A/N: Here it is guys, the final chapter! Longer author's note at the end!

Epilogue

"Oh, Lizzy, it was not that bad, don't be so overdramatic."

"You bowed to him, mum."

"It was a polite curtsy, it shows class. Honestly, you exaggerate more than anyone else on the planet. I will never understand where you get that."

"Honestly," dad said, and winked at me.

"Just please, try to act normal this time," I continued begging, having to yell over the sound of my owl. But my mother either didn't hear or chose to ignore me, slowing down to loudly scold Kitty for coughing.

"They've met our parents before," Jane reminded me quietly. We stopped in front of the wall between platforms 9 and 10, slightly ahead of the others. "What are you so worried about?"

I stared at the wall in front of us in silence, taking in that it would be the last time I would ever go through it. The beginning of my last year at Hogwarts. I was almost reluctant.

Then I remembered that Will was waiting for me on the other side.

"Come on, already!" I yelled back at Lydia and Kitty, who were pushing their carts along at a snail's pace.

"Relax, we're earlier than usual," Jane soothed.

"Well, some of us need to get to the prefect compartment." Mary brought her hand up to where her badge would normally be, as though feeling for a missing limb.

"Lizzy, didn't you brush your hair?" My mother fussed, attempting to flatten it with her fingers. "What will William say?"

"Yeah, Lizzy, what will William say?" Lydia and Kitty giggled, finally ambling up.

"He'll dump you on the spot, certainly," dad nodded sagely.

"Can we just go?" I ducked away from mom, and, without waiting for a response, steadied my cart and pushed through to the platform.

I popped out quickly on the other side, and looked around for my tall, wavy haired dork to no avail. The platform was crowded, as usual; there was no seeing anyone who wasn't directly in front of you.

"I'm off to change," Mary declared the second she stepped through.

"Wait, I'll conjure a red carpet!" Lydia cackled.

"Don't you need a promenade, Mary?" Kitty joined.

"Leave your sister alone," mom admonished as Mary walked off, nose in the air. "She's sure to be the only one of you to be a prefect now." She eyeballed Kitty and Lydia sternly.

We had only walked about 10 steps, which took an entire minute on that platform, when a familiar head of red hair became visible over the crowd.

"Charlie!" Jane squealed.

"Jane!" The disembodied voice called back, and suddenly he was there, squeezing between a group of scared looking first years. He was wearing his Ministry robes, which I knew exactly matched Will's. I looked in vain behind him.

Jane and Bingley hugged, both of them too proper to do anything more in front of our parents . They wouldn't have had time, anyway, because mom couldn't contain herself for long.

"Charlie, charming to see you again!" She gushed, coming forward and going in for a hug, which Bingley accepted with cheerful stoicism. I was grateful it wasn't a "curtsy", but she was less formal with Jane's boyfriend than with mine. It could have just been Bingley's general openness that inspired this familiarity, but it was probably more to do with the Darcys being what my mother called "old money". She called it this about two hours after I informed her that her pathetically single daughter no longer warranted that adjective. She was ecstatic enough at that, but after getting an owl back from Charlotte's mother, my mom's favorite gossip partner, telling her who the Darcys were in the Ministry, she was beside herself.

I shuddered, trying to shake off the memory.

"Hello, Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Bennet," Bingley was saying, clearing his throat nervously at my father, who gave a stern nod back. Bingley gulped.

I resisted the urge to laugh. I knew dad liked Bingley, but he liked intimidating him even more.

"Where's Caroline?" Jane asked. Why she couldn't just accept our good fortune that she wasn't there at the moment, I don't know.

"She was just here," Bingley answered, looking around behind him. "Where could she - ah, there you are!"

Well, speak of the devil, you know.

"Caroline!" My mom was almost as enthusiastic in greeting her as her brother. She was already regarded as part of her future in-laws.

"Hello there, Bennets," Caroline said with her usual enthusiasm, barely managing a grimace for my parents. She looked almost nauseas when she turned to me.

"I like your shirt, Lizzy," she said, which I doubted. "It almost looks like it's not a muggle shirt."

Lydia bristled next to me. "I like your weave, Caroline, it almost looks real," she hissed.

Caroline glared and skulked away. I smirked at Lydia, who smiled proudly. We have our rare bonding moments.

We got Jane and Bingley's attention (they were whispering to each other a little off to the side) and began moving on again. I craned my neck to look around, cursing my lack of height.

"Look, it's Carter!" Kitty announced suddenly.

"Oh! We're gonna go say hi!" Lydia said, already beginning to run off, but dad stopped her with "You have two minutes!"

They groaned in annoyance. I didn't know if they would listen, but I gave dad a thumbs-up.

"We're going to see Charlie's family," Jane said after they left. "We'll be back!" And she and Bingley walked off holding hands.

Then it was just me, mom and dad. We were still pushing our way slowly through the crowd towards the train, but it was slow going, and still no sign of Will. What was the use of getting there on time if I wasn't going to be able to find him?

