Harry's feet hit the ground in the center of a small vestibule. Still, Harry could hear the voices of the students of Hogwarts echoing through the halls of his home. For weeks now, Harry had looked forward to visiting this place, the home that he would make for himself after he had defeated Voldemort.
Now, the entire population of Hogwarts was present as they fled from the assault on Hogwarts.
"This way," Katie said as she handed the key back to Harry, who dropped it into one of his pants' pockets. Harry followed Katie into the next room, although room was a bit of an understatement. In fact, almost every way to describe the house that Harry had purchased sold the property short. It was nothing short of a castle, closer in size to Hogwarts than any other house that Harry had ever been in, and the room that Katie had led them into was as large as The Great Hall.
Still, the room was packed with groups of children huddled together, which made it nearly impossible for Harry to tell who was who.
"Did we get everyone out?" Harry asked.
"Almost," Hermione replied as Ron walked away from the rest of their group.
"Almost?"
"The Death Eaters sent a small team to Hogsmeade," Hermione explained. "We held them off before The Order showed up...but there were...casualties."
"Who?" Harry asked as his heart dropped.
"Hannah Abbott, Pansy Parkinson...and Lavender."
"Oh," Harry said as he turned back to where Ron had collapsed against a wall. His head was between his knees. His entire body shook as he sobbed. Harry took a step towards Ron before he thought of Parvati. Parvati had been Lavender's best friend for years. When he turned back to Parvati, he saw that she too was crying, although her tears were silent.
"I'll stay with him," Parvati said softly. "I'm certain that The Order is going to want to talk to you."
As she spoke, she pointed towards the large fireplace at the front of the room. Someone had clearly conjured a table for the members of The Order to work off of. Harry saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley working alongside Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hagrid, and an older bearded man that Harry recognized as the owner of The Hog's Head.
"How did he get here?" Harry asked Hermione.
"That's Aberforth Dumbledore," Hermione explained. "He's the one who called The Order in."
Now that Hermione mentioned it, Harry could definitely see the resemblance outside of just their shared white beards. Still, it was strange to see someone who looked so much like Dumbledore but without any of the grace usually associated with the Headmaster.
Harry looked back at Parvati, who had joined Ron, and placed an arm over his shoulder. She nodded and motioned for him to go.
"Come with me," Harry said to Hermione as they pushed through the crowds. Eventually, Harry had to take Hermione's hand to ensure that they arrived at the front of the room together. When they did, they were immediately approached by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley as well as Hagrid, who hugged them violently.
"We're so glad you're okay," Mrs. Weasley said.
"This is quite some house you have, Potter," Kingsley said. "It's lucky that you bought it when you did."
"It's somethin' else," Hagrid agreed. "My hut could fit in here thirty or forty times!"
Harry turned back to the room and surveyed it. Normally, he would have agreed with Hagrid, but tonight the room seemed too small.
"How were things at the castle when you left?" Mr. Weasley asked.
The image of Minerva McGonagall collapsing to the ground flashed in his mind.
"We'll talk about that later," Harry replied. "For now, we need to conjure some bunk beds. We should be able to fit everyone in here that way."
"You intend to have everyone stay here?" Kingsley asked.
"The house isn't hooked up to the Floo Network and there are no wards that are going to allow anyone else in," Harry said as he withdrew the key from his pocket. "Speaking of which, how did you all get in?"
Mr. Weasley pulled a key identical to Harry's from his own pocket.
"Bill kept a spare at Gringotts," Mr. Weasley said sheepishly. "In case something ever happened and we needed to get here."
Normally, Harry would have been upset for Bill's violation of his privacy. But without it, they would be in a significantly worse place so Harry let it go. Instead, he focused on the dozens of problems at hand.
"Fine. Someone is going to need to take that key back to Hogwarts and get Dumbledore and bring him here," Harry said. "As I said before, someone needs to conjure some bunk beds."
"I can do that," Hermione said as she raced off to get to work.
"And I'll go and get Dumbledore," Hagrid replied, taking the key from Harry.
"How are we going to get everyone out of here?" Harry asked Kingsley. "How are they going to get letters to their families? I don't have food for any of them."
"One problem at the time," Kingsley counseled him. "Let's just wait for Albus and Minerva to show up and then we can go from there."
No one knew. How could Harry be the one to tell them that Minerva McGonagall was dead? Harry had witnessed it happened and even he was struggling to come to grips with the fact that she was gone. How could any of the rest of them possibly understand?
