Disclaimer: Not mine. None of it!

A/N: This is nearly a year after the end of the sixth book. This chapter is semi boring, but you need to read it if you want the background info of the last year.Harry hasdestroyed thesix horcruxes, or so he believes. This is only a few days before Harry faces Voldemort for the final time.

Chapter One

Counting the Damages

Harry's POV

Harry woke up from another terrible dream. It became more vivid each time. He was in a field that seemed strange and familiar at the same time. It had been ravaged by fire leaving it dry and burnt. Around him friends fought- and died. Hermione lay on the ground, eyes still open, blood caking her once bushy hair. Ron clutched his side after having been hit several times by sectumsempra, fighting on though clearly losing ground. Harry heard a scream and turned to see Ginny surrounded by a group of death eaters, including Malfoy and Snape. The redhead's wand had been taken from her and she lay on the ground bleeding while all around her, the death eaters laughed and laughed. For every dark wizard, witch, or creature that fell, another took it's place. Harry heard cries for his help all around, but he could do nothing to help. He turned to stare into those eyes that had haunted him for so long, to hear that cold merciless laugh, and to feel his scar burn. He heard a scream; soon realizing it was his own. The dream would end and he would return to the real world, though he sometimes felt that nothing could be more real then that vision.

He got up out of his old dormitory bed. He, Ron, and Hermione had returned to Hogwarts, if only for a short time. The school had been closed after Dumbledore's death. Harry still felt a wrench in his throat when he thought of that night. He wondered why he couldn't move on after nearly a year since that terrible night. But then, he still felt that same wrench when he thought of others he had lost. Cedric Diggory, who he felt could've been a great friend, his parents he barely knew, and most of all, his godfather Sirius. He hid it well now, but he missed them all so much. He wondered if Dumbledore would've wanted the school to remain open. He thought he might've. But the governor's felt otherwise. The school had remained only to serve as a home for the remaining staff, and as a base camp for Harry and his friends. However, on their most recent visit, Harry had found others inhabiting the school, and none of them there to learn. St. Mungo's had become so overcrowded from all the attacks that they turned Hogwarts into a second hospital, for less serious cases. Harry could understand the need. After all, so many of his friends had suffered.

Not a single one of his old classmates hadn't lost someone, one way or another. Seamus Finnegan's mother had been killed a week after Dumbledore's death. Padma Patil had been killed while visiting an uncle (also dead). Parvati had been there and survived, but had been driven literally mad with grief at the loss of her twin. Neville had gone missing one night with no signs of a struggle. Only three days later, his grandmother had been found dead. No one liked to think about what this implied. Cho Chang was also missing. Her friend Marietta had turned to the death eaters, though it was a point of debate whether or not this had been forced on her or not. Colin and Dennis Creavey had lost both of their muggle parents after Colin had proudly, if foolishly, boasted that he would stay on the late Dumbledore's side or die. Lavender brown's father had been sent to Azkaban after turning on his wife with the Cruciatus curse, though he claimed he was under the influence of the Imperius curse at the time. The list went on and on, touching every one of the once happy inhabitants of the wizarding world.

The casualties stretched from Harry's old teachers, three of whom were dead (Professors Trelawney, Flitwick, and Slughorn), to the creature inhabiting Harry's world including Winky the house elf and Bane the centaur. The order had been hard pressed too. Tonks had been particularly hard to be around, though no one blamed her. She had family on both sides, many of which were already dead. Added to this, Lupin was in the hospital. From what they could find out from the injured werewolf, another of his kind had found him out. When the other werewolves knew where his loyalties really lied, they had gone all out in their attack. Lupin had been attacked by no less then thirty of them, twenty-seven of whom were not in wolf form at the time. Lupin barely managed to get out of there, and even now teetered between life and death, making pregnant Tonks completely hysteric. Other order members that Harry hadn't known as well had also been attacked.

The most shocking death of all had come two weeks ago. Mad Eye Moody had taken a bad hit in the leg off a jinx. He had been in the Hogwarts hospital. Nobody thought anything of it. He was expected to be back on his feet in a few days. However, old Mad Eye had died just a day after he was admitted, not fighting as he would've liked, but of heart complications.

