Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters that appear in this chapter, they belong to JK Rowling, though I wish I was smart enough to have come up with her idea.

Introduction: Hi, this is my first story in a long long time, and after rereading the other one, I realised how bad it was! But, that was 5 years ago, hopefully my writing has improved since then, and that story is under a different pen name, and I'm not going to tell you what it is, so you can't all laugh at me.

I am going to keep this fic as canon as possible, and it's basically my take on what happened in the 19 years between "The Flaw in the Plan," and the epilogue at the end of Deathly Hallows.

I am a university student, and I currently have several assignments I should be working on, so if it takes a while to update (providing you like the story of course) please don't hate me.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy! On with the story.

Chapter One: The Aftermath

How long Harry had been lying in his bed he did not know, he didn't care. As tired as he was, he found he just could not sleep. The events of the past few days were replaying in his head like a videotape that kept rewinding itself. The fact that the war against Voldermort was over had not yet quite sunk in for Harry. Although he had seen Voldermort die, he just expected him to come bursting through Gryffindor's dormitory door any second.

Harry shook his head and rolled over, he was being ridiculous. Voldermort was most defiantly dead. All the horcruxes had been destroyed, and Voldermort's body was currently lying in a room off the Great Hall. Harry sat up in his bed, and in the bed next to him, Ron snorted and rolled over at Harry's movement. Other than Ron's light snoring, the dormitory was silent, Dean was fast asleep in his own bed, but other than that it was empty. Both Neville and Seamus had been sent to the hospital wing to get themselves sorted out, neither had returned yet.

Reaching under his pillow, Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak, and as he climbed out of his four poster bed, he pulled the cloak over himself. Although it had been revealed that his father's old cloak was really a Deathly Hallow, to Harry, the cloak still felt the same; a connection to his father, and an easy way to sneak around undetected, as he planned to do now.

Harry needed closure. He felt that he needed to see Voldermort's body one last time before he could truly rest and move on with his life. Since Voldermort's death a few hours before, Harry's scar had not even twinged in the slightest. He suspected that it probably never would again; he hoped it never would again. His connection to Voldermort had been severed due to the destruction of the seventh horcrux that has resided within Harry since his was one year old.

As Harry crept down the stairs and into the common room, all around he saw sleeping lumps. Many of the ex- Gryffindor pupils who had come back to fight had crashed wherever they could, exhausted from the fight, not even bothered by the fact that sunlight was streaming through the windows, as it was already early afternoon. Harry had to carefully step over a couple of the figures, whose only movement was the steady rise and falling of their chests as they breathed.

Harry exited Gryffindor Tower, and, as if on auto pilot, he started walking down to the Great Hall. All around him the damage caused by the previous night's battle was evident, rubble and clouds of rising dust glistening as the sunlight streamed through broken windows along the corridors.

Harry walked along unnoticed, only passing a few people along the way; the schools caretaker, Argus Filch, was sweeping up broken glass, aided by several ministry workers, and later on Harry walked past Hagrid who was passing large boulders of rubble out of a window to his younger brother Grawp. Harry wanted to stop and speak to Hagrid, but his feet prevented him from doing so, and he carried on walking until he arrived in the Great Hall, through the large gap where the doors had previously been, until they had been blasted away by Death Eaters.

Inside the Great Hall were a few people and Harry knew it would be difficult to get past them undetected to see Voldermort. At the opposite end of the hall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, the recently announced Minister for Magic stood talking to Professor McGonagall, Hogwarts new Headmistress. Cautiously, Harry approached the pair. All around were other Hogwarts teachers and ministry workers repairing the structure or making notes on floating pieces of parchment about various things. The bodies of the dead had been moved from the hall, Harry did not know where.

"Professor?" Minerva McGonagall jumped slightly at the sound of the voice apparently coming from an empty space. "Sorry Professor, I didn't mean to startle you," Harry said as he removed the cloak from around himself.

"That's quite alright Potter, you just gave me a slight shock that is all," she replied.

"I was wondering if I could have a quick chat with you please Kingsley?" Harry said turning to face him.

"Of course," Kingsley replied in his deep, soothing voice, and led Harry out of the Great Hall, down the steps that lead up to the entrance hall and out into the grounds. "It's a beautiful day; we should make the most of it, "Kingsley said in response to the quizzical look that had appeared on Harry's face as he was lead outside.

