3 years, I get to wear a wedding dress again and take wedding picture with the man I loved. Just that this time round, the man whom I was taking with was different. I really felt like I was getting married again, it's so wonderful.

After a round of picture taking, Jane and Joshua had chosen two more outfits for Harry and me and we went to change while Artemis set up another background.

This time, my dress was a simple gown with long white gloves to go with it. Jolene did my hair again and she placed a tiara on my head with a veil attached to it for the final touch. Harry's outfit was almost the same except for the grey tie.

Artemis had set up a huge drawing featuring a beautiful grassland, with trees. The floor was covered with green carpet. The set looked so real that I felt like I was in outdoors.

Once again, she took our pictures. At one point, I was given a bouquet of lilies and she said, "Put your hands on her waist, Mr Evans… that's it. Smile! It's your wedding picture!"

Both Harry and I didn't want to tell her that we were not going to get married.

The photoshoot took the whole day and finally, I changed into my last dress, which was just a white dress. It was simple, but I liked it. Harry's outfit was a tuxedo, with a black bow.

Artemis's background for the last time was a backdrop of a clean white room, with vases of flowers.

As Harry and I took our last pictures, I felt that this was the most beautiful moment of my life.

"Okay, so how long will the developing be?" asked Harry at the counter after we had changed to our original outfits.

"They will take about a day or two. We don't have many customers around Christmas." said Jane. "By the way, Mr Evans, how about enlarging one of them and put it up in your house?"

"Can you really do that? It will be great!" said Harry happily. "Isn't it, Emma?"

I smiled and nodded. A wedding picture of me and Harry in the house would be wonderful.

"Okay, my girlfriend and I will come over two days later, collect and pay for the pictures, and then we will choose the one for enlargement, okay?"

Jane nodded. "Fine with me."

"Good, then we shall leave now, bye guys, and thanks a lot!" said Harry and held my hand before we left.

I waved goodbye to Jane and her colleagues.

When we got home, it was already 6pm and we were hungry. So we raided the refrigerator and found froze pizzas. We heated them up and we sat on the TV console, with pizzas in our hands and we ate them as we admired the beautiful snow drifting down from the evening sky. Occasionally, I would feed Harry with my share of pizza. With the cheery fire burning in the fireplace, I felt warm, peaceful and most importantly, blissful. I leaned backwards into Harry's arms and sighed happily. Harry kissed me on the head affectionately.

"Thank you, Harry." I whispered.

"For what?" asked Harry softly.

"For loving me." I said.

"If you and Krum didn't move back to England, Merlin knows how we are going to end up together."

"That means we have to thank Viktor for that." I said, giggling.

"Yes, I have to admit." said Harry flatly and I laughed.

This was the best anniversary I ever had.

Something came to my mind, Diary. I felt like going to persuade Viktor to sign the divorce papers. I think it was such a waste that Harry and I had to die unmarried to each other. Yes, I knew that Viktor wouldn't care about that, but I would like to try one last time. Maybe if I persuade long enough and be gentle about it, Viktor would sign the papers.

I know that Harry doesn't like me to go anywhere near Viktor, so I'm going to keep this from him. Well, at least until the papers are signed, then I'm going to surprise him about it. And the next thing you know, we will probably be officially engaged before Valentine's Day next year. Maybe we could get married on Valentine's Day itself, and I will have the right to call myself "Mrs Hermione Jane Potter".

I'm thinking of going back to my old house the day before New Year's Eve, when Harry has gone for work. I don't know whether Viktor is at home on that day, but I will try.

I hope everything will go well. Cross your fingers, I mean, pages for me, Diary.

Hermione

"Aw, it's so sweet." said Katie quietly.

"But Hermione didn't know that she would be unsuccessful, otherwise she would die single." said Neville.

"None of us knew that Christmas was the last one we ever spent with those two." said Fred.

"And we didn't know that was the last time we ever saw them alive." said Angelina.

Ron sniffled and flipped the next page. "This is it, the last entry of Hermione's diary."

Ginny pressed her handkerchief near her eyes. "The entry about the last day of hers and Harry's lives."

"Do you want me to stop here?" asked Ron in concern.

Ginny shook her head. Ron looked around at the group. "Guys?"

Silence.

"Go ahead, Ron." said George finally.

Ron took a deep breath and let it out. Then he read, "31st of December, 2003…"