Friday Afternoon

Ginny watched her figure carefully in the mirror while she tied a band around her hair. She wore last year's Quidditch uniform and straightened the striped shirt so that it was wrinkle free and nodded to herself before grabbing her broomstick and slinging it over her shoulders. With a deep breath she marched out of the Gryffindor Head Girls dorm at the top of the stairs and circled her way down towards the Common Room.

"Good luck today! Harry and I are going to watch so we'll see you after," Hermione said after sidestepping Ginny on her way up, her arms full of books that she was reading previously. She nodded and gave a quick smile (it was all she could manage to not upset the butterflies in her stomach) while continuing down the spiral. She ignored the shouts saying who would be at the try-outs and hurried onto the pitch, reveling in the crisp fall air.

She kicked off of the dewy grass and soared into the hazy gray sky, making a few quick laps around the pitch for the sheer pleasure of it. Besides, she already brought out the case of equipment from the shed and only a few students could be seen starting to make their way onto the pitch. She could feel her nose grow red in the cold and her heart lifted away from the rest of the world. Racing across the pitch left her nerves behind and her confidence flooded back through her body. She knew what she was doing. After watching the birds just cresting the forest trees and the lake glistening in the distance with a smile, she flew back to the grass and landed nimbly as the few students slowly grew into a small crowd.

While they waited for the last to join, Ginny took to scanning the stands with a hand braced against her forehead to block out the glare, looking through the few faces in the mostly empty benches, unknowingly searching for a mass of untidy black hair. Finally, she spotted it in the front row in the middle of the pitch, leaning over the railing next to who could only be Hermione. She smiled at him, even though she knew he was much too far away to see. But, she just couldn't seem to help it. At the sight of him, her confidence builded again and nodding to herself, she turned towards the loud students before her.

"Shut it!" she yelled without warning, forcing the students to immediately stop their chattering and turn towards her with a collective startled jump. "All right, thanks for coming. As you can probably guess, I'm going to need a keeper, a seeker, two beaters, and two chasers for the team this year. Since we didn't have a team last year, all spots are open, so… good luck. I'm going to start with picking the chasers and keepers, so can anyone trying out for those two positions step forward?" Seven students came forward and split into two groups for the two positions. After a quick explanation of what was going to happen, Ginny kicked off the ground again and soared towards the side of the pitch to watch.

The first chaser approached the first keeper and threw five quaffles at the hoops, three of which soared through; then, the second keeper replaced the first and the same chaser threw another five. It was pretty clear who was the best out of the four chasers considering only one of their quaffles made it through the hoops and another only made it in with the worst of the keepers trying out. So, Ginny flew into the clump of four students and made her decision, doing her best to feel no remorse at the two students who flew down to the grass dejectedly and shaking their heads.

Then she flew towards the clump of three keepers waiting by the hoops and announced the top two choices. The third keeper didn't look surprised by her decision and thankfully, accepted it without a fight and left for the stands to watch the rest of try-outs. "All right, since you two saved almost the same number of goals, I'm going to throw eight quaffles for each of you and whoever saves the most will get the spot, okay?" They both nodded and shared a nervous glance once Ginny turned to grab a quaffle from her newest chaser, and as she soared back to the center of the field, she couldn't help but see a smiling Harry watching the try-outs progress.

"So how have your nightmares been without Ron?" Harry asked Hermione, though his eyes stayed on the Quidditch pitch.

"Definitely not as bad as right after the war, but still not great." She brushed a stray lock of hair out of the breeze and watched as Ginny approached the group of chasers.

"George is going to sell some Nightmare Nougat that could help, you know."

"Oh, really? I'll have to get some." Hermione turned away from the pitch and faced him. "How about you?"

Harry flicked his eyes at her before hastily turning away. "Could be better," came his reply. "And how are your classes?" He added before she could press him for details like he knew she was about to do.

"Oh, they're great! Albright is a much better teacher than he is a conversationalist, so that's a relief. But, Professor Kahtri is simply fantastic! Last class, we…" Harry let her words wash over him like water, listening to her every word but only understanding a small fraction as she delved into the deeper world of ancient runes. Instead, he watched Ginny's long red hair fly behind her in a wave as she shot like an arrow through the breeze, the quaffle tucked under her arm. She turned her broom abruptly so that she was horizontal with the hoop and, while still traveling at the same speed, flung the quaffle through the ring on the left. She slowed the broom down to a stop and waited for the other keeper who was trying out to chuck the red ball back up at her.

