(Disclaimer: see first chapter)

A/N: This is it, the last chapter! - Thanks go, once again, to dead for life and Drarrylovr4everinmyheart for their reviews! :D

20. In the Realm of the Living

Though darkness lay
It will give way
When the dark night delivers the day

- 'Nocturne', Secret Garden

Molly was just about to turn her attention back to her unconscious family when for the second time that day, a glistening, bright light flared up.

Harry slowly opened his eyes. What happened? Why am I lying on a hard... stone floor?!

He tried to sit up, but an instantaneous bout of nausea made him decide to go slow. He closed his eyes once more and tried to remember what had happened. They'd been at the Ministry... He had been talking to Draco, Tonks and Mad-Eye... The Rampaging Hippogryffs had been playing a metal ballad...

And then there'd been that pain between his shoulder blades. Cold, stinging, somewhat like a Cruciatus, only... stronger?

We're under attack!

He sat up with a lurch, ignoring his aching head, and looked around. To his great astonishment, it was grotesquely quiet all around him. No battle noises, no curses, nobody shouting or crying. Also, the courtyard seemed remarkably empty of people. Not even two dozen people seemed to be left.

What the hell...?

Harry tried to fully stand up and felt a weight sliding from his lap. He curiously lowered his eyes - and saw a lifeless Draco Malfoy who had collapsed on top of him, wand still clutched in his hand.

"DRACO!" Panic filled him when he turned the blond on his back to check his breathing, looking for clues as to what was wrong with his partner. He sighed a prayer of infinite gratefulness to the heavens when he found a weak pulse.

Slowly he looked around. It was only now he really noticed that he was still inside the Ministry - and that the entire courtyard around him was littered with the lifeless bodies of witches and wizards! Only close to the platform, not far from where he was sitting, yet too far for him to recognize them without his contacts - they must have fallen out at some point - stood a handful of people.

What had happened here? Were all these people unconscious like Draco or were they dead? Were the people over there his enemies?

He stood up uncertainly and pulled out his wand. His voice was cold and controlled as he addressed the general direction of those left standing. "What is going on here?"

"Keep your calm, no one has died."

This answer came from an unexpected direction. Harry whirled around and saw a wizard dressed in lurid blue robes with long, silver hair and beard enter the courtyard through the Diagon Alley portal. On his shoulder was a blurry reddish blob.

Fawkes and Dumbledore!

No other wizard wore colours that so brutally attacked the eye and mind of the beholder. Though the headmaster's words relieved some of Harry's worries - Dumbledore had frequently gone around his back or kept the truth from him, but he had never directly lied to Harry - he was still far from appeased. He and Dumbledore weren't exactly the best of friends.

"Why are you here, old man?" Harry hissed. He went into a defensive stance, back slightly bowed, wand at the ready.

"I only just arrived," the headmaster calmly explained. "But Fawkes got here a bit earlier and has informed me of the goings-on. It seems you have been hit by an Avada Kedavra." He sent a piercing look in the direction of those gathered a little further back, while Harry gasped in shock.

"And your friend, Mr. Malfoy, apparently decided that your time has not yet come; he initiated a healing charm far above his magical level, made up nearly in its entirety of Wild Magic."

Harry turned back around and threw the motionless blond a look filled with love and worry. Then he faced the head of the Order of the Phoenix again, his eyes once more hard and forbidding. "And how is it that not only Draco, but everyone else here is also lying unconscious on the ground? Is this your doing?"

Dumbledore took a few steps toward Harry, who retreated warily. The old wizard placatingly raised his hands and remained standing at a bit of a distance.

"As I said, Harry, I only just managed to get here. Your diversionary tactic -" he allowed himself some mild laughter while Harry growled impatiently - "cost me quite some time and nerves..."

"So what did happen?" Harry pressed with badly restrained impatience. He had the vague feeling that he'd be forced to kill the ever-twinkling doter if he kept prevaricating.

