Author's Note: This is the official epilogue to my "An Aversion to Change" series. The read order goes:

1. An Aversion to Change

1.5 An Aversion to Change Alternate Ending (for those who don't want to read "The Resilient")

2. The Resilient

3. Masks

4. The Final Secret

I've had this written for years, but kinda forgot about it. I don't expect it to get any hits or traction, but thought I'd post it anyway. Enjoy! :)

The Final Secret

Hermione Granger rested back on her elbows and stared at the sea. A wall of clouds, dark grey and heavy with rain, crawled across the horizon. She had seen the rainstorm form, at first no more than a swelling of dirty-white, and watched it grow as the wind pushed it across the water. The weather on her side of the sea remained pleasant: blue sky liberally patched with thick, bright white clouds, the temperature a warm breath on her cheek.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back to enjoy it while she could. A cool wind brought with it the promise of autumn, and Hermione had spent enough time at the Dragon's Keep to know just how hard the rains could fall.

"How many times have we pulled each other away from that edge?"

Hermione opened her eyes, squinting up at the brightness of Draco Malfoy. His pale hair radiated sunshine, reflecting it as though he were a platinum mirror.

"Too many," she answered, "but not recently, and not today. Join me?"

He smiled, and she began to clear a place for him on the blue-checkered blanket, pushing aside the half-eaten lunch of fruit, cheese, and crackers that Dobby had so kindly supplied.

"Not in the mood for grapes today?" Draco asked. He plucked a few from the bunch and popped them into his mouth.

"No, not today. The apples and the cheese, however…"

He nodded, considering. "The combination of cheddar and Granny Smith is hard to resist." He shot her another smile as he made himself a stack. Hermione felt her heart lurch, remembering a time when she never wanted to see that smile again, and another time when she thought she never would.

"How is our world today?"

"Still closer to chaos than we'd like," he answered. "I know we decided that the Statute of Secrecy would be too difficult to re-enforce—"

"We would need to place memory charms on almost the entire population of wizarding Britain."

"But I still wonder if it would be easier than trying to live side-by-side with them." Silence descended, and Hermione did not break it. Draco's mouth had settled into a grim line, and his eyes were as dark as the horizon's clouds. Thunder rumbled at them from the distance.

"There was another murder last night," he confessed after a long minute.

Hermione's stomach turned. She put her hand to her abdomen and winced against tears. People died every day, fatalities of the world she and Draco were trying to build. Yet she had not grown numb to it. Each life lost felt like one she had helped take, a product of her vision and hands.

"What happened?"

Draco shook his head. "You don't want to know," he answered, his voice bitter and sad. "And what does it matter, anyway? It's the same that's been happening since we destroyed him. People fear what they don't understand and can't control. Wizard or Muggle—doesn't matter. It's our nature."

Hermione recognized the path he was heading toward; too often, she had traveled it herself. She gripped his arm hard, drawing his eyes away from the horizon and whatever horrors he was reliving.

"What good happened today?"

Draco shook his head again, ignoring her question as a god would an insect. She squeezed harder.

"Draco." She was firm. He needed to answer her. "What good?"

He took a moment to think before answering. "The committee finalized and approved the integration curriculum," he said on a sigh.

The knots in Hermione's stomach unfurled slightly. Structured integration was just one of their ideas to mitigate the clash of wizarding and Muggle cultures, but it was the first to gain support and seem achievable.

"That's amazing news," she said sincerely, moving her hand to his and squeezing gently.

"It's another piece of the puzzle in place," Draco conceded, "but it's not finished yet. The curriculum was approved, yes. From reception to matriculation, Muggles and wizards will be taking classes on each other. But we still need to figure out how these lessons will be built into the existing classroom schedule. Then there's the face-to-face, experiential classes. How many should there be? Where will they be held? How do we moderate them so that wizarding and Muggle children don't hurt each other?"

"You're taking on too much at once," Hermione said, moving closer to him. She pressed her leg against his and rested her head on his shoulder. "We'll figure it out."

Draco continued as if he had not heard her. "And would a similar program for adults even be worthwhile? Adults of both cultures would resist classes, and with the way things are going, face-to-face meetings might just result in more bloodshed, no matter how closely they're chaperoned."

"We knew it wouldn't be easy," Hermione reminded him. "Worthwhile endeavors rarely are. But we also know that people can be more than their natures. Sometimes, they just need to be shown it."

He chuckled and kissed her head, letting his nose linger in the wilds of her curls. "You say that as if you have some experience in the matter."

Hermione smiled. "Oh, just a little," she said, voice light and teasing.

Comfortable silence settled over them, and for a while, they watched as the storm moved farther out to sea.

"The progress we're making is slow," he said suddenly, "but at least it's progress. At least it's something."

"It's hope," she told him. "Hope that one day we can live without secrets."

"Isn't that naive?" It was an honest question, and one Hermione was not sure how to answer.

"Maybe," she said with a shrug. "But we've lived the alternative. I'd like to try a different way."

Draco nodded. "A new way," he said as the idea took hold. "A better way."

"Exactly."

He kissed her again, then tucked her head beneath his chin. She closed her eyes and let the peace of the moment, the comfort of his arms around her body, surround her.

A life without secrets was, if Hermione were being realistic, wholly unattainable, but that would not alter her commitment to it. She and Draco had started the process years ago, baring their whole selves to each other and working to understand and accept both the good and the bad. Honesty could be difficult, time-consuming, and exhausting, but they each knew first-hand where the other path could take them. It was the foundation of their relationship: there were no secrets between them anymore.

Hermione smiled at the thought and pressed a gentle hand to her abdomen.

Well, maybe just one.

The End