Finishing Touches

CHAPTER 5

The students arrived back at Hogwarts, classes started again, Draco grew sullen once more, and Ginny fell back into her routine of living each day just like the on before. Ron stared at the ring on her finger and asked, "Did you get my gift?"

Harry was more stressed. Everywhere he went, he unconsciously held one hand against his forehead, trying to cool his burning scar.

"I'm ready to get it over with," Ginny heard him telling Ron and Hermione in the library. They had been back at Hogwarts for three weeks, and it was the first thing she'd heard him say.

Ginny edged closer, unsure if he would continue talking if he saw her.

"You can't," Hermione argued with him. "Tell Dumbledore."

"He knows," Harry said wearily. "It's got to come down to this sooner or later, and I'm ready to end it."

Ron was rapidly chewing at his inner cheek. "But what if . . ."

Hermione glared at him, but Harry shrugged. "Then so be it. I know where he is. He's in my head all the time. We're going to battle at Galloway Hill."

Ron gasped, and Ginny did too. "What?" Hermione asked.

Harry looked up and saw Ginny. He inhaled deeply but didn't say anything to her. "It's a graveyard. The same one he killed Cedric in."

"Why?" she asked.

Harry stood up. "I'm going to meet him in the morning. I want to get some sleep now."

Ginny sat down in the spot he left. "We're going too."

"No," Ron snapped. "You can't."

"Yes I can," she told him calmly. "Draco and I will be there. Harry's not going to fight him alone."

"Of course not," he argued. "Hermione and I will be there."

"Right. You and Hermione and Harry against Voldemort and the Death Eaters? Why don't you just kill yourself now?"

"What is so important about Galloway Hill?" Hermione interrupted as Ron winced.

"That's where Harry's parents are," Draco announced, joining them. "Why?"

"Harry's going to meet Voldemort there in the morning," Ginny told him. "He says it's going to be the final battle."

Draco nodded, looking thoughtful. "I'm going."

Ron jumped up angrily, causing his chair to fall and Madam Pince to swoop down on him.

"I don't think he likes me," Draco said calmly.

Hermione sighed and laid her head on the table. "We better tell Neville and Luna. They'll come too."

The night was strange and restless. Ginny and Draco slept in Seamus's unused bed, and Luna and Hermione slept in Ron's bed, forcing him to share with Neville. If she hadn't of been so nervous, she would have laughed at the two boys lying cautiously on opposite edges of the bed. Dean did laugh, until he figured out why they were all sleeping in the same dorm. "I'll go too then," he said firmly.

"I won't leave you," Harry told them, unconvincingly. "You don't need to sleep in here."

"Right," Ron muttered, looking ill each time he glanced towards Ginny and Draco.

"Maybe Luna should sleep in Neville's bed and Hermione should sleep with Ron," Draco suggested. "You might be more comfortable."

"We don't all share your non existent values," Ron snapped, flushing.

"Oh, shut it," Harry murmured. "We might die tomorrow. Let them do what they want."

The room grew silent, but Ginny was sure that no one slept very well.

CHAPTER 6

Ginny woke from a restless sleep before the sun rose. Hermione and Harry were awake also. Ginny climbed out of the bed and pulled on her robes, then leaned over to wake Draco. Everyone dressed silently, then crept down to the Great Hall at Hermione's insistence.

Luna was the only one who ate. "We're going by broom," Harry told them finally. "It's not really that far away. And he's waiting."

They followed Harry to the broom shed, silently mounted brooms, and kicked off. Ginny threw one final look over her shoulder, wondering if she would ever see Hogwarts again. There was a flash at one of the windows in the tallest tower, and she could have swore Dumbledore was watching them.

The graveyard was silent and eerily lit with the colored light of the rising sun. They left their brooms in a pile and followed Harry and he walked determinedly towards his parent's grave. They had barely reached it when Ginny heard a voice that made her blood freeze.

"Brought your little friends, did you, Potter? They're willing to die with you?"

Ginny reached up and tugged the hood of her cloak over her face. Hermione had suggested that they wear them so that the Death Eater's would not know exactly who they were. Ginny was pretty sure she wanted to make sure Mr. Malfoy did not know Draco was fighting.

"Avada Kadavra!" Harry screamed, causing a tombstone to split down the middle.

Voldemort's laugh filled the morning air, and Death Eater's began to apparate around them. It only took seconds for the curses and hexes to begin flying. Ginny was trying her hardest not to use any unforgivable curses, but the Death Eater's were, and out of the corner of her eye, Ginny saw a shape crumple to the ground. Harry and Voldemort were fighting each other like Muggles, while using their wands to fight off those around them. Ginny ducked behind a tombstone as a Death Eater screamed "Cruccio" at her, and she glimpsed pale hair under the cloak and knew it was Draco's father.

"You wear my son's ring, little girl," she heard him hiss. "And for that I will kill you!"

The stone she was hiding behind cracked and broke into two pieces, and as she scrambled away, she saw Draco charge his father. Mr. Malfoy glanced at him and shouted a curse Ginny had never heard before. Draco staggered, clutching his side. Ginny ducked as Mr. Malfoy's wand shot deadly green light at her. "Avada Ka-"

She watched in horror as Draco tackled his father. "Cruccio! Cruccio! Cruccio!" Mr. Malfoy fell backwards, hitting his head against a thick headstone and stopped moving. Draco didn't watch; he moved forward, attacking more Death Eaters.

With in moments, the graveyard was silent and Harry screamed, "Accio wand!" Hermione lay on the ground, her arm crumpled underneath her, and her wand flew towards Harry. He caught it before Voldemort had a chance to recover from Harry's last blow. "Avada Kadavra!" Harry's voice echoed several times before fading away.

"Is he dead?" Neville pulled off his hood and stared down at Voldemort's body.

"I doubt it," Draco said grimly. "Not if Harry didn't use his own wand."

Ginny stepped closer and pulled back her own hood. Her entire body ached with a pain more fierce than any she had ever known. "Avada Kadavra!"

She was surprised to hear other voices join her own, and she watched in horrified fascination as Voldemort's body rose off the ground and then flopped limply back down. Ron, Draco, Neville, and Dean had cursed him also.

"We've got to get back," Neville said finally. "Hermione's out cold, and Luna's arm is broken."

Ginny stared disbelievingly down at the pale, evil body that was crumpled below them. She could hardly believe it. This was it? It was over? She hadn't seen what happened between Harry and the Dark Lord, she had been too busy fighting off Mr. Malfoy, but one look at Harry's blank, empty face told her there was much, much more that had happened.

"We can't fly," Dean said finally. His robe was torn down the side and there was a vertical cut across his face, slowly bleeding.

"The Knight Bus," Ron said softly, his eyes flicking back and forth between Hermione and Harry.

Neville nodded. "We need to go. Before any more Death Eaters come. We need to tell Dumbledore." He helped Luna to her feet. Dean and Ron picked up Hermione, and even though Ginny knew there was an unseen injury on Draco, he helped her escort Harry to the road.

Neville and Luna arrived first, and when Neville stuck out his wand, it appeared as though it had been waiting for them.

"Well, let's go," Stan began to chide them, and then stopped short. "What have you been doin'?"