Harry Potter climbed the stairs of the Burrow, tears in his eyes. They were never going to win. His final year at Hogwarts was soon to begin, and the world was at war. Voldemort and his minions were tearing the wizarding world to shreds, no matter how hard they fought. During this turmoil, Harry had seen more than his share of lives be extinguished. Dumbledore, Hagrid, Lavender Brown... the list went on and on.

But somehow, he, Ron, and Hermione managed to live on.

So did Ginny Weasley.

If the rest of the world were inside Harry's head at that moment, the world would've died. Harry James Potter, the eternal hero, was giving up hope. He was never going to stop fighting, but he didn't fantasize. He knew that if he looked reality square in the eye, he was facing a chilling defeat.

As these horrific thoughts pounded around his mind, Harry climbed the stairs to his and Ron's room. Technically, it wasn't his, but he was there for the summer. The Burrow was such a lovely place, with such lovely people. One person, in Harry's mind, was particularly lovely.

Whenever his thoughts turned to Ginny Weasley, Harry had trouble focusing. He'd see her long, firey hair whipping about as she danced in the moonlight, though he'd never seen her do this in reality. Harry supposed he'd fallen for her in fifth year, for reasons beyond his capability of understanding. Now that it was summer before their last year at Hogwarts, he knew he'd run out of excuses to talk to her eventually.

Harry paused at her door, running his fingers over the lovely sign that read Ginny Weasley. He smiled sadly. She spent a large amount of time in there, alone. Harry always wondered what she was doing. Occassionally, he'd hear the scratching of a quill and he passed, and he wondered what she was writing. They weren't ever letters, because Rosemarie, Ginny's owl (a gift from Harry) was always around. And she had finished all her schoolwork with Hermione, as they all had...

A sudden movement inside made Harry jerk his hand away from the sign. He froze, deciding he had no choice. If she found him prowling about outside her room, he'd have to tell her how he felt.

But she didn't come to the door. By the sounds of it, she began to dance. A soft pitter-patter of footsteps thudded on her floor and then he heard it. Her sweet voice, like sunbathed honey, was singing a high, joyous melody.

"Lift every voice and sing, till Earth and Hea-ven ring," she sang. It wasn't loud singing, but Harry, his ear nearly pressed to this amazing young lady's door, could understand every word. "Ring with the har-mon-ies of li-ber-ty. Let our rejoi-cing rise high as the list'-ning skies, Let it resound, loud as the rol-ling sea."

Harry slid to the floor, completely forgetting the letter he had been about to owl Sirius. That was why he was spying on Virginia Weasley in the first place. All he wanted was to hear more of her beautiful voice.

"Sing a song, full of the faith that the dark past has taught us," Ginny sang. A squawk of indignance drove a mental image into Harry's head. One of Ginny waltzing with her owl. He snorted.

The singing stopped.

Harry froze, sick. Her voice was like a massage for his soul. It was rejuvinating, and he didn't want it to stop.

"Did you hear that, Rosemarie?" Ginny siad in a high falsetto. "Somebody's out there, eh? Oh well, let them. I don't care." Then Harry heard rustling and clicks as Rosemarie was put back in her cage. Then he listened to Ginny change her mind about the cage and place the animal on its perch instead. He grinned. Ginny could be so frivilous sometimes.

"Where was I? Oh, yes! 'Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us." Harry jumped as her voice spiraled up form the low melody. It stayed high, becoming a hopeful almost chat of a song. "Facing the ri-sing sun of our new day be-gun, Let us march on till victory is won!"

Harry froze again. She was singing about their war.

He listened as she repeated it a second time, until he had it memorized. Then he stood silently and left, smiling, sneaking back up to his and Ron's room. He had an owl to send.

The parades were huge. The music blared. The smiles glowed. Dancers dancers. Choirs sang. Friends laughed.

The war had ended.

Voldemort was at last defeated.

As Harry stood with his arm wrapped around an ecstatic Ginny Weasley, whispered in her ear, "I love you."

"What?" Ginny hollered in his ear over the racket. He winced, and made a face. She laughed and kissed him quickly on the cheek.

"I said I love you!" he shouted back. Even as loud as he said it, Ron and Hermione, standing next to them, hadn't heard him.

Ginny beamed. "And I you."

