Author's Notes: *Sniff* I can't believe it's over! But tomorrow…OotP! YES! I'm so excited! I did kind of want to do a spinoff featuring Harry and Diana…or perhaps the other Aurors I mentioned…but with OotP coming out, it seems kind of pointless. Bury the Hatchet and Perfect World were written with up to GoF as a spoiler…so this is it, folks. There won't be a third instalment, I'm afraid. But never fear…I still plan to finish those parodies of all the books, and to revamp Bury the Hatchet, and who knows…maybe after OotP I'll have some really good plot bunnies I can chase. Le sigh.
By the way…to anyone, in any review, who has said that I'm talented, or has said that I should be an author, or has praised this story in any way …thank you. You've made my year. ^_^
As Fatboy Slim would say…
We've come a long, long, way together.
Through the bad times and the good.
I'd like to celebrate you baby.
I'd like to praise you like I shoooooooooooooould!
And so all you loyal reviewers should be praised. Kudos to all of you. ^_^
Without further ado, I present to you: the epilogue of Perfect World.
*Sniff*
***
"He's always late!"
"Well, you know, sometimes he's busy saving the world and such…"
"Argh! I'm so nervous, though I can't possibly imagine why."
"Nervous? You're nervous? How do you think I felt, with that ring in my pocket for over four months, trying to work up the nerve to ask you?"
"You still haven't worked up the nerve to ask me properly."
Professors Weasley and Granger were waiting impatiently in the Three Broomsticks for the third member of the trio to arrive. It was only a few days after Ron's proposal, and the pair had wisely kept their engagement quiet. The pair had agreed that Harry should be the first person to know, even before their families. They had sent him a cryptic message by owl to meet them in the Three Broomsticks 'for a drink'. As always, Harry was late, which seemed to agitate Hermione greatly. She was nervous about telling Harry, for some reason, and kept touching the gold ring on her finger, as if to make sure it was still there.
"Fine," Ron said crossly, "Hermione Granger, will you marry me?"
"Well, I suppose," Hermione said with a long-suffering sigh. Ron grinned at her and kicked her under the table. She smiled mischievously and kicked back. This continued for a few moments, until Madam Rosmerta walked by and gave them both a queer look. They abruptly stopped and smiled innocently at her, then dissolved into snickers like two teenagers.
The few members of staff who hadn't left Hogwarts for the summer holidays yet had all noticed that the two of them had been strangely giddy the last few days. Hermione refused to take her ring off, and so she charmed it to be invisible when they were at the castle. The couple wanted to keep their engagement quiet as long as possible, especially at the school. But Ron suspected that at least Dumbledore knew anyway, just from the comments he made and the twinkle in his eyes when he looked at the two of them. This further enforced Ron's theory that, somehow, Dumbledore knew everything.
"Do you think he'll bring Diana?" Hermione suddenly asked anxiously. "Not that I have anything against her, but…I wanted it to be just us three…"
Ron furrowed his eyebrows. "Why would he bring Diana?"
Hermione gave him a superior look, as if she knew something he didn't. Ron just shrugged and replied, "Well, we'll ask her to take a walk if she comes."
"Oh, that's polite," Hermione retorted.
Ron shrugged again, then grinned wickedly and lowered his voice. "Guess what?"
"What?"
"We're getting married."
Hermione couldn't help but smile widely at that. They both sat there in silence for a moment, grinning stupidly at each other and glowing with happiness.
"I'm here!" a familiar voice called. Ron and Hermione both turned to see Harry skid into the pub. He spotted them and rushed over, sliding into the empty chair next to Ron. "Sorry I'm late."
"For a guy who has the privilege of being able to Apparate anywhere he damn well pleases, you sure take your time getting places," Ron observed.
"Sorry," Harry repeated, giving them a roguish grin. "Diana wanted to go up to the castle to talk to Dumbledore, and since I was coming up here anyways, I told her I'd come with her and I lost track of time – "
Hermione gave Ron that superior, knowing look again. Ron blinked, puzzled.
"Harry," Ron suddenly asked. "What do you think he does all summer? Dumbledore, that is."
Harry also did not know.
