A/N: The last chapter! You ready?

Tallyho!

Chapter 5:

The day of the evaluation came faster than Hermione wanted. She wasn't sure she was ready for it but she also knew she had no choice but to be ready. Draco gave her a good luck kiss that morning and promised to stop by during his free period. Neville gave her a thumbs up at breakfast and also promised to stop by during his free period. As the bell rang for the morning classes to begin, McGonagall gave her a nod of encouragement and Hermione held her chin high as she walked to her classroom.

She stopped in her tracks however when she saw the last person she ever expected to be in her classroom. "Harry!" She exclaimed, running into her best friend's arms. "What are you doing here?" She asked, pulling out of the hug. "How's Ginny? Is Ron with you? How is America?"

"Whoa, one question at a time!" He laughed. "Neville wrote to me about your predicament and I thought I'd come support you today. Ginny's good and both she and Ron send their regards and apologize that they couldn't be here. Ron's busy with training in Greece right now and Ginny's about to publish her third book so she couldn't get away, sadly. America's good but we're thinking of moving back to England when my contract runs out at the end of March."

"That would be amazing if you did! I miss you!" She said.

"I miss you too! I feel so out of the loop now that Ginny and I are in America; we're only updated on what's been happening here via the papers and the letters we get from you, Neville, and the rest of the Weasleys. Speaking of which, what's this I hear about you and Malfoy?"

"Miss Granger," a new voice said before she could respond. She turned around to find Lucius Malfoy standing in front of her, an apologetic expression on his face. "We're ready when you are," he said.

She nodded and squeezed Harry's arm before walking up to the front of the classroom and began to pull out the necessary papers she had written on for her classes. She waited for her full class of third years to arrive, avoiding eye contact with the members of the Board who sat at the back of the class. Once the last of the stragglers came into class, Hermione began to teach. "Who here can tell me the differences and similarities between muggle mathematics and Arithmancy?"

Aside from the group of Board members, Harry Potter, and the occasional visit from Neville, McGonagall, and a few other teachers wanting to support their fellow professor, sitting in the back of her classroom all day, the lessons went off without a hitch. Every single class she taught had all of her student's full attention; her students were constantly asking questions which she would answer to the best of her abilities, and even managed to spark a debate with her fifth years about whether or not interest rates in the wizarding world were better than the muggle world.

By lunch, she was exhausted and she still had two more classes to go: her fourth years and her sixth years. She had noticed that the Board members seemed irritated when they left her class before lunch and she wondered why. When she got to the staff table, her question was answered. "It seems you're far more popular than the Board was hoping for," Neville explained. "They're irritated because they were hoping that your changes were making the class more difficult, not easier. Not that they've seen it's the opposite, they're struggling to stick to their original opinion."

She sighed in relief. "Well that's better than I was expecting. Maybe we have a chance to change their minds after all."

"You still have two more classes right?" She nodded. "Good; when they see how the older kids react to the material, that should be the final thing they need to prove them wrong."

"Gods, I hope you're right, Neville," Hermione said.

He smiled encouragingly at her and squeezed her hand. "It'll be alright, Hermione."

Finally, it was her last class: the sixth years. The evaluation was almost over, Harry, Merlin love him, had stayed the whole day, and even Draco had come by to watch the last lesson. It was going incredibly well; she had assigned her students a scenario of a wizard attempting to buy a house and they were to figure out what the better option for them would be: buy in the wizarding world or the muggle one. She had given the students the interest rates for both potential houses and the initial budget the wizard had to spend on a house. She had divided the room, with one half of the students doing the calculations for the muggle world and the other half doing the calculations for the wizarding world. When both sides were done, Hermione would put the answers up on the board and hold a discussion amongst her class to see which was the better option.

She walked around the room and talked to her students as they performed the calculations. She busted out laughing, though, when she passed a student and found them using a muggle calculator. "Victoria, where did you get that?"

Victoria smiled sheepishly at Hermione. "My dad's a muggle so I asked him to send me one in order to help me out with the homework assignments. Am I not allowed to use it because I can-"

Hermione shook her head and smiled. "You are absolutely allowed to use it, Victoria. I'm just more disappointed that I didn't think of it, myself." Victoria's smile grew at that. "Is it helping at least?" Hermione asked.

Victoria nodded. "Yes; it's so much faster than writing everything down by hand and now I can check my answers just by pressing a few buttons and know whether or not I need to change something immediately."

Hermione smiled and squeezed her shoulder. "I'm glad it's working for you; you're more than welcome to continue using it as long as you're finding it helpful. Oh, and five points to Slytherin for pure ingenuity."

Victoria blushed at her professor's praise and returned to her work while Hermione walked to the back of the classroom. "Am I allowed to know how it's going so far?" She asked when she approached the Board members. Draco and Harry were talking quietly to each other off to the side but were now watching to see how this would go.

Lucius chuckled and shook his head. "Not until we've made a decision."

She shrugged, hiding her disappointment behind a smirk. "It was worth a shot."

"Excuse me, Professor Granger," a different Board member said, "but what exactly is that contraption that your student is using?"