Over the next hour, that concern was pushed aside as the members of The Order and The Legion worked together to provide adequate lodging for the students. While the bunk beds that Hermione conjured weren't necessarily the most comfortable accommodations in the world, they were better than sleeping on the floor and certainly took up less space.
While the others dealt with that, Harry did the one thing that he knew that he could do. Draco Malfoy had been shackled and chained to a wall in a room just a few meters from the ballroom with Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones standing watch. Harry walked into the room that acted as Malfoy's cell without a protest from either of them, which wasn't a surprise considering it was his house.
The room itself was rather large, longer than it was wide with a single window at the far end of the room that ran almost floor to ceiling. Malfoy sat on the floor in front of the window, his hands chained together behind him. Those chains then ran up a series of rings that had clearly just been placed there a few hours earlier. Thankfully, once they had removed Malfoy, he could fix the holes without any issue.
If it was possible, Malfoy looked worse than he had during the Battle. Now that Harry was able to truly stop and consider the former Slytherin, he looked as if he hadn't slept in weeks and he seemed to have a constant case of the tremors.
"Is the floor comfortable?" Harry asked.
"Not particularly," Malfoy replied. "I'm not surprised considering this is apparently your place."
"Welcome," Harry sneered. He conjured a chair and sat down in front of Malfoy, who looked up at him from his spot on the floor with disdain. "You'll be pleased to know that your Aunt Bellatrix is dead."
"I've heard that McGonagall bit it too."
Harry reached out and slapped Malfoy across the face, the sound echoing around the large room. When Malfoy reset himself, a large, red mark covered the left side of his face where Harry's hand had hit him.
"I never said she deserved it," Malfoy growled.
"Even if you hadn't, you deserved that," Harry said mockingly. "That's for years of being a relentless prick and you can tell your father I said that."
Harry had never been one to enjoy causing pain in others. Even Bellatrix had died quickly. But there was something about watching Malfoy pull against his restraints as he attempted to lunge at Harry that made Harry quite happy. For years, Malfoy had held power over him.
Now, the inverse was true.
"How dare you!?" Malfoy screamed as he pulled against his restraints, clearly desperate to be on his feet with his hands on Harry's throat.
Harry couldn't help but laugh.
"You spent years tormenting me about my mother and father, but one comment sets you off? I must admit I thought you would handle it better than I did. Of course, you were always a Daddy's boy so I can't say that I'm shocked that you're so distraught."
"Potter, you make one more slight on my father and I-"
"You'll what?" Harry snapped. "You have no wand and you are chained to a wall. There are two people standing outside almost assuredly listening to everything that's happening in here. If you even breathe wrong, they'll come in here to help. But they'll be too late because I will have already made you wish that you hadn't been born. Threaten me again, I dare you."
Malfoy glared at Harry but said nothing, which was the wisest decision he had made since Harry had walked into the room.
"Now, what the hell did Voldemort do to the castle?"
"He blew it up, you idiot."
Harry resisted the urge to hit Malfoy again. "I know that but if he was aiming to blow up the castle, why did he do it that way?"
"You honestly think I know anything about his plans?" Malfoy replied. "Look at me. The day I got home from Hogwarts, he was waiting there. The Dark Lord took our house as payment for my father's failure to get the prophecy from the Ministry of Magic. He imprisoned us in our own cellar and tortured us every single day. Sometimes, he would force Bella to come down and do it, sometimes he would do it himself. The worst days were when sent down to Dolohov."
"Why?"
"Dolohov has a thing for beating women," Malfoy growled. "More than once, he beat my mother to within an inch of her life and then just left. He never touched me. Not once."
While Harry had little sympathy for Malfoy, he couldn't imagine that it was easy to watch his mother be attacked like that and have no way of helping. Harry would have lost his mind if something like that had happened to any of his loved ones.
"My mother just lays down there every day now. She doesn't move and she doesn't talk. All she does is stare at the ceiling and cough. I'm...pretty certain she'll die soon."
Harry didn't know what to say. He knew that being a Death Eater couldn't have been easy and while he had no pity for anyone who chose that path, that wasn't what had happened to Malfoy. He never had any real choice in the matter. His father had made that choice for him.
Just then, the door behind Harry opened and he saw Dumbledore waiting for him on the other side. Harry motioned for Dumbledore to give him a moment before he turned back to Malfoy.
"I hate you and everything your family stands for," Harry said firmly. "But I will not be the same kind of captor. You will get a room with a decent bed. You will get three meals a day and no one will touch you."
"You expect me to like you more because you're giving me dinner?"