"Hi, Hermione!" A cheery voice cut through her appreciation of Ancient Runes, and they both turned quickly to see who was approaching.

"Oh, hello Cass and hi Hailey!" The two girls that always fell silent around Harry appeared and sat on Hermione's other side.

Figuring he might as well be the one to get the awkward introductions over with, he leaned past Hermione and extended his hand towards them. "Nice to meet you, I'm Harry." They both blushed furiously, but the young witch with a long sheet of smooth black hair finally shook his hand with a few glances over her shoulder.

"Hi, I'm Cassandra, but you can call me Cass," she said with a bold smile. She nudged her blond friend repeatedly in the shoulder until she raised her hand to wave shyly and she introduced herself as Hailey.

"You're Ginny's friends, right?" he asked, leaning his elbows on his knees to see past Hermione.

"Yeah. Since about our second year," Cass replied, regaining a sense of confidence. "So we've definitely heard lots about you." Now it was Harry's turn to blush profusely and he fidgeted uncomfortably as his stomach grew warm.

"Oh?" he said simply. Hermione, meanwhile, was thoroughly entertained by how the conversation was turning out and did nothing to hide her smirk.

"Well, she used to have a terrible crush on you so that took up a fair amount of our conversations back in second year. Eventually, she let it rest until our fifth year when you two started dating; then, it picked back up to a whole new level. And then last year was just a whole other mess, with the war and Death Eaters and Ginny wanting to lead a school-wide rebellion or something, but I could still tell she definitely missed you." Now that she had started talking, it seemed like she didn't want to stop. Her words tumbled out of her mouth and she locked eyes with Harry so that she could carefully gauge his reaction to all of this, and he hoped that his reddening cheeks could be from the cold breeze. Luckily, Hermione stepped in to save him from being questioned about his own feelings by two people he had never met before, and the three of them started discussing the various homework assignments that they had for the weekend.

Forty-five minutes later, try-outs were coming to a close and Harry was leaning casually against the railing of the stands, watching Ginny address her newly formed team while the three girls to the side of him talked about some drama within the Hufflepuff house, which Hailey was apparently a part of. None of them were paying any attention to the pitch, so when Ginny sped towards them on her broom, Cass let out a scream which she quickly covered up with her hand.

Ginny smirked at her friend and whipped her ponytail out of her face while hovering directly in front of them. "Harry, you're still a Gryffindor, right?"

"Er… I haven't changed Houses if that's what you mean," he replied, extremely confused.

"I mean that all of the seekers who tried out are absolute and complete rubbish, so how would you like to be our seeker?"

"Oh, I'd love to," Harry grinned. "Although, I'm not too sure if it's allowed." While still staring intently at Ginny, he flicked his wand surreptitiously in the general direction of the remaining Quidditch equipment and hoped for the best.

"Since when have you cared about school rules?" she teased.

"Well, since I'm now a figure of authority and Co-Head of Gryffindor House, maybe I could change the rules."

"Yeah, I'd be okay with that as long as you can change them by our first practice. Although, you'd have to be okay with calling me captain, you know?" Suddenly, a school broomstick soared towards his open hand and without waiting he swung a leg around and kicked into the air.

"Only if you call me Professor," he teased back. Ginny rolled her eyes and immediately chased after him towards the center of the pitch and caught up to him easily. "You're a bit slow today, Professor."

"It's the school broom! It's rubbish!" he defended himself quickly.

"All I'm hearing are excuses."

"If those Death Eaters didn't chase me across all of London and throw out my own broom, then I'd beat you easily."

"More excuses!" she called happily over her shoulder as she took off towards one end of the pitch, leaving Harry to chase behind her. "I thought you were rich," she added once he finally caught up to her. "Just buy a new one… unless, you just want to be able to use your current sad excuse of a broomstick as an excuse."

"Unless you want me to keep this pile of rubbish so that you can keep winning, you mean."

"Oh, sure." She smirked and leaned forward on her broom.

"I bet you'd love to tell your friends how you beat me in a race, considering how much you talk about me," he teased, matching her own devilish grin.

"What?" She sat up straight, her eyes growing wide and her grin slipping away.

"Cass told me about how you apparently love to talk about me." His smile widened and her cheeks grew a fierce red to match her striped shirt.

