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Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy's shell.
After what seemed like hours, Harry managed to free himself from the congratulations and breathe in the fresh air of the day as it filtered through the broken windows of the Great Hall. All around him were shouts, cries of joy and tears of condolence in a chaos that, combined with his growing fatigue, almost made him faint.
For a moment, he pushed aside his fears and worries, and his gaze searched intently around the perimeter of the Great Hall. Finally, they fell on a pair of warm brown eyes. Ginny stood slightly apart, as if waiting for him, far from the others, far from the shouts and attention she knew he never wanted. Her expression was fierce, and the rest of the scene faded into the background. For Harry, it was as if there were only the two of them in the Great Hall.
He had barely taken a step forward when he saw her move quickly and purposefully, her hair swaying like fire tinted with the pink of the coming dawn. Her gaze was hard and blazing. He saw her approach and held his breath, unable to control the hope that roared in his chest.
Without thinking, without saying a word, Ginny threw herself on him, her arms around his neck, their lips touching, and it was as if a fire burned in Harry's chest.
It felt unreal. After months of staring at a point on a map, her physical presence washed over him like a flood. The feel of her weight on him, the floral scent of her hair, unmistakable even under the ash and sweat, her hands on his scalp, their noses brushing, their lips boldly seeking each other as if they could only quench their thirst by touching. Everything was as it had never been before. Nothing could compare, not even those weeks of bliss in his sixth year, not even their last kiss on his seventeenth birthday came close. This was different, this kiss was pain and freedom, it was resolve and promise. No more barriers, no more war, no more Horcruxes. Now Harry could finally be just Harry, and Ginny could finally be his Ginny. It tasted like a new beginning.