Author's Notes

None of JK Rowling's characters belong to me, sadly. I'm just a humble fan; curious to explore the post-war times of the HP universe and some of its minor characters. ;)

Oh, and by the way, I cannot possibly take credit for the amazing fanart used in the story thumbnail. I have merely photoshopped Tumblr users pseudolirium's gorgeous take on Blaise Zabini and aqvarelles' equally beautiful take on Ginny Weasley together. I hope the respective artists will forgive me and see it as a tribute to their art rather than stealing it... *gives sheepish smile and waves hand in peace*. If not, I take full responsibility.

Fair warning: Have patience with me. I have no idea how long this fic will be or how long it will take me to finish it. Do not expect regular nor frequent updates either. Sorry. My muse comes and goes, but I'm rather determined to see this thing through. Also, I'm somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to my story writing, so revisions will occur every now and then (although nothing major).

Anyways. I hope very much that you, dear readers, will enjoy this story.

Chapter 1: A fresh start

Ginny had never expected McGonagall to give over the title of Head Girl to her.

Going back to Hogwarts for her seventh year had seemed so out of place after the war in the first place, and yet, it made sense somehow.

It was a sight for sore eyes to see the castle still standing despite the ruins still being mended. The familiarity of the place remained, but now it seemed somewhat stripped, raw; an eerie sense of the death and darkness that had happened here only months ago still hanging over the once so proud and magnificent castle. Everyone was trying their best to find their places again and get everyone else accustomed to the daily matters and running of a school.

Hermione had returned, too, to finish her belated last year - and her NEWTs, of course. Ron or Harry had decided not to return but begun in Auror training, granted by the new Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, as it only seemed natural given their accomplishments during the war.

Ginny envied the boys, since she never was very academic but more interested in more physical accomplishments, especially Quidditch. But she had missed training at Hogwarts and knew her mum would never forgive her if she quit the last year of her education to go and seek out Professional Quidditch teams. Not yet, at least.

She and Harry had mended things since their break-up but since he now lived in London and was fully occupied with his Auror training, while she had come back to stay at Hogwarts, they had had little time to see each other. Just before the school year started, they had briefly met and talked in a café in downtown London.

'I wish it could be different, Ginny,' Harry had said in a sorrowful tone. 'I really do. I love you, but we're in two different places in our lives right now and it would be difficult to establish a permanent relationship like this. My job doesn't allow me to travel that often to that part any of Scotland and though you could come and visit me in the weekends and holidays, I'm most likely not at home as much as I would have liked to spent time with you. I wouldn't wish that upon you. The Auror training … It's tough; an intensive program.' He had picked up her hand and squeezed it affectionately, making Ginny's eyes water. 'Oh, Ginny, I wish it could be different!'

She had nodded, crestfallen. 'I know, Harry. I know. I wish so, too.'

They had stood and he had given her a soft kiss that screamed of goodbye, then they had hugged and kissed each other's cheeks. They quickly parted, too quickly, as he was to return to the Auror office (of course) and she gave a small wave which he returned with a sad smile before disappearing around the corner of the street.

At home, she had cried hard for the first time in a long time since Fred's death. So much that even her mum couldn't console her. It was inevitable, after all. Not every school couple ended up together.

Soon, she became desperate for something to do other than crying and despairing that her childhood love had left her.

Initially, she wasn't entirely eager to return to Hogwarts, but everything at the Burrow was somehow too familiar; and for the first time in her life too suffocating, reminding her painfully of the hole Fred had left. Her brothers dispatched quickly as well; Ron to his Auror training in London, George back to their, no his, shop in Diagon Alley, Charlie back to Romania and his dragons, Bill and Fleur back to the Shell Cottage and Percy occupied with his new position in the Ministry of Magic under Shacklebolt. Her parents tried to lift her spirits as always but even they couldn't get the gloomy look off their faces after Fred's death.

She needed to start afresh, finish school and zoom in on her goal of joining professional Quidditch, contemplating teams such as the Holyhead Harpies. She missed her friends as well; Luna, Neville, Dean, Seamus, Katie, even the Patil twins' incessant gossiping. She hoped to see her favorite teachers in spirits again, despite everything, and gradually gotten used the strange idea of once again roaming the so familiar, yet now war-ridden halls of the school. Yes, she certainly looked forward to normalcy in the Wizarding world.

