Life goes on
Voldemort's body hit the floor with a dull almost anticlimactic thud. His pale snakelike face bore the expression of absolute shock as his eyes rolled upwards into his head. The sun was now blazing in through the windows and lit harry like a spotlight giving him an ethereal glow.
The room around him exploded with cheers of jubilation and euphoria. Relief and an unbelieving awe at the feat that he and his friends had just achieved now washed over harry as he fell to his knees in exhaustion.
Before he could even take a second to gather himself he was wrenched up by Ron and Hermione who were both hugging him and crying with joy. "We knew you could do it Harry" said Hermione with tears streaming down her face. "You did it." Ron shouted over and over in his ear. "No, we did it" replied harry, voice heavy with emotion.
He was pulled into a bone crushing hug from who at first he thought was Mrs Weasley but was surprised to find that it was a much younger Miss Weasley. He hugged Ginny back as tightly as he could and buried his face in her hair. She no longer smelt the same. She smelt of her usually flowery scent but it was mingled with blood and the smell of smoke and burning. He didn't want to let her go but he was being dragged into the crowd of people who had watched his defeat of Voldemort and all wanted to touch the boy who still lived.
People were chanting his name as they enclosed on him. He was hugged by all the Weasleys, (Mrs Weasley ensuring she almost crushed him half to death before releasing him) Professors Mcgonagall, Flitwick and sprout, his old quidditch team and hundreds of others. People where shaking his hand and patting him on the back, some of the girls even kissed him despite his protests that he just wanted to be left alone for a while.
He finally made it out of the crowd and walked out of the great hall into the small chamber before the entrance. He felt rather overwhelmed all of a sudden and did not quite know how to process his feelings. He felt rather torn between the happiness he felt at it all being over and immense crushing welt of sadness that he had lost so many of his friends. Fred, Lupin Tonks, Colin Creevey and so many more that he had known.
He could not feel one without the other and he just wanted to feel nothing for a least a little while just so he could manage himself.
There were still a few things he still had to do however.
"Harry where are you going?" said a voice behind him. It was Ron accompanied by Hermione.
"I'm just going up to Dumbledore's office, there are a few loose ends we need to tie up. Are you coming?" Harry said with sombre smile.
"Yes of course we are" said Hermione" we followed you this far didn't we?"
As they walked through battered castle he could hear the portraits shouting out their congratulations and thanks. Harry mused to himself that it felt oddly of a street parade as they made their way to the entrance to Dumbledore's office. The entrance was open and they proceeded up the spiral staircase.
The three of them walked through the door and where immediately hit with a wall of sound. It scared the life out of harry as it was almost like the battle had recommenced and a second wave of death eaters were charging at him but he soon realised that it was applause.
The portraits on the walls that had been previously empty were now reoccupied with their residents and were all beaming at him Ron and Hermione and clapping their hands. He looked over at Dumbledore's portrait who was smiling the widest of them all and he walked other to him.
"I am so proud of you" said the portrait of Dumbledore.
"Thank you professor, I couldn't have done any of this without you".
"There's still the matter of the thing that was hidden in the snitch though. I Left it in the forest and I don't want to go back for it, do you agree?"
"My boy I do" Said Dumbledore with an approving nod.
"but I'm going to keep Ignotus's present though" said Harry.
"Of course my boy it is yours to keep until of course you wish to pass it on."
"I don't want the wand though."
"WHAT, YOUR JOKING!" Ron exclaimed in disbelief.
"I just want my old wand back and the elder wand just seems more trouble than it's worth" said Harry.
"Well I agree" said Hermione. "I think it's too powerful and too dangerous to keep and besides you don't want any more people trying to kill you do you".
Harry nodded.
Ron looked disappointed but pacified at this.
"I'm going to put it back where it belongs, where Voldemort stole it from and as long as I die a natural death the chain of owners should be broken wont it?"
Again Dumbledore nodded his approval
"I just need to do one spell with it though" and he pulled the mokeskin pouch out from around his neck and reached in with his hand and withdrew the broken phoenix feather wand that he had bought at Ollivander's all those years ago.
He laid his broken wand on Dumbledore's desk and pointed the elder wand at it. Harry drew in a deep breath and said "Reparo". The two parts of the wand that previously where only connected by a small thread where immediately fused back together with a bright golden light. Harry released a long sigh of relief.
The sun was now shining into the office and the new day was now upon them.
