So, here I am, finally, with the epilogue. I'll warn that there are very strong spoilers for those of you who have not read Deathly Hallows, as it is practically just recounting the ending, but in a version to go with my fanfic. Merely tying up loose ends, to be truthful. I'm sorry it took so long, and I really am relieved it is finally finished. I've been very busy with school, and copying pieces from the book was a little boring, but oh well. I'd like to thank all who reviewed (Eruwaedhiel Malfoy, Miss Devil's Kiss, MeggyandHaku, Rasbery1298, Secret World, and Maxie1514) and all who put me on their story alert (GothicSorceressRikku15, J. , MsDracoMalfoy721, WeepingCherry, HoneyDuck, ScaryKitten, Lil59, Tristan Cartier, Gogapaig, and, of course, Lurking Princess) so much for reading my stuff, and giving me the encouragement to keep writing. I really appreciate it, and it makes me so happy to receive a review or know that someone is waiting to read more. It may be a while before I write any more fics, as I am very hooked on RP at the moment. Anyway, I hope you all like it, and please let me know whether you liked it or not, or tell me something constructive on how I can improve. Thanks so much again, love you all!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Epilogue

The battle was raging. Hundreds of Death Eaters were casting every curse imaginable, humongous giants were milling into the grounds, and the sounds of screaming and great explosions ripped through the air. Fear filled the mind of every defender of Hogwarts, and every defender of Harry Potter, as each moment they spent praying that their friends, their family, their future, would be safe. There were only two choices that night: sleep forever, or not sleep at all.

'Luna, watch out!' yelled Neville Longbottom, leaping forwards to pull Luna Lovegood out of the way of an oncoming curse. He slipped on the grass, bringing them both to the floor.

'Be careful Neville.' said Luna, a note of seriousness in her dreamy voice as she helped him up again. 'We don't want to get trampled.'

'Thanks.' He gave her a brief smile, glad to see that she, for one, was keeping a cool head, and then turned, sending a Stunning Spell right into the face of the nearest Death Eater.

'Do you think Harry will have found the Diadem yet?' asked Luna from behind him, also firing spells.

'I don't know. I hope so. It seemed pretty important for some reason.' He sent another enemy dancing off into the midst of a crowd of duellers, his legs twitching rapidly about.

'Perhaps if he finds it he thinks he'll be able to work out how to defeat You-Know-Who. Though I can't imagine what he'd look like with a tiara on his head.'

Neville almost laughed, a funny image of what she had just mentioned popping up in his mind. Just then, as part of one of the towers was blasted away and all came tumbling down over to the west, a large amount of gold and silver sparks were fired into the air over by the front gates, resembling fireworks. 'Look Neville!' said Luna, pointing. Neville looked over, to see a crowd of people marching through the gates, all wearing robes of gold and silver, a picture of a scarlet dragon embroidered on the front.

'Who are they?' asked Neville, confused. 'Are they with us, or with You-Know-Who?'

Luna stared for a moment, trying to make out some of them. It wasn't until the faces of the two people in front, a girl with fiery hair and a blonde boy, that a huge smile crept over her face. 'They're with us.'

Neville looked on, confused, as he recognised the people who abandoned their marching parade and ran into the crowd of fighters, the others soon following them, shooting curses at the Death Eaters. 'Ginny, and Malfoy?'

...

Draco rushed into the crowd of fighters with the rest of the Dragon Dynasty, the crowd of peace keepers who had accompanied them all the way from the four corners of Europe, Ginny close at his side, yelling every curse he could come up with as he pointed his wand at every person wearing Death Eater masks. It seemed they had arrived with perfect timing, the battle having only just begun. And even more perfect timing: incredibly, for the chaos around them was enough to block out anyone's concentration, Draco spotted two people running up the steps into the castle, who could only be Crabbe and Goyle. Six years of hanging around with them made their figures and the way they moved unmistakeable. And something told Draco that he ought to follow them.

