Authors' note: This is the final chapter-epilogue. We hope that you have enjoyed it. This is the final chapter in the Hogwarts/Cayman Undercover series. Thank you for reading it!
"Ladies and gentlemen," the vicar said proudly. "May I present to you for the very first time---Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Weasley!"
Molly Weasley let out a sob that she tried to muffle with her handkerchief. She'd been a complete waterworks the entire ceremony. Arthur put an arm around her as they watched their youngest son kiss his new wife.
"Shhhh..." he whispered. "Look how happy Ron is."
Molly nodded. "I-I'm s-so h-happy for them!"
Luna beamed at Ron. "Oh, Ronald!"
"Mrs. Weasley," he said, pulling her close for another kiss.
"I love the sound of that," Luna said happily.
Their engagement had lasted a little over three months. Neither of them had wanted to wait long. They were eager to begin their new life together. Their friends pitched in to help and the result was Luna and Ron's dream wedding.
The happy couple began their walk back up the aisle, followed by their attendants.
"Luna," Hermione hugged her friend once they had all reached the end of the aisle. "I'm so, so happy for you!"
Luna smiled. "Thank you, Hermione!"
Harry clapped Ron on the shoulder. "You finally made an honest woman of her. Congratulations mate."
Ron grinned. "Thanks. You're next."
Harry laughed. "And I can't wait." he and Hermione were planning to be married that following April.
"Can't wait for what?" Hermione asked joining them.
"To be in their place," Harry put his arm around her. "Married... for real."
"James and Janie send their regards," Hermione said to Ron.
"Who?" Ron asked, his eyes darting over to the buffet table.
"Those were our names on our assignment," Hermione told him.
"Oh yeah," Ron clearly wasn't paying much attention. "I hope we eat soon."
"We have to go and receive the guests," Luna said touching Ron's arm.
"But I thought we'd eat first," Ron protested.
Luna giggled. "I'm sure sneaking a bite never hurt anyone."
Ron gave her a passionate kiss. "Loony, you are the perfect woman for me."
Luna put her arms around him. "I'm so happy Ronald..."
"Me too," Ron said leading her over to the buffet table.
"He's never going to change," Hermione said shaking her head.
Harry grinned at her. "You look gorgeous today."
Hermione grinned back at him. "I'm lucky Luna didn't put us all in something hideous."
Harry toyed with one of the straps of Hermione's light blue dress. "It's impossible for you to look hideous," he said softly.
"Flatterer," Hermione said giving him a kiss. They were living together at Grimmauld Place with Sirius for the moment, but after their wedding, they were planning on finding something a little smaller for just the two of them.
Harry hugged her to him. Being with her every day made him happier than he had ever been.
"We do have this whole weekend off," Hermione said in his ear.
"I can't wait to get you alone later," Harry's hands slid around her waist.
"What will we do?" Hermione asked impishly.
Harry leaned in and whispered something in her ear.
A wide smile broke across Hermione's face. "We haven't done THAT in quite some time. ..."
Harry grinned at her. "I love you Hermione Jane."
"I love you too," Hermione said giving him another kiss.
"Break it up you two," Lavender teased. "You aren't the newlyweds yet."
"Practise," Hermione said looking at her best friend. "Where's Charlie?"
"He's talking to his mum," Lavender answered.
"You came up for air long enough for him to do that?" Harry teased.
"Very funny," Lavender shook her head.
"You guys are so great together," Hermione said.
"I think so too," Lavender said happily. She pulled her best friend aside. "We're um... we're thinking about taking the next step."
"Next step as in..." Hermione asked.
"Sleeping together," Lavender confided in a whisper.
"Well?" Hermione asked.
"We're taking things slowly," Lavender said. "And when it happens, it happens."
Hermione smiled. "Have you said those three little words yet?"
"Not yet," Lavender said quietly. "But um... I think he feels that way. I know I do."
"I think he does," Hermione said thoughtfully. "I saw him looking at you during the ceremony, Lavender."