"I honestly could give a damn what you think," Harry countered. "But I will not become the monster that Voldemort is. If you give us what information you do have, I'm certain that the Minister of Magic will be lenient with you."
"It won't matter."
"Why not?"
"Because there's no way you can win," Malfoy said flatly. "In the end, Voldemort will kill me just like he made me kill my father. I failed him and failure is punished with death."
Harry wanted to tell Malfoy he was wrong. Harry wanted to tell Malfoy that with the combined forces of the Ministry, The Order, and The Legion, they could take on anyone. He wanted to tell Malfoy that he had been training for months and that, in time, he would be able to take on Voldemort.
Instead, he said nothing. He just got up and walked out of the room, leaving Malfoy chained to the wall behind him. Once the door was closed, Harry turned to Hestia.
"Get two other people and take him to one of the guest rooms on the top floor," Harry ordered. "I want a guard on him at all times."
Clearly, Hestia and Emmeline were not expecting to be receiving orders from Harry. Hestia turned to Dumbledore, who considered Harry for a moment, and then nodded his confirmation. From that moment on, it was clear to all the members of the Order: while they were in Harry's house, Harry was in charge.
"Sir, we need to tell them," Harry said once Hestia and Emmeline were out of earshot.
"I have requested the members of the Order to meet in one hour. Do you have a place where we could meet?"
"Bill said that there was a study on the third floor," Harry replied. "Supposed to be about the size of your office."
"That will work just fine."
"I'm going to invite the members of The Legion."
"I'm not sure that's-"
"Most of the members of The Legion belong to Gryffindor," Harry interrupted. "They should know."
"Very well."
An hour later, the combined organizations met in the aforementioned study. The room itself was rather large with a series of bookshelves that wrapped themselves around the top of the room. They were accessible by a series of ladders that led from the main floor to the shelves themselves. In the center of the room was a circular dais with a large mahogany desk. Chairs had been conjured for the two groups and were arranged in a circle around the dais where Dumbledore and Harry stood.
Harry was not unaware of the fact that by standing with Dumbledore in public, even if it was just in front of The Order and The Legion, he was silently endorsing Dumbledore. A few months earlier, he would have been worried about that. Now, he was worried about keeping people safe and getting them home.
Before everyone had arrived, Harry and Dumbledore spoke privately. At first, it was clear that Dumbledore wanted to inform everyone of the events of the evening. But Harry insisted that he would tell the parts that he was present for.
"The students will hear it better coming from me."
Clearly, Dumbledore understood that some of the students may have absorbed Harry's mistrust for the Headmaster solely due to their proximity to him during the school year. While Harry could tell that Dumbledore was not necessarily pleased with the idea of Harry taking over his briefing, he could also tell the value of having Harry be the one who broke the news to everyone.
Only some of the people in the room trusted Dumbledore. Everyone trusted Harry.
Once everyone was seated, Dumbledore and Harry took to the dais.
"Thank you all for what you have done over the last few hours," Dumbledore said. "When Harry initially presented the idea of The Lightning Legion to me, I must say that I was not entirely on board with the idea. But the teamwork and dedication that you all showed this evening must be commended. Without you, I fear that we would have lost most of the castle's population, if that is indeed what Voldemort wanted to do."
"But, as you will notice," Harry said, taking over for Dumbledore, "there are some that are not with us. Hannah Abbott, Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin I should point out, and Lavender Brown died holding off the Death Eaters so that more students could escape. Without them, none of us would be here."
"But they were not the only loss on either side. While most of the Death Eaters managed to escape along with Voldemort himself, Bellatrix Lestrange was killed in the battle."
"Who did it?" Neville asked as he stood from his seat in the front. "Who do I have to thank?"
The look in Neville's eyes was one of righteous fury, one that Harry would have no doubt seen in his own eyes as he watched the lights go out of Bellatrix's.
"I did," Harry said softly. "I killed Bellatrix Lestrange."
As expected, a series of murmurs began to float around the room. Harry immediately silenced them.
"I am not proud of what I did," Harry admitted. "But I don't deny that we're better off without her. Unfortunately, I cannot say that we are better off without Professor McGonagall."
The room had been quiet as Harry started to speak but somehow got even quieter as Harry revealed the death of Minerva McGonagall.
"What?" Hermione whispered in the front row. "Professor McGonagall...is dead?"
"During the later stages of the battle in the Entrance Hall, Professor Dumbledore was joined in battle by Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall. Upon seeing that he was outnumbered, Voldemort called on Snape to join him. And he did."
"What!?" Remus said as he stood from his seat. "What did you say?"