"I think I'm going to go to bed now" said Harry.
The exhaustion of the previous night's battle had clung to him like a weighted diving suit ever since the adrenalin of killing Voldemort had worn off.
A wiser decision would have been to go and visit Madam Pomfrey and have himself examined, he had after all survived another killing curse and he wasn't entirely sure he didn't just die and come back to life. He decided not to go as Madam Pomfrey must surely have enough on her plate at the moment.
"Well I need to, to go and be with Fred and the others" said Ron his voice becoming high pitched.
Harry suddenly felt a pang of grief and remorse at the mention of Fred's name. If only he had done things differently he thought to himself, a great many people needn't have died last night.
Hermione took hold of Ron's arm and rested her head on his shoulder in support. She looked exhausted herself. He was happy for them. It had taken Ron and Hermione years to admit their feelings for each other and now they had finally overcome that barrier. He wondered if their relationship would mean an end to the trio, since he suspected they would want much more time alone from now on.
He thought of his own relationship with Ginny and how they were going to rekindle it after a year of separation. He hoped that she still felt the same way about him after he had left her to go find horcruxes.
Harry wanted to go straight to her immediately but his own tiredness and consideration for her just losing her brother prevented him from doing this. There would be time to talk later he told himself.
He walked up to Ron and Hermione who were still holding each other and put his arms around the both of them. They joined together in a three-person hug. When they broke away they each had tears in their eyes but smiles on their faces. It was over, all over.
"Harry you scared the life out of us when… when we thought he had killed you" Said Hermione.
It was then that Harry realised that he hadn't told them about what he had seen in the Pensieve.
He told them about how snape had loved his mother since childhood, and how Snape had come to Dumbledore when he had learned that it was Lilly that was being targeted by Voldemort because of the prophecy that Snape had relayed to him. Harry hesitated when he got to the part concerning the horcrux that was inside him and how he thought he would have to let Voldemort kill him for it to be destroyed.
He found the words and told them.
As he was explaining this part Hermione gasped and covered her mouth with her hand and Ron looked at him open mouthed wearing an expression of shock on his face.
"Harry I…" Ron began but his words stuck in his throat.
"Why didn't you tell us" Ron resumed.
"You both would have tried to stop me and I probably would have let you" Said Harry meekly.
"Yer your right we would have".
Hermione was still staring at him in silence but then she burst into tears and hugged Harry again, this time even tighter. "You fool, you brave stupid fool".
Harry laughed. "Yer well I'm not denying I was a fool but it worked didn't it. It worked!" He said triumphantly.
The three of them where now smiling and the conversation tapered into a relaxed silence.
"I really do need to get some sleep now" Harry said wearily.
"Make sure you see Madam Pomfrey first Harry you look awful" Hermione supplied.
"Yer mate I've never seen you look so battered" Ron added.
"I'm fine I just need to sleep for a month" he said and he yawned as if to prove his point.
"Harry I really thi..."
"Im fine Hermione, really I'm just need some sleep" Harry interrupted.
"He's alright Mione just leave him be" Said Ron coming to Harry's defense.
Harry left Ron and Hermione when they got to staircase leading to Gryffindor tower. "I'll see the both of you later, all I need right now is some sleep but tell the others I'm fine and tell Ginny that I will come and see her."
Both Ron and Hermione nodded their understanding and left him on the staircase. Harry walked up the stairs to the painting of the fat lady who smiled at him.
"Hello, Um do you think you can let me in? I haven't got the password or anthythi…" but he was interrupted. "Don't be silly dear of course you can go in" said the fat lady kindly.
"Thanks" said Harry with a small grin as he entered the Gryffindor common room.
It was pretty much deserted as Harry had expected. Everyone was still downstairs or evacuated to safety. He missed this place so much when he was on the run this year. This was the only home he had ever known save the Burrow but he spent less time there than he did here.
Harry walked across the room and climbed the staircase to his dorm wondering if there would even be a bed for him as he hadn't been at Hogwarts in what seemed like ages. He was pleasantly surprised to find that his bed hadn't been touched so it seemed and a few of his possessions where still present on the side table. He kicked off his tattered and worn shoes and pulled of his sweat and blood drenched clothes.
He thought maybe he should have a shower before he got into bed but anything but sweet oblivion seemed far too taxing at the moment.
He climbed into his bed and under the quilt. As soon as his head hit the pillow Harry was out like a light and for the second time that day the world was gone.
