Harry blinked. He rolled over trying to think why he woke up. But as he rolled over he was looking into the eyes of Kreacher, his house-elf.
"Gah!" Harry exclaimed pushing himself up from an unfamiliar four-poster bed.
"Kreacher is sorry to disturb you Master, but you has been asleep for a long time and the mudbl- the Hermione friend of yours told Kreacher to wake you for breakfast." He bowed to make up for almost uttering the forbidden insult.
"Thank you Kreacher," Harry mumbled, "I uh. Do you think you could get some clean clothes from Hermione for me? And bring them straight back?"
"Yes Master." Kreacher bowed so low his nose brushed the floor.
As soon as Kreacher was gone, Harry sat up running his hands through his hair, but ending getting caught in the tangles making it much more untidier. He sat there thinking of why he was in the seventh year dorm room at Hogwarts and then it hit him.
He groaned and lay back down on the bed. Pangs of guilt and depression washed over him as he thought about all the people who had died in the battle. He knew he should be grateful that the war was over and everyone was safe but he couldn't help cursing the world over the lives, no matter how bravely his loved ones fought. His breath hitched and his throat closed up but he wasn't crying. He just sat there feeling numb and in shock over the whole ordeal.
A loud pop indicated Kreacher had returned with Harry's clothes. Harry didn't even jump; he just looked at his expectant house-elf holding out his trousers and tee out to him.
"Thanks Kreacher," he muttered weakly, his voice sounding slightly strangled. He got up and took the clothes from Kreacher thanking him and telling him to tell Hermione that he'd be down momentarily. Kreacher left, leaving Harry to change out of his clothes that he must've forgotten to change out of the night before.
He sighed and began by taking off his shoes.
~X~
Kreacher came back with Ron and Hermione just as Harry was putting back on his shoes. Kreacher asked his master for permission to leave and once Harry agreed he Disapperated somewhere else.
"Harry!" Hermione said as soon as Kreacher left and embraced him. Ron stood behind her with his hands in his pockets and smiled weakly at Harry. Hermione let him go and put her hands on his shoulders assessing him for damage.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, "Harry you're covered in burns from the Fiendfyre!" She frowned and looked at Ron. "Why didn't we think of that when we went to go get the dreamless sleep potion from Madam Pomfrey yesterday?" Ron shrugged but looked slightly abashed for not thinking of that.
Harry blinked as realization dawned on him. "Did… did you drug me yesterday?" Hermione whipped back around and looked at Harry and blushed. She slowly took her hands off his shoulders and took his hands into hers. Ron took a few steps forward just in case he has to intervene something.
"I'm really sorry Harry. But you looked about ready to pass out from exhaustion and when we came up to the seventh year dorm you just took that bed right there and fell asleep. But er… your sleep didn't seem very peaceful, so we got some potion; you know that you took after the 3rd task in Triwizard tournament. We woke you up enough to take it, and you fell straight back to sleep, and slept very peacefully for about another…" She paused letting go of one of Harry's hands and grabbed Ron's wrist to look at the time, "12 hours." She let go of Harry's other hand and crossed her arms looking at Harry apprehensively.
Harry looked at Ron looking stunned for a moment. "Sorry mate," Ron said sounding sheepish, "We thought it was for the best." Harry sighed and shot an exasperated look at both Ron and Hermione and decided to let it go. They were probably right. Harry had slept peacefully but he also didn't want to rely on that potion forever.
He glanced past Hermione towards the door they came in through. "Do I have to go back down there?" He asked filled with dread.
Hermione looked at him sympathetically, "At least to visit the hospital wing to get your burns treated." Harry pursed his lips, debating whether or not to put up with the physical pain to avoid more emotional pain. In the end he relented and the Golden Trio walked down to the hospital wing.
~X~
Upon arrival the first person Harry recognized, besides the hustling and bustling Madam Pompfrey, was Draco Malfoy sitting in a bed with some bandages covering what Harry assumed were his burns from the Fiendfyre. Malfoy looked up, saw Harry, turned even paler than he already was and got up as though his body was willing him to. He looked surprised at himself as his feet propelled him towards Harry. His feet halted him a few feet away from the Golden Trio, smack dab in front of Harry. Ron looked absolutely electric with anger but Hermione held tight to his arm to keep him from tackling Malfoy. Harry on the other hand just looked uneasy. As well did Malfoy. He looked like he was about to throw up right there.
