Harry walked into Gryffindor Common Room. He still felt a little groggy, and his head felt like it was about to split, but the black veins had receded and the pain potion Madam Pomfrey had given him was starting to work. He jumped as several very loud voices shouted his name at once, in surprise, confusion, and relief. He turned towards the fire to see his dorm mates, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, staring at him in disbelief.
"When did you wake?" Hermione asked.
Harry shrugged, rubbing at his eyes. "I dunno, about an hour or two ago, I think. What're you doing? I thought everyone was at Dinner."
"We were about to head down ourselves, Harry," Ron said, grinning. "Are you coming?"
Harry gave a longing glance to the stairs to his dorm room, but nodded. "Sure. I should probably eat something anyway."
Ginny and Hermione came over to give him a hug. "You're sure? You could stay here and get some rest if you want." The red-headed girl mumbled into his chest.
He staggered slightly under their combined weight. "No, thanks, I-"
"Rest? He's been resting for months," Seamus argued. Dean smacked him upside the head as Hermione rounded on him.
"He just woke up after being poisoned, Seamus, and he already said everything's 'wobbly'. If he needs real sleep, then you shouldn't harp on him," The girl said tartly.
Harry grinned and wrapped an arm around the girl he thought of as a sister. He placed a tender kiss to her temple. "You're beautiful, Hermione, really. But, I think I'm fine. My head's already feeling better, and I might as well get it out of the way now."
As one, the boys still by the fire made their way over to them, and Harry turned, slightly leaning on the witch his arm was around. The group started to make their way to the hole in the wall. As Neville pushed open the portrait, Harry stopped and turned.
"What's the matter, Gin?" He asked the girl, who hadn't moved from where she'd hugged him.
Brown eyes darted to Hermione, and back to Harry. "Who-who woke you, Harry? We've all been so worried, and all of us have tried at some point in the last several months, so…who did you fall in love with?"
Harry frowned as the echo of a thought whispered in his mind. "This has to be a secret."
He looked at his ex-girlfriend, then quickly away. "It was…" He sighed. "It was the Half-Blood Prince." All of his friends gasped disbelievingly.
"Harry, you can't be-"
"Yes, I am, Neville," Harry said shortly. "Look, I know how it sounds, but, I'm dead serious, alright? I fell in love with a person I'd never even met, and when I figured out who it was I told Snape." Sort of, in a roundabout way, he amended in his own head. "But they were gone before I woke up, so obviously he doesn't feel the same way. So just drop it, okay? And no, I won't tell you who it is. I just want to forget about them."
"You said 'he', Harry," Ginny said softly, walking over to him. "Is that why-?
Harry sighed again. "Yes, Gin, that's why we didn't work out," He murmured. "You-you guys can't tell anyone, okay? As far as everyone else is concerned, I don't know who woke me, and still have no idea who the potion claimed as my cure."
They all nodded firmly when he looked at them, even Ginny.
"Swear, Harry, no one else has to know."
The Wizarding Savior flinched at his ex-girlfriend's choice of words. As a group, each of his friends stood defensively around Harry as they made their way down to the Great Hall. He was going to have to lie to a lot of people for the next month until the school year ended, but at least his friends would know. And maybe someday he'd work up the courage to tell them the whole truth.
Break
For the next month Harry Potter attended his classes like a normal Seventh Year. He didn't have to do any of the work outside of the classes, but for the sake of image, to show the Wizarding World that he was still a student, he was made to attend. When it came time for finals, he was given a review of the Sixth Year final and took that in place of his NEWTs.
The day after he woke, the Daily Prophet released the headline: Sleeping Beauty Awakes, but who is his Princess? A week later, they released a second article: Harry Potter, Ashamed of True Love's Kiss? Any time someone asked Harry who his savior had been, he told them he didn't know. His friends, true to their word, gave the same answer.
Meanwhile, Severus Snape returned to life as usual. Slughorn chose to finish out the year, leaving him with more time than he knew what to do with without Potter's dreamscapes to visit. He spent this spare time hidden away in his quarters, trying desperately to forget the Boy Who Lived. When pressed by his fellow teachers about who had woken Potter from his magical slumber, he would only grunt and tell them it was the boy's secret to keep.
No one could guess from the way the two passed in the corridors what had transpired between them. To anyone who cared to look, they were back to old habits (notoriously hard to kill). If their eyes should meet, green would glare and black would sneer in turn. If they each looked away too quickly, or dismissed themselves from a meal with their food hardly touched, no one noticed. This was they had always been, and as far as either was concerned, this was how they should remain.
