Chapter 15
      
      Much later that day, everyone gathered together to say their goodbyes. Rand had taken them all back to the crater that had been Shadar Logoth so they could find their respective openings and return to their own worlds. While everyone mingled and talked to everyone else, Hermione approached Harry. They stepped a few paces away from the crowd.
      “Harry,” Hermione began, looking sad and apprehensive. “If you-“ she swallowed. “I’m sorry if you wanted to be the one to do it,” she said in a rush. She looked at him. There was no need to explain what she meant.
      Harry had wanted to kill Voldemort, had believed it was his destiny. But he found he was satisfied. He was past his need for revenge. Besides, he had gotten Sirius back. If anyone deserved vengeance it was Hermione. He had killed her parents too- parents she had known and loved.
      Harry shook his head and smiled. “You were great,” he said. She looked relieved. Harry searched for a change of topic. Something strange occurred to him. “Hermione,” he said, “the prophecy said that I had to kill him. How could you have done it?”
      At this Hermione smiled. “Well, I was thinking about that, Harry. Prophecies are very sketchy,” she said, displaying her usually skepticism of Divination. “The prophecy said that he had to die by your hand. Well, it wasn’t exactly your hand, Harry, but it was your sword.”
      Harry blinked. “My sword? But that doesn’t belong to me. It’s Godric Gryffindor’s.”
      Hermione shook her head, smiling wider. “It used to be Gryffindor’s, Harry. Just like Voldemort inherited Salizar Slytherin’s ring, you inherited Gryffindor’s sword.”
      Harry stared at Hermione. “So you’re saying…”
      “You’re Gryffindor’s heir, Harry! He’s your ancestor!”
      Harry shook his head in wonder. “It makes sense, I suppose.” He was stunned. “Thanks, Hermione.”
      Hermione blushed. “Well, we would have figured it out eventually.” She shrugged.
      They turned back to the group, who were just finishing their goodbyes. They all went to their respective openings. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Sirius, Lyra, Will, and Malfoy went through the opening at the bottom of the crater. They walked back to the Burrow in silence. Malfoy hung at the back awkwardly, lost in his own thoughts. None of them had seen him since they returned to the castle. He had been put immediately into a bed while they all had breakfast, and ate later on, while the rest were still asleep.
      The entire group stopped in front of the Burrow. Sirius addressed them all. “It’s good to be back, and I thank you all for it, but I have to go.”
      “You won’t even come in for dinner?” Ron asked. “Mum’ll kill you when she finds you.” He grinned.
      Sirius returned the smile. “I have matters to attend to, namely recovering my estate, among other things. I’ll be sure to take advantage of Molly’s cooking sometime soon.”
      Lyra took Will’s hand and said. “We have to go too.” Everyone looked at them. “The openings are still there, leaking Dust. Will’s the only one who can close them, at least until you find another spell.” She paused. “Last time we split apart so neither of us would die early from being in a world that we don’t belong in. This time we’re going to do it together. We’re going to go back to Will’s world and start there, and then find all the openings we can in our worlds, and close them. If you haven’t found a way to close them before then, we’ll move on to other worlds.”
      “We’ll find a way,” Hermione told Lyra determinedly. “Whatever Voldemort’s done, we can undo.”
      Lyra smiled. “If you have, then we’ll leave our one opening and use it to go back and forth between our worlds so we can live as long as we can.” Lyra and Will looked at each other. Harry felt sad for them, but they looked happy. He glanced at Ginny out of the corner of her eye, then looked back at Lyra and Will. Ginny must have noticed, because she took hold of his hand.
      “Just leave the opening into Number Twelve open,” Hermione told Lyra, “and come visit every once in a while. And we can let you know how it’s going. If that’s okay with you, Sirius?” Hermione asked.
      “Of course,” he said kindly. “And if they want to go back, I’ll take them with me now.”
      “Thanks,” said Will, and Lyra smiled.
      They said their goodbyes, with many hugs and a few tears. The only one who stood apart was Malfoy, who was staring off into the distance as if he did not know anyone else existed.
