DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS!!

THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Chapter 1

Harry opened his eyes to the familiar sight of red curtains hanging around his four-poster bed in his old dormitory. He sighed, relaxing, and was about to close his eyes and go to sleep again when it all came flooding back to him. The Horcruxes, the battle, Lupin, Tonks, Fred, Snape and many others staring out at the ceiling with blank and glassy eyes, and Voldemort's body finally falling lifeless at his feet.

For the next few minutes, Harry continued to lie in bed, still fully clothed, marvelling over the fact that it was all over. Voldemort was actually gone for good and he was never going to come back. Harry could finally lead a normal life, without knowing that a dark wizard is somewhere in the world, plotting ways to kill him. That thought scared him a little, he didn't know how to be normal. Although, he knew that even though the wait of the world wouldn't be on his shoulders anymore, he will still be Harry Potter. He will still be famous. He sighed again and rolled over to look at the clock. It read 4:57am, which meant that he had been asleep for almost 23 hours.

He sat up slowly and stretched, groaning softly at his aching muscles, then he put on his glasses, pulled open his hangings and peered into the dark room. Once his eyes adjusted, he could see that all the beds in the room were occupied. He stood up slowly, wincing at his stiff and sore legs, and then quietly walked over to the beds one by one, to try and discover who it was that was sleeping there. Ron was in his normal bed, Harry knew instantly from the familiar gentle snoring, and he recognised Neville in his usual bed as well. The occupants of the other beds had their hangings drawn, and Harry didn't really want to disturb them.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep now, he headed to the door and was just about to leave when he heard Ron's voice whisper groggily, "Harry? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Ron, it's me. I'm just going for a walk. Go back to sleep, I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay." Harry heard the springs in Ron's bed squeak slightly as he turned over and went back to sleep. He smiled slightly at Ron's quick agreement, then headed down the stairs quietly and into the Gryffindor common room. He wasn't expecting anyone to be in there at 5 o'clock in the morning, so he was very surprised to see the heads of two girls sitting on the couch by the fire.

Ginny and Hermione turned at the sound of someone coming down the stairs from the boys dormitory, and they were both shocked to see Harry standing there, watching them warily. He looked a little bit worse for wear, with cuts and dirt still clear on his face and his hair stuck out everywhere, more then usual. But he looked better then he had before he had gotten some sleep and that gave them both some relief.

"Oh, Harry! How are you feeling?" Hermione asked as she hopped up from the couch to give him a gentle hug.

"I'm fine, Hermione." He smiled, "Just a little sore. But that sleep did me the world of good."

"I'm glad. I was so worried about you!"

He studied her face carefully and saw that she looked tired and worn out. There were bags under her eyes and her skin was a pallid, slightly dirty colour. "Hermione, you look exhausted. Have you slept at all since yesterday?"

She turned slightly pink, "Well…I did have a little sleep last night but–"

Ginny snorted as she got up. "You dozed off for about 5 minutes, but if I moved you would wake up again. You haven't slept at all."

Harry frowned at his friend, "Go up and get some sleep, Hermione. Trust me, you will feel heaps better."

"But–"

He smiled, knowing what she was going to say, "I'm perfectly fine. I just need some fresh air. I will be down here when you wake up, I promise. Go."

"Are you sure Harry? You don't want to go back to sleep? You still look pretty worn out." Hermione stalled

"I'm sure I do," He laughed, "but I'm sure I look at least more awake then you do."

"Fine," She sighed, she turned towards Ginny. "Is it okay? I mean, do you want me to–"

"Hermione just go!" Ginny rolled her eyes, "Its fine. I wanted to talk to Harry anyway." At this, Harry's stomach gave a little jump, but he didn't dare look at Ginny yet.

Hermione frowned, "Okay, but no fighting. I don't want to be disturbed by yelling. Alright?"

"No yelling. I promise." Ginny said, putting a hand across her heart.

Hermione pursed her lips, but seemed to believe her. She looked back up at Harry, "Harry, I don't really know if–"

He shook his head, "Tell me later. You need rest."

She sighed again as he pushed her towards the girls dormitories. He watched her walk up slowly, and she gave a little wave before disappearing up the stairs. Then he turned slowly to look at Ginny, something he had avoided doing since he had come in and immediately felt like he had been punched in the gut. She was staring at him with a fierce, blazing look that was so familiar that memories flooded back into Harry's mind before he could stop them.

There was a long, tense moment of awkward silence, Harry didn't know what to say, and evidently Ginny wasn't going to speak. Then, abruptly, she turned on her heel and marched out of the common room, her long, red hair swinging behind her. Harry stood there for a few seconds afterwards, debating whether or not to follow her, before she stuck her head back through the portrait hole.

"You're meant to follow me. I promised Hermione she would not be disturbed by yelling, remember?"

"Oh." He muttered, trying not to think of the fact that if she was taking him away from the common room there was obviously going to be shouting involved. He sighed; this was not going to be fun.

Harry followed her out of the room, noticing as he pushed open the portrait that it was missing a large chunk from its bottom corner. He followed Ginny down the stairs, across the Entrance Hall and out of the castle, walking all the way to the edge of the Black Lake, a good distance from the castle, before she rounded on him suddenly. She marched right up to him and slapped him on the cheek, hard.

"How could you?" She screamed at him, "How could you do that to me? Do you have any idea of what I felt? How painful it was?"

"Look, Ginny I'm so sorry." Harry almost begged, "I wanted to contact you the whole time I was away, and I meant to at least say goodbye. But when those Death Eaters came at the wedding, I couldn't stay, I had to–"

She shook her head, "I'm not talking about that. I was upset that you just disappeared like that, sure, but I understood why you did it. I knew you couldn't hang around when the Death Eaters were there."