"Anyway, what's up?" their bespectacled friend asked, smiling brightly.
"I'm sorry, do we need a reason to meet our best friend for a drink now?" Ron exclaimed, pretending to be offended.
"By the way, Harry, have I told you how nice you look without that stubble on your face?" Hermione asked sweetly. Harry had shaved off his goatee a few months ago, and Hermione took every opportunity to point out what an improvement it was.
"Yes, Hermione, only a billion times," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "So, what are we having to drink? Butterbeers all around, for old times' sake?"
Ron and Hermione nodded their agreement, and Harry rose from his seat to get the drinks from Madam Rosmerta, who had disappeared behind the bar again. As he walked away, Hermione smirked knowingly and glanced at Ron.
"What?" Ron asked, exasperated.
"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione asked in her know-it-all voice. "Can't you see how happy he's been the last few months?"
"Well, he was working pretty hard with the scrolls and everything," Ron said, shrugging. "He's probably just as relieved as we are that it's all over, and he's getting a well-deserved break now that things have calmed down."
Hermione rolled her eyes impatiently. "No, not that sort of happy."
"There's different sorts of happy?"
Hermione pretended to be breathless and excited. "'I told Diana I'd come with her and I lost track of time,'" she mimicked.
Ron stared. "So?"
Hermione sighed. "Never mind. You're completely clueless."
"Funny, that's exactly what I was thinking about you the other night…"
Hermione elbowed him in the ribs as Harry returned, juggling three steaming mugs of Butterbeer. Being June, it was sweltering hot outside, but Ron would welcome a nice mug of Butterbeer any time. The three of them raised their mugs, grinning, and clinked them together.
Harry began to drink, but as he did so, his eyes strayed towards the gold ring glinting on Hermione's finger as she raised her mug to her own lips.
Harry choked on his Butterbeer.
Hermione winced; she had either forgotten to charm her ring that morning, or else she had left it visible to reveal to Harry when they told him about their engagement. She obviously hadn't realized that it was in plain sight.
"Is that…you…are you…?" Harry spluttered, eyes wide. Hermione bit her lip to keep from smiling widely and exchanged glances with Ron. The two of them nodded at him, smiling excitedly, and Harry let out a sort of whoop.
"That's…that's…wow!" Harry exclaimed, putting a hand to his forehead in shock. "I can't believe…you two…wow!" he repeated, laughing. He leaned over the table to kiss Hermione on the cheek, and then he grinned wildly at Ron, who was sitting next to him. Ron grinned back as Harry extended his hand and the two of them shook hands enthusiastically. Harry sort of patted Ron on the back, and then awkwardly half-hugged him. The two of them quickly broke away and cleared their throats, trying to appear manly once more. By now, the entire pub was staring at them curiously, but Ron didn't really care.
"I can't believe this…you two…I mean, I always knew it would happen, but I figured I'd be about eighty by the time you two ended up together and Ron had worked up the nerve to ask you," Harry said wryly to Hermione. She smiled and glanced at Ron, eyes twinkling in amusement, evidently remembering what had happened in the Gryffindor common room.
"Have you set a date or anything?" Harry asked.
"Well, no, not yet," Hermione admitted, exchanging looks with Ron. "You're actually the first person we've told."
Harry's ears turned a bit pink, and he glowed with pride.
"Listen, Harry, mate…" Ron began, clearing his throat. "Er…I'd really like…I mean, Hermione and I would really like…well, there's no one else…wait, that came out wrong, I mean I wouldn't even consider anyone else…" He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. "Er…I really, really want you…to, uh…well, be my best man," he finished quickly. Hermione smiled into her Butterbeer as she took another sip.
Harry stared at him, and then a wide grin slowly spread over his face. "Well…yeah! I mean, of course!" Harry exclaimed. He seemed to be debating whether to attempt to hug Ron again, and then seemed to decide that two hugs in one day was going overboard with the public-displays-of-affection-towards-another-guy thing.
Ron's grin seemed to stretch for miles; his face was starting to hurt from smiling so much. "Great! I mean, that's…well…brilliant!" he said in half-delight, half-relief.
"We're going to tell the Weasley's tomorrow night," Hermione explained, beaming, "and my parents next weekend…we're going up there for the weekend, I haven't seen them in ages."
