Together Again

Before Harry went to sleep, he needed to do one last thing. Ron and Hermione stayed inside, but he went back out again. While walking he noticed how bad the damage actually was. Not only all the people who had died. Also the forbidden forest, the castle, really everything had endured a lot.

He finally arrived where he was heading to, Dumbledore's grave. He took a last look at the Elder wand and then laid it back where it should've stayed. He closed the tomb again, with his own wand.

He stood there for a few minutes, thinking about the events of the past year. As he was standing there and his heart and mind finally had the time to calm, he realized how exhausted he was. The sun was already up again and he really needed to sleep. He turned around and walked straight to his bed, not even seeing a thing around him.

He climbed in the bed that has been his ever since his first day on Hogwarts. It seemed they never gave the bed to anyone else, as if they knew he was planning on returning. He was nearly going to lie down when Kreacher suddenly stood next to his bed.

"Do you need anything?" he asked. 

"A glass of water would be nice." Harry replied.

Kreacher disapparated and returned 2 seconds later with a glass of water. He drunk it all at once and then gave it back to Kreacher. He putted his glasses on the nightstand and finally lies down and immediately fell in a deep sleep.

He woke up as the first rays of sunshine landed on his face. He sat up, putted his glasses on and looked on his watch and saw it was 8 am in the morning. He figured out he must've slept over 24 hours. He did feel well rested now, apart from all the bruises and scrapes that were hurting.

He looked to his left and saw Ron lying in his bed. His eyes widened when he saw he was holding someone. He smiled when he saw it was Hermione. He stood up and walked in to the Common room. Madam Pomfrey immediately walked up to Harry. He looked surprised as she began to examine all the bruises and scratches and healed most of them.

"Better?" she asked. 

"Yes, thank you." He replied and then he walked out of the common room and went on his way to the great hall.

As he looked down the stairs, he could see that all the victims of the battle, lying there. He went down all the stairs and looked at them.

Even though it wasn't his fault, he still felt guilty. There were victims he barely knew, but when he saw the ones he did know, he felt even guiltier. The ones he was friend of: Lavender Brown, Colin Creevey, Severus Snape, Nymphadora Tonks and Lupin, leaving behind their child, and then Fred. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were standing there and as he went to them, he received a bone-crushing hug from Mrs. Weasley. He looked up and saw Mr. Weasley, tears in his eyes. After Mrs. Weasley released him, he gave Mr. Weasley a hug too.

He talked with them for a few more minutes and then went to the Great Hall. He ate his breakfast silently, trying to ignore all the people watching him. He knew they might have questions or just wanted to talk to him. He wasn't ready yet for that. He felt as if he was still missing something.

When he was done, he stood and walked out of the Great Hall. His eyes met with two brown ones and he knew what had been missing. The blood started to go faster through his veins and he didn't see anything around him, except her. He walked up to her and stood in front of her.

"Ginny." he simply said.

Her eyes were at once filled with tears. He slowly wrapped his arm around her waist and he felt Ginny's arm wrap around him and hold him tight.

He could feel her tears falling on his shirt and he was having a hard time keeping his tears in and they slowly started to fall to. Ginny took a deep breath.

"I missed you." She said. 

"I missed you to." Harry said, holding her tighter.

They released each other slowly and Ginny kissed him softly. It made Harry feel warm inside. Ginny took his hand and they were about to leave, when Kingsley, the new minister, walked to them.

 

"Harry, can I talk to you, in a quieter place. Ginny, you can come to."

Harry and Ginny followed Kingsley to an empty classroom. Once they were inside, Kingsley told them to sit down and started talking.

"As you know, Harry, there are still Death Eaters out there. What do you think about that?" he asked. 

"We should catch them." Harry replied. 
Kingsley smiled. 

"I thought you would say that, that you would say 'we'. I know you needed to destroy the Horcruxes and you had to kill Voldemort. But you don't have to anymore. Let it be done by the Aurors."

"But, sir, I can help, right?" Harry asked.

"Harry, I know you want to. But you've had enough for a while, don't you think? And you should do your last year on Hogwarts, since you missed last. And I think a certain girl wouldn't be to happy if you decided to battle again and she's going to be in your class, since you missed a year."

Harry looked at Ginny to see her with pleading eyes. Harry realized he couldn't make her worry like that again.

"Fine." He replied. 
Kingsley smiled again.
"
Good. Now I have something that you can do or must do, actually."
"What?" Harry asked.

“Well, most people know now that you had to be the one to kill Voldemort. But they don't know the whole story behind it. I'm only going to ask you to tell it once. Tell is this evening at dinner. Reporters will be here to. It will help people understand why relatives died and then they can move on."

"I'll do it." Harry said, nodding. 
Kingsley was about to walk out, but turned around at the door. 

"Oh, and Ginny, can I trust on you to make sure he doesn't sneak out to fight the bad guys?"
Ginny smiled

"Sure."
With that, Kingsley left.

Harry felt as if he should tell the whole story to Ginny. He knew it was going to take a while, but he thought that she should know. So he told her the whole story. At some points she was nearly crying and other points she was smiling brightly. By the time the story ended, Harry had stood up and now looked at Ginny.

"Do you think it's funny?" she asked angrily, standing up and walking towards Harry.

Harry's eyes widened and he walked backwards until his back hit the wall.

"What the hell, Ginny?" Harry said, while
Ginny walked further towards him and suddenly seemed to bump into an invisible shield and she glared at Harry. 

"I didn't do anything." Harry said, pointing at his wand that was still on the table. Ginny looked at the wand and then back at Harry. 

"Do you think it's funny to tell me that you died and came back to life?" she went on. 

"Ginny, I wasn't lying! I have proof!"
Ginny raised her eyebrows. 

"You have?"

"Yes. Look."
Harry showed her the bruise on his chest. It was the same bright green as the killing curse. Harry saw Ginny believed him and the shield fell away immediately. Ginny hugged him. 

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you."

"For a minute I thought you would hex Me."
"
I was, if it wasn't for that shield. How did you do that by the way?" Ginny said, releasing Harry. 

"Well, I'm not sure, but let's try."

Harry stretched his hand out towards his wand and Ginny watched wide-eyed as it flew to Harry without a word and he caught it easily. 

"Wow, that's like… super cool. Only Dumbledore and Voldemort could do that."

"Yeah, I sort of felt different since I died and I guess the part of Horcrux in me was taking part of my power."
At that moment Ginny's stomach growled. 

"Are you hungry?" Harry asked and looked on his watch. 

"Wow, it's far past lunch-time. We'll just get food in the kitchen than."

"Do you know how to get there to? Why do you know everything here?" Ginny asked. 

"Marauders map, actually, well, most of it. For the kitchen it's just the trick to tickle the pear."
Ginny frowned. 

"What?"
Harry rolled his eyes

"Come on, I'll show you."

He took her hand and as they were about to walk out, the door flew open without anyone touching it.

"Show-off", Ginny said and Harry just grinned widely.