J.K. Rowling owns all of the characters, places, spells, etc. other than the ones I've made up. I've merely used these elements to make a plot of mostly my own invention.


Ginny and Harry stood hand in hand on the train platform. Harry was holding little Theodore Lupin. Ron and Hermione were cuddled up on a bench off to the side. Molly Weasley was reading the Daily Prophet while Arthur Weasley bought himself a treat from a nearby stall. The train was due any minute. Harry turned his head and watched Ginny's long hair blow gently in the breeze and thought of how lucky he was to get to experience this with her. Ginny realized he was watching her and returned his gaze with a soft smile.

She still couldn't believe that they finally got to be together. Harry had changed though. She felt he was much older than she was after everything was over and it worried her. He had a wisdom about himself that she didn't understand and it caused her to worry that she was too immature for him. Harry never seemed to notice when she said something slightly stupid or insensitive, but she did notice and she worried that it was only a matter of time until he noticed too.

"What are you thinking about?" Harry asked lightly bumping his nose to hers.

"Just how blindly in love we are," Ginny replied. It was the most honest answer she could think of without betraying her fear to him. Harry smiled and gave her a quick kiss before wrapping an arm around her waist protectively.

"This is going to be a really good year," he said.


Draco Malfoy stood alone about halfway down the platform. He stared off into space as he thought of how he'd stood here with his parents the previous year. Tears welled in his eyes as he thought of how unlikely it was that he would ever see either of them again. Perhaps his mother would make it out of Azkaban alive when her sentence was served, but ten years was a really long time to be surrounded by dementors. Harry Potter had saved Draco from the same fate and helped to shorten Narcissa's sentence, but nothing could be done to defend Draco's father.

The only person who hadn't known that prior to his trial was Lucius. He had hired the most expensive lawyer money could buy and worked up an elaborate story of how he'd been blackmailed and compelled, but it was a wasted effort. He'd fooled them once and the wizarding community wasn't about to be fooled a second time. The trial had only lasted a few minutes before the jury declared him guilty and sentenced him to life in Azkaban.

Goyle, being over 17, was not saved from prison time although he was given only a 5 year sentence in Geheena, a smaller prison erected to hold the lesser magical criminals following the war. It had seemed a bit excessive to send everyone to Azkaban regardless of the level of their crimes and they weren't sure Azkaban could hold the number of people it would have needed to.

Most of his previous housemates were dead, imprisoned, or had withdrawn permanently from Hogwarts. The House of Slytherin would be a lonely place for quite some time to come. There were even rumors that they might have removed the house altogether after the problem it had posed in the final battle.