You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. -Mohandas K. Gandhi

---

“I’ll be taking questions now,” Moody said.

Reporters raised their hands eagerly and he pointed to one.

“Yes.”

“Finn Samuel. The Quibbler. Is it true that the Minister was behind these atrocities?” the man asked.

Moody glanced around then shrugged slightly.

“At this present moment, I’m not at liberty to discuss Minister Beckett’s association with what has happened over the past week,” he said.

“Will you acknowledge the fact that the Minister was in fact responsible for the deaths of those Aurors in that raid almost two and a half months ago?” Samuel asked quickly and Moody sighed.

“I am not at liberty to discuss anything to do with the Minister of Magic,” he said tersely.

Samuel smiled.

“Is the Ministry still hiding things from the public, Moody?”

To everyone’s surprise Moody chuckled.

“Let’s just say that I like my job very much, Samuel,” he replied. A few people chuckled then began raising their hands again. Moody pointed to a woman and she stood.

“Lisa Brock for Witch Weekly. For three days we’ve been getting rising body counts of the muggleborns who were lost in this tragedy. Can you tell us just how many lost their lives?”

Moody sighed and looked around again.

“As far as we know, three hundred and six people have lost their lives. Now all of these people unfortunately were living within a fifteen mile radius of the Ministry of Magic. We’re guessing that all the others who drank the solution have not been killed, though we do have Aurors going door to door, checking to see if there are any others.”

“Is there a way to get rid of the solution that was drunk?”

Moody shook his head.

“So far, we have not found a cure, but as long as something like doesn’t happen again we should not have a problem. The stone which was used has been destroyed, Albus Dumbledore has personally seen to that,” he answered.

“What about Draco Malfoy?”

Everyone looked to the back of the press room to see Reeta Skeeter standing there with her quill beside her. Moody scowled at her.

“What about Draco Malfoy?” he asked.

She smiled falsely and began to move towards the front.

“Well, the word is that Draco Malfoy was actually helping the Death Eaters get Ms. Granger. Isn’t that the same Draco Malfoy that the Ministry promised us was not a risk?”

A murmur spread through the room. Moody held up his hand for quiet.

“Draco Malfoy was a victim of the Process just as much as the muggleborns who died were,” Moody said. “He died by the hand of a Death Eater because he chose not to kill innocent people. I think that’s it for today, thank you.”

---

Harry held up his Auror badge to the guards of the third floor on St. Mungos. They nodded to him and he past by, glancing into the waiting room where most of the Weasley family stayed. He walked by and found himself standing in front of one of the private rooms. He knocked a couple of times and the door opened, revealing Mrs. Weasley.

“Oh Harry,” she said in surprise. She glanced behind her then turned back to Harry. “Come in.”

Harry went inside and paused when he saw Ginny sitting up in her bed. In front of her was a small house elf. Ginny was smiling as she spoke quietly with the little thing.

“Ginny,” Mrs. Weasley said and the woman looked up. When she saw Harry she froze for a second then looked over at her mother.

“Could you take Coren, mum?”

Mrs. Weasley nodded and picked up the elf, carrying it out the door. When the door closed, Ginny looked up at Harry. After a moment of awkward silence, Harry pointed to the bandages around Ginny’s arms.

“Do they still hurt?” he asked, sitting down in the chair Mrs. Weasley had been sitting in.

She continued to stare at him for a while then looked down at her arms.

“No… they don’t,” she whispered.

Harry looked over at the door.

“That house elf…”

“She was Draco’s,” Ginny responded and Harry looked back at her.

“Malfoy’s?”

Ginny nodded slowly, looking back up at Harry.

“She was found a day ago in some closet,” she said. Her eyes suddenly got watery and she brushed at them angrily. “She was terrified, Harry…” There was a moment of silence. Ginny sniffed and then looked down at her hands. “McGonagall came by and said she might be able to fix her.”

“That’s good,” Harry whispered.

They sat in silence for a while longer and then Harry stood up, moving over to Ginny’s bed.

“Look, Ginny-”

She looked up at him, her eyes searching his face.

“Were you scared?” she asked.

Harry frowned and she looked away.

“I always hated it when you were right… during the War… I never wanted to believe that being apart was the better thing…” She looked into his eyes, tears rolling down her own eyes. “You were always right though… you were right this time about Richard… and about the vaccinations… but you were also wrong.”

Harry shifted, staring at her. She bit her lip and more tears fell.

“Being apart is possibly the worst thing you could have ever thought of… because when I die I don’t want to die alone,” she murmured before Harry leaned in, pulling her to him and kissing her.

