Watching

Watching

Epilogue

"Draco Severus Lucius Malfoy," the man at the podium called.

A tall blonde-haired boy in the third row stood up and walked to the stage. He stood to the left of the speaker and waited patiently.

"Draco has been quite an asset to this school," the man said. "He was Quidditch captain, prefect, and this year's Head Boy. He has helped the students cope with the death of a beloved professor and he has stood strong in the face of adversity. We thank him for uniting Gryffindor and Slytherin for the first time since the Houses became rivals centuries ago."

Draco smirked and scanned the crowd. He saw his aunt and uncle sitting proudly and four of his five cousins next to them. He saw his two grandfathers and one grandmother sitting near them as well.

All of them were smiling.

Draco smiled and turned his attention to the rest of his graduating class. He saw his cousin, Athena (named for his mother), sitting with her boyfriend, Arthur Weasley, who just so happened to be Draco's best friend. Next to her sat Wolfgang Granger (his aunt's cousin's nephew). Draco caught the bright brown eyes of the Muggle born and smiled warmly. Wolfgang smiled back.

"And now I present Draco with his diploma," the man said. He turned away from the crowd and held out a roll of parchment and his hand to shake. Draco accepted both with a smile.

"Good luck with your marriage," the man said softly.

Draco gave the headmaster a hug. "Thank you, Professor McMillan," Draco said.

Draco walked off of the stage and stopped in the front of every one. When the headmaster wished him luck, he had known that Draco had not yet proposed. He had also known that Draco intended to do that once he had received his diploma.

Draco turned around and looked up at the headmaster, silently asking if he could return to the stage.

Ernie nodded and Draco jumped back onto the stage.

"Sonorus," he said softly, with his wand pointed at his throat. "I'd like to ask someone very important to me a life-altering question," he said. In the audience, his aunt's eyes widened. She alone had known of what Draco had planned to do, if only because she caught him looking at rings. Draco cleared his throat. "Wolfgang Granger," he said, dropping to one knee, "Will you marry me?"

The entire student body (and many of the parents and other members of student's families) waited with bated breath to hear Wolfgang's answer, Draco most of all.

Slowly, the man sitting next to Draco's cousin stood. He appeared to say something, but no sound had come out. Wolfgang cleared his throat again and tried to answer. "Yes," he said clearly. Beside him, Athena squealed and jumped up to give her future cousin-in-law a hug.

Draco smiled broadly before he stood and leapt off of the stage, taking off the spell he'd cast on himself as he ran down the aisle. Wolfgang detangled himself from Athena and stepped into the aisle just in time to be mauled by a Malfoy.

A figure standing a few feet away from the ceremony chuckled causing the other two standing there to look at him curiously.

"Did you know?" the figure with the black hair asked. "When you saw the future, did you know?"

The man who chuckled nodded. "I did," he said.

"Now do you see why I made you stay?" a red-haired woman asked.

The first to speak looked back at her. "Yeah," she said softly. "Thanks, mom."

The man put his arms around his wife's shoulders as their son looked up from the man of his dreams and saw them. The boy smiled, used to this. He had been seeing his parents for as long as he could remember. He was glad they had chosen this day to watch him.

For they were always watching. Always.