A/N: Sorry guys, this is the last chapter! I'm really, really happy you all decided to read and review this story, and be sure to look for a sequel in the near future! Cause, well, if there weren't a sequel to this story... well, you'll find out. Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing everyone!
"Hermione, what are talking about?" Harry asked, bewildered that she would say such a thing like that.
Hermione sighed. "I'm so sick of seeing everyone getting hurt and dying. I mean, yes, I do want Voldemort dead, but... after seeing Ginny and Samantha injured, I'm just sick of seeing people get hurt."
"But, he's Voldemort. He deserves to die," Draco said pointedly.
"I know," she replied.
"Sorry, Hermione, but this has to be done..." Harry said quietly.
"I guess I understand... but can I leave the room first? Please?" Hermione asked hopefully.
Draco nodded. "Of course you can."
Hermione smiled at the two boys as she left the room. "Thank you so much, you guys. I'll be waiting outside for you."
Once Hermione was out of the room, Harry and Draco focused their attention on Voldemort. All Voldemort did, however, was stare at them. He knew he was defenseless. Draco could sense it.
"Would you like to do the honors, Harry?" Draco said, smirking at him.
"Yes, actually, I would," Harry replied.
Voldemort suddenly started laughing. "You really think I can be defeated that easily? Well, boys, I regret to inform you, you are greatly mistaken."
Harry and Draco both stared in shock as Voldemort rose from his spot on the ground.
"W-what?" Harry stuttered as Voldemort stood up, pointing his wand at him.
"How did you do that?" Draco asked as he stared at Voldemort.
"Harry, Draco, you two do realize I'm the most powerful wizard of all time, do you not? A simple spell like the one you just used could never defeat me," Voldemort replied.
Draco glared at him. "I'll just have to use more powerful magic if that's what it takes!"
Draco began to raise his wand, but Harry stopped him. "No. This is my fight. You go and keep Hermione safe."
"You can't defeat Voldemort alone, you know," Draco replied.
"Well, I'm going to try. Your job right now is to keep Hermione safe," Harry said, turning away from Draco and raising his wand, ready to fight to the death with Voldemort.
"Are you sure?" Draco asked as Harry began walking towards Voldemort.
"Yes. Now, go outside and stay with Hermione," Harry commanded as Draco went to the door, opened it, and walked out.
Well, it won't be my fault if he gets himself killed... he didn't want my help, anyways. Draco thought as he walked down the rickety staircase once again. But, deep down, he knew he should've stayed and helped Harry.
Hermione was standing outside on the side of the road, covering her head with her robes. It had begun to rain outside, and the temperature had dropped rapidly. Draco dreaded to think it might be foreshadowing the victory of Voldemort.
"Draco? Where's Harry?" Hermione asked as he stood next to her.
"Well, you see, it seems as though Voldemort wasn't exactly defeated quite yet..." Draco replied.
"WHAT? YOU DIDN'T STAY WITH HARRY?" Hermione shouted, staring at him in disbelief.
Draco sighed. He should've expected this. "He didn't want me to stay. There was really nothing I could do about it."
Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a huge crash coming from where Harry and Voldemort were fighting. Both turned their heads towards the building, only to see pieces of the fading paint fall off from the crash.
"Oh my... I hope he isn't hurt..." Hermione said, looking up at the window with a worried look in her eyes.
"He'll be fine..." Draco replied reassuringly, wrapping his arms around Hermione. He wasn't too sure, however; Voldemort was very powerful, and Harry was but a mere seventeen-year-old.
Hermione sighed. "I hope you're right..."
Bright flashes of light could now be seen from the window, with the occassional scream of pain from Harry. Hermione winced every time this happened, and buried her head in Draco's cloak, which was now covering both of them from the rain.
Suddenly, there was silence. Not a sound from the building, [i]nothing[/i]. The only thing they'd heard before that were two screams, one from Harry, and one from Voldemort. Now all they had to do was find out who had won the final battle.
"You don't think Harry's hurt, do you?" Hermione asked, shivering. They'd been standing there for almost an hour, listening to the battle and watching the window very closely.
Draco kissed Hermione on the top of the head. "He'll be fine... I'm sure he won."
Hermione smiled weakly at him. "I just hope you're right."
* * *
They waited for a few minutes, staring at the entrance door to the building. Draco could tell Hermione was getting anxious; she kept grabbing his hand and squeezing it very hard.
"Draco, look!" Hermione gasped, pointing at the doorway.
And, sure enough, Harry was standing there, a proud grin on his face, dirt in his hair, glasses broken, and his clothes ripped in several places. Hermione heaved a sigh of relief and ran towards Harry.
"I'm so glad you're alright! Oh, Harry, we were so worried about you..." Hermione said as she embraced her friend in a hug.
"And I'm so glad Voldemort's gone. And that you two are going to be just fine," Harry said, grinning as Draco approached them.
"I think we should get back to Hogwarts now. We can celebrate there," Draco said.
Harry nodded. "Right. Well, now that we have three people, my Firebolt might be a bit crowded, but... I'm sure you won't mind sitting very close to Draco, will you, Hermione?"
Hermione grinned and grabbed Draco's hand. "Of course not."
"But before we go... I have to ask you something, Draco. In private," Harry said, motioning for Draco to follow him away from Hermione.
Once they were out of earshot of Hermione, Harry turned away from Draco. "Draco, do you really, really love Hermione? Or are you just kidding around with us?"
"I really do love her," Draco replied.
