Harry Potter and the Nineteen Unwritten Years

The story of Harry Potter's life following on directly from the Battle of Hogwarts - eventually H/Hr (not epilogue compliant) - apologies in advance for any character bashing

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Obviously

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Hogwarts, a month after the Battle

Groggily, Harry clambered out of bed, put on his glasses, and stumbled down the stairs to the Gryffindor dormitory. It had been two months since the Battle, but the memories of the last year still regularly haunted his dreams. Nagini springing from the corpse of Bathilda Bagshot, fangs poised. Hermione's piercing screams echoing through Malfoy Manor as Bellatrix launched spell after spell at her. Walking through the forest, away from everyone he loved, summoning all his strength to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Harry rubbed his temple, as if that would erase the nightly horrors from his mind, and stepped out through the portrait hole. On his way down to the kitchens, however, he was intercepted by Professor McGonagall.

'Mr Potter, I was wondering if I could have a word.'

'Of course, Professor,' Harry replied, curious as to what McGonagall could want with him, and they entered a nearby classroom.

'Mr Potter-'

'Please, Professor, call me Harry,' Harry interrupted, not seeing the irony. 'After all, I'm not a student.'

'Mr Potter,' she proceeded, choosing to ignore his comment, 'I appreciate that you might not have given this a lot of thought, but I was wondering whether you have any plans for what you want to do after the summer holidays?'

Harry paused. It was true, he hadn't spent much time thinking about what his next step would be. While some part of him was still clinging to his ambition of being an Auror, right now he didn't want to take on anything too stressful.

McGonagall took his silence as an opportunity to give her opinion. 'Of course, the decision is ultimately yours, but it would be my recommendation that you, Ms Granger and Mr Weasley return to Hogwarts to complete your final year.'

Harry hadn't even considered staying on at Hogwarts. Frankly, NEWTs seemed trivial compared to everything he had been through recently. But, he reasoned, apart from maybe the Burrow, there was nowhere he felt more at home than here. Perhaps this last year would even be his opportunity for a (well-deserved) break. Bearing this in mind, before Harry had a chance to second-guess his decision, he found himself agreeing to return to Hogwarts in September.

'Well then, I look forward to seeing you next year, Harry.' McGonagall said, emphasising his first name, and Harry grinned at the small show of affection. Before he had a chance to return the favour, however, McGonagall was gone and Harry was left alone with his thoughts.

During a walk in the grounds, Harry filled Hermione in on his conversation with McGonagall. As he expected, she was thrilled at the idea of spending another year at school, even if she didn't view it as 'an opportunity for a break'. Harry was glad to see Hermione so enthusiastic about something, and so it was with reluctance that he interrupted her in full flow (halfway through a one-sided discussion about the pros and cons of Ancient Runes vs Arithmancy) with a sudden thought.

'Do you think Ron will come back?'

Hermione frowned. 'I don't know Harry. You know I haven't really talked to him since our, well…' she trailed off.

'Oh yeah, sorry.' Harry apologised lamely. He had forgotten that Ron and Hermione weren't talking. Two weeks ago, after the funerals, they finally had the long awaited talk about their relationship. However, as Harry had always suspected, Hermione didn't want to be more than friends with him, which Ron didn't take well. Relations between the two had been frosty, to put it lightly, ever since. Harry still didn't know exactly what had happened, but Hermione's foul temper the entire week following their talk had permanently put him off asking.

'Fancy something to eat?' Harry offered, keen to change the subject. Hermione rolled her eyes, aware of what Harry was trying to do, but she was grateful for the digression. After a quick stop at the kitchens, and following some incessant pestering from Hermione, the library, they returned to the Gryffindor dormitory, where they found Ron and George engaged in a heated game of wizard's chess.

'See you later Harry, George,' Hermione announced, staring daggers at Ron, before marching up to the girl's dormitory. 'When is she going to stop ignoring me,' Ron grumbled to no one in particular, 'not like we're supposed to be best friends or anything.'

Harry laughed, in spite of the situation.

'What's so funny?'

'Come on Ron, you're not really best friends, are you? Best friends aren't at each other's throats every five seconds.'

'What are you trying to say?' Ron asked, his eyes narrowing.

'Nothing,' Harry said quickly, knowing he'd touched a nerve, but when he saw that Ron wasn't going to let the matter drop; 'I'm just saying that maybe you two aren't that well-suited for each other, romantically at least.'

Before Ron, who was getting increasingly worked up, could respond, George intervened to try and diffuse the tension. 'Lovely day for a game of Quidditch?'

Harry wasn't afraid of Ron, but he wasn't in the mood to argue, so hastily agreed, and Ron, who could never pass up a game of Quidditch, also grudgingly let the matter drop.

'And maybe a bit of fresh air will get Ron to come back to his senses and apologise,' George admitted to Harry as Ron left the room to get his Quidditch gear.

Two hours, many bruises, and a highly spirited game of Quidditch later, Harry and Ron returned to the common room, earlier troubles forgotten. Ron was busy giving Harry a blow-by-blow account of one of his earlier saves, 'George feinted left, but I had a feeling he would go right so I dived, and I nearly fell off my broom, but with one hand grabbed it, centimetres from the goal.' Harry laughed at the greatly exaggerated retelling.

'Maybe you should apply to be the new keeper for the Chudley Cannons.'

Ron, who failed to detect the sarcasm, considered the advice seriously, 'Yeah, maybe I should...'

Harry was going to leave him to his fantasies, but instead remembered his talk with McGonagall. 'Hey Ron, have you thought about coming back to Hogwarts next year?'

Ron seemed surprised. 'Not really to be honest. The way I see it, there isn't much point wasting time on NEWTs when we've got our pick of jobs. Besides, I guess I figured I would go help George at the shop for a bit, keep him company.'

'I totally understand mate. Just so you know, though, Hermione and I are planning to come back.'

This seemed to pique Ron's interest. 'Hermione's coming back?'

'Yeah, she seemed really excited about it too.' Harry raised his eyebrows, 'would that change your mind?'

'Honestly, mate, I don't know.' Ron sighed, frustratedly. When Hermione and I talked about starting a relationship, she said that the timing wasn't right, but I reckon she must like me, at least a bit. I mean, why else would she kiss me?'

For reasons unknown to Harry, this conversation had started to irritate him, but he wasn't about to share that with Ron, so he simply nodded in agreement.

'Fancy a game of chess?' Ron offered, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

'Sure,' Harry replied, keen to do something that would take his mind off Ron and Hermione's relationship. Their potential relationship, he reminded himself.

Despite his reservations about his best friends dating, however, Harry was excited to be coming back to Hogwarts next year. Hopefully, the first year of the rest of his life.


The five cloaked figures gathered round the table in the cramped room. The house itself was mildewed, run-down, about as far from the grandiose Malfoy Manor as a building could be. One of the men, the oldest, bearing a jagged scar running from his right eye to his mouth, stood to address the rest of the group. 'We're safe for now. The ministry won't suspect that we're hiding out in Muggle areas.'

'I don't know how much longer I can bear it. The whole place reeks of filthy Muggles.' another of the men, the youngest one, complained. The others laughed.

'Shut up Amycus.' Hundreds of Death Eaters gone into hiding and he got stuck with these morons. 'As I was saying, we've done well to stay out of the Ministry's sights for now, but we need to remain vigilant. One slip and the Dark Lord will remain unavenged.'


Authors Note: This is the updated Chapter 1. Please review to let me know what you think, about any inaccuracies