Author's Note:

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Chapter Eight - The Aftermath Part One:

May 31st 1998 …

Ginny sat next to her parents and her brothers, still reeling in shock over the loss of Fred. They had all been just sitting there crying and holding each other for hours now. None of them quite knew what to do. She was emotionally and physically exhausted and so tired that she could barely move. But mostly she wanted to find Harry.

She had barely spoken to him during the uproar of the battle. She was still mildly furious that he wanted to her to stay behind in the Room of Requirement when she was more than capable of fighting. But he also hadn't protested when she went out to fight. He did know a losing battle when he saw one. But that moment when Hagrid had walked out carrying Harry's body … never in her life had she felt so much like she had been ripped apart from the inside; that a piece of her was gone.

She closed her eyes, smiling at Charlie when his arms came around her. "I'm okay."

He shook his head and kissed the top of hers. "Don't think any of us are quite okay, Gin. Go on up to bed. You need to sleep."

"You guys need me."

"Always," he said with a smile, hugging her again. "But we're okay too. Go up to your room in the tower and get some sleep. I'll take Mum and Dad home, but you can stay at the school, stay with your friends and help out here. I know that's what you want to do; what you need to do."

Ginny smiled at him. "There's just … I want to help with the aftermath, but I don't want to not be there for my family."

"We know, Ginny. It's what we love about you. You're big heart," he said tugging her to her feet.

Her father looked up at her in surprise. "Go to bed, sweetheart, we'll be alright. You … you will have a lot of work to do over the next bit the castle is ever going to look the same."

Ginny nodded. She kissed her father's cheek and hugged him before doing the same with her mother. Molly was cradling George's tear-stained head in her lap. She brushed his hair out of his eyes and kissed her brother's forehead. He grasped her fingers tightly and gave her a small smile.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come home with you first?" Ginny asked again. She knew that she wanted to help the other students; help the castle and help McGonagall right everything once more, but she didn't want to abandon her family either.

George nodded. "We're going to go home and get some sleep and then we'll be right back here tomorrow afternoon helping you out. Go on up to your dorm, Gin, get some rest. We'll need you extra strong tomorrow."

She nodded, smiling at her family as she slowly moved away from them. Her whole body was numb with exhaustion and with grief. She had cuts on her arms and legs from the stones of the crumbling castle and she felt like a walking bruise. She noticed Ron and Hermione sitting together in the corner, holding hands and she made her way towards them.

"Hi," she said softly.

Ron gave her a small smile, "Hi. I couldn't sit with George anymore. I just needed …" he looked at Hermione in wonder and smiled again. "Are they heading home?"

Ginny nodded. "Yes. I'm going up to bed. Are you two staying or going to the Burrow?"

Hermione shook her head. "Neither. Harry went up to bed hours ago and I want to stay and help of course but … I need to find my parents, Ginny. They're in Australia somewhere not even knowing that I exist or who they really are."

"And I'm going with her," Ron said, squeezing her hand in reassurance. "We were going to grab some breakfast and talk to McGonagall before we head out. I don't know how long we'll be gone. It might take us weeks to even find them."

Ginny smiled at her brother. "I'm glad you're going with her. Good luck. Write and let me know about your progress. And don't worry about Harry, Mum will take care of him."

Hermione smiled. "He'll be okay. I was going to ask him to come too but … he needs a break for about ten years."

Ginny laughed and hugged them both. "Good luck."

She made her way out of the Great Hall and up the grand staircase. So much of the castle was destroyed. It was hard to imagine that it would ever be able to be repaired. But it would be in time. Neville was sitting with Luna at the base of the staircase. They were talking to some scared first years. At least most of the younger students had been safe in their dormitories during the battle, one small blessing that the entire castle hadn't been compromised.

Ginny slowly moved towards the portrait of the Fat Lady, not even realizing that her feet had already taken her through the castle. She didn't even ask for a password just opened at the sight of Ginny's bruised and battered body and let her inside. A few students were in the common room, but it was very subdued. She headed up to her dormitory; it had been months since she'd even stepped foot in her own room.

It was completely empty which she saw as a blessing and she headed into the bathroom to shower. She undressed carefully, wincing at the bruises as she did so and wondered how long she would look like a walking bruise on the left side of her body. When she stepped into the shower, the hot water felt like heaven and for the first time in months, she let the tears fall.

Sobs wracked her body and she held onto the wall of the shower for support as she cried. She cried for everything that she had lost: Fred, Remus, Tonks, Mad-Eye, Bill's werewolf attack, Harry's body being carried to the castle, Sirius, Dumbledore, her father lying in the hospital wing after the snake attack. The tears poured out of her, unable to stop and she didn't want them to stop. Then she was crying for what she had won: Voldemort was gone, Tom Riddle was gone. The war was over. Her family was very lucky, even with losing Fred and she cried for Percy who had finally came to his senses and come back to the family. The tears fell for Hermione's difficult journey ahead to find her parents; for Ron for finally telling his best friend how he felt about her and she cried for Harry, who would finally get the chance to have a normal life.

