It was finally over. After fighting for practically your whole life, it is hard to remember what just living is. Living without fear, without having to constantly be on your guard; living without despair, and living without knowing that any day could be the day you lose someone you love. Perhaps there was a time when I knew what that was like. A time when I was young and innocent; naïve to evil and prejudice. That time has since passed.
I stare at the ruins of the school I once loved, my safe space. Hogwarts was more than just a school; it was more of a home to me than the place I grew up. It was the place where I met Harry and Ron, a place where I found love, where I found friendship, where I found something worth fighting for. Now it was gone. Broken, just like so many others.
Staying in the Gryffindor common room has been hard. Like watching something once vibrant and pulsing with life fade to nothingness. A shell of what it used to be. Harry and I, along with some others decided to stay after the last battle. We were here to help the wounded in the hospital wing and help to restore some order to the castle. Nothing is as it used to be. Ron and Ginny left to be with their family. The loss of Fred has destroyed the once loving and warm family. George without his other half? The idea is preposterous. I miss Ron, but he needs to be with his family, he needs to be there for them. I can tell Harry misses Ginny too.
We sit around and try to talk, try to laugh, but visions from the past years keep playing through our heads like a vision, and soon we are stunned again to silence. After a while we give up, and let the silence become our new normal. Maybe that is the key, not to pretend like it never happened, but to just move on. Try to forge a new way through, try to create a new life, I for one could use one.