"CASS!" she roared and flew towards her friends that were walking slowly towards the steps to head down to the grass. The three girls turned towards her loud voice and Cass crossed her arms defiantly with a smirk already on her face. "WHAT THE-"

"Oh, come on, Ginny," she interrupted, laughing. "It's not like he didn't know you had a huge crush on him." Harry finally caught up to the group and stopped in front of the stands next to Ginny. "Besides, you should have seen how much he blushed when I said you missed him last year."

"You said what?" Ginny replied angrily, refusing to turn towards Harry whose cheeks grew even warmer than before.

"We'll see you at dinner, Ginny," Hailey interrupted before Cass could reply and she pulled her by the arm down the first few steps. Hermione waved cheerily over her shoulder and followed after them. Harry tried to stop blushing and Ginny slowly turned towards him, her own cheeks definitely red.

"I was worried about you three, last year. I didn't know where you were or what you were doing, except that you were in danger, so… that's probably… that's what she meant," she clarified with a hard look behind her eyes.

"Sure," he said with a shrug.

"It was! I mean… we're friends and Ron's my brother, I was worried about if you were okay!"

"Uh-huh," he replied, fully enjoying her angry flustering.

"Well you blushed! So, that means that you probably-"

"I missed you too," Harry filled in with a soft smile.

Ginny smiled back awkwardly before looking down at the pile of remaining gear in the grass. The stands were now empty around them and they fell silent, uncomfortably avoiding each other's gaze.

"We should probably clean up, huh," she commented without really wanting to.

"I noticed how suddenly I'm included in that 'we' when you already made it quite clear you're the captain," Harry teased with a roll of his eyes.

"Well, if you want a spot on the team, you should start sucking up to the captain, Professor." She leaned into a dive and pulled out of it gracefully just above the grass and Harry followed, more than happy to help her clean up before heading back to Grimmauld Place.

Ginny rushed into the Great Hall, not bothering to change out of her Quidditch uniform or comb out her wildly messy ponytail, and slid into the seat next to Cass wearing a huge grin.

"I take it try-outs went well then," Hermione commented while taking a pointed sip from her pumpkin juice.

"Or was it what happened after try-outs that made you so happy?" Cass added, matching Hermione's smug grin.

"Oh, shut it," Ginny replied. Although, she did not seem remotely angry.

"Spill! What happened?" Cass urged.

"Nothing happened! We just talked and cleaned up the Quidditch gear," she replied truthfully.

"Uh huh, sure." Cass shook her head disbelieving.

"She's probably right, Cassandra. I doubt Harry would do anything right now," Hermione said, sneaking a glance across the table at Ginny who was happily buttering a bread roll.

"Well, Ginny wouldn't be opposed if he did do something, would you?"

"No, I definitely would not be opposed," she admitted without a trace of embarrassment. "But I doubt either of us are ready for anything right now." Hermione nodded sympathetically and fully intended to let the matter drop, but Cass had no such intentions.

"Well, why not? He likes you, you like him! And he's a celebrity. You should get him now while you have a chance!"

Ginny turned on her suddenly and slammed her butter knife onto the table"I am not into him just because he's famous, you git!"

"Okay, okay." She held up her hands as a sign of surrender. "But still. You both like each other, so why not?" Ginny stared at her friend with an open mouth, then just shook it sadly, clearly not wanting to explain.

"Because, they both have been through quite a lot recently, Cass," Hermione explained patiently, like she would explain something to a first year. "They both aren't… er… back to normal, yet." Hermione glanced at Ginny carefully to make sure she didn't say anything too obvious. Finally, Cass took the hint and let the subject drop, just slightly ashamed at her lack of understanding. But, her shame was long gone by the time dessert appeared.

"You won't tell Harry, right?" Ginny demanded the second Hermione shut their shared dormitory door behind her.

"No, of course not!"

"Good. Because I swear to Merlin, if you do I will hex you into next week!" she added frantically, pulling out her wand.

"Relax, Ginny. I've never told him when we talked about him before, have I?" Ginny huffed, but seemed somewhat placated as she grabbed her pyjamas and marched into their bathroom, leaving Hermione to roll her eyes after her with an amused smile.

Saturday Morning

"Are you coming with us, Ginny?" Hermione asked the following morning as they joined the long queue of students waiting to get to pass Filch's inspection to head to Hogsmeade.

