Chapter 6: Saying Goodbye.
A dark cloud descended over the castle as many within it fell into mourning. Funeral plans were made quickly as the rest of the Weasley family arrived from abroad. Ginny was buried on a Tuesday in a quiet service near the Potter household. Harry's mother and father were buried near by and it crossed his mind that far too many Potters had fallen to the dark arts, he vowed that not one more would fall while he was around to protect them.
The house that Harry and Ginny had made for themselves was beyond repair. There was too much magical debris to be removed by the means under their powers and the family was too distressed to return to it. The children could not look at the house without falling into themselves and weeping. It held far too many horrible memories now and so the house stood in ruins as the Potters moved on from it.
Harry and the children took up their residence at the burrow with their grandparents as the investigation into the attack began and while the children waited to be taken to school for the term. The ministry had already dropped the charges against the Potter children for their underage wizardry, but the most important charges were yet to be laid. There was no evidence to be found as to who was responsible for the attack and murder of Ginny Potter and it seemed like even though there was plenty of evidence to support the attack, they could not gather any information or residue from it to bring in a suspect. The magic that was used was unknown and unregistered within the ministry but it was powerful beyond belief and so the mystery remained.
Harry became reluctant in the wake of the events to let his children out of his sight, he even considered keeping them away from school this year, but he had been talked out of the idea by Molly and her husband. The children would, therefore, return to Hogwarts with all of the rest of the children in two weeks time. Harry's reluctance became less as the prospects of spending more time with his children arose. Minerva McGonagall had offered him a position at the castle and as tempting as it was, Harry was unsure whether or not he should accept it or if he should just take up a residence in the small town of Hogsmead to be close to his family.
"I think you should take up Professor McGonagall's offer," Molly Weasley said to her son-in-law one morning as they stood watching the children in the garden of the familiar and friendly family home.
"The position is cursed," Harry stated, "all I need is another curse after my name."
"Perhaps it is for you to break the curse," Molly said, "it never was a cursed position until you-know-who came along."
"And it remained cursed because of me," harry sighed, "Why am I always the cause of such horrible things?"
"You can't dwell on all the bad, Harry my dear," Molly said as she wrapped her arms around him, "you have done so many good things, monumentally good things. You defeated He-who-must-not-be-named. You brought peace to millions of people."
"And I feel like it is all about to start again," Harry said tears in his eyes, "Molly, what should I do?"
"Teach," Molly said, "teach the children all that you know. Teach them to be safe and to protect themselves against the dark arts. Harry, take the position that McGonagall has offered you. Go teach defense against the dark arts, if only for one year, and be close to your children when they need you the most." She said her tears flowing freely now.
"Ok," Harry said, "I will."