'Ginny, listen.' he said, shouting over the noise. 'I need to leave you for a short while. I've just seen Crabbe and Goyle run into the castle, and I've got a feeling they're up to something, other than fighting that is. Stay close to Max. He'll take care of you.'

He saw Ginny glance at Max, the leader of the Dragon Dynasty, with her eyes narrowed, before she glared back up at him defiantly. 'I won't be separated from you.'

'Please Ginny, I want you to stay out of harm as much as possible. You weren't even supposed to come tonight, but I let you.' He thrust his wand forwards behind Ginny, repelling an oncoming jinx.

'No Draco, I'm coming with you. If I am meant to die tonight, then I will, no matter who I am with or where I am. And if that is so, I'd rather be by your side.'

Draco swallowed hard, looking up at the lights of the castle in his hesitation. Ginny was right. If death wanted her, he couldn't stop it from taking her. And after all, the defenders of the castle seemed to have kept the Death Eaters out so far, except of course Crabbe and Goyle. Giving in, he grabbed her hand, and forced his way through the crowds of fighters, shooting more spells here and there and blocking others when necessary. With a great struggle, they managed to break through into the somewhat less crowded Entrance Hall, and Draco ran up the marble staircase with Ginny. He had no idea where they could have gone, and neither, it seemed, did Ginny. He stopped on the first floor, looking around, when suddenly a Hufflepuff boy came running down the stairs from the floor above.

'Ernie!' shouted Ginny, rushing forwards and pulling Draco by the hand. 'Ernie, we're looking for Crabbe and Goyle, have you seen them?'

'Ginny?' Ernie stared at her in shock, and even more so upon seeing Draco clinging to her hand, but nodded all the same, looking back at Ginny. 'Yes, I passed them up on the fifth floor, muttering something about Gryffindor Tower. I managed to hide as they passed though.'

'Okay, good, thanks so much Ernie!' Ginny pulled on Draco's arm as she hurried up the second set of stairs, but Draco was already following quickly. Ten minutes later they were running up the last set of steps, panting wildly, but came to an abrupt halt. The seventh floor corridor was blocked off, the ceiling and part of the wall having collapsed. 'This way!' yelled Ginny, and they headed around a corner, into the corridor Draco recognised as the one which harboured the Room of Requirement. It wasn't empty. Dragging Ginny behind a large vase, he watched as Crabbe and Goyle went through the door into the Room, talking about Harry Potter and a diadem. Ginny stared at him after they disappeared, her face visibly white beneath her freckles even in the darkness.

'I can't let you come with me.' he whispered, in answer to her unspoken question. 'If Harry is indeed in there, for goodness knows what reason, I'm going to have to trick Crabbe and Goyle into thinking I'm with them so that I can help him. I can't do that and protect you at the same time, it's too suspicious. Even they aren't that stupid.'

Ginny nodded. 'I understand.'

Draco breathed a sigh of relief, kissing her forehead, and then her lips. 'Wait for me out here. I'll be back as soon as I can. Make sure you hide behind here though, just in case.'

Ginny nodded again. 'I love you Draco.'

He looked down in to her fearful eyes, and kissed her again. 'I love you too Ginny.' After one last kiss, he pulled away, releasing himself from her hold, before crossing the short distance between the vase and the door and slipping into the Room of Hidden Things, the sick feeling of familiarity washing over him immediately. He walked forward, hearing voices coming from just beyond the vanishing cabinet which had been the source of all his troubles the year before.

'Malfoy virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things all last year, we know how to get in.' Came Crabbe's voice.

'We was hiding in the corridor outside,' grunted Goyle. 'We can do Diss-lusion Charms now! And then you turned up right in front of us, and said you was looking for a die-dum! What's a die-dum?'

'I was just wondering that myself.' said Draco coldly, emerging around the corner, his wand raised. The three people in the aisle of junk turned to look at him, but seconds later, Ron Weasley's voice was heard from the other side of the wall.

'Harry? Are you talking to someone?'

