Disclaimer : Harry Potter and his world - JK Rowling's not mine

Epilogue.

"No!"

The red haired man woke up from a nightmare and could not remember what it was about.

Ronald Weasley was in unfamiliar surroundings. He was on a bed, in a dimly lit room; a hospital room from the smell of it, probably St. Mungo's. Looking out the window, it was dark outside. He wondered what time it was. He wondered what day it was. He wondered what time food came because he was really famished.

All the wondering got him to wonder some more. He wondered what he was doing in a hospital. Was he sick? Of what? And where was everybody?

Then it suddenly came to him like a bolt of lightning! He remembered everything! Melissa cursed him at Hermione's apartment! Melissa was the Cardinal! Melissa was a murderer! Melissa said she was T.M. Didler and that she was Voldemort's daughter!

Blimey! Melissa! Voldemort's daughter! And the Cardinal! Ew! He kissed her and they did more than just kiss! He told her that he loved her because he did! He was not feeling too good.

The room spun around him and he felt like he was going to throw up his insides! He tried getting up to go the bathroom to vomit, but he was too weak to stand on his own, knocking down everything that was on his night table as he fell on the floor. He heard hurried footsteps coming to his aide.

As the Healers tried to calm him down, he kept on hearing Hermione in his head, "Really, Ronald, you should be more selective about choosing the women you're with!" He definitely was going to listen to Hermione's advice, starting right now. First, he had to tell her about Melissa.

"Hermione! I need to speak with Hermione!" Ron said to the Healers though the words that came out of his mouth were unintelligible.

"What is he saying?" one of the Healers asked.

Ron kept on trying but it seemed that he had lost control of his mouth, his tongue and his vocal chords and could not communicate effectively.

"I don't know, something about his knee. He must have banged it when he fell. Get his parents in here," he heard the older Healer reply.

"No, not my knee! Hermione!"

"What about Miss Granger?" someone suggested. His nodding went unnoticed.

"No. The Auror Tonks specifically said she was not to be summoned unless Mr. Weasley's condition takes a turn for the worse. He seems better to me."

Ron thought the Healer's comment was a bit callous. He just found out he was dating a murderer who also happened to be Voldemort's daughter. He might seem better but he was definitely not better! He was going to be scarred forever!

"Yes, she is making up for lost time. Her and Harry Potter; doesn't their story just make your heart melt?"

What?! "Is Harry back?"

"You don't need an icepack, Mr. Weasley, your knee seems fine," the older Healer said to him even as he continued to explain as clearly as he could that he had something important to tell Hermione.

Great! There was a murderer on the loose and the Healers were engaged in gossip about his two best friends!

The older Healer continued, "I know. Being apart for two years and still feeling the same way about each other after all that time. And not only that, they got rid of that witch doing those Cardinal curses, working together just like old times. Did you hear? The witch was apparently Voldemort's daughter. Mr. Weasley, settle down. Oh dear, let's sedate him for now until the family is here."

As the sedation spell started to work and his anxiety about Melissa assuaged, all he could think about was retrieving the phial from Ritchie. He had changed his mind; her wrath wasn't worth it. Hermione was definitely going to kill him if Harry got a hold of that memory.

A/N.

It is such a relief to finally finish this story!

I'd like to thank my family, who endured many grumpy and sleepy me's in the six months it took me to write this fanfic. And I owe a lot to the reviewers. I would not have been able to go through the tough times had it not been for those who were diligent and kind enough to read and review. A little positive reinforcement goes a long way. I'd like to mention a few reviewers in particular who made this journey with me with each chapter posted.

To Eaglesnest - for providing some great insights into Harry's character that helped mould the latter chapters of TCC. Your daughter is missing a lot by not letting you read what she writes. It's been great having you around to provide a compass so I can write about what's important. You kept me focused.

