Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series belongs to J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. Inc., Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Raincoast, and any other affiliated party.
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"Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of prophecy in this book."
Revelation 22:7
Chapter 16: Endings and Beginnings.
The next few seconds were a complete blur for Hermione, amidst the tears and screams. She barely noticed the fact that she had broken out of her bonds in a sheer burst of magic brought on by anguish. She barely noticed Voldemort laughing triumphantly at the demise of his arch nemesis. All she saw was Harry crumble lifeless to the ground.
"Harry...no...please...no..." Hermione kneeled in front of Harry's body, and gently cradled him in her arms. "Harry...please...Harry..." Harry's body was cold, and there was no breath and no pulse. Herrmione was fully sobbing now, her tears rolling off her cheeks and falling onto Harry's peaceful face.
"I've won!" shouted Voldemort, completely ignoring Hermione. "Finally, after 17 years! It ends! The Potters are no more! I am the true master of this world!" Powerful dark winds and light were now emanating from his body as the Dark Lord laughed in evil triumph.
Hermione, hugged Harry's still form closer to her, tears falling freely. He would never talk with her again. He would never hold her again. He would never laugh with her, never comfort her, and never kiss her ever again. The pain of the realization was too much for Hermione to bear. Without Harry, there was no more hope for her. No more point to live.
Hermione glanced down into Harry's face. He looked so peaceful in his death. Tears still falling, Hermione closed her eyes, leaned forward, and whispered, "I love you, Harry Potter." She gently kissed Harry's lips.
For a split second, there was nothing. However, Hermione was surprised when she suddenly felt warmth on Harry's lips. A second later, she felt a heart beat. Then she felt Harry's arm circle around her and Harry's lips start to kiss her back. Hermione opened her eyes to see a pair of emerald green eyes flutter open.
"H-Harry?"
"You know, Hermione? I love you too," said Harry with a smile. He wearily pulled himself up to his feet.
"Potter?!" yelled Voldemort in shock. "How did you survive the curse?"
"Exact same way I survived it 17 years ago," said Harry. It was only then that Hermione noticed that there was a trail of blood down his face, from his reopened scar. "Love. Hermione's love this time rather than my mother's but still the same. Didn't rebound this time but still the same."
"Love?" said Voldemort in a disbelieving tone.
"Yes Hermione's love saved me this time," said Harry. He started think for a minute and said, "Tell me Riddle. Have you ever performed the secret power of Battle Wizards: the ability to temporarily resurrect the dead?"
"What? Why would I ever want to raise the dead?" demanded Voldemort.
"Do you understand love, Riddle?" asked Harry. "The secret of the true power of a Battle Wizard is love. Unlike what you believe, love truly conquers all, even death."
Voldemort looked like he was about to hyperventilate. Snapping out of a trance, Hermione grabbed her staff, which had been discarded next to the throne when she was tied up, and shouted, "Accio Harry's wand!" The wand flew toward them and Harry snagged it in the air.
"I can not be defeated!" yelled Voldemort, close to hyperventilating. He shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" as loud as he could. The green light of the killing curse sped toward Harry.
"Love conquers all, Remember that, Tom Marvolo Riddle," said Harry. He moved his wand and sword in the formation of the constellation Leo and shouted, "Astra Patronum Leo!"
The stellar patronus in the form of a lion charged toward Voldemort, disintegrating the Avada Kedavra curse in the process. Voldemort screamed in pain as the patronus engulfed him. Since Dark Magic was what was sustaining Voldemort's life, cleansing dark magic from him was outright fatal!
"My world! It cannot end! It musn't! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Voldemort screamed as his body crumbled into dust. Thus perished Lord Voldemort.
Exhausted, Harry collapsed into Hermione's arms. "Is...is it over?" asked a weary Harry.
Hermione smiled and gently kissed him. "Yes Harry, it really is over this time."
"Thank...God," whispered Harry. He promptly fainted in Hermione's embrace.
* * * * * * * * * *
Outside, the battle was still raging. The resistance and the Dark Forces were still blasting each other with equal powers. Suddenly, the Death Eaters abruptly lost their powers! The resistance abruptly stopped fighting when the Death Eaters lost their powers. The Dark Creatures fled away, their connection to the Death Eaters seemingly lost.
