A/N: This was supposed to be up on the 26th, but I realized more than a week ago that that deadline was not happening. Preparing to move takes up all of your time.
"And I miss the way
You make me feel,
And it's real
When we watched the sunset over the castle on the hill."
— Ed Sheeran, "Castle on the Hill"
In honor of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
June 26, 1997
There was a sudden succession of six loud pops as the same number of figures appeared along the quiet Hogsmeade street. Harry loosened his grip on the box he held now that it wasn't in danger of being flung out of his arms. Glancing around, he quickly noticed that there was no one else in sight, which wasn't uncommon for the village during the summer.
It was charming in a way, but Harry also found the quiet rather disconcerting after years of living in London.
"Thanks again," Neville said as he began leading the way to the school. "I know it's a hassle travelling up to Scotland for such a boring job when I could have set up my office by myself. You really didn't have to come."
"Nonsense," Ginny said, readjusting her own box in her arms. "There's no need for you to make multiple trips when we can get it done in one. Besides, I don't think any of us are upset about getting to see Hogwarts again. It's been ages."
It had been. Harry had been unable to think of little else but this trip during the previous twenty-four hours. It had been years since he'd stepped foot in Hogwarts. Since the war, he had only had a reason to visit the castle twice, and the last of those occurrences had been years previously.
"It's not a bad way to spend a Saturday," he said aloud. "Visiting Hogwarts never is."
Neville grinned at Harry over his shoulder, and there were murmured agreements from the others. They all understood it. There were no more apologies from Neville for taking up their time.
When Neville had first announced to Harry and Ginny, while at their house with Hannah for dinner, that he'd taken the position of Herbology professor, Harry had easily seen how excited Neville was to be given the opportunity. Harry couldn't blame him. There were still many days when Harry wished he was back in the castle himself.
Sure, he had nearly died more times while he was in school than one should in a lifetime, but the majority of his days had had felt rather carefree in comparison to working in the Ministry. He had been up to his neck in bureaucratic paperwork for the last ten years. None of the schoolwork he'd been assigned by his professors could compare.
"I'm looking forward to visiting the third floor to look for clues that can aid my search for tentulae."
Hermione sighed, though there was a fondness in it.
"Luna, once again, that corridor was off limits for one year, and you know it was because it's where they kept Fluffy, not a," she hesitated over the word, "tentula. I saw the dog. It wasn't some half-spider, half-squid thing or whatever you say a tentula is. I've told you. Ron's told you. Harry's told you."
Luna gave Hermione the pitying look that she saved only for her.
"Obviously Fluffy was there," Luna said, not the least bit discouraged. "Hagrid raised her. He also raised Aragog. An acromantula living so close to a giant squid is just asking for a tentula, and an off limits corridor would be the perfect place for one to hide."
The frown on Hermione's face made it clear how she felt about Luna's theory. Ron, however, had grown increasingly interested in hearing about Luna's proposed creatures over the years, much to his wife's chagrin.
"How is it that no one would have seen it if it were there? Wouldn't it be massive?" he asked.
Luna offered him a small smile before she shrugged.
"No one was looking for one," she said. "It's remarkably easy for creatures to hide when humans don't want to believe they exist. Look at Muggles. They still think giants are legends, and they're one of the largest creatures on earth. Many of our kind are remarkably short-sided."
Her eyes had grown distant. The next words out of her mouth were quiet and meant more for herself than the others.
"My next field expedition to Borneo will be when I finally discover one."
Luna had come back from a field expedition in Canada's Northwest Territories the previous month and, once the initial excitement of sharing her discoveries had worn off, had begun brainstorming ideas for her next trip. She had previously said that next time she would be visiting somewhere with a warmer climate.
They reached the castle's gates, and Neville hurriedly lowered his box onto the ground to fish his wand out from his pocket. Pointing it at the largest lock, he muttered some words under his breath that the others didn't catch. There was a click, and the gates began to creak open. Neville took a step back and watched with the others until the creaking stopped. Only then did he bend over to pick up his box.
"It's a strange feeling being able to do that," he said as they walked up the path to the front doors. "Being here makes me feel like a student again, not like someone who should be trusted with access to the wards."
Harry didn't hear if anyone responded. He was too busy looking at the castle. It looked different yet exactly the same. The differences, he was fairly positive, were based far more on the faultiness of his memory than any real changes. Hogwarts had had an aged appearance since Harry had first seen it, but its aging had happened slowly, with magic holding it together for far longer than any Muggle castle had lasted.
Harry didn't realize that he'd paused at the foot of the steps that led into the school until Ginny placed a hand on his lower back. He glanced around and saw that the others were standing around him and looking at the castle too.
"It's been a while," Ginny said quietly.
"I'm jealous, Neville," Ron said. "Imagine what it'll be like to get to come back every day. You have got to convince Hannah to move here. We've never gotten to see the staff quarters. Must be nice in there."
Neville shrugged off the suggestion.
