Harry led the way up to the headmaster's, no he thought, headmistresses, office. Hermione followed behind him, trying to work out what was going on and why George had prevented Ron coming too. She missed him, Ron, not George, and felt annoyed with herself for missing him as she was a strong independent woman and really didn't need him around 24\7. But George had said he needed him until Friday and though Ron had been trying to communicate something to her over McGonagall's shoulder, his eyebrow wiggling had not been particularly enlightening. Hopefully he'd send her an owl later, if McGonagall didn't explain everything first.
They had reached the door to the Head's office and Harry knocked firmly, feeling much more at home there than most other Hogwarts students.
'Come in' called the Headmistress
Harry and Hermione went in and Harry's eyes turned as they always did to the portrait of Dumbledore, who acknowledged him with a nod and a smile and returned to the parchment he was reading. Harry's eyes then flicked to a new portrait that had appeared next to Nigellus Black, whose occupant was quietly sleeping, as Dumbledore had been the first time Harry saw his picture.
'Snape' whispered Harry softly, overwhelmed by his feeling for this man. He had been personally repulsive, well he didn't have the best interpersonal skills to put it mildly, and the stories that Ginny had told him about what had happened in Hogwarts during the year of his Headship made Harry feel physically sick. But Harry had shared his thoughts and knew that not only had Snape loved his mother and tried to protect him, he had been angry at Dumbledore for his willingness to sacrifice Harry, had spent his life lonely and scared, sacrificing everything for the child of the woman he loved and the man he despised and ultimately lost everything. Harry was slowly beginning to think that Snape was the bravest person he had ever met, but somehow still couldn't yet make himself like him.
His reverie was interrupted by McGonagall beckoning them to sit down as she explained why they were there.
'As you are all but too aware, the battle with Voldemort has left its marks' she began.
Hermione worryingly had Ron's imagined response of 'that's a bloody understatement' pop into her head, and thought that perhaps some time apart would do them good before she actually started saying things like that out loud.
'Both personal and physical damage has been done' McGonagall continued 'and our task now is to try to rebuild both the lives of the families who have been bereaved and the physical protection that Hogwarts offers it's students'
'Is there going to be a memorial service?' asked Harry, thinking back to Dumbledore's funeral that now seemed so long ago.
'Yes, Mr Potter. It has been arranged for Friday and all the families who have lost loved ones have been contacted. '
Hermione's mind started processing this information. Friday, that couldn't be a coincidence. McGonagall continued 'By that time I would like to have the school in as good a state as possible and I require your assistance'.
'We'll do anything to help that we can' said Harry.
'Good. I have been led to believe that you have a map that may be particularly helpful in this' McGonagall said, raising a single eyebrow enquiringly.
Harry looked up and caught Dumbledore winking at him before again looking engrossed in his parchment.
'Yes' said Harry, patting his jeans pocket where the marauders map was safely stashed away.
'Excellent. What I'd like you to do is carry out a survey of the castle. There may still be people we haven't found and damage we don't know about. Miss Granger, if you could document what you find and give me a brief report?'
'Of course' said Hermione, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of writing a report, and mentally ignoring the word brief.
'Excellent' said McGonagall 'You'll find many familiar faces are helping in the reconstruction effort too'. With that she dismissed them with a nod and a smile.
Outside the office Harry pulled out his map, tapped it with his wand muttering 'I solemnly declare I'm up to no good' and it sprung to life. 'Not actually true for once though is it?' he said to Hermione, who had a very McGonagall like expression on her face as she replied 'No, which can only be a good thing'.
Harry was shocked as he looked at the map. There were huge sections of corridor either filled in or just missing and even in schematic form you could tell that the castle was a wreck.
'Right' said Hermione going into organizational mode, her favourite. 'There seems to be a lot of damage in this section and all the others seem to be working over there' she pointed at a group of dots amongst whose names Harry could recognize Neville and His Gran, 'so I suggest we start here and work our way that way.'
'Yes, sir' said Harry with a mock salute, and off they went.
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The sun was poking through the windows and Harry rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head before remembering that today was Friday and he had to get up and get ready for the memorial service.
He reached over and slipped don his glasses, the black robes that Kreacher had laid out for him coming into focus. He slipped them on and headed down to the great hall for breakfast.
The past few days had been hard. The worst had been sorting out the part of the castle where Fred had been killed and Hermione had been inconsolable when she stepped on his wand. But everyone had worked hard and if you hadn't known what had happened, you couldn't tell that the castle had been attacked.
The group of workers were already clustered together on the Griffindor table when he got down. Harry squeezed in between Hermione and Neville and helped himself to some juice.
'Morning' he said. Hermione just nodded went back to pushing food around her plate and taking sneaky glances at the doorway. Waiting for Ron, Harry supposed only just realizing that he would get to see Ginny again too. His heart leapt but was quickly replaced by an awful feeling of guilt. How could be so happy at the prospect of a day when he was going to the funeral of three friends.
