2 YEARS LATER

It was finally happening - we were finally graduating. I was equal parts excited and terrified. We were being released into the adult world, and after a couple of weeks break, I would be starting work and actually living like adults. But, it was our last day in the castle, the last day in our second home and the last day where we'd all be so easily gathered in one room. Our dormmates were all going to different parts of the country, working on different things and I didn't know how I was going to function without having them all there to give me advice. These girls were my backbone, my foundation and my dearest friends. Good Godric, what was I going to do without them?

"Novak!" Harris called from further down the hall, standing with her family who were taking pictures for her. She had already gathered the most of our dormmates - only I and Gilan remained.

Reluctantly, I turned to face Mum who was fidgeting with my robes, smoothing them down to make sure they were in place. All day she'd been talking about how grown up I was, how so much time had passed and I knew she was forcing herself to keep back the words 'I wish your dad was here'. I understood what she wanted to say, even without her saying anything. Hugging her closely, I propped my chin on her shoulder. Behind her back, I gestured towards Mrs Potter who since knowing of my relationship with Albus was always giving me a different smile to any she'd ever given me before, to intercede and take her away when I released her.

"I'll be back in a minute, Mum."

"Go and take your pictures," Mum said, patted my back before pulling away.

I waited for Mrs Potter to arrive to take Mum away before heading off to join my dormmates. We crowded together, the five of us gathering to take as many pictures as I could. Mazion, always the type to quickly grow tired of taking pictures, kept them to a minimum and then we were talking, all making sure that we all had everything we needed to keep in contact with each other.

Just as I was double checking with Gilan the address of down in the Gower, Lily nudged me in the side. I turned towards her, finding her gesturing to the crowd in front of us. With some effort, Albus made his way through the crowd and I smiled instantly at the sight of him. At my side, Lily scoffed at my reaction, and went so far as to fake vomit when Albus returned the smile with an easy wink.

"Stop it," I complained at Lily, excusing myself from my friends and meeting him halfway.

Coming to a still in front of Albus, I gave a delighted laugh when he pulled a bouquet of my favourite flowers seemingly from thin air and held them out to me. Accepting the bouquet and raising it to my nose, I let out a content sigh when Albus bowed his head to kiss to the top of my head.

"I thought you said you couldn't make it?" I asked, drawing back so I could look into his eyes.

"There's two people I need to see here today," he reminded me, reaching out to tuck some of my hair behind my ear.

Over my shoulder, he gave a wave to his sister and across a short distance, I could hear Lily's fake complaints about our unnecessary PDA. Really, she was the strongest supporter of our relationship. Shifting the flowers to one hand, I reached out to take his hand with the other. I marvelled at the contact, at his hands against mine - it had been so long since we'd even held hands. Merlin, long-distance was a killer. But we didn't have to do that anymore.

Albus lowered his head towards my ear, trying to speak beside my ear so I could hear him over the sound of the chattering families around us. Only, before he could say what he wanted to say, he was sighing and murmuring an apologetic, "Grandma incoming."

"No," I said quickly, eyes widening and searching the crowd for signs of the approaching Weasley matriarch. Grandma Weasley was a force to be reckoned with and she had all sorts of scary ideas in her head about wanting to see great-grandchildren - regardless of the age of their parents. "Get me out of here. If she had her way, there'd be a promise ring or something."

"Your wish is my command."

Drawing back from me, he caught my hand and was pulling me through the crowd to leave his grandmother far behind. I peeked over my shoulder and managed to spy Lily who ran interference, embracing her grandmother and keeping her busy for long enough for us to slip out of the great hall. Just as we got out of the hall, I laughed giddily. It wasn't over - I'd likely still hear about how I'd make a welcome addition to the family, but at least I had time to prepare for it.

Now that we stood in the quiet of the hall, I could properly look at Albus who was looking at me with eyes so soft that I struggled not to melt into a puddle. "What?"

"You're giddy," he said simply before teasing, "Are you drunk?"

"No, I avoided alcohol. It might be a sugar high though." Considering my bouquet, I plucked a single flower from it and gave the rest back to Albus. With a spell, I cut the stem down to a fraction of the size and stepped towards Albus to thread the flower through his lapel. Making sure it stayed with a sticking spell, I smoothed down the lapel and stepped away. He was looking at me like that again - like I was the only person he'd ever loved.

"Sugar high?" he repeated, likely catching the way I was flushing under his eyes and at least today he didn't tease me for it. Today was a rare respite. "You've been binging on sugar?"

"I got no sleep last night so I've been relying on it to keep me away." Before he could frown at the confession, I insisted, "All our dormmates stayed awake last night to spend out last night talking."

Frowning, he was downright pouting as he complained, "You're going to crash on me tonight?"

"You have plans for me tonight?" I teased, tucking myself into his side. Accepting the bouquet back from him, I cradled it and slumped against him.

"Look at you, you're crashing on me already." He wasn't really complaining. Albus let me lean against his side, wrapping an arm around and holding me close to him.

"Albus?" I burrowed under his arm, hearing him make a listening sound. "If Lily tries to tell you about a dream I had, she's lying."

"What?"