Cash and Burn (Sequel)

Chapter 15

The world was spinning, Harry's ears ringing. The student's, teacher's, and other survivors of Hogwarts were cheering. Voldemort was dead, for good this time. Harry was alive. He stared around the battlefield, taking in the dead bodies; the people he had loved and had loved him in return. People were beginning to rush around, casting what healing spells they knew. Hermione was screaming. Harry spun, releasing Draco's hand and rushing to his friends. Neville was leaned over Ron, spelling the bleeding boils closed, pushing Hermione away from his body to get her out of his way. She seemed to come back to her witty self a moment, falling to her knees and beginning to try to help. Ron was groaning in pain, Neville hadn't had time to cast a pain numbing charm. He looked up at Harry and dared to grin,

"Got it, huh? All those years," he groaned in pain again, glaring at Neville. Neville ignored him, "running from Fred and George finally paid off!" he was cut off as Harry drew his two best friend into a hug. Hermione beamed,

"you did it, Harry, you did it! It's over," she sobbed, holding tightly to the both of them. Harry stood, turning to Draco.

"What the hell, Draco? What did you do?" Harry asked, Draco and Blaise stood together, looking very relieved.

"I didn't have a choice, Harry, Severus and Narcissa came to me with Dumbledore. You wouldn't have fought Harry, not with me nearby. The odds of us losing were too great. So," Draco shrugged, staring at Blaise for help.

"So, we cast a bit of a dark spell, on Weasley- to protect you guys, and keep you safe while we were gone. He was the one to put the wards back up at Thronton House, though he never knew it. I cast a spell on Draco, another disillusionment charm...I'm good at those you know. You were one of the horcruxes, Dumbledore told us. We knew you'd have to die, and Draco wasn't going to allow that..." Blaise looked ashamed of himself. Everyone within earshot was staring at them,

"I'm sorry, Harry, we *had* to win. For Lilly. You wouldn't have let me be here. My powers increase yours, and we knew...through the bond... that I could keep you here when the part of Voldemort inside you was destroyed. I had to be here, and we had to keep the death toll to a minimum...had to keep you and Neville from being hurt."

"Harry, my boy," Dumbledore interrupted, "it was the only way. Trelwaney came to me, she had another prophecy. You would die on the field, just give up and not fight to come back when the horcrux was destroyed. Thousands more would die, so we came up with this plan... our young Slytherins, much like Severus, joined Voldemort- reporting back to me. That way they could protect you... and young Neville. He had a big part in this too, destroying Nagini. He would have had to be the next one to fight after you were gone. He was almost in your place, you'll recall..." Harry glanced over at Neville, who was standing now. He was shaking, fury written all over his features. He looked exactly how Harry felt. Slowly, the smaller Gryffindor came to stand beside Harry- both boys turning to stare at Blaise and Draco, who stood just as united.

Ron limped over, placing his hand on Harry's shoulder and Hermione followed, tucking herself into the group.

"It did work, mate. The war is over," Ron said, staring at his friend. Harry nodded numbly, glancing back at Neville.

"We did worry," Dumbledore said, gesturing at the entire group, "that it would backfire and the two of you would reject them, killing them."

"We insisted that you wouldn't. Though we did worry you'd escape the Weasley there, and give chase. Come after us, and get badly hurt or killed rushing in to our rescue. So we decided to stage Lilly's death," Blaise said, placing an arm around Draco's shoulders. "We figured that would keep you at Thronton, and you would keep Neville there in turn."

"So... you're... Lilly's okay?" Harry asked, "you're both okay?" At that moment, Draco winced in pain again, leaning against his best friend.

"Draco?"