Every wall Harry had built around himself shattered into millions of bits around them, allowing him to finally hold her. They needed this. With everything that had happened, they needed this more than anything.

Ginny pulled away from Harry, eyes closed.

“I love you, Harry,” she whispered.

Harry’s eyes went over her face, taking in everything.

“I love you…”

---

The first thing that when through Hermione’s mind when she opened her eyes was that she thought she was dead. But then again, she doubted that dead people see white…

Maybe she had reached the end of that tunnel they always talked about…

Then why was there pressure?

It wasn’t pain… just a pressure.

She closed her eyes again and tried to remember what had happened.

She remembered hanging beside a tall blonde man who she felt sorry for.

She remembered a dark room where another man lay injured. She was crying…

She remembered being placed in a glass box, surrounded by at least a hundred people.

She remembered pain…

She opened her eyes and again she saw white.

Was she blind?

Blind people don’t see white, Hermione, she told herself.

Then why couldn’t she see?

She must have said this out loud because the pressure disappeared and suddenly she could hear someone chuckle.

The voice sounded familiar.

“Maybe if you took your head out of the pillow, you’d see something other than white, Hermione,” came the male voice.

Hermione closed her eyes again and tried to move. There was more pressure and then she felt air pass over her face.

She opened her eyes and blinked a few times before she found herself staring into two milky white orbs.

“Ron…”

He smiled and reached out to touch her cheek.

“Hey,” he whispered.

“What happened?”

His smile disappeared and he looked down at her hands, taking them in his own.

“Three hundred and six people died from the initial blast… Moody’s checking to see if there’s anyone else…”

“And the Minister?”

“He was killed by Narcissa…” he told her before looking up at her. “Malfoy didn’t make it…”

Hermione stared into his eyes for a moment then looked down at their clasped hands, feeling something move within her.

“I know…”

They were silent for a moment then Hermione looked up again.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed? Your wounds… they could kill you if you don’t get any rest-”

Ron held a finger to her lips, looking over her face. Suddenly Hermione felt enthralled by his white eyes as he stared at her. He leaned in and brushed his lips against her cheek.

“I’ve spent enough time resting, Hermione,” he whispered into her ear. “I think it’s time you and I got out of the hospital.”

Hermione pointed to the bandages that were so evidently constraining him.

“But your wounds…”

Ron smiled, standing up and grabbing the wand that was lying on the bed beside him. Hermione noticed that it wasn’t either of their wands, but wasn’t about to ask where he had gotten it from. He helped her out of the bed and pulled her close to him before disapparating.

---

When they appeared again, Hermione could see that the action had hurt Ron. He was clutching his stomach and wincing. Hermione placed a hand on his chest, biting her lip. He looked up at her and smiled.

“Come on,” he whispered. Hermione looked around and frowned.

“Hogsmeade?”

The small town was sleeping peacefully under the moonlight. It looked as if it had just rained; the shingles were glistening so much.

Ron pointed over to Hogwarts and took her hand.

“Come on.”

They walked in silence for a while as they walked up the gates of Hogwarts. The gate opened for the two and they walked over to the lake.

When they finally got there, Ron just stood, staring at it. Hermione watched him for a while, taking in his eyes and the scars that were all over his arms and neck. She reached out and touched one scar on his arm, drawing his attention away from the beautiful lake.

He looked at her and after a moment just started laughing. Hermione frowned, watching as he laughed, clutching his stomach.

“What?”

He pointed to her head and then to his.

“I guess we can grow our hair together, now,” he gasped, laughing harder as Hermione reached up and touched her head, only to find fuzz where her long brown hair had once been. Becoming indignant for some reason, Hermione hit him in the arm.

“It’s not funny, Ron,” she scolded. Ron continued to laugh, sitting down on the ground because he couldn’t stand up anymore.

“Yes it is,” he said with a chuckle. He turned to look over at the woods and Hermione gasped. He looked back at her but her eyes were on the back of his head.

“What?”

Hermione kneeled down on the ground and touched the spot on the back of his head where the giant ‘x’ had been. It was still there along with the burn of the pendant that had been slammed into his head. He reached up and touched it gingerly before shaking his head.

“Don’t worry. When my hair grows you won’t see it,” he assured her.

Hermione nodded and looked around. She looked over to the woods and frowned.

“What’s that?”

Ron looked over at it as well and sighed. It was a white tombstone just on the edge of the woods, facing the lake.

“That is Draco Malfoy…”

Hermione looked at Ron.

“They buried him here?”

Ron nodded.