      Sirius put a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Take care, Harry,” he said, smiling. Harry smiled back, not trusting himself to speak. Sirius glanced at Malfoy, then back at Harry. “I’ll see you soon, I promise.”  A moment later, Sirius, Lyra, and Will were gone.
      They all stood quietly after they had gone. Malfoy still stood apart, staring at nothing.
      Ron looked over at him. “What’s he doing?” he said, not altogether unkindly. Harry stared at Malfoy, unsure what to do. He was not sure how he felt about Malfoy now. Harry had kept the promise he had made to the boy’s mother as best he could, so he could be done with him. But despite himself, Harry felt himself feeling for Malfoy. He had just lost both of his parents, after all. And he clearly had been used by Voldemort, like many innocent people. Malfoy was far from innocent, but Harry did not think he was evil. Dumbledore would have given him another chance. Harry decided he would too. He opened his mouth to speak, but Ginny spoke first.
      “He has nowhere to go,” she said evenly. “He probably can’t even go back to school after letting the Death Eaters in.” She paused, eyeing Malfoy, then looked at her brother. “He did save your life, Ron.”
      Ron nodded reluctantly. At this, Hermione took a deep breath and walked over to Malfoy. She stood directly in front of him, looked him in the eye, expressionless. The others watched silently. Malfoy shifted his eyes to Hermione, looking suspicious. For a moment Harry thought he might call her a Mudblood or do something equally stupid, but he did not speak, just looked at her.
      “Once McGonagall hears about what happened, she’ll let you back in school,” she said. “We’ll tell her,” she added. Malfoy’s expression turned from mistrust to an unreadable expression unlike any Harry had ever seen on his face. Hermione went on. “And I’m sure Mrs. Weasley will let you stay here until school starts.”
      At this Malfoy opened his mouth as if to speak, but stopped. He looked at the others. First Ginny, then Ron, then finally at Harry. Their eyes locked for almost a full minute. Finally Harry gave a an almost imperceptible nod. Malfoy nodded in return, looking at the door of the Burrow nervously.
      “Alright then,” said Ginny. “Let’s go in and save Mum from a heart attack.”
      They filed in through the door, Ron leading the way and Malfoy bringing up the rear. They walked into the kitchen and Mrs. Weasley screamed in excitement and hugged everyone in the room, even Malfoy, who was caught quite off guard. The twins stampeded down from their room.
      “Let me get you some food!” Mrs. Weasley cried, and began magically preparing twenty things at once.
      “Tell us everything!” the twins said together, but Mrs. Weasley interjected.
      “Not until they’ve eaten, boys! Not a word of it! Fred, George, you help me with dinner. The rest of you, find our guest a suitable place to sleep.”
      They all went upstairs. They set up Malfoy in Percy’s old room. When dinner was ready soon after, they all rushed downstairs. The twins had gone back up to their room. They sat at the table and a moment later the twins were back. The walked casually behind Malfoy’s chair and then suddenly threw a couple capsules in the air above Malfoy’s head. They popped in midair and created a small but thick black cloud, and gallons of water poured down from it right onto Malfoy’s head. “Boys!” screamed Mrs. Weasley. The twins sat down on either side of him and began eating as if nothing had happened at all. After perhaps ten seconds and twice as many gallons of water, the downpour finally stopped. Malfoy sat gasping, shocked.
      “Sorry pal,” Fred said, clapping Malfoy on the back. “That was just for being a git for so long.”
      “But don’t worry,” George chimed in. “Just a couple more pranks and you’ll be alright.”
      “Right as rain, in fact,” added Fred.
      Everyone waited for Malfoy’s reaction, except the twins, who had gone back to shoveling food into their mouths.
      There were several seconds of very tense silence. Then, something very unexpected happened. Malfoy began to laugh. He chuckled at first, then closed his eyes, his entire body shaking with laughter. Ginny was next. She giggled, and then everyone else began laughing, even Mrs. Weasley, though she told the twins they would be mopping her floor by hand. They all laughed, and continued laughing, long into the night.

The End.