After the Battle – Chapter 1
Harry slumped onto the four-poster bed and let out a long sigh. He lay on his back silently, staring at the maroon canvas that hung above him, not looking up when he heard Hermione enter the dormitory, nor when he felt the mattress sink as Ron sat down beside him.
"How are you feeling?" Ron asked him.
Harry thought about this for a moment. He wasn't sure that he could give a satisfactory answer.
"Tired." he said finally, "just tired."
And it was the truth; he felt like he had gone for so long without sleep that his mind would be unable to process the magnitude of the days events until he had a full nights rest in which to recover.
He pulled himself into a sitting position and looked at Ron.
"What about you?"
"I dunno," he shrugged, "weird, you know? Like I don't know how to feel. I s' pose it's still sinking in."
Harry nodded, and looked across the room. "Hermione?"
She was sat on the next bed, looking thoroughly shaken and staring avidly at her knees.
"All right, I suppose," she said, "it's hard to explain, isn't it? I mean, after everything that we've lost-" she broke off, shaking her head and looked up, a tear glistening on her pale cheek, "-but I'm not going to think about that now. We've got forever for that No," she smiled, weakly, "we've won, it's oven now, and that can only be a good thing."
Harry couldn't think how to reply to this, so he just smiled sympathetically at her. Ron, however, walked over and sat beside her. He kissed her gently and put an arm around her shoulders.
"Thankyou Ron," she said quietly, leaning her head on him. Harry couldn't help noticing that Ron seemed almost to be suppressing a contented smile, but there was a guilty look in his eyes, as though in lieu of the loss of Fred he felt that happiness was not justified.
Harry looked away, feeling as though he was intruding on some private moment between the two of them.
Just then, the dormitory door opened, and Ginny walked in. For a moment, he caught her gaze, but he couldn't hold it. Her hair was tangled and matted, her face grimy with dirt, and there were large bags under her red eyes which sparkled with tears. Harry wanted nothing more than to hold her and to kiss her, but he seemed unable to move, or even to look at her.
"Hi," she said nervously, "I just came to let you know that Mum and Dad and everyone are staying at The Three Broomsticks tonight, and we're going home first thing in the morning. Mum said to let you know that you can come home with us too, Harry." Harry nodded at his knees.
"Right, well I'm going to sleep in the Girls dormitory. Are you coming, Hermione?"
"No, I think I'm going to stay here tonight."
"Oh. Well, night then," she said, and walked out.
As the door closed, Harry fell back onto his bed, where he lay silently.
"For God's sake Harry, go after her!" said Hermione, but Harry simply shook his head, pulled the covers around himself and fell immediately into a deep sleep.