Hey guys.
So, you guessed it. This is the last chapter of this story, and I am depressed as fuck about it. I am going to miss all of your wonderful reviews so very much, but I hope this isn't the last time we are in contact through a computer/phone/technological device screen. You all are literally nine different types of fabulous, and I could not have asked for a better group of reviewers. You went out of your way to spam me with reviews so that I could reach 1000, you read every chapter to the point that you knew it like the back of your hand, and you have grown as attached to this story as I have, and that is amazing to me. I'm going to miss the notifications from this site popping up in my email every day, but I hope that once I get back on here I'll see some familiar faces on any other stories that I might publish in the near future :)
And now without further adieu...
EPILOGUE
3 months later
"Caleb, hurry up with those onions!"
Caleb turned around, flicking his head sharply sideways to remove his hair from his eyes as he brought a bowl of onions over to Hanna, who was busy stirring the sliced pork in the pan. "I didn't hear a please."
Hanna just rolled her eyes, even if Caleb couldn't see them from behind her. "I'm serious!" she whined. "We only have an hour until the others get here, I'm missing class for this, and it won't be worth it if the Dong Po doesn't taste as good!"
She continued to stir the pork harshly until Caleb wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. "Relax," he whispered in her ear.
"I am relaxed."
"You just complained about missing class for this!" Caleb snorted. "Even Spencer would tell you that you're wigging out right now."
Hanna slowly ceased stirring, placing the wooden spoon at the edge of the pan, as she leaned into Caleb's embrace. "I just want it to be perfect," she sighed.
"And it will be!" he reassured, disconnecting himself from her finally, but keeping hold of her hand. "You just need to return to your old self for some time and have a little fun with this."
He then twirled her around by the tips of her fingers. She squealed, but he then stopped twirling her to hold onto both of her hands, salsa-ing back and forth, even if no music was playing.
"Caleb, the pork is going to burn!"
He just laughed, taking this as his cue to dip her. As he held her a mere foot off of the ground, he got right in her face. "Let it burn, then," he said softly, sexily. "It still won't be as hot as you are."
Hanna gawked, and Caleb let out another giggle as he sprung her back up into an upright position. He then stood before her, not taking his eyes off of her as he reached over for the pan, stirring the pork with the wooden spoon as he remained entirely focused on the object of his affections before him.
Finally, Hanna cracked a smile. "I love you, Caleb," she said through her sparkling grin as she stood on her toes to kiss him. He leaned into the kiss, caressing her hair with one hand and stirring the pork with the other.
Yeah. He could get used to this.
"I don't think I can apologize enough for you not getting credit back in January," Aria said sympathetically as she grabbed a stack of plates and started carrying them over to the table.
Ezra shrugged as he followed her with silverware. "It doesn't bother me."
"Well it bothers me!" Aria pouted. "I mean, you saved my life!"
"Aria, if I had gotten credit then people would've found out about us. Besides, I hardly even did anything. Anyone could've carried you out into the car - "
"But it was you!"
"Why are you bringing this up now?" he said with a laugh. Aria simply shrugged as she put the plates down on the table.
"Being together with everyone... it just reminds me of everything that happened back there."
Ezra's grin fell at Aria's words, and his eyes drifted downward to the bandage on Aria's arm. He placed the silverware down and opened his arms wide to wrap her in a tight hug, and she silently buried her face into his robes.
"That's all over now," he whispered into her hair. "Don't think of all of the bad that happened; think of the bravery you showed when you saved me and everyone else from drowning back at the shore."
Aria released herself from Ezra's embrace finally to look up at him. The worry in her face from before was immediately replaced with the usual snark that she carried in her expression. "I did, didn't I?"
Ezra laughed at her transition. "See, this is why I don't care about getting recognized."
"Why?"
He tilted his head to the side. "Because everything that I could ever want in life... is standing right in front of me."
Aria beamed at this as she leaned in to hug him again, and he silently kissed her hair.
In the background, Toby rolled his eyes. "Can you lovebirds stay apart for one second and help me set the rest of this table?"
"Is the table all set, guys?" Spencer asked, interrupting the previous interaction and walking into the room with goblets for everyone.
"Almost," Aria claimed, disconnecting from Ezra and placing the last plate down on the mahogany dining table. She then stood aside for Toby to place down a napkin and Ezra to place down his final fork. "We're just waiting for the others."
Spencer looked at her watch. "Paige and Emily are still at Quidditch practice," she said. "But Hanna and Caleb should be here any minute with the food."
Just as she said this, the sound of a door opening was heard. "Looking for us?" Caleb said with a smirk, leaning into the doorway with his hand still on the knob. Hanna rolled her eyes playfully as she walked through the doorway with a large covered plate in her arms, Caleb holding the door for her.