"I uh…" Malfoy began sounding squeamish. "I wanted to apologize for everything, and I wanted to thank you for saving my life." His eyebrows shot up at the sound of his apology to the boy he had always despised and envied.
Harry looked relieved but Ron, well, Ron blew up.
"You little git! Are you kidding me? You have harassed us for years, you broke Harry's nose, you joined the Death Eaters, you almost killed Dumbledore, you practically almost sold us out to You-Know-Who, and you expect us to forgive you when you come crawling back for forgiveness because you chose the wrong side?!" Ron was breathing heavily, his face possibly redder than his hair in the correct lighting, and was about ready to started screaming more profanities when Madam Pompfrey came hustling over looking furious.
"Mr. Weasly, I have patients in here trying to recover, and I will not have you causing a riot in here!" She scolded him. Ron opened his mouth again and turned on his heel out of the hospital wing.
Hermione looked dumbstruck at the turn of events, looked at Harry pleadingly, and just motioned for her to follow Ron. Hermione ran out of the hospital wing calling out after Ron.
Madam Pompfrey looked at Harry up and down looking at the burns riddling his arms. "Follow me Mr. Potter."
"Hold on," Harry said as Draco started turning back towards his bed embarrassed.
Madam Pompfrey sighed and went to go check on one of her other patients who appeared to be Lavender Brown. Although Harry couldn't tell because she was covered practically head to toe in bandages.
Harry reached out and toughed Draco on the shoulder and Draco recoiled but turned back to look at him apprehensively.
Harry put his arms at his sides. "I accept your apology, and I also forgive you for most of the things you've done to me. Not everything because deep down I do believe you are git, but I do forgive you because I also believe you were a terrified git."
Malfoy bristled at this statement but believed it best to keep his mouth shut and let Harry finish saying whatever he had to say.
Harry continued. "I also wanted to ask for forgiveness for all the years I was rude to you and also to thank you for when you managed to lengthen my life for a bit longer at your house when I dropped by for a visit a few weeks ago."
Malfoy looked stunned. And then he snarled. "I didn't do that to spare your life Potter, I did that to… I did that to…" But words seemed to fail him.
"Well it doesn't matter what you intended to do, but that's what you did." Harry said simply.
"Well next time don't go throwing my generosity away like that next time, will you Potter?" Draco bantered, referring to Harry's last trek into the Forbidden Forest.
Harry snorted, "Well if I hadn't your sorry arse probably would've been dead!"
"Touché," Malfoy said. He looked Harry levelly in the eyes and stated, "Well thank you Po… Harry. I hope we can move past our... misunderstandings and stop being enemies." He extended his hand like he had Harry's first year when they had met at Hogwarts. Only this time Harry took it and shook it.
~X~
After Madam Pompfrey treated his burns, Harry was in a dilemma. Ron and Hermione had left him and he didn't want to go back out there and face everyone. Harry patted his pockets, plucked his wand out of his back pocket and held it. It looked as good as new since he fixed it with the Elder Wand. Harry frowned. Wasn't he supposed to do something with the Elder Wand? Oh. Right! He was going to put it back where it belonged. In Dumbledore's white marble tomb. Harry blanched at the thought of seeing Dumbledore's body but he knew he had to. He also knew this was something he must do alone. Although the thought of being alone again and walking back to a place he was unsure of was rather unappealing.
He shifted around on his feet for a minute, and sighed. He mustered up his will and left the hospital wing to make his way up back towards the Gryffindor dormitory to get the Elder Wand. He left it in a pair of socks until he decided to when to take care of it. A lot of people tried to make eye contact with Harry and speak to him as he quickly walked up the hallways. By the time he reached the dormitory, he was almost certain he could hear someone angrily calling his name. When he paused to look back he didn't see anyone. He carried on for a moment until he heard footsteps in hurry, and a furious cry of, "Harry James Potter!" and his heart lurched. A fiery redhead tackled him to the ground not a moment later.
The breath was knocked out of him. Ginny Weasly's angry face and a wand pointed between Harry's eyes appeared over him.
"Hullo, Ginny," he said weakly. Ginny scowled. "I uh… um. Why exactly are you pinning me to the ground?" Harry had a pretty good idea, but he was finding it hard to breathe and his eyes were hurting from trying to focus on Ginny and her wand a few inches from his face at the same time.
She stopped pinning him to the ground and got to her feet but kept her wand pointed at him.
"Get up," she commanded, "we need to talk."