A week after Fred's funeral they all went back to Hogwarts. It had been George's idea, actually. Everyone had been sitting at breakfast in varying states of wakefulness – it was one of the first days no one had any real concrete plans and they all seemed to be taking advantage. Ron had had a lie-in and now was complaining petulantly that Percy had taken the largest pancake. Bill and Fleur were feeding each other bits of toast with their fingers. Ginny was eating her eggs whilst still in her pajamas and Harry was pleasantly distracted from his own plate by the strip of Ginny's skin he could see where the collar of her oversized t-shirt stretched out almost to her shoulder. Just a few inches below that skin were Ginny's breasts, and Harry was lazily considering how soon and where he might be able to see those breasts, when his thoughts were interrupted.

"Harry, d'you still have the map?"

Harry started and flushed. For a second, he thought George was talking about the map to a witch's anatomy that had made the rounds in Harry's Fifth year, flashing diagrams and all.

"Uhh, map?" he finally stuttered. His brain cleared. "Ohh, the Map. The Marauder's Map from my dad, you mean."

George nodded seriously. "That one," he affirmed. Then he quirked an eyebrow and his eyes dragged from Harry's face over to his sister. "Is there another map I should know about?"

Too late, Harry remembered exactly who had given him and Ron the diagram fifth year. "No, no other maps," he said hastily. "Yeah, of course I still have my dad's map. It's up in my room." He looked at Ron and Hermione. Only they had an idea about how much time he had spent during the prior year watching Ginny's dot on it while hunting Horcruxes. "But you know, it only works at Hogwarts."

George nodded. "I was thinking, it's about time we take a visit back. They probably need a lot of help, rebuilding and all."

"You want to go back to Hogwarts?" George's comment had been surprising enough even to pull Bill's lips away from their current location at Fleur' neck. Now he looked at his younger brother. "Are you sure?" he asked carefully.

George nodded again. "Very sure," he said resolutely. "There are certain . . . things . . . that need to be included in the rebuilding of the school. Things Fred would have liked," he added.

"I think that's a great idea," said Hermione with enthusiasm. "Hogwarts is magical right down to its very foundation and grounds. Imagine the opportunities we'll have to practice the complex spells and charms needed to rebuild! I think there is a list of enchantments that have previously been put on the school in Hogwarts, A History. I'll make sure to bring my copy."

Next to her, Ron groaned in mock annoyance. "Why am I not surprised you're looking at this as a way to get us to study more?" he said.

"Maybe you can help Hermione enchant a broom closet," said Ginny cheekily. She gave Harry a grin. "You want to go back, don't you?"

"Of course I do," said Harry. "I bet there is a lot of work to do." He hoped his face didn't give anything away. Of course he wanted to help rebuild the place that had been his one true home for so many years. But in the back of his mind, he was also remembering a number of particularly happy hours he and Ginny had spent in his 6th year, exploring some of the more secluded areas of the grounds. He'd kind of like to explore them again with her.

Within the hour, everyone had finished eating, dressed, and Apparated to Hogsmede. The village itself had survived the battle mostly intact, but they were not far along the path up to the school before they began seeing signs of destruction. Enormous trees felled by giants still lay in their way and parts of the ground looked burned. They took turns levitating and blasting away the blockages and following Fleur's directions to plant new bushes and grass in their place.

But at the gates of Hogwarts, they couldn't help but stop. Harry knew he was not the only one overcome with memories. Had it really been only a few weeks since that terrible night? He couldn't move his eyes anywhere without seeing images from the battle – the place Neville had stood and defied Voldemort, the front steps, slick with blood, the start of the path he had taken to walk alone into his death.

Almost as if it was pulled there by a magnet, his eyes were drawn to a section of second floor wall that was blasted away in one of the wings. George was looking at it too, his mouth set in a tight line. "That's where . . .?" he asked quietly.

Ron nodded, walking up to put his arm around his brother's shoulder. "It is," he confirmed. "Should we . . . d'you want to go there?"

George nodded. "Can you all come with me?

And so they walked into the castle. They weren't the only ones there; it appeared the rebuilding process was just beginning, and their group waved to classmates and professors who were working to clear corridors and classrooms. They said hello to Hannah Abbot and Neville who were standing over the shattered house hourglasses, saying the spells to collect the colored gems that lay scattered along the floor.

