Chapter 1: Aftermath

Harry walked out of the headmaster's office in a sort of numb daze, as if he was watching the devastation around him, rather than experiencing it firsthand. He felt different…detached. The stone gargoyle outside Dumbeldore's old office was split in two; the walls that enclosed the passage had huge chunks missing from where the spells had ricocheted off them and the floor was smeared with blood. Harry gulped back a sob. That blood… it was the blood of innocents. It represented his friends, comrades and of course, the many nameless bodies, of the young wizards and witches he'd never get to meet. He kept walking down, towards the Gryffindor common room, surveying the mess left by the war. "Harry," Hermione called from a little way behind him. He turned automatically, without remembering giving his body the instruction to do so. Hermione was pointing at Mrs Weasley – covered in dirt and blood- who was hobbling towards them. As she got closer, Harry saw how red her eyes were and the many tear stains on her cheeks; he felt a painful throb of guilt as he thought of her loss. She had given up so much for him, took on the roll of being be the mother he had never had, protected him and cared for him… and how had he repaid her? By getting one of her sons killed.

"Mrs Weasley," he choked, not sure where to begin. How does one even start apologizing for something like this?

Mrs Weasley said nothing, but rather grabbed Ron, Harry and Hermione and pulled them into a tight embrace. She held on for a long time and the three of them hugged her back just as tightly. When she finally backed away, she took Ron's face between her hands and kissed every bit of his face she could find, still more tears leaking out of her eyes. Ron flushed a bright scarlet, the tips of his ears turning a bright red but he didn't move away. Mrs Weasley looked Ron straight in the eye and smiled at him, "I love you my boy. You were so brave." Mrs Weasley patted Ron's head and kissed his forehead again. Harry looked at the gesture and felt a sense of longing. He caught Hermione's eye, who was standing next to Ron, their fingers laced. She smiled at him, through the tears in her eyes.

"I love you too, Mom," Ron said sheepishly, staring at the floor, his ears turning an even brighter shade of red.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley," Mrs Weasley said, her voice seeming to return to normal, "we just won a war. This is no time to be embarrassed by public displays of affection."

She smiled weakly and hurried off, back to the Hospital Wing to help attend to the injured.

"Well in that case," Ron murmured the look of embarrassment from his mom kissing him quickly changing into a look of determination. Harry and Hermione looked at him curiously and then with one swift motion he had pulled Hermione to his chest and pressed his lips feverishly to hers. Hermione squeaked out of surprise and then melted into him. Harry watched them, starting to feel a little awkward. Then he smiled. Awkward was good, awkward was normal. He left the two, still completely entwined, with a feeling of hope. Maybe, just maybe, they would all be able to sort of recover from this.

Harry didn't precisely know where he was going. He was hungry, exhausted and pretty lonely. But the last of those was very difficult for him to admit. He wondered idly if the room of requirement would still work, seeing as it had burned down. But that was only one room? That didn't include all the other rooms it could turn into… did it? He slumped against the wall of the passage he had strolled aimlessly in. Did it matter? He asked himself. His head lolled back and he closed his eyes. He knew that his dreams would be haunted with nightmares for a very long time and this time it would have nothing to do with the scar on his forehead.

"Harry?"

He opened his eyes and looked at the blonde girl standing in front of him.

"Hey, Luna," he called weakly and gestured for her to sit next to him and let his eyes close again.

They sat in silence for a while before Luna looked at him, he didn't have to open his eyes to know this, he could feel her eyes on his face.

"You need to take a shower," she said solemnly and Harry laughed. He could feel an enormous feeling of relief swelling in his chest and the thought that had been on the edge of his brain really sunk in. They had won. Voldemort was dead. He laughed again, loudly. The sound was almost hysterical.

"Yeah, I think I do." He sighed when he calmed down a bit and smiled at her. Luna giggled and held out her hand. Harry took it as she helped him to his feet.

Harry and Luna went to the kitchen and even without knowing about the trick with the fruit bowl portrait, Luna figured it out really quickly. There was a reason she was in Ravenclaw.