"Yeah. Cass has a date and Hailey is staying at the castle anyways," she shrugged.

"Neville asked when our first Hogsmeade trip was, so maybe he'll meet us there too," Luna added, her eyes bright.

"That'll be nice to see him again!" Hermione commented, digging through her purse to make sure she had what she needed.

"We won't even get to Hogsmeade by dinner at the rate this queue is moving," Ginny complained, her arms crossed impatiently.

"Then I guess we'll see you at dinner!" Bill called. He and Harry marched up to their group at the end of the line, both smirking at the long wait ahead of them.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny," she rolled her eyes and continued to tap her foot.

"Yes, I thought so." Bill shoved his hands in his coat pockets and rocked forward on his feet slightly.

"Why didn't you both just apparate into Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked curiously.

"McGonagall wanted to go over the expectations for Professors at Hogsmeade first," Harry explained nonchalantly.

"And we're meeting Ron at the Three Broomsticks, right?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, he's probably already there, Hermione. Are you sure you don't want to spend the day with just the two of you?"

"No, no. That's all right. I was just making sure. Besides, it'll be nice to have everyone together again."

"Suit yourself," Harry shrugged. "We'll save a table." He waved over his shoulder and the two of them made their way down the line of students towards the doors that Filch was so diligently guarding.

"Where do you think you're going, Potter?" the caretaker spat in his general direction.

"Er… Hogsmeade?" Harry replied, stifling a laugh in his sarcasm.

"Back of the line if you want to leave." He motioned his detector towards the line stretching into the castle.

"I'm not a student, Filch!" Harry shook his head and continued on his way towards the village, ignoring the man's angry sputtering. "Honestly, why hasn't McGonagall fired him yet? He's completely useless."

"She probably had enough staff to hire and train this year," Bill replied, his short ponytail swinging when he turned to look at him.

"Yeah, well, there's always next year."

The Three Broomsticks was crowded, as it usually was on the days Hogwarts students were allowed to visit, so no one heard the small brass bell hung over the door announce their arrival. After quickly scanning the bar, Harry spotted a mass of bright red hair against the dull brown walls and headed for it in the back of the room, winding his way through the tables with Bill a step behind.

"Harry!" Neville cried happily, immediately pushing his wooden chair back and standing up. Automatically, every head in the bar turned towards them and while most of the time, they would immediately turn back towards their other conversations, Harry was always the exception. People began to whisper excitedly, but Harry chose to ignore them all, along with Bill's amused scoff behind him, and walked purposefully towards the table.

"Sorry 'bout that, mate," Neville said sheepishly.

"That's all right. Good to see you again." He pulled out a chair and quickly sat at the long table across from him, eager to sink away from the attention. "Hey Dean, Hey Seamus! I didn't know you two were coming."

"Neville told us. Figured we should have the whole dorm back together for a day!" Dean replied. They started to catch up together while Bill hugged Ron and the two of them talked separately for another fifteen minutes until the Hogwarts students could join them. The three girls waved to the newcomers and Hermione instantly ran to Ron. She hugged him tightly around the neck before they sat in chairs next to each other, hands still tightly clasped, and began to whisper between themselves, sharing coy smiles.

"You're not staying?" Ginny asked as Bill grabbed his coat that was hanging off a chair.

"No. I have some errands to run while I'm here. You guys have fun!" He waved and smiled at the group before carefully winding back through the packed floor, slipping past Rosmerta who approached the table.

"I don't think I've ever had so many Order of Merlins in here at once, let alone at one table!" she said as a greeting, a small notepad already in her hand.

"It's good to be back here," Neville responded for all of them.

"It's definitely good to have all the Hogwarts kids back, especially you lot. Now, what can I get you?"

"Firewhiskey!" Ron called first, overly excited and causing Rosmerta to chuckle while she wrote down his order. Neville, Dean, and Seamus all followed suit while Luna requested Gilly Water.

"Just butterbeer for me," Harry said next along the table.

"Same," Hermione and Ginny added simultaneously. Rosmerta walked away, her bright heels clicking merrily, but she didn't get far when the other boys erupted in protest.

"Come on, Harry! You're old enough for some whiskey!" Seamus roared.

"No, that's alright. I'll-"

"Yeah! Live a little!" Dean added.

"I think I've lived a pretty thrilling life already, thanks," he droned with a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly! So have some firewhiskey to clear your head a bit!" he persisted.