We had left early for exactly that purpose, too (to "have more time with your men," in my mother's words). I was going to have to live off of letters for the next two months until the first Hogsmeade trip, and now all I was going to have to get me by until then would be a couple of minutes before the Hogwarts Express took me away. And even that was only if I could find the damn man.

"Lizzy!" Another disembodied voice in the crowd.

"Charlotte? Where are you?"

"Here!" A broomstick suddenly popped up in the general vicinity of the voice, with Charlotte peaking her head through a small gap in the group of people.

Once she gravitated close enough, I reached over and grabbed the broom to pull her through.

She was already in her robes, with a shiny new addition gleaming on her chest.

"Madam Head Girl," I said, bowing. She swatted my arm with her broom before hefting it back over her shoulders.

"I over-packed, it wouldn't fit in the trunk," she explained before I even asked.

"I hope you're going to win this year, Charlotte," my dad said, talking to her but looking at me and winking. "Ms. Lizzy the Champion was unbearable this summer."

"I'll kick her ass, Mr. Bennet," she vowed.

"Are you still planning to go into the Ministry, Charlotte dear?" My mom asked, again talking to her but looking at me. I turned so she couldn't see me roll my eyes. I had accepted that Charlotte was only playing Quidditch for fun and would not be trying out with me for professional teams this summer. I wish my mother would accept the reverse for me already.

"Actually," Charlotte said, digging something out of her robe pocket. "I had something else in mind."

She smiled when she handed me the newspaper clipping, and I took it. It was a small clipping, with a picture of an older looking woman in dark green robes, waving and smiling calmly at the camera. The headline read "Spinnet to step down as assistant manager of Holyhead Harpies by end of the season".

"I think managerial positions might be my strong suit. Maybe I can have it all." Her eyes were questioning when she looked at me, but not for long – I grinned.

"That's a great idea!" I told her, dimly hearing my mother say "Well, it's slightly more practical than Lizzy."

"Anyway, I better get to the prefects compartment. But I think I saw someone and his little sister over that way," she gestured behind her, winking at me.

We moved on in the direction she indicated, Lydia and Kitty rejoining us only three minutes late. Small miracles.

"What a shame it will be if we can't find him," my mother lamented. "How will Lizzy ever hang on to him if she never sees him?"

"I'm sure he would appreciate your high estimation of his constancy," dad muttered.

I was beginning to get a little concerned – not about "hanging on to him", but seeing him. We were pretty close to the train now.

"Look on the bright side, Lizzy," Lydia said. "I think him not seeing you actually increases your chances of staying together." She mussed my curls even more, she and Kitty giggling as I batted their hands away.

Distracted such by my darling baby sisters, I didn't notice when the person I had been looking for finally approached until I heard his sister giggle.

"Will!" I shouted, dropping Lydia's arm from where I had it trapped under mine. His expression was amused, a twin smirk on Georgiana's face, but it quickly transformed into a full-on grin.

"Lizzy," he said it softly, and I had long since learned to decipher the happiness in his face and tone.

I ran the remaining five steps towards him and, ignoring our audience, pulled him down for a good, long hello kiss.

"Oh my god, it's been two whole days," Lydia mocked.

"I wish I had a boyfriend," I heard Kitty sigh.

"William!" My mother squealed, and that was pretty much my cue to pull away. I gave Will an apologetic smile, and he squared his shoulders and put on his polite face, which was much less strained than it used to be.

"Hello, Mrs. Bennet. Mr. Bennet. Lydia, Kitty." He went down the line, greeting all of them, and I squeezed his arm, the highest on him could comfortably reach. "I don't believe you've met my sister, Georgiana."

Georgy waved shyly.

"Wonderful to meet you, Georgiana," my mother bowed her upper slightly forward, and I groaned quietly. My father watched like it was a sideshow. "William, we were so afraid we wouldn't see you today!"

"I was beginning to fear that myself."

"As it is we only have 10 minutes!" She continued, looking distressed. "You simply must come over for dinner during the winter break to make up for it!"

Will nodded, managing a tight smile.

Thankfully, my father managed to steer her and my sisters slightly away, saying they had better get our stuff on the train, before she could say much else. I breathed a sigh of relief, fully turning to Will and Georgy.

"That wasn't so bad!" I said as I finally hugged Georgy hello. It was then that I noticed she only had one long case at her feet.

"Did you already put your trunk on the train?" I asked, and she nodded, smiling mischievously up at her brother.

"What's that?" I asked about the case, looking back and forth between them curiously. "It looks like a broom case."

"Tell her," Will nudged his sister, and Georgy jumped up and down slightly in excitement.

"It is! It's mine!"

"Does this mean…?"

"Yes! I'm trying out for the Quidditch team this year!"

"Georgy, that's so exciting!" I hugged her again. "Looks like your sister is gonna be my competition this year, Will."

