Chapter 2 – May 3rd, 1998

(I'll be putting the dates on these entries to ensure no confusion)

Harry woke to the sound of a deep voice talking, it was somehow familiar but Harry couldn't think about where he'd heard it before.

"Harry Potter must wake up, Kreacher has something for his master," Harry's eyes flew open at the name and he came face to face with the ugliest thing he had ever seen before. Kreacher was staring at Harry from the side of his bed with a smile on his face and Regulas' locket lying on his chest.

"Kreacher?" Harry couldn't help the wonder in his voice, the last time that he could recall seeing Kreacher was when the battle was occurring and he hadn't been sure if Kreacher had made it out. Harry knew that Hermione would be very happy that the elves, or whatever was left of them, had made it out of the battle alive and unharmed.

Harry had to whisper, Ginny was laying with her head on his chest sound asleep, and she was too peaceful for Harry to wake up. He tightened his arms around her and glanced around the dormitory at all the full beds. Ron was with Hermione in his old four poster and Dean was with, of all people, Luna Lovegood in his bed. Neville was laying alone but with the sword of Gryffindor on the night table beside his bed. Seamus was lying with a girl that Harry remembered scarcely from seeing around the halls of Hogwarts when he was a student there.

"Kreacher, what are you doing here?" Harry whispered to the house elf by his bed.

"The new headmistress has told Kreacher and a few other house elves to make sure everyone knew that breakfast would be served at the appropriate time," Kreacher seemed happier than Harry could ever remember seeing him, even when Harry, Ron, and Hermione gave him the locket Kreacher was currently wearing proudly on top of his Hogwarts uniform that all the elves had to wear.

"Okay," Harry told him and with a nod Kreacher disaperrated from the room with a loud crack that startled everyone in the vicinity. Ginny opened her eyes with a low groan that made the corners of Harry's mouth turn up, he had never seen her in the morning like this before and he couldn't help thinking that she was just too adorable.

"Wazzgoinon?" She asked in a quiet voice, she was so much like Ron when he had to wake up early in the morning it was very scary.

"Breakfast is ready," he simply told her and she smiled before reaching her arms around his neck and pulling herself up so she was level with his face.

"I don't know if I am in the mood for breakfast right now," she whispered in his ear so the people around them groaning in the bright light wouldn't be able to hear her. She kissed him before he could respond and it was soon that the world around him didn't exist and all he could feel was the heat radiating off of Ginny's body. The only reminder that Harry had to hold on to was the talking around him and it was the only thing keeping him hooked to sanity, or otherwise known as not falling into Ginny's kissing, she was too good at it for her own good.

When he pulled away from Ginny, breathless as always, he spotted Ron and Hermione intertwined as Harry was sure he and Ginny were, just a moment ago.

"That's going to take a little bit to get used to," Harry mumbled to Ginny who laughed quietly and started to get out of bed.

Everyone got ready and descended the staircase down to the common room. Harry didn't know what to expect, he might've thought that the common room was going to be exactly as it was when Harry went to school here or he might've thought that it would've been so destroyed that no one would be able to tell what it was supposed to be. The common room was a disaster, all the furniture was upturned but the walls were intact and Harry was sure that everyone helping overnight made sure that the walls were the first to be fixed. Hermione wouldn't be happy with what Harry was thinking; the house elves would probably be cleaning the rooms and classrooms when the walls of Hogwarts were intact. There were beds and cots around the room with people sleeping on them, no one was able to go home over night, people had to be itching to get home to their families.

"It's hard to believe that it wasn't like this yesterday," Ginny mumbled. Harry looked at her, he couldn't believe that she had been at Hogwarts just yesterday learning how to use the Cruciatus Curse on her friends or first years that caused trouble. It was hard for Harry to believe that anything like that could have happened in Hogwarts, the place that he thought no evil could penetrate.

Ron and Hermione soon joined them and the four of them walked through the castle down to the Great Hall. People were everywhere, either fixing the school or hurrying to get something to eat, Harry would've helped but he felt like it was better if he stayed out of it. He still wasn't perfect at those sorts of spells that Hermione seemed to know, and perfect, right when they were mentioned.

People waved at Harry or called out to him as he passed, he waved to them and smiled but he knew that he was just doing that to be polite, he didn't fancy that people still talked to him and gawked at him wherever he went. He didn't think that it would ever stop.

The Great Hall was being cleaned when they entered, students were milling around eating or laughing with others. Harry noticed that no one was paying attention to the house tables, sitting according to the house they were sorted into their first year. No one was wearing the cloaks, muggle clothing seemed most popular amongst the students, the teachers were wearing the usual cloaks and dresses, Harry didn't think that they knew how to dress like muggles.

The four of them sat at the nearest table so they were near Neville, Luna, Dean, and Seamus. The food appeared on their plates like usual and it almost felt like any other year, hanging around friends and eating the food the house elves made appear through their plates.

"Attention!" Professor McGonagall called to the Hall when everyone seemed to appear at breakfast. The laughing quieted and Harry was strongly reminded of how the Hall would stop talking right when Dumbledore stood up, he didn't know what it was about the two of them and he couldn't help the curiosity that came when he thought about how the Hall treated Severus Snape when he was the headmaster.

"The professors and I have thought about this all night and we came to the conclusion that Hogwarts will stay open next year and during the summer we will be accepting volunteers, over age," she said the last two words in a way that put her point across so no underage witches or wizards would get in, she continued, "to help make this castle the way it was before it was damaged. Now eat your food and the train will be here to take everyone back home before lunch time. Enjoy!" She nodded before sitting down and eating her own food.

The four of them were joined by Percy, who still looked depressed and his eyes were swollen and red which gave Harry the idea that he cried throughout the night but no one said anything, they just pretended nothing happened. George came next looking worse than Percy, and he was followed by Bill and Fleur who were clinging to each other like they would never let go. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley joined them, they hugged all their children and even gave hugs to Harry and Hermione who were trying to stay out of the family circle but Mrs. Weasley wasn't having any of that.

"You two are as much a part of this family as anyone else is, now that you guys are with Ron and Ginny you are going to be treated like family," she looked at Harry who could feel his face heating up at her words and the look that she was giving him. There was an awkward silence where no one knew what to say and Harry just picked at his food.

Ever since his trip into the forest where he thought he was going to die he couldn't forget his parents, Sirius, or Lupin and how it felt to have them near him. He couldn't help the feeling that if Voldemort hadn't killed his parents and then tried to kill him that Harry would most likely still be alive with his parents near him and he might not have been the one to kill the most powerful wizard in the world. But Harry was used to feeling like this and shook the thoughts before they could take over his mind, Mrs. Weasley sat down next to Ginny and started to eat slowly like she had no energy.

Everyone ate slowly and the talk in the Great Hall was quiet like everyone was scared to talk above a whisper, before everyone could leave McGonagall stood up and walked to the middle podium where Dumbledore had stood so many times before.

"The bodies of the dead will be given to the families for burials as soon as possible so please be patient. The train will arrive in two hours," she sat down once again and people started to leave the Hall. Harry got up and Ginny followed him with the stares of their family on their retreating figures.