And now, Chapter 2. Please review and let me know what you think!
2. Some Explaining to Do
When Harry woke up he found the room completely empty. He grabbed his glass and stood up to look out the window, the sun was still out but it should be setting soon. He stretched as much as he could without causing too much pain on himself, his body was really sore. He picked up clothes that had been left at the bottom of his bed and walked to the bathroom. He decided to take a quick shower to see it'd help his muscles, and then quickly changed. He guessed everyone was in the Great Hall eating since he didn't see anyone around the common room or in the destroyed hallways. It hurt him to see his loved school like this, but hoped that it could be fixed soon. When he opened the doors to the Great Hall, he was surprised by how empty it was, it seemed like almost everyone had left already, like Neville and the others. Only the Weasleys were sitting down in Gryffindor's table. He walked up to them in silence, taking a seat next to Ginny who hadn't really touched her food.
"How are you?" he whispered to her and she only gave him a sad smile. He looked around and noticed all of the Weasley had the same sad expression on their faces. Harry felt stupid for thinking that maybe they would be feeling better, he knew how they felt. After losing Sirius, he didn't feel better for a long time, and even today, it still hurt him. He sighed and grabbed Ginny's hand under the table and kissed her head "It's going to take time, but it'll get better"
"I hope" she whispered back. He ate in silence, catching Hermione trying to cheer up Ron too without any results. She gave Harry a worried look but he did not know how to answer. He felt extremely useless for not being able to help.
They ate in silence and once the food had disappeared from their plates, they just waited for someone to start talking and break the silence.
"We will be going to the Burrow today" said Mr. Weasley "Harry and Hermione, we will more than happy to have you at home with us"
"Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley" said Hermione and Mrs. Weasley smiled at them.
"Fleur and I will go back to Shell Cottage" said Bill
"Charlie and I will be staying with Fred" said Percy who seemed like he hadn't slept at all "We want to make sure the store hasn't been broken into and well, George will need us"
George looked the worse. He has big dark circles under his eyes which were red and swollen. He had obviously not slept at all though he looked exhausted. Harry couldn't even imagine what he was going through, losing his twin. Fred and him were always together, lived and worked together… It was going to take him a long time for him to go back to normal, or as normal as he could.
"We'll pass by the Burrow a lot though, mum" said Charlie who had noticed her mother's sad expression "Don't worry about that"
"Thank you, dear" said Mrs. Weasley
"Kingsley asked us to tell you three he was going to need to talk to you three" said Mr. Weasley looking at Ron, Harry and Hermione "You too, Ginny"
"Me?" asked Ginny surprised and Mr. Weasley nodded with his head
"You can go to McGonagall's office, they'll be waiting"
The four friends stood up and walked together through the hallways to McGonagall's office. When the knocked on the door, she let them in and told them to sit. Kingsley was there too and smiled broadly at them.
"There's a lot of explaining to do" he said with a chuckle "In order for me and Minerva to try to help you scape the consequences of many of your actions, we need to hear what happened"
"It's important, especially because of what happened at Gringotts" McGonagall said
"It's a very long story" Harry said and both Ron and Hermione nodded with their heads
"Then we better hurry" said Kingsley
With the help of his friends, Harry started explaining everything as detailed as he could. He explained how Dumbledore taught him about Voldemort and his past, how Voldemort learned about Horcruxes and how he made six, which lead to Dumbledore looking for them and destroying the ring, which turned his hand black and was going to kill him in a year.
"Professor Snape was innocent" he said and everyone looked at him surprised
"What do you mean?" ask McGonagall with a low voice
"When professor Dumbledore destroyed the ring, a curse entered his body; he was going to kill him. He made Snape swear he was going to be the one to kill him, because Dumbledore knew Voldemort has ordered Draco Malfoy to get rid of him. He didn't want Draco to do it, but he knew Voldemort would have killed the Malfoys if he didn't, so he made Snape swear he was going to do it instead of Draco"
"How do you know this?" asked Kingsley
"When Snape was dying, he asked me to take his memories" he explained "I saw them in the pensieve… He's always been on our side. He always tried to protect me… He loved my mother, ever since they were kids. He begged Dumbledore to protect us all, and when Voldemort killed my parents, he protected me. He might've not liked me or my father, but he loved my mother enough to risk his life to protect me." Ginny grabbed his hands and he squeezed hers "He wasn't the nicest person, but he was good"
"I can't believe it…" whispered Hermione.
Harry sighed and continued explaining what the trio did all these months. They explained how they broke into the Ministry after discovering Umbridge had the Slytherin locket because the one Dumbledore and Harry found months before was a fake. When they got to the part where they spent weeks in the forest, hungry and frustrated, Ron started speaking. He explained how left and tried to come back but was impossible to locate Harry or Hermione because of their protective charms. Hermione grabbed his hand while he talked; she understood how much it hurt him to remember how he had walked out on them. He then explained how he saw Harry jump in a pool of freezing water. Harry started speaking again and told McGonagall and Kingsley about Snape's silver doe and the sword of Gryffindor.
Everyone was listening in silence, only Hermione and Ron will cut in sometimes to add to Harry's story. It was a lot of explaining to do, and they wanted to be as honest as possible. They explained everything that had happened at Luna's house, the Deathly Hallows, Malfoy's Manor and how they came with the theory that a horcrux was hidden in Gringotts, which explained the break in. Hermione finished telling what happened at Hogwarts, how they destroyed the cup in the Chamber of Secrets, and how they found Harry and the tiara.
Harry started speaking again, explained how he discovered, through Snape's memories, that he had to die and why, how he walked to the Forbidden Forest and allowed Voldemort to kill him. Ginny was tearing up again, so was Hermione and McGonagall seemed to be holding tears. He finished and stayed quiet. No one said anything for a long time, they were letting Harry's words to sink in.
"Seems like we have a lot of work to do then" said Kingsley "We'll make sure Snape's name is clean, and we'll deal with Gringotts as soon as possible"
"I don't want people knowing about Horcruxes" said Harry
"Of course not" McGonagall said "We won't tell anyone"
"Now, Miss Weasley" said Kingsley "We know of the crimes the Carrows committed while being here. Eventually, we will need your testimony in the Wizengamot so they can be properly punished"
"Sure" Ginny said
"There isn't much to say now. Miss Granger, like I told you, I will personally arrange your visit to Australia. I will contact you with the details"
"Thank you, so much" Hermione smiled.
"Go on then" McGonagall smiled at them "We don't want to delay your departure"
"Thank you, for everything, Professor" Harry said to McGonagall and gave her a hug. She hugged him back for a long time.
"I am very proud, of all you" she said with tears in her eyes
"And so am I" said Kingsley with a smile
The four friends nodded with their head and walked out of the office together. They didn't speak while they walked through the empty and destroyed hallways of their beloved school. Ron and Hermione were holding hands, so were Ginny and Harry. Outside, the sun had set already and it seemed peaceful outside.
"It seems so weird" Ginny said suddenly "less than a day ago we were getting ready to fight… Now it is all over"
"Maybe we will finally be able to have a peaceful life" said Ron
"It won't be easy" Hermione said
"But we'll make it" Harry added. Ginny stopped and kissed him, Ron rolled his eyes which made Hermione laugh. Then they all laughed together for a while, and continued walking to collect their stuff and finally go back to the Burrow.