ALL WILL BE WELL

By AP Mom

A post chapter 36 fic. highlighting Harry's life over the next week.

The characters are not mine, nor is the premise or any of those things that JK Rowling owns, much to the chagrin of my family.

CHAPTER 1

Enough Trouble For a Lifetime

Not only was the portrait hole open, but the 'Fat Lady' was no where in sight. Harry wasn't all that surprised given her penchant for gossip and celebration, both of which were running rampant around the castle. He was, however, surprised by the sight just inside the entryway to the common room.

Dust still lingered in the air and an odd ray of sunlight ricocheted off of piles of stone and plaster. Harry's face must have shown his shock because Ron and Hermione had pulled out their wands and were pushing past him, suddenly alert.

"Bloody hell!"

"Oh my!"

Harry couldn't have put it any better himself, so he just shook his head at the destruction that lay before them. His exhaustion was now bearing down on him like a weight. He couldn't react or even feel as he took in the sight of the hole in the ceiling that stretched upward through the boys dormitories, leaving thick layers of dust and rubble in its wake. He knew it had been a battle zone, he should have expected this, silly of him to think everything would be normal. He moved past his friends toward the stairwell and pulled the door leading to the boys side out of the way. It wasn't hard, it had only been held by one remaining nail. The door fell to the floor, sending up a cloud of dust, but the wasn't the noise they heard. A mournful wail came from above them and Harry carefully went up the stairs to the third landing, where he was met by a blockage of debris and a very upset ghost.

Nearly Headless Nick was frantically trying to move the rubble, crying out with every effort. "Nick? Nick are you all right?" Hermione asked gently.

"Oh, its you three! How wonderful!"

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked him uneasily.

"Oh dear me, yes!" the ghost replied, becoming upset again. "Poor Godric! I can't find him anywhere! He is my responsibility, you know."

"Godric?"

"Godric Gryffindor?"

"Yes, yes, of course! He was right here!" Nearly Headless Nick cried, pointing to a large hole in the wall that now connected the two staircases. "He's been there for five hundred years! Ever since he was moved out of the common room because the girls kept putting their wigs on him!"

"There was a statue of Gryffindor there?" Ron asked looking at Harry, who clearly was thinking the same thing- neither had ever noticed it in the thousands of times they had been past that spot of stairs.

"A bust," Nick said. "In this niche, here." He pointed again towards the hole.

"Maybe it went through to the other side?" suggested Hermione.

"No, no. That seems to be only the debris from above." Nick replied gesturing up the boys staircase. Harry and Ron looked up, their hearts sinking. Their room had been at the very top, their beds too, and they were exhausted.

"Well," Hermione pointed her wand at the rubble, "let's see. Accio Godric's bust!"

Sure enough a large piece of rock broke through the pile. At the same time a few smaller pieces flew down towards them and a large bit of what appeared to be an ear was caught by Harry after it missed Ron by mere centimeters. "Lets hope this works." Hermione waved her wand over all the pieces, "reparo!"

"Thank you! Oh, thank you! You really are brillant!" Nick was beside himself with glee. He didn't even seem to mind that Godric Gryffindor now looked a bit like George Weasley.

"Er, Nick" Harry asked tentatively, "are the any rooms we could sleep in?"

"Just those three," the ghost told them, gesturing below. "But the 6th years is best.. Bottom floor," he added seeing the boys looks of confusion.

Harry sighed resignedly and turned to head back down the stairs. "I am sorry," Nick said softly, as he turned to Hermione. "The other side is better, but the stairs are blocked. All of the stone from this side flew over to there." His head wobbled as he followed the shaft of light from the upper floors on the boys side through to the gaping hole in the wall next to him. "We all owe you a great debt. All of you. Thank you, you don't know how bad it was around here." Somehow that just make them feel even worse.

The 6th year boys dorm was indeed fairly clean, the only problem was that there were only two beds. Two of the boys, Colin and Jack, had been Muggle-borns and Colin, Harry suddenly realized, would never be coming back. He sighed again. "I claim that bed," Harry pointed to the one furthest from the door. "Sorry," he added hoping he hadn't sounded too demanding. He sat down on the bed and tried to pulled off his filthy trainers. His stomach gave a loud rumble. "Kreacher!"

The elf appeared suddenly, laden with a tea tray containing sandwiches and juice and grinning broadly. The wide smile seemed to make his wrinkled face disappear into his bat like ears. Harry couldn't help but return the grin. "You read my mind!" he told the house elf.

Kreacher looked confused. "Oh, no Master! Kreacher would never do that!"

