Just a quick fic about what happened after the war. Remember to R&R!
My name isn't JK Rowling, so obviously I don't own Harry Potter.
Hermione POV
A month. That's how long it's been since the battle. A month isn't long enough to bury all the dead, to rebuild the castle. A month isn't long enough to forget.
To forget George's tear-streaked face as his twin, his other half, was lowered into the ground. To forget the professors faces as they repaired a fallen wall in the south wing of the castle which had stood proud for centuries. To forget Teddy Lupin's chubby baby hands reaching for the still bodies of his parents.
I'm sitting outside the Leaky Cauldron, nursing a frothy mug of Butterbeer, lost in thought. Ron and Harry are still in Eeylops Owl Emporium looking for a new owl for Harry, and the rest of the Weasleys, with the exception of Ron's father Arthur, are back at the Burrow, so I have a rare moment of peace and quiet.
"He's de-ad, he's de-ad, The Dark Lord is de-ad!" a group of children, hardly even Hogwarts age, runs past me. Diagon Alley is still dark, and most of the shops are still closed, but it's like some dark cloud that had been hovering since the First Wizarding War had finally cleared, and the whole world seems to be celebrating freedom.
"Hermione, check it out!" Ron runs up to me, grinning. It's the first time I've seen him really smile since his brothers' funeral, and the sight makes me smile in return.
"What is it now, Ronald?" I say, jokingly cross.
He makes his voice comically dramatic. "I present to you," he pauses and with a flourish he pulls out a small, scraggly brown rat that's missing half of one ear and the end of it's tail. "Scabbers the Second!" I can't help but laugh, and Ron joins in. By the time Harry walks up with a covered bird cage a few minutes later Ron and I are gasping for breath, still laughing hard. He looked at us oddly.
"What did I miss?" his confused expression sends us back into peals of laughter. Wheezing, Ron pulls out Scabbers II and introduces him again. Soon enough the three of us are laughing hard, together. People passing by look at us oddly, but we hardly care. I remember laughing like this in the Gryffindor Common Room when we were younger. I suppose Harry and Ron remember too, because we soon go silent.
"It's been to long since we laughed like that." Harry muses quietly. I can't help but agree. Thankfully, Ron breaks the silence by asking Harry about his new owl. Brightening, he says "Well, I went in kind of sad. I mean, I do need a new owl, but I really miss Hedwig, and it felt kind of wrong to replace her. But it turns out that Hedwig had siblings, and all of those owls bred, so..." He lifts the cage and pulls off the cover. Inside a young snowy owl blinks sleepily, large amber eyes taking in the sights. "I think I'm gonna name her... "
Ha! Take that, cliff-haters! (see what I did there?)
But seriously, I only wrote a cliff hanger because a) I wanted to get this chapter published and this chappie would take to long to write if I tried to write more, and b) because I CAN'T THINK OF A NAME FOR HARRY"S OWL!
So please review and give me name suggestions! Please!