Epilogue

Harry came to in the Hospital Wing. Next to him, he could see Ginny. She looked down at him, at it was obvious that she was relieved.

"Ginny, what happened? The last that I remember my mum's eyes . . ."

Ginny's own eyes misted over slightly as she remembered what had happened.

"Well, you sprang Voldemort, and held out the little bottle, the one according to Chanel was "Forged in fire, and yet as cold as ice when we pulled it." Anyway you held it out, and I remember the look on Voldemort's face—I couldn't see your face. He was furious Harry . . . never have I seen such fury . . ." her voice shook and died.

Harry stared at her. She looked so different . . . he didn't know her as she was. She seemed so very old, changed . . . she was too old, too fast.

"Then suddenly, he shrieked, and the whole hall rung with it, every one stopped what they were doing. It was unearthly . . . he began screaming and I heard you Harry, and we all tried to get to you, and we thought you were gone. I thought that you had . . ."

"Died?" supplied Harry quietly.

"Yes." She swallowed suddenly, and then she continued. "Then you were left there, limp, shaking, and pale. When the Death Eaters saw what had happened, they were going to kill you . . . . kill us. Then everyone really fought, and we got you up here . . ."

"So what about Voldemort?"

"They destroyed the bottle. Not a piece was left."

"So he's gone."

"Yes," said Ginny. Her voice was quiet.

They sat in silence. Ginny felt in her heart the darkness that had been holding it prisoner going away. But in its place was grief. So many had died. Hagrid was gone, Cho Chang, her rival was gone. So many were gone . . .

Harry looked at Ginny. "So it's over."

Ginny looked down at him, her eyes catching him. They were strange eyes. He remembered them as they had been . . . bright carefree eyes that couldn't look at him without blushing. Now they stared steadily at him, a strange sort of grief in them. A strange pain, with an awful shock in them. Yet in them he could see happiness. A relief, a shock, a knowledge of different things. And he could see in her face a difference, an ethereal quality. She would always know something that he would never know, have emotions he could never feel, fears that no person quite human would ever have.

Ginny Weasley was no longer a child. Never would she be again.

"Over Harry? It will never be over. We will begin to rebuild, to regrow to let everything start all over again. It's not over. Don't feel that way Harry, because it isn't true. We're alive. So we start all over again."

Harry looked at Ginny, and knew that he loved her most in his world. He kissed her.

"So we'll start over again. Together," he murmured.

She kissed him back, watching him. They were adults. Not children. Though she was only fifteen, they had promised each other something special, bittersweet and wonderful. They had survived and their survival was one of the most wonderful things ever. That kiss was everything.

&&&&&&&&&&

Hermione had given the cure to the werewolves, now rejoicing. The last in line was Remus.

His face was tired, but she knew that he was happy.

"So Professor. I'll cure you now."

He shook his head. "No, Hermione. In a way, I have wanted this all my life, but yet now, I don't want it. In a way, the bite was both a blessing and a curse. If it wasn't given to me, then I know I wouldn't be the person I am today. And plus, I'd never have met Dora."

"Tonks?" asked Hermione, smiling.

"Yip. Jus make me a little less dangerous."

"I don't need to."

He looked at her, and suddenly she felt exactly like a student. "What I mean is Tonks is . . ."

He understood. "Thank you." Tonks left with him.

Though the pain would never leave them, there was a sort of bittersweet joy to it, the kind of strange joy that comes after grief. She looked at Ron.

Their whole future was ahead of them. They had hope and life.

And, being a goddess, life was unpredictable. Adventures to come were in that future.

&&&&&&&&&&&

That's the end of this story. Maybe, just maybe there's going to be another one lol.

You know there is.