With the End Comes a Beginning
Author's Note: First of all, you should know that this fic is FULL OF DEATHLY HALLOWS SPOILERS. Turn back now if you have yet to finish the book. This takes place immediately after the war has ended, the same evening. It is split into four parts, all conversations between two people, all taking place at relatively the same time. Enjoy :)

Edit: A bunch of people reviewed saying I should seperate the parts. On the original one I wrote in Word, they were seperated, but it deleted the seperations when I uploaded it to and I didn't notice. I fixed it now. Sorry about that!

He didn’t reply, he continued walking, his hands dug deep into his pockets, across the grounds. Hermione Granger tried again, “Ron?” she called.

She caught up to him and laid her hand on his arm. She caught a glimpse of his face in the moonlight and realized he was crying. She slipped his hand into hers, intertwining their fingers, and gave his hand a soft squeeze.

“Ron,” she said again.

“Hey, Hermione,” he said, still not looking at her. He wiped away a tear and looked away from her.

“It’s okay,” she whispered.

Finally he turned around to face her, pulling his hand from hers as he did so. “It’s not okay,” he said angrily, “He’s dead, Hermione. My brother is dead. It’s not okay. It’s never going to be okay.”

Tears began to stream down Hermione’s face. She enclosed his hand in hers once again. “That’s not what I meant,” she said, “I meant that it’s okay to cry.”

--

“Luna?”

“Oh, hello, Neville,” she replied, not turning around. She was sitting with her back up against a tree, holding her knees to her and staring at the lake.

“What are you doing out here?” asked Neville, clearly preparing himself for whatever she was going to say next, and wondering vaguely if it had something to do with Wrackspurts.

He was surprised.

“I’ve been watching the lake ripple and trying to find Orion,” she said, pointing unnecessarily at the lake and then at the sky.

“There it is,” Neville said, glad she was talking about something he had knowledge in, and directing her finger to a different spot in the sky, “See?”

“Oh, yes, there it is!” she said excitedly, “Now you have good luck!”

“Good luck for finding a star constellation?” he asked.

“Not necessarily,” she explained, “It doesn’t have to be a constellation. My mum always used to say that if someone was looking for something, and you helped them by finding it for them, you would have good luck.”

“Hmm,” he said, unable to find anything to say.

Luna laid down at the base of the tree, her hands behind her head, and sighed. Neville lay down next to her. Orion twinkled down on them, as did the other thousands of millions of stars strewn across the sky.

“Well, it’s all over,” he said. “Hard to believe, huh?”

“Yes, rather hard to believe,” she agreed, “I don’t think ‘over’ is the right word though. One thing may be over, but another is just beginning.”

“Hmm,” he said again, nodding.

“You were very brave, you know,” she said, causing him to blush, “Standing up to him and pulling the sword out of the Sorting Hat.”

“Thanks,” he said, “You were great too. Really great. All year helping us, you’ve been amazing.”

“Thank you,” Luna said, beaming, “And thank you for being my best friend, too, you’ve always been so nice to me.”

“You’re welcome,” he said quietly.

They lay quietly side by side in the grass by the lake, watching the stars, for quite some time before Luna spoke.

“Neville?” she asked, turning on her side to look at him.

“What?” he asked, his eyes still wandering the night sky, looking for constellations.

“Are you going to kiss me?” she asked.

“Wha-what?” he said, startled out of his stargazing reverie.

She continued on quite unembarrassed, “It’s just if you were, now seems like a good time, doesn’t it?”

“I-I suppose so,” he agreed uncertainly.

He looked away, his face hot, for only a moment rolling back toward her and kissing her softly on the lips.

--

Cho Chang stumbled blindly toward her favorite tree by the lake. After having been away from Hogwarts for a year, she was relieved and happy to be able to come back to the tree, her tree, now that the wizarding world was at peace again. When she came into sight of it, she began running. Finally she was there, running her hands over the familiar bark, breathing in its scent.

She went around to the other side to sit facing the lake. She didn’t notice that there was someone already there until she nearly sat on him.

“Jesus!” said the voice as Cho accidentally tread on his fingers, “What the bloody hell are you doing?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you! Who are you? Where are you? God, it’s so bloody dark. Lumos!”

Her wand tip ignited. She gasped.

“Malfoy?” she said incredulously.

“Jesus, Chang!” said Draco, trying to shield his face from her wand, “Will you not point that blasted thing so close to my eyes?”

She ignored him. “What are you doing sitting by my tree?” she asked incredulously.

“Since when is this your tree?” he said, his tone matching hers, “Go away.”

“No,” she said, “This has been my spot since first year, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Fine,” he snapped.

