Harry was broken. Physically and mentally drained, he awoke to see the unfamiliar boy's dormitory of Gryffindor Tower. Only a few hours ago, Harry had successfully defeated Voldemort in front of a large proportion of the wizarding world. Instead of relief, Harry felt hollow. Fred, Tonks, Lupin and numerous others had lost their lives defending him. Teddy would never know his parents; Fred would never crack another joke with George again.
"Harry?"
Harry turned sharply towards the door. The quiet voice that had interrupted him belonged to Ginny. Now that she was here, Harry instantly felt that the world was right. His heart had ached for her every night whilst he was on the run with Ron and Hermione. Seeing her dot on the Marauders Map and knowing that she was safe kept him alive through most of their journey, living with the hope that he'd see her again.
"Harry, do you want some toast?"
He looked up to find Ginny leaning up against the doorway to the dormitory. She looked how he felt. Her pale face was streaked with tears, the cut above her eyebrow hadn't fully healed and her long, red hair was thrown back into a knot at the back of her head.
"That would be fantastic, cheers Ginny"
She moved towards his bed hovering a toast rack and a jug of pumpkin juice in front of her. Ginny sat in the middle of Harry's bed, looking pensive and playing with a loose strand of wool from her Weasley jumper.
"What happened Harry?"
He took a long drink of pumpkin juice and told her everything. He told her about their adventure through the Ministry of Magic to retrieve Slytherin's locket, the events at Malfoy Manor, their encounter with Griphook and breaking into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault for Hufflepuff's cup. He talked for hours, finding that he couldn't stop now that he'd started.
Ginny kept a neutral expression whilst he was talking, interrupting only once to tell him that his wand was about to fall off of his bed. Whilst he was talking, she felt more emotions than she ever thought that she had. She held back her tears, not wanting to disrupt Harry for fear that she may miss or forget something.
When Harry had ceased speaking, Ginny had somehow made it to the window of the boy's dormitory during his story. Admiring the sunset, she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder.
"I missed you every day Gin. It was hell being without you for so long"
She turned round to face him, giving in to the tears that began to form in her eyes. Brown bore into green, reconnecting the feelings that had grown since the previous summer.
"I missed you too Harry. I was so angry with you for going. I know you had no choice but you couldn't tell me what you were doing. That hurt the most."
"I wanted to tell you, I really did. Seeing your dot on the Marauders Map kept me going through the darkest days, especially after Ron went. That killed me and Hermione."
Ginny cupped his face, feeling the stubble that had grown there. She smiled to herself, not quite believeing that he was real and topless in front of her.
"So...did you meet any Veela on the way?" Ginny turned scarlet. Harry chuckled at her, reveling in the fact that Ginny, his Ginny, was still alive and real in front of him.
"Oh yeah," Harry smiled "there were hundreds of them. I couldn't shake them off!"
Ginny began laughing like she had never laughed before. Harry soon joined in and soon enough, they were both on the floor with tears of laughter streaming down their faces.
Silver lining still intact, Ginny reached for Harry's hand, still not quite believing that he was with her.
They were going to be okay.