"I'm surprised you guys found it so quickly," Toby said from the table behind. "It took me ages!"
"Yeah, well the Room can tell when you're starving," Caleb joked as he walked over to the table.
The gang had all been wanting to get together in private for a long time, so they finally decided the Room of Requirement would be the perfect place to do that. There was some hesitancy toward this as it brought up bad memories for the girls, Hanna and Aria especially, but they were eventually able to assure themselves that they were not in that same room. There were no bookshelves, no crystal ball for Melissa to watch the girls' every move, no smashed mirror in the back, and there were no blood stains or scratches on the floor from where Aria and Hanna had been tortured. Instead, they were in a much smaller room that was dimly lit with candles and had a long table in it. That table was now perfectly set since Spencer added the goblets to it, and all they had to do now was wait for Paige and Emily to come in so that they could enjoy a wonderful feast, sans any interruption from any of the other students and staff at the school.
"Sorry we're late," Hanna apologized as she placed the food on the table. She then stood up and reached for Caleb's hand, a cheeky smile on her face. "We were having a little too much fun in the kitchen, so we weren't as conscientious of time."
At this, Spencer rolled her eyes. "No, Hanna, you mean - " But then she stopped, pondering over this. "That was actually... grammatically correct."
Hanna simply stuck out her tongue. "Well don't sound so surprised! I know some things!"
As Hanna said this, she got a few expectant stares, waiting for her to fess up. Finally, something unexpected happened; her smile faded and she let go of Caleb's hand.
"I, uh..." she began, "I remembered this one time Lucas was tutoring me, and... and he taught that word to me."
The room suddenly fell silent. It had been three months, but Hanna still hadn't stopped grieving over Lucas's death, especially since he was the last person to deserve it. She knew that he betrayed her, but that didn't diminish all of the times he was there for her, or how fiercely loyal he was to her and how much he cared about her.
She wished she had realized this earlier and had appreciated him more when he was alive. Maybe she could have let him know how happy she was to have him in her life.
Maybe she could've stopped this from happening.
Immediately, Aria and Spencer leaped forward to Hanna's side, encasing her in a hug. Caleb stepped back, understanding that the girls needed this time to themselves.
"Hanna," Aria began, "you know he would be so proud of you, right?"
Hanna weakly nodded her head as she rested her head on Aria's shoulder, a tear escaping her eye. "Yeah, I know."
"And you know how proud we are of you, too, right?" Spencer added on, pulling back to stare at her intensely in a way only Spencer could.
Finally, Hanna managed to crack a smile. She just couldn't resist while Spencer was pestering her for a smile with her "Hastings-face" and Aria was looking at her with her irrefutable bright eyes. She gave both girls one last hug, squeezing them as tightly as possible. "Yeah, I know that, too. Now both of you get off of me so we can get this feast started!"
"We need to wait for Emily and Paige, though!" Toby pointed out from behind.
Just as he said this, the door opened again, and in walked Paige and Emily, still in their Quidditch robes.
"Sorry we couldn't be in better attire," Emily apologized as she walked through. "We didn't want to be late, and we kind of had to sneak off."
"Never even knew she had it in her," Paige said proudly as she closed the door behind her. Everyone rejoiced as they sat down, hungrily reaching for the Dong Po in the center of the table and putting it on their plates. They had to lay off of dinner before to get their appetites ready for this meal, and they were all ready to dig in.
"I take it Quidditch practice went well?" Aria asked in between bites of her vegetables (she had to turn down the pork, of course, and only went for the side dish of vegetables Hanna and Caleb had prepared as well). Emily nodded her head as she put her fork down.
"I think it's finally starting to turn back into the sport that I fell in love with," she said happily as she reached under the table to grab Paige's hand.
"Gee, can't think of why," Hanna said sarcastically. Everyone doubled over in laughter at this; Emily shot a dirty look across the table at Hanna at first, but finally cracked a smile, agreeing that this was a funny comment indeed.
"Whatever, Hanna," Paige joked. "We're going to crush Hufflepuff at tomorrow's game!"
"As if!" Hanna argued. "You guys may be undefeated, but I know we're going to make a comeback tomorrow."
"Hanna, you don't even like Quidditch," Aria pointed out bluntly, only to earn an appalled look from Hanna.
"I used to pay very close attention during those matches!" she said defensively.
"What made you stop?"
"I only watched it for Sean back when we were dating," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "He looked damn good in those robes."
At this, Caleb nearly choked on his cooked vegetables. "Umm, hello?"