Then McGonagall came and dropped the Head Girl bomb on her! Well, she certainly hadn't seen this one coming.

Yet, Ginny surprised herself by accepting the Head Girl position from McGonagall, and though she initially wanted to hit herself in the head for taking on extra academic work, she eventually realized she didn't mind the chores that much. She found herself to be a natural leader during the D.A.-years and was respected and well-liked among all she knew.

She didn't have any trouble with the new, young students either who seemed to admire her all the more for having partaken in taking down Voldemort and his followers, though it took some time before she could fully verbalize to those wide-eyed, small heads looking expectantly up at her what had happened on the very same grounds only months ago. Now she had accepted her role in this significant piece of Wizarding History and, in time, could distance herself from it somewhat without getting teary-eyed or starting rambling. She liked teaching the kids to learn from such experiences and not to hate, while she in return matured and learned to get less flipped if a kid inquired to a particular tender subject from the past.

There were so many difficult matters to relay, after all, yet it helped that the old Houses - under the supervision of McGonagall, the new Headmistress of Hogwarts – had been dismantled indefinitely in attempts to deter any lingering or further antagonism between them, though that was easier said than done, of course. However, most students actually put on an effort into not riling each other in the disgusting ways that so often followed a period of war. If any, the Pureblooded Slytherins who'd had direct or indirect affiliations (or even none at all) to any former Death Eaters or implemented Pureblood elitism prior to the battle bore most of the brunt. However, McGonagall saw it as utmost priority to inform of the consequences of war and made sure the new structures of the school wouldn't lead to the same disunity.

The children were initially sorted according to academic interests and aspirations in four broad fractions; first tentatively in case they changed their minds, later on more permanently. The fractions were, so far, divided into four new, major Houses: Politics and Law, Environment and Healing, Teaching and Scholastic Studies, and, lastly, Quidditch and Artistic Aspirations. They, too, were divided into colors (keeping the old ones); blue/bronze, green/silver, yellow/black and red/gold, respectively, whereas their mascots were transformed into a griffin, a frog, a lynx, and a dragon.

Ginny was pleased to be able to put on her red and golden colors once again but didn't mind the other changes in the least. It was a fresh start, after all.

Admittedly, the new 'House' titles didn't have quite the same pull (she'd heard students call them 'lame' several times) as the former, prideful name-bearers but that was done namely in order to expel any old, lingering connotations to exactly those before-mentioned name-bearers. The latter were far from forgotten, however, but were common subjects taught in the History of Magic class; critically relaying everything from their origins to their positive as well as negative influences during time.

The Head Boys and Girls along with the Prefects were selected in the same numbers as before, but once again sorted according to academic aspiration. The older students, including herself she had to admit, still had trouble getting rid of the old titles as Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins, respectively, and they slipped every now and then around each other, but did their best to not enforce them on the new students.

Hermione had naturally been offered the Head Girl position for her new House – Politics and Law – as well, but to Ginny's utter surprise she had declined! She claimed she had enough on her plate as it was, spending most of her time doing work for the Ministry as a part of an internship in her seventh year and her hopes of getting a career within the Ministry afterwards. Ginny was surprised, to say the least, to see her old friend actually taking her workload down a notch, since the Hermione she knew would never have given up any of her responsibilities even though it meant extra work, less sleep, more stress, dependence on the Time Turner and so on. But it also seemed like it would be something a more mature, post-war Hermione would do.

She and Ron were in somewhat the same situation as Ginny and Harry. They were each dedicating their time to their future careers and whatever had happened during the war was postponed until they had gotten their lives back on track it seemed. Hermione didn't talk about this 'silent agreement' between them, and though Ginny knew her brother was perhaps the most adamant to get a relationship going with Hermione, she also knew he would back down if he sensed Hermione needed time to dedicate her mind to her career for the time being. They were all still affected by the war and probably would be for a long time.

Some scars just don't go away.

Yes, for once, Ginny was certainly hoping for a last, quiet, uneventful year at Hogwarts, but really, who was she kidding?