Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it is the property of the brilliant J.K Rowling. This story is the product of her marvellous characters and world and my imagination.

Any constructive criticism or reviews are very welcome. Enjoy

The Aftermath

The entire Order ended back at their headquarters, which Ginny could now finally see for the first time, all congregated in the large meeting room with Ginny standing at the front, now more than a little nervous despite her bold appearance in battle.

She looked at all the people staring expectantly at her and looked to Harry, who squeezed her hand reassuringly. Taking a deep breath she began, "well, I'm not sure exactly where to start, I guess it should be after we all met in the Forest of Dean. You all knew what happened up till then, everything involving … Dean."

The surviving Order nodded, aware of how painful the memories of Dean's death were for Ginny and not wishing to upset her. She gave them a nod and continued, "Severus began teaching me potions, like Professor Dumbledore suggested and I used him to send you all messages about how I was and information about a couple of planned attacks. It was all good until He brought the bad news on the day of my birthday."

She paused for a moment, remembering her panicked patronus to the Order, knowing that the chances they would be able to stop the wedding were very slim. "I'm sure you all remember the patronus I sent, I don't wish to repeat it. The wedding took place and was followed by … the wedding night." She cringed at her own words and her eyes felt damp with tears. Molly Weasley was sobbing by this point, trying not to imagine the horrors her youngest child and only daughter had gone through.

"I dealt with it," said Ginny bravely, "I fought so hard against it all until I realised that He would just keep hurting people I love and do it all anyway, then I just accepted it." She glanced at Fred, whose head was hung in guilt at the part he had played in getting Ginny to submit to Tom. "I don't blame you, any of you," she looked Fred in the eye, "don't feel guilty about being used to make me do things I didn't want. I had decided already, ever since Dean died, that I would never be the cause of another person's death, no matter what the consequences to myself."

Her words affected everyone, slightly lifting guilt from some and impressing others, she spoke wisely for one so young and Dumbledore found he was right - the time spent with Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort had affected her a lot. She had already had him in her head for a year when she was just eleven years old and this second encounter had given her strength and maturity way beyond her years. The only other young person he knew who was close to her in maturity was Hermione Granger.

Ginny then spoke of her rescue from Malfoy Manor, with Harry, Ron and Hermione chipping in to explain how they got through the defences. The trio had never really had time to explain how they'd rescued her, so Ginny was very impressed when she discovered what they had gone through to rescue her.

Everyone had seen what Ginny had done to Voldemort, had heard her reasoning and were impressed by the level of intelligence she had shown - everyone could see how desperately Hermione wanted to discuss Ginny's thought processes with her, but she had enough tact to realise it would be a painful topic for a while.

It was soon Ginny's turn to ask her question and she did so with no delay - "please tell me who we lost, I worked out some of them, but I can't tell completely." Dumbledore's face went a little greyer and she could see the lines on his face more clearly than normal. "Percy came back to us when he discovered what had happened to you, he was killed by Lucius Malfoy." Ginny bent her head at this, she had seen Percy missing from the group, but she had hoped he had just stayed away from the battle. Her mother wrapped an arm round her frame, crying herself for her fallen son, but trying to comfort her grieving daughter.

Dumbledore continued, "we also lost Alastor Moody, Emmeline Vance, Mundungus Fletcher and Hagrid." Ginny watched as Dumbledore's eyes fell on the last name, he had known Hagrid for over fifty years and he had been a great friend, his loss hit the old wizard hard. It also had an effect on Harry, Hagrid had been the one who first introduced him to the wizarding world, had given Dudley a pig's tail, had tea with the trio on countless occasions and told him stories of his parents.

Ginny took a deep breath, now was the time to tell them the news that she knew would not go down well with any of them. Catching the attention of the room with a small cough, she steeled herself to tell the news, "once we were … married … He wanted me to give him heirs to carry on his work. I had to take a pregnancy test each week, but they were always negative and He always had to keep trying."

They all nodded, sympathetic but not sure why she was telling them this, the tests were negative so she had nothing to worry about. Until she spoke again, "when He left … to go to the battle … I took another test, it was supposed to be another few days till my next one but I did it anyway. It was positive."

She hung her head, unable to watch as her brother's seethed quietly, Harry clenched his fists, Hermione buried her face in her hands and Molly burst into tears. Dumbledore watched the proceedings with no twinkle in his eyes and a single tear on his wrinkled cheek.

