Chapter 2:

After a long while, they broke apart and left the dormitories.

"Mum's probably having kittens about us," said Ginny, taking Harry's hand as they walked down the stairs.

"Yeah. Me, you, we're totally untrustworthy in a bedroom by ourselves," Harry cracked a small smile at his own comment. Ginny rolled her eyes, secretly wishing the statement had been, at least slightly, true.

While on their way back down to the Great Hall, where they told Mrs. Weasley that they would meet her, they ran into Ron and Hermione.

"Oh, good, we were just looking for you. Mrs. Weasley was getting worried. There are still Death Eaters on the loose, you know." Hermione cautioned.

"What were you guys doing anyway?" said Ron, his eyebrows raised.

"Nothing. I just helped Ginny pack and then we… talked about things." Harry was being vague on purpose. Even if Ron was just trying to look out for his baby sister, he didn't have any right to all of the details of Harry and Ginny's relationship.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. There are three different kinds of silence: the kind that is awkward, the kind that is so quiet that it's loud, and the kind that is comfortable, even preferable. This silence was the last of the three.

When they reached the Great Hall, Hermione handed Harry his invisibility cloak out of her small, beaded bag.

"Ron and I were thinking earlier that you might want this right now."

"Thanks," Harry accepted it gratefully. He pulled the cloth over his head and walked into the Great Hall.

No eyes followed him, no one cheered for his success, and there was no scraping of chair legs against marble when people got up to look at him. It was liberating. Moments like these were his window into the life of a normal wizard, and for them, he was grateful.


Two hours later, Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley's sat down next to the still not completely repaired Hogwarts. They were at the memorial service for those who had died during the battle.

The same wizard who had spoken at both Dumbledore's funeral and Fleur and Bill's wedding was standing on the podium again.

As he began to speak, Harry could feel his attention joining the butterflies that had just flown by. He preferred to remember the people in his own special way, how he had known them, rather than the lavishly romanticized versions of their lives that the rather short wizard was declaring.

Harry remembered all of the good times he had with Fred. How they used to play two a side quidditch in the Weasley's yard, how he had fed Dudley the ton tongue toffee, how he was always teasing Ron, how funny and good natured he was, no matter what the situation, how he had given him advice about Ginny…

He was brought back to the present when the feather that was Ginny's hand brushed against his shoulder as she stood up. He quickly did the same. Then, in what seemed like slow motion, he and everyone else muttered "Lumos" and raised their wands up, pointing towards the heavens.


Harry picked up the green powder and threw it into the fireplace.

"The Burrow!" He shouted, and saw the world around him spinning out of focus.

He landed in the Burrow a few seconds later and looked around the familiar setting. The first thing he noticed was that Fred's hand on the Weasley's clock was pointing to 'free'. He smiled at the thought.

"C'mon, Harry, Hermione's got your things and we'll put them in my room." Ron had come up behind him.

"Okay."

Harry followed him upstairs and retrieved his possessions from Hermione's bag. After setting up his cot in Ron's room, he went downstairs. Mrs. Weasley had just made tea. She poured Harry a steaming mugful and also gave him a biscuit.

Ginny came down to sit next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and began stroking his hair. Harry stared straight ahead, into the smoke of his tea and watched as it curled and winded around itself until it slowly disappeared, over and over again. In it he could see the ghosts of his parents, of Cedric, Sirius, Dumbledore, Mad-eye, Lupin, Tonks, Fred, Crabbe, Lavender, Colin, and Snape, first appearing then fading away. Slowly those faces turned into Teddy, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the future.

Scars will fade over time, but they will never truly disappear.