Somewhere along the way, Angelina joined them, jogging up to George and taking his hand.

In that upstairs hallway, everyone stopped. The corridor was much as Harry remembered it – filled with rubble and dust, a gaping hole in the wall looking out over the grounds. He could see the niche where Percy and Ron had carried Fred's body to get it out of harm's way and he had to close his eyes for a second against the memories. Next to him, Ginny made a small sound of distress and buried her head in Harry's chest.

George took a couple of steps forward and fell to his knees. Angelina wrapped her arms around him and spoke quietly into his ear. Harry couldn't hear what she said, but after a minute, George nodded and stood up. He roughly wiped the tears from his face before kissing Angelina lightly and turning to the rest of them.

"Okay, let's get this corridor cleaned up and rebuilt," he said thickly. "For Fred."

"For Fred," they all responded, and set to work.

In a short amount of time, the boulders were gone, the walls and windows rebuilt, and a new suit of armor stood in the niche. Harry wouldn't have thought that it was possible, but the face on the armor actually seemed to leer down at them with a rackish grin. George spent extra minutes next to it, and when he stepped away, a new plaque gleamed in the stone.

In memory of Fred Weasley, who died laughing. May all who need to find happiness find it here.

Ron walked closer. "That's great, George," he said. "Is that . . . is the armor giving a thumbs up?" He reached out and touched the metal and his face split into a wide grin. "Makes me happy," he said with a chuckle. A second later he snorted. "It tickles!" he jumped back, wiggling and laughing. "Brilliant!"

George nodded in satisfaction. "The Fred Weasley Memorial Hall of Laughter is now complete," he said. He looked around. "Each of you needs to try it before you leave."

One by one, each of them walked up and touched the armor's thumb. Harry felt immediately joyful. He grinned at Ginny and then yelped when the sensation of a dozen tiny hands tickling him coursed across his skin.

"That is really advanced magic," said Hermione. She looked rather flushed and Harry wondered exactly where the charm had tickled her.

"Where should we go next?" asked Ginny. "There is so much to do."

Harry had been thinking about that. "I wonder what happened to the Room of Requirement," he said. "Do you think it survived the Fiend Fyre?"

"We should check it out," said Ron. "I bet it will need a lot of advanced magic to fix, right Hermione?" He knocked his hip against hers.

Hermione blushed. "I'd imagine so," she said.

The four of them said goodbye to George and the rest and trooped up to the seventh floor.

The outward damage in this corridor was minimal, but the tapestry that had formerly hung on the wall was gone; only a few charred scraps remained attached to the metal bar hanging at the top of the wall. They all looked at it grimly, remembering the last time they had been there.

"What should we ask the room to do?" said Ron.

"I think we should start simple and just ask to see if it still works," said Hermione. She looked at Harry. "Why don't you do it?"

So Harry walked back and forth three times, thinking to himself, "I want to see the Room of Requirement" in his head. On the third pass, to his immense relief, a door appeared. It was small and wooden and singed around the frame and Harry was oddly nervous to open it. Telling himself that it couldn't be all that bad, he walked up and turned the handle.

Inside the door was a great, empty stone room, smelling faintly of smoke. The stone itself was gray and looked new; there was no sign of any of the broken furniture and other discarded trash that had been deposited there for decades, nor could Harry see any hint that the room had housed and protected members of Dumbledore's Army the previous year. The room seemed to be almost holding its breath, waiting for something.

"I think it will be okay," said Hermione. "But it's going to take some time to put the magic back entirely." She frowned in concentration. "I think . . . I think the Room can only be rebuilt by the combined efforts of different people using it for their needs. We can't force it to be what we want, it has to happen organically."

"Maybe . . . . maybe we should each take turns," said Harry. "Asking the Room to do something for us. And we can get everyone else to add their own requirements too."

Hermione was nodding. "That is a good idea," she said. "I think the combined efforts of a large and varied group of people would do the trick. And we can bring any unusable junk from the cleanup to deposit here, to start rebuilding that particular room." She looked at Ron. "Should we go first?" She blushed just a little.

