Streaks of red, pink, orange, and gold burn across the western sky on the day our story begins. "Huh? Oh. Hello." A tall pale young man with very untidy black hair and bright emerald green eyes gets up from the large flat rock upon which he was sitting and turns around. Something in those eyes suggests that they belong to a legendary hero and warrior who has seen many things, both good and evil. He seems sad, almost weary, as if he's just had to attend to a very miserable and tiresome task and wants nothing more than to just collapse somewhere and not wake up for a really long time. "Hi Harry" said I to our rather mournful looking friend " What're you up to? You seem awfully down for somebody who's just saved the world." He looked as though he was about to start crying any minute. It was several minutes before he responded. Fiery light danced on the surface of the wide lake surrounding the peninsula. The golden light seemed to sharpen the shadows on his face as he replied. "Why did I have to be the one to do it? Don't tell me it was fate that I was to bring Voldemort down. I've come to really hate fate and I'm really beginning to hate prophecies. Why'd they have to…?" He broke off abruptly and turned away with his head bowed. Suddenly Harry's problem was very clear: he was still in mourning.
The war, like most wars, had taken a definite toll on the population of the wizard world. We D.A. members had also lost people to the Death Eaters. I remember wanting to cry as I watched the warm breezes stir his hair and long flowing black robes. The warmth didn't seem to reach him; he kept his cloak tight about his shoulders and had huddled himself back onto his rock as though he was trying to stay warm. There was a time when he would have not been like this. It was time for him to know I was alive. I lowered my hood and tapped him on the shoulder. Harry wheeled around with his wand drawn. He widened his eyes. "Ron? Is that you…?" Harry seemed to cheer up a little when he saw me. The poor fellow thought that Lestrange had done me in. His eyes brightened a little and he smiled sadly as he turned away muttering that it must have been his eyes playing tricks on him.
"Harry, you idiot, turn around!" He jumped. He blinked several times and his smile got bigger and bigger with each blink.