The hardest hit family was probably Ron's. He had lost three cousins, an aunt, and two uncles that Harry didn't even know he had. His mother had been attacked one day. Two death eaters had used Cruciatus on her to reveal Ron, and therefore Harry's, whereabouts. She had kept her tongue, but nearly lost her life. She still hadn't recovered, and nobody knew if she ever would. The twins shop had been set fire to with impermeable charms set on the door. Ironically, the twins had been attending a cousins funeral at the time, and so avoided their own. Their merchandise had been destroyed, but they kept the most expensive and rare items, as well as blueprints for the items in a separate warehouse, so nothing was really lost. Percy and Charlie hadn't been so lucky. Percy had attacked the Minister under the Imperius curse. A nearby auror had quickly used Avada Kedavra. Nobody blamed Kingsley Shacklebolt for Percy's death, though Mr. Weasley still grieved for his wayward son. Charlie had quickly become a hero during the war. He dispatched many death eaters and uncovered more then one plot, including the one involving his brother Percy. He had been the war hero everyone dreams about. The one all the little boys wanted to be like and the witches would swoon over. However, Charlie had been called to take care of an unruly dragon. Unbeknownst to him, this dragon had been under the control of Voldemort. Charlie was so badly charred; there had been no hope he would pull through. He died a week after the attack, much to the consternation of his young fiancé, a girl who had worked with him in his old dragon taming days. The girl, Sara, had remained with the Weasley's after Charlie's death. Bill and Fleur had gone to France three months ago after Fleur's sister became ill. They hadn't been heard from since.

The remaining Weasley family had been sent into hiding. It was quite an impressive system, set up by the Order. All families who were believed to be in danger from Voldemort had been placed on a list. Any one willing to be secret keeper for a family applied to the order. They had extensive security checks done on each applicant. If everything checked out, the fidelius charm would be placed on the family and their knew secret keeper. If their was a flaw in this plan, it was that the system was so slow. Since the list had started seven months ago, twenty-one families had been placed on the urgent list. Four had safely gone into hiding. Harry had discovered that these families included the remainders of Neville's family, the Weasley's, and Hermione's family. The Dursley's were on the urgent list as well, after some persuading form the Order. The other flaw in the plan was that nobody could be sure if the families were still safe. The secret keepers had all gone into hiding as well. Without contact from the secret keepers, no one could know what was happening with the families. The families were still at risk from illness which they had no cures for, and the order might not know for months if a secret keeper had been rooted out. Still, this method was highly preferable to staying at home. Harry worried every day how the Weasley's were, especially Ginny. He knew that Ron, who had lost so much of his family, was even more scared.

The Weasleys had too many connections. Three of their sons were friends with Harry, as was Ginny; Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie were all involved with the Order; Percy was high in the ministry; and Ron was third in command of Dumbledore's Army, which had become the second greatest fighting force on their side, comprised of younger witches and wizards. The order was still the greatest. Dumbledore's Army worked mainly in spies and undercover operations, though all the members knew how to defend themselves. The fact they were young came in handy, as Voldemort was focusing on recruiting younger wizards. This let Harry, the head of the D.A. to get more spies into his legions, though it was a dangerous job. The group prided itself on being free from outside influences. They had spies in the ministry and the order (hey, it never hurt to know what your allies were doing.). The Slytherins had been especially useful. They weren't all bad, as Harry had thought. In fact, when he had last seen the Dursley's, he had found an old diary of his mother's and learned one of her closest friends had been a Slytherin. The Slytherins proved valuable and cunning spies. Many had joined the Dark Lord, but some were absolutely loyal. A perfect example was a young cousin of Malfoy's. Nobody would trust her for months, but she managed to save three members of the order without blowing her cover. Now Harry had placed her at the head of the death eaters division.

Harry had learned that it was foolish to assume that someone was good or bad simply because of their house. Also, he found himself working with more people he disliked and bearing it. As Sirius had told him years ago, "The world isn't split into good people and death eaters." Some people he would've trusted with his life long ago had joined Voldemort, such as Dean who had turned spy for Voldemort, and people he wouldn't have trusted to hold his trunk while getting on the Hogwarts express had become, if not friends, then at least allies, such as Montague, who was still a nasty piece of work, but loyal to their cause.

Theirs wasn't the only side with casualties. Pansy Parkinson had been killed by Order members, as did a number of other death eaters. Lucius Malfoy hadn't been seen for months and it was believed that he may be dead. Snape had lost a leg in one battle, though it was reported that Voldemort had given him a new one, much like Pettigrew's fake arm. Bellatrix was still going strong though. She was the one who killed Padma Patil and her uncle.

Whenever Hermione was asked why she wouldn't ever wear anything but black, even when she wasn't in mourning she would reply, "What's the point of coming out of mourning? I'll be back in in a few days." Harry thought she had the right idea. When He asked Ron if anyone they knew was in the obituaries, he would reply with a long list of names.

Harry wished it was all over, but it kept going, day after day. He wished he wasn't in the thick of things like he was. He wished he had time to feel like an eighteen year old (well, almost) instead of a forty year old. He wished he could just close his eyes and sleep. He wished he didn't have to get out of this bed and go sort out reports. He wished he that destroying all those horcruxes had been enough.

Most of all, he wished he would stop falling farther.

A/N: Hopefullly, the next chapterwill have more dialogue.