"Oh, maybe try and look as though you're actually sad to be leaving, Draco," I sniffed, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. Our last day at Hogwarts. Almost everybody was crying. Except for my insufferable boyfriend.

Correction: Fiance.

Draco put his arm around me and I rested my head against his shoulder while students exchanged hugs all around the great hall. Ginny and Luna were already exchanging every kind of contact they could and hadn't stopped holding hands since last night. Professor McGonagall was looking tearful, though trying to hold herself together, and Hagrid was sobbing into a pink handkerchief.

"I don't want to leave," whispered Draco, his voice muffled through my hair. "I wish we could relive this year all over again, forever."

"Except maybe without Pansy," I suggested, sniffing heavily. Draco laughed and kissed my hair.

"Except without Pansy," he agreed firmly. He sighed sadly, but there was hope in his voice, too. "But we've got our wedding to look forward to now." He squeezed my shoulder playfully and I planted a gentle kiss on his jawline before standing up.

"Hold on a moment, Draco," I said absent-mindedly, before completely disregarding the rules, hitching up my robes, sprinting across the hall to the staff table, and throwing my arms around Professor McGonagall's neck.

Basically, my way of saying thank you.

I broke away, smiling with glassy eyes, while Professor McGonagall dabbed at her own with a tissue, sniffing lightly. 

"Do keep in touch, Miss Granger," she said, composing herself quickly and smiling down at me affectionately. 

"Of course I will!" I exclaimed, drying my eyes, not for the first time that morning. "I'll never, ever forget you, Professor." 

"I'll come to the wedding, of course," Professor McGonagall assured me, a twinkle in her eye reminiscent of Dumbledore. I blushed scarlet.

"Really?" I asked. She nodded, and I grinned. "Thank you, Professor."

-------------------------------------------------------------x-x---------------------------------------------------------------

The goodbyes seemed to last forever, and I loved it that way. I thanked every professor in turn, took the address of nearly every Gryffindor I could find, and hugged more people than I could count. I spent the day hand in hand with Draco, visiting Hagrid, running down the corridors, kissing in our favourite spots, lounging around by the lake, and exploring every inch of the grounds we could.

"I've got something to show you," Draco whispered in my ear, once we were wandering, quite alone, around the grounds. I laughed as he took off ahead of me and finally stopped beside the tree we always sat by, its roots stretching towards the black lake.

I raised an eyebrow at him quizzically, but suddenly gasped when he pointed out to me details that I'd never noticed before - names.

Names, carved into the trunk of the tree, some of them enveloped in hearts, others dated, all around the tree, perfectly legible. Harry + Ginny, Ginny + Dean, Ginny + Luna were the most recent ones. I laughed to myself and pushed back the branches further. Ron + Lavender. Cho + Cedric. 

James + Lily.

"I want to sign our names, too," said Draco proudly, taking out his wand and kissing my forehead. "I want everyone to remember us. I want Hogwarts to remember us."

"They will," I promised him. I took out my wand and engraved my name easily onto the bark between James and Lily's names and Luna and Ginny's. 

The rest of the day passed quickly. Before we knew it, we were all piling out of the castle and shouting our last goodbyes to the beautiful place. I'd even enchanted a Muggle camera from Hogsmeade and taken some of my favourite photos. 

It was strange to think that at the start of the year, I had shared a compartment on the Hogwarts Express with only Ginny, and thoughts that a certain Slytherin was nowhere near the running for Head Boy. 

Now, here I was in a compartment packed with people - Ginny, Luna, Blaise, and my fiance, Draco Lucius Malfoy. The most gentle, kind, loving, intelligent, funny, wicked guy I have ever had the misfortune to meet.

That year was one of the best of my life. And, leaving one of my favourite places in the entire world, knowing that I was about to get married to one of my best friends, surrounded by the people I loved the most, and knowing that I had the rest of my life to look forward to, filled me with joy. 

Although I cried more times than I could count on that journey home to Platform 9 and 3/4, and sobbed as I passed through the barrier with Draco's hand in mine, I had the happiest time of my life in that final few weeks at Hogwarts. 

I'll never forget the look Draco gave me as we walked through the barrier, hand in hand. The look on Narcissa Malfoy's face when she saw us, the sheer joy that greeted me when my parents and Molly and Arthur greeted us with smiling faces. And, best of all, the perfect kiss that Draco left me with before we parted.

All was well.

Hi everyone! Fear not, this is NOT the end of Hermione and Draco's story yet! An epilogue will be released shortly, along with dedications, a playlist for this story, and more! Before I thank all of you truly in the final chapters of this book, I want to say a HUGE THANKS to all of my hundreds of readers who have followed me on this amazing journey. See you in a few chapters' time! :)