Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.

Epilogue

The room around them was in shambles. Tables and chairs were upturned. Shards of glass from the chandelier lay scattered over the floor. Looking down, Draco saw the head of a King chess piece lying at his feet. Despite the number of people injured, the mood in the room was high. Somebody had conjured up a case of champagne, and was passing the bottles round the room; the teachers had turned a blind eye.

Only Madam Pomfrey appeared serious, attending to the injured, and enervating the stunned. Dumbledore stood near the door, having already apparated all the Death Eaters and the body of Voldemort to the ministry. They had already confirmed that everyone was alive, and the most serious injuries had been cared for. Nobody else even noticed their cuts and bruises in the excitement.

Eventually Dumbledore magically raised his voice to quieten the rowdy lot.

"Hush now. There are a few things I would like to say to you all. Please take a seat."

For a moment everyone looked around the room in confusion, deciding that Dumbledore must have finally cracked. Seconds later, however, with a wave of his arm, all the mess was cleared up and in its place were hundreds of small, cushioned chairs. Rather reluctantly, the students sat down to listen to what he had to say and the room fell silent.

"First of all, I am pleased to say that all the bombs in the school have been removed, so you will all be able to return to your studies." A loud groan crossed the hall, no-one in any mood to work. Dumbledore smiled wider, "That is after a week's holiday." Everybody cheered.

"I am sure that you're families will want to hear all of the details of these last events, so I have lifted the apparition wards on the school for today, to allow you all to return home with your parents." Conversations broke out quietly across the hall.

"One last thing I wish to say before you all go, is simply to thank Miss Ginny Weasley and Mr Draco Malfoy, without whom the school would be a pile of ashes." The room fell silent once again. Draco looked over at Ginny, in the row in front of him. "For their efforts and bravery, I am awarding the houses of Slytherin and Gryffindor 100 points each, and their names will be written on the cup for 'services to the school.' So, have an enjoyable week, and try not to drink too much alcohol." He smiled, his eyes twinkling, at George Harris, who at that moment was taking a large swig out of a bottle of champagne.

If possible, noise levels in the room became even louder and people began to leave the room.

Ginny found herself standing next to Ron, Harry and Hermione, who were talking animatedly about what they were going to do this holiday.

"Harry, you can definitely stay with us this week, I know mum won't mind. After all, you did just kill the darkest wizard of all time…" Ron was saying with a grin. Harry, smiled, looking a bit shell shocked, as if he wasn't sure what had just happened.

"That was so cool, when you hit him with the Agrialis curse," Hermione said, "I've never actually seen it in action, only read about it, and I'm so glad to know that you do actually pay attention in lessons." Harry grinned and gave her a light punch on the arm.

For some reason, Ginny didn't feel she could share in their excitement. She always felt slightly left out from their close-knit trio, and knew it would be like this for the rest of the week. She couldn't help her mind wandering to Draco, who (she cast a furtive look in his direction) was immersed in conversation with Blaise and Pansy, neither of whom looked terribly happy. Undoubtably their fathers had just been taken back to the ministry. She wondered if she would ever talk to him again. They were in such separate worlds, and he now had his other friends to keep him company – if you could call the likes of Crabbe and Goyle friends.

Next to Ginny, Elizabeth and Parvati were engrossed in conversation, from the sound of it to do with Draco Malfoy being available now that he was 'good'.

Feeling overwhelmed, she decided to go and stand outside the tent to wait for her parents to arrive.

Breathing in the cool air outside the tent she let herself relax a little from all the excitement, noticing now the sticky, drying blood on her hand. She wanted her mum to arrive soon so that she could go and have a shower.

"Not joining in the celebrations Ginny?" came a familiar drawl from behind her.

"Mmm, I'm just trying to get my mind round it all. All the noise in there is doing my head in." She gave him a weak smile.

"I know how you feel." He added. He was standing quite close to her now, looking down with his clear gray eyes. "We can celebrate here instead." He said, and reached into his cloak to pull out a bottle of Butterbeer that they had taken from the kitchens the day before. "Removro" he muttered, and the metal cap popped off.

