A/N: Hello…It's been awhile. I was kinda holding off on updating this story for a couple reasons – mostly because I was hoping for more reviews and also because I needed some time to figure out where I wanted to go with this and the possible future chapters. I've decided that there may be a chapter after this one and then an epilogue. I can't guarantee the quality of them or if you'll even like them, but an attempt is better than not doing anything at all.

So with a rapidly sinking heart, here's the almost last chapter!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The Great Hall was filled with the sounds of pain and despair. The wounded were on one side of it, their wounds ranging from mild to serious and being tended to by those with the knowledge to heal. On the other side, lying side by side were the dead. The survivors wept and searched the clusters of the wounded in hope that their loved ones were merely hurt. Some were lucky. Others were not.

George stood off to the side, trying not to think about how he'd lost his little brother. It hadn't hurt as much when Percy was killed – or maybe it just hadn't sunk in yet – because he had betrayed the family, never speaking to them for years. But Ron…Ron had been there to help everyone he could, to be tortured and teased by the twins, to fall in love with Hermione. Ron would never have children. Never grow old. Never eat all the chicken in the world.

He cast his eyes around the room. Snape and Narcissa had been escorted out of the room behind the professors' table. Draco was being held tightly by his mother and Snape was going about, assisting those who needed help. But Selena had yet to come out, if she was going to come out of there at all.

Do I even want her to come back? George wondered, staring at the door. After all that she's done – the murders, the torture, the lies – should I want her back?

The answer would always be yes.

There were dozens of women out there with better personalities, better bodies, and everything a man could hope for. But there was nothing George wanted more than Selena and to start a family with her, no matter how crazy her family was. No matter how many murderers were in her family or how the world would turn their backs on her with her true identity revealed, George would always love her.

The door behind the professors' table opened and a grim looking Lupin emerged. George's heart clenched and he held his breath as Harry came out, looking disgruntled as he held a familiar wand in his hand. The Boy Who Lived turned and looked back into the room, saying something that was lost in the din coming from the wounded and grieving.

Selena came walking out and the first thing that George noticed was that the black shadows that had clung to her were gone. His eyes lifted from her feet to her face which was smudged with dirt and tired looking. She had a sad look about her as Harry handed her the wand and nodded to something that Harry muttered. McGonagall walked past her to see to the children who had been hurt in the attack on Hogwarts as any Headmistress would.

George's wife didn't look at him as she walked with Lupin in the direction of the wounded. He watched her move amongst the people, noticing how she didn't shrink away from the ones who snapped at her or flinch at the venom they spat at her. Her face was full of understanding and patience as she did what she could to help them. She didn't force them to accept her help, easily giving them space when they demanded it.

The Weasley tore himself away from the side of the room littered with the dead and moved towards his wife…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Selena hadn't expected Harry to let her live after all that she had done. Snape and Narcissa's deeds were now her own – as were her father's – but that was what she expected after she'd requested it. However, it still puzzled her why Harry didn't kill her and had given her the freedom that she didn't deserve.

Maybe he doesn't want it to be the end of the Charis-Le Roux-Riddle bloodline? Selena mused, moving amongst the wounded and their comforters. No…Harry doesn't give a damn about bloodlines. He's not my father. And neither am I.

The young witch calmly faced the hateful words and looks that people were sending her way as she made her rounds, healing the major wounds. She had known for years that this was the hand Fate had dealt her and that it must be accepted with grace. After all the heartless killing and emotionless torture, hate had no effect on her.

"I will not kill you," Harry said in a hard voice. "I'm going to give you a second chance – a chance to make things right. You will surrender your potions, poisons, and antidotes to people who can use them for good and that includes your notes. You will pay for the damage done to the castle, its inhabitants, and pay for all of the funerals of the people who are dead. And you have two choices…"

Selena heard her name being called and tuned back into reality. George was standing there next to her and his eyes searched hers until she looked away. She couldn't understand the love in his eyes when they were directed towards her. She had killed two of his brothers after all – one by her own hand, the other through one of her fellow Death Eaters.

"What do you want, George?" she asked quietly.

"To talk," George said his voice scratchy and hoarse sounding.

Selena's spine stiffened slightly and she pointedly didn't look at him. "You want to divorce me…" she guessed.

"What?"

"I understand. You don't want to be married to the most hated witch in the world. The one that took the lives of two of your brothers. George, I completely understand."