"You did?" Lavender brightened.
Hermione nodded. "I'm so happy for you and Charlie."
"And I'm happy for you and Harry," Lavender hugged her. "I'm so excited for your wedding."
"Me too," Hermione said looking over at her fiancé who was talking with Dean and Neville.
"And who knows," Lavender looked over at her boyfriend. "Maybe I'll be after you. But I bet Neville and Cho will tie the knot before Charlie and I do. Can you believe those two are together?"
Hermione nodded. "They're really happy."
"It just seems a little strange- Cho and Neville never even spoke at school." Lavender said. "And now they're a couple. Then you and Harry Potter... me with Charlie... we all just seem to have gravitated towards others that we might not have thought we'd wind up with."
"That's true," Hermione said thoughtfully. "But that's love for you. Sometimes, it doesn't make sense."
Lavender grinned. "It doesn't have to, does it?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, it doesn't."
Ginny walked around feeling a little out of place in the sea of couples. She had enjoyed the wedding and had even cried when her brother and new sister-in-law had exchanged their vows. She hoped that someday she'd find someone who would love her like that.
It was hard watching Neville with Cho, but she knew in her heart that things had worked out exactly as they were meant to. She and Neville were still friends, which was the important thing.
Ginny wandered over to the buffet table and got herself something to drink. She stood off to the side and watched everyone walk by.
She felt someone watching her and she looked to her left and caught Dean Thomas' eye.
She had not seen him since he had left Hogwarts and she ambled over. "Hi, Dean."
Dean smiled at her. "Ginny. How've you been?"
"Not too bad," Ginny replied. "It's nice to see you again."
"Nice to see you, too," Dean said grabbing a plate.
Ginny followed behind him. "What have you been up to these past few years?"
"I just finished University this past June," Dean told her. "I start a new job at the Ministry in the fall. Department of Magical Games and Sports. How about you?"
"I'm um... working in a dress shoppe in Diagon Alley," Ginny said.
Dean smiled at her. "That sounds nice. Do you like it?"
"It's okay I guess," Ginny shrugged. "You remember Lavender Brown, right?"
Dean nodded. "Yes, what about her?"
"She's invited me to the set to visit a few times, and her agent told me I might photograph well," Ginny replied. "So they're going to take some test shots of me in a few weeks."
Dean grinned at her. "Ginny, that's fantastic! I always said you should be a model."
Ginny smiled back at him. She felt bad for the way she had treated him while they were together. "I'm glad you came today," she sat down across from him at the table.
"Me too," Dean said. "I'll let you in on a secret. I came here with an ulterior motive."
"You did?" Ginny asked.
"There was someone here I really wanted to see," Dean confided in her.
"Ron?" Ginny guessed.
Dean laughed. "Well, yes, but he's not who I was referring to."
"Well you didn't know Luna in school," Ginny mused. "And you weren't friends with Hermione... so you came to see Neville, didn't you?"
Dean shook his head. "Okay, I'll tell you. There was this girl that I really fancied back at Hogwarts..."
"Lavender?" Ginny shook her head.
Dean shook his head again. "You know how they say there's one person that you can't get over? She was that for me. Is that for me. Which is one of the reasons I'm here."
Ginny stared at him. "You came to see me?" she whispered.
"Give the pretty lady a gold star," Dean said smiling at her.
"But I was horrible to you," Ginny replied softly.
"And all I was trying to do was be polite," Dean said. "Opening doors for you..."
"I know," Ginny replied. "You were really a great boyfriend."
Dean smiled at her. "I'm glad you think that now."
"I can't believe you came to see me," she replied.
"Are you seeing anyone now?" Dean asked. "Ron didn't mention that you were..."
Ginny shook her head. "I made some mistakes and I needed some time by myself to figure out what I wanted."
"I can certainly understand that," Dean said softly.
"I like to think I've grown up a bit," she said as he moved around to sit next to her.
