Ginny Weasley stared out the window of the Hogwarts Express, trying to find her boyfriend in the crowd of people. As the train started to move, she felt a pang in her chest; she wanted to say goodbye, she had to say goodbye…
"Ginny! Ginny!" She heard him, and immediately wretched the window open so she could lean out of it.
"Harry!" she called back.
All of a sudden, he fought his way out of the throng of people wanting to talk to the one who had defeated Lord Voldemort. "Get out of my way, I need to say goodbye to my girlfriend!" he exclaimed to someone.
The train was moving faster, but he easily caught up to it. "Goodbye, I'm going to miss you." He told her.
"I already miss you." She called out, the train picking up speed.
"I love you!" he shouted, and Ginny fell back on her seat as the train lurched violently and turned the corner. She was shocked, for he had never said those three words before, three words that she had been wishing to hear for a very long time. The ironic part was, she hadn't even been able to say them back.
"Ginny?" Hermione opened the compartment door and sat down next to her, full of smiles.
"I thought you had to be in the prefect compartment." Ginny asked her best friend. Hermione had decided to return to Hogwarts to finish her seventh year. In fact, many seventh years from the previous year were returning again. After the destruction of the battle of Hogwarts, NEWT examinations had been moved to the ministry, but few people went. It wasn't as though anything had really been learned the previous year, with all the Death Eaters teaching classes.
"I was just saying bye to Ron, I'm on my way there." Hermione said with a dreamy look that made Ginny want to gag. "Will you be alright in here?"
"Luna should be here any minute, she's joining me. Don't ruin your perfect reputation because of me, go!" That was all the encouragement Hermione needed. The bushy-haired brunette was off in seconds, leaving Ginny once again alone with her thoughts.
It had been a long, busy summer. At the beginning, it was full of funerals. Those were the hardest. Remus, Tonks, Creevy, Fred, and many more. They had been buried in the Hogwarts graveyard; along with the many other dead heroes… their names had been engraved on the giant war memorial that stood on the Hogwarts grounds, the marble glittering in the sun. The whole family had sat at home for a week and done nothing, not shower, barely eaten, but instead just stared. During the first week after the battle, it seemed as though the Wizarding world was intent on repairing itself. The Aurors captured Death Eaters right, left and center. Specialized wizards attended to the monsters that Voldemort had brought into the battle. The dementors disappeared north; nobody wanted to see them guarding Azkaban. The injured, both from the battle and the ones wrongly accused that had suffered in Azkaban were healing in St. Mungo's. As those in hiding heard the news of defeat, they came back into the open and were met with a changed world. Families were reunited, loved ones married, everyone celebrated.
Of course, it was not nearly as simple to heal the hearts and souls of those who had seen and endured the horrors Voldemort had inflicted upon the Wizarding world.
After the funerals, and the celebrations, came the many trials of Death Eaters that had been captured. Ginny dutifully attended each one. Her days were filled with visits to the courtroom, and visits to the hospital. She delighted when each injured friend improved, she even sat next to Lavender Brown with Ron, Hermione, and Harry as the girl recovered from her encounter with the werewolf.
In July came the ceremonies honoring those who had fought in the battle of Hogwarts. It was almost comical, seeing the young ones who fought looking somber and composed as they stood beside the likes of McGonagall. Ginny herself had been involved in the ceremony, as well as the rest of the Weasley family. They suddenly found themselves very popular, though of course nowhere near as popular as Harry. Weirdly enough, Harry had then turned to her soon after the battle, and the oddest words tumbled out of his mouth.
"Will you please write my biography? I'm sick and tired of people asking me, I trust you not to twist my words."
She agreed, and they worked everyday, writing down every adventure he had endured with Voldemort, from the Philosophers Stone to the showdown in the Great Hall. The book concentrated on exactly what had happened, as well as all the details of the prophecy and the hurcruxes. Harry wanted it published so people would stop asking questions. It had been exactly two weeks since it was published, and critics were raving about it, it was a bestseller, and Ginny's Gringotts account was growing steadily. Harry had insisted.
"Ginny." Luna entered the compartment, looking as dreamy as always. Ginny snapped out of her reminiscing and forced a smile on her face.
"Luna! Come, sit, I haven't seen you in so long!"
"Yes, it has been quite a while, hasn't it? I saw Harry saying goodbye to you on the platform, that was very sweet. A pity he's not also coming back to Hogwarts."
Ginny snorted. "Right. Like him and Ron would ever dream of coming back if they didn't have to. They got accepted into Auror training even without their NEWTs, no surprise there. Do you know if Neville is coming back?"
"No, no he is not, after he got his Order of Merlin the Ministry also accepted him into Auror training." Luna shrugged and pulled a Quibbler out of her bag. Ginny returned to staring out of her window, occasionally interrupted by people staring into their compartment, trying to get a glimpse of the two of them. All the summer, the press had been eagerly writing about the so-called new 'it' couple and Ginny was constantly dealing with reporters questioning her every time she went to the ministry, St. Mungo's, or Diagon Alley. It was nothing short of ridiculous.