"Yeah," murmured Harry to the ground.

"You don't think so?" Kingsley asked him.

"No, I do, it's just…" Harry's voice trailed off. He decided there was no point dragging out his question, and looking Kingsley straight in the eye, "I need to see Voldermort's body. I just have to. You're Minister for magic now, can you grant me this one favour please?"

Kingsley nodded thoughtfully, "I don't see why you shouldn't be allowed, but I want you to be certain that you want to do this?"

"If I don't, I will regret it for the rest of my life, I know I will. If I can't put Voldermort in my past, then I feel I will never be able to carry on with my life with out a constant worry that he will return and hurt more people that I love."

"I understand," Kingsley replied, and Harry was sure that he was thinking about everyone that they had lost during the war. "When would you like to do this?"

"Now," Harry replied instantly, "the sooner I can get this over with, the quicker I carry on with my life."

"He is lying in a chamber off the Great Hall, if you want to follow me, "and once again Harry was following Kingsley, back into the school and into the Great Hall, which still had various ministry workers roaming around. A few students who had stayed behind to fight had now appeared and were eating at the house tables.

Harry ignored them, not even registering who they were, as he followed Kingsley into the chamber at the back of the Great Hall. Kingsley turned to Harry and said, "I shall leave you. I will be outside, take as long as you need." Harry nodded in response and watched as Kingsley walked out of the room and shut the door behind him.

Harry turned round, and saw a dark figure lying on a table in the poorly lit chamber. As he walked towards the figure, he saw that the body had been covered in a black cloak. Harry's hand reached out to pull the cloak back, but he faltered. Did he really want to do this? "You must," the voice inside his head told him, "if you don't, you will never be able to carry on with your life, laugh with your friends, be with your loved ones." Harry nodded to himself and in one swift movement; he pulled the cloak that covered Voldermort's body.

Harry wasn't sure what he had expected, but whatever it was vanished in a moment. As Harry looked at Voldermort's lifeless body, with the skeletal face, flat nose and spider-like fingers, the truth dawned over Harry, as he sunk to the floor, sitting against the leg of the table that Voldermort lay on.

Tears came to Harry as they had never come before. As tears streamed down his cheeks he thought about his parents, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Fred, Colin, Dumbledore and for anyone else who had been a victim. Harry thought about Neville, who had lost both his parents, not physically, but mentally, to the entire Weasley family, such a close family, to Ron and Hermione, who had stood by him since he entered the wizarding world, to Ginny, her beauty and radiance, how much he loved her, and to Severus Snape. Harry wasn't sure if he was quite ready to accept that Snape had loved Harry's mother, the fact that Snape was able to accept the concept of love meant that Harry could start to accept what he had done.

Harry cried until he was no longer able to produce tears, and, after several deep breaths to try and compose himself, Harry stood up and once again looked at Voldermort's body and spoke, "the true "Master of Death" does not run away from death but instead embraces that he or she must eventually die. A greater man than you or me said this, a man who believed that my ability to love was what would defeat you one day, and you know what? He was right."

With a last look, Harry re-laid the cloak over the body, wiped a stray tear from his cheek, and walked out of the small, cold chamber into the brightness and warmth of the Great Hall.

After blinking a few times from the light, Harry saw Kingsley a few feet away talking to a ministry worker. Kingsley looked pointedly at Harry, who nodded and smiled before walking over towards the house tables where many of the people who had participated in the fight, now sat eating a well deserved meal.

Harry headed over to the Weasley family and Hermione who sat at one end of the Gryffindor table, with many calls of "We did it Harry!" And, "Thanks Harry!" along the way. Harry smiled and silently acknowledged each of these calls until he reached the Weasleys. "Can I join you?" He asked.

"Harry!" Cried Hermione, "where have you been? Ron said you weren't in your bed when he woke up, and we asked Kingsley, and he wouldn't tell us anything."

"Calm down Hermione! Let the man eat, I'm sure he has a good explanation," came Ron's reply.

"Um..." As Harry sat down next to Ron, he saw how distant and sad they all looked. It was obviously that Mrs Weasley had been crying for a long time, Mr Weasley had his arm around her. Bill, Fleur, Charlie and Percy had looked up from their conversation at Harry's arrival; Fleur was also showing signs of recent crying. Neither George nor Ginny had even shown any acknowledgement at Harry's arrival though. George was staring into space with a blank look on his face; Ginny however was staring at her plate, and with a look of sheer annoyance was muttering to her plate.

"I… Umm… I had a few things to sort out, sorry," and he fell silent, fully aware that, with the exception of George and Ginny, everyone was staring at him expectantly.

Nobody said anything for a few moments, except for Ginny who was still mumbling into her plate. Hermione, who was sitting next to Ginny, nudged her sharply with her elbow and Ginny looked up haughtily, and crossed her arms. To break the awkward silence, Mrs Weasley asked Harry if he would like anything to eat, and following his small reply, started piling sausages and bacon onto a plate before handing it over to Harry.

"Did you manage to get some rest, dear?" She asked him.

"Not really," he replied, "you?" He asked her, even though he already knew the answer, but preferred this feeble attempt at a conversation to the awkward silence.

Mrs Weasley shook her head in silence, and Mr Weasley replied, "I don't think many people managed much. Its going to take people a long time to recover, some, I don't think ever will," he looked over towards George sadly. "We are heading back to the Burrow later today Harry, will you be joining us? I will be nice to get back to somewhere familiar and comfortable; we haven't been back there since Easter."

"I would like that, if you're sure its not too much bother."

"Of course not mate! You're like family, and family is always welcome!" exclaimed Ron.

Harry smiled at Ron and thanked him. To be called part of the family made his spirits soar, and Harry stood up abruptly to the surprise of the rest of the table. "Ginny?" He asked, "Will you walk with me?"

Ginny's eyes narrowed menacingly, and she stood up and proceeded to stalk right out of the Great Hall. Harry felt his spirits deflate inside him at her attitude, and with a quick glance at Ron, whose eyes were following his sister, he quickly followed her out of the Hall.

She led him all the way out onto the grounds to the tree near the lake where Harry had seen the memory of his parents. Both Harry and Ginny were silent on the journey, and once she got to the tree, Ginny stopped and turned around to face Harry with her hands on her hips and anger in her eyes.

"Well?" She said.

The silence was deadly, Harry actually felt more scared than he had done when he thought he was about to die the night before.

"Ginny, I…" He faltered. Words were running through his head, but nothing seemed to be the right thing to say to her. "I'm sorry," he said, he knew it probably sounded stupid, but he was having difficulty finding words.

The next thing Harry felt was pain. Ginny was repeatedly punching, hitting and slapping any part of Harry she could, in a similar manner to Hermione's attack on Ron just a few months earlier.

"You are so stupid, why did you put us all through that? Did you not think we deserved to know your plan? You selfish, arrogant bastard!" For the first time since he had known her, Ginny was crying. The tears were rolling freely down her face, and Harry could think of nothing better to do than to try and put his arms around her. After a few moments struggle Ginny stopped fighting against him, and Harry hugged her even harder, he had forgotten how perfectly they seemed to fit together. Her head was nestled in his chest, which was now getting rather wet due to her sobbing in it.

"Shhh Ginny, shhh," Harry whispered softly into her ear, "it's over now, I'll tell you everything."

He pulled her down onto the ground, where she sat on his lap. Harry started stroking her hair, and while she cried, Harry told her everything; the hunt for the horcruxes, including the diary, the Deathly Hallows, Voldermort's past, and how it was connected to Harry's, everything he, Ron and Hermione had been up to that year, and his sacrifice the night before. When he told her of the resurrection stone and how he had seen his parents, Sirius and Remus, Ginny hugged him so hard, that he had to remind her to let him breathe.

When he had finished, she looked at him hard in the face, staring right into his eyes. Harry was transfixed, he couldn't look away. They stared into each others eyes for several minutes, and every bit of love Harry and Ginny had for each other was conveyed through those green and brown eyes during those few minutes. No words were needed; they came to a full understanding of each other, and it was at that moment that Harry knew he loved Ginny with all his heart.

"I never wanna loose you again," he told her, "you're going to be mine forever."

"Is that a promise?" she looked at him seriously, "I don't want you going on a wild goose chase across the country following any more murderous, immortality seeking wizards."

"It wasn't technically a wild goose chase."

"Shh," she cut him off, "promise me."

"Cross my heart," and the next thing he knew he was kissing her with such passion that not ever their kiss on his seventeenth birthday could match. Harry was in blissful heaven, one hand at the bottom of Ginny's back, the other getting tangled in her long red hair, the rest of the world just didn't matter at that moment, and for several more moments, and several more.

As much as they wanted that kiss to last forever, eventually they had to come up for air. Gasping for breath, they held each other close. "I love you," Harry told Ginny.

"I love you too."

"Erm, Gin? I hate to break this up, but I think we have an audience." They looked over towards the school entrance, where a small crowd had gathered, apparently watching Harry and Ginny's reunion.

"Let them watch," she said smirking, "if you remember, the first time you kissed me was in front of the whole of Gryffindor house."

"Mmm, yeah, I do remember, I remember perfectly, but the crowd in the Gryffindor tower didn't include your parents!"

"Oh!" And she broke away from him sharply.

"Shall we face them together? Or are you going to leave me to the slaughter?" Harry asked her.

"Together," she said smiling at him, and she took his hand in her own. "Ready?" She asked.

"No, but we'll do it anyway."

Hand in hand they slowly strode over to the small crowd of people. As they got closer, Harry realized that not only was Mr and Mrs Weasley there, but the rest of the Weasley family, Hermione, Neville, who had been released from the hospital wing, Luna and Kingsley.

"Hi," Harry said as they approached the group, and he and Ginny stopped several feet short of Mr and Mrs Weasley who were at the front. Their expressions were blank, as were all the Weasley men's. Hermione, Luna and Fleur were smiling however. 'Typical girls,' Harry couldn't help but think.

"Well, if you hadn't already guessed, Harry and I are back together, and he has promised not to run off and chase any evil wizards, not for a little while at least," Ginny explained to the waiting crowd.

"Oh! That's wonderful!" Exclaimed Mrs Weasley, and the pair were soon engulfed in one of her famous bone-crushing hugs.

"Yes, it's wonderful," Mr Weasley agreed, and as soon as Harry and Ginny were released from the hug, Mr Weasley took Harry's hand and shook it.

After Mr and Mrs Weasley were finished, the rest of the group began congratulating the couple, choruses of, "if you hurt my sister," were mixed in with, "well, its about time you two got back together," and many more handshakes and hugs.

Finally, it was Ron's turn, "you remember what I told you last year? It still stands, you mess with my sister, or ever break her heart again, you'll know about it."

"I promise, if I ever hurt her again, you can call on Gryffindor's sword and cut me down," Harry replied.

"You know I will remember that," Ron smiled, "congratulations mate. And, while we are on the topic of getting together, well," he walked over towards where Hermione was standing, "even I admit this should have happened ages ago, but me and 'Mione are finally together. We are aren't we?" He asked, looking at her uncertainly.

"Yes we are, finally," she replied, her brown eyes glowing as she took his hand in hers.

A shriek was heard from Mrs Weasley, and for the next few minutes, the same process that had just occurred with Ginny and Harry was repeating itself.

"Remember, Hermione is like my sister, I want you to remember that," Harry said to Ron who nodded. Harry turned to Hermione, "next time you decide to proclaim your love to Ron, please do not do it in the middle of a war."

"I'll try my very best."

"Now that's the Hermione I know."

"Well, is everyone ready to head back to the Burrow? If you all go and collect anything you want go and get it, and we will meet in the entrance hall," said Mr Weasley.

"How are we getting home?" Asked Ginny.

"We will be apparating, and you will go side-along with me, is that ok with everyone?"

A chorus of "yes's" was heard, and the group started to head back inside.

"George?" Harry called out, "can I?"

George nodded, "carry on," he told Charlie who had stopped to wait for him.

"George, I want to tell you I am sorry."

George, who had been staring at the ground looked up, "what are you talking about Harry?"

"It's my fault you lost Fred, the fight last night; it wasn't how it was supposed to happen."

"Shut up Harry, its not your fault, Fred chose to fight, it was all up to him. And anyway, he was fighting for what was right, for his family's freedom, and now we have that, he would be happy. I don't think I will ever get over the pain of loosing him, none of us will, but I know he wouldn't want you to blame yourself for anything, so please, don't." George spoke these words with such emotion, a side of George Harry had never seen before.

"Thank you," Harry told him.

"No Harry, thank you. You have opened the way for change in this world; let's make sure it's better than before, for Fred."

"Agreed." And the pair walked back into the castle to meet everyone else before heading back to the Burrow, for what was hopefully a lot of rest.