With a whip-like movement, Crabbe pointed his wand at the fifty-foot mountain of old furniture and shouted 'Descendo!'

'Ron!' Harry bellowed as the pile began to crumble and a scream was heard elsewhere. 'Finite!'

The flow of falling furniture was steadied, and Draco saw Crabbe move to repeat the spell. 'No!' he shouted, grabbing his arm. 'If you wreck the room, you might bury this diadem thing!'

'What's that matter?' said Crabbe, tugging himself free. 'It's Potter the Dark Lord wants, who cares about a die-dum?'

'Potter came in here to get it,' said Draco, frantically keeping up the pretence to stop him from getting anyone killed. He would worry about keeping them from taking Harry to Voldemort later. 'So that must mean-'

'"Must mean?"' said Crabbe, turning on him ferociously. 'Who cares what you think? I don't take your orders no more, Draco. You haven't even been here all year. You were too busy helping blood traitors to run away from your own family.'

'Harry?' came Ron's voice again, before Draco could retort. 'What's going on?'

'Harry?' mimicked Crabbe. 'What's going- no, Potter! Crucio!'

Harry had lunged for something nearby; Crabbe's curse missed him but hit a stone bust, which flew into the air, sending a tarnished looking tiara upwards and out of sight in the mass of objects on which the bust had rested.

'STOP!' Draco shouted, panicking as he rushed forward and grabbed Crabbe's arm. 'The Dark Lord wants him alive-'

'So? I'm not killing him am I?' he yelled, throwing him off. 'but if I can, I will. The Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what's the diff-'

A Stunning Spell cam from nowhere, both Draco and Crabbe leaping out of the way, before spotting Hermione at the other end of the aisle.

'It's that Mudblood! Avada Kedavra!'

'No!' Draco gasped, but Hermione managed to avoid it. Harry, however, had become infuriated, and sent a Stunning Spell at Crabbe, who lurched out of the way, knocking Draco's wand out of his hand; it rolled out of sight into the junk.

But he didn't have much time to regret the loss, as both Crabbe and Goyle were charging at Harry, their wands raised. 'Don't kill him! DON'T KILL HIM!'

'Expelliarmus!'

Goyle's wand flew out of his hand, before he was promptly stunned by Hermione, and Crabbe somehow managed to avoid yet another spell from the newly appeared Ron. 'Avada Kedavra!' Crabbe yelled again, as Draco dodged behind a wardrobe to avoid another Stunner, seeing Ron avoid the curse just in time. But then, to his horror, he saw Crabbe performing a complicated wand movement, and before he could stop him, a burst of flame shot from his wand with a deafening roar. He heard Hermione scream as he jumped out from behind the wardrobe to grab the unconcious Goyle, without a wand to revive him, as Ron and Crabbe ran past. With no idea where he got the strength from, he heaved Goyle's body, dragging him down the aisle as fast as he could. Hearing the shouts of the others and Harry's fruitless attempt at putting the fire out, he managed to keep up somehow, falling a short distance behind, before they turned a corner and disappeared. Draco turned in the direction he thought the door was, but even then he doubted whether he would get them both out alive. Crabbe had vanished, and the fire, with its monstrous figures, was growing closer and hotter and louder. He ran half blindly through the jungle of junk, dragging Goyle's dead weight behind him, panicking, unable to find the door. The fire was surrounding them. With no other alternative, he began to climb a tower of furniture, pulling Goyle behind him, slipping several times, as the fire crept upwards. He reached the top with an enormous effort, coughing in the smoke, and saw two dark figures fly overhead. He yelled out in his last desperate calls for help, and, miraculously, the figures turned towards them. Harry's face became visible through the smoke as he reached a hand out to help Draco, but it was for nil. Draco's sweaty hand slid out of Harry's immediately.

'IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I'LL KILL YOU HARRY!' roared Ron's voice as he and Hermione appeared on the other broomstick. They hovered above them and heaved Goyle's body up between them, before Draco pulled himself up onto Harry's broomstick.

