AN- Well, hello good people of the internet! Long time, no see! I've missed you all very much! I am now very glad to say that this is the FINAL chapter of this story. Admittedly, the ending goes by very quickly, but that's because I wanted to start writing another story and felt guilty about not finishing this one, so I sort of rushed it. Either way, I hope you enjoy. :)

- MH

Hermione POV

There was screaming when I first arrived. A woman's screaming, and instinctively I knew it must have been Narcissa, Draco's mother. My heart dropped. I was too late to save him.

Hesitantly, I peeked my head out of the fireplace I had landed in. I found myself in a dark, sleek room, with a large desk and many bookshelves, but there did not appear to be anyone else. On the desk lay a frame with a picture in it. I stepped a bit closer, only to see the face of a boy that I recognized. I touched the frame gently before making my way towards the open door, the voice of the sobbing woman growing louder.

It was then that I heard another voice, another woman.

"My sincerest apologies, Cissa, but something had to be done, hadn't it? You'd better get yourself together before the Dark Lord returns." The familiar pop! of an apparition sounded, and I assumed that Bellatrix Lestrange had left.

I peeked my head around the corner of the door to the room, my eyes filling with tears, but being held back by the fear of being caught. No one was to be seen in the large hall, and so I stepped out and began walking in the direction of the voices I had heard.

Narcissa Malfoy continued to sob, her cries slightly muffled as, I suppose, she buried her head into the body of her child.

I finally arrived at the door, but couldn't bring myself to look inside.

"Well, hello, darling!" came a voice behind me. I closed my eyes, knowing that this would be my end, praying that it would come quickly.

Draco POV

The room had been empty. Silent, except for my mother's weeping. Cold.

I knelt next to my father's body, staring at him, feeling completely empty. Sweeping the hair out of his face, I looked into his still-open eyes. The cool gray that I had inherited. I couldn't close them. To close them was to say goodbye forever.

Several more moments passed, staring at my father.

And then, an interruption to our silence. The voice of my aunt, the traitor, again.

"Well, hello, darling!"

I looked up, confused. Standing, I moved to get a view of who she was addressing out in the hallway.

What I saw nearly brought me to my knees again, my heart being torn out of my chest.

Bellatrix held her wand in a high arc above her prey, a sort of silvery cord streaming out of the tip of it and wrapping around the non-struggling Hermione Granger. I lunged for Bellatrix, but was knocked down with a shot of pain unlike anything I had ever felt before. Soon, the mysterious cords were winding themselves around me, also.

"Now look at this! I have both of the little lovebirds together! How sweet! I love a double execution!" screamed my aunt.

Hermione finally raised her eyes and looked at me, confused. "You're alive?" she asked.

"Not for long," Bellatrix responded.

The cords started to tug and burn, and I felt myself being constricted by a sort of fire. Hermione didn't seem to feel this; she stared at me in horror, pleading at my aunt to make it stop.

"Very well, then, dear!" replied my aunt, and the pain ceased. "Your turn!"

The cords began to burn Hermione. I couldn't take it. I just wanted for it to be over, for Hermione to be okay.

I shut my eyes, imagining her as she had been the night before, curled up asleep on the couch, breathing steadily, her wild curls framing her peaceful face. I continued in this way for several moments, blocking out the real world, when suddenly I felt the cords release me. For a moment, I thought that I must have died; the relief was so sudden. Then I heard shouting.

Spells were being thrown from every direction. Opening my eyes, I saw Potter, Weasley, the other Weasley girl, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, and several other members of the Order who I hadn't bothered to learn the names of. They quickly advanced on Bellatrix, and not two minutes after their arrival, she had apparated away.

I looked with amazement around me, and my eyes caught hers.

"You're alive?" she asked with a weak voice.

"I suppose we both are," I responded.

I reached up to touch her face gently, and then moved to caress the areas of her skin that had been burnt by the cords. "I'm so sorry," I whispered.

"I love you," she replied.

Hermione POV

"I hate to erm…break this hideous love fest up, but I don't believe staying here is a good idea," I heard Harry say.

I jumped to my feet. "You're right. We need to get out of here."

I began to walk toward my friends, before Narcissa's quiet weeping caught my attention. I turned toward the doorway, remembering that someone was dead. My eyebrows stitched together in confusion when I noted that the body was that of Lucius Malfoy - Draco's father and dedicated Death Eater. I turned to look at Draco questioningly.

"I'll have to explain later," he told me, sadly. "Let's just get him and get out of here."

We all apparated back to Hogsmeade, where we rushed to get ourselves under the protection of the castle grounds. Narcissa had come with us, and we prepared Lucius for a burial on the edge of the grounds near the forest, after Draco explained how it was that his father had died. We decided it was best to leave the grave unmarked, for fear that someone might defile it.

Then, with the man I loved on one side, and all of my friends on my other, I returned to the castle, to await the coming war that felt as though it was almost over. Draco and I broke apart from the group in the entrance hall, watching as Harry and Ginny held onto each other on their way up the stairs, and Luna and Neville held on with their pinky fingers.

We returned to the place we had spent so much time in. With the enchanted sky above us, he played me the first song I had ever heard him play, only this time, I didn't have to eavesdrop to listen.