And this gave Harry the opportunity to marvel over all that had happened with the two of them over the past several years.

Suddenly a loud melody rang in their ears. Harry knew he recognized it, and it took him a second to place it. Oh, yeah.

Lift every voice and sing till Earth and Heaven ring,

Ring with teh harmonies of liberty,

The trumpets and french horns and tubas blared, the drums pounded and the flutes twittered the melody that gave Harry the chills. All of a sudden, Ginny was too perfect. He gazed at her intently and she never even noticed. Her red hair fluttered over her face as her piercing blue eyes gazed at the band in rapture. Her lips formed the words bu he couldn't hear her speak them. Beside her stood the other two people that Harry loved the most. Ron and Hermione were joking and laughing together, the first Harry had seen them do in ages. Usually Hermione was crying and Ron was sitting in silence, staring at the floor, or wall, or whatever blank surface happened to be near him. Harry knew that they had missed each other but couldn't pull themselves from their hole of dispair. Every time they dug a notch to climb out, the notch collapsed and their hole only became steeper.

Harry understood he had felt the same way.

But now, nothing fazed him. His best friends were joyous again, and he had Ginny. Ginny, Ginny, Ginny. She filled his every thought when he was away from her, and filled his soul when he was with her.

And now she looked so happy.

"Will you marry me?" Harry blurted before he could stop himself. He hadn't expected her to hear, but the music died down as he spoke and she whirled to look at him.

"What?" She gasped.

Harry blushed. Though he meant what he said with all his mind, body, and soul, he hadn't meant to shout it out right then.

"I... I... I said... Ginny... I... Will you marry me?"

Ginny blanched. Her face drained of color. She doesn't want to. She's going to say no. Harry decided that if she said no, he would throw himself off a cliff as soon as possible. No, not really, but she had to say yes.

"What?" She said again, only louder. Ron and Hermione were watching now. "Are you serious?!"

"Yes!" Harry shouted, feeling extremely nautious.

Ginny began to cry. "Yes," she echoed him. "Yes, yes, yes!" And she threw her arms 'round him, sobbing. Harry noticed she wasn't the only one. Ron looked misty-eyed and Hemione had pearly tears rolling down her cheeks.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing as song full of the hop that the present has BROUGHT US!

Ginny clung to Harry, her face now bright with joy.

"Oh, dear," Harry said suddenly.

"What, love?" Ginny whispered.

"I don't have a ring or anything yet."

Ginny laughed. She really truly laughed. Her head thrown back, she cried to the glorious heavens. "Oh, Harry," she said, still giggling. "Do you think that matters to me? After all these years of waiting?"

"Yes! This isn't exactly romantic." Harry flushed, angry with himself.

Ginny planted a kiss on his lips. It was brief, but it was perfect. "There. Now it is." And she stood, ran to Ron, and hugged him joyously. Hermione worked her way over to Harry and he grabbed her and twirled her around and aroung while she shrieked with laughter.

"That was perfect," Hermione whispered in his ear.

"You think?"

"I know."

Just then, the song began to repeat. Harry began to sing along loudly. His voice wasn't half bad. "Life every voice and sing-"

"-till Earth and Heaven ring," Ginny shouted. "Ring with the harmonies of liberty."

"Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies," Harry sang.

"Let it resound loud as the rolling sea..." Ginny trailed off.

"That song... I heard you sing it in your room six years ago," Harry told her.

"Really?"

"Yeah..." Harry was cut off by another kiss. He grinned, embarrassed.

"I love you, did you know that?"

"I would hope so, as we're getting married-" Ginny laughed and he stopped.

"When I heard you singing that, just then, it was like the whole world was singing to me. I felt sooo good, Harry. So happy." Ginny rambled on, beaming. "I love you, I love you, I LOVE YOU!"

"Well, what's this? A fresh preposition?" One of the conductors from the parade appeared at their shoulder. They nodded, and he dragged all four of them onto the parade float. "Wave," he said, beaming. He announced the engagement to the crowd, and they hollered for Harry Potter, no longer a lonely bachelor. The song that would forever remain in their hearts blared again, and Harry danced with Ginny, not caring what the crowd thought about it.

He was happy again.

And the war was over. He too, could hear the whole world singing.