Hermione glanced back to Victoria and smiled to herself. "That's a muggle calculator. It's used to make calculations quickly in order to save time and writing space. Almost every muggle has one."

"But why is she using one here?" The Board member emphasized.

She shrugged. "Why not? I didn't say that she couldn't and if it helps her understand the material better, who am I to stop her?"

"But it's a muggle device;" said the Board member. "I didn't think those were supposed to work on Hogwarts grounds."

"Muggle technology like phones and computers won't but calculators run on a different sort of energy source called batteries. Since they're not connected to any sort of electrical circuit, they can work here in the castle."

"And you're okay with your student essentially cheating on an assignment," he said accusingly.

She sighed and took a deep breath in order to keep her temper in check. "I'm sorry, I never caught your name," she began, holding her hand out to shake his.

"That's because I didn't tell you it," he said with disdain. "Roland Sanders." He didn't shake her hand.

Hermione dropped her hand to her side but refused to let it phase her. "Mr. Sanders, muggle schools have their students use calculators on a daily basis in all of their math classes. It's not a form of cheating, it's just a method to make calculations go by faster. I realize that you may not approve but if it helps my students understand the material better, who am I to stand in the way of that?"

"Miss Granger, I don't think you're understanding why we're so reluctant about these new methods," he argued.

"No, Mr. Sanders, it's you who doesn't understand. I'm here to enrich these kids' understanding of one of the oldest subjects in the wizarding world. When one student pointed out to me that except for a few jobs, most of what's taught in this class won't be used in daily life, I decided to prove that Arithmancy is, indeed, used in everyday situations. If I had to use muggle techniques to prove that, so what? Isn't the important thing that I'm finding ways to show my students that the things they're learning in my class will help them in the future no matter where they end up?

"You've made it very clear that you don't approve of my muggle techniques, otherwise you wouldn't be here, evaluating my ability as a teacher. And until a decision is made, I will run my class the way I choose to do so. If a student wants to use a calculator to help her solve a problem, so be it; I won't stop her. I ask that you give me the same courtesy and let me do my job while I've still got one."

Sanders was red in the face but said nothing as he noticed that, not only was the rest of the Board (Lucius Malfoy included), Harry Potter, and Draco Malfoy watching the interaction, the rest of the class had stopped to listen in as well. He backed down but the glare he sent Hermione's way suggested that she wouldn't have a job much longer.

Hermione took another deep breath and looked back to her class, avoiding eye contact with anyone else but her students. "Do you have your answers?" She asked, her voice strained.

Several students nodded and Hermione waved her hand and all the parchments that her students had written on appeared on the board under their respective columns: Muggle World and Wizarding World. She walked up to the front of the class and scanned the answers before looking back to her students.

"Alright, Wizard Team. How'd you get these answers?"

As Hermione sat in the Headmaster's office for, presumably, the last time, she looked around and tried to remember every little detail, down to the small sundial on McGonagall's desk. If this was to be the last time she'd see this office, she wanted to remember it like this: peaceful, quiet, comfortable.

She was pulled out of her thoughts as the office door opened and McGonagall walked in, followed by the Board members. All of their expressions were unreadable, so Hermione had no idea what news she was about to get; still, she braced herself for the bad just in case.

"Professor Granger," Lucius Malfoy said, approaching her, "on behalf of the Board of Governors, I'd like to apologize for any stress we may have caused you over the past month. Many members of the board felt that the changes you were making to the curriculum were unnecessary and taking away from the learning aspect of the class, and therefore inhibiting them from preparing for their OWLs and NEWTs properly. I am very happy to say that they now feel that they were wrong in their judgements."

Hermione blinked, unsure if she had heard him correctly. "Pardon?"

Lucius smirked. "You have proved to the Board in more ways than one that the new information you are teaching your students will benefit them in the future and it has only increased their chances of doing well on their exams. You've made such a difference in such a short amount of time that now, the OWL and NEWT exams are being modified to match your new curriculum."

Her eyes widened at that. "Really?"

He nodded. "Really. The test won't be properly ready until next year but by then, this new curriculum will be enforced along with the old curriculum. We'd like you to write out a general lesson plan for each class and what you intend to cover in them and then send it to us to look over. We'll then call you in and hold a meeting to either slightly modify or approve your new lesson plan. Is that to your satisfaction?"

Hermione couldn't believe she was hearing this. She was sure she was getting fired. "I- I'm sorry, I'm having a bit of trouble connecting the dots here. I can stay? And I can continue to teach the new curriculum?"

This time, Roland Sanders answered. "Professor Granger, as far as we're concerned, you have a job here for the rest of your life if you so desire it."

She looked to McGonagall for confirmation and found the Headmistress trying to keep her grin under control. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes and she looked back to Sanders and nodded. "I- I would love that. Thank you. But sir, if I may, I don't understand your change of heart. Earlier, you seemed so set on rejecting the muggle methods I was teaching my students. What prompted you to change?"