In the blackness of a dreamless sleep a small voice could be heard. Harry's unconscious mind couldn't quite make out what it was saying as it was so distant, so faint but it was gradually growing less distant and less faint.
"Harry".
Someone familiar was calling out to him in the darkness, they were getting closer.
"Harry wake up".
He could swear he knew who this was but his mind wasn't quite up to the task. He didn't want to wake up. Waking up meant answering questions. It meant remembering things he didn't want to remember right now.
"Harry it's time to wake up".
The voice was much louder now and Harry was finding it more difficult to ignore. Why couldn't the voice just leave him be. He was happy this way.
He felt a pair of soft hands close around his shoulders. They started to gently shake him.
"Harry wake up, It's time to get up".
He knew this voice it was…
Harry opened his eyes and was confronted by a reddish blur. His glasses slid onto his face apparently by the same hands that where shaking him only moments ago.
As his vision sharpened the red blur focused into the face of someone who he had longed to see since setting off to hunt horecruxes a year ago. Someone who he had only seen fleetingly in the last day or two and who he had missed very very much.
It was Ginny.
"Ginny" was all Harry could vocalise with his parched mouth.
"Welcome to the world of the living… again I suppose. You've been asleep for over twelve hours".
Ginny held a cup of water up to Harry's lips.
He sipped the water as best he could but his throat and mouth were so dry it was difficult.
"Thanks" he gasped as she took the cup away from his mouth.
She smiled at him. "We had to change you out of your clothes and dress you in some pyjamas" .
"What?"
" Don't worry mum made me leave the room when your trousers came off" Ginny giggled softly.
"Well thanks I suppose. I don't really know what to think of your mum seeing me naked" Harry said sharply.
They both burst out laughing at this remark and Harry was starting to feel a little better. It was like old times and he had longed to hear that laugh. It was short lived as his laughter turned to dry coughing.
"Here have some more water" she said holding the cup to his face again.
Harry drank some more and was grateful Ginny was here to help him because it seemed his body was in a worse condition than he thought.
"How are…. the others?" He said anxiously as he want sure he wanted to know.
"Oh well, there all very distraught obviously but since it's all over now its bitter sweet really. It will be ok now though because of you harry, because you saved us".
"It wasn't just me, Both Ron and Hermione deserve more credit than I do, I just happened to be the one Voldemort wanted dead the most".
"That's not true and you know it" She said "We would all be dead if you hadn't done what you did".
Not everyone survived though, said a small voice in his head not everyone.
"I'm so sorry about… about Fred" he said weakly not meeting her gaze.
"We all loved him, I don't know what we're going to do without him". Ginny's voice trembled slightly.
"And poor George, how is he going to cope, he's never been separated from Fred".
If only you had found the diadem sooner. If only you hadn't wasted so much time the voice said.
In the silence that followed Ginny seemed to guess what Harry was thinking. She knew him too well.
"Don't you dare go blaming yourself for this Harry Potter" she said sharply. "You did more than anyone could have asked of you and thank Merlin you did otherwise I might have lost lot more people I love".
Harry looked up at her, clearly surprised at her apparent ability to read his thoughts and the conviction in her voice. He didn't quite believe that he was wasn't to blame for all the suffering resulting from Fred's death but her loyalty meant more to him than he could ever tell her.
He wanted nothing more than to be close to her and to hold her right now and sure enough Ginny again must have read his mind because the distance between them closed when Ginny lent over him and wrapped her arms around him as he laid there in bed.
There was a tickling sensation as her long red hair brushed across his cheeks. He turned his head and kissed her on the lips for the first time since his birthday last year. She was right when she had given him his birthday present, she wanted to give him something of her to remember her by. He remembered her all right, the feeling of her lips on his.
When they parted Harry pulled her into bed beside him and held her tight against himself guarding her jealously against any external force that might deprive her from him.
She nuzzled her head between his shoulder and his neck and clung on to his other shoulder with her hand and wrapped one of her legs around his possessively.
They laid in silence for several minutes and Harry realised that this had been the longest they had spent together since he left the burrow a year ago.
Ginny was to first to break the silence "It broke my heart seeing you there, limp in Hagrid's arms".
"I don't know how you survived but when I saw you throw off your cloak I didn't dare believe" There were tears beginning to form in her eyes but she looked away trying to hide them.
Harry put his hand on her cheek and gently turned her face to look him in the eyes.