The lunch trolley came by, and soon after Hermione returned from her meeting. As the sky darkened and they changed into their school robes, thunder rumbled overhead and rain began to fall. By the time the train had pulled into its Hogsmede stop, it was pouring outside. The Threstrals were waiting for them; Ginny saw many of her classmates and the younger children wince at seeing them. It was all new to them, but Ginny had been able to see them since she'd seen Sirius die at the Department of Mysteries.
"It's horrible that kids so young can see them." Hermione whispered to Ginny, obviously thinking about the Threstrals as well. All Ginny could do was nod, being far to anxious to open her mouth. She hadn't been back to Hogwarts since the funeral and the unveiling of the monument and at the time the castle had still been torn apart, great pieces of marble and stone missing from all different parts of the castle.
A huge plaque had been placed in the entrance hall. It was a shock, entering the hall, because all the missing pieces of marble form the staircase had been repaired with brand new, glittering pieces. As Ginny glanced up, she noticed that the rest of the school was similarly patched up, with brand new stone glittering against the dirty, worn walls.
The plaque was surrounded by students. One by one, each student touched it and moved aside, allowing other to read the words engraved.
In this hall, the battle of Hogwarts was fought by many brave souls. These heroes defended our school so it could remain a place for children to learn and grow into adults. Remember those who gave their lives for our safety, and remember that these halls have seen one of the most important battles of our generation. 1997.
Ginny, Hermione, and Luna each touched the plaque and then moved aside, pretending not to notice the silence that had descended as many curious faces watched their reactions to the plaque. Hermione's eyes filled with tears; Luna looked a lot less dreamy then usual, and Ginny assumed her emotionless, stone-like mask that came in handy for occasions such as this.
It was even harder to enter the Great Hall, which had been so damaged by the battle that nearly all of it was brand new. It was hard to sit down at the Gryffindor table, knowing that only a few feet away the injured and dead had lay, knowing that Bellatrix Lestrange, Yaxley, Macnair, Dolohov, Voldemort had all been brought down here.
Chatter filled the hall. The spots Hermione and Ginny had chosen were near Seamus and Dean, who smiled at them and engaged them in conversation.
"You came out of hiding?" Ginny asked Dean with a smile. Hopefully he too had put the fact that they had once dated behind him. To Ginny, it felt like a lifetime ago.
"Yeah, it's so weird, though. I'm glad to be back here, I'm actually excited to learn something. I swear to god, something went wrong in my brain." He laughed. "What's it like, being the center of attention?"
"Oh, be quiet. You were at the battle too, I saw you getting a medal." She rolled her eyes at him. She was glad to see that he had moved on.
The doors banged open and at once, the Great Hall was silenced. Little Flitwick led a long line of first years, all who were looking sufficiently wet and nervous. The hat, who seemed to have figured out that the war was over, did not once warn them about sticking together but went back to singing about the qualities of the different houses. There was nobody Ginny knew in first year, and she didn't pay too much attention, only joining in the applause when the hat yelled out Gryffindor!
Ginny did her best to be as friendly and open as she always was during the feast. The food, she was happy to say, was just as good as it had always been.
"I missed these meals while we were camping." Hermione sighed. "The boys would always look to me to feed them, just because I'm a girl."
"Too bad you don't know anything about cooking." Ginny giggled.
"I'm bloody rubbish! Next summer, I'm going to get Mrs. Weasley to teach me." She replied, a determined look on her face. "Mum doesn't know much about cooking either, none of the women in my family do."
"Speaking of your mum, you haven't told me how Australia was at all." Ginny reminded her. Hermione had returned from her month-long search for her parents only several days ago, and there had been no time to hear her friend's tale.
"I wish your mum had let you come with me." Hermione sighed. "It was hard. You would think after a year of searching for those damned Hurcruxes I would be ok with travelling, but I still get nervous when I portkey. It didn't take me that long to find them, of course. They were in Sydney. It took a bit longer for me to convince them to enter their apartment, where I could safely lift the enchantment. I couldn't risk doing it in a hallway or something, in case someone saw. I kept trying different disguises, but finally I pretended that my grandmother used to live in the flat, and as she had recently died, I wanted to visit the place where I spent a lot of my childhood."
"You invented a whole story? Usually you bloody suck at coming up with lies."
"I probably overdid it a bit… I said that I had lived on and off with my grandmother as my mother was an alcoholic. But, anyway, they let me in and offered me some tea, and then I lifted the enchantment."
"I bet they were mighty confused when they found out they were in Australia."
"It took me a while to explain everything to them. After all, I've been hiding things about Voldemort and the stuff I've done at school for the past few years. But they wouldn't have any half-truths, so I spent a few hours explaining everything that has happened since the Triwizard tournament to them."
"When are they moving back to England?"