"I'd prefer to keep my head well on my shoulders, okay?" he added, somewhat annoyed. The boys grumbled, but let the matter drop and turned to Hermione who had begun to ask them after their families.

"I don't blame you, Harry," Ginny whispered to him while the rest thanked Rosmerta for their drinks. I don't want my actions to be anything but my own, or forget what I did, or how I got somewhere, or wake up with no memory whatsoever, she added to herself. Harry nodded with a grateful smile and he passed along her butterbeer from the end of the table.

"So is Hogwarts all back to normal now?" Neville asked eagerly, playing with the small glass in front of him.

"Mostly, yeah. McGonagall made some changes, all for the better though," Ginny responded, wiping her lip on her sleeve to clean it of butterbeer foam.

"I'm sure it's all better. Can't get much worse than last year, can it?" Seamus said rhetorically, in a far too cheery voice.

"What was it like last year?" Hermione asked quietly, barely over the raucous chatter of the room. "I can't even imagine it."

"What about you three? We all read that Daily Prophet article, but…" Dean whistled.

"We'll tell you about our year if you tell us about yours," Ron urged with a grin.

"Deal." Neville threw back his head and drained the remaining sip of the firewhiskey, letting the liquid burn his throat and fill his chest with a fiery warmth. "It was awful."
"I think we could have figured that much out for ourselves," Harry added, leaning forward so that his elbows rested on the table.

"Hey, it's true! You already know all about the Carrows, but the whole thing was just terrifying. Before we got to the Room of Requirement, but after the Death Eaters really hit their stride, the three of us would always get to the dorm and would try to fix each other's injuries as best we could before going to sleep. Chances are, one of us had a run-in with one of the Death Eaters," Dean explained.

"And with your two beds empty, it was way too quiet. I missed our chaos," Seamus said wistfully.

"I'd always look at your two beds and just wonder if we were fighting in an already lost war," Neville admitted.

"That's not like you. You were always the hopeful one! You always told me and Luna to keep hope!" Ginny protested, clearly shocked by his confession.

"Yeah, that's the opposite of what you said in that great speech to you-know-who when… when Harry…" Seamus trailed off, glancing awkwardly at Harry, clearly wishing he hadn't said anything.

"When I was dead?" Harry filled in and took a sip of his butterbeer while raising his eyebrows quizzically at Seamus.

"Er… yeah."

"It was a very moving speech, Neville. Really motivated me to come back to life," Harry joked. Somehow, everything was easier to handle when he was surrounded with his group of friends.

"You hear that? I brought Harry Potter back to life!" Neville exclaimed happily, and much too loudly causing other patrons to look at their table curiously. Harry no longer cared about the staring and laughed loudly along with the rest of his friends. They shared amusing stories, ignoring the darkness that caused them, and they quickly filled their table with plates of food. Harry forgot he wasn't a student long before his butterbeer was gone and the snack plates they had ordered were empty.

"So what about you, Neville? What have you been up to?" Ron asked after filling them in on life at Auror Headquarters.

"Well actually, I saw a very convincing flyer the other day at Diagon Alley that made me think of applying to be an auror."

"That would be brilliant!" Ron said cheerfully, clapping him on the shoulder from across the table.

"Something tells me your application would be accepted," Harry chuckled.

Well after lunch, Neville, Dean, and Seamus all apparated to wherever they needed to be. Luna excused herself to restock some Potions supplies, and the remaining four left the Three Broomsticks, making sure to leave a hearty tip since they took up a table for so long. The sun had managed to peek its way out from behind the clouds so that the street was cast in an odd mix of bright light and cold shadows.

They walked slowly further up the cobblestoned street towards Honeydukes, always in need of their chocolate, where Harry politely shook the storekeeper's hand, chuckling to himself when Ron and Hermione blushed from being recognized too. They left the store, their bags filled with extra sweets that the storekeeper slipped in after they had already paid.

"Beenfermeshisrate!" Ron cheered, his mouth full of chocolate.

"What?" Ginny laughed and leaned away from her brother slightly, brushing into Harry's shoulder.

He swallowed dramatically. "Being famous is great! He gave us free chocolate!" He clarified.

"I should have known," Ginny rolled her eyes. "Take note, Hermione: the way to his heart is through food."