"I said used to, didn't I?" Hanna pointed out, and then added a wink at the end. "If you're that bent-out-of-shape about it, go put on some Quidditch robes and see what I do to you."
Caleb pondered this, and then decided this seemed reasonable as he lovingly put his arm around Hanna's shoulders.
"Whatever, we're winning," Paige said conclusively. "After all, we have a scouted player on our team."
Everyone gasped, and Emily bowed her head blushing. Toby took note of this, and his eyes widened. "Emily..."
Finally, Emily sighed and looked up, her complexion glowing with excitement. "It's true," she said. "I got a letter today from the coach of the Holyhead Harpies saying he wants me to come to the tryouts for the winter season."
Everyone around the table burst into an exclamation of excitement and congratulations. "And the best part is she got the letter at the beginning of practice," Paige added in. "If you guys could've seen the look on Lily Potter's face..."
"What does she care?" Emily said, brushing off the comment by swatting her hand through the air. "Her mother was on the team for a few years. I looked it up. Once she's a seventh year, she'll probably be scouted as well."
"How are things between you two?" Spencer asked incongruently. "Better?"
Emily shrugged. "Better than how they are with Maya... she hasn't talked to me since I, um, cut things off?"
Silence reached the gang, an awkward tension rising in the air, but Emily broke it once she broke out into a smile. "I didn't say I was upset over it!" she pointed out as she wrapped her arm around Paige's shoulders. "I've got all I need right here."
Paige grinned cheekily as Emily placed her head onto her shoulder, and the pair burst into giggles finally. Toby laughed, too, before putting his fork down on his plate.
"I have some news, too."
Everyone sat up, immediately attentive. Toby took a deep breath. "I got a job."
Everyone beamed. "That's so exciting!" Ezra claimed, as Toby sat back in his chair, satisfied.
"I've been in contact with guy in Wales who builds houses for wizards," he explained, "and he offered me a job building burrows with him and a bunch of other workers once I get out of school! And they provide shelter and food and everything for you!"
"So you can finally escape your horrible family?" Hanna asked bluntly as she shoved a mouthful of pork into her mouth. Caleb nudged Hanna, claiming this was slightly rude, but Toby gestured with his hands that this wasn't necessary.
"I can," he said happily, before reaching for Spencer's hands, encasing them in his own on the tabletop. "And Spencer can, too."
At this, everyone froze. Spencer, who had been silent ever since Toby started talking, finally raised her head. "It's true."
"Spencer, what are you talking about?" Aria asked. Something about this didn't seem right.
Spencer lowered her head, nervously pushing a hair back behind her ear. "Well, I got a letter from my parents the other day... they kicked me out of the house."
Everyone gasped, but their gasps were not filled with joy the way they were for Emily and Toby. Spencer just shrugged sadly. "I guess they figured they needed a more extreme punishment than grounding me for two weeks for... you know... killing my sister."
"But that's horrible!" Aria exclaimed. "Don't they know that your sister was a psychopath?"
"Of course they do," Spencer said indifferently. "But of course they took her side again." At this, she even started laughing. "They even take her side when she's no longer living... please tell me how that works?"
"Spence, I'm so sorry," Emily whispered, and Hanna nodded her head in agreement.
But Spencer's sadness had immediately transformed to near glee after everyone had said their condolences. "Haven't you been listening?" she said quizzically. "I'm out of the house, Toby is getting a new house..."
Immediately Aria made the connection, shooting out of her chair. "You two are moving in together?!"
Toby and Spencer threw their hands up in the air, rejoicing at the fact that someone had figured it out. Everyone cheered at this, too, and Toby took Spencer's hand and delivered a kiss to it as a way of celebration.
Hanna then turned to Caleb. "I guess this is an appropriate time to tell you some news, then."
Caleb was startled by this. "What news?"
"Well," she began excitedly. "I got a letter from my mother the other day..."
"And?" Caleb said, in completely suspense as he brought his goblet of pumpkin juice to his lips.
Hanna couldn't stop smiling. "And she said that once the school year is over, you can move in with us."
Caleb immediately spit out his pumpkin juice all over the table. Ignoring the mess he made, he turned to Hanna. "Are you serious?!"
"Do I ever kid?" she said bluntly. He opened his mouth to counter this, but she stopped him. "Don't be a smartass. Just hug me."
A laugh of complete awe and excitement escaped Caleb's lips as he wrapped his arms around Hanna in a big hug. Finally, after 17 years of living with his horrible aunt and uncle, he would get to live with the love of his life. He could actually enjoy being away from Hogwarts.
"I love you so much," he whispered into her blonde locks, and anyone watching could tell that he meant it.
