Harry woke to the sound of quiet sobbing. He was still tired, even after his sleep, and then the horrible reality of the past night hit him. Suddenly he wanted to dive back beneath the covers before he remembered the sobbing sound. He looked around for the source of the sobbing noise and found it in a red-haired Ginny sitting on the end of the bed to Harry's immediate left. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her chin was on her knees, her face in her hands.
"Ginny?" Harry called out tentatively.
She appeared not to have heard him. Harry sat up in his bed and pushed back the covers. He got up and padded softly over to her and touched her shoulder gently. She flinched at his unexpected touch. He would have sat next to her but he was still unsure of what they had and he actually felt uncomfortable. She lifted her head and met his eyes. There were hot tears streaming down her reddened cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy. Not knowing what to do, Harry just took a deep breath and opened his mouth to say something. Before he could, though, Ginny got up from the end of the bed and ran past him out the door. Harry looked after her, his heart aching. What had he just done? Harry sat in the spot Ginny had just vacated and ran his fingers through his hair. Harry stood up suddenly and punched the air. Why couldn't he do anything right? He took another deep breath before he headed down the stairs into the common room area. Harry pushed the door open slowly, but it squeaked as it always had during his school years. At the sudden noise, the unidentified figures sitting in the armchairs before the common room fire whipped their heads around. There was a general outcry of surprise and Seamus yelled "Harry!"
Harry's eyes searched the group, and he saw the tear-stained faces of many of his fellow Gryffindors. There was Hermione holding a sobbing Ron, and Neville with his arm around Luna, the latter looking strangely forlorn compared to her usual quirky personality, Seamus and Lavender, and finally Ginny. She was sitting next to George, her head on his shoulder. Her face was still red, but she was no longer crying. Neville got up from his chair and bounded to Harry. He looked about to hug him, but just shrugged and sat back down. Harry looked for an empty spot on a couch, as far away from Ginny as he could get. He saw one, next to no one, and sat down. Harry turned his attention to Ron, who was taking comfort in Hermione. Hermione gave Harry a knowing look, tears streaming down her face as well. All of the Gryffindors sat in silence, all looking each other in the eyes, in various stages of grief. Then, suddenly someone appeared in the entrance and everyone turned to look at once. Professor McGonagall stood there, her usually tightly bound gray hair now loose and flyaway.
"We would like you all to come downstairs to the Great Hall," she said curtly, then in a gentler tone, "If you feel able." Almost all of Gryffindor Tower's occupants stood. Together they ducked through the portrait hole and followed Professor McGonagall down the stairs and through the doors of the Great Hall. When they got to the Great Hall, the group moved off to mourn with friends and family. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione sat on a bench with the rest of the Weasley family. Harry again made sure not to sit by Ginny. Ginny sat next to Mrs. Weasley with her head on her shoulder. Professor McGonagall- now headmistress- walked to the stand and addressed all of them. Everyone's head turned to face McGonagall.
"I know that the events of this past night may be fresh and painful in your minds, thus hard to process. We ask that all, injured or not, would check in with Madam Pomfrey. If anyone is skilled in healing, they should talk to Madam Pomfrey about medical assistance. We will also be making temporary dormitories in both mine and Professor Flitwick's classrooms, in the event that extra space is needed. There will be no need for House separations. Also, anyone interested in repair and possibly recovery crews should talk to me. You are dismissed."
Harry looked to Mrs. Weasley and addressed her, saying, "You all are welcome to stay in our dormitory. We can make room."
"Thank you," Mrs. Weasley said, "but we can manage on-"
"No. I insist," said Harry gently.
"All right," Mrs. Weasley said, seeing that he wasn't about to change his mind, "But I need to go talk to Madam Pomfrey about helping."
They all stood and walked together back up the stairs and into the Gryffindor dormitory and sat on couches facing each other. They sat in silence for a while before George spoke. He seemed emboldened by the company of his family.
"Why don't you tell us about what happened in the Forbidden Forest? We have plenty of time."
"All right," Harry said, "I will."
AN: Well, very slight cliffhanger, but I can tell you it's nothing too special. Anyway, thank you, and please tell me if you like it, if you hate it, what I'm doing well, what I can improve, so on. If you think I'll be offended, don't. I am perfectly up to constructive criticism.