Chapter 1:
Harry woke with a start, at first, he still thought that he was in Shell cottage, then the previous day's events rushed forth from his memory to the forefront of his mind which was still in a slightly confused state due to the 15 hours' sleep he'd just overcome. He went slightly dizzy as he regained consciousness and his brain went into overdrive, leaving him a need to lie back down again. Gringotts, the dragon, the castle, the diadem, the elder wand, the hidden room, the near-death experience, then the final fight in the great hall, all of it flashed before his mind's eye and before he had time to properly process the emotion behind every memory, the next image arrived to divert his attention. This was very overwhelming and for a few minutes, he just stared up at the ceiling of his dormitory, this too brought back memories, one's which weren't as recent but memories which his heart had been aching to relive for a good few months since he'd left Hogwarts.
After gathering his bewildered thoughts up in a neat and comprehensive order, Harry thought it safe to get up. As he did so, (still pretty slowly as an extra precaution) his emotions battled inside him. Terrible, terrible grief wallowed inside him, that for Fred, probably still lying in the great hall, his family unable to leave him, for Tonks and Lupin, their eyes unseeing, but their hands still somewhat close together. Yet he also felt a wonderful, wonderful relief, to know that it was all over. To know that the biggest and deadliest threat in his and everyone else's lives had finally been extinguished. He felt relieved and victorious in equal measures. By coming back to Hogwarts, and for knowing that Voldemort was no more, the two things he had been striving for, what he now realised, his entire life since he was 11. A luminous ray of hope now shined on his future, one that had been endangered every time he progressed through another year of his life since his 11 birthday, and been completely extinct since Dumbledore suggested to him the only way to kill Voldemort; a ray of hope that brightened his whole life and everyone in it.
As Harry sat there on the edge of his bed, his thoughts depressed slightly as he remember Remus' and Tonks' son Teddy and the responsibilities that they had imposed upon him if every they were harmed. He imagined what it would be like for the next few years, having to godfather their son, and to be reminded of their sacrifice every time he looked into little Teddy's features, to imagine that he had indirectly condemned an innocent child to a future that of an orphans. He knew what it was like to be an orphan, and he wouldn't want to lay out the same sort of life for another for he knew how it felt not to have a father to guide you when you most needed it, for a mother not to hug you and comfort you, protect you from the dangers that he had had to welcome with open arms as he didn't have any other choice. This he knew and he was going to strive to stop Teddy being abandoned as he had been for the first ten years after his parents had been slaughtered.
Harry forced his thoughts to stop so he could go out of the room without having an emotional meltdown. This he managed quite well, too well, this surprised him slightly as he made his way out of the dormitory, he noticed that although the castle had just undergone a state of siege, the dormitory seemed spotless (even if it was completely deserted), he guessed that no-one had been there to allow entry into the common room. This would be a likely explanation as he seemed to remember the subjects of all the paintings screaming at other pictures in order to deliver messages of destruction happening somewhere else. He slowly descended the steps outside his room and into the common room which was so forcibly reminding. How many times had they spent their time in this room? The room had grown on him without him really realising. His gaze fell upon the fire; Sirius' head had talked to him from that fire once, twice, three times! Him, Ron and Hermione had conversed in silent whispers of different theories each of them had about the strange things that had happened, whether it had been a secret or whether it had been public. He then ended up glancing at the good armchairs, he faintly remembered Ron intimidating smaller pupils in order to get those seats before Hermione wafted Ron out of them and politely offered the child their seats again. This bought a soft, sad chuckle to his lips, but the recent past was too eclipsing over those moments that the laughter didn't stay for long.
He decided to focus himself on safely getting out and directing his footsteps to the great hall, refusing to be reminded by any portraits or ornaments around the corridors. He knew the atmosphere was going to be that of a sad one as people knew that grieving for their families and friend's was a priority before the victory and happiness of Voldemort's downfall.
He entered the great hall and was surprised to see that the tables weren't there. Instead of all of them having been vanished, two had been set to the side so that there was still some untouched and abandoned food for breakfast, but also with a enclosed space in the middle of the hall. Where there were beds accommodating the injured, the dead had been moved and set aside on the platform, and in the remaining space, Ministry officials had finally arrived, and were rounding up anyone known for having been on Voldemort's side. He was surprised by the fact that all the rubble from the corridors outside and in the hall was all gone, and the hall looked as good as it had only done. The only difference was that the grand enchantment set on the ceiling to imitate the sky outside had been shattered. Instead a rather mundane cover with patterns following the same theme of the walls was there instead. Everything apart from the table arrangements and the people actually in the hall was the same. So familiar.
The occupants went quiet as everyone's stare pierced him, holding him in that position, leaving him feeling as though a spotlight had suddenly been turned on and swivelled to his direction. He gulped rather nervously, not really sure what to do, this feeling left him swiftly as his own gaze fell upon the corpses on the platform, he spotted the bright ginger hair of Fred, in somewhere roughly in the middle of the platform, he took seeked out the shabby coat and scarred face of Remus and the cheerful colour of Tonks' hair, her bold purple shirt stood out from the rest of the murky colours.