George reached out and grabbed her just below the shoulders as she tried to move away. She felt the hard warmth of his chest against her back and closed her eyes, memorizing it. The way that his chest rose and fell against her, the feeling of his warm breath on her neck, all that was George. Her George.

"Who put it into your head that I want to divorce you?" George asked. "Because they are wrong. 'Lena, I made a vow to you. For better or for worse, that means that we stick together through everything. Everything."

"But your brothers -"

"Will be remembered, but their deaths will not stop me from loving you." His hands slid down her body, finding their way to rest on her firm stomach. "You're the only woman in the world that I want carrying my children, to start a family with."

"Your reputation…your business…your friends and family…" Selena whispered. "All of it will be taken away from you if you don't div-"

"Don't." George ordered softly. "Don't say that word. Don't even think about it. I married you, nothing can change that."

Her husband turned her around so that he could look into her eyes. Selena saw the love in his eyes once more, all of it turned on her. The young witch's breath caught in her chest and her heart raced as his eyes lowered to stare at her lips. Even she knew better than to let him display this kind of affection in the presence of the mourning and injured. The witch turned her face away and sighed.

"I got off too easy," she murmured, disengaging herself from his arms. "I get to keep my life, my wand, and you and the baby…And I have a choice to make."

George followed her as she walked along, watching her heal the wounds that she was permitted to heal. "What kind of choice?" he asked quietly.

"I have to choose between two careers to improve my character and make things better for the world." Selena explained, glancing at him. "And neither one leads to becoming a Quidditch star."

"Really? You can't be a Quidditch player? Ever?"

"Not until I right the wrongs I've done – or took the blame for – and even then, it's likely to not happen." The corner of her lips twitched. "I don't think I should be a professional Quidditch player. There wouldn't be many teams who'd want me once my lineage is revealed and I don't want to be the cause of anymore injuries, if I can help it."

George grabbed hold of her arm, his eyebrows now residing somewhere just below his hair line. "You don't want to -? Okay. Who are you and what did you do to my wife?"

Selena pressed a hand to her stomach. "I'm not going to risk my baby's life or permanently damaging myself. If you want to start a family with me, then I've got to take care of myself." She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you going to ask me what the options I was given by Harry were?"

"I just assumed you'd tell me," George admitted. "When you were ready to."

Selena had reached the end of the wounded people and slid her wand behind her ear. Her eyes flicked in the direction of the dead and sighed as she did a quick count of how many there were, knowing that a few of the wounded had been minutes away from joining the body count. The witch straightened her spine and turned her attention back to her husband.

"I have to choose between two things that have been a part of the fabric of the wizarding world for centuries," Selena explained quietly. "One, I have to work at St. Mungo's as a healer for years which could lead to people not trusting the facility and its doctors. Or two, I work at Hogwarts as a Potions Apprentice…until Minerva deems me to be safe with the students, in which case I will be replacing Snape as he finally gets what he wants and becomes the DADA professor. That will make me Potions Master for many years and could lead to a mass exodus or mutiny of the students who don't want to be taught by the daughter of Lord Voldemort."

George opened his mouth to say something, but Selena could already see it in his eyes. She put a hand against his lips to cut him off.

"Don't try to make it better, George," Selena ordered quietly. "Don't say that it won't be that way for me, for the places where I attempt to find employment at. The world is just as cruel and hating as it is loving and kind. You either get the good or the bad, you can't get both." She lowered her hand to grab hold of his. "Though sometimes, there are exceptions to that rule…"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

George looked down at his wife's hand and saw the ring that he'd put on her finger not more than a couple days ago. His eyes traveled up to her neck where she still wore the silver locket that he'd given her years ago.

"'Lena," he whispered, looking into her eyes. "You -"

"Never gave up on our love," Selena said just as quietly. "And you -?"

"Will always love you, no matter what the world thinks about you." George squeezed her hand affectionately. "Because you are my world. You and the munchkin in your stomach..."

Selena didn't smile and George didn't really either. Yet, standing amongst the people who were strongly affected by the second war, they rediscovered their happiness and nothing would ever take it away…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A/N: I'm channeling my inner cheesy romantic and sad shadow with this. I think my writing is going downhill quickly, but I thank you for reading this and I hope you leave a review. Next update will probably be in a month or so, unless I get inspired. So, you know what to do and as usual, keep smiling. ~ Scarlet