Yes, the Hogwarts Army HAD defeated Voldemort and his gang of faithful Death Eaters, but there had been many deaths along the way. Fred, Remus, Tonks, Creevey and many others. Just like the remainder of living had to mend their hearts, they also had to repair the Castle, which was in a hideous state. Great holes and gaps were found across the surface, many rooms completely demolished. Although they had many powerful wands at hand, Harry did wonder if that would be enough to repair the damage made. Harry, Ron and Hermione got all the survivors huddled together in the courtyard. The older and more experienced wizards and witches would be repairing the more serious damage, and the younger doing little things, like putting bricks back into walls, and removing blood stains. It was tedious work, lasting many nights, and many days. Three weeks later, the castle was standing whole. The exterior of the castle was looking more or less the same. Inside, however, the wallpaper was peeling, along with the paint. Lots of the furniture was missing. All-together it was looking like an abandoned shack, grimy and dusty. Who knew what they could find, there could've been more bodies! Slowly, the furniture was being pushed and pulled into a couple of untouched and unharmed rooms, until a proper place for them had been found. They worked floor by floor, cleaning, dusting, washing, painting and many other things. It took five weeks to get every room and floor repainted and clean. Now, there was a problem of furniture. As many items were wrecked, too broken to be fixed, a lot of stuff had to be thrown out. Down in the courtyard, the broken furniture was being transfigured into new states, broken desks turned into fluffy armchairs, and vice-versa. Meanwhile, the unharmed items were being moved and positioned to practical places. Within a week, the bottom floor's 10 or so classrooms and various other rooms had been furnished, and were immediately put into use. Those classrooms ended up being bedrooms for a while, and the bathrooms were used as they should be used. As the procedure went on and on, more people arrived to help. The second, third, fourth, fifth and six floor were finished 6 months later, which was good, because the castle was beginning to get crowded. A year later, the castle was empty. Empty, but clean and tidy. The Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, The remainder of the DA and the Order of the Phoenix still hung around. They started putting ads in the Daily Prophet;
HOGWARTS IS BACK!
Hogwarts is ready to teach students for a new year. TEACHERS ARE NEEDED. Also, the Ministry will be nominating a temporary headmaster until an appropriate candidate has been named. Send an owl to Hogwarts if you are capable of teaching.
Slowly, teachers were arriving and planning for a new year. A man by the name of Awert Singe became the temperary headmaster. He worked in the personal development and learning council in the Ministry, and was placed to start inviting students back. All previous students had been given positions at the school, and new ones had been picked from all over the country. Harry, and everyone else had stayed to help. Many of them were becoming teachers. Professor Sprout had retired, leaving Neville Longbottom with the job. On their last night, Harry proposed to Ginny. Ginny accepted.
~ In the next chapter: Ginny and Harry's wedding, and the life of Ginny and Harry~