After watching this exchange take place, Aria turned to Ezra. "So everyone has good news to share but us?"
"Pretty much," Ezra said with a curt head nod as he draped his arm around Aria's shoulders. "Although, there is one thing..."
Aria turned to him suspiciously. "What..."
He then turned to her, placing his hands on both of her shoulders. "It's time."
"Time?"
"I want to meet your parents," he said determinedly. "And I want them to meet me."
"Are you sure we're ready?"
He nodded his head rapidly. "I've never been so ready for anything in my life."
"But... when they find out - "
"They don't need to find out," Ezra interrupted. "We can tell them much later, but for now we can just push that part off because... I'm leaving Hogwarts."
"WHAT?"
This exclamation didn't just come from Aria; it came from everyone around the table. Ezra bowed his head.
"I don't want to work here anymore and be reminded every day of what happened within these walls," he explained gruffly. "I want to move on from it, like the rest of you. I'll get a job elsewhere, but right now..." He then turned back to Aria. "I want to work on making a life with you. I can go back to working at Honeydukes the way I did when we first started dating! We can make it work, I promise - "
"Okay."
Ezra froze, midsentence. "What?"
"I said okay," Aria said with a genuine smile. "You can meet my parents, you can leave Hogwarts, you can spend your life with me. Let's do it!"
Ezra's face lit up like a Christmas tree as he hugged Aria, feeling happier than he had in a long, long time. For the rest of the meal, everyone cuddled up to their significant others, making conversation with everyone else as they praised Hanna and Caleb's excellent cooking.
Once everyone had finished, Caleb took this as his cue to stand up. "Alright gentlemen... and Paige," he added, noticing Paige's raised eyebrow. "I think it's time."
"Time?" Hanna questioned, looking up at Caleb. "Time for what?"
He just gave her a knowing smile as he took her hand, helping her to stand up. "There's a reason we needed to practice our dance moves in the kitchen earlier."
Hanna's eyes widened as Caleb pulled her out of her chair, and Paige, Toby, and Ezra pulled their girlfriends out of their chairs as well. They brought them to the back of the room, and as they did so Ezra pulled something out of his pocket.
It was a small muggle radio.
Aria looked up at Ezra curiously. "What's going on?"
He just shook his head as he turned the knob on the radio, and immediately coming out of it was the first verse to Georgia on my Mind by Ray Charles.
Georgia, Georgia
The whole day through
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind
Ezra then turned around to Aria, looking positively smitten. "It's about time we had our first dance, isn't it?"
At this, Aria couldn't take it. She broke out into the biggest smile that she had all night, remembering the agreement they made the night of the Halloween Ball, as she ran up to Ezra and kissed him. Hard. Ezra then reached down for her small waist, still not disconnecting from her lips, as he swayed her back and forth to the music. Taking heed from Ezra, Caleb turned to Hanna, raising his eyebrows eagerly as he took her hand, leading her onto the dance floor. Toby did the same, draping his arm around Spencer's shoulder as he led her on, and Paige didn't even wait; she put her hands on Emily's shoulders, touched her forehead to hers, and immediately started moving along to the music as she leaned in to kiss Emily passionately.
Spencer rested her head on Toby's shoulder, feeling completely at home. "Never thought I'd see the day where I'd be dancing with a Gryffindor."
Toby just laughed as he wrapped his arms tighter around Spencer. "Never thought I'd see the day where I'd be dating the girl who saved the entire wizarding world."
Spencer then raised her head. "Everything about this is completely unexpected, isn't it?"
Toby nodded his head, in completely agreement. Spencer never expected that she would sway from meeting her parents' expectations, busting her ass in school, and doing everything she could to determine that her future would be perfect, that everything would be perfect. Now, perfection didn't matter. She didn't know what she was doing after Hogwarts, where she was going, or how successful she would be.
None of that mattered.
All she needed right now was right in front of her: Toby, and her four best friends. The four girls that she trusted with her life.
Her four sisters.
They were her family, and with them Spencer knew that she could move on from all of this. She would leave Hogwarts behind on a good note, knowing that while it was home to one of the most traumatic years of her life, it was also home to friendships that would last a lifetime; partnerships that would last a lifetime.
And keeping that in mind, Spencer rested her head back on Toby's shoulder, taking in the dimly lit room and each of her friends moving along to the music with their spouses as Ray Charles belted the rest of the song. Finally, she was happy. Really, truly happy.
She knew it. She going to be just fine.
They were all going to be just fine.
Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you
Oh Georgia, Georgia
No peace I find
Just an old, sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind
~Fin~
Hold on, though, because if my guess is correct I published two chapters today. Why could that be? Well if you would click the next button...
