Meanwhile the Room of Requirement creaks its door open without anyone walking by it.
Seconds later a tall man appears, dressed in the same spotless suit he wore on a muddy clifftop miles and miles away before it collapsed. Behind him stand a bored looking woman, standing easily on towering purple heels, a man who somehow blends into the wall and a man whose eyes look like the rolling sea.
"This is the last one. Isn't it?" Asks the woman, brushing a tendril of her short hair behind her ear.
The man in front of them smirks.
"Yes. It is."
He clicks his fingers and the room is filled with roaring purple flames.
Voldemort's final piece of soul disintegrates with a shrill scream.
"Now there's only one thing left to wrap up." Says the man with death's own cape around his shoulders, lifting his hand again.
He clicks and thousands of miles away a strange looking man wandering the desert implodes without warning.
Harry's year is simple after that. Exams are cancelled except OWLs and NEWTs for the students capable of taking them with many dropping back a year just to complete the year.
He never fights Quirrel in a forbidden chamber.
In fact he never fights Voldemort at all which relieves everyone who has heard Trelawney's prophesy- not that the boy knows this.
Harry makes friends and goes on dates and learns more and more magic- surpassing even the Headmaster himself by the time he finishes. The old man looks at him proudly, smiling as he gives him his papers.
He shakes the young man's hand, hand feeling fragile in Harry's grasp.
"You are always welcome to return you know. Hogwarts' doors will always be open to those who have left." He says, eyes twinkling behind his glasses.
Harry sees the magic practically crawling across the castle's ancient stones. He nods and grins.
"Yeah. I'd like that." He says, turning back to his girlfriend who smiles back at him, hair glowing red in the sun.
"You better visit." She says, kissing his cheek.
Dumbledore chuckles and leaves them be as they slip their hands through each other.
"One more year and you can join me in America." Harry says, squeezing her hand.
"You can finally meet my first mentor." He says, thinking of the other red-haired witch sitting at his family's table when he had went home at Christmas.
She had been smiling- it was the second Christmas she'd visited, the third year after she'd told him everything and confessed all that she had done. Apparently she'd went straight to his uncles' place with beer afterwards, revealing that she had known Harry and offering a permanent olive branch in return for them not looping her into anything too dangerous and not trying to kill her.
They said she hadn't asked for forgiveness and they hadn't offered it but their reception of each is neutral with her first Christmas visit and almost friendly with the second after they all had become very drunk courtesy of Sirius and his Firewhisky.
So as he kisses the woman he loves he smiles.
"One more year." She promises, giggling.
"Mum's going to freak when she finds out." Ginny says, running her thumb over the dainty ring on her finger. Harry laughs too.
"Yeah." He admits.
"Almost as much as with Ron." She says and Harry turns, glancing at the two couples behind them in bemusement.
"Yeah- who would have thought that he would end up with Hermione? They hardly talked to each other in first year." He says aloud.
"Must be the Weasley charm." Jokes Ginny.
"Must be." Replies Harry easily, grinning.
"Oi- you going to stop being cute with Ron's sister and help us with the Firewhisky?" Shouts Neville, holding up the case. Ron blushes, still not sure where he should stand with his classmate dating his sister. Luna brings Neville's arms down, smiling vaguely.
"You made the Flibbering Ditzies fly away." She says softly, taking his hand. She looks around dazedly, "Oh- they're over here now." She says as Neville rests a hand on her knee.
Harry and Ginny join the small group, collecting on a picnic mat. All over the grounds there are clumps of people sitting around similarly, enjoying the weather and their last few days.
"You know- I can't help but feel that our lives could have been so much more difficult than this." Harry says, sitting down beside Luna, his girlfriend taking a seat beside her brother.
"Well." Says Hermione, eyes hawk-sharp, "Considering that you faced a supposedly immortal dark lord as a baby and he didn't come back to try and kill you for good and take over Wizarding Britain I would say that you in particular have had an extremely fortunate life so far." She looks at where Harry and Ginny's hands are joined and smiles wryly.
"I don't know how long you'll survive Weasley Wedding boot-camp if you stay in England though." The girl says. Ron looks at their hands and then back up at Harry's face.
"What?!"