As though he had felt Harry's thoughts, Albus Dumbledore stopped smiling just then and focused serious eyes on Harry. "Not just Draco, but EVERY witch and wizard present in this courtyard was involved in your revivification. The deciding factor, it would appear, was some old healing magic cast by several members of the Weasley family." He frowned at the pile of red-haired men lying behind Harry.

The Boy-Who-Lived-Yet-Again was speechless for a moment when the implication of the words hit him. All these people wanted him to live. They cared about him!

He had never felt so loved and so happy.

Unfortunately, everyone who had thus supported him was currently unconscious, so his euphoria was somewhat short-lived.

"What was so special about the Weasleys' spell, and why is everyone lying around like dead?"

Dumbledore seemed pensive as he answered Harry. "The healing charm the Weasleys used is very old and powerful, but even so it would by itself not have sufficed to keep a man from crossing over into Death's realm. It certainly helped that you had not been dead for long; it may also be that your partner's love for you tied you to your body a bit longer than usual. And of course about five hundred wizards and witches gave up all their powers to call you back if I am not mistaken... Still, I assume the crucial point was the fact that involved in trying to heal you was the family of the very person who hit you with the killing curse. Family bonds have their very own kind of magic."

Dumbledore fell silent and allowed Harry time to comprehend what he had heard.

The family of the person who... What? Which Weasley would... would... - It was HER! She cursed me! Molly! Weasley.

Harry saw red. Had he not suffered enough because of this person? Had she not stigmatized him as a dark lord and a madman? Had it not been her who offered him a family only to stab him in the back later? What had he done to...

Oh. I suppose I'd also be pretty mad in her place, he noted, suddenly sobered.

After all, she must have been under the impression that he was keeping Percy under a spell, had sent Fred and George to their death in Azkaban, had kidnapped and possibly murdered Arthur and Charlie and, oh yes, sent Ginny packing - that last one may be true, but try as he might, he still could not see that he'd done anything wrong there. As for the rest, though...

He'd opened and closed his eyes a few times in thought. He was positively surprised to find that his contacts had not fallen out as he'd previously thought, but merely slipped. He focused his now considerably sharper gaze on Dumbledore once again.

"So it was Molly Weasley. Very well. But that still does not explain what happened to all these people."

Dumbledore, who had been watching the emotions flashing across Harry's face with atypical nervousness, seemed surprised by Harry's constrained and factual mien. He was certainly glad for it, though. He hastened to answer the young wizard before he could change his mind and start in on a vengeance crusade against Mrs. Weasley, after all.

"The healing charm was very powerful; had a single person, or even a group of people attempted it, they would without a doubt have burned themselves out. They would have become squibs."

Harry's eyes widened, panic overtaking his features.

Draco! Severus! Hermione! Ron, Fred, George...!

"Tell me that is not true...!" he murmured, stricken, mostly to himself; yet Dumbledore answered him.

"Nothing bad happened, Harry. Your friend may have been a bit over-eager in starting the spell, but he had the largest group of witches and wizards by his side that ever worked a joint spell, including the support of the Weasleys and the love of your bizarre resistance group, if I may call them that..."

"So they are only exhausted? No-one is a squib?"

"Everything is just fine."

Harry jumped at Dumbledore. The old wizard raised his wand in shock - and confusedly lowered his hand again when the black-haired young man pulled him into a fierce hug.

Harry didn't care that he was hugging one of his worst enemies. Dumbledore had spoken the words he had never heard, yet longed for his entire life: Everything is fine. He was fine, Draco was fine, everyone was fine! No more madmen were lurking, waiting to kill him, no one had come to harm because of him, and he was nearly certain that even Albus Dumbledore did not mean any harm to him just now.

A bit embarrassed by his own impulsiveness, Harry let go of the old man, took a step back and smoothed out his robes. He nervously chewed on his lower lip as he looked at Dumbledore. "Professor? Do you still mean to lock me up in the loony bin?"

