A new story idea. Tell me what you think!
Nightmares
Prologue
The war had been over since early September, Harry having defeated the Dark Lord with the help of Hermione, Ron and many others from both the DA and the Order. It had been a long and hard journey but Harry had done what he had to do and he had made it out alive.
As soon as Voldemort was destroyed, the exhausted Harry, Ron and Hermione where shuffled off to St. Mungo's to recover the injures and pains from the battles. While they stayed and rested, the Ministry, the school governors, and the professors that were left, met and discussed the reopening of the school. The vote had been practically unanimous for the school to reopen. With Hogwarts open, students would have a safe place to stay, away from the last of the attacks by desperate Death Eaters. It would take time for the wizarding world to rebuild itself. It was agreed upon that the best place for the younger generations would be at the school. Studies would also be a distraction from what had happened.
Many of the students, like Harry, Ron and Hermione, were more then happy to go back even if the school held nothing else for them to learn. Hogwarts had been their second home where they had spent almost 10 months out of each year as they grew up. They wanted the comfort that the old castle held for them. Some of the younger students would rather have been home, but they knew why they were there and they knew they had to stay. While this was universally known, many of the first and second years still cried out in the night for their mums and dad's and to be home.
Because of the war, teachers were missing. The professors who were gone, had been replaced by Order members. Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore were doing the best they could to distract the students from the details that had happened in the last four months. But just the same, new students, as well as old, were not adjusting well to being back at school.
For the older students, the war had changed them. Many had taken part in the action, fought in the battles. People who had once walked the halls, were missing. Lives had been lost. Friends and enemies alike were gone. Students who they had shared dormitories and classes with for years would never again pass through the halls of the haunted castle. Those who had fought in the war still had nightmares every once and while, some couldn't sleep through the night without one. Many couldn't forget how close they had come to losing their lives. Others couldn't block out the image of a friend's death even when they slept.
Life at Hogwarts was not as it had been. Things had been changed. People were missing, memories would not fade. It was a big mess of a place and yet a handful of people chose to stay behind for Christmas and New Years rather then go home and face even greater disturbances and horrors there.
AN: Chapter edited 5-31-07