"Hopefully we all have," Dean said. "I was wondering if...."
"If?" Ginny asked, her face heating up as he grinned at her.
"If maybe you'd like to go out some time?" Dean asked.
Ginny was surprised. "What?"
"Would you like to go out some time?" Dean asked again.
"But I was so horrible to you," Ginny blurted out.
Dean chuckled. "Well, yes, but we've both changed since then, right?"
Ginny blushed. "Right. I um, I'd love to go out with you Dean."
Dean smiled at her. "I promise not to hold any doors for you or pull your chair out..."
Ginny giggled. "I wouldn't mind that anymore."
"Promise?" Dean asked.
"I promise," Ginny answered.
Dean impulsively leaned forward and gave her a chaste kiss.
"Want to dance?" Ginny asked when he pulled away.
"I thought you'd never ask," Dean said standing up and offering her his hand.
Ginny grinned at him as she linked her fingers in his.
Neville nudged Cho. "Would you look at that?"
Cho looked in the direction he was pointing. "Is she with Dean Thomas?"
Neville nodded. "Dean said he was still interested, but I didn't think he'd make his move this soon."
Cho leaned against him. "I'm surprised at her, to be honest. I don't mean that in a bad way. But Ginny's really grown up since she was with you- and I hope she's happy with him."
"I do too," Neville said putting his arms around her.
"I'm so happy with you," Cho smiled.
Neville poked her side. "Me too."
Cho gave him a kiss. "And we've made such breakthrough on your parents' case."
That was an understatement. Each day he noticed more and more improvement in his parents. They were now saying his name with each visit.
"There's so much left to do," Neville commented.
"And we'll do it," Cho squeezed his hand. "Together."
"I like the sound of that," Neville said. "Come on, let's dance."
Cho grinned. "You won't step on my feet, Longbottom?"
"I don't make any promises," Neville said taking her hand and leading her out to the dance floor.
"Come on Ronald," Luna said. "We can eat some more later. I really want to dance!"
Ron shook his head. "Just a minute, Luna. I want to try the chicken."
"Ronald..." Luna wheedled. "It'll still be there later."
"Have you tried this?" he asked her. "Come on, it's fantastic!"
"I'll have a bite," Luna replied.
"Open up," Ron said holding out his fork.
Luna leaned in for the bite but at the last moment, pulled her husband's full plate in front of her.
"Luna!" Ron protested.
"You will get this back after we dance," Luna told him.
Ron sighed. "Okay. Okay. I guess we know who's going to wear the trousers in our relationship, don't we?"
Luna giggled. "We both have to give a little, that's all."
"Let's dance so we can get back to eating," Ron said. "And I promise to save room for the cake!"
"I know you'll have room for cake," Luna kissed him.
"And we'll burn off anything I eat tonight anyway," Ron said with a grin.
"I can't wait," Luna said, her arms going around him. "This is the happiest day of my life, Ronald."
"Mine too," Ron said. "And have I told you how gorgeous you look today? You take my breath away."
Luna smiled dreamily at him. "And you're so handsome... I never saw a bloke so charming."
"I clean up rather nicely, don't I?" Ron asked.
"More than nice." Luna told him.
"Dancing isn't so bad," Ron said. "Gives me the chance to hold you close...all to myself."
"You'll always have me all to yourself," Luna closed her eyes.
"My wife," Ron whispered.
Luna smiled. "This is what I always dreamed of."
Ron gave her a kiss. "We haven't always had it easy, have we?"
"No," Luna agreed. "But you believed in me when I thought no one would."
"You don't have an evil, spiteful bone in your body," Ron told her. "There's no way you would have done those things of your own volition."
"But some people still believed I did," Luna said. "And then when my father died, your support meant more to me than anything else."
At the mention of her father, Luna started to tear up and Ron hugged her tightly. "He was here with you today. You know that, right?"
"I know," she sniffed.