By the time she managed to compose herself, the water was turning colder and she washed up quickly, feeling more exhausted than before. She rubbed herself in lotion and ointments and changed into a Harpies t-shirt and snitch boxer shorts. She brushed her long hair and realized that she couldn't rest, not yet.

She needed to see him.

She needed to reassure herself that he really was okay. That he was alive.

Ginny grabbed her wand and hurried out of her still empty dorm and up the stairs to the boys dormitories. She pushed open the door to the seventh year dorm and wasn't surprised to find it deserted. But the bed curtains around Harry's bed were pulled closed.

Ginny closed the door behind her and walked over to his bed, tugging the curtains open. His nightstand had a plate of untouched sandwiches, his wand was next to it. He was half sitting, his feet on the ground as if he had simply fallen back onto his back, his glasses crooked on his face. His cheeks were dusted with dirt from the forest and he had dark circles under his eyes.

She sighed and moved over to him, gently tugging his glasses off of his face and placing them on his nightstand. Then she bent down to tug his shoes and socks off. He didn't move, but breathed the deep breathing of sleep in response. She moved to his belt, untying it and tugging his jeans down his hips and tossing them onto the floor next to the bed. She tugged his jacket off next, tossing the dirty clothing together in a pile. The white tee-shirt he wore had blood streaked on it, but she didn't think it all belonged to him. She tugged it over his head too and sighed. He had lost a great deal of weight. His lanky form looking almost starved and she wondered not for the first time just how they had been living in their hunt.

Ginny carefully used the ointment on his cuts and then she tugged his legs up onto the bed, pulling the blanket over him since he was now only in his boxers. He stirred a little for the first time and a small smile crept onto his face; the sweetest smile she had ever seen.

"Ginny," he breathed.

At first, she had thought she had woken him, but he was still very much asleep. Ginny sat down on the edge of the bed and just looked at him for a moment. She reached forward and gently brushed her fingers through his thick unruly hair. He was here. He was alive. That was what mattered.

She went to stand, to head back to her own dorm, having seen him and made sure he was truly safe, but his hand gripped hers tightly and when her eyes found his face she was startled to find those emerald orbs right in front of her. Before she could speak, his other hand framed her face and he was kissing her.

She kissed him back. His hand let go of hers to move into her hair and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he deepened the kiss, drinking her in and holding her close to him.

"Ginny," he whispered, his lips leaving hers and his forehead pressed against her own. "You're here."

She nodded. "I'm here."

Harry looked startled for a moment and jerked back. "You - you're … that was real?"

Ginny's eyebrow rose in amusement now. "Very real, Harry."

"I didn't … I mean, I shouldn't have just … I didn't mean to kiss you like that."

"Oh?" She said, standing up.

He nodded, standing up too and surprised to find himself in only his underwear. "I mean … I was trying not to get my hopes up that you would wait for me because I don't deserve that. I don't …"

Ginny smiled, standing on her toes to kiss him softly. "Of course I waited for you, Harry. What else can a girl do when her boyfriend's such a noble self-sacrificing git?"

He grinned and kissed her again. "I love you, Ginny Weasley."

Her eyes widened in surprise.

"I love you. I promised myself that if I ever saw you again I wouldn't let my fear of telling you how I feel stand in the way." His lips were on hers again and she sighed into him. "You were the last person I thought of before he killed me."

She jerked against his body then, holding him closer. "Harry … tell me …"

"I will. Everything. But first I think I want a shower and I'm starving."

Ginny smiled at him. "There's a plate of sandwiches next to your bed."

"Kreacher. I asked him for them and I guess I passed out before I ate." He glanced at his dirty clothes and then at her. "Did you undress me?"

Ginny nodded. "I wanted you to sleep more comfortably. I didn't mean to wake you."

"No," he said. "I'm glad you did. I'm going to take a shower. You'll stay?" He asked, his hand holding hers.

Ginny smiled at him. "Always. And Harry?"

He turned to look at her on his way to the bathroom.

"I love you."

His green eyes lit up and he grabbed her, lifting her into his arms and kissing her deeply. "I could make the best Patronus right now."

Ginny kissed him and smiled. "I know the feeling. Go wash some of that muck off."

"Tell me again first." He said, smiling brightly at her.

"I love you," she told him and his grin widened.

"Having someone tell you those three words really is an amazing feeling; I never knew." He kissed her once more before he headed into the bathroom.

Ginny sat on his bed and placed a hand over her racing heart. Harry loved her. It was more than she ever could have asked for. But his last words made her heart stop a little, what had he meant that he never knew what it was like for someone to tell him they loved him? She must have misunderstood. Kreacher appeared then interrupting her thoughts and smiled at her.

"Hello mistress, is Master Harry not liking his sandwiches?"

"Hello Kreacher and no he was too tired to eat. Perhaps you can bring him up some more food? Maybe some butterbeer and some fresh fruit and vegetables to go with the sandwiches?"

"Of course!" He disapparated with a loud crack and she made herself comfortable on his bed. Five minutes later, Kreacher reappeared with a full plate of vegetables and fruit, beverages and some treacle tart. She thanked him and he hurried off just as Harry stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.