After breakfast they all left the hall together and went down into the Hogwart's grounds, which were looking immaculate thanks to Hagrid and over to the rows of chairs that they had all helped to put out the night before.
Harry could see a cluster of red heads down by the front so he nudged Hermione and went over in their direction. Ginny saw him first and gave him a big hug, while Hermione went over to Mrs Weasley. Mr Weasley looked lost, but Charlie was attempting to guide him to a seat, and Bill and Fleur were whispering quietly to one another. There was no sign of Ron, George or Percy, though Harry had expected as much, having received an owl from Ron the day before. Hermione had been miffed that he hadn't written to her and had tried to get out of Harry what was going to happen but he'd gotten quite good at keeping secrets over the years and wasn't about to cave in now.
They filed into their places, Mrs Weasley telling Hermione to keep three seats free at the end. All the other families were in their places and McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt were standing on a podium with a velvet curtain blocking off what was behind it.
Kingsley stood up to speak, and just as he did there was a pop next to Hermione and the three errant Weasley brothers appeared.
'Hi' whispered Ron shyly to Hermione, tentatively taking her hand in his. She smiled and squeezed it. 'Just in time, Kingsley's about to start'.
Ron caught George's eye and they both nodded. 'Here goes' said George patting both on the back as Kingsley started his speech.
'We are here today to say good bye to our friends and family who fought bravely and sacrificed themselves so that we could live'.
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'As a tribute to all those who died in the battle of Hogwarts, a monument has been erected here so that the brave will be remembered always. I ask you to stand and join together as we remember our loved ones'
There was a rustle as everyone stood and McGonagall stepped up as Kingsley swished his wand and the curtain drew back to reveal a monument, an obelisk into which a list of names had been carved.
McGonagall began to read from the list
'Hannah Abbot'
The top of the obelisk began to give out flowers, they looked like lilies and a voice came from it. 'Hannah was a gentle girl, she loved flowers and animals and spent all her holidays in the garden'. Another voice, a younger one, started up with another memory 'Hannah fought bravely at the battle and did everything she could to protect her friends. I wouldn't be alive without her and will always remember her sacrifice for us' a final voice, even younger drifted in 'Hannah was a great sister, she always told me stories and let me play with her stuff, and I 'm so proud of her for being a hero'
The flowers began to fade as McGonagall read out the next name. This time miniature quidditch players shot out of the obelisk and flew round as more friends and family shared their reminiscences. With each name came a personalized rememberance. Harry felt the grief tear through him at his own voice speaking of Tonks and Remus, his heart almost breaking when he looked up and caught Andromeda's eye holding Teddy who gurgled happily, unaware of the situation. It was the first time he had seen his godson and he realised his responsibility to make sure Teddy had a happy childhood.
They're must have been almost 50 people, some of whom Harry new, like little Colin Creevey, some of whom he had never heard of, which was almost worse as he thought of people who didn't even know him fighting for him.
But as McGonagall reached the end of her list, the final name hurt worst of all.
'Fred Weasley'. At this fireworks erupted from the obelisk fizzing and sparkling quietly at first as Harry heard each of the Weasleys say something, first Molly 'he was a loving, Son' then Arthur 'He did us all proud, standing up to the Dark Wizards this whole time' and all the siblings voices coming out all over each other. Finally you could hear Ron say, 'George, your turn…..' and there was a pause.
'Fred, …' George's voice from the monument hesitated, but the George at the funeral grinned up at the obelisk. 'Fred…. ROCKED!' and with that more fireworks blasted out and filled the sky. Multicoloured explosions rocked the whole castle grounds and the mourners ooohhed and ahhhed as they watched. Harry lost track of the time as he stared at the hypnotic display and said his goodbyes to his lost friends.
As the obelisk ejected one last spread, Harry saw George turn to Ron, who had his arm round his girlfriends shoulders as tears ran down both their cheeks.
'What do you think then, little brother?'
Ron smiled and wiped away his tears with his sleeves saying 'You've down him proud George, that rocked'.
And they hugged and then everyone was hugging and crying and talking. All the families were talking and sharing their grief, and Ron and George seemed to be the men of the hour as they seemed to know everyone.
'I suppose they've been collecting memories all week' said Hermione to Harry as she watched her boyfriend being sloppily kissed by an exceptionally old lady who kept thanking him for his lovely memorial as he looked very uncomfortable.
'Yeah' said Harry. 'Ron said it was McGonagall's idea. Told George what she would always remember him and Fred for was when they left school, you remember?'
'Of course, the fireworks'
'So she asked George if he could put on a bit of a display and George wanted to something for everyone so he and Ron have been visiting relatives all week while Percy's been charming the monument'
'Well they did a very good job' said Hermione unaware that Ron had escaped from his senior citizen and was stood behind her listening, pink with pleasure at her praise. 'Using memories like that takes some pretty difficult spell work and dealing with grieving relatives must take a lot of consideration'
'Oy, I can be considerate! said Ron making her jump.
'Of course you can, I was just saying, well, you know, good work'. Hermione looked embarrassed but Ron gave her a huge hug before they returned to the mourning families.