Chapter 25

Anything is possible

When Harry opened his eyes, the bright light made him squint badly, and made him want to fall back into the blissful deep sleep he'd been in. Then, as he became more awake, he realised how much of a decent sleep he'd had, for the first time in years. He actually felt refreshed. He hadn't had any nightmares, not about his parents or voldemort, nothing.

Suddenly he heard the sound of whispering voices and he felt relief wash through him at the sound of his friend's voices. Then…but were they all ok? This thought made him bolt upright, so quickly he almost fell out of bed.

"Harry, you're awake!" that was Ron.

"Oh Harry, I'm so glad you're alright! We've all been so worried about you!" that was Hermione.

"Ron, Hermione…is everyone alright? Who made it? What …." the last thing he remembered was voldemort and a green light. "I did it!" he whispered. "I mean…We really did it?"

Hermione's eyes were shining with tears. "Yes Harry. We won."

"How long was I out?" he asked them, continuing to badger them with questions.

"A couple of days," were Madam Pomfreys familiar stern voice. Harry was so grateful she was alive he didn't care what she said. "Magic as strong as Potter used would be enough to drain anyone. And you two shouldn't be in here. They need their rest."

"They?" questioned Harry, but then he turned and saw Malfoy in the bed beside him. "Merlin what happened to him?" Harry whispered before he could stop himself.

"He had a little run in with his father. I told him it was a bad idea coming with us but…" Hermione faltered. "He wouldn't listen."

"For the thousandth time it's not your fault 'mione," said Ron. She didn't answer him.

"Listen…you've got to tell me…everyone else did they…."

Ron suddenly had a look on his face that Harry didn't like one bit. "Most of our side made it," he said edgily.

"Most…."

Hermione laid a hand on Harry's arm comfortingly. "We lost Alastor Moody and several students. And well….and Percy." This time she moved closer to Ron.

"Oh Ron, I'm sorry," said Harry, his eyes darting to see his best friends reaction. Ron remained silent.

Harry closed his eyes steadying his breathing.

"Dumbldore and Remus made it though," said Hermione brightly. "And Buffy. That's got to mean something right?"

"And unfortunately Snape," muttered Ron.

"Yeah I guess," answered Harry suddenly feeling exhausted.

"Ok, enough. I want everyone out." ordered Pomfrey.

"We'll come back tomorrow," Hermione promised. "Dawn will be up to see you later."

Harry nodded gratefully. It was all to much to take in, so he ended up falling back to sleep.

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The next few days were a blur of confusion as he learned what had happened to everyone. One thing that he was immensely happy about was that Angel was himself again, and that he hadn't been there to witness his brief reign of terror at the battle.

Tara had managed to complete the spell, just as Angelus was about to rip the life out of Anya and Xander, who he'd grabbed and used as protection from Spike and Cordelia. Luckily, Angel wouldn't have to much guilt, he hadn't killed anyone. Just the fact that he'd been lured into a deal by treasure and power. Voldemort's plan to use Angelus as destraction and more power to his side hadn't worked at all how he'd planned it!

After Percy's death, Tara had quickly taken out the death eater responsible with spells she hadn't even known she knew, and with a little help from Charlie. Once they'd learned of voldemorts death, the other death eaters had fled his hide out, and the witch and wizard had managed to find the way out of their prison….after a whole day. The place had been like a labyrinth.

In the confusion after voldemorts defeat, the army quickly lost their focus at the loss of their leader and had fled, or quickly been destroyed. With the help of a little white lighter magic from Leo and Dumbldore, what damage had been done to Hogwarts, was quickly rebuilt and healed.

In the next week that followed was a hard time for everyone. At the same time as feeling joy at being finally free, they had to mourn the loss of their friends. A funeral was going to be held at the school. Harry and Dawn spent as much time with the Weasleys as possible, trying to comfort them for the loss of their son. Of course the twins and Bill had turned up as well to help their family.

Harry noticed that the slayer and her friends hadn't suffered any losses, and kept much to themselves during this time, out of respect to everyone, and he didn't see anything of Angel, who he wanted to talk to.

He realised that Malfoy had also kept to himself as much as possible since his release from the infirmary. Although, he also noticed that since she'd visited him when he was still recovering, Ginny was the only one Draco talked to. Harry and Hermione kept trying to distract Ron so he wouldn't notice.

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After the funeral, everyone gathered in the great hall of the school. It looked extremely different then usual. There was only one table standing against one of the walls, filled with food, although no one was eating. It made the hall look huge, which was a good thing, because there were so many people to fit in it.

Before Buffy pushed open the doors, she paused to look at a nearby table, filled with enchanted candles. They would continue to burn for a day and night without going out, and below each was a name of the victims of the war. She noticed Lily and James Potter, Sirius Black, Cedric Diggory and Percy among them.

She hurried into the hall, trying to blend in as much as possible, and hurried over to the rest of her friends. Because the sun had set a while ago, she found herself standing next to Spike. "Well," she said to him quietly. "This year has certainly been…different!"

"And not all in a good way," he added.

"I'm glad everyone made it…more or less," she continued to whisper. "Have you seen Angel?"

Spike shot her a look and she suddenly wished she hadn't asked.

