Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me, it belong to JK Rowling.
Chapter 3: 25 years
Note: Henry Evans – James Potter
Damien Evans – Sirius Black
Mary White – Lily Evans
It had been 25 years since Harry had died. And Harry was still in Hogwarts. Not by choice, he couldn't leave, even to go to Hogsmead. He was trapped inside Hogwarts. He could go to the park and to the forbidden forest but that was all. If Harry used to love Hogwarts while he was alive, he started hating it while being dead. The once dearly loved castle was now his prison. He was alone and bitter. Bitter and resentful. Harry had never told anyone, except for Sir Nicholas, of his condition. Even all this time, he still couldn't say it, how pathetic he was.
At first, he had explored Hogwarts, discovered room that no one knew about; see wonders hidden in the depths of the castle. He had long conversation with Sir Nicholas, about the meaning of being a ghost, about the possibilities and knowledge beyond the livings. It had helped him, at first. He had looked at the reconstruction of the castle, Hermione and Ginny had been back at Hogwarts for one year, but he had hid from them.
He was not the only new ghost of Hogwarts. During the last battle, many people had died wrongly and were back as ghost. Most of them were youngster who had not be able to run away in time. There were dead without having the time to understand what was happening and stayed, lost in the castle, unable to leave, just like him.
Usually, ghost stayed in the exact state of their death, like the Bloody Baron, still as bloody as a thousand year prior. Harry too was still bloody. But most of the student ghosts were more like they were when alive. Colin Crivey was still here, with his camera of course. So were Lavender and Parvati, still gossiping about whatever happened in the castle. No one knew why. But it didn't really matters to Harry.
At first, the new ghosts were looking at sadly by the professors and with respect by the student. Everyone knew who they were, the boys and girls who died in the last battle. Students were asking to tell them how it happened, how it was to died...but the years passed and the memorial wall was just another wall anymore, no one were looking at the name anymore, all what happened in this very place became history. The student's ghost became house ghost as well, welcoming the new students, saying goodbye at the seventh years, some were playing pranks, not as bad as Peeves. Life was going on. Except for Harry.
Unlike the other ghosts, Harry stayed away from people. He had developed an interesting power of becoming invisible during the years, so it was an easy thing to do. He usually stayed at the old Astronomy tower, as a new one was build. He was known as the ghost of the Astronomy tower (Very original, I know) and no one was disturbing him since he had scared to death a group of third year 20 years ago. At night Harry liked going outside, in the park and he could stay hours under the old oak, near the lake. The trees he went so many times with Ron and Hermione, the place of his first date with Ginny...So many memories, so happy and so painful. Memories were all Harry was left with. They was a legend in Hogwarts that when the Astronomy tower ghost was outside, the forbidden forest would cry with him. Obviously, it did not help his reputation as a ghost.
Trapped in the castle, Harry hadn't heard from his friends for years. Once Ginny and Hermione had graduated, he had not seen them anymore. Maybe it was better this way...but he had like to know how there were doing, what kind of job there were doing. If Ron and Hermione had finally got married. If Ginny had found someone else...Maybe it was better not to know. But still, he was watching the repartition every years in case the children of someone he knew were coming to Hogwarts. He had been surprised not to see Teddy the eleventh year but Andromeda had talked about moving to France after the war so he was probably going to Beausbaton. He had been really sad not to see what his godson had become but he understood Andromeda. Too much bad memories around here. So he had waited for someone else to come. Even if he still had no idea of what he would do in this situation.
But the first person he knew who came back to Hogwarts was Neville, 12 years after his death. As the Herbology`s teacher. Harry had assisted at his interview for the job, with headmasters McGonagall. If ghost could cry, he probably would have that day. Neville had changed, he was no longer a boy, he was definitely a man. Older than Harry would never be, wearing a wedding ring. Harry silently smiled at the sight, Neville was more confident than before, a good thing. He learned that after the battle, he went traveling around the world for five years, before coming back to England and start working as a researcher at the ministry of magic. Harry although learned that Neville only got married 2 month ago. At this moment Harry almost showed up in front of Neville and McGonagall. He had missed his friends and the world so much, he wanted to ask them how were Ron and Hermione, who his wife were and so many things but he couldn't. Because of something Neville said.
He said that he always thought that Harry would be the first one back to Hogwarts. As DADA`s teacher. He said that he missed him. McGonagall had nodded and said that she was sure he was happy where he was...that no one deserved to rest in peace more than him.