Ginny came bustling out from the crowd, her arms outstretched and a hard but pained expression upon her features, and automatically, Harry felt nothing but the need to feel her soft skin, to console myself that nothing had truly happened to her, and he wrapped myself around her in a close embrace, wanting to let out all his sadness in that one kiss.
This seemed to take the audience out of their trance. Ron and Hermione presented themselves. Ron looked as though he was still in refusal to accept the inevitable about Fred, his eyes rather red from lack of sleep whereas Hermione launched into speech the second she managed to make herself known.
'Harry, they're taking the Malfoy's!' She said in quiet desperation, obviously hoping I'd back her up in her aid to stop this injustice. 'Tell them that they're not dark wizards anymore, tell them how Narcissa lied on your behalf, how we saved Draco and how they ended up being forced by Voldemort.' She exclaimed all this in a rather loud manner in order for everyone else to hear aswell. He could tell why, they were indeed in a position which suggested that the Malfoy's were being arrested. A Ministry guard had both of Draco's hands behind his back; Narcissa's upper arm was being held by another brutal looking guard in what looked like a painful vice grip, whereas Lucius's hands were already handcuffed. He had never seen such demented looks on Narcissa's and Lucius's features. He knew what sacrifice Narcissa had made for the safety of her family, even intended put herself at risk not to bring them to harm.
Harry walked forward and saw everyone's facial expression change slightly as their heads were already turned (as everyone's already was) to him. The Malfoy's were obviously on the borderline of wary and hopeful yet unexpectant. Their expressions changed completely as he walked over and broke the Ministry guard holding Narcissa's grip. Her eye's widened slightly whereas Draco looked at him in confusion.
'I won't argue that these people haven't done anything wrong,' he started, 'but that doesn't mean that these people haven't done any good to cancel that out.'
'Narcissa lied to Voldemort at a time that if she didn't, then he would probably still be alive and I wouldn't be,' he stated rather boldly, remembering how grateful he was that Narcissa loved her son more than he wanted Voldemort to win his fight with him. He saw Draco and Lucius both direct their eyes to Narcissa who lowered her eyes, tears once more filling them.
'And anyway,' he continued, 'these past few months, I think Voldemort had been more forcing them to do his bidding under the threat of killing the other of them.' It seemed that although many of the people couldn't really believe that the Malfoy's had truly come back to their side, no-one really wanted to disregard what he had said. Afterall, Voldemort had only gone because Harry had the guts to oppose him, and had the strength to see it through.
'Yes, but you can't just forget all the witches, wizards and muggles that these people have tortured and even killed, how many years that these people have been devoted to the completely wrong side,' a Ministry official piped up. Well it seems not everyone seemed to believe him.
'They've already been given the punishment for their crimes; that too by the person who ordered them to commit those acts. Now that they've finally intentionally helped us in a way without expecting any sort of reward, doing it because they know it's the right thing, which should be enough to let them finally live free of any sort of obligation except for the ones nearest and dearest to them.
He saw the Ministry official blushing slightly; whereas the Malfoy's looked at him with something close to wonder. He now noticed that although Hermione looked as though she would've fully supported he had someone called upon her to give her opinions, Ron looked less than comfortable with the current climate. This did not strike him as surprising. Afterall, the enmity between the Weasley's and Malfoy's ran too deep for Ron to directly side with Draco in any matter.
Neville stepped forward no doubt to come and give him a hug or something along those lines, Harry hadn't realised that he was there. As Neville did so, most of the crowd seemed to finally respect Harry's privacy and turned away. Harry was relieved that now the crowd weren't directly focusing their attention on him, he felt more comfortable.
This moment was short-lived, however. As soon as the crowd turned away, the media arrived. Harry was dazzled as the blinding of hundreds of camera's flashed in his direction, seriously causing damage to his eyes. As well as that there were even more people shouting over each other, yelling for him to answer their questions.
'Mr Potter, where have you been this past year?'
'Harry, do you think that you knew that you would eventually hav-'
'Mr Pott-'
'Mr Potter, how did you m anage-?'
Harry was overwhelmed as so many people jostled around him, trying to divert his attention while still competing with that many other reporters and photographers who kept clicking away. He just stood there, his mind completely blank of what to say with his mouth slightly open, a look of utter astonishment upon his face. He then heard Ron shouting at everyone to shut up and leave them alone. He knew that they were trying to get him out of the consuming crowd.
'He's not bloody going to tell you anything, a flipping war's just happened, now would never be the time!' he tried shouting at the press.
Harry fi nally seemed to find his voice and although the camera's refused to stop, all the reporters hushed up to hear what he had to say.
'Erm, I don't r eally know what to say but, er… a war's just happened, so for now please just leave me be.' he humbly requested.
'It's alright Harry, they've been bothering us all before you came,' Ginny whispered in his ear as the camera's resumed their constant flashing and he once again felt grateful at not having to face them all on his own.