"Hannah needs to be near the Leaky Cauldron during the night. That's some of her busiest hours. Besides," he said with a sigh, "I think it's for the best. Living here as a kid was nice most of the time, but I'm not sure it would be the same these days."
The others voiced agreement. All of them, at least, except for Harry.
It wasn't that he didn't love his home. The fact that he had a home that was undoubtedly his was still remarkable to him. Ever since James' and Albus' births, the place had grown even more cherished. He loved the fact that he could provide his sons with a place where they would feel safe in a way that Privet Drive never had to Harry.
He and Ginny had made that house their own. It was just about perfect for them, and Harry wouldn't have traded it for the world.
Despite that, there was a part of him that thought he would have dropped the house in a heartbeat if he were in Neville's position. There was something about Hogwarts that continued to call to him a decade later, and he wasn't sure that he would ever be able to move past it.
One of the doors to the castle was propped open for them. Standing in the middle of the entrance hall when they entered was Professor McGonagall. She offered them a smile that was far gentler than anything she had shown them as students.
"Glad to see you've made it," she said.
She eyed the boxes in their arms as if she wasn't quite able to trust that they hadn't tried to smuggle in something that was against school rules.
"You'll be using the same office Pomona occupied," she told Neville. "I trust that you remember where it is?"
Neville nodded. His affinity for Herbology had meant that he'd visited Sprout's office far more than that of any other teacher. Even then, a part of him he'd kept buried had hoped that it might be his someday.
The others had had fewer reasons to visit Sprout outside of class hours, and their memories were far too foggy to direct them in the right direction. They followed Neville without question to an office just off the entrance hall, leaving McGonagall behind.
"Almost as close as you can get to the greenhouses," Neville commented, "while still having an office inside the castle."
He sat his box on top of the desk that was pushed to one side of the room. The others sat down their own wherever they could find the space and began digging through the contents.
There was a long stretch of time where none of them spoke. They unpacked the boxes and placed the items in the appropriate places around the room. If any words were said, they were brief questions about where something should go.
Once they'd finished, they admired their handiwork.
"This actually looks like a professor's office," Ginny said.
"Think about it," Ron said, "you'll be giving kids detentions in here, Nev." He laughed. "What's that feel like? Being the one to give the detention?"
"I wouldn't know yet, would I?" Neville said. "It's hard to believe. I know that it's been ten years, but being in here, it feels like just yesterday we were students, up to our ears in homework that we couldn't focus on because we were too worried about a war."
The others rushed to recount their own memories of their Hogwarts days. Hermione brought up specific essays, mentioning ways she could have strengthened the arguments she'd made then. Ginny, Ron, and Harry talked spiritedly about Quidditch matches they'd competed in. Luna recounted a time her prized copy of Cryptozoology and the Frozen South had gone missing for an entire month and somehow managed to sound wistful.
Not half an hour later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione found themselves walking across the grounds, just the three of them. The others were still up in Neville's office.
The sun had begun to set. Only slivers of it were visible above the lake's horizon.
"I miss this place."
It was the first time Harry had said it out loud, though he'd thought it plenty of times throughout the day. He knew that the others knew it. He knew they even felt it like he did, but he wasn't sure that they felt it as strongly as he did.
"Of course," Hermione said.
They settled themselves down on a patch of grass to watch the tail end of the sunset.
"Maybe it doesn't make sense," Harry continued. "Merlin knows I almost died here more times than I can remember off the top of my head. Hogwarts was never as safe as it felt, but there was something about being here. It was my home, and after coming back… I don't want to leave it again."
Neither Ron nor Hermione said anything for a long time. The sky was darkening to the inky black of night. In less than a few minutes, the sun would be gone until morning.
"We dealt with a lot here," Ron said. "We met each other; we grew up. Hell, we learned to fight here. It'd be weird if we didn't miss it, mate."
"We still have still have everything we had here though," Hermione said.
She sounded far less sentimental than the boys. Her eyes had turned back to the castle, and there was no doubt she was mesmerized by it, but she didn't feel the same desire to come back to it for good.
"The memories are what we miss," she continued. "If we went back, it wouldn't be the same. For a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that we'd be surrounded by teenagers and really feel how much time has passed since we were one of them."
It was true; Harry knew it was. There was no going back to Hogwarts. Not like he had once experienced it.
"At least our kids will be here at the same time, right, Harry?" Ron said. His smile showed his excitement at the idea.
Harry grinned and nodded, trying not to show the faint surprise he felt. Though he knew, logically, that they would come one day, Harry had never stopped to think about his children attending Hogwarts and what that would mean for him, watching them go off and have the experience of a lifetime while he stayed at home.
The sun was no longer visible above the horizon, cloaking the Hogwarts grounds in black. Though the castle was right there, Harry had difficulty making it out in much detail, but Hermione was right, that didn't matter. What mattered was what had happened within the castle in the past, and he carried that inside of himself at all times.