Harry did not had the heart to tell her the truth...that he was far from happy and in peace...or maybe he was just being a coward once again. So he stayed alone. He watched Neville from far away; he looked at him speaking to Lavender and Parvati. The three of them looked happy to be reunited once again. This very night he saw Parvati trying to consolate a sobbing Lavender. The return of Neville had showed them what they could never have. Neville was a grown up. They were children.
After that day, Harry stayed even more away from people, if it was possible. Lavender and Parvati still said hi to Neville but he did not think they shared a lot of talk after the first.
And so the year went on. The seasons were inexorably changing: autumn, winter, spring, summer. And again, again. It was a never ending loop, the students were changing but the rest stayed the same.
18 years after his death, he first heard of Ron and Hermione again, when their daughter Rose Weasley came to Hogwarts. He would have recognized the Weasley hair from miles. He smiled, happier than he had been in a long time. Ron and Hermione got together, they had children. If he could he would have dance the Polka in front of everyone. Rose was very like her mother, with blue eyes and red hair. She got in Ravenclaw, so she obviously had her mother brain, good for her. Rose sat at her house table, unaware of the invisible ghost looking at her, and start speaking with the other first year with enthusiasm.
The next morning, Harry was still in the Great Hall. He wanted to see Rose again. Ghosts were not allowed to follow the students in their house, for obvious reasons, except for the House`s ghosts and again, only in the common room. Rose was one of the first to come down, just like her mother. But instead of going to sit at her table, she went to the Memorial Wall. Harry followed her; curious about what she was looking for. The young girl, was reading the names, looking for someone maybe. Sometimes she stopped a little, touching the name. Luna, Dean, Cho…She probably heard about them from her parents. Then she got to his name, Harry Potter.
"-Hi Uncle Harry. Nice to meet you. I am Rose."
Then he followed her for years. Rose grew up to be an amazing witch, she was smart but she was not a total bookworm, she made it to the Quidditch team, as a chaser. And she was very good. That is when he learned that Ron was a professional player. He heard Neville and McGonagall talked about it during the first match of Rose.
Two years after Rose, his younger brother Hugo came to Hogwarts too. He looked just like his father and was send to Gryffindor with Fred II, the son of Georges and Angelina. The two of them were really close and he has in mind that they would follow their uncles and father way. He was not wrong as two years later they were known as the infernal duo. Harry really enjoyed seeing them pulling pranks, running from Filch…That was the way things were supposed to be. Even with very different characters, the brother and the sister were really close and it wasn`t rare to see Rose help Hugo with homework or pranks.
Harry first spoke to Rose during her sixth year. The young woman had trouble with DADA. She was outstanding in every other subject, but she was only average in DADA and she was obsessed with it. She would spend hours to train by herself, to read book in the library but she wasn`t improving. One day after one of her training session, she went to the Astronomy tower.
Harry could hear her mumbling to herself, she was almost crying.
"Why are you crying" he asked her without thinking.
"Who are you" Rose was looking around her. Harry was still invisible and he had no intention of showing himself to her. What if she had saw pictures of him?
"I am a ghost. And I am invisible" he said shyly. "I don't like to show myself"
"You are the Astronomy Tower Ghost." She said. Harry stayed silent. There was nothing else to say.
"I thought you were scary." She was now looking at the sky. "I was wrong." She paused for a moment, just sitting here. Harry stayed as well, after all she was in his tower. "I suck at DADA. I don't know why, but I just don't improve and it`s killing me!"
"Why do you want to improve your DADA skills? I mean you are an outstanding witch in every other subject…Why exactly are you so obsessed with this one?" Harry was genuinely curious; he couldn't understand the young witch.
"My parents fought during the last battle, here. They both are masters of DADA, and I don't want to disappointed them…They are well known in the wizarding world and people are expecting great things from their children." That was not the answer Harry was expecting, so he stayed quiet for a while. He had never thought about this in this way before.
"You know…I don't think your parents would be disappointed with you. Certainly not by the fact you are bad at DADA. If they fought in the last battle, then they fought for freedom, they fought so that their children could live in peace… you are the living proof they succeeded." That was maybe the longest thing he had said in 24 years. But he couldn't not help her.
"Thank you" Rose said with a little smile.
After this episode, their relationship started changing slowly, even if Harry never showed his face to Rose. She came to see him time to time and sometimes they will talk, sometimes they would just stay there. At the end of her sixth year he started teach her some DADA and Rose started improving. Maybe Neville was right…He really like teaching, it reminded him of the AD and he loved to see the joy of Rose when she got a particularly hard spell done.
The beginning of Rose`s seventh year changed everything. Hermione came to teach at Hogwarts, meaning Ron would be there pretty often too, and three new students coming from abroad.