“Ginny said that he died alone… so Dumbledore insisted that he not be buried alone…” He looked up at Hermione. “He won’t be alone as long as there are students at Hogwarts.”

She looked back over to the grave.

“I suppose not…”

She looked around again before looking up at the sky.

“It’s beautiful.”

Ron frowned and nodded.

“I thought of this… when I thought I was going to die…”

Hermione turned to look at him.

“Don’t say that…”

He looked up at her.

“I thought I’d never see you again.”

Hermione leaned in to kiss him but he stopped her. He ran his hand over her face, his eyes following the movement carefully before he stopped at her lips. He then leaned in and brushed his lips against hers gently, taking in the warmth of her breath as a comfort. He didn’t deepen the kiss nor did he pull away quickly. He just stayed like that, breathing her in. He finally did pull away though and watched as tears fell down her cheeks silently.

She opened her eyes and stared at him before leaning in and wrapping her arms around his neck, burying her face in his neck.

“Are we still getting married?” she asked, her voice muffled slightly by his cloths.

Ron smiled and pulled her closer; his eyes watching the giant squid glide across the surface of the lake smoothly.

“Yeah…”

“What are you two doing out here?”

Hermione and Ron looked up from their place on the wet grass to see Ginny and Harry standing there.

“I could ask you the same question,” Ron responded, holding Hermione close as she turned so that she was sitting in between his legs. Ginny sat down as well.

“I wanted to see Draco,” she said. Harry sat down beside her.

“Moody informed me that someone escaped from St. Mungos before they were supposed to,” Harry quipped, catching Ron’s attention.

“I needed to get out.”

Harry shook his head.

“Don’t worry. As far as I’m concerned, you two were found in London, looking for Ron’s eyes,” Harry responded, causing Hermione to smile.

“I see that you four are doing better.”

Startled, they all stood up and turned around to see Dumbledore standing there, smiling.

“Dumbledore!” Hermione exclaimed before hugging him, much to the old man’s surprise. Harry smiled and shook his hand.

“Thank you… for everything…”

Dumbledore nodded.

“My pleasure,” he said before turning to leave. “I hope you will all stay for breakfast. There’s a wonderfully made strawberry tart that I thought was very delicious when I sampled it in the kitchens.”

With that he continued up the hill until he disappeared inside the large fortress.

“I told you he was off his rocker,” Ron muttered and they all burst out laughing.

The End...

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed that just as much as I did. I always hate writing endings, but hey! they have to be written.

youknowme608: Thank you for reviewing!

hpfreaklol: I'm glad you liked it.

SpazzySalemRavenclaw: I hope you loved the ending!

ArtemisMagic: Well, at least he wasn't buried alone.

ela potter: Well, Harry and Ginny did get together, so you don't have to worry about her being with anyone else.

anonymous992: Sorry it took a while to update. I absolutely hate writing endings and it usually takes me a while to write one.

nextbestthing: I decided to leave this one with not as much information as the others. They all lived, who cares how?

ginevra-james: I don't want to say lover for the sake that she wasn't really saying that because she care about him as much as she felt sorry for him... but I suppose there is a very clear attachment towards each other that was shown. I guess.

Loyd1989: Well, for this one, I decided to end on a lighter note.

tamara72: Oh my is right! You hardly wrote anything:-)

Angleico3156789: I hope you liked it.

OzDust: Well, I figured, 'Once a Slytherin, always a Slytherin.' I guess he really was supposed to die that way.

Rumpleteaze: Sorry I didn't update as soon as you would have liked, but it takes me a really long time to write the ending. Even if it is short. I just don't like the idea of ending it.

smore4u1: Man, you must really hate me now. I haven't updated in at least three weeks. As for Draco, I think I ended that quite well, if I do say so myself. :-) I'm glady you enjoyed this story!

Hey! For those Ron/Hermione fans out there, I'm working on two different stories! Don't worry, I'll finish Imitation of Life. I'm just fiddling around with two other ideas. One, I know you'll like, but the other is something very unlike me and I'm just testing the waters. You know, seeing something else. I'll give you a snippet of the second one.

Pulling Out the Dasies:

“Ron!” she gasped, placing a hand over her heart as she tried to calm herself down. “Don’t do that!”

“I didn’t hear you saying that when Rand was trying to get into your knickers.”

Hermione could feel the coldness of his voice resonate off the walls and knew why the knob had been cold. She bit her lip and walked past him.

“It’s just business, Ron and you know it,” she said over her shoulder as she went into the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove.

“You seemed to enjoy it.”