Sometime later, Harry stood alone at the top of the Astronomy tower, surveying the scene below and contemplating everything that had happened over the last thirty-odd hours. So much had happened that he could hardly believe it had barely been a day since he'd woken from his nightmare at Grimmauld Place. The flight to Hogwarts, the preparations, the fighting, the trip into the Forbidden Forest, the final confrontation…so many things could have gone horribly wrong, and Harry knew he was lucky to have come out unscathed. His heart hurt as he thought of all those who hadn't been so fortunate, and all of those still fighting for their lives as they struggled with serious injuries. Their numbers were far too high, and Madam Pomfrey and her team were still trying to figure out how best to get some of them to St. Mungo's without causing further harm.

"Hey."

Harry turned at the soft voice to see Draco and Hermione standing at the entrance to the tower, their fingers loosely intertwined. Though they were both filthy and obviously exhausted, neither were badly hurt, and when Hermione offered Harry a small smile, he rushed forward to embrace them.

"It's over," Hermione murmured as she stroked Harry's hair and squeezed the hand of Draco's still linked with her own. "I can't believe it's over."

"Me neither," Harry replied just as quietly. "I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"But it's not going to," Draco said. "It really is over."

"Yeah." The trio gently disengaged from their hug and moved slowly over to the edge of the tower, standing all together as they looked out over the grounds. Charlie Weasley's friends had somehow managed to corral the dragon, but many patches of grass were still smoking slightly from the beast's fire, and the lawn was littered with bodies, both wounded and dead, still requiring attention. The able-bodied were doing their best, but there was just so much to do. Any Aurors who hadn't been hurt had gone after the surviving Death Eaters, taking as many into custody at Hogwarts as they could before hastily tracing the flight of those few who'd gotten away. Kingsley Shacklebolt, who'd been named interim Minister of Magic, was busy dealing with the bureaucratic side of things, and a team of Hogwarts professors was working to ensure that the castle's wards were undamaged and impenetrable. They were extremely vulnerable in their current situation, and so they had to do everything in their power to combat that, no matter how exhausted they all were. Harry had initially felt bad about not helping, but then Professor McGonagall had insisted he'd done more than enough already and had sent him off for some much-needed alone time.

Immediately after Voldemort had fallen, Harry had barely noticed the mass chaos erupting all around him. The Light fighters had exploded with cheers that the one who'd plagued their lives for so long was finally dead, Voldemort's motionless form serving as an unexpected boost of energy as they took down the remaining Death Eaters with renewed vigor. Harry had been particularly pleased to see Theodore Nott tumbling down the hill, bound from head to foot in thick ropes courtesy of Pansy, who was shouting something about payback and looking more pleased than he'd ever seen her. Bellatrix Lestrange, apoplectic with rage, had let out a primal scream just before five spells crashed into her chest simultaneously and she toppled over, as dead as her master. The first four spells had come from Draco, Tonks, Sirius, and Andromeda, the four Blacks who'd fought her so fiercely right from the beginning, but they'd all looked at each other in confusion for a moment as they attempted to discover who'd cast the fifth spell. Then, the answer to their silent questions stepped forward.

"Sorry to intrude on the family party," Neville said quietly. "But…that was for my parents." Draco had merely nodded and clapped Neville on the back, glad that the Gryffindor had finally found some sense of peace.

Once the Death Eaters had been apprehended, the remaining fighters had all wanted to congratulate Harry, to pat him on the back, to speak with him, to shake his hand. It had very quickly gotten to be too much, and that was when Professor McGonagall had stepped in – Harry had never been so grateful for his Head of House's keen intuition and protective instincts. Unable to sleep with so many thoughts plaguing him, he'd been up in the Astronomy tower ever since, and aside from a brief visit from Peeves, who was busy making up a rude little ditty about everything that had just transpired, he'd been alone until Draco and Hermione's arrival.

"Have you spoken with Ginny?" Hermione asked Harry. He nodded.

"Yeah – only briefly, though, right after the battle. Her family needs some time alone right now."

"Still no word on the twins?" Draco asked. Harry sighed heavily and pointed across the grounds.

"Look at the Quidditch pitch, Drake," he said quietly. They all looked – but in reality, they weren't looking at the Quidditch pitch at all, but rather what was left of it…which was absolutely nothing. Where the Quidditch pitch had once stood was now a gaping black hole.

"Fred and George spent almost all of their time before the battle rigging the stadium with all sorts of traps," Harry explained, his voice thick. "The last anyone saw of them, they were heading that way, and their Weasley firework appeared just after the explosion that destroyed the pitch. I swear I saw a set of twins amongst the ghosts from the Resurrection Stone – I didn't dare look closer to confirm it, but you have to admit the evidence doesn't look good." The three friends bowed their heads in silence at the terrible thought of having lost the Weasley twins, who'd provided far more than just amusing entertainment over the last seven years. The proof still wasn't concrete, but it was pretty convincing, and if they really had died…yes, they could see why the Weasleys would want to be alone.

