"So, Tom Riddle was mortal after all, eh Potter?" Flushed and more exhausted than he had ever been, the Boy Who Lived, the one that everyone had always known would defeat the Dark stood triumphant on the battlefield that had once been the Forbidden Forest with the companions that helped him deliver the final blow. Harry, Snape, and Hermione uttered the curses together after sneaking up on Voldemort from three sides using a perfected version of the Spiritus Insata; the latest version allowed the spellcasters to not only perform wandless magic in spirit form, but be able to maintain telepathic contact with others in the spirit world as long as one of the casters was Hermione. This had been the greatest use of all; three killing curses triangulated on the victim assured them success, and none of them felt the least bit of inner moral outrage at using Avada Kedavra thanks to that lovely ethics inhibitor. After all, it was kill or be killed, and they had protected Albus and untold more lives from doom. Sure, perhaps they should have left things up to the Ministry, but that moral dilemma didn't enter into it. And the ministry, under Ron Weasley's father, would certainly look the other way now. Justice had finally been served.
Hermione was offered the position of Hogwarts Chief Mediwitch upon Madam Pomfrey's retirement that year. She didn't have to think about it. She was home. Sir Cadogan wasn't too keen on letting her move out and into the dungeons, but he really didn't have a choice in the matter. And Snape actually asked Harry to be the best man.
Albus refused to stop interfering with everyone's lives, but somehow, this didn't bother Severus the way it should have.
And that, dear readers, is a happy ending.
~*~*~
A/N Thank you to all who have read and enjoyed this fic. Hope you don't mind the fluffy ending, but after all that angst, I needed some fun.
My special thanks to Rosmerta, Ida, and other readers from WIKTT who were very encouraging in my first foray into fanfiction! Thank you!
--LeoGryffin 3/10/03