"Hanging out in the corridors somewhere like a bloody ghost," he muttered. "You know, doing the usual brooding act."

He paused then. "Come on luv. You didn't think he would be welcome here did you?"

Buffy shrugged. "What happened wasn't his fault Spike. And Harry wanted to talk to him."

"Look, I know you wanted to save him Buffy. You wanted to save everyone, it's what you do. But this is a dance we all do every now and then, and sometimes you can't stop it."

"I know," she looked over at Cordelia, who was talking to the charmed ones. "I wonder how they'll deal with things?"

He laughed softly. "Same way we will probably. Avoid the issue for a couple of months until something else life threatening comes along that makes us deal with it."

"I did promise you a talk Spike. So you're gonna get one." Then she turned more serious as she looked around her. "Wish it could have turned out better for everyone."

He nodded, satisfied. For the moment. "It turned out as well as it could have. And look at it this way. If it wasn't for your slayer dreams about the army…they wouldn't have been ready at all. Could have been worse."

While her sister was having this conversation, Dawn moved away from Harry over to Ginny and Draco. "Hey guys," she said to them.

"Look, I'm going to get drinks…" Draco started, but Dawn held him back.

"Listen, I wanted to talk to you. See how you're feeling? I mean, we never did find out what happened to you during the battle and Harry's been asking…."

"Save it Summers," Draco said wearily. "Potter doesn't give a damn. It's not like he would care if I'd…"

"Draco!" gasped Ginny. "He has been asking. And everyone knows you've changed sides…"

"She's right. I have been asking," said Harry.

Draco hesitated. "In the confusion after voldemorts death, with his army fleeing and being destroyed….Lupin lost Bellatrix and she managed to intervene with the duel Snape and I was having with my father. They managed to escape, because my father hexed me knocking me out and Snape was distracted."

"Damn it," muttered Harry. "Has anyone heard about them? Have they been sighted?"

Draco shrugged. "Last I heard, Snape was on it. Him and Lupin if you can believe it! They left just after the funeral."

Harry's eyes widened. "No I can't. So that's where he disappeared to."

"Don't be mad Harry," said Ginny. "So much has happened, they don't have time to tell you everything. I'm sure they'll send word soon."

Dawn glanced back at Buffy, and saw that she had been joined by Giles and Wesley, and Dumbledore. She grimaced slightly and reached for Harry's hand.

"Come on, we have to talk," she whispered. She nodded at Buffy as they left the hall.

"What's going on?" asked Harry.

"There's no easy way to tell you this," she sighed. "But…we're going to have to leave tonight."

"What?" he asked. "Right now?"

"Don't worry!" she laughed at the look on his face. "I'll visit you as soon as I can. And I'll write to you as often as I can as well. I promise. I know you're going through a hard time right now, but we've done all we can and…you guys have so much to take care of by yourselves. We have to go home sometime."

"I know. It doesn't mean I'm not going to miss you though," he told her sadly.

"Are you ready Dawn?" asked Buffy, and Dawn nodded.

"Bye Harry," she said. "I'll see you soon."

"Of course she will," smiled Buffy. Then, as discretely as possible they all filed out of the castle.

"Think they'll be ok?" asked Fred, staying close to Gunn.

"They'll be fine," said Cordelia, appearing in front of them, with a sullen looking Angel standing beside her. "And if not, they know who to call. Look who I found!"

Dumbldore met Angel's gaze calmly.

"I understand if you never want to see me again," Angel muttered guiltily. Cordelia looked at him briefly. They sure had a lot to talk about once they got back to LA.

Dumbldore shook his head. "I don't envy you.I have aPortkey to take you home. You have all more then exceeded my expectations. Even you, Angel, in your not so dark moments. But I hope that I will not be asking your assistance again anytime soon."

"Don't worry. We're all hoping that!" laughed Phoebe.

"Wait!" came a voice in the distance, and Xander looked up to see Harry, Ron and Hermione running to catch up with them. "Can't keep away can they?" he said out loud.

"What?" asked Harry at their surprised expressions. "You didn't think you were gonna leave just like that with out a proper goodbye did you?"

Hermione reached into a bag she'd been carying. "We wanted to give you these," she said breathlessly.

It looked like a photo album. She handed one to Buffy, and one to Piper. And Harry gave one to Angel. When Buffy opened hers she smiled. They were filled with pictures taken through the year. One of her teaching, of the Christmas holiday. But the great thing was they were all moving. There they all were, at the end, Harry, Hermione and Ron smiling back and waving.

"So you don't forget us," said Harry.

Buffy watched the trio walk back to the castle, happy that she had gotten to know them. "Time to go home," she whispered, reaching out to take the portkey from Dumbldore.

The End!

And it's finally finished! I really didn't mean to drag it out this long, but real life got in the way a lot and at some points I just lost inspiration. I don't watch Buffy/Angel as much as I used to, but I wanted to get it completed! Anyway, thank you for anyone who stuck with this and new reviewers. A little feedback on the ending would be nice, I personally thought it could have been better, could have been worse. I will at some point go back and repost chapters, correcting any mistakes. Thanks again, have had a lot of fun writing this!