He only smiled at us. I read the happiness in his eyes; he had told me before he always thought I would get along well with Georgy, that I would be good for her. And she had come out of her shell a little bit. Enough to try out for Quidditch anyway, though I suspected Will finally encouraging her to do so had a lot to do with it, as well.

"I'm going to get on the train," Georgy said, hugging Will and winking at me, then disappeared.

"I don't think she understands that she doesn't need ploys to leave us alone together anymore," I said as I straightened Will's tie unnecessarily, not too subtly admiring his shoulders in those fancy robes. He even had an official Ministry name tag and everything.

"I'm glad they let you come in late today."

"I would have broken out on the back of a dragon if necessary," Will said, mock seriously. "I could never miss seeing you off."

"Plus, who would have taken Georgy?"

"That, as well."

I couldn't stop touching him, and he seemed to feel the same way. We weren't all over each other or sickeningly affectionate (like a certain twin sister of mine and her boyfriend, who were probably off somewhere calling each other disgusting pet names), but we always had a point of contact, as though trying to physically assure ourselves of the other's presence. I was holding both of his forearms. One of his hands was gently covering the one on his right arm, the other playing with the ends of my hair.

Okay… so a little sickeningly affectionate. Give me a break, I wasn't gonna see the guy for months!

"Is your aunt being civil?" I asked.

Will chuckled. "Yes. She has even condescended to make eye contact when we pass each other in the halls."

True to his declaration, Will had ceased contact with his aunt Catherine after that Howler she sent him. It went on for about a month, but then Will took a position in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, instead of the International Confederation of Wizards, and she was infuriated enough to yell at him again. Will was going to ignore her, but, as much as I didn't like the woman, I knew Will valued family very highly and I convinced him to try to reconcile. It was slow going, but progress was being made.

"Have I mentioned how proud I am of you?" I fiddled with his name tag, brushing my fingers against his chest as I did so. Accidentally, of course. "Taking an entry level job in the department you want when you could have been higher up in your dad's?"

"You have. Several times, in fact."

And yet, his chest puffed out every time I said it, making me smile in amusement. He could be such a man sometimes.

Too soon, the train's whistle gave us the one minute warning.

"C'mon, Lizzy, you'd better get on the train!" Dad called, from where he and mom were just seeing Lydia and Kitty on. Jane was holding Charlie's hand out of the window.

"Write me as soon as you get the chance," Will said, hand briefly cupping my cheek in his palm. His eyes were wide and earnest and I could see everything he felt inside of them. It took my breath away.

"And I'll expect you in Hogsmeade every time we go," I reminded him, trying to keep my voice even.

"Should be less than two months." I could tell he was putting effort into leveling his voice as well.

He bent his head down, and I stood on my tiptoes to reach, about to kiss him when –

"Lizzy!" Mom yelled shrilly. "You're going to miss the train!"

I sighed, and Will and I walked quickly over, the platform emptying out around us. I gave my parents each a quick hug, and my mom practically pushed me onto the train.

I stood there, and Jane stood next to me. Will was standing by Bingley now, next to our parents.

He was smiling, but sadly. I can't say I was completely aware of my own facial expression, but imagine I was doing the same. The summer, our first summer together, had gone by far too quickly. After being together every single week for months, going cold turkey was going to be difficult.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder," Jane said softly behind me, waving at Bingley. I just stared at Will, and I could feel the rumbling of the train begin under my feet. It sounded like the rushing of my own blood in my ears, and suddenly it was like I had tunnel vision.

Without giving any thought to it, I hopped off the train, amidst the sound of the train whistling and rumbling and the surprised shouts of my family, and raced up to Will. I reached up quickly and grabbed his face to pull his startled lips down to mine. It was quick, but it felt like I imprinted the memory to take with me.

"Lizzy!" This time it was Jane yelling, and I looked back at the train, which was slowly starting to move.

I grinned at Will and ran, laughing. Jane stuck her hands out to pull me in just as the doors were sliding shut and the train was accelerating. I stuck my head out the window next to Georgy as soon as I was on, waving. My parents waved back. My mother was crying, as she usually did on September 1st, my father's arm around her.

Will was smiling in fond amusement, still a little shell-shocked, and he lifted his hand. That quick kiss did the trick. My heart felt lighter than it had all day, when I expected it to feel it's heaviest. I thought I would feel like the train was taking me away from Will. I found that I felt much differently. As the train picked up speed and began racing away in earnest, it was only carrying me closer to my future. And even though it looked like I was leaving Will behind, I knew we were really going in the same direction.

I kept waving long after I could no longer distinguish him from anyone else on the platform, stopping only when we rounded a corner and it was completely out of sight.

A/N: It's finally done! I've spent over a year planning and writing this story and it feels so good to call it complete! I want to thank all of you amazing people who read this story and especially those of you who reviewed! I feel like I've learned a lot during this year about my writing style and things I need to work on improving.

Once again, thank you all for making this journey with me!