Chapter 11
The following day everyone except Harry, Hermione and Neville left to go home. Ginny protested with her mum and begged to be allowed to stay at Grimmauld Place but Mrs Weasley wouldn't let her.
"You're underage!" argued Mrs Weasley but this wasn't the only reason. Secretly she thought that if all her children were at home and close by then they would be safe forever. Of course Bill was living with Fleur and George was spending more and more time at the shop in Diagon Alley but she could still have the rest of her children at home. She'd already lost one child and so she was making up for it by having the others close by. She thought that no one had noticed her need to be near her children but she was wrong. Harry had noticed and in some ways he didn't blame her. Although he would have rather liked Ron and Ginny to stay at Grimmauld Place with him fulltime, Charlie too for that matter, he didn't want to upset Mrs Weasley and so didn't push the subject.
Before long it was coming up to Harry's 18th birthday and it would be his first real birthday since the one spent with his parents before they died, when he turned one. He made a pact with himself that he would sort through the boxes from his parents vault before his birthday and so he owled Ginny and invited her over for the day, saying what he had planned. Within minutes of receiving the letter Ginny had flooed to the kitchen of Grimmauld Place.
"Ron was upset that he didn't get invited but I told him that Hermione was planning on visiting her parents and then he didn't seem as bothered. So, where's Neville?" asked Ginny.
"Gone to visit Luna apparently. She's going to take him looking for some creature whose name I am not even going to try and pronounce," said Harry. Neville had been spending more and more time with Luna although they hadn't officially told anyone they were going out. Everyone knew though and was waiting to be told by Neville. The newest couple seemed to be keeping tight lipped though.
"So, do you want to make a start?" asked Ginny, grabbing a biscuit from the tin on the table and looking at Harry.
"Umm yeah. I don't know how long it's going to take."
"I don't mind. I'm here for you Harry, no matter what," she smiled. Harry had brought the boxes downstairs to the drawing room so they had more room.
The boxes were numbered and so they opened the first one to find lots of dust. A simple cleaning spell by Harry, whilst Ginny looked on annoyed because she still couldn't do magic out of school, fixed that problem and they both sat down on the floor. It was just like when they were looking at the photos taken by Colin Creevy, they didn't know what they were going to find. The first pictures were of his parents graduation from Hogwarts. He saw the Castle that he still called his proper home and the ceremony had taken place on the lawn near where Dumbledore's tomb and the memorial statue now stood.
"Now I can understand why everyone said you look so much like your dad," smiled Ginny picking up a photo of James at about the same age as Harry is now. "This could be you in this photo, except the eyes ..."
"I have my mum's eyes," Harry finished. That was why Snape wanted to look at him as he lay dying and that is why Snape had a hard time in the past when looking at Harry. The eyes could have been Lily staring back at him.
"Your dads hair is as messy as yours," smiled Ginny.
"Hey, you like my messed up hair," replied Harry.
The next box showed pictures from what appeared to be James and Lily's engagement party followed by the wedding. The wedding looked to have taken place in Godric's Hollow from what Harry could tell and there were lots of faces that Harry and Ginny recognised. Sirius, as best man, was in a lot of the pictures and Harry noticed how badly Azkaban had aged him.
"Hey, here's McGonagall in this one," said Ginny, holding the photo for Harry to see.
"She looks young here," said Harry.
"That reminds me, with her as Head that means we'll need a new head of Gryffindor," commented Ginny.
"Oh yeah, I hadn't thought of that, and Transfiguration teacher."
"Well I hope they're nice, whoever they are."
Most of the morning and afternoon was spent looking through the boxes and Harry shed tears for his parents. In the last few boxes baby Harry was shown with his parents and the other Marauders and Harry ripped up the photos that showed him in Pettigrew's arms.
By mid afternoon they had finished and Harry had set aside photos he wanted to keep and maybe frame and then put the boxes in a storage room on the third floor.
"Are you okay?" asked Ginny.
"I'm fine. I'm glad that I've gone through the boxes, it needed to be done," sighed Harry. "Anyway, I should be asking you how you are, how are things at home?" asked Harry.
"They're ... I'm not sure honestly. I spend quite a lot of time either in my room or going for walks. I hate being in the kitchen with Mum, she tries to disguise how upset she is and she's carrying round that clock again as she thinks that way she can protect us all," explained Ginny.
"It's her way of coping I suppose."
"Yeah but I just want to get over it, you know. I feel like I've dealt with Fred's death but mum hasn't. Dad's at work all the time as well with his new position in the Ministry so he doesn't have to deal with mum."