"What is going on?" demanded one of the Death Eaters. "Why can't we use dark magic?!"
"The answer to that is quite simple, really," said a voice from the resistance side. It was Albus Dumbledore. "Harry has used the stellar patronus on Voldemort."
"What?!"
"The stellar patronus cleanses all dark magic out of a person's system," said Dumbledore. "Since all of you are servants of Voldemort, you have all also have been cleansed when Voldemort was cleansed."
With a pang, the Death Eaters realized this was true. They surrendered and the resistance cheered. In this way, the domination of Europe by the Dark Forces was ended once and for all. Freedom returned to the Earth.
* * * * * * * * * *
After the end of the reign of terror of the Dark Forces, there was much to do. It was decided that advanced memory charms would be placed on the general muggle population and remove all knowledge of the "darkness" from muggle minds. There was also a lot of work going into rebuilding the nations of Europe, both magic and muggle. The reestablished governments all worked hard to rebuild what had been lost in the reign of terror.
There were also many partings during this time. The first parting, two days after the defeat of Voldemort, was surprisingly Ron Weasley and Margaret Chapel.
"I never expected that you would be the one to go back to school," said Hermione as she and Harry were saying goodbye to their red haired friend. He had already said goodbye to his family, after assuring Molly that he would write to them at least once a week.
"Yeah well, with some stroke of luck, I managed to get a scholarship for Columbia. I might as well finish the whole curriculum. I'm also considering living permanently in New York," said Ron. Harry and Hermione however did not miss the small blush on Ron's cheeks.
"Come on Ron, we're going," said Margaret, next to an old boot that was the portkey back to New York. Ron blushed red and made his way to Margaret and gave her a quick kiss. Harry and Hermione shared a knowing smile. They knew the real reason why Ron wanted to go back to New York.
"Good bye, Ron," said Hermione. She gave him and Margaret a hug.
"See you around, mate," said Harry. He gave both Ron a Margaret a hug as well.
"Good bye, guys," said Ron. "And remember Harry, you'd better make me the best man at your wedding." Harry and for some reason Hermione blushed red. Finally, the time came and Ron and Margaret disappeared.
* * * * * * * * * *
A few days later, there was another more tearful farewell. The month for Lily and James resurrection was up. The farewell was going to take place near the Qudditch Pitch at Hogwarts.
On that day, many people who were friends of the Potters came to see them for the last time. This time, they were able to say goodbye.
Sirius and Hagrid were outright balling. Remus looked tearful. There were also a good number of other friends of them who had tears in their eyes. Even Snape had shown up though there was no emotion on his face.
Hermione was one of those with tears in her eyes. During the short time she had been with them, Hermione had grown close to them, especially Lily. She had grown to love Lily and James like her own parents, and she knew that the Potters saw her as the daughter they never had.
Hermione glanced over at Harry. She knew that he too had grown very close to the parents he never knew in the short time they had been together. She saw that Harry's eyes were watering up and that he was barely keeping his emotions in check.
"Goodbye, Sirius," said James as he gave his best friend a hug. "At least we can say that this time." Sirius nodded as he tried to fight back the sobs in his throat.
"Good bye, Remus," said James. He and Lily gave Remus a hug as well.
"Its been great being able to go on our midnight excursion again, even though it was only once," said Remus. James nodded while he let a tear slide.
"Goodbye, you two," said a tearful Lily. She gave both Remus and Sirius a strong hug. Hagrid also gave them a strong hug, nearly crushing them.
James then went and shook Dumbledore's hand. "It was good to be able to see you two again," said Dumbledore, the merry twinkle back in his eye.
Lily and James completed saying their farewells to everyone. Lily came to Hermione, and they shared a strong hug, tears in their eyes. "I've grown to love you so much, Hermione," said Lily. "Please, Promise me that you will take care of Harry."
"I promise," said Hermione. She also shared a hug with James.
Finally, Lily and James came to Harry. Wordlessly, all three of them pulled themselves into a large hug, tears flowing from her eyes. "I have never been more lucky," said Harry, "to have a mum and a dad like you two. I'll miss both of you. And this time, I won't miss having parents. I'll miss my mum and dad Lily and James Potter."
