Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to JK Rowling, etc etc.

Authors Note: Last chapter. Well, it's more like an epilogue, really. Anyway, hope you like it, despite how small it is, more Authors Note at the bottom. Enjoy and thanks for the reviews!

The Aftermath of Voldemort's attack on Hogwarts was grave. Out of all the Order members who came to Hogwarts aid, seven died, and four were injured. Along with those Order members, quite a few of the Death Eaters suffered the same fate. Voldemort's attack on Hogwarts had severely injured his ranks.

Only a few students were injured during the attack, as it seemed Harry's companions did well in their mission to get the rest of the students clear of the battlefield without too much trouble. The only major injury was to Katie Bell, who used her own body to protect a group of First Years, but even that was not too serious. Madam Pomfrey declared she would make a full recovery.

The Death Eaters captured, including Blaise Zabini and Severus Snape, had been quickly imprisoned in the dungeons of Hogwarts and would soon be transferred to Azkaban, the wizard prison.

The day after the attack, Harry had a meeting with Dumbledore, were the Headmaster explained what had happened whilst Harry and the others stormed the Great Hall. Dumbledore told him how he had awoken to the sight of Horace Slughorn leaning over him, tipping a potion down his mouth. It turned out that the potions master had been researching the mysterious green potion that Dumbledore had drank as well, and in fact, he had found the cure.

Slughorn told Dumbledore that he had stunned Snape and the two other Death Eaters with him when he arrived to find them attempting to transport his motionless body to the Great Hall. He'd then administered the potion and revived Dumbledore.

When Dumbledore told him this, Harry had grinned, thinking of the old potions professor who had finally been able to right his wrong. Granted, the old codger probably did it to save his own life more than Dumbledores, after all, he was a Slytherin. But either way, he had done a good thing, whatever his reason was for doing it.

Dumbledore also seemed a bit shaken up. After all, the man he had put his trust in, the man who he had stood up for, had finally shown his true colours. Snape tried to protest, saying he was just trying to keep his cover, but there was just one too many things that didn't add up. He could no longer be trusted.

The Minister for Magic and a team of investigators arrived shortly after the attack and started to interrogate the entire school. After countless tales of how Voldemort had invaded the castle, the Minister for Magic had no choice but to accept it as fact, and the next day a public statement was issued.

Lord Voldemort was back.

(----)

The Hogwarts hospital wing was the busiest it had ever been since Voldemort was last active. Draco occupied the bed farthest from the door (at his own request, obviously). He still had trouble standing up, but he had at least managed to walk around the grounds a little yesterday before his energy left him. Madam Pomfrey didn't want to release him yet, but Dumbledore had made her agree to let him go tomorrow, with a promise from him not over exert himself.

Draco was sitting up, watching Harry, who was sitting at the bottom of his bed, reading a book. The doors to the hospital wing opened and Hermione (who was apparently Harry's girlfriend - when did that happen?) and Neville arrived, before being followed, strangely, by Ron and Ginny Weasley. Ginny had her head down, something Draco had noticed she did frequently these days. Before he could speculate on that any further, Hermione was upon them, eyes a blazing fire, her hands clutching a paper tightly.

"Can you believe this!?" she practically shouted, throwing the paper at Harry. Only Harry's Seeker reflexes save him from being hit in the face.

"What?" Harry asked.

Draco took in her flushed cheeks and mouth, set in such a firm line he was reminded forcefully of McGonagall, who in fact was lying in a bed not far away from them, still recovering from the unexpected stunner she had received during the attack.

"Read it!" Hermione said.

Harry looked at Neville, who motioned for him to do so wordlessly. As Harry opened the paper, Draco looked at Ginny, who was still staring at her feet. He noticed Ron looking uncomfortable, as if he would rather be anywhere than here, with them.

"Well?" Hermiones prodded.

"Let me read it," Harry said, and for some reason he was grinning.

Draco was becoming really worried about his best friend. It was something he noticed a lot these days, when he watched the couple interact. Even if Hermione were scolding him, Harry would smile. It was like nothing she could do would make him angry. At least, that's how it looked. It was pretty weird.

"You don't need to read it!" Hermione yelled, before covering her mouth and looking around the rest of the hospital wing, blushing at her outburst. "You don't need to read it," she repeated, quietly this time, "just read the headline."

"'Dark Lord vs. Dark Lord - Potter trying to get rid of the competition?'" Harry read, before turning his head to look at Hermione.

"So?" Hermione pressed.

"So what?" Harry said. "Hermione, ignore it. I expected this kind of thing to happen."

"But it's outrageous!" Hermione hissed quietly. "You were saving everyone and they still managed to turn it around on you. Doesn't it bother you?"

"No," Harry said, though Draco thought he saw a hint of something flash in Harry's eyes, but it was gone too quickly to tell for sure. Either way, he thought Harry might not be telling the whole truth. "They can think what they want about me. All I care about is what the people close to me think of me. After all, why should I care what anyone else thinks? They don't affect me."

Hermione sighed. "I'm not going to win am I?" she said.

"Nope," Harry grinned.

"I want to talk about this later," Hermione said, "in private. Okay?"

"Okay," Harry said. "But you know I won't back down, don't you?"

"Neither will I," Hermione shot back, smiling at him. Harry smiled back.

"You two suck," Draco spoke for the first time.

"Shut it," Harry said, leaning forward and messing his hair up. "You're just jealous 'cos you don't have a great girl like Hermione."

Draco was about to shout at Harry for messing his hair up, but after hearing what his best friend said, he quickly lost his anger and the sadness returned. He looked at Ginny, who apparently had heard what Harry said as well, because she was looking at him for the first time since the attack. Their eyes met and locked for a moment, before Ginny lowered hers again. Draco hung his head as well, defeated. It seemed like she was still disgusted with him.

Normally, he would have been angry. After all, he'd gone through hell for her and she still wouldn't look him in the eye? He'd probably have said something along the lines of: 'If she can't forgive me after all I went through, then I don't want anything to do with the ungrateful bitch!', but he just didn't feel it. It was like someone had put out the fire that normally burnt deep in his soul, fuelling his passion.

"So what do we do now?" Neville asked.

"I don't know," Harry answered, "but I know one thing. From here on out, things are going to change. Voldemort is back and the world has realised this. It's a completely different game now. He's not going to be keeping a low profile anymore. Bad things are going to happen and we're right in the middle of it."

"But we'll be okay, won't we?" Hermione said.

"Truthfully," Harry said, "I really don't know…"

(----)

Authors Note: And that's that. I know, it's so short, but I really didn't have a lot to say in this chapter. The sixth year is now over and Voldemort is back. The sequel will be the seventh year. It's going to be a lot more hardcore than this one. Like Harry said, bad things are going to happen. Be warned, a lot of people will die in the next story. I'm not going to pussy foot around like JK Rowling. I'll try to post the first chapter of the sequel soon, but it might be a while. Then again, it might not, so you'll just have to wait and see. It depends on whether I want to take a small break or not, or whether the story will just pull me back in. Review people, cos that's your chance to motivate me with your awesome comments. Thanks a lot everyone, hope you all enjoyed. See you on the next one, I hope!

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