"Well, they contacted some of their close friends and told them to start looking for a house. We invented some story about me being ill to explain why they suddenly moved to Australia for a year. I helped them pack up most of their things and Dad quit his job. They got their old positions back already, which is good. I was worried that they wouldn't be able to go back to their old life so easily." Hermione looked guilty.
"Snap out of it! Don't feel bad about what you did, it was necessary. You know very well that the Death Eaters would have come knocking, it was the safest thing for them, to go across the globe."
"I know that, and I know I saved their lives by doing it, but I can't help feeling bad about it! Mum was infuriated with me even after I explained everything. Probably because I've been lying a lot these past few years."
"Probably because you've hardly seen them over any vacations." Ginny added smartly.
"I promised them that I would spend Christmas vacation with them. They're planning a trip to the Maldives."
"Hermione! No! You can't leave me by myself at the Burrow at Christmas time. I'll probably throw fifteen temper tantrums a day!"
"Sorry, Gin, you know I wish I could be there to witness the madness." She smiled lightly. "Of course, I'll miss everyone, and Ron especially, but I did promise them."
Once the desserts had been wiped clean from the plates on the table, McGonagall stood up and glared at the students until they all stopped talking. "Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts." She glanced around with sincere fondness. "I certainly hope, and I'm sure everyone in this room does as well, that this year will be much less eventful then the past two years have been. A few months ago, a battle took place here, a battle I'm sure you have all heard of. Many of the students in here today bravely fought in this battle, and it is because of them that we are still able to invite you all to dine in our Great Hall, and learn in the fine classrooms of Hogwarts. Let me remind you that the things we learned during the war should not be forgotten now that it is in the past. Friendship, bravery, and standing up for what you believe in are important in every situation, no matter how small or large. Let us learn from our past mistakes, and not go back to picking conflicts because of one's blood, or because of which Hogwarts house one belongs to.
"When our four founders, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin established Hogwarts a thousand years ago, they created the houses not so that the students would be divided, but so that students could find like-minded peers. Every single student in this hall should not only be proud of the house they belong to, but also of Hogwarts, for we are all united under one roof. There are war heroes from each house, and from each house heroes and villains have emerged. Do not let old prejudices stop us from enjoying what Hogwarts offers." She looked around the hall with a stern expression, her eyes resting on each house table. The hall filled with applause at her speech, every student showing immense respect for their battle-hardened headmistress. Ginny craned her neck to glance over at the Slytherin table. All of them were listening intently to her speech, and most of them were applauding with the rest of the school. It was a start.
"Do not forget to work and play equally hard this year. Before you go off to your warm dormitories, let me introduce to you the new staff that have joined us this year. Although I will be teaching seventh year Transfiguration, let me introduce Professor James who will be taking over the other classes and will completely replace me next year."
A tall, neat looking wizard in deep red robes stood up, smiling, and nodded at the students as they politely applauded him.
"As well, I am happy to announce that our new Muggle Studies teacher will be Professor Brodsky." A short, stubby witch with flyaway blonde hair wave cheerily to the great hall, and once she sat back down, the headmistress continued.
"Last but not least, the post of Defense Against the dark arts has been taken over by Professor Hardy." A beautiful woman, tall and willowy, with blood red lips against her pale complexion and a long mane of dark hair stood up, smirking at the crowd. She looked quite young, and Ginny was sure that all the boys were going to be over her in every single class.
"Off to bed, you've got classes tomorrow; I want each of you bright-eyed for your first day back. Goodnight!"
The hall was once again filled with chatter and the scraping of dozens of benches as they were pushed back and students began to file through the great double doors, talking about their summers and the upcoming school year. Hermione rushed ahead to help the first years find their way up to the common room, but Ginny hung back, not wanting to be trampled by the crowd. She pretended to be searching for something in her bag, and only stood up when nearly everyone was gone. She paused in the entrance hall again, looking around at the glistening new marble.
"What are you dawdling for, Weasley?" a drawling voice asked from behind her. Ginny spun around to face Malfoy. She was surprised to find him back at Hogwarts, even though his name had been cleared.
"I don't like crowds." She answered simply. "I didn't expect you to be returning this year."
He shrugged. "Mother insisted. She thought it would be good for me. Of course, most of the students think I'm going to start murdering everyone."
Ginny snorted. "Maybe if you weren't such an arrogant git, Malfoy."
He smirked. "I can't help being who I am, Weasley. See you around." He gave her a nod, and then he was gone.
Ginny shook her head, trying to clear it as she walked upstairs. Had he really talked to her? He's never bothered before, unless it was to throw an insult about her family at her. She remembered his trial very well… Both Harry and Hermione had been his witnesses. The Golden Trio had outgrown their school age argument with Malfoy and Harry especially did not want to see him going away to Azkaban. Narcissa Malfoy had saved Harry's life, and that was worth something. In Ginny's eyes, it was worth a lot.