Ginny smiled, accepting his offer of the bottle, and she took a swig. Her mind was in turmoil. They were round the side of the tent, and Ginny could see some of the students milling around the entrance, hugging their parents and jumping around in happy prospect of a week's holiday.

"I was impressed by you're dueling skills." Draco said conversationally.

"Yes, thanks to the DA. You didn't do too badly yourself." Ginny replied.

"DA?" Ginny had forgotten that he wouldn't know about it.

"Oh, Harry created a sort of extra Defense Against the Dark Arts class out of school. He took the lessons. It was called Dumbledore's Army." She clarified.

"Ah, Potter, the hero." Draco said, slightly bitterly.

Ginny raised her eyes to his. "You're not far behind. Anyway, I'd hate to be famous like Harry. Too may nasty reporters." Ginny said, thinking of Rita Skeeter.

"Yes, and the awful 'girls falling at your feet.' It would be quite tiresome. I myself know something of it." His mouth curled into a half smile, his bright hair framing his face.

Ginny snorted and brushed a wayward red curl from in front of her eyes. "I'm surprised you'd consider that a problem, Mr I'm-too-arrogant-for-my-own-good."

Draco feigned looking hurt. "Arrogance is a virtue."

"Somebody got their nursery rhymes wrong." Ginny laughed.

They lapsed into a companiable silence standing next to the wall of the tent. From where they stood they could they could see all the water rippling out on the lake, and the trees whispering in the gentle breeze. Faints shouts of delight could be heard as students said goodbye to one another and discussed holiday plans.

"Just me and my mother now." Draco said vaguely.

Ginny's eyes widened in surprise that he'd brought up what was potentially a difficult conversation.

"I'm sorry." She said, and meant it.

"Don't be. It's not like father and I were ever close." He gave a wry smile. "On the bright side, I now don't need creep around to play with the swords and Dark Arts instruments."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "What a fun week you can have. I'm so jealous."

Draco smiled. "You can visit me if you like." He said it lightly, but looked at her with serious eyes.

Ginny stepped a bit closer to Draco, they were almost touching now. "Not if we have to see the torture instruments, I think I could do without."

Draco's mouth tugged into a smile, "We could work something out. So, is that a yes?"

"I'm not sure what my parents'll think, but after what you've done, I'm sure we could come to some sort of agreement."

Draco bent his head lower so that their lips were almost touching.

"Ginny Weasley! What do you think you are doing?" A sharp voice cut out through the air.

Draco and Ginny leapt apart in fright. Draco's back hit the wall of tent, but unlike the inside, the walls were soft like a marquee's and he lost his balance as the material gave way. Ginny reached forward to stop him falling, but in the end was pulled into the wall also. There was a slight ripping sound and that part of the fabric broke away, leaving Draco and Ginny in a sprawled heap on the ground.

After a moment's stunned silence, Ginny burst into laughter leaning half on top of Draco and surrounded by white material. Draco laughed also, attempting to get up.

Eventually they scrambled to their feet and Ginny turned to face Mrs Weasley, who was standing, red in the face, in front of them. Mr Weasley looked like he was trying hard not to laugh, at risk from being pummeled to death by his wife. Narcissa Malfoy was walking over also, looking confused.

"Um…hello mum." Ginny began.

"This is Mr Malfoy I take it." She said.

"Nice to meet you Mrs Weasley." He said, offering his hand. Mrs Weasley looked at it warily. Mr Weasley took it.

"I've heard about what you've done for my daughter. We're very grateful." He said awkwardly.

"It was the least I could do." Draco said, charming and flashing them an easy smile.

"Hmm, yes. We'd best be off I think. Harry and Ron are just getting their things. Ginny, have you got everything?"

"It's just in the castle, I'll get it."

She turned to go with the Weasley parents, and Draco began to move over to greet his mother.

"Ginny, about what I said…" Draco began.

"I'll owl you." She smiled at him, her eyes dancing with laughter.

A/N So, that's it! It hope it lived up to expectations, and not too fluffy. I don't think there'll be a sequel, I have sort of ended it. I'd really like you to review to let me know what you thought, including those that have read it but not reviewed yet. Please do! And once again could you recommend good DG stories, I never know where to start reading otherwise. Thanks to everybody!