Ron nodded quickly. "Definitely," he said. "I can think of a couple of things I want to do with . . ." he stopped, realizing that Harry and Ginny were right there. "Umm, maybe you both have somewhere else to help for a while?"

Harry had the perverse urge to say no, that he and Ginny would enjoy seeing whatever Ron came up with for the Room. But he realized that if Ron and Hermione were occupied here, there was an entire expanse of Hogwarts grounds where they would not be. He grabbed Ginny's hand. "Good idea," he said. "I think Ginny and I will . . . umm, go see what they need outside."

Not waiting for an answer, he pulled his girlfriend out of the room and down the hall.

"Where do you want to go?" she asked. Harry noted that her steps were as quick as his were.

"Outside," he said quickly. "I have an idea."

Ginny squeezed his hand. "I tend to like your ideas," she said.

They walked quickly through the entrance hall. Neville and Hannah had repaired all of the hourglasses; they shimmered brightly on the wall as if they had never been anywhere else. The hall was otherwise empty and Harry was glad not to have to stop and make small talk with anyone.

They managed to get down to the lake without interruption. The grounds here had not seen much action and were quiet and peaceful. Harry didn't speak either as he led Ginny around the bank, past a small copse of trees and bushes, until any view of the castle was quite obscured. Only then did he turn to look at her.

"Is this okay?" he asked. "It's where we used to come my sixth year," he said rather needlessly.

"I remember," said Ginny solemnly. There was no hint of a smile on her face but Harry heard her breathing quicken.

"Thinking about us then," Harry began, moving closer and wrapping his arms around her. "Those memories, I mean. They are pretty much the only thing that got me through last year." He gave her a soft kiss and felt her tremble. "It gave me a purpose," he said, kissing her more firmly. "I wanted to get back to you. To this."

He couldn't say anything more then, because Ginny grabbed the back of Harry's neck and pulled him to her with a groan. She kissed him so deeply and thoroughly that Harry nearly swayed from lack of oxygen; he didn't mind at all. When they finally pulled apart, he smiled at her before stepping back to conjure a thick blanket for the ground. Another wave of his wand and Harry had set every privacy and silencing charm he knew around the space.

Ginny was smiling at him with every part of her face. She licked her lips as she looked at him and it was almost Harry's undoing right there. He gestured to the blanket. "D'you want to . . . umm . . .?" he began.

"Yes," said Ginny simply and lowered herself to a sitting position on the ground.

Harry dropped down next to her and leaned in for another kiss. It grew heated and Harry pulled Ginny into his lap and then shifted them both so they were lying down facing each other. One of Ginny's legs was hooked over Harry's hip and he couldn't stop himself from grinding into her. He found the underside of Ginny's t-shirt and tickled his hands up her back. She shuffled a bit so she was lying more or less on her back, and in one fluid movement, grabbed the bottom of her shirt to pull it over her head.

Harry forgot to breathe. Back in his sixth year, he had touched Ginny under the front of her shirt a couple of times, but it had always been dark and she had always been mostly dressed. Now she reached behind her back and gave a little tug and suddenly, her bra was lying loosely on her otherwise bare chest.

With slow movements in case she stopped him – although he was pretty confident she wouldn't – Harry reached towards the scrap of fabric and gently prized it down her arms and away.

Ginny's breasts were perfect. Better than he had imagined during any of his fantasies about them, and they had figured into Harry's fantasies quite a bit. He cupped his hand around one and was delighted to see it fit perfectly into his palm, the warm weight quivering lightly beneath him. He brushed his thumb across Ginny's nipple and it immediately hardened.

Ginny arched her back and hissed and Harry felt and answering thump between his legs. He chucked off his own shirt and lowered his head to Ginny's chest to kiss and tease. She fisted her hands in his hair and moaned, moving his head back and forth from one breast to the other. Harry let her lead; he scooted his body so that instead of lying next to her he was more or less on top, his arousal fitting into the notch in her hip. It was familiar territory; they had done something similar in her parent's sitting room, but now, knowing they were completely alone and feeling the skin of Ginny's chest press against his, Harry's excitement grew quickly. He thrust a couple of times and Ginny rose up to meet him until suddenly, she gave him a little push and rolled him off of her.

