'Avada Kedavra!'

'Expelliarmus!'

The bang was like a cannon-blast and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead centre of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. Harry saw Voldemort's green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling like the head of Nagini, spinning through the air towards the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last. And Harry with the unerring skill of the seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backwards, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upwards. Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snake-like face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and

Harry stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy's shell.

…..

The next few days passed in a blur, for Harry and the surviving Weasleys. They were only now returning back to the Burrow, as Mrs Weasley had take it upon herself to organise the Hogwarts clean-up effort. No-one could blame her really, the loss of so many loved ones, family and friends, had hit her hard, and Harry could remembered the forms her boggart took at Grimmauld Place. She needed things like this to distract her and everyone else and give them all a sense of purpose.

Now though, they were returning to the Burrow after Fred's funeral and the memorial service. Most of the minor clearance work at Hogwarts was now completed and so it was time for the ministry certified magical builders to move in.

Slowly and wearily the Weasleys who still lived there, plus Harry and Hermione, made their way up the path towards the Burrow. First came Mr and Mrs Weasley in the lead, leaning on each other for support, then Harry and Ginny smiling sadly at the summer showing itself all around them, then came Ron and Hermione, whispering and argument with each other.

The previous day, Harry had received a letter from Gringotts bank, apologising for the delay in recognising his coming of age and his inheritance of the Potter family vaults, estates and other holdings. Harry and Ginny did not know what to make of these revelations, and had decided to visit the bank the day after they arrived back at the Burrow and got settled in. So they had made an appointment with the Gringotts Goblin in charge of the Potter estate for ten o'clock the next day.

Gringotts had also told Harry that he was forgiven for the damage that he had caused and for losing their dragon. They said that the repair bill would be met from the Lestrange family vault as that family had now died out and their estate, along with most Deatheaters estates were now confiscated and in the process of being split between the goblins, the Ministry, and the people wronged by the deatheaters.

When they finally came into sight around the last bend Harry thanked Merlin that it had survived. They had been assured by some of the Order Members that it was safe to return to, but had not dared to hope that the Burrow had survived the war unscathed.

Harry feeling Ginny tremble slightly in his arms hugged her closer. She looked up at him, unshed tears in her eyes.

…..

The next day dawned bright and early over Stoatshead hill. At eight in the morning Harry and the rest of the Burrow slowly awakened to the smell of breakfast frying in the kitchen. Harry got up from his bed in Ron's bedroom squinting. He still, after all these years, hadn't grown used to the colour orange as a wallpaper, or indeed as a lampshade, or as a carpet, or as a duvet cover.

It's no small wonder then that Harry made his way quickly out of Ron's room and made his way down the stairs to the only bathroom in the house intent on taking a shower.

He opened the door to the bathroom, his mind still rather sleepy, only to hear someone shriek.

"What are you doing in here Harry? Get out before mum sees you!"

Harry hadn't really been paying any attention to the world around him. Unfortunately Ginny's exclamation caused him to immediately seek out the source of the voice.

Ginny had just got out of the shower, her body still glistening with water. Harry just stood there, with his mouth hanging open, and stared. A blush started to creep up Harry's cheeks and he could definitely see his girlfriend starting to blush as well. Harry hardly noticed the door closing behind him as he swept his Ginevra up into his arms and gave her a searing kiss that she wouldn't forget in a while.

An hour later, after they had both showered together, they headed down to a later than usual breakfast.

Molly looked up at them both as they entered together with a slightly suspicious look in her eyes.

"What took you so long?" Ron asked as they both took seats next to each other at the kitchen table.

Both Harry and Ginny struggled to fight down the blushes that threatened to take hold on their faces.

"Um... No reason… Ron… No reason…" Harry replied with a nervous smile. Turning to Ginny he said "We'd better hurry Gin, if we want to make the appointment at ten o'clock, you know how those Gringotts Goblins value their time."

"Alright I'm coming," Ginny said exasperatedly. "Just let me finish my breakfast, we're not all as fast as you and Ronald you know. Anyway I've just worked up a very good appetite." She whispered the last part conspiratorially to Harry, sitting next to her, and winked at him, causing him to blush even more. "We've still got thirty minutes. What's the rush about?"

"Well Gin," said Harry, "what with the goblins checking everyone going in and out of Gringotts and the floo network being cut off, we will have to apparate. The only problem is that Diagon Alley has been covered with anti-apparition wards. So we need to go to muggle London and then through the Leaky Cauldron to get to Diagon Alley. So if your finished with breakfast we can go outside and I can side apparate you there."

Ginny consented to the plan and they both went outside and disappeared with a small pop.