It's Only Pretend

IT'S ONLY PRETEND

Epilogue

Two weeks later

Hermione sipped at her cup of coffee as she read the latest edition of their newspaper with a smile on her lips. A picture of the Sevilles graced the front page, and they were all frowning, shouting at someone--perhaps the photographer, perhaps the law enforcement. Their big attempt at scamming Nathan Morgan and his company, Morgan's Merchandising, was still being whispered about on street corners in disapproving and shocked tones. She felt gladdened to know she had played a part in their downfall. In her mind, wretched people didn't deserve to triumph over decent, hard-working people like the Morgans.

She folded the newspaper and put it on the side of her desk and sighed in content even though her desk was covered in things to do. Her daily planner was open and full of notes and markings. A stack of invitations that needed to be owled waited for her to ink the addresses on the front, and a new assignment glared at her from the bottom of the pile.

A knock at the door pulled her attention away from her cluttered desk. "Come in," she called.

The door opened and Harry breezed in. She smiled instantly. "Ready for lunch?" he asked as he closed the door.

"Is it lunch time already?" she wondered.

"According to my growling stomach it is." He glanced down at the invitations. "I see you haven't sent these out yet," he said, tapping the top of the stack.

She sighed. "Not yet. I just got off a Floo call with the caterer. He says it will cost 500 more galleons if we really want the groom's cake to be made out of chocolate frogs and cream cheese--"

"--that's what I want," he stated.

"I know, love. I told him as much. He's going to see that it's perfect," she said, pushing her chair back from her desk. "So where are we going for lunch?"

Harry walked over to her and kissed her lips gently. "I was thinking about that little private pub down on the corner of Feather and Moon."

"Oh, I love that pub," she said, encircling her arms around his neck.

"I know you do. I think Ron's going to meet us. He's bringing his new girl friend."

"Wonderful," she answered, kissing Harry.

Someone knocked at her office door. She and Harry pulled apart as she yelled, "Come in."

Hermione gasped as Cynthia Morgan stepped into her office followed closely by Nathan.

"Good afternoon," Cynthia said with a stern expression on her face.

Hermione tried to open her mouth and speak but she couldn't get the words to form correctly in her brain.

"Hi," she finally muttered.

Nathan smiled at them. "Good to see you both again."

"Nathan, we--" Harry began but stopped when Cynthia held up her hand.

"I would like to speak first," she said.

"Okay," Hermione replied.

"I would like to say..." she paused, and then to Hermione's relief, she smiled, "...to say thank you."

"Really?" Hermione squeaked.

"Yes, of course," Nathan interjected, "you saved my company."

"Well...we...I mean...we didn't--" Hermione babbled nervously.

"Enough," Cynthia said, "you did save our company from those horrible Sevilles. If you hadn't left the potion, we wouldn't have known about the falsified contract. And I don't think we've been properly introduced," she held out her hand, "I'm Cynthia Morgan."

Hermione smiled and gripped Cynthia's hand. "I'm Hermione Granger."

"Yes, we know," Cynthia smiled. "And your handsome friend is Mr. Potter. Nice work hiding that scar in Mexico. I thought you looked vaguely familiar and I must say, the whole Tom Cruise bit really fooled me."

"That was the idea," Harry said playfully.

"Yes, I see now that it was," Cynthia said.

Hermione gripped her hand and pleaded, "Please don't be angry with us. The only thing we lied about was our names--"

"--and your marriage," Cynthia interrupted. "I have to admit when I found out the truth, that piece of information made me very sad. Your relationship seemed very real."

"Well," Hermione said shyly, holding out her hand for Cynthia to see.

"You're really engaged?" Cynthia asked excitedly. "Oh you're a smart boy, Mr. Potter."

"And lucky," he added as Nathan laughed.

"We really are sorry for the lies," Hermione said.

"I know, dear," Cynthia admitted, "once Nathan and I found out the truth, we weren't angry with you at all. Like we said before, you saved our company and we are very grateful to you."

"Do you really invent things, Miss Granger?" Nathan asked.

"Please, call me Hermione, and yes I do."

"I'd like to see them sometime. See if any of it is marketable," Nathan said.

"Oh, that's really kind of you," Hermione replied excitedly.

"And," Cynthia added, "we'd like to take you both to dinner some time. To celebrate our good fortunes."

"Sounds like a great idea," Hermione said.

"We're just on our way to lunch. Would you like to join us?" Harry asked.

"We'd love to," Nathan voiced.

Cynthia reached out and lifted the newspaper from Hermione's desk. She watched the Sevilles yell and curse from the front page. "This is a great picture," she said, winking. "I might have to frame it. And by the way, the article on the tainted merger was impressive." She dropped the paper back onto the desk.

"Thank you," Hermione said as Cynthia linked arms with her and they walked out of the office. Harry and Nathan followed.

* * * *

The following Saturday, Harry met Nathan for a friendly game of cards with some of Nathan's business associates while Hermione and Cynthia hurried off for an afternoon at the spa for old times.

Seated under a swirling hair dryer, with a lime green substance caked on her face, Hermione turned to look at Cynthia.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I said I could hardly believe it when Nathan told me he'd found out your real identities. When he told me that you and Jonathan or Harry weren't married, I was astonished." She laughed. "I even told him that I was certain that was incorrect, that there was no way the two of you were just friends."

Hermione smiled as best she could. "Well...we were just friends when we left. But things changed." Hermione looked down at the ring on her finger.

"I'll say. You must have really done a smash-up job pretending with that boy for him to come home and want to marry you. Of course, I would have knocked him around a bit if he hadn't."

Hermione laughed again. "Harry likes to say we weren't pretending, we were practicing."

Cynthia grinned and patted Hermione's hand. "Good one. But honestly, dear, I think he was in love with you long before he pretended to be your husband. Perhaps he just needed a friendly shove to realize it."

Hermione nodded her head and smiled as the swirling hair dryer stopped. "Perhaps. I suppose we both needed a shove," she admitted.

"And I'm glad I played a part in the shoving somehow. Of course, I didn't realize I was shoving, but it all worked out in the end...for us all."

"Yes it most certainly did," Hermione agreed.

"Now about this wedding, dear," Cynthia continued as a wand hovered in front of her and changed the goo on her face to a pulsing red color.

"Yes?"

"Tell me everything!"

Hermione giggled and began to tell Cynthia all about their wedding plans, from the lilies in her bouquet to the candles that would illuminate the ceremony.

Hermione had enjoyed the game of pretend she'd played with Harry, but sitting with Cynthia, talking about their future, she realized once again why the truth was so much more appealing...especially a truth that involved her marrying Harry and spending the rest of her life with him.

THE END