So, I do not own Harry Potter. This is just a small one-shot of what I thought might have happened when school started again after the final battle.
Hogwarts was closed almost an entire year after the final battle. Most parts of the main structure had been blasted away in the climax of the war. A large portion of the damage could have easily been repaired using complicated magic; however, it was complicated magic that had come close to destroying the building that had once been considered the refuge they wished to fix, and it didn't seem right to use magic. It felt dishonorable.
Soon enough, the magic school was back to its former glory and welcoming students and staff. For the most part, those who had taken part in the war wished to pretend that they weren't still seeing the crumpled bodies of their peers when glancing down dark halls.
And, maybe they could have achieved this. Maybe it would have been okay. But their school had changed. Hogwarts herself had changed. She had been touched by an unspeakable evil. There wasn't a way to come back from that. Not in the way the students wanted. The final battle between Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, and Lord Voldemort would forever mark history. Nothing would ever compare.
There were subtle differences in the students themselves. Both girls and boys were less inclined to walk anywhere alone. They were quieter. More reserved. Occasionally, laughter could be heard. The staff who were familiar with the practical jokes of the Weasley Twins (pretty much everyone working there) had added to the small section of their roped off swamp as a memorial. It would remain for the rest of Hogwarts existence.
The Room of Requirement never quite recovered from its experience with the raging fiendfyre. It had closed its doors to the students. Almost all the students, for only a select few could successfully breach its walls.
Perhaps what really set the devastation of the war in was the ride up to the school that first year after the closing. As students passed what they once believed to be merely magic lead carriages, they instead found themselves looking at horrific horse-like creatures.
At first, it was exciting. New creatures were always a fun entertaining topic. It wasn't until the hushed and sombre voices of the seventh years caught everyone's attention with the names of these mystery creatures that realization of what they were seeing set in. And when it did, the world came crashing back down onto the shoulders of those who had lost someone, anyone, to the merciless fight of Hogwarts.
For many, Hogwarts was a symbol of tragedy. A synonym of death and destruction. Older students refused to return. Others decided to submit a transfer request. But, although Harry Potter, the Chosen One, the boy who had lost more for that school than possibly even Dumbledore himself, never came back to finish his final year (honestly what was the point), he made a point to make frequent visits. Because, as tarnished as it was, Hogwarts was his home. And that it would remain.