Epilogue - REDEFINITION

One week passed, then another. People came and left, and the members of the Order slowly got used to the new situation. Mad-Eye Moody had given Draco some Veritaserum and then questioned him for a painful hour which had Draco in tears more than once until Molly Weasley had put a stop to it all. Mad-Eye sulkily obeyed, but it appeared that he believed Draco now as well.

The Order of the Phoenix had been redefined. After the loss of Dumbledore and Snape, its very core had been shattered; only slowly had the gap been filled. The new center of the Order was now Remus. He coordinated everyone's work, collected and categorized the information they brought in and spent hours developing new plans and strategies to infiltrate Voldemort's environment. He had stopped going undercover with the werewolves; if he ever got near to Fenrir Greyback these days, he would not live to tell. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco learned a lot from him. They did not go back to Hogwarts, which was closed until further notice, but they felt that the things they learned from Remus were probably more important than what their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher – whoever it would have been – could ever teach them.

Harry spent hours thinking about Ginny, too. She was still in Romania, and he had not dared yet to write her the letter. The others tried to persuade him – Hermione had even presented him with a draft letter pointing out all the important things a girl expected to hear in such a situation -, but Harry felt that the time had not yet come.

But one evening in early September, he thought he heard an inner voice tell him that it was now time to write the letter.

He excused himself from the surveillance room where they had been sitting with Remus and Tonks and went to his room. He pulled out a piece of parchment and began to write, not once pausing, until he had filled three pages with his scribbly handwriting. He did not take the time to re-read what he'd produced; he called for Hedwig, gave her the letter and two extra pieces of owl cake, stroked her and whispered, "Take this to Ginny, Hedwig. Be careful. It's probably the most important letter I ever wrote."

Hedwig hooted softly, as if she had understood him, and took off.

xxx

Two days later, Remus clattered down the stairs and called the names of everyone he thought was in the house. Harry had hardly ever seen him so excited, and he knew that something pivotal must have happened.

He was right.

"I received a message from a witch in San Francisco, in America," Remus told them hastily. "She told me she'd been to the library in her own School of Magic and found a book by a wizard who might very well be our mysterious R.A.B."

Everyone was silent for a moment, then their voices rose.

"R.A.B.!"

"In America!"

"He wrote a book?"

"Is she sure? How can she be sure?"

"Were the Horcruxes mentioned?"

"What did she say?"

Remus waved his hands over his head. "Please, let me finish," he shouted over the noise. "She din't say much; she was afraid the floo network might still not be secure. But she's waiting for us. We have half an hour to pull ourselves together and get a Portkey. We won't Apparate; there's too many of us. And Long-Distance Apparition is very tricky, especially for young wizards."

Molly looked at Remus. "You don't plan to take the kids with you, Remus," she said sternly.

"Actually, I do, Molly," Remus replied kindly. "They have a right to learn what she has to say. Harry found the message by R.A.B., so he should be the first to know who he is, shouldn't he?"

"But You-Know-Who…"

"… is not in America, that's for certain," Remus interrupted her.

"Half an hour," said Arthur hastily to Harry and the others before Molly could utter any further protestations. "Get ready, quick."

Ron and Hermione had already stormed up the stairs, and Harry was just about to follow them when Draco snatched his arm.

"What?" Harry hissed impatiently.

"I think you should look outside," Draco said, unperturbed by Harry's impolite tone.

Harry turned and gasped. The figure he saw walking towards the house was none other than Charlie Weasley. And if Charlie was here, it could only mean that he had taken Ginny home. Had she received his letter?

"Don't mess it up, Potter," Draco murmured. "Remember, we're at war. You should savor every moment of your old life, as long as you have it."

"Did you savor life, Draco?" Harry asked suddenly.

Draco's expression darkened. "Oh yes," he said. "It wasn't always for the best, but yes, I savored life. And that's what you should do before darkness closes in."

Harry nodded silently.

He took a deep breath, went to the door and opened it, only to look into Ginny's beautiful eyes. She was standing before him, hand still raised as if she'd been about to knock.

Harry suddenly felt light-headed. Seeing her again after everything that had happened was like a return home after a long journey.

"Hello," he managed after a while.

Ginny looked at him, and their eyes locked. They spent several minutes just looking at each other, and Harry felt all the long lost feelings wash over him again, filling his void veins again with life and youth, and the sensation was old and new at the same time. When Ginny raised her hand to touch his cheek, it was almost anticlimactic.

"I got your letter," she said calmly.

Harry didn't speak, and she continued. "I never once put it away."

Finally her face broke into a smile that seemed to shine from the inside, and her warm light touched Harry, reached his heart and chased all the shadows and the darkness away. The bond between them had never been broken, he realized. It would have been impossible to keep away from her.

Strange, he thought, as he felt her arms around him, her lips on his face, that love, this most magical sensation in the world, was something that had absolutely nothing to do with the kind of magic he knew. And he knew that this was the way it should be. There was no better defense against the darkness of mind than this.

Still holding her in his arms, he looked at Ginny. "I'm so glad you're back," he said. "And I'm sorry…"

"Don't!" said Ginny, closing his mouth with a kiss. "You wrote everything there was to say. I'm glad you finally found reason. I'll follow you to the very end."

Harry smiled. "We'll save the end for later. How about America, to start with?"

THE END

End Note:Perhaps I should make one thing clear: I do NOT believe that Snape has really gone bad (or rather: has been bad all along). But this story is supposed to be about Malfoy, not Snape. Besides, Snape must act like a true Death Eater if he wants to keep his cover. Whether he would really kill Narcissa remains doubtful, but for the purpose of this story, he does. I do realize there are some logical gaps in this story (as the very first reviewer as been kind enough to point out), but plot wouldn't let me do it differently. As to R.A.B., I have my own theory about who he might be, and that someone is not in America… I just thought the end of this might be a nice allusion to "Charmed". But this story is a work of fiction, and it doesn't even tally completely with my theory as to how HP might go on after book seven. None of my stories do. That's why I write them.

Thanks for reading this.