Disclaimer: Recognize it? Not mine.

Home

The sun had recently come out from behind the tall mountains that surrounded the castle. Oliver was one of the few that had left the Great Hall and the bittersweet celebrations of the war's end. He had gone to the grounds and helped to put out the fire at the Quidditch pitch. It smelled of death and ashes, and the thought of its destruction was enough to numb his senses.

When the fire was gone, he opted to lie down in the soft grass. He knew there were people he needed to pay his respects to. However, after carrying so many bodies, presenting them to the distraught families, feeling responsible for the pain...

"Here you are." The feminine voice startled him. "I supposed you'd be mourning the Quidditch pitch as much as you're mourning the dead."

Only Katie could cruelly joke at a time like this. He spun around to see her, her clothes half-torn and her left arm covered with bloody bandages. Her face had a hint of a smile, but her teary eyes betrayed her expression.

The sight of her brokenness made his heart ache. He knew Katie had dueled Marcus Flint, who had only left her alone when she rolled down the castle's main staircase. Alicia Spinnet told him this after taking Katie to the Hospital Wing herself...

"Katie, you shouldn't be here."

"Please, let's just go home," she begged, but sat beside him. "I don't want to be here. I can't stand it."

Her sincere, childlike words got him thinking. Home is where the heart is, he reflected, and part of his heart was now at Hogwarts.

"This place was home to me for so long," he said. "I feel as if I didn't give it enough of myself."

"You did more than enough!" Katie protested. "You were so brave, Oliver."

"So were you, and so were all those people I brought back..." His voice cracked. "We faced something bigger than we ever thought even existed and I can't-" He wanted to say that he couldn't wrap his head around it but he felt Katie's hand sliding in his, soothing him.

"Stop thinking about it. It's true that Hogwarts was home and our team was like family..." She trailed off. Oliver guessed Fred Weasley had appeared in her mind. "Those good times will never come back," she spoke with resolve. "I learned that lesson when you left Hogwarts, Oliver. We've got to move on."

"I admire your strength, Katie. I'm glad to have you by my side."

She smiled and squeezed his hand, but her smile didn't include her weary eyes.

"I think our job here is done," he observed. "We can keep being heroes tomorrow. Now let's just take you home."

Her sigh of relief worked as a wordless 'thanks,' and he smiled in return. He marveled at the fact that her sole presence calmed him down, even after the hell they'd been through during battle.

Home, Oliver realized, meant having Katie by his side.