To Matt - for being fiercely pro Harry all throughout - especially when Hermione was being so unreasonable. I daresay the Harry in this story asked a lot of the questions you asked and my Hermione was very defensive of your reviews.

To Mac - who so craved for sweetness in the story and I just couldn't provide enough. You made me realize that I am an angst writer first and foremost!

To Perturbation - for the challenge early in the story about it being better to kill off Harry...I hope you changed your mind about this HHr story after the memory was revealed. I had that challenge in mind all the time and I would have killed Harry had i failed to address it.

And yes, Bagira, you are right. It is so satisfying changing the status of the story from in-progress to complete!

So what's next?

A break! I didn't expect it to take this long to post a complete story that was worthwhile reading. It came to a point when I just wanted it over with so I could think about something else!

One reviewer did suggest sequel and I did decide to change the Epilogue to something about Ron and a bit closer in timeline to the final chapter to allow for a bit more flexibility if I get a compelling urge to write one. It would likely be one without much of the angst that I am so fond of writing because that well I've pretty much dried up for this storyline. I've actually went as far as thinking what possible case/mystery it will be about and leaving some possibilities in TCC - like if Harry is still alive, why was Didler unable to perform the Cardinal curse? Was she truly disabled? Or was Hermione wrong in her 3rd counter curse theory? Stop me right now!

One plot that keeps popping up during my daily commute is another HHR angst story that will involve a more anti-Ron theme. I have to admit I am not very fond of Ron, hence his marked absence in most of TCC, though I have written him here in a more positive light. I'm wondering if there was a more impt reason why JKR would make his last name Weasley. I haven't really encouraged myself to think about this plot because I wanted to make sure TCC was completed. It could still evolve just like TCC did.

Until the next time...keep reading...keep reviewing...keep us writing...

What follows are the author notes/updates (from my profile) as I was writing TCC.

1 Nov 06

Chapter 16 is finally up. I hope you like it. It will probably be my favorite Chapter of the story or at least in the top three. It's filled with HHr angst and romance! I'd appreciate feedback if it was too much or too little!

4 Nov 06 - I had a bit of difficulty deciding whether or not to kill Malfoy - as JK Rowling said he has redeemable qualities.

8 Nov 06 - I'm thinking 25 chapters max - for those who have been wondering how long this fic is. I keep tripping myself up (doing re-writes) with things like - not killing Malfoy and Dean's Secret room so I don't think the updates are going to come every 2 or 3 days for the last few chapters. I do get more encouraged when I get reviews so keep them coming!

12 Nov 06 - More suspects revealed in Chapter 19. The story is becoming more complicated even I have to read back so I don't contradict myself! Let me know if you find any inconsistencies that I have to fix. Thanks for reading.

15 Nov 06 - I got into this zone writing Chapter 20 and it was a great feeling just sitting and having the words come without much thought. Unfortunately, it seems that I'm no longer in that zone! While I was still planning the plot, I thought about Ritchie being a bad guy (someone nefarious as one reader suggested). I just couldn't picture Hermione with a guy like that and it would have been so hard for me to write and so easy to put her back with Harry. Do keep sending reviews...at this point, because I've had the story in my mind for a long time sometimes I don't realize there are things that are not as clear as they should be.

18 Nov 06 - I mentioned to one reviewer that writing the last two chapters (20/21)about Hermione and Ritchie's relationship made me want to re-read the HHr scenes to make me happy. I did expect disappointment from HHr shippers, but I hope by the end of the story the reason for all this background on Ritchie's role in Hermione's life will become apparent. Do keep in mind that a lot of the Hermione-Ritchie scenes happened prior to Harry's return. I am a confessed HHr shipper - of course they will end up together!

25 Nov 06 - Chapter 22 was the longest one of the story. It was difficult to put together not only because it took me four days to decide whether or not to prolong Harry's agony but also because so much had happened the night before and Harry and Hermione had to play catch up. As I was putting together the final chapters I noticed there is still a lot to be written and they might not all fit in 3 chapters. I hope I will be forgiven for going over the 25 chapters I said this was going to be.

