A/N: Disclaimer: I, sadly, don't own anything.
~ Chapter 1 ~
Harry woke up. It took him a moment to realize that the fighting was done. That he didn't have to risk his life or the life of those he loved. No more losses, no more pain. He suddently remembered all the deaths he had not been able to stop. Colin, Fred, Tonks, Remus... He knew there were countless others he didn't know who had risked their lives for him. He couldn't just lay here, he had to go down and meet the relatives of the people who died for him.
He stood up and saw that he was wearing his old pajamas. How weird... He didn't even remember putting them on. He looked at the chair next to him but saw that his dirty, blood covered clothes weren't there. Instead a nice pair of dark blue jeans and a Gryffindor red shirt lied on the chair. Under them stood his pair of sneakers but they didn't look like the ones he had been wearing the past year, these ones were cleaner and didn't look as used as they used too.
When he was dressed and somewhat presentable he walked out of his old dorm. He walked down the stairs and down to the common room. On the couch closest the burned out fire he could see a mop of beautiful fire red hair. Ginny. She looked so peaceful in her sleep and he could hear her small steady breathing. Without realizing he had walked over to the couch, he wanted to wake her and just hold her in his arms forever. No, now was not the time. Time. They actually had time now. A luxury they had never had before. He pulled himself together and told himself that he would explain everything later.
He walked the rest of the way down to the Great Hall. He couldn't help but feel guilty when he saw the state of the castle. It was in ruins and it was all his fault. When he reached the Great Hall he could see one of the huge double doors hanging on its hinges. He spotted Kingsley, Mrs. Weasley, Fleur and Professor McGonagall at the other end of the room and walked over to them.
When Mrs. Weasley saw him she gave him the biggest hug she could muster – and that's saying something. Harry felt like all his already badly bruised ribcage yell out in pain and he could see small dark spots covering his vision. He didn't want to disrespect his adoptive mother, especially since he had caused her so much pain, so he just winced silently. Professor McGonagall must have noticed because she quickly rushed to his rescue. "Molly! You're crushing him!" Mrs. Weasley released him and immediately began apologizing. "Oh sweet Merlin! I am so sorry Harry, dear. Please forgive me! Are you alright, dear? I didn't mean to crush you."
Harry tried to tell her that it was alright and that he wasn't hurt, much, but he couldn't get the words out. Instead he just nodded at her and focused on getting his breathing back in to normal. Kinsley raised his dark voice over Mrs. Weasley constant apologies. "I think there is something Harry isn't telling us. Fleur, I know you've been helping Madame Pomfrey maybe you could help Harry here too?" Fleur looked at Kingsley and nodded. "Oh oui bien sur. 'Arry can I zee your woundz pleez'?" Harry had just gotten his breathing back to normal and stuttered. "W-what? No, I'm fine. You should take care of everyone else first, I don't need to-" But before Harry could finish Professor McGonagall interrupted him. "Harry James Potter! You will let Fleur heal you right now or Merlin forbid I will give you detention for 6 months!" Harry was so stunned by Professor McGonagalls outburst that he actually laughed, all the pain and suffering forgotten for a moment. "You can't give me detention professor, I'm not your student anymore." Professor McGonagall send him a glare worthy of Mrs. Weasley and said "Try me."
Harry realized that he would never win this fight so he let Fleur heal him. He took off his shirt and everyone gasped. Fleur was the first one to voice their horrified expressions. "Sacré Bleu, w'at 'appened tou you?" Harry was shocked. He knew he had gathered his fair share of bruises and scars, but he didn't think he looked /that/ bad. He was wrong. He did. Harry looked down at his torso and saw a million tiny cuts and at least 10 smaller bruises. On his chest was a medallion formed bruise that would soon turn into a scar. That must have been where the locket had burned into his skin that night after Godric's Hollow. On his rib cage he could see a small bruises forming and when he pressed the biggest one, a jolt of pain ran through his body. Apparently his ribs had endured so much the past year that Mrs. Weasleys bone crushing hug broke one or two of his ribs.
Fleur got to work. She mumbled spells and small French curses for whenever he would wince and when a wound was specifically hard to heal. She worked like that for an hour or two and only got interrupted when Mrs. Weasley or McGonagall would ask her if he was going to be okay. After some time, Harry didn't know how much, Fleur stretched and announced that he was going to okay and there was nothing more she could do.
She had barely uttered these words when a high pitched shriek came from the other end of the room "HARRY JAMES POTTER!" A furious redheaded woman stormed over to the group. She had hazelnut colored eyes and they were right now giving Harry a death glare that Mrs. Weasley would have been proud of. "You have a hell of lot of explaining to do, mister! Start talking!" Harry suddenly felt like he was 5 inches tall. "G-g-ginny… Hi… H-how are you…?" In the background Harry could hear Kingsleys dark voice chuckling. "He shows no fear against the most powerful Dark Lord of all time, but he's terrified of a 16-year old girl." "A 16-year old /Weasley/ girl, Kingsley. Weasley women have quite the wrath." Professor McGonagall replied knowingly. She knew how skilled Ginny was with her bat boogey hexes and she had seen several times how Mrs. Weasley had made her 6 tall sons quiver in fear in front of her when they had done something wrong.
While they had been talking Ginny had been yelling at Harry and when that wasn't enough she began pounding her tiny fists into his newly healed chest. With each hit she cursed like her words alone could put him through endless agony. "How. Could. you. DO THIS. To. Me?! I. Thought. You. Were. DEAD! I. Thought. I. Had. LOST YOU! You. Let. Me. BELIEVE. That. You. Were. DEAD! Why?! WHY. Do. You. Always. Have. To. Save. The. World. Before. Yourself!" It seemed liked her anger had gone from yelling to hitting and then to crying. Ginny wasn't the one to cry easily so he knew he had hurt badly when Voldemort had announced that he was dead. Harry didn't know what to do or what to say to make her pain go away. In the end he just hugged her. He tried to put all his emotions and feelings for her into that one hug. He held her while she was crying and soothingly stroked her messy red hair.
That was the turning point for Harry. He knew that things may look bad now and they may never get over the losses and the pain this war had put them through but, with time, things would get better. He could finally see a bright and happy future for Ginny. For him. For them.