"Its Mr Potter," said a small house elf, his eyes were the exact same colour as Dobby's had been and Harry felt a pang of loss inside him. The house elf's eyes opened with awe and he gave the two wizards a large smile. He grabbed them both by the hand and dragged them to the centre of the kitchen.

"My name is Diggzy, Mr Potter and friend." He smiled.

"Diggzy is very happy that this war is over. Yes, Diggzy is indeed." He babbled.

Harry noticed that only half the amount of house elves as usual was busy in the enormous kitchen, he knew most of them had to be in the hospital wing. Digzy hurried to one of the colossal fridges and handed Luna a small bowl of fruit and nuts and a container full of what looked like some sort of pudding.

"Thank you," Luna called, smiling. Harry noticed that she still seemed very innocent, her features still resembling those of a little girl. It was a relief to see that at least someone in the school didn't look as if they had aged ten years in the space of a couple of hours. Luna hurried towards the door. It hung awkwardly off of its hinges.

"Where are you going?" Harry called, stuffing his mouth full of some fresh, delicious tasting bread.

"I need to go find my dad," she whispered, "These fruit are a Nargels's favourite food."

Harry laughed for the second time that evening and was again shocked at how quickly things were becoming normal. Or sort of normal at least. He watched crazy Luna leave the kitchen affectionately. He stuffed more bread into his mouth and let his thoughts wonder. He had assumed that the first thing his mind would have gone to would have been his battle with Voldemort. But it didn't. It, instead, wondered to bright red hair, hanging casually down the back of the most beautiful girl he had ever known. He thought of her blazing look, the way she understood him- like no one else had, the way her lips felt on his when she pressed her body to his… Harry shivered. The loneliness he had felt earlier returned , but with double the force this time. He jumped up, hurriedly thanked the elves for the food and then stormed out of the kitchen. He had to find Ginny.

Harry was extremely sleep deprived now, everything around him was bleary and blotchy as if he wasn't wearing his glasses. He noticed with a jolt, that he had forgotten about heading to the Gryffindor common room when Hermione and Ron had started snogging. His bed seemed to call to him, with the promise of sleep. But he couldn't go yet. He had to find Ginny. When he reached the great hall he pulled his cloak over him. There was still chaos in there, there were so many people. He remembered he had seen her with her mother before they had gone to Proffesor Dumbeldore's office. He walked over to where they had been and sure enough, he found her. She was sitting next to Neville and across from Bill and Fleur talking animatedly. She was grinning. The sight made him let go of a breath he hadn't known he was holding. She was okay. He grimaced when he remembered how close she had come to dying… if that curse Bellatrix had shot had been half an inch in the opposite direction. He closed his eyes and shuddered at the very different ending they had come to. But then he looked at Ginny, saw her weak smile, her shoulders moving up and down with the breaths she took. She was alive. Unlike Fred … and Tonks… and Lupin. He felt his eyes prickle at the thought of those he hadn't been able to save. Harry suddenly had an overwhelming urge to touch Ginny, to reach out and make sure that she was real but he didn't want to frighten her. He bent down so that his head was just over her shoulder and whispered into her ear, "Ginny… please follow me." without a further word, she stood up and Harry grabbed her hand from under the cloak and led her up to the Gryffindor tower.

When they reached the portrait of the fat lady, she yawned sleepily and let them in without asking for a password. She must have recognized Ginny. The common room was completely deserted . Harry took the cloak off and folded it with one hand because he refused to let go of Ginny's.

"Ginny… I… erm" Harry mumbled. He didn't know what to say. She looked at him and put her fingers to his lips.

"it's okay," she whispered, "you don't have to say anything."

Harry was grateful. He didn't even know where to start. So he instead reached for her free hand which was still on his lips. He took it and entwined his fingers with hers. He couldn't see her clearly, the fogginess of the sleep deprivation was settling around his brain. But he fought it off.

"Why'd you want me to follow you?" she breathed.

"So I could do this," he whispered and then he kissed her.