30 Nov 06 - The Chapters seem to be getting longer and longer. The potion with Dean is the last one, I'm definitely done sabotaging the HHr relationship. I think I may have even overdone it!

3 Dec 06 - All I want for Christmas is to upload the final chapter of this story! The story seems so much shorter without the characters talking to each other and thinking thoughts... By the way,my apologies to the 1st 80 or so readers of Chapter 24. Neville found T.M. Didler - not Riddle, as what was originally posted.

9 Dec 06 - I had a really bad writing week so I apologize for the delay in Chapter 25. There were a couple of reviews for Chapter 24 that struck me - though I didn't mean to the Chapter suggested that Hermione was avoiding a conversation with Harry and was hiding behind Ritchie. I hope this Chapter explains why she couldn't answer the phone at the time Harry was calling.

18 Dec 06 - Chapter 26 just got longer with no end in sight so I split it up. The next one will have Harry's and Hermione's heart to heart. Enjoy! By the way, I don't know if anyone noticed. I kind of messed up in Chapter 25 when i said the tunnel radius was 5 miles and had to spend a few paragraphs fixing it! Good thing I had Rita Skeeter to blame for it!

23 Dec 06 - The Talk is up. Looks like I'm not getting what i want for Christmas (the final chapter). We're close, hopefully 3 more chapters or 4 inc. the epilogue. Happy Holidays!

30 Dec 06 - I've learned not to promise anything anymore - the actual memory will be in the chapter after the Last Phial. The Last Phial just got longer and longer and initially, I never meant Harry to give Hermione the phial. Jason asked if there was going to be a sequel...I am not sure because I think I never realized this could consume me and take up so much time putting together. Let me know if this is something that would interest you as a reader - a story with less angst, a fair amount of mush and another mystery.

3 Jan 07 - This Chapter with the memory is proving very hard to write...

12 Jan 07 - I know, we're all anxious! Since I never thought of having Harry give Hermione the phial before (my earliest thoughts were Harry was going to look at it by himself, then Hermione was going to be with him but it got too confusing having two Hermione's in the scene), I've been searching for ways us to see Ron's memory. I finally figured out a better way to tell it. I'm close to being happy...

14 Jan 07 - There - the Memory, if I held on to it longer I don't think I would have posted it! Do enjoy.

19 Jan 07 - Finally, one reviewer asked a question/wanted confirmation about when Hermione got her magic back! There were a lot of questions about why she did not want him to know and I hope it's the last thing I'm going to have to defend about Hermione's actions.

27 Jan 07 - As I am winding down with the story and as much as most of the important clues have already been planted in the earlier chapters, I still wonder if certain things should have been revealed sooner. Two such things came up while I was writing Unmasking the Cardinal. After I close the story I do plan to go back and clean it up a bit more (plan doesn't necessarily mean it will be done!) and I may have to find a spot for the voice altering device and St. Mungo's name. When I came up with 'Saint Lamb Homes' it was quite late in the story and it would have been so obvious had I introduced St. Mungo's name then.

3 Feb 07 - Chapter 31 is coming along slower than I had hoped. It has been difficult to get away for a few hours to get into a good writing rhythm and I have been tempted to delete an entire scene because it really sucked, with really cheesy dialogue from Didler! For now, I am hoping I can make that scene better. If I go with the current plan, there will be an epilogue that I hope to upload the same time I do Chapter 31.

11 Feb 07 - I have just uploaded Chapter 31 but there will be a Chapter 32 - splitting the Chapter up was more for my sanity since it has been quite some time since I updated and it got horribly long as the characters kept on talking in the story - I guess that happens. Chapter 32 is already as long as this and more than halfway done. There will still be an epilogue.

18 Feb 07 - It's finally done! I hope you all like the ending. Until the next fic...