A/N: Sorry for the hiatus. But I'll get back to regular updates from now on (I think).

Harry dreamed. For a long time he was not aware of that fact though. He did not remember the first few hours of completely mindless sleep, nor the following hours interrupted by terrifying nightmares, which only came to an end once Ron had shaken him awake, himself pulled out of sleep by Harry's cries. He returned to sleep immediately, never even realizing that Ron had woken him up.

He dreamed of things he had seen and experienced, of the horrors of the last days that had burned themselves into his mind, and would likely remain there for as long as he lived; but also of his fears, his waking nightmares, that were only enhanced now that he had no way to fight them. For a long time the darkness seemed impenetrable.

Slowly, his dreams began to shift, become less nightmarish. he kept waking up, and the world inside him and around him seemed to brighten.

He did not know what time it was when he, at last, woke up. He had slept for a long time, that much he was aware of. There were so many things that needed taking care of, so many things he had to do. He did not even know where he was going to stay. But he just could not bring himself to abandon the comfort of his warm bed. Finally, he forced himself to get up and went to the bathroom. What weird dreams he had had, he thought when he came back. No place to stay. Really. His bed was right there. He snuggled up under his covers and went back to sleep.

The next time he woke up to the most curious sensation. It almost felt like something was tickling him, and his disjointed dreams shifted to one of a butterfly that kept fluttering all over his face, its wings brushing his eyes, his cheeks, his lips... He tried to evade it, but was a very annoying butterfly, landing exactly where he least expected it, and the sun seemed to be flickering through its wings... He opened his eyes. Ginny was straightening up from where she had been leaning over him, wearing a mischievous smile. Had she been kissing him?

"Good morning, Harry," she said with laughter in her voice. "Though it won't be morning for much longer. It's almost noon."

"Noon!" Harry sat up, and looked around the empty dorm.

"Hermione and Ron slept for ages, too. Went to bed almost as early as you did. But even they managed to get up by now."

"How long did I...?"

"Fourteen hours. At least. Probably more. We wanted to wait for you, so we could have breakfast together. But then it looked like you wouldn't get up until lunch anyway."

"I could do with some breakfast," said Harry at the same time as his stomach rumbled, and he remembered that he had not eaten a decent meal for more than twenty-four hours, not since breakfast in the Great Hall the day before. During lunchtime he had rushed to the ministry to deal with Umbridge the Toad, and when he had come back, sleep had seemed so much more important than food.

"Kreacher thought so, too," said Ginny, and produced a tray with a full breakfast on it.

Harry started to inhale the food at once, barely managing a thank-you.

Ginny watched the less-than-sophisticated display for a moment. "Do keep in mind that mum wants to feed you, too. She cooked all your favourites and brought them here. First she wanted to cook in the school kitchens, but the house elves kept trying to help her."

"What, she actually went to the Burrow for that?"

"Yep. Wouldn't tell us what state it's in, though. But at least the kitchen seems to have survived, if she cooked up all the things she brought with her there. She's ben casting warming spells and waiting for you to wake up since then. I don't think she'll last much longer, though. She'll be sending Ron soon to wake you up, I think." She trailed off at the end.

"I'm glad it was you instead," said Harry.

Ginny smiled at him. She started telling him what everybody had been up to since the evening before. She kept her tales light and entertaining, away from all serious matters, which he was only too happy about. He did not want to disrupt his comfortable morning with all the things he had to worry about.

After she left to give him some privacy, he decided it was time to clean up. He called Kreacher and had him bring him his magical razor, toiletries, a bathing towel and a change of clothes. Armed like that, he went to face the mirror. The insults started before he had even taken a proper look, and Harry wondered who had thought talking mirrors to be a good idea. More importantly, he wondered why Ginny had not run away screaming after seeing him. He would not have blamed her.

The way he looked was hardly surprising, though. He had not bathed or showered since they had left Shell Cottage, and a Scourgify could only do so much. He had not shaved for a few days, either. His hair was ridiculously overgrown as it had not been cut since summer. Hair that almost reached his collar should be able to lie flat, Harry thought despairingly, at the sight of the dirty, matted mop on his head that was sticking up in all directions. The t-shirt he had worn to sleep was old and worn beyond its endurance. It was frayed, with a few holes in it and hung loosely on his bony frame.

Once he was properly cleaned and groomed again, he went back to the mirror. With his hair tied he would have looked almost passable, if not for his eyes. They looked sunken and haunted. And when had he aged so much?

He almost fled back to his bed, but he forced himself to open the door and walk down the stairs to the Common Room.

He was met with an odd sight. Despite the warm spring weather, there was a big fire in the fireplace. His two best friends were sitting together in one armchair, which had been placed next to the fireplace, but turned so that they could still see the stairs leading to the dormitories. Bot of them were eating chocolate. Many of the remaining Gryffindor students, as well as most of Ron's family were also there.

Mr Weasley was telling something, and Harry could hear a few chuckles here and there. The whole scene could ave been out of a dream. It resembled someone's childhood memory, cosy and clean, fun and happy. It filled Harry with a melancholy longing, and he felt he could never be too close to them.