"Believe me, I know," Hermione replied happily, walking beside her back towards Hogwarts. Hermione and Ron's clasped hands swung merrily between them, while Harry kept a cautious eye on the students like McGonagall said to. Although, he really didn't need to be particularly alert to notice something happening at the end of the street.

"What's that?" Harry asked, eyeing a cluster of students at the entrance to the village, all of them clearly staring at something.

"Dunno," Ron said. His hand stopped swinging with Hermione's.

"You should go check it out, Harry. You're the only Professor around," Hermione said. True enough, most of the other Professors had walked back up to the castle as had many of the students by now. Harry jogged lightly towards the small crowd, but quickened his pace when he caught a glimpse of a student's wand out. He grabbed his own automatically, and behind him, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny shared a worried glance.

"What's going on here?" Harry commanded loudly. The group of students split down the middle, all looking at Harry with wide eyes, and a few began to talk loudly and incoherently over each other. Following their pointed fingers through the small crowd, he saw five students in the middle of the arranged semicircle around them. One was shaking slightly on the far side, out of the way, and the other four were tall enough to be seventh years and were dueling so childishly and slowly that Harry had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at their technique. Instead, he flicked his wand at the center so that a powerful shield spell erupted between them and all four fighters stumbled backwards and looked around to see what had happened.

Two Slytherins still had their wands up as they looked around for who had cast the spell while the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor lowered their own sheepishly once they saw Harry with his own wand out.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Harry said coldly, watching the two Slytherins turn abruptly toward him, their wands still raised. Before they could move, their wands soared into Harry's outstretched hand and the other two dueling students' wands followed.

"Everyone except these five leave. Now," Harry ordered, not bothering to clarify which five he was referring to. The other students grumbled and slowly left the scene with many backward glances.

Harry watched the students disperse while his friends approached from behind him. He looked around the scene again once they were clear of eavesdroppers. "Fletcher?" Harry asked, surprised, recognizing the third year Slytherin as the one shaking behind the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. The boy looked up slightly, his eyes damp. "Are you okay?" He nodded and pressed his lips together, clearly not wanting to say anything. Harry nodded in return, satisfied that at least he wasn't hurt, and turned back to Hermione and motioned towards him. Thankfully, she got the message and she and Ginny rushed towards him to crouch next to the boy to talk quietly with him. Ron stayed behind Harry, his arms crossed hostilely.

"Okay, Hufflepuff- tell me what happened," Harry said firmly, turning back towards the seventh year students.

"I don't know how it started," she said, shuffling her feet against the ground. "But, Dereck and I were just heading back to the castle when we saw these two yelling at that kid over there with their wands out, so I yelled at them to stop it, and that's when they started shooting hexes at the kid, but I think all of them missed." No kidding they missed with their form, he thought to himself ruefully. "So then we ran over and… er… starting dueling," she finished somewhat lacklusterly.

"And why were you two yelling at Fletcher?" he asked the two Slytherins, crossing his arms at them while still holding onto all of their wands. The two boys looked at each other briefly before looking back at Harry and remaining steadfastly silent.

"Fine. Fletcher, do you mind telling me what these two were yelling at you?" Hermione and Ginny stood from their awkward crouching so that the third-year could see Harry.

"They… they told me that… I'm a disgrace to the House… and that I was stupid to have left the caslte because… they warned me that if I left…they'd… they'd get me," he said through quiet sniffles.

"And can I assume that your parents are both muggles?" The boy nodded shyly and Harry sighed, rubbing his temple.

"Hermione, Ginny- can you take him back up to the castle and get him to Pomfrey to make sure he's okay?" They nodded and walked with him up the path towards Hogwarts, leaving the remaining four students to Harry. "As for you two," he looked directly at the Slytherins, "a hundred points from Slytherin and three detentions for you both, starting this Thursday." They protested loudly and he held up his hand to stop their interruptions. "And you two, fifteen points from you both for having a full-on duel, which I'll admit is something I'd do, but that doesn't mean it was a wise decision."

He held out the four wands towards them in a fan shape. "You're free to go, but know I'll be reporting the incident to McGonagall." They each grabbed their own wand and quickly walked away before Harry could add anything else to their punishment. The remaining two students stepped forward, as if to grab their own wands, but Harry quickly withdrew them and tucked them into his robes.

"Not so fast. You can get your wands back when you finish your three detentions. Come to my classroom at four-thirty on Thursday for your first one," he said, his voice growing louder to smother their protests.