"When I was in the forest, I mean when I was standing there in front of Voldemort waiting to die, you where the last thing I thought of, I wanted to be with you again so badly I don't think even death had the heart to try and stop me".
Ginny sniffed and buried her face into his shoulder again and he held her there by placing his hand on the back of her head. Harry thought that perhaps he shouldn't have told her that. Sweet as it was he really didn't want to cause her more pain but he wanted her to know how much she truly meant to him.
She turned her head and looked into his eyes with hers and Harry saw that hard blazing look that he had come to know so well. She kissed him on the lips again and she positioned herself on top of him seemingly forgetting he was still injured. Harry did feel his stiff muscles contract painfully but he didn't care, he had his Ginny and that was worth more than any amount of pain he had to endure.
When they broke apart she looked at him for a while and said with a little smile "We have a lot of lost time to make up for don't we?"
"All the time in the world now I suppose. It feels weird now that it's all over, like it's too good to be true" said Harry.
"I know what you mean".
Just then the door to the dormitory opened and Mrs Weasley walked in holding a stack of clean clothes. She looked at her daughter lying there next to Harry and smiled.
"I'll just pop these fresh clothes down here on the chair for you Harry"
"Uhh thanks Mrs Weasley" said Harry feeling slightly embarrassed.
He felt a bit uncomfortable that Mrs Weasley had walked in on him and her daughter lying next to each other on his bed but she gave no sign of resistance to it.
"I'll just give you two some privacy" and she shot a rather strange look at Ginny.
"Behave yourself dear" was all she said and then she quietly left the room, closing the door as she went.
"Oh of course if there is any misbehaviour it would be solely my fault" Ginny said huffily.
"Well I think she just didn't want her only daughter taking advantage of a poor injured orphan boy" replied Harry playfully.
Ginny punched him in the arm.
"Oi that hurt!"
"Good you deserve it. You know you can't do anything wrong in mum's eyes, even though you're practically a son to her and you've seen how she can be with the rest of us".
"Well I'm not complaining; you should see how the Dursleys treat me when I'm staying with them".
"Yes I've heard about that" Said Ginny with just a hint of coldness in her voice.
"Just another thing that's changed now Voldemorts dead, I don't have to live with them anymore" He said.
"Does that mean you're coming to live with us?"
"Oh I expect so; I might spend some time at Grimmauld place if I can ever stand to be there for more than 10 minutes."
"Why would you want to live in that mangy old house with kreacher?" She asked incredulously.
Harry laughed
"It's not as bad as it used to be and Kreachers attitude has improved a lot recently."
He quickly filled Ginny in about the events that happened after he dissaperated from the wedding. He told her about how he Ron and Hermione had won over Kreachers affections by giving him a black family heirloom and how Kreacher had been cleaning and cooking especially well before they had accidentally took a death eater beyond the protective enchantments. He would have to ask Kreacher about what happened at some point.
"I would rather stay at the burrow for the foreseeable future" He said in conclusion.
"Good, because I'm never letting you out of my sight again" said Ginny as she played with his messy hair.
"I don't intend to leave your sight" Harry said whilst he stared up into her beautiful eyes.
The next hour or so past with more kissing and more swapping stories about what went on in each other's lives when Harry was on the run. He didn't mention though how Ron had stormed off into the night after that fight they had, he thought he would let Ron explain that part if he ever wanted to.
As the conversation wound down Harry began to feel the aches and pains return. Small price to pay he thought to himself.
"I'm still feeling really weak; I think I'm going to drop off any second" Harry said sleepily.
"Go right ahead, I'm not going anywhere" said Ginny indifferently.
"I know you're not" and he kissed her full on the lips and laid his head back down on the pillow.
As Ginny laid next to him, casually stroking his head Harry felt the pull of sleep take him. He felt content and knew that this time he would dream and that she would be right next to him until he awoke.
A/N
Well I know its only one chapter but it did actually take me two weeks to write because I kept having to chop bits off or add bits in. This is my first fan fiction by the way so take that into consideration if you review. I would love some constructive criticism though. The aim of this little project for me is to left the story end with more substance. I'm sure we all want to know what its like for Harry after he saved the wizarding world. If people like this I will be writing more chapters and hopefully much quicker as I sharpen my skills a bit.
I'm really looking forward to writing about when Harry and Ginny meet Teddy Lupin for the first time, I think it will be so sweet and sad at the same time.
Anyway really hope you enjoy and please tell me what you think in the review.