"Snape turned on McGonagall. He was the one who killed her."
Almost immediately, the room went from silent to screaming in outrage, all of it directed at Dumbledore. In his mind, Dumbledore deserved it. For years, he had swore to everyone that Snape was one of their own. He had staked his entire reputation on it and he had been terribly wrong.
While others stood and shouted at Dumbledore, Lupin, angrier than Harry had ever seen him, marched to the front and grabbed Dumbledore by the collar.
"You told us, you swore, that Snape was one of us! You told us over and over and over again that we had no reason to mistrust him. I told Harry more than once that I trusted Snape because I trusted you."
"I was wrong," Dumbledore said, his voice weak as tears streamed down his face. "I truly thought that Severus's love for Lily was real."
"His what?" Lupin asked.
"Snape convinced Dumbledore that he loved my mother but it was all a lie. Well, not entirely a lie. He did love my mother but once she married my father, she was just another Muggleborn. He was just using Dumbledore to make it easier to kill my parents," Harry said, a silent rage starting to burn inside him. "He Confunded Sirius so that he wouldn't be my parents' Secret Keeper."
"Wait a minute," Lupin said, fury in his eyes. "You're telling me that not only was Snape a devoted Death Eater but he orchestrated James and Lily's death."
"I'm afraid so," Dumbledore said. Lupin considered Dumbledore for a moment. Then, without warning, he swung his arm back and punched Dumbledore in the face. As Dumbledore collapsed to the ground, Lupin jumped on him and started throwing one punch after another. It was only the quick intervention of Harry and Fred, who leapt up from his seat in the front row, that kept Lupin from completely tearing Dumbledore apart.
Still, George and Arthur were needed to help keep Lupin from going after Dumbledore again.
"You trusted the man that killed them!" Lupin roared. "They're dead because of you!"
Everyone in the room looked at Dumbledore. His cap had fallen off his head and blood was streaming freely from his nose while a mark that would surely become a black eye was forming around his left eye. He looked as old and as vulnerable as Harry had ever seen him.
"Yes, they are," Dumbledore admitted. "I failed you all and I failed Harry."
"You told us for years that Snape was alright," Tonks said. "Why should we listen to you now?"
"Because I trust him."
If you had told Harry six months earlier that he would be standing up for Albus Dumbledore, he would have thought that you were insane. But here he was, doing his best to keep the mob from murdering Dumbledore.
"What did you say?" Ron asked. "Did you just say that you trust Dumbledore?"
"How?" Hermione added.
"Because we all know that he's not perfect now," Harry replied as he looked back at Dumbledore coldly. "For years, everyone, including most of the people in this room, listened to Dumbledore without question. Everyone took his word as law. Now, no one will. Now, every decision that he makes will be questioned. There will be no secrets to keep."
It was at this moment that Dumbledore realized really why Harry wanted to be the one to tell everyone. Sure, Harry did think that hearing the news of McGonagall's death would be better received coming from him. But Harry also wanted to be sure that everyone knew about Dumbledore's failures. He wanted everyone to know that he had been right not to trust every word that came out of Dumbledore's mouth.
Harry knew that this would likely change his relationship with Dumbledore forever. He had just thrown Dumbledore to the wolves to prove a point. But he also knew that no one would doubt Harry's instincts out of hand ever again. If Harry suggested something, people would listen. If Harry expressed an opinion, it would weigh heavily on people's minds.
Eventually, Dumbledore would certainly regain everyone else's trust. But for now, Dumbledore was handicapped. He would likely never see Harry the same way. But something about murdering Bellatrix had changed him already. He had killed someone. It wasn't an accident or a matter of circumstance. Harry had intentionally cast a spell that he knew would do damage and that killed Bellatrix Lestrange.
And the world moved on. This war needed to be won and if everyone spent the entirety of the war simply listening to every word that came out of Albus Dumbledore's mouth, they would assuredly lose. What happened if something happened to Dumbledore? Now, they would be prepared for that. If only it hadn't taken the death of Minerva McGonagall to get everyone to see the point that Harry had been trying to make for months.
"I trust that Dumbledore will do what is best for everyone but it won't be his decision anymore. The Order will decide for itself. I know that Dumbledore is brilliant and his opinion is still valuable. But everyone's opinion, even someone as brilliant as Dumbledore, should be scrutinized."
Dumbledore looked up at Harry and where Harry expected to see betrayal, he saw something else: pride. At almost any other time in his life, Harry would have wanted nothing more than to see that look on his face. Given what Harry had just done to