"But, we need our wands for classes!" One of them cried dramatically.

"Then tell your other professors why you lost them."

"But, three detentions can take three weeks to finish!"

"It'll be up to you to plan the second and third with me, so you can get them done however quickly or slowly you'd like."

"But-"

"I'd stop arguing if I were you," Harry interrupted coldly. They two students glared maliciously at him, and Harry raised an eyebrow at them both. Eventually, they walked away and Harry led Ron back up to the castle with a sigh.

"Is it weird to be on this side of a detention?" Ron asked, trying to lighten the mood from the dark reminder that peace never truly comes immediately after war.

"Even weirder to have to figure out what I should have them do," Harry admitted, hands in his pockets as they trudged down the path drenched in sunlight.

"Gits."

"Agreed."

"Is he okay?" Ron asked when they pushed open the doors to the Infirmary, their footsteps echoing in the empty room. He walked quickly to Hermione's side and Madame Pomfrey turned away from Fletcher to address them.

"He's not hurt, Weasley. Just a bit flustered, so I gave him some calming potion and he's now free to go." Fletcher blushed deeply and shuffled out of the room, eyes never leaving the floor.

"You never let me leave that early!" Harry complained quietly to Ginny, but naturally, Pomfrery heard him.

"Speaking of, Potter. How's your chest? And all of your other injuries?"

"They're fine, Madame Pomfrey. Thank you." He refrained from rolling his eyes and instead looked straight into her strict blue eyes.

"Mhm. Sure. And the rest of you?" Her eyes swept the other three teens.

"Just nightmares, but no pain," Hermione answered truthfully.

"That's to be expected. But Potter, are you sure nothing hurts?"

"I'm sure. Thanks again," he said with finality and began backing towards the door hastily with a convincing smile. Ginny snorted and ran after him quickly.

"I know that your chest still hurts, Potter," she accused.

"There's nothing she can do about it, though," he shrugged once safely outside the doors.

"You don't know that."

"It just comes from the nightmares or flashbacks or whatever you want to call them."

"Muggles call it PTSD, you know," Hermione said lightly from behind them, her hand naturally finding Ron's.

"Whatever it is, there's no potion or spell to fix it." He turned around to walk backwards so that he faced his two friends. "Is there?" he added, suddenly curious.

"No, no potion or spell. But, talking about it does help."

"Right." He turned back around.

"Hang on. We're… er… going to go for a walk," Ron said sheepishly, his head motioning towards Hermione.

"Just a walk?" Ginny asked, smirking at the couple.

"Mostly a walk," Ron replied for Hermione since she turned a deep red.

"Oh, Ron! You know, I'm sure McGonagall would be okay if you use my office fireplace to visit Hermione on the weekends." Harry said. He truthfully meant to tell him at the Three Broomsticks, but the thought had flown from his mind when they started talking.

"What do you say, 'Mione?"

"That would be great!" She kissed him deeply on the lips and sighed heavily. He tugged at her hand and they both walked lightly down the corridor, Hermione hanging onto his arm happily.

"They're definitely snogging," Ginny said shamelessly, looking down the corridor that they had left through.

"Definitely. What are you doing the rest of the day?"

"Ignoring the pile of schoolwork I should be doing. You?"

"I can distract you from the pile of schoolwork you should be doing."

"Rotten Professor, you are."

"I prefer the term 'relatable'."

"Works for me." She shrugged happily. "Exploding Snap?"

"Sure." Ginny turned and began to walk down the corridor and up the stairs before starting to turn left to Gryffindor Tower.

Harry stopped at the top of the stairs at the fork in the paths and chuckled loudly. "Don't tell me you still haven't found the secret passageway to Gryffindor Tower." Ginny turned with a mischievous glint in her eyes and squinted at him.

"Well I don't have a map that shows me everything."

"I didn't need the map. I found this in second year."

"Fine, Potter. Let's see it then." She rolled her eyes and jogged to catch up to Harry's already retreating figure. They spent the rest of the late afternoon exploring the castle and Harry filling her in on all of the passageways that the twins didn't get around to showing her or that she never found herself. Even though the game of Exploding Snap was long forgotten, Harry succeeded in distracting her from her homework and studying. And Ginny succeeded in ignoring her homework and studying.

Thank you all for reading so far into my story! I hope you're enjoying it. Please leave any comments or suggestions; I always love reading them!