"How's George?"
"Seems to be coping better than Mum. He just says that Fred would have wanted to go fighting or laughing and Fred was doing both so it was sort of fitting. Percy feels responsible still but it wasn't his fault. I just wish I could stay here with you."
"I know you do, but I don't think it would be fair for your mum if we asked. Ron would want to stay too and that would leave only Charlie and Percy. Your mum likes to have you all with her."
"I know. I just wish things were different."
"Did I tell you that I talked to Mrs Tonks the other day?" asked Harry as he wrapped his arms round Ginny and pulled her close to him.
"No, how's Teddy?" asked Ginny.
"He's fine apparently. I'm going to see him the day after tomorrow, do you want to come?"
"Yeah, that'll be really cool. I haven't really spent much time with babies, I'm the youngest so …"
"Well I promised Mrs Tonks that I would do my fair share of babysitting, I am Teddy's godfather after all. I just feel bad I haven't visited sooner. I saw him at the funeral of Lupin and Tonks but not since then. Does that make me a bad godfather?"
"No, it means that you've finally got the weight of the world off your shoulders and you've been taking some time for yourself. It's perfectly understandable."
"What did I do to deserve you?" sighed Harry. "You always know exactly what to say to make me feel better."
"What did you do? Oh only save the world, nothing big," laughed Ginny. "You know, when I first met you I liked you because you were Harry Potter, the boy who lived. But then I got to know you and I liked you for the person you are," said Ginny.
"Just don't let Ron hear you say that."
"Yeah well maybe he'll act a bit differently in a couple of weeks when I'm of age," said Ginny hopefully.
When Ginny returned home to the Burrow that evening Harry walked into the drawing room and looked at the Black Family tree on the wall. With the help of Kreacher he had managed to fill in the burnt names and so now it was restored back to how it used to be. Harry ran his hands over Sirius' name, wishing that he could have been there. On the opposite wall Harry was going to create a Potter family tree and had already contacted people for information about his family. Hagrid was only too happy to help and so was Professor McGonagall who had the help of Dumbledore's portrait. There was silence in Grimmauld Place as Harry starred around the room. Hermione and Neville weren't back yet and Kreacher was upstairs sleeping in his new room. Harry picked up a picture off the mantelpiece and looked at it, tears forming in his eyes. It had been taken last year at Bill's wedding and showed a big group of people, all smiling and completely unaware that their lives would soon change. Bill and Fleur were at the front with Mr and Mrs Weasley next to Bill. The twins were at the back because they were so tall, Harry's heart skipped a beat when he looked at Fred who was happily waving back at him. Charlie was stood next to Harry with Ginny the other side. Then there was Hermione and Ron stood next to each other as well. Percy wasn't there, he hadn't turned up to the wedding and now deeply regretted it. There were other people in the picture too, members of the order and friends. Tonks was stood at the front with Lupin's arms round her, both were smiling and waving and were excited about being newly married. Who knew it would only be for a year and their son would become an orphan?
Harry put the photo back and sat down in a chair. He thought he was getting over the Battle and the war but then something would happen and it would all come back. He would never forget seeing the dead bodies in the chamber, or all the families grieving over a lost one. He had moved on, but not completely. No one had. Everyone tried to act as though they had but behind closed doors, things were different.
"Are you okay Harry?" asked Hermione from the doorway. Harry hadn't heard her come in.
"What? Yeah I'm fine," replied Harry. Neville came behind her and they both made their way into the room.
"It's okay to still be upset you know," said Hermione.
"I know, it's just that I thought I was dealing with it."
"Why don't I go make us some hot chocolate?" suggested Neville. It was what his Gran had always done when he was upset.
"Thanks Neville," smiled Harry.
"Harry, what we've been through in the last year is huge and so it's going to take a long time to get over. Maybe we never will, we'll just learn to cope with it. I have nightmares over what could have happened. I could have lost you or Ron and I don't know what I would have done then. You just have to be positive Harry and think about the good things that have come out of it."
"Thanks Hermione," said Harry quietly as Neville returned with three mugs.
"So, how's Luna?" Hermione asked Neville as they sat down.
"She's fine. Actually there's something I've been meaning to tell you guys," started Neville. "Well this year with you guys gone, Luna and I became quite close. Last week I asked her out and she said yes. Can you believe that? I have a girlfriend," beamed Neville.
"Congratulations," replied Harry cheerfully. Hermione was right, you have to focus on the good things. Neville and Luna being together was definitely a good thing he thought as he looked at how happy Neville was.