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Continuing to run through the hallways as fast as they could with the giant snake at their heels, Draco and Ginny quickly looked around for a safe place to get to but everywhere they turned debris from the battle littered any potential place they could go. Grabbing Ginny's hand, Draco decided to head to the staircase to the Astronomy Tower as Nagini again lunged at them.

Ginny turned while she ran with her wand and tried to fire off a spell but dropped it as Nagini got closer. They reached the staircase but the snake was too close by this point. Nagini tried to bite Ginny but Draco pulled her out of harms way only temporarily. They fell into each other's arms backwards, landing on the bottom of the staircase just as Nagini lunged at the two but before the fatal bite could come, out of no where a sword was swung by someone's arm, cutting the snakes head clean off.

The two of them breathed heavily in relief as they looked up at their savior.

"Longbottom?" Draco gasped in shock.

Neville offered his hand to Ginny who took it. When she was on her feet she threw her arms around his neck in a tight hug and thanked him repeatedly. Neville then looked down at the blonde-haired teen and narrowed his eyes.

"So am I still pathetic, Malfoy?" He asked. "Am I still all those things you've said about me?"

Draco lowered his eyes but didn't respond. Slowly getting up, he looked the other boy in the eye and gave him a nod.

"Thanks…Neville."

As Ginny let him go, Neville stared back at Draco in shock from being thanked and hearing his first name. He quickly got over it and shrugged. There was no need to hold grudges anymore.

"Don't mention it."

It was just then did Ginny seem to remember what they were doing out here in the first place.

"Come on, we've got to get to the hospital wing!"

While the three teens then began to run to the hospital wing, back in the great hall everyone had gotten out of the way as Molly and Bellatrix dueled with one another. At first, Bellatrix laughed at the mere sight of the somewhat pudgy housewife, clearly not taking her seriously until she had to block a rather powerful spell.

Getting over her surprise, Bellatrix came back with a curse of her own that sent Molly stumbling back a few feet. She laughed manically again as they continued firing spells at each other back and forth until finally one of Molly's got through.

Bellatrix gasped in shock as she felt her entire body freeze up. The rest of the great hall then watched as Molly sent a stunner her way that made Bellatrix's whole body explode into nothingness.

"You will never hurt anyone again," Molly said to herself as she then felt herself being gently pulled back into an embrace by her husband.

Hermione had been so caught up in watching the duel that she had almost forgot that Harry had gone outside to fight Voldemort. She quickly ran from the great hall and out of the front doors to Hogwarts, looking around widely for her boyfriend, hoping and praying that worst had not come true, that he was not dead.

But as she looked around, she saw no dueling, no fighting or anything like that. Hermione continued walking around, wondering what had gone down until she saw a boy in the distance sitting on the ground with his back to her but even from where she was, she could tell it was Harry.

"Harry!" She yelled.

Hermione began running over but stopped when she saw that he was sitting in front of someone. Not just someone…Ron.

Ron was lying on the ground, not moving with his head in Harry's lap. Tears were coming down Harry's cheeks as he quietly shuttered, his body shaking as uncontrollable agony filed him, worse than the Cruciatus curse could ever do. Hermione continued to stand back, not moving, not knowing…and probably not wanting to know. But as she looked upon Ron's pale face, the stillness of his body, and the way Harry was acting…it meant only one thing.

"Oh, no." Hermione said to herself as tears filled her eyes and spilled onto her cheeks, faster than any other time she had cried in her life. "No, no, no."

Hermione then fell to her knees right next to Harry and embraced him. She gently rocked him back and forth as they both began to cry even harder. As they did, everyone from the great hall slowly began filing out of the school to see what was going on. They had no idea that the Dark Lord was dead, that Harry had prevailed. But there was no cause for celebration as Voldemort's death had come with a heavy price.

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The next three days had gone by in a haze for Harry. He couldn't remember what he did, what he eat…if anything. He couldn't even remember where he had stayed and with who.

The Burrow…

Hermione was there, all the Weasley where there…

The war was over…Voldemort was gone. It was finally over…

As he pieced it all back together, he then realized it didn't matter. As he sat in the Ministry of Magic in one of the rows that had been lined up to hear Minister Scrimgeour speak, Harry knew that this should have been the happiest in his life. That the Dark Lord, the one that had tried to kill him repeatedly, the one that had murdered his parents and nearly destroyed his life was gone and never to return. But at that moment, Harry had never felt so empty.

Harry then stared ahead to see a monument that had been built with the names of those who had been lost in the battle of Hogwarts.

Amos Diggory, Alastor Moody, Horace Slughorn, Zacharais Smith, Dean Thomas, Remus Lupin, Charity Burbage, Pomona Sprout, Severus Snape, Ronald Weasley.

He continued to stare at the last name on the monument. It still didn't seem real. Suddenly he felt a hand take his and realized that Hermione was sitting next to him. He could tell she had been crying and she looked just like how he was feeling.

Scrimgeour then approached the podium that had been set up in front of the crowd of people and began to speak.

"Today," he began. "We are here to honor those who bravely gave their life fighting against an evil dark wizard and his army several days ago."

Harry then heard a sob from two rows up and saw that it was Mrs. Weasley who was then pulled into an embrace by her husband. He then closed his eyes as he could only imagine what they as a family were going through.

"Ten brave souls." Scrimgeour continued. "Sons and daughters. Students and teachers, friends and family. They had so much more life to live, so much more to do. As we sit here we all are probably asking ourselves why these terrible tragedies had to take place, why their lives were taken. Answers defy human understanding. But I believe that they understand, and at this moment, their souls are at peace in a better place."

At this, Harry scoffed as quietly as he could to himself but it was loud enough for Hermione to hear him as she slowly turned her head to look at him.

The minister extended his arm towards the monument.

"To the left of me, a monument has been set up to honor their sacrifice. They fought against the darkness and helped us overcome it. They will never be forgotten."

As he finished up, people began getting up from their chairs with flowers in their hands. One lined up after another, they walked in front of the monument and placed the flower down. Harry saw the Weasley's, all clearly grieving. Fred…his face scarred from the battle, probably for the rest of his life. Draco was there with his mother, Neville with his grandparents. Tonks, Kingsley, other members of the ministry. He recognized other students from Hogwarts.

When it was the turn of his row, Harry realized he didn't have a flower. His legs shook a little as he stood up and followed Hermione to the front. After she placed her flower down and moved away, Harry walked in front of it and continued to stare at Ron's engraved name.

He reached up and brushed his fingers over it. It still didn't feel real, this couldn't be real. Ron couldn't be dead…but he was, as was every other name on this monument. It was the price of war. It was at that moment that Harry felt sick to his stomach as it threatened to come up with anything he had eaten in the last twenty-four hours, if anything at all.

Quickly turning away, Harry tried not to attract any attention to himself as he left the ministry in desperate need for some air.