"And then we're taking a vacation," Ron added, "so the wedding will probably be sometime next year." He grinned to himself as he said the word 'wedding.' It still seemed surreal.
"Wow. You're going to be Mrs. Weasley," Harry said in amazement to Hermione, readjusting his glasses. He suddenly snorted. "That's going to take some getting used to. Mrs. Weasley is Ron's mum, as far as I'm concerned."
"Thanks, Harry," Hermione replied sarcastically.
"So who else will you have in the wedding party? Who's your maid of honour going to be, Hermione?" Harry asked eagerly, ignoring her sarcasm.
"Well…" Hermione glanced at Ron, and then back at Harry, "you can't say anything, but I was going to ask Ginny. I hope that's okay," she said hurriedly.
"Of course it's okay," Harry replied, smiling quizzically. He noted Hermione's look of scepticism, and added, "It's all right now. We're friends."
"Oh, good," Hermione breathed in relief. Harry chuckled. "And you can tell Diana, if you want," she added. "She'll be invited…I mean, I've known her for quite a while and she really helped us out last year…plus, she's…well…"
Harry gave an embarrassed smile, and Ron noted that his ears had gone pink again. "Sure…er, thanks."
The three of them sat in silence for a few moments, mostly exchanging giddy smiles, and then suddenly Harry snorted loudly again.
"What?" Ron demanded.
"Well, I don't know if wizards do this, but Muggles do, and…I just thought of the perfect person to be your ring-bearer," he explained.
"Who?" Hermione asked politely.
Harry tried to maintain a straight face. "Dobby."
At the mental image of Dobby the house-elf in a miniature tuxedo, walking down an aisle with a large, velvet pillow holding their wedding rings, Ron burst out laughing. Hermione at first frowned; evidently, she did not approve of house-elves being the brunt of jokes. But as Harry and Ron roared with laughter, she started smiling despite her efforts, and soon all three members of the infamous Hogwarts trio were laughing hysterically at the picture of Dobby as a ring bearer. Harry and Ron had to hold their stomachs, they were laughing so hard, and Hermione's pretty laugh echoed throughout the pub, the ring on her finger flashing in the light.
And somehow, everything seemed right in the world.
The End.
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Note: This portion which you are about to read was added 06/23/03, after I had finished reading OotP and had time to write hilarious/witty comments.
Wow, Order of the Phoenix was a downer, eh?
But it was good. Very, very, good. Although Goblet of Fire's still my favourite book, possibly because @#!#$ DIDN'T die in it! (I will not reveal names, for I do not wish to spoil the fifth book for those who have not read it.) I am so incredibly sad about poor @#!#$. And yet it was almost as if @#!#$DIDN'T die, because you don't really @#!#$ actually DYING, persay…
But I am getting off-topic.
Thank you, thank you, thank you yet again to all of the people who have reviewed this fic, and especially those who took time out of reading OotP, or who read OotP and STILL came back to read this thing and/or review the last few chapters – blackcat, starlight diva, becsulet, enelya, Araedhel, jd, TaMara R, Dragon Flight, Daggerquill, hermione8meg, Moon Goddess, LadyoftheLake, fredngeorgegirl, Leesa, Ron_fan, HarryPotterFanFicGirl, Moine Weasley, rizzo, Loreli, HES GONNA ASK HER TO MARRY HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (lmao), Dejitaru Yami, the purple fuzzy (who, as I mentioned before, wrote a fanfic inspired by this one, entitled "It's Not Them" and is up on this site…I highly recommend it), Angela-Marie, Hermione, anon, crammer, Padfoot, LKOK, and anyone who reviews after I post this - I appreciate it muchos.
Look for, on the review page of this fic and on my author's page, more updates and/or review songs, witty comments, and the like. After reading OotP I do have a few ideas running around in my head for a possible fanfiction…but we'll see what happens. And remember, BtH is being updated and soon posted on ff.net.
Bury the Hatchet 2.0…coming to an Internet Browser near you sometime this summer.
Have a great summer everyone, thanks for reading, and enjoy Order of the Phoenix!
~*SP*~