Chapter 53
Harry and Sue move into the Potter Manor and have the wards updated. Only family and certain Weasleys can enter the wards without prior permission. In the time that it took for Hermione to heal, they have the manor house furnished and decorated. They ask Sue's aunt Amelia to please move in as the Ossuary had weaker wards.
Harry and Sue visit the Weasleys and find that they have raised Hermione's ward sequence from when she and Harry were on the lam.
Riddle finally couldn't hold off any longer. He had tried to find Harry many times to kill him and it never worked. It finally came down to attacking Hogwarts in the middle of the night.
When word went out, the plans were put into action. The younger students were funneled away and the DA, Order of the Light, and the remaining Order of the Phoenix banned together and fought the followers of Riddle and the sickly man.
Harry, under the cover of his cloak, walked out to the forest hideout of the would be Dark Lord and was able to circle around to behind the inner circle and the man himself. Riddle was hunched over and wheezing with every breath. 'Those seventy-whatever years are catching up with you, I see.' He thinks. It could be the backlash of all those rituals to extend your life and strength.
The younger man sends a shower of lethal pranks raining down on the Death Eaters. While they are dealing with that, Harry beheads Riddle with a well placed diffindo. No one notices anything until Harry is by the door to the castle again. He sees a lone figure step from the forest. Of course it is Bellatrix. "Just like that damned cat that kept coming back." Harry hears from behind him.
Luna takes a shot with her sniper rifle. In the distance, you can see the hated woman clutch her wand arm to her chest. The next shot blows the woman clean off her feet. It is later discovered that the second shot had blown the back of her head out also.
Inside the castle proper, it looked like a killing field. The ground was turned over and there were bodies strewn around everywhere. Fred was nursing a concussion, that would later see him in St. Mungo's for a bit. Many of the older crowd of pure-bloods were feeling the pull of Riddle's death on their souls as the Dark Mark takes it's due.
Harry finds an official and politely requests to take his NEWTs.
The celebration parties don't end for a fortnight. None of the crowd that was actually a major part of the battles attend them. It was over. That was enough for them all.
Life carried on. Molly began begging for George and Hermione to move into the Burrow. "You aren't safe out in the Muggle world."
That was the last straw for Hermione. She increased the ward scheme and had all of their contacts changed to unlisted. He went to work everyday with a spring in his step and she would pop over once a day to do the books in her little office.
He would chase her around the store before they opened and after they closed. She made supper every night and was able to can and bake and garden. They made plans for her to finish her last year.
Minerva allowed her to floo to school each morning and back home after her classes were finished at the end of the day. Hermione was offered Head Girl, but turned it down because she felt the person should be available at all times for the students and staff and as a married woman, it wasn't possible for her.
He was lucky to have a wife that wanted to be there.
With her experience in the war, Hermione was given credit for Charms, Transfiguration and Defense. This is what started Ron on his decent into being an even bigger arse.