"I just meant that you already knew that I wanted food." Harry reassured him, pointing to the tray that was now on the bedside table.

"The other elves told Kreacher that his Master had not eaten downstairs. I knew Master must eat."

"Absolutely right," Ron agreed, grabbing three of the sandwiches and ignoring the elf's disgusted look as he shoved the first one into his mouth.

"Thank you, Kreacher. We really appreciate it." Hermione said. The elf didn't appear to hear her, he was busy apprising his master's condition.

"And Master will change his clothes before retiring," he muttered almost to himself.

Harry was halfway through his second turkey sandwich when he realized the elf was trying to pull off his trainers, they were apparently fairly well stuck to his feet. "Er, Kreacher, I'll get them. Please?" he added. Ron was now laughing between gulps of juice, as Kreacher disappeared with a faint 'pop'. Harry had the distinct feeling that he wouldn't be gone long, and couldn't help chuckling to himself. Hermione, however was glaring at the both of them.

"He's right you know. We must look petty grotty. We should clean up a bit."

She went over to the wardrobe next to the bed by the door and picked through it, coming up with two sets of training pants and two t-shirts. She held one pair of the pants up to herself and nodded. Then she tossed the other set of clothes to Harry.

"What about me?" Ron looked affronted.

"Over there." Hermione pointed to the other wardrobe. "Hooper is more your size. Oh, and I claim that bed," she gestured to the one Ron was on and left to go into the bath.

"And where am I going to sleep?" Ron asked Harry.

"Maybe if you shower, she might let you share. I'm sure she doesn't take up that much room," Harry smirked.

Ron's face lit up "Great idea mate!" He practically jumped off the bed and hurried to find some pajamas in the other wardrobe. He had knocked on the lavatory door before Harry could blink.

Harry drained his glass of pumpkin juice and felt his last bit of energy drain with it. He still had one more thing to do before he could sleep and the way to do it had occurred to him in a flash of clarity that belied his actual state of mind. "Kreacher."

"Yes, Master, does you wish more to eat?"

"No, but thank you, that was excellent. I was really proud of you when you led the other elves into the battle," Harry told him. Kreacher beamed. "I'm sure Regulus would be too, even Sirius for that matter." Harry smiled, that was definitely true. "I was hoping that you could do me one more favor, though."

"Master knows Kreacher will do anything. It is Kreacher's great honor to serve the great hero, Harry Potter!"

"Is it possible to apparate me down to the grounds?" he asked, ignoring the accolades for now.

"It is possible, Master. But not usually done. Kreacher will do it for his Master though", he added quickly after having seen Harry's look of disappointment.

"Thank you. This is very important or I wouldn' t ask," he assured the elf as he grabbed his invisibility cloak. "We shouldn't be seen."

Kreacher nodded and offered his arm to the space Harry had been. "We need to go to Dumbledore's tomb," Harry told him and they were there in no time at all. The tomb had been repaired from when Voldemort had broken into it but there now appeared to be damage from the battle. Harry, hoping it would not be too difficult to open, briefly considered using the Elder Wand to do so, but decide to try with his wand first.

"We need to open the tomb and give Professor Dumbledore his wand back," Harry told the elf. "And no one must ever know."

"Kreacher understands, Master. Kreacher will keep his Master's secret."

"I know you will Kreacher, that is why I trust you with this." Harry took out his wand, but before he could try an opening spell, the elf had levitated himself above the lid and was sliding it to the side. "Wow, good job, Kreacher!"

Harry quickly slipped the Elder Wand into the coffin, trying not to look. He didn't want to see Dumbledore's body again, and managed to accomplish his task without doing so. Kreacher then slid the lid closed and Harry added a protection spell, hoping it would be enough.

"Would Master like an elven spell as well for more protection?"

"You can do that?"

"We elves have very powerful magic, Master always forgets."

"Please, go ahead, Kreacher, I don't want anyone else to ever disturb him again."

"It would be stronger if there were more us."

"More of you?"

"Three is better, seven is best, Master. Hogwarts elves will keep Master Harry Potter's secret," he added, "especially for the great Headmaster."

"All right, but please make sure they are not seen."

Within a minute there were seven elves in Hogwarts tea towels circling the tomb. A bright flash of purple light enveloped it and then they were gone as quickly as they came, leaving Kreacher and his Master behind.

"Kreacher will bring Master to bed now." Soon Harry found himself undressed (even his shoes), lightly cleaned by magic and put into pajamas. The bed was almost as comfortable as the fog in Kings Cross and Harry was soon sound asleep. He never heard his two best friends come out of the bathroom and squeeze happily into the other bed together.