"Then what…"

"I meant, when you went into the forest all alone and turned yourself in to Voldemort. When you were pretending to be dead." She looked at him with tearful eyes, and Harry realised that he had never seen her so vulnerable before, "Do you realise what it was like to see you like that? Do you know what I felt? I thought you were actually gone. I thought that it was all over, that I would never see you again. It broke my heart, Harry.

"And Fred was gone, I thought I was losing all my family. It was bad enough that one of my brothers was k-killed. I was a mess as it was. He was my brother, Harry." The tears were pouring down her cheeks, "Then Hagrid came out with you, and I thought…I thought." She shook her head, "You can't even imagine–"

"But Gin, I think I can. You have no idea how painful it was for me to leave you so suddenly like that. How bad I felt. I really–"

She turned away, hiding her face from him, "I'm not sure I believe that, Harry. You were gone for almost ten months, and I didn't hear a single word from you. Not even a clue, a hint that you were safe or that you were thinking of me." She spun back around and poked him sharply in the chest, "Why did you break up with me in the first place? Because you didn't care for me like that anymore—even though you did seem to really not mind when I kissed you on your birthday—? You didn't know if you could handle the strain of a relationship while you were off, gallivanting around Merlin knows where with Hermione and my brother?"

"Of course not, Ginny! How can you even think that?" He exclaimed, "I broke up with you for the exact reason I told you! If Voldemort had found out about us, he almost definitely would have gone after you to get to me, and I didn't want that! If he had captured you somehow, he would have gotten his wish because I would have come and tried to save you."

She stopped short, "Really?"

"Without a single doubt in my mind. I told you at Dumbledore's funeral, I would have never forgiven myself if you were killed or even hurt when there was something I could have done to stop it."

"But…why?"

"Because I love you, Ginny!" He burst out, and she stared at him in shock, "I didn't want to put you in anymore danger then you were in to begin with for just being related to my best mate. I don't know what I would have done if anything had happened to you…I still don't know." He paused, and then took her hand gently, "The entire time I was…away, I was worrying about you. I never knew if you were safe, or if something had happened to you." He shook his head, remembering, "It would drive me crazy, not knowing if you were alright, if you were safe."

She glanced down at her hand in his, twisting it slightly so that she intertwined their fingers together. "Harry, I was at Hogwarts. You knew that. I thought that you would have known I was safe there."

He shook his head, "But you weren't safe there. I knew that the Death Eaters were running the school, and you, being a Weasley, were definitely not safe." He looked down for a moment, then looked back up, smiled sheepishly, "I used to get out the Marauders Map at night and just watch your dot on it. Just to make sure you were okay. Even if you were sleeping in you room, I would watch it, imagine that I was there with you."

Her heart melted, all the anger towards him fading, "Really?" She smiled wryly, "Should I be creeped out by that?"

"No," he laughed, "I just missed you almost too much, that was the only way I could feel close to you." He looked her deep in the eyes, and she stared right back into his gorgeous green ones, knowing that she couldn't look away if she tried. "I really do love you, Ginny, so much. Being away from you for that long has definitely taught me that."

She beamed at him. She had been waiting for 6 years to hear him say that and it had finally sunk in. "I love you too."

He grinned at her as he leant down to kiss her softly, and he was about to pull away but her arms went around his neck and she kissed him back passionately. He tightened his arms around her waist and tried put all his love and emotions into that one kiss, so happy to have her back in his life.

She pulled away, with tears running down her cheeks again. She buried her head against his chest and he held her as she sobbed. He could almost feel her pain and he knew she just needed a moment to get it all out. So he gently sat down, keeping her safe in his arms and pulling her down as she continued to cry. They sat there for a few long minutes, but he was right. Her sobs began to slow after a while and her breathing eased. He kissed the top of her head then murmured, "Ginny, I really am sorry. For breaking up with you, when every cell in my body was against it, for kissing you then not saying goodbye, for not letting you know I was okay somehow…I'm so sorry. For everything. Can you please forgive me?"

She looked up, her eyes red and puffy but finally dry, and smiled, "Of course I can Harry," he sighed in relief and went to kiss her again, but she looked down, "Having said that, before we get back together, or whatever it is we are doing, can you at least tell me what you have been doing for the past ten months? You owe me that."

"I know," He groaned, he knew this was coming, "I do owe you some sort of explanation. And I will tell you everything, but it's going to take a while and please try not to get too mad at me. At what I was doing or what happens. Everything I tell you is really important, but some things will be hard for you to hear, and I don't really want to tell you others–"

"I want to know everything, Harry." Ginny said clearly, "I don't care if you don't want to tell to protect me or whatever. That all goes out the window right now. I know that you care about me, and you want to protect me, but I have been through a lot, much more then you realise Harry, especially the other night. Whatever it is, I can take it. You didn't contact me at all for almost an entire year and so I want you to tell me why you couldn't."

Harry sighed and nodded, letting go of her, but taking one of her hands in both of his. She leaned her head comfortably on his shoulder as he took a deep breath, looking at their hands before he began to speak. "Well, it all started at the beginning of last year. I had lessons with Dumbledore about once a month, and he taught me all about Voldemort. About his past, his parents, his childhood and…about Horcruxes…"

A/N: ok so that was the first chapter of what i think MIGHT have happened after the battle. If you disagree, tell me. I truely want to know your opinions. I wrote this really quickly so i don't feel as confident about it as my other stuff, but review all the same! Please. xo