"We'll miss you too, Harry," said James. "Remember, we love you and always will. And we are so proud of you son."
"Goodbye Harry," said Lily. She slipped a black velvet box into Harry's robes. Harry raised an eyebrow.
"James gave that to me after we graduated from Hogwarts," said Lily. "I trust you know what to do with it." Harry smiled and nodded.
Finally, the time came. People said goodbye over and over again as Lily and James's forms started to fade away. Finally, they were gone.
* * * * * * * * * *
About two weeks later, life had finally started to return to the way things were before Voldemort's reign. Jobs were opening up, the Ministry of Magic was reestablished, the Daily Prophet was running once again, wizarding businesses were opened, Gringnotts opened its vaults, the Knight Bus was traveling once more, the WWN was playing songs again, the Floo network was back, and Hogwarts was once again bustling with students.
Harry and Hermione moved into a small house near Hogsmeade. It was secluded enough to give Harry the necessary privacy to evade the media, yet close enough to give them full access to hogsmeade and Hogwarts. As could be expected, Harry decided to use his Battle Wizard skills as an auror. But after the recent defeat of Voldemort, dark wizards were in short supply so Harry had plenty of free time. As for Hermione, she became a free-lance writer. Thus, they both had plenty of time to just be with each other.
One night, Hermione was just finishing up the touches on her latest work when Harry came up to her and said, "Hey, you want to go out a little?"
"OK," said Hermione with a sweet smile. They went out into the moonlight and just took a walk hand and hand. Before Hermione had realized it, they had come to the lake at Hogwarts. When they had gotten there, Harry let go of her hand and walked a few paces forward. Hermione was confused. She had never seen Harry look so nervous.
Harry took a few breaths to calm his nerves. Finally, he managed to find his voice and said, "You know Hermione, I know we haven't been dating for that long but...bloody...how do I say this? Hermione, I love you more than anything. I cannot imagine ever being in love with anybody else the way I love you for as long as I live. You are the one true love of my life."
Hermione had tears glistening in her eyes. There was a light breeze that blew her bushy brown hair up in a wavy motion that shone in the moonlight. She opened her mouth and said, "I love you too, Harry. More than anything imaginable."
"Let me finish," said Harry, his beautiful emerald green eyes locked with her cinnamon brown ones. "You are the star of my life, my lifeline, the number one reason why I want to wake up everyday and face the world. You are my everything. So I ask you..."
Hermione's heart skipped a beat when Harry kneeled down in front of her, his green eyes showing just how nervous he was. Harry pulled out the velvet box Lily had given him at their parting. He opened it and Hermione gasped. Inside was a ring. A single gold band with a large, beautifully diamond on it. Hermione stared at the ring, her heart beating more furiously than she could have ever known was possible. 'Could it be?' she wondered hopefully. 'Is this what it looks like?'
Her questions were answered a second later when Harry said, "Hermione Granger, will you marry me?"
For a second, Hermione forgot how to breathe. Then, a wide smile broke out on her face and tears started flowing from her beautiful brown eyes. "Yes," she whispered. Then, more louder: "Yes! Harry, I will marry you! I will be your wife! Oh Harry, I love you more than life it self!" She flung her arms around Harry. Harry broke out into a wide grin and kissed her passionately. Soon, tears were flowing from his eyes as well as they constantly whispered, "I love you...I love you..." over and over again in between kisses. Up above them, the moon shone in celebration for the happiness of the couple and their new beginning.
THE END
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A/N It's over. It's the end. This fic is finished! I don't believe it, but this has been the hardest fic ever to write. But its finished now.
The original idea for this story was that it would be a Christian Allegory. Although it ended up as one big action/adventure spectacle, it was still highly allegorical as I'm sure some people have noticed. That's why I put Bible Verses at the top of each fic, to set the mood of each chapter.
A special thank you to all of my readers. There are so many of them that I cannot list them all here. It has been such a joy reading reviews all the time. For now, I'm going to be working on my Harry Potter website, which I hope to get up on the net in a few days. Just check my author's section in a few days. Once again, a special thank you to all of my readers and reviewers. Thank you and God bless all of you.
E. C. R. Potter