"Wha . . . What? Too much?" he asked quickly. "I'm sorry, Ginny. I thought . . . since we had already . . . I mean," he babbled helplessly until Ginny giggled at him and put her finger gently across his lips.

"It's fine, Harry. Better than fine," she said. "I just thought . . ." she looked down for a moment, a blush staining her cheeks.

Harry lifted her chin. "You thought what?" he asked quietly.

Ginny took a deep breath. "I thought that maybe this time, I could, umm, touch you." Her blush deepened. "Under your trousers," she said in a rush.

"Really?" Harry asked. He was already mentally taking them off.

Ginny nodded, a little more forcefully this time. "I know it's light out," she said apologetically.

Harry was confused. "What does that have to do with . . ." he began. Ginny's hand was hovering above the waistband of his jeans and Harry understood. "You want to see it," he said. "It wasn't a question.

"I do," Ginny agreed. She bit her lip. "If you don't mind."

"I don't mind," said Harry quickly. "I'd umm, I'd really like it." Feeling bold, he grabbed Ginny's hand and moved it to the button of his jeans. "You can take them off, if you want."

Ginny carefully undid Harry's button and pulled down the zipper. Harry saw her take a deep breath and then she tugged the fabric over his hips and pulled them down past his ankles and then off. He lay back on the blanket clad only in his boxers and watched Ginny study him.

Harry supposed he should feel embarrassed, but he just couldn't muster the emotion. It was incredibly arousing, watching Ginny look at him. She swallowed hard and reached out slowly to lay her hand over the growing bulge between his legs. Harry bucked his hips and Ginny sucked in her breath.

"That's umm, that's . . . wow," she said thickly. She was sitting up at his waist now and scooted herself even closer. "Can I . . .?" she asked, her hand hovering around Harry's waist.

"Yes please," he said thickly. He raised his hips off the blanket when Ginny pulled his boxers carefully over his erection and slid them off. And then Harry was naked and hard and his girlfriend was leaning over him, her hair tickling across his thighs. Ginny's lower lip was caught in her teeth and her eyes were dilated with want as she reached out to him again. This time, she stroked gently once, twice, and then took him firmly in her hand and pushed down.

"Like this?" she asked.

"YESSS," Harry breathed. "However you want. Do . . . whatever you want." He closed his eyes, giving into the sensation.

Ginny's second hand joined her first and they moved together, one on top of the other. The first slid down his shaft to be immediately replaced at the top with the other and the pressure was delicious torture. Harry bucked into Ginny's hands and then moved his own down to cover hers, helping them slide up and down in rhythm. He couldn't keep back a groan as Ginny quickly leaned over and kissed him before returning to her task.

Harry kept his hand over Ginny's. His movements were becoming erratic and he quickly lost control. "Oh God, Ginny, like that," he muttered. He forced his eyes open and it was his undoing. The look on Ginny's face was a mixture of intense concentration and arousal and Harry cried out as he suddenly came, spurting white over his chest and their hands. He helped Ginny pump him a few more times to finish before dropping his hands and closing his eyes again.

Ginny chuckled. "I think I'm good at this," she said with satisfaction.

"More'n good," mumbled Harry. "I really love you."

"And I love you," said Ginny. She sounded amused. "If you are planning to fall asleep now, maybe you can clean us off first?"

Harry struggled to a sitting position. "Right," he said, picking up his wand and casting a cleaning spell. "That was amazing, Gin. But I still need to . . . to . . ." his sentence was broken up by an enormous yawn. "To you," he finished with a sheepish grin. "We can now, if you want to."

Ginny smirked. "I think you can have a nap, Potter. I knew what I was getting into, taking care of you first."

Harry blushed. "You did?"

Ginny nodded. "Fleur warned me," she confirmed. "She said that I should always get what I want first. Even Bill is useless for an hour or two after he . . . you know." She smiled at him. "A nap sounds good to me too, right now. I can wait." She waggled her eyebrows. "But I'm warning you, I'll be expecting quite a lot, later on." She waved her wand and conjured a second blanket, which floated gently down to cover them both before she lay down next to Harry.

He snuggled close to her. "It's a promise," he said sleepily.