She slumped down against the trunk next to him. They ignored each other for a while, each caught up in their own thoughts. It wasn’t until Cho caught Draco looking across the lake at another pair that she spoke.

“What, do you like her or something?” she asked.

Draco seemed embarrassed that she had caught him staring at the couple. “No,” he said truthfully, “Potter can have her. She’s pretty and all, but I don’t like her.”

“Then why are you staring at them?”

“Why do you care?” he asked scathingly.

“I just can’t figure out why you would be unless you liked her,” she said.

“Well, I don’t.” he repeated.

“Okay, whatever.” she said.

Neither of them spoke for a moment. Then, surprising himself, Draco decided to answer her question.

“It’s just, it would be nice, you know, to have what they have,” he explained. Then, realizing what he had said, he turned bright red. “I should go,” he said quickly, starting to stand up.

“Yeah, I suppose it would be nice,” she said, ignoring his embarrassment. He sat down again. “Malfoy, why are you even here?”

“Fighting,” he mumbled.

“For what side?” she said coldly.

“I don’t know anymore,” he said, burrowing his face in his knees, not caring how ridiculous he looked, “Leave me alone. You don’t get it.”

“Okay,” she said, “sorry. But you know; it’s all done now. So you can- you can start over.”

“I know,” he said, looking out at the lake.

“Will you?” she queried.

“Will I what?”

“Will you start over?”

He paused before answering. “I…. I want to. I don’t know how that would go over, though.” He laughed humorlessly.

“You’re not evil, Draco, people will realize that,” she said softly.

“I hope so,” he said, “Well, I’d better go. I’ll leave you with your tree.” He stood up. “What’s so special about this tree anyway? It’s just a tree. It looks just like all the others.”

“In first year,” she said, “I didn’t want to stay at Hogwarts. I wanted to go home. I spent a lot of time out here, sitting by this tree, feeling sorry for myself. After a while it felt kind of comforting.”

“Oh,” he said awkwardly, “I guess- I can see how it’s your tree, then.”

She smiled. “Well, goodbye, Draco,” she said.

“Bye, Chang,” he said, and then added after a moments thought, “Cho.”

--

“There you are, Harry,” said Ginny Weasley, finally spotting him sitting in Hagrid’s garden. She took a seat next to him and glanced around at the grounds. It was all so…. Quiet.

She looked over at him. She could only see his profile. He looked- well, he looked like someone who’d seen a war.

“You’re alive,” she said.

“I’m alive,” he agreed.

“I- I thought you weren’t, Harry, weren’t alive.” She said, looking away.

“I know,” he said, “I’m sorry. But if I hadn’t pretended, then I really would be dead.”

“I know that now,” she said, “But still- I was so- so scared, Harry. The things going through my mind-”she shuttered and didn’t continue. Harry put his arm around her and they looked out over the grounds. They could see silhouettes of others sitting just like they were.

“Merlin, Harry, your hair has gotten really long,” said Ginny, running her fingers through his now almost shoulder length black hair.

“Cutting it wasn’t exactly on the top of my list of things to do,” said Harry, and she laughed.

“Can I?” she asked.

“Can you what?”

“Cut your hair.”

“If you want, yeah,” he said, “It’s rather annoying long. I don’t know how you manage it,” he added, eyeing her waist-length red hair.

She smiled. She pulled out her wand and muttered something Harry didn’t hear. “Here, turn around,” she said.

They sat in silence for a while, facing the lake, she behind him cutting his hair with her currently razor-sharp wand.

“There you go,” she said when she was done, “much better.”

Harry reached his hand back to the nape of his neck, which was now bare. “Thanks, Ginny,” he said.

Silence fell between them again.

“I-I’m sorry about Fred. I don’t even know what to say,” he said finally.

She nodded, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

“And Lupin and Tonks-”

“I miss them all so much already,” she whispered, “At least- at least you’re okay. If-if you had gone, too- I don’t even know.”

“Don’t think like that,” he urged.

“I know, I’m sorry,” she said. “Harry, I can’t believe it. He’s gone.”

“It’s awful,” he said.

“No, I don’t mean Fred,” she corrected, “Tom. He’s gone. I don’t have to be afraid anymore. No more pretending.”

“Pretending?”

“Pretending not to be afraid,” she elaborated.

“Oh,” he said. He took a deep breath. “Ginny, I owe you a lot of explanations. I know I do. And I’ll explain everything, I’ll tell you everything.”

“Shhhh,” she said, “I know. I know you’ll tell me. You don’t have to right now.”

He didn’t say anything.

“We have time, Harry, so much time.”

She leaned her head against his chest as the first of the morning sun rays punctured the dark night.