Sanders smirked. "You did, Professor." His smirk grew at her confused expression. "I'm a traditionalist in every sense of the word, Professor Granger, but there is one thing I respect more than tradition: loyalty. The way you defended your students earlier proved to me that, although I may not approve of the methods, you truly care about your students and simply want the best for them. I can't stand in the way of someone who stands up a Board member, risking her job in the process, only to help her students improve in the best ways possible. You proved to me, and everyone else, that you are the only option for these students to succeed. And I am honored to have had the privilege of watching this new curriculum first hand. You've earned your title, Professor. And you've earned my respect as well."

Hermione was shaking. She was keeping her job; and the curriculum could stay! She couldn't believe it. She looked around the room and smiled to herself then took a deep breath. "Thank you, Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Sanders, and the rest of the Board. I understand why you needed to perform this evaluation and I wish I could express in words how much it means to me that you approve of my changes. I promise, I won't let you down."

"We know you won't, Professor," Sanders said. He nodded to McGonagall before walking to the fireplace and flooing out, the rest of the Board members following, except for Lucius, who had stayed behind. As soon as the last Board member was gone, McGonagall practically ran over to Hermione and pulled her into a tight hug, which she wholeheartedly returned.

"Oh my God!" Hermione exclaimed when they pulled out of the hug. "Did that really just happen?"

Lucius chuckled. "Yes, it did, Miss Granger. Congratulations."

She walked over to Lucius and shook his hand. "Mr. Malfoy, I can't thank you enough for the support you gave me. I don't think today would have gone as well if I didn't have you in my corner."

Lucius gave her a genuine smile and shook his head. "Think nothing of it, Miss Granger. My son may think otherwise, but I know a good idea when I see one. And I also know they don't call you the brightest witch of your age for nothing." She blushed. "Shall we go down? I think I saw a few of your students waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs when we came up." Hermione nodded and walked downstairs with McGonagall and Lucius following. When they reached the hallway, however, all three stopped in their tracks.

What started off as a few students turned into what looked like half the student body, several professors (Draco and Neville included), Harry, and even a few ghosts; and they were all waiting for her. As soon as the crowd saw her they hushed and looked at her expectantly. "W-what are you all doing here?" She asked.

"We're waiting on you," Alex Pierce said, coming forward. "We wanted to know what happened."

"You haven't been sacked, have you?" Another student asked from another part of the crowd.

Hermione glanced at McGonagall, who nodded her head. She looked back to the crowd and took a deep breath. "The curriculum is staying; and so am I."

The cheer that broke from the crowd was deafening. Students were jumping up and down in excitement, professors were smiling, looks of relief crossing their faces, and even the ghosts seemed to be in higher spirits. Draco ran to Hermione and picked her up as he hugged her tight while she started crying, the weight of the evaluation finally off her shoulders. Draco spun her around, laughing, and when he put her down, he didn't give her a chance to speak as he kissed her with everything he had in him.

When a few of the students (and Harry) sent a few wolf whistles their way, Hermione broke the kiss, tears still running down her face, looked to the crowd and said "Don't you have a class to go to?!"

The crowd laughed and she wiped the tears away as she walked over to Harry and Neville and hugged them both before explaining what had happened up in McGonagall's office, unaware of the quiet exchange happening between Draco and his father, only a few feet away.

After the buzz had died down a bit and far too much Firewhiskey had been drunk, Hermione found herself wrapped in Draco's arms later that night, smiling to herself.

"Have I told you how proud I am of you?" Draco asked.

She looked up at him and smiled. "You didn't exactly say it but you expressed it enough."

He smirked. "Well, I am proud of you. I don't know if I could have done what you did today."

"Sure, you could have, Draco. If given the incentive, you would do it."

He shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. That's not the point though. The point is, you've changed the way our students look at Arithmancy and will continue to do so for as long as you're working here and I'm so, so proud of you."

She kissed him lightly. "Thank you."

"And, I have something for you," he said, getting up from the couch and reaching into his pocket.

"Oh, Draco, you didn't have to-" she stopped short as he placed a small box on the coffee table. She looked at the box, then at Draco, then back at the box, then back at Draco, her blond lover smirking as he watched recognition dawn on her face. "Draco, i-is that what I think it is?"

His smirk softened into a small smile as he pushed the box closer to her. "Open it and see for yourself."

With shaky hands, she did just that and felt her breath leave her as she looked at the beautiful engagement ring in front of her. She wanted to cry, scream, sing, yell, and kiss Draco all at once; but instead she simply took a deep breath and said "Why, Professor Malfoy, are you proposing?"

"That depends, Professor Granger; are you accepting?"

A smile grew on her face and she nearly accepted right there. But she wanted this to be perfect. "Do it right," she said.

He chuckled and got down on one knee on the floor and took the ring out of its box and held it up towards her. "Hermione Jean Granger, you are as brilliant as you are beautiful, as kind as you are loyal, and as talented as you are funny. I love you so much and it would be a privilege if you do me the honor of becoming my wife. Will you marry me?"

She didn't need Arithmancy to figure this one out. "Yes."

The End.

That's it! I hope you guys liked it!

Please review!

Facecasts for Alex, Victoria, and Sanders are on the EoA pinterest board along with Hermione's dress and engagement ring.