'The door, get to the door, the door!' He yelled in Harry's ear, pointing in the right direction. Harry didn't need telling twice, and swooped upwards again through the room, Draco holding tightly to the back of his robes. But then suddenly, he turned and dived again. 'What are you doing, what are you doing?! The door's that way!' He shouted, panicking as they headed straight for a fiery serpent's mouth. Harry grabbed something that was hurtling through the air, then turned back just in time, shooting for the door, where they collided with the wall opposite. The door sealed itself behind them as Draco rolled to the floor, coughing and choking up smoke as he filled his lungs with clean air.

'C-Crabbe...' he gasped, when he could speak again, looking at the stretch of bare wall where the door had been.

'He's dead.' came Ron's harsh voice. Draco stared blankly, unable to figure out how he was feeling about that certain piece of truth, but there was nothing he could do about that now. He got to his feet, and looked around for Ginny. She was supposed to be here. Usually she would have come running at the first sight of them.

'Where's Ginny?' He said, but no one was listening to him. They were all crowded around the tiara that Harry had found. Draco walked away, pausing only to drag Goyle away and revive him in the boys bathroom nearby, leaving him recuperating groggily on the bathroom floor. He ran out again, dodged past a pair of Weasleys duelling a couple of Death Eaters, and ran down the stairs, hoping to find Ginny, and possibly another wand on the way.

He weaved through crowds of fighters, making his way lower and lower towards the Entrance Hall, when suddenly he was grabbed by a Death Eater.

'Time to die boy!' he said, poking his wand into Draco's throat.

'I'm a Death Eater! I'm a Death Eater! I'm on your side!' He lied frantically. But the other had no time to reply. A Stunning Spell came from nowhere, and Draco looked around, only to receive a punch in the face from an invisible force which knocked him to the floor on top of the unconscious Death Eater.

'And that's the second time we've saved your life tonight, you two-faced bastard!' came a voice from above him. Draco almost laughed as he recognised it was Ron's, but was to busy rubbing his bleeding mouth to do so. He looked around, grabbed the wand of the stunned Death Eater, and jumped up again, to rejoin the fray. In the Entrance Hall, he found a few members of the Dragon Dynasty duelling Death Eaters, and joined them.

'Jean, have you seen Ginny?'

'I have not, Master Malfoy.' came the reply of the thick set French man. He looked somewhat worried at Draco's words. The Dragon Dynasty had been very fond of Ginny from the beginning. 'Not since she was with you. But if I spot her, I shall tell her you are looking for her.'

'Thanks Jean.' said Draco, feeling his stomach twist uncomfortably as he sent curses flying. This was madness. There were blood and bodies scattering the floor of the hall, and a stray curse had shattered the Slytherin giant hourglass, its emeralds sparkling across the stone flags. The fight went on for what seemed like a long time, dawn was approaching, many had fallen, until finally Voldemort's voice echoed across the grounds, telling them they had one hour to tend to their injured, before he came to claim Harry Potter. The crowds began to make their way into the Great Hall, dragging bodies and laying the dead in rows in the centre of the large room. Draco began to do the same, taking hold of the body of a girl he had known only by sight. He felt ill, looking into her blank eyes, and praying that he would never have to see Ginny's eyes stare at him glassy and empty in such a way.

He had moved three bodies into the Great Hall when he finally heard his name being called in the voice he longed to hear. He turned, catching a glimpse of Ginny's sobbing face before she threw her arms around him and buried it in his chest. He held her tightly, kissing her hair and breathing in her scent. 'Thank god you're okay. I was so worried! What happened?'

'Oh Draco, I'm so sorry. I was hiding, like you told me to, but then some Death Eaters came along and found me, and I tried to duel them, but there were too many, so I had no choice but to run away.' Ginny was shaking and sobbing, her tears pouring freely down her face and soaking Draco's front. 'And Fred is dead, Draco! Fred is dead, and mum is heartbroken! And I feel so awful, I haven't even seen him for the past year.'

