MA: hmm… I know I said to disregard HBP and DH, but looking at this… it's more like disregard, parts of HBP and DH (especially that gawd awful epilogue!)

So yeah… Enjoy!

Chapter 2:

Harry looked around his room one more time, making sure everything had been packed. He threw a few last odds and ends in his trunk, before sitting on his bed with a hardbound book. It was a reddish leather bound book with some gold scroll-work in the corners. He opened it to reveal blank cream-colored pages covered in photos, letters and newspaper clippings, containing news and photos of friends, family, and enemies alike. Hermione had made it for him while he was recovering from the aftermath of the final battle, a scrapbook of the great moments in their lives.

He turned the pages, stopping on a few photos, or clippings remembering the past couple years. He was almost twenty years old- the final battle was two years ago. The wizarding world was still recovering, but the chaos created by the war was finally calming down. Ron Weasley had been talked into filling the position of Minister of Magic, the youngest ever, the last four years had forced his eyes open, he had matured greatly in that time and his mind, built for subtle strategy (as any who had played wizarding chess against him would tell you) was perfect for the machinations of a political office. He had also built his contacts in the influential higher circles of the magical world by marrying the heir to the Parkinson fortune, Pansy Parkinson, as well as being the brother-in-law to the Malfoy heir, Draco. Who, despite Death Eater connections had enough money to still have sway over many in the magical world.

Harry turned to a page that always made him smile. It contained a wedding invitation and a photo of the smiling newlyweds, Draco Malfoy and Ginivera Weasley. He remembered that day well, it was a beautiful wedding- the couple's mothers, Narcissa and Molly had guaranteed that- it was everything money could buy and, better yet, marked the beginning of a whole new unity of the magical world. The Malfoy-Weasley marriage truly marked the change in times. Harry remembered how everyone expected Ron to throw a fit, Draco had expected to dodge hexes when he first proposed, but Ron had surprisingly given the couple his blessing. Harry snorted a little, maybe it wasn't so surprising since Ron had proposed to Pansy not even a month later.

Many people had thought there would be trouble from Hermione and Harry, what with the supposed "loves of their lives" marrying other, rather unexpected, people. When asked Harry just smiled and shrugged, he wished for his friends and family to be happy, he loved Ginny, but finally had realized it was as the sister he had never had. Hermione had out right laughed at the reporter when she had been asked about Ron's "betrayal". They hadn't been dating for a while, she had wanted to continue schooling and wanted nothing to do with house and home for the time being, plus with Ron's political career taking off she would have had to play hostess to far too many events necessary for the heads of the wizarding world. Pansy, on the other hand, had wanted nothing more to support her husband in his endeavors and provide a home and family for him. Hermione wished her luck and stayed one of Ron's best non-romantic friends.

Of course all this denial on their parts led to some interesting rumors for Hermione and Harry. Everything from they were dating each other, to they were secretly in the closet, waiting for "the one" to pull them out. This led to some dubious letters received and proposals made. None were accepted or further commented on- though several were laughed at by the friends and family of the two.

Hermione ignored the gossip in favor of getting several doctoral degrees in both the magical and muggle world- her goal being to incorporate both into a more unified being, her argument being that the magical world wouldn't be able to hide forever and she would be prepared for when the inevitable happened.

Harry spent time recuperating and when he found he would never escape the adoring public hiding in his house, played pro-quidditch for a season, figuring he might as well be famous for something he wanted to do, rather then being shoved into. before his godfather, Remus finally suggested a vacation traveling the world.

Remus had had it rough even before the major battles took place. First losing Sirius, whom the trio had found was recognized by Remus' wolf as his mate. Then he had hoped to make Tonks happy by marrying her and giving her their baby boy, Teddy. They were happy until Tonks died in the final battle, a stray curse hitting her, killing her instantly. Afterwards Harry had taken both Teddy and Remus into his house- he had kept 12 Grimmauld place and had finished fixing it up- giving his godfather the support of the last of his connections to his old friends and another pair of hands to help with Teddy.

Harry ran a hand over the photo of Tonks and Teddy, taken only an hour after Ted's birth. Tonks hair- for once, a short, normal chocolate brown, sweaty and messy from a long birth, Teddy's hair already showing his mother's genes, being an untamable mess of a bright teal green. Harry blinked a little to stop the tears before they started and turned the page.

The next page held an obituary for Fred Weasley, next to a picture of the twins smiling and waving enthusiastically to the camera. Harry bit back a laugh, remembering how everyone could have sworn Fred was dead. There was a great fear that his twin, George, would follow him. In the end their fears turned out unfounded as Fred turned up and crashed his own wake. Turned out there had been a mistake in identifying the body, due to the chaos of the battle. The wake was then turned into a huge celebration. Harry and Hermione suspected there was more going on then everyone thought, especially seeing some of the glances shared by the twins. George especially seemed very reluctant to let his twin out of his sight, even for trips to the loo. Hermione had wanted to investigate, but Harry had held her back quietly getting her to agree that what they didn't know made it less likely that if anything illegal had happened then the less that knew and the better for all involved. The twins had gone back to doing what they did best, creating the best pranks in the wizarding world, a pick-me-up for after a horrifying time when humor and laughs were greatly needed.

