A/N: I wish I did, but sadly I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters.

Chapter One

Harry watched as Voldemort took his wand out, its bone handle visible for all to see. “This is where it ends, Potter,” Voldemort breathed. “I’ve waited for this moment for too long…” He raised his wand and yelled, “Avada Kedavra!!”

Harry raised his own wand and yelled, “Protego!” Voldemort’s killing curse careened off the shield Harry had created and flew into the crowd; every student ran, trying to avoid getting hit by the curse. Harry looked at Voldemort. “It’s going to take much more than that to beat me.”

Voldemort’s face contorted in rage, then he raised his wand again, the same time that Harry raised his. Harry cried, “Expelliarmus!” as Voldemort yelled, for the second time, “Avada Kedavra!” Harry’s spell hit Voldemort’s head-on, and the Killing Curse was sent back to its owner. Voldemort, realizing the danger, attempted to dive out of the way, but it was useless- his own Killing Curse hit him square in the chest, and he fell to the ground, dead, his last act to point a very inappropriate gesture at Harry.

Harry stood there, dazed. “I… I just killed him. The man who murdered my parents… is dead now.” He was shook out of his stupor, though, by the mass of Hogwarts students that had come out to watch that last climactic battle. Harry found himself borne on the shoulders of the multitudes, and he simply let out a cry of joy as the students carried him into the castle.

As soon as Harry was set down, he braced himself for Ginny coming at him at full speed to give him a giant hug. He stood there for a minute; no one came. Shrugging, he turned to the crowd. “ Voldemort is dead! Rejoice!” The crowd cheered loudly and bore Harry on their shoulders again. They maneuvered through the hallways and made their way to the Great Hall.

Harry jumped onto the Gryffindor table as they passed it. Just then, someone tapped him on the shoulder; thinking it was Ginny, he turned around as fast as he could, but he only found George there.

“Listen, mate,” said George, “I haven’t seen Ginny at all since about halfway through your fight (congratulations, by the way). Have you seen her?”

Harry began to get worried. “No, last time I saw her was before I fought Voldemort.” George’s face grew pale and he ran out of the Great Hall. Harry was about to follow him, but he was stopped by Professor McGonagall. “You might want to hear this,” she muttered to Harry, then stepped up to the front.

“As you all know,” said Minerva, in a magically amplified voice, “the Dark Lord was vanquished tonight.” Before the crowd could cheer, she continued. “Yet there is tragedy amidst the celebration tonight, I’m afraid.” Minerva braced herself, then said the most horrifying words Harry had ever heard.

“Voldemort’s second-to-last curse hit one of our students.”

Immediately, everyone began to search around for their friends. Minerva called for quiet.

“The fallen student,” she began, “was Miss Ginevra Weasley.”

A loud thud could be heard from the back of the room; everyone turned to find that George had fainted when he heard the news. Harry just stood there numbly, not wanting to believe she was gone. Ron came into the room, a bit late. “I heard someone had been killed. Did they say who it was?”

“Yeah,” said Harry, “we heard.”

Ron looked impatient. “Well? Who was it?”

Harry looked into Ron’s eyes, tears streaming down his face; Ron blanched and stumbled backwards. “Oh my God… was it…?”

Harry nodded. “It was Ginny.”

Ron turned around and ran out of the Great Hall. Harry, on the other hand, found that the only motion he could make was to drop to his knees; as the sharp pain of his knees hitting the floor registered in his mind, the tears he was afraid to show in front of Ron came pouring out of him, and he became oblivious to everything else amidst his wails. People came up to comfort him, but he shook them off. His final act was to let out an unearthly wail, like none the students had ever heard before; then Harry ran out of the Great Hall and disappeared from sight.