"I'm keeping the baby," she told them, knowing that the first thing they would say was that she should be rid of it. Putting her hands up to stop the protests she knew were about to follow, she explained her decision, "I told you, no life will ever again be lost because of me. It doesn't matter that He is dead now, I will not kill an innocent child just because of who his father is."

Everyone was silent for a moment, trying to process what Ginny had told them - then the entire roomful of people, Ginny included, looked to Harry. After all, it was the action he took that would affect Ginny and her unborn child most of all.

Harry stepped towards Ginny and grasped her hands in his, "I've known you since I was eleven years old and I've loved you since I was twelve, though I didn't know it at the time. I've battled through so much to rid the world of Voldemort and so we could finally be together."

Ginny looked sorrowfully into his eyes, this was it, he was going to publicly dump her before they even got properly started. "You are carrying the child of Lord Voldemort and I know that this should disturb me … but it doesn't." Ginny looked back at Harry, hope shining in her eyes, "I love you Ginny and the fact that you are willing to carry the child of your rapist because you don't want to kill an innocent child makes me love you more. That child is not part-Voldemort, don't think of it like that. "This child," he placed a hand over her stomach, "is half you Ginny and that makes me love it even more."

Ginny threw her arms round Harry, tears streaming down her face with happiness that he had accepted her decision and her child. Harry looked straight at her, "I want to raise this child with you Ginny, I want to raise it as my own." He knelt down and Ginny's eyes widened, especially when she saw that the rest of the room's occupants appeared to have disappeared off to places unknown while she and Harry were talking - for privacy she guessed.

"Ginny Molly Weasley, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife and letting me raise your child as my own?" Ginny, who was sobbing heavily now, just nodded her head, unable to speak. Once Harry had given her the brilliant smile reserved just for her and stood up, she threw her arms round him, holding tight and never wanting to let go.

Finally letting go, she flew out of the door and ran round the headquarters (quite a feat given their size) screaming at the top of her voice (and Ginny had a loud voice) "I'm getting married!!" It was definitely one of the happier days in the recent times.

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It wasn't all smooth sailing from there of course - Ginny had to face her demons eventually, they all did. She and Harry were married in a small ceremony with just the Order present, Dumbledore performed the ceremony, just four days after the end of the war. The story they put out was that they'd eloped - they wanted a quick wedding so no one would question the paternity of Ginny's child.

Once that was over there was a few very difficult months - full of the funerals of those who had fallen. The hardest for Ginny were Percy's and Dean's. Percy had been her brother, though he might not have been the best at times, but in the end he had come back to the light and paid for it with his life. As for Dean, whose body they finally recovered after the fall of Voldemort, she still felt to blame for his death and though the Order decided never to tell anyone else of the fact that Ginny had seen him die, she could barely face his mother and sisters at the funeral.

Then there was the counselling - they were all required to go through some sessions, though most of them only had a few sessions and she'd had a giggle after hearing the story of how Severus had stormed out of his first session 5 minutes in, insisting it was a load of rubbish and he'd be better off without it. He still encouraged her to go to her sessions though, she was one of the most affected by Voldemort.

The sessions weren't with an actual therapist, no one but the Order could be privy to the information that would be discussed in the sessions. They were more discussions on how she felt, what had happened, getting things off her chest, often using a pensieve.

Eventually though, she felt almost her old self again and everyone was recovering from the war. Kingsley was the new Minister for Magic, Dumbledore back at his post as Headmaster of Hogwarts. The trio and Ginny had all decided not to return to Hogwarts, especially with Ginny pregnant and married. But with Hermione's help they all carried on studying and since Ginny was far ahead of her year (having done all the studying up at Malfoy Manor) all four took their N.E. privately six months after the Final Battle and all of them passed, Hermione with near perfect marks, Ginny with excellent marks and Harry and Ron managing passes in everything.

Life was certainly looking up for them all now.

Ok, after this there is just the Epilogue and the Alternate Ending and then this story is finally done. Keep an eye out because once the Alternate Ending is posted I will be putting up the first two chapters of my new story, 'Heir to the four founders' which will focus on Hermione. It's going to be my longest story yet and I hope you will all enjoy it. The Epilogue and Alternate Ending should hopefully be up tomorrow, followed by the first two chapters of 'Heir to the four founders'.