"What exactly happened with Ginny, during the battle?" Hermione asked in an attempt to take their minds off the twins. Harry chuckled a little.

"The sneaky little minx," he muttered. "It wasn't a healing salve she took from your bag – it was Polyjuice Potion. Pansy figured out that I was a Horcrux before anyone else did – she hinted at it as early as yesterday when I woke from my nightmare – but she wasn't sure she'd be able to pull off what had to be done in the Forest. She suspected Ginny would be able to do it better, especially since Gin was far more personally invested in the whole thing, and so the two of them switched and became each other, starting sometime during the armistice hour and ending just before Ginny killed the snake."

"So really, Pansy put Ginny in the ideal position to deal with the last Horcrux," Draco concluded.

"Exactly. And they both did a pretty convincing job, too – none of the Death Eaters noticed anything was wrong, and nobody Pansy encountered suspected anything either."

"It was a brilliant plan," Hermione acknowledged. "A plan in which a million things could have gone wrong, but then, that seems to be the case with all of our plans lately, doesn't it?"

"That liquid luck we drank last year must've decided to stick around," Harry joked. He ran a hand through his hair and added, "Any news from downstairs?"

"Padfoot's recovering," Draco replied. "His stab wound reopened a bit during our duel with Bellatrix, but now that he has a chance to rest, he's doing much better. Wormtail's been confirmed dead, and while Lupin's still unresponsive, he's not getting any worse. Snape, though…" He trailed off and swallowed heavily, and Hermione put a gentle hand on his arm. For the first time, Harry saw that Narcissa's ring was finally where it belonged, sparkling gently on Hermione's left hand in the morning sunlight.

"Snape didn't make it," Hermione said softly. "Sirius wasn't as affected when the snake bit him because he was in his Animagus form, but whatever's in the venom is far more damaging to humans than to animals. Madam Pomfrey did her best, but they couldn't get him to St. Mungo's in time."

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered, and he really was. Snape had been an acerbic, intimidating individual who had never shown Harry more than polite indifference at best, but Harry knew without a doubt that the love Snape had felt for Lily was real, and of course, the man had been Draco's godfather. Harry said a silent 'thank you' to Snape for all he'd sacrificed, and he sincerely hoped that Snape was somewhere he could finally be happy.

"I feel like I hardly knew him," Draco replied, the loss evident in his voice. "He was my godfather, and yet I never really had a chance to know him as much more than my Head of House."

"He was a hero," Hermione said firmly. "Not many people could do what he did for even a day."

"He was," Harry agreed. The trio fell silent once more.

"What now?" Draco asked after several long minutes.

"We regroup," Harry replied. "We regroup, and we rebuild, and we try to make sense of everything we've gone through, impossible though it may seem."

"We'll be alright," Hermione said softly. "We always are, in the end." She took both boys' hands in her own and squeezed.

"Right as usual, Maya," Harry said, turning to give her a fond smile. "Right now, though, I think I'd like a bath – a bath, and some sleep." Hermione smiled back.

"That sounds like as good a starting place as any, don't you think?"

And together, hands still clasped, the three friends left the Astronomy tower and set off to begin the first chapter of their next adventure.

Thus concludes part 7, & the story of our Unexpected Trio.

A/N: And so we've reached the end - one reviewer said of the last chapter that it was a bittersweet feeling to be almost done, & I couldn't agree with the word choice more. On the one hand, I'm excited & proud to have finally made it through, but on the other, I've been working in this AU for so long that I don't want to leave.

Sincerest, warmest thanks to absolutely all of you - whether you've been here from the beginning or jumped in midway through, your support & dedication to this tale has done more for me than you will ever know. When I started part one nearly two years ago now, I never dreamed that the end result would be this big - the stats on these stories are both mind-blowing & humbling, & I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being so unbelievably wonderful. You stuck with me through plot twists & cliffhangers, through dozens of ideas that weren't even thought of 'til halfway through the series, & I can't thank you enough. An extra-special thank you to my youngest sister Julia, who patiently listened to basically every second of this fic (even though she's yet to read any of it), offered suggestions, & kept me going when I was stuck in a rut - this one's for you.

This is the end of the line, as far as this series goes - there will not be an epilogue, & I always planned it that way. Perhaps I'll come back to it somewhere down the line with a one-shot if the inspiration strikes, but for now, we say goodbye.

This is not, however, the end of my writing! I have several other stories just waiting to be written - I'm one of those hopeless people who can't concentrate on more than one story at a time to save my life - one of which is already partly begun, so if you'd like to read more, follow me so you don't miss out on the fun. First up is a postwar Dramione fic, DH compliant minus the epilogue, which will (hopefully) be far more lighthearted than these last several chapters have been - I need a break from writing battle scenes, haha...

For the last time, JKR owns all things Potter, I just play. Thank you all once again, & I hope to see you all again soon! :)

~ Sammy