Harry turned around to face him. Upon seeing the serious nature of Draco's eyes, he smiled. "Good. You know what you have to do then?"
"Yeah. And I know just when to do it," Draco replied, grinning.
"Good. Well, let's get back now, shall we? We have some good news to tell everyone back at Hogwarts," Harry said, grinning, as he and Draco walked back to Hermione and the Firebolt.
"What did you two have to talk about that didn't include me?" Hermione asked the second the two boys stopped in front of her.
"You'll find out soon enough. Let's just get back to Hogwarts," Draco replied as he and Harry got onto the Firebolt, Hermione following them.
"But I want to know now!" Hermione said impatiently as Harry draped the Invisibility Cloak around them.
"You can wait, can't you?" Draco asked as Harry kicked off from the ground.
Hermione sighed. "I suppose."
"That's good," Draco said.
* * *
It didn't take as long as they'd expected to fly back to Hogwarts; probably because they were all excited about the good news they had to tell the school. And once the Firebolt landed on the ground, Draco started walking quickly to the Slytherin common room.
"Draco, where are you going?" Hermione asked.
"Don't worry, I'll be back soon..." Draco said with a mischievous grin on his face.
* * *
"Attention, everyone! We have a very special announcment to make!" Dumbledore had gathered all students and professors to the Great Hall for an "emergency meeting" concerning Voldemort. Everyone was predicting that something terrible had happened, but little did they know that they were way off track on that one.
Dumbledore looked around at all of the terrified faces, smiling at each and every one of them. "Now, there's no reason to be worried. This is actually some very good news for you all."
Now everyone looked interested. "So, with that being said... Harry, Draco, Hermione, would the three of you come up here please?"
Harry and Hermione rose from the Gryffindor table and walked to the front, while Draco rose from the Slytherin table and did the same. Everyone stared at them as they passed, wondering what this had to do with the three students now standing in front of their classmates.
"Harry, would you like to do the honors?" Dumbledore asked, smiling down upon Harry.
Harry nodded. "So, you all know how Voldemort attacked Ginny Weasley and kidnapped Hermione, right? Well, Draco and I made a plan to go after Voldemort to rescue Hermione and murder Voldemort once and for all. Well, we found out Voldemort was holding Hermione hostage at Godric's Hollow, so the two of us went there to rescue Hermione. Just when we thought we were finished with him, he rose again, and I had to fight him in a battle to the death. And, guess who won?"
"I did," Harry finished as the Great Hall erupted into tremendous applause.
"That deserves one huge party!" Draco heard Samantha shout from the Slytherin table. Everyone in the Great Hall seemed to think this was an excellent idea, and soon everyone was just having a good time with their friends, and even people from other houses whom they'd never spoken to before.
"Hermione, Draco, I believe the two of you did an excellent job," Dumbledore said.
They both looked at him, confused. "What? Harry was the one who defeated Voldemort, not us," Draco said.
Dumbledore smiled at them. "Ah, but you see, without the two of you dating, none of this could have ever happened." He motioned to the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws all talking to someone from the Slytherin house.
"Yeah, we have you two to thank for this little house unity we've got going on here," Harry replied.
"Well, I don't want to keep the three of you from having a good time, so go out there and celebrate!" Dumbledore said, gently pushing them into the crowd of students.
***
Months later, and their final year at Hogwarts was just about ending. No longer were the houses at war with each other; everyone was friends with everyone, except for the few people, such as Pansy Parkinson, who still believed one house was better than the other.
"I'm glad those N.E.W.Ts are over, I tell you! Those things were bloody hard..." Ron said as he, Draco, Harry, Hermione, Samantha, Brianna, Sapphire, Chairee, and Rachel sat on the grass next to the lake.
"I think I did pretty well," Hermione said.
"Never would've guessed!" Ron replied sarcastically.
"I'm just glad this year is over already," Sapphire said, her head resting on Harry's chest.
"Yeah, it was... interesting, to say the least," Harry agreed.
"Hey, Draco, what are you going to do about your dad?" Ron asked suddenly, directing his attention to Draco.
Draco shrugged. His dad was now in Azkaban, and his mom had gone insane when he was put there, so she was now in St. Mungo's. But, he did know what he was going to do now. He just didn't want to do it in front of a whole group of people.
He looked over at Harry, almost asking him if now was the right time. Harry nodded in response.
"Uh, actually, I need to talk to Hermione alone right now, if that's okay with all of you," Draco said, standing up and holding out his hand for Hermione.
"Yeah, sure, that's fine," Ron said, watching Draco and Hermione as they Draco led her far away from their friends.
* * *
"Draco, what do you need to talk to me about?" Hermione asked. Draco had led her all the way up to the Astronomy Tower, which was usually deserted around this time of the day.
Before saying a word, Draco gently grabbed Hermione and kissed her passionately on the lips. She looked surprised, but didn't hesitate; after all, she was with the only boy who'd ever made her happy.
"Wow. What was that for?" Hermione asked, grinning, as the two separated.
Draco touched a small box in his pocket with his finger and got down on one knee in front of Hermione.
"Alright, Hermione, you know how much I love you, right? Well, I've realized something; you're the only girl I've ever wanted to be with. Sure, I've dated a lot of girls, but you're the only one who ever made me happy and feel good about myself. And I'm pretty sure you feel the same way, so... I have to ask you one of the most important questions I'll ever be asking you; Hermione Granger, once the two of us turn eighteen, will you marry me?" Draco asked, holding out the beautiful diamond engagement ring he'd bought for her, Hermione staring at it with amazement and excitement.
THE END