Ron saw him first when he got closer. Everyone else's attention was towards the sitting couple, as Hermione seemed in the middle of some sort of explanation or argument, if her animated gestures were any indication.

Harry could not remember the last time he had seen his friends so relaxed. They both had cleaned up as well. Ron had shaved, and Hermione's hair had been tamed a little. They almost looked like their one year younger selves.

Harry watched as each face around him went from surprised to pleased at seeing him. There was something else there, in their eyes, something deeper, that varied from person to person.

"We were just going over all the things that happened yesterday," Mr Weasley told him.

"Anything interesting happen after I left?" asked Harry, remembering that he had dashed off after Doge without considering how the others would fare without him.

"Oh, nothing much," said George. "Came to the ministry, held off the dementors, tried to find where you'd gone off to, watched ickle Ronnie snog Hermione in the worst possible moment-"

Ron made a face at that. Hermione was more vocal. "You go and try to hold off that many dementors for any length of time-"

"Yeah, they do like to pick the worst possible time for their little moments..." said Harry. He could not help but add to the obviously extensive teasing his friends had received over the matter.

"Really?"

"Oh, do tell!"

Exclamations answered his comment from all sides, except for Ron, who groaned, and Hermione, who moaned: "Harry!" in an accusatory tone.

George made a tsking sound at that. "So they've been together for a while now, and none of you bothered to tell us?" He threw his arm around Harry's shoulders. "You'll have to remedy that. Now, don't leave out any details..."

Something seemed a little odd with their proportions when George was standing so close, but Harry dismissed it for the moment.

George's restored cheer was contagious. It looked no less strange, seeing him without his twin, but knowing that it would not last long almost made up for it. So Harry let himself be drawn into the cheerful banter and told a few strongly edited snippets from his best friends' history. He made sure not to include any angst and drama, and finished by telling about the couple's first kiss during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Ron and Hermione were not too happy with him, that was clear from the glares they were sending him. But he managed to make even them smile once or twice, so they could not be too angry with him.

"Did you see me standing next to George? D'you reckon I'm as tall as him now?" Harry asked his friends some time later. He was sitting in an armchair he had pushed next to them. The hilarity had settled down, allowing him to talk to them in relative privacy. He had apologised, though not very convincingly, for teasing them, and they had in turn given voice to their irritation at him.

"I think so, yeah," said Ron absent-mindedly.

"You are a tiny bit taller than him now, actually," supplied Hermione.

Harry remembered being shorter than the twins when they had polyjuiced themselves into Harry, a little over half a year ago.

"Well, yeah, I guess you've grown a little," said Ron. He obviously was not seeing why Harry thought that was a big deal.

Harry supposed if he were as tall as Ron that little difference in height would not matter much either, but as matters stood, he felt surprisingly pleased with his recent growth.

Hermione pressed some chocolate into his hand, and he started to eat it absent-mindedly. He felt warmth spread through his body, as he had the evening before when he had come back from the ministry and forced himself to eat a few bites of chocolate that Kreacher had gotten hold of for him. The dementors' influence was not completely gone yet, it seemed.

The feeling of guilt was sharp and sudden. Harry stared at his friends, who were also eating chocolate, and had not moved away from the fireplace since he had seen them. He shifted uncomfortably. He had essentially abandoned them when he decided to follow Doge, with no thought as to how they would cope against a whole army of dementors. And he knew perfectly well that Hermione still had problems with the Patronus charm from time to time.

"Listen," Harry began hesitantly. "About yesterday. What happened after I left?"

Hermione exchanged a look with Ron, who muttered under his breath: "Here we go."

"Nothing much," said Hermione in a deliberately light tone. "Mr Weasley got the fireplace going shortly after you left, and then the others kept coming one after the other. The dementors bothered us less with each new Patronus. We set out to find you as soon as everyone had arrived."

"But what about before? When it was just the two of you against all those dementors, and I... Look, I'm sor-"

"Harry!" Hermione interrupted him, and her tone sounded both amused and exasperated. "We're fine. We were fine. It was you who rushed towards danger-"

"Again," interjected Ron, equally exasperated.

"Exactly!" went on Hermione. "You always have to take matters into your own hands at the last moment-"

"And play the effing hero," finished Ron.

"So that's how you see it." Harry tried to look annoyed, but he could not suppress the grin. "Well, then. If you won't let me apologise, fine. I have better things to do, anyway. I'm going to laze around all day. I won't move an inch if I don't have to." At those words he snuggled into his seat, ready to doze off.

"Actually, Harry, we were about to go to Diagon Alley," said Hermione.

"We were waiting to see if you wanted to come along," added Ron.

"Diagon Alley? Whatever did you want to go there for?"

"To buy new wands. I don't think we'll be seeing our old wands any time soon, and I want to get rid of Bellatrix' wand as soon as I can."

Harry, who remembered that he could use some money out of his account, decided to go along after all, and the three friends left Hogwarts, walking slowly towards Hogsmeade.