Dumbledore sighed. "No Harry, I do not. Though it pains me to admit it, I have made a few grave errors these past few years. Since your graduation speech, I have come to understand that my special training alone would have sufficed to make you hate me - and it could have driven just about anyone mad. That it didn't do that is a miracle I have not truly appreciated until today. Harry, I'd like to ask your forgiveness."

Harry stared at the old wizard, speechless. Dumbledore admitting his mistakes? That I lived to see this...! He vigorously shook his head to escape from his stupor.

Dumbledore's shoulders sank, his posture grew stooped; suddenly, every single one of his probably more than a hundred years of age was plainly visible.

Harry was confused; then he realized that the old wizard had apparently taken his head-shaking for an answer. He laughed softly.

Dumbledore looked at him out of dull eyes.

"Albus Dumbledore, of course I forgive you. If there is one thing I learned these past months, it is that I am incapable of holding a grudge. I just can't do it. Not against Hermione or Ron, Sirius, Mister Weasley... Merlin, I even made friends with Rita Skeeter!"

Dumbledore looked at the laughing face of the boy before him. He was astonished to note the confidence and self-assurance in the eyes of his former student. Never in all his years at Hogwarts had he seen him like this. There was no doubt about it, Harry Potter had finally found his place in this world. And that change was down to none other than Draco Malfoy.

What would have become of the wizarding world's saviour had he not found this love? Would he as readily forgive an old man who had only ever used him for his own ends? Would he even be alive today?

Dumbledore did not know. But he was happy that things had turned out so well in the end. Just now, the people lying all over the courtyard were beginning to stir; soon, Draco Malfoy would wake, as well. After the impressive show of his feelings for Harry he had given today, Dumbledore was almost certain that those two were meant for each other and would stay together until the end of their lives.

He would personally ensure that people like Molly Weasley did not hinder them in their pursuit of happiness. Whether Azkaban, St. Mungo's or the safe custody of her family remained to be seen; either way, it shouldn't be too hard to keep her out of the raven-haired wizard's life for good, from whom, starting today, he once more expected great deeds and a positive impact on the wizarding world.

And who knows, maybe I'll even be so lucky and get an invite to their wedding...

"I forgive you," Harry repeated, "but see to it that you do better in the future."

Dumbledore nodded and extended his hand. "Peace?"

"I never wanted anything else. Peace." Harry took the offered hand.

Draco woke up.

He blinked. What had happened...?

The band... the Ministry... the Avada Ke-

HARRY!

He lurched to his feet and looked around with wild eyes. They found Harry - grasped tightly by none other than Albus Dumbledore.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM, YOU DAMN OLD ****!"

With this war cry, Draco tackled the bewildered old headmaster.

Harry could only look on, shaking his head, as Draco raised his wand and let loose with a range of creative and outlandish curses. The stream of curses was interrupted here and there by his shouts of:

"This is all your fault!"

"What the hell were you thinking...!"

"And those Crucios, Merlin! He wasn't even of age yet!"

…

"Erm, Draco?"

"Yes?"

"I don't think he can understand what you're saying any longer..."

Draco looked down with great surprise at the tiny red-neon green-orange-pink speckled begonia stumbling about at his feet on stork's legs and singing "We wish you a merry Christmas..." with a drunken slur.

"Umh."

"Must you always overdo it so?" Harry said with a smile.

THE END

A/N: This is it, folks! Well, except for a tiny adult epilogue which will only go up on AO3. By the way, this last part about Draco and Dumbledore was not originally part of the story, but was caused by a review from paranucki (now Portgas. D. Rouge). So kudos to her! :D
...I kinda find sad endings more impressive than happy ones in many cases, but let's be real: With a story such as this, it totally wouldn't have fit. :P
Hope you enjoyed it. If so, please remember to feed the author. ^^ – Dime