Her face heated a bit at the sight of the dark hair at his bellybutton and moved beneath the towel. He grabbed his rucksack off the floor and tugged out fresh clothes, slipping them on beneath the towel. He dragged his fingers through his wet hair and it stuck up even more than usual making Ginny laugh.

"What?"

"Your hair, it's hopeless."

He grinned. "A little, yeah." He grabbed his glasses and his wand, using a cleansing charm on his glasses before he put them on and smiled warmly at Ginny. "Now I can actually see you. You're so beautiful."

She blushed and gestured for him to sit on the bed. "Oh shush, you, come here and sit down. Kreacher brought you some more food." Once he was seated, his back against the headboard and a plate of food in front of him did she speak. "Harry, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

Ginny hesitated before she spoke. "Earlier when I told you that I loved you," his face lit up again at the words making her smile. "You said something like you didn't know how good it could feel to hear the words. What did you mean by that?"

Harry shrugged, crunching on a carrot stick. "I meant, you know, hearing that someone loves me is a nice feeling. Don't you think so?"

Ginny placed a hand on his leg as she spoke. She had suddenly realized that the pit in her stomach was exactly what she had feared. "It is a very nice feeling. Harry, am I the first person to ever tell you how loved you are?"

He took a drink of his butterbeer and then he nodded. "Yes. I mean, I'm sure my parents told me at some point, but yeah, you are."

She kissed him before he could take another bite of his food. "I love you, Harry. I'm going to tell you that every day so that you never forget it."

Harry grinned at her. "Okay. Ginny, it's not a big deal."

She shook her head and kissed him again. "No, not to you. I love you." She kissed his nose. "I love you." His forehead. "I love you." His left cheek. "I love you." His right cheek. "I love you." His lips.

"I get it!" He said laughing and kissing her again. "Now can I eat?"

Ginny grinned at him and settled herself across from him on the bed, propping a pillow against the end of the bed and stretching her legs out alongside Harry's. "Yes, eat. You probably haven't had a good meal in ages."

He shook his head. "Not since we left Shell Cottage."

"You were at Bill and Fleur's?"

He nodded. "For about a week."

"Tell me."

And he did. Everything from the prophecy in fifth year; to his lessons with Dumbledore and about the Horcruxes and the realization that he had to be the one to find them. He told her from the moment they had left the wedding. To the Death Eaters following them; to staying at Grimmauld Place; to his fight with Remus; discovering they had a Horcrux in fifth year, but didn't know it and having to track down Mundungus; why Kreacher was loyal to him now; about breaking into the Ministry and tearing the locket from Umbridge's neck; to having to leave Grimmauld Place for camping in the woods; to the locket's affect on them; Ron leaving; Godric's Hollow; Ron coming back; being captured and Malfoy Manor; Shell Cottage; finding out he was a godfather to Remus and Tonks' son; Gringott's; and finally meeting Aberforth and coming to Hogwarts.

"You went to meet Tom to be a sacrifice knowingly?" She said carefully, speaking for the first time.

Harry nodded. "He left a piece of himself inside of me, Gin. It's why I could speak to snakes and why I could feel him … he wasn't possessing me, he was … almost a part of me. But I was too strong for him, I didn't let him in, didn't let him take over. When he possessed me in the Ministry, Dumbledore said that it was my capacity to love that ultimately hurt him and it was why he couldn't reach me. But I was the last part of him … and the only way that he could truly be destroyed was by destroying the last part of himself and the only way to do that was for me to die."

"But you didn't die? You were faking it."

He hesitated before he spoke. "No. I died, Gin."

Her brown eyes widened in fear and she gripped his foot tightly. "Then how are you … here?"

"I don't really know. Not entirely. But I think because I willingly sacrificed myself for the greater good, I didn't kill myself entirely; not in the way it mattered. Voldemort killed the part of himself inside of me and ultimately freed me to be … well, me, I think. I saw Dumbledore. He explained it to me how I could stay or how I could go back and finish him off for good. So I came back and suddenly I was lying on the forest floor. I could hear Hagrid sobbing and Narcissa Malfoy coming to see if I was still alive."

"She knew that you weren't dead?" Ginny gasped in surprise.

Harry nodded. "I told her Draco was alive and she lied to Voldemort. Well, you know what happened after that."

Ginny crawled across the bed, straddling him now. He had eaten all of the fruit and vegetables and the sandwich plate twice, but it kept refilling itself. "You really are the hero who conquered the Dark Lord."

He grinned at her. "My eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad after all."

She smacked him lightly in the arm. "Now what are you going to do, oh big conquering hero?"

Harry wrapped his arms around her, shimmying down on the bed and pulling her onto his side. "Now I'm going to lie here with my beautiful girlfriend in my arms and I'm going to sleep for a week. Maybe two. Any objections?"

Ginny smiled warmly at him. "None at all."

As she snuggled into his warm embrace it was only a moments before he had fallen into a deep sleep and soon she drifted off next to him, finally able to relax.