The Missing Years

A/N: This is my first story so be kind but critical in reviews! Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does.

Harry woke up to sharp repeating pain on his forehead. At first he rolled over drowsily but when it continued, he started to freak out. He shot up and grabbed his wand and pointed it at the person standing beside his bed. They were all blurry since he didn't have his glasses on but he could tell that they had a mass of red hair.

"Sorry about this Harry," said a familiar voice.

Harry lowered his wand and reached over for his glasses on the nightstand. He put them on and Bill Weasley slowly came into view.

"Sorry about that Bill," Harry said with a yawn.

"Nah, its fine. Mum sent me up here to check on you again. She's getting really worried about you guys."

"Uh oh, why?"

Bill chuckled, "It might have something to do with the fact that you've been sleeping for about 36 hours."

"What?" He couldn't believe it had actually been that long. It seemed like he had just gone to sleep.

"It's fine. Ron and Hermione are still sleeping too. I figure you guys need it but you know Mum, she thinks you are getting hungry."

Harry's stomach rumbled and they both chuckled. "She knows me well."

"Well before you go devour all the food in the Great Hall, will you help me wake up Ron?"

"I think you're going to need all the help you can get," he smiled.

Twenty painful minutes later and Ron was awake and they were both dressed for the day. Bill was standing at the door waiting. "Well, are you coming?" Harry and Ron looked at each other with apprehension in their eyes until Ron finally spoke up. "Is the whole family down there?" Bill looked out the door to the common room. "Everyone except Ginny. She must still be in there with Hermione."

Ron looked at Harry and gave him a look that clearly said that he didn't want to go down there. "Are they waiting to question us about where we've been?" Harry asked.

"Hell yes. If you don't want to give answers I advise you to propel out the window." Bill chuckled.

"Let's do it mate. Have you got some rope?" Ron asked with a fire in his crystal blue eyes. Bill was silently laughing by the door.

"We can't leave Hermione to fend for herself, Ron"

"Can you do that talking patronus thing and send her a message? Then she can do the same!" Harry laughed. "I can try. Expecto Patronum." A stag shot out of Harry's wand stood before him. "To Hermione. Ron and I are jumping out the window so we don't have to talk to anybody. You are welcome to join us." The stag nodded his head and soared out the window. Ron sprinted to the ledge and watched it fly into the girls' dormitory. A few minutes later an otter came rushing into the room and spoke with Hermione's voice. "Ginny and I are coming with you. See you on the ground." Ron smiled and jumped to his feet with a crazy smile. "Let's go."

"Can you buy us some time Bill? How about an hour?"

"I can only guarantee half an hour, but I can strive for an hour."

"Thank you so much Bill, we owe you one" Ron said.

"Yes you do little brother, and I intend to collect someday" Bill winked at them and walked out the door.

"Alright, let's go"

Harry and Ron ran, and very plainly, jumped out the window. As soon as they did Harry realized the flaw in that plan, they had no way to stop. Ron had evidently realized that too because he started screaming bloody murder. Just when Harry thought they were done for they slowed down to graceful fall and landed on their feet. They were both looking frantically around for their savior and saw Hermione standing a couple hundred feet away with Ginny and her wand outstretched at them and a smirk on her face.

"Um thanks," Ron said awkwardly.

"Anytime," Hermione said as Harry and Ron started towards them. The four of them walked in silence the rest of the way to the great oak front doors which were standing ajar. The remnants of the battle were still strewn everywhere; there were statues turned over, paintings torn off walls, while scorch and blood marks were staining the wall. They stood there in awe for a second, staring at the wreckage of the battle. "Wow," said Hermione softly. Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she squeezed his waist and laid her head on his chest. They didn't even realize that Ginny was glaring at them, but Ron did. He cleared his throat.

"I don't think it's a mealtime. We're going to have to go down to the kitchens and ask the elves for some food." They all mumbled agreements and turned to walk down the steps to the basement. Hermione lifted her head off Harry's chest but kept her arm around his waist and his was still around her shoulders. Ron knew better than to think anything of it but Ginny obviously didn't. She was walking down the stairs glaring at the floor like it had insulted her.

Harry reached up and tickled the pear and walked into the kitchens. He saw Kreacher and waved to him and he waved back but he was very busy with some steak so he didn't go over to talk to him. They asked for some food and five or six elves came rushing back with large platters of all of Ron's favorites. They thanked the elves and left. They sat down on some benches outside the kitchen and started dishing up.

"They were so brave fighting for us. I wonder how many died," Hermione said with a tear in her eye. Harry was sitting next to her so he put his arm around her shoulders again and kissed her forehead. "Don't think about that right now, just relax and eat." Ginny couldn't handle it anymore and she burst into tears. They both looked up at her confusedly and she stood up and started walking away.

"I'll handle this mate." Ron got up and walked over to Ginny who was standing at the bottom of the stairs. "You need to stop crying right now."

Ginny turned to him with a look of disgust on her face. "Excuse me?"She said with contempt.

"They aren't together."

"OF COURSE THEY ARE! HE JUST KISSED HER! ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID?"

Harry and Hermione looked up at them with identical shocked expressions.

"You're the stupid one!" Ron rolled his eyes. "Great job shouting that out. I was trying to do you and keep it from them that you thought they were together. But oh well, you ruined that one. Harry and Hermione are brother and sister. They are best friends and super close but they don't think of each other romantically at all." He sighed. "Look I ditched them while we were running around together." Ginny stopped crying for a second and started to glare at him.

"You did WHAT?" She screamed.

"Yeah, I ditched them. I was so in love with Hermione and I thought that they liked each other and I couldn't handle it. I left them begging for me to come back. It almost ruined my life. When I finally found them again, I saw Harry first. He swore up and down that they were never together and they don't want to be. He loves her, but he loves her like a sister. He feels about Hermione what I feel about you. That completely innocent, sometimes overprotective sibling love. He would do anything for her, but he's in love with you. Once I got back and had my head cleared, it became very obvious that they didn't like each other. Now calm down. I'm going to sit down again and eat, you pull yourself together and come back when you can." Ron kissed the top of her head and walked back to the table.

"I hope you talked some sense into her Ron," Hermione said sternly.

"Yeah, I did. You guys could at least help the situation and get your arms off each other."

Harry and Hermione slowly moved away from each other. As soon as they had a couple inches between them Ginny sat back down at the table. She didn't look up at Harry and Hermione but just ate. The trio followed her lead and ate lunch in silence. They eventually finished, with the trio eating twice as much as Ginny, and gave the dishes back to the elves.

"Well, now what?" Ron asked.

"I don't exactly fancy returning to the common room. Maybe we can lay low in the library? No one will expect us to be in there…" Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"That's a fantastic idea Harry!" Hermione beamed. Ron groaned.

The journeyed down the corridors to find a pleasant surprise waiting for them in the library. It was Neville and Luna.