Harry flipped quickly through the rest of the album, pausing over a few highly emotional times; the death of his mentor and adopted grandfather, Albus and the death of Professor Minerva McGonagall and the promotion of Professor Severus Snape to Headmaster. Snape and Harry weren't the best of friends, but were working on healing the rift between them. Harry had saved Snape and protected him from the ministries accusations and Snape had protected Harry by arming him with as much knowledge and practical experience for the battle ahead as possible. Harry no longer feared the man- in fact he found the man's snarky comments a good whack to the head occasionally to bring him out of his funks and back to the real world. Both men would never forget their great mentor and both took some strange comfort in one another when the grief got to be too much.

Thankfully Hermione hadn't included any of the articles that related to him or Voldemort and the final battle. He had never thought of himself of some great hero, so many had helped him, so many had died for him. Harry knew he couldn't just forget, but he desperately avoided the reminders, like the almost daily headlines in the papers and magazines. He stared at the blank pages that marked the start of the scrapbook that was up to him to fill in the future, not really seeing anything, remembering the final battle and the actions leading up to it.

Hogwarts had been closed in after Dumbledore's death in his Sixth year. Headmistress McGonagall had turned the school into the new base for the light and a refuge for muggleborns and their families. It became the gathering point for the light, Remus using the map he and his friends had created to help fortify it against further invasion. The Golden Trio proceeded to hunt down and destroy the horocruxes, while helping with the war; evacuating muggle communities, destroying a corrupt ministry of magic, and generally making nuisances of themselves for the dark lord and company.

By the time the final battle came to the lawns of Hogwarts, ironically the day before Harry's eighteenth birthday, All the Horcruxes, other then the one in Harry himself, had been destroyed- Nagini meeting her end at the talons of Fawkes and Hedwig. The poor owl had been bitten and died before Fawkes had managed to burst into flames, burning the evil snake to a crisp. Harry mourned the loss of his owl and very first best friend for a long time.

In the end the only ones who knew Harry planned on dying in the final battle were Snape and Harry himself. Snape had been uncharacteristically silent about the whole thing, helping Harry become proficient in silent and wandless spells, while silently praying for a miracle. When the two sides collided Harry ignored everyone else, throwing a curse or hex here or there, intent on finding Voldemort. When he reached his goal he stood there, ignoring the taunts the dark lord threw and didn't even flinch when the familiar green light flew through the air towards his face. Then there was nothing but blessed dark.

During what Harry was told later was about a minute or two, but what felt much like hours, he saw his parents and Dumbledore. He had found himself in what could only be a train station, Dumbledore had come and they had sat and chatted about many things, minor, everyday things- as though there was no great, bloody battle going on in the real world, Dumbledore had even offered him his annoyingly typical lemon drops. Then his parents had shown up, telling him how proud they were of him and how much they loved him. Then all three had informed him that although he had died, now was not his time and had promptly kicked him back to his body in the real world. When he thought about it now, he realized it all felt rather anti-climatic for seeing his dead parents after seventeen-some-odd years.

Harry had woken up facedown in dirt, the sounds of chaos around him. He had stood up slowly despite the pain and had quickly found Voldemort nearby, fighting a group of Aurors. Having lost his wand in the fall Harry scanned the ground and bodies around him for another, when Fawkes had appeared before him carrying Gryffindor's sword. He had taken it with thanks to the Phoenix and charged Voldemort's back, swinging the sword as hard as possible decapitating and killing once and for all, the dark lord, Voldemort.

Harry looked up at the sky as light started to appear over the horizon, flooding the bloody battlefield with pale morning light. It was the next day, Harry's birthday. He started to laugh, a bitter, but loud laugh. The people near him, worried for his sanity. Hermione came running up as he fell to his knees- dropping the sword, and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Harry?" She questioned the worry obvious in her voice. He looked at her with large tear filled eyes before gazing out over the field, looking at the bodies littered about and hearing pain filled screams and groans of the hurt and dying, before saying.

"Happy birthday to me... Right 'Mione?" Finally bursting into tears, collapsing into his friends arms.

Afterwards rounding up the remaining death eaters had been relatively simple. There were some, like Draco, who had actually changed sides in battle- he had taken a blasting curse in the leg in order to save Ginny Weasley. He had lost his leg, but after a brief interrogation had gained the respect of the Weasleys, a pardon from the newly established ministry and Ginny's hand in marriage. His mother was proud of him and rather accepting of their new family. His father had been killed in the battle by Luna Lovegood when he had tried to take down Neville Longbottom, who at the time was battling Bellatrix Lestrange.

Headmistress McGonagall had died protecting a group a students until help could arrive. She was buried next to Dumbledore as her final wish, Severus Snape was named the new Hogwarts headmaster.

Harry spent the next two years helping to put the magical community back together, helping rebuild both buildings and the ministry. He had turned down more high ranking positions then he really cared to remember due to his fame and influence, never really getting used to the fact that he would forever be "The-boy-with-far-too-many-hyphens-after-his-name".

So there Harry sat collecting his thoughts when Hermione came waltzing through the door. Seeing Harry sitting on the bed, staring at the book in front of him, she went and sat next to him, wrapping an arm around him in a comforting manner. He closed the book and leaned into his best friend.

"You all ready to get out of here?" she queried. Harry chuckled.

"You've no idea."

TBC

MA: First of all I got the idea for Fred coming back from a great story called "Fox Ears" if you haven't read it… READ IT! :P

Second, yes all the horocruxes were the same, I just used a longer amount of time to collect and destroy them- there were more small battles in my story then the books and the Trio was involved in them.