Draco held Ginny as she sobbed, feeling a twinge of guilt at the fact that it had been he who had kept Ginny away from her family all that time. But there was nothing they could do about that now. All they could do was wait, and tend to the injured, until the battle recommenced...

Some time later...

'Avada Kedavra!'

'Expelliarmus!'

There was a bang like a cannon blast as the spells from both Harry and Voldemort collided in mid air, the green light flying back, hitting Voldemort squarely in the chest, as the Elder Wand flew from his hand in a great arc, to be caught neatly by Harry. There was a tumultuous outburst of mingled joy from the Hogwartians and terror from many of the Death Eaters, and everyone rushed forwards to embrace their saviour, the victorious Boy Who Lived.

Draco was in shock at the revelation that he had played an important part in Voldemort's death, and the fact that he was gone and they could be happy at last had still not sunken in. He was still fearing that something else was about to go wrong. He stared around himself, slightly dazed, and being buffeted this way and that by the crowd. He made his way away from them, to stand quietly in a corner, watching the exchanges of celebration around Harry, waiting until the moment when Ginny would come back to him. He jumped, however, as two pairs of arms wound their way around him from behind, but they were gentle.

'Oh Draco!' sobbed his mother's voice, as she began to bury him in kisses. 'You're alive!'

Lucius merely ruffled his hair, and when Draco caught sight of his face, he was watching him, half relieved, half wary. Draco merely returned his gaze with a glare of pure hatred. It would be a long, long time, if ever, before he would trust his father again, after the torture he had inflicted upon himself and Ginny. But for now, he ignored him, turning his attention back to his mother, glad to have her back, at least.

Everyone ended up in the Great Hall once more, a mixture of joy and grief surrounding them, and the Malfoy's sat alone in a far corner, not quite fitting in with the rest of the crowd. Draco watched Ginny from a distance as she spent time with her family, mourning for Fred Weasley's death. It was a long while before she saw him again, and came over, casting wary glances at his parents. Draco ignored them, and walked over to meet her part way, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her deeply.

'It is time to tell our family, Draco.' she whispered when they separated.

'I know.' said Draco, and he looked back at his parents, gesturing for them to join him, before they made their way over to the Weasleys, his arm around Ginny.

'Mum, dad, everyone,' Ginny announced, and her family looked up, a little surprised to see the Malfoys with them. They already knew of the relationship, Ginny having explained to them in the letter she had left, but it was still strange for them to see them together. 'You probably already know this, but Draco and I are together. We wish to marry.'

There was silence, tensed with shock and, in the Malfoys' case, dislike, but next moment Mrs Weasley rushed forward with a sob, hugging first Ginny, then Draco, and Mr Weasley shook his hand, before looking at Lucius and Narcissa, a very formal look upon his face as he forced himself to hide his dislike. 'Well, it seems that very soon we will all be part of the same family.'

'Yes, it seems so, Arthur.' said Lucius. And for a long moment they looked at each other, in obvious indecision, before they both rose their hands in unison and shook them. 'I must say, I never expected a daughter of a Weasley to take my name.' he said, with a half smile.

'Neither did I, Lucius. Neither did I.'

Seeing the exchanges of their parents, the rest of the Weasleys rushed forwards, all hugging Ginny, and shaking Draco's hand. The dislike was still there, it probably would be for a long time yet, and there was an aura of awkwardness over the group, but Draco and Ginny finally had their blessings, and it was enough.

Three years later, the couple were married, the wedding taking place on none other than the grounds of Hogwarts on a fine summer's day. By that time, Draco was pretty much trusted by the good side of the wizarding world, and his parents were respected to a certain extent. They had three children, all of whom were in Gryffindor, and the name Malfoy was no longer looked upon with hatred and distrust, but with admiration for Draco Malfoy's part in helping out the great Harry Potter in his role in defeating Lord Voldemort. They were happy, and lived in peace, which was all that would ever matter.