"I promised him I'd look out for you," Ron said. "And I'm going to keep that promise."
"You're doing a good job so far," Luna held him even tighter.
"My first day as your husband and I'm already getting rave reviews," Ron said hoping to get her to smile.
It didn't' fail. "I love you so, so much." Luna said softly.
"I love you too, sweetheart," Ron said.
"Best day of my life," Luna closed her eyes again and laid her head on his shoulder. "Married to the man I love more than anything on this earth."
A few inches away from the newlyweds, Harry was dancing with Hermione. "They look so happy," Harry said.
Hermione nodded. "Luna's on cloud nine."
"And how is Hermione Jane?" Harry asked.
"She's happy too," Hermione answered. "And excited about her own wedding."
"And the honeymoon?" Harry asked grinning at her.
"She doesn't know about the honeymoon yet," Hermione grinned back. "Because her fiancé is taking care of that and won't tell her."
"Well, her fiancé can assure her that Dolohov, Gradwell and Monique will not be making a cameo appearance during THAT honeymoon," Harry said.
"Good to know," Hermione shook her head.
"I can't wait to make it official," Harry told her.
"Me too," Hermione agreed softly.
"You're stuck with me, Granger," Harry said.
"I could think of a lot worse things, Potter," she answered, giving him a kiss.
"You're the best thing that ever happened to me," Harry said seriously. "I've been thinking about what would have happened if I hadn't taken that assignment all those years ago..."
"I'm glad you did," Hermione snuggled against him. "But I think we'd have eventually met."
"I'd like to think that too," Harry said holding her close. "We were meant to be."
"Yes we are," Hermione smiled at him.
Ron stepped up on the stage and took the microphone from the singer. "I'm sorry to interrupt everyone. Luna and I just wanted to thank all of you for coming today."
"Speech!" Fred called out.
Ron grinned. "I'm not usually known for making those, actually. But, I'm going to give it a try today. Luna, could you come up here, sweetheart?"
Luna smiled and went to stand next to her husband.
"I've never been that great with words," Ron began. "I usually speak without thinking and a lot of the time, that's gotten me into loads of trouble. But, somehow, I managed to say just the right things when it came to you, Luna."
"You certainly did," Luna said dreamily.
"You're my best friend," Ron told her. "And I'm the luckiest bloke in the world today. Thank you for coming into my life when you did and thank you for always being there for me."
Luna's eyes were filled with tears as she leaned towards him and gave him a kiss. "Ronald was also there for me when I needed him the most in my life. He's my best friend and the man I'm so happy to spend the rest of my life with."
"To Ron and Luna!" Dean exclaimed raising his glass.
"Ron and Luna!" Harry echoed.
"Thank you all for being here today to share this with us," Ron said to the guests. "Friends and family. That's what it really is all about. Even you, Fred and George."
"We love you too, ickle Ronniekins," George said with a grin.
Ron laughed. Even his twin brothers' teasing wasn't going to bring him down.
"We hope you all continue to eat, dance, and have fun," Luna said. "But leave it to my Ronald to finish off all the food!"
Ron allowed his bride to lead him back to the table where he could finish off his chicken dinner.
Hermione couldn't help looking around the room at her group of friends.
She smiled as she saw Neville and Cho talking quietly between themselves, as she saw Luna and Ron laughing as they ate. Her smile grew bigger as she saw Charlie lean in and give Lavender a sweet kiss. But she felt happiest when she looked at the raven haired young man sitting next to her.
"Everything okay?" Harry asked.
Hermione nodded. "Just thinking..."
"About?"
"You," Hermione reached for his hand. "And our friends... and how everyone seems to be happy, even Ginny."
Harry gave her hand a squeeze. "It took us all quite awhile to get here."
Hermione nodded. "But we all eventually got where we needed to be."
"This is just the beginning," Harry said. "For all of us."
"Hear," Neville grinned at him. "In a lot of different ways."
"You're not going off to Vancouver, right?" Lavender asked. "And taking my best friend with you? You are going to stay in London?"
"We're staying in London," Harry put an arm around her. "Permanently, I hope."
"Permanently," Hermione agreed.
Lavender beamed. "Because you can't move far away from me, Hermione."
Hermione grinned at her friend. "I'm not going anywhere. This is home."
Lavender leaned against Charlie. "Home," she echoed.
"At the risk of sounding cheesy, it is where the heart is," Charlie said.
Lavender grinned at him, remembering what he had just whispered in her ear a few minutes ago on the dance floor.
"Cheesy, but true," Hermione said.
Harry kissed the side of her head. "I'd like to dance with you again..."
"I'd love to," Hermione said happily.
She followed him out onto the dance floor and he circled his arms around her, pulling her close.
"We could elope," Harry said thoughtfully.
Hermione laughed. "You want my mother to kill you?"
"She'd kill me over that?" Harry asked.
"Mum's determined to give me the wedding of her dreams," Hermione answered.
"Her dreams?" Harry asked. "But what about YOUR dreams?"
"I just want to marry you," Hermione replied. "Anything else is just extra."
"That's all I want too," Harry said. "That and to find us our own place. Grimmauld Place is nice, but I want something of our own."
"Maybe we should look a little sooner," Hermione told him.
"I like that idea," Harry said.
"Tomorrow then, we'll look in the paper and see what we can find." Hermione kissed him. "Did you ever think two undercover assignments would lead us here?"
"Truthfully, no," Harry replied. "But I'm glad it did."
"Me too," she said. "All that trouble, none of it matters anymore."
"No need to feel insecure," Harry said holding her close. "You are the only one for me. That's never going to change."
"I don't feel insecure anymore," Hermione told him. "With the way you talk to me, it's impossible."
"That's my girl," Harry said smiling at her.
"What do you think our next assignment will be?" she asked.
"Maybe we can pose as prospective parents," Harry said dryly.
Hermione laughed. "But we have the newlyweds bit down so well!"
"James and Janie Montgomery," Harry said thoughtfully. "And their two sons, Jeffrey and Jared. And the little one on the way..."
"Are you carrying these so called children?" Hermione arched her eyebrow.
"Well, no---" Harry started to say.
"Uh huh," she said dryly.
"Just a thought," Harry said defensively.
"Guess we'll have to wait for Remus and Sirius to decide," Hermione leaned against him again.
"Which you know they love doing," Harry said.
"Orders," Hermione shook her head. "Wait until I take over."
"Are you planning a coup?" Harry asked. "Should I warn the others?"
"I expect you to be working right under me," Hermione answered pertly.
"I love working right under you," Harry said cheekily.
"I know that much already," Hermione gave him a kiss.
"I love you," Harry said.
"I love you too," Hermione closed her eyes as his forehead touched hers.
Harry smiled a lazy grin at her, which he knew would affect her. Perhaps they could get out of here early and take advantage of the empty house. Sirius was away on assignment.
This really was unbelievable. Here he was---the boy who had vowed never to be tied down---now a man, ready to get married and start a family.
Hermione grinned back. She could still scarcely believe the turns her life had taken- becoming a successful Auror, finding the man of her dreams, getting married... things felt like they had come full circle now that Harry was back in her life.
"It really is just the beginning," Harry said. "We have the rest of our lives together. I can't promise you it will always be this calm..."
"Wouldn't want it to be," Hermione answered.
"You say that now---"
"I meant it," she interrupted.
Harry smiled at her. "And it will never be boring."
"I look forward to that too," Hermione said as he spun her around.
"I just want to make you happy," Harry said. "As happy as you've made me."
"You have," Hermione kissed him lightly. "There were a lot of things I never thought myself capable of until you came into the picture. I never thought I was beautiful or able to prove myself the way I have."
"You are all those things and more," Harry said.
"Thank you," Hermione said softly.
Harry shook his head. "No, Hermione. Thank you."