Another Turning Point

Epilogue

(Draco's POV)

So that was that. I fought alongside Dumbledore and Potter and the others. I sacrificed my family and everything I had been brought up with because I learnt that I had a choice. The choice to stand up for what I believe, not what I'm told to believe.

That's what Harry Potter taught me. And when the final battle came I fought against Lucius, and I couldn't call him my father. My mother was against me too. It grieved me knowing that however much I begged and pleaded with her she would stay faithful to her husband, all because she loved him. She couldn't betray him because she loved him more than she loved herself. So she died for him and his cause. She was by his side until the very last. My only comfort was knowing that she would not have to face any punishment for everything she'd already done, and at least if they were dead I wouldn't have to give evidence against them to the Ministry. I don't know if I could have spoken out knowing that my words would be her doom.

Harry was right of course; he died like he said he would. I cried, I stood in the middle of all the carnage and slaughter and cried because this boy who loved me could never hear me say thank you. He saved my life, and I couldn't even do him the courtesy of loving him back. Sometimes I think that maybe he wanted to die though. Or perhaps it was just something he never thought about, he died because that's what he had to do. In doing so he saved the world. Now we're changing it. Hermione as been a great help to me ever since. She persuaded Ron to let me be best man at their wedding, though everyone present knew it should have been Harry Potter. It must have been difficult for Ron for that very reason, and especially because of the way I'd behaved in the past. But he was willing to make an effort and in time he learnt to trust me. Even to the point of getting me to be Godfather to their son Fergus. Its an old Irish name, it means man and choice, I think Hermione chose that name on purpose, to remind me what I learnt.

So pretty much everyone lived happily ever after. Yes a lot of people died, people were betrayed and families torn apart. But new families were made, the kind you choose not the one's you are given. Hogwarts still teaches witchcraft and wizardry, though Minerva McGonagall is headteacher now. As far as I know Snape is still teaching Potions and wanting to teach Defence Against The Dark Arts, Aeryn Weaving is still teaching Defence and pissing Snape off, and the Slytherins and Gryffindors still hate each other. Life goes on. And with every day that passes I feel a little happier. The world's problems will never stop, and there's not a day goes by when no one thinks of the terrors of the past. But despite all that I'm happy.

To think, one day 10 years ago I was lying bleeding to death on the floor of a prefects' bathroom, and that without Harry Potter and of course Professor Weaving, I would probably have died. Professor Weaving should get a mention I suppose, she's engaged to be married to Remus Lupin, apparently he proposed to her in the middle of the Great Hall because she accused him of being ashamed and keeping their relationship a secret. She's very lucky having someone love her that much.

I hope they're happy though. Sometimes love isn't good; it compromises people's choices. It makes people believe they are no longer able to do things for themselves, and perhaps they're not. Love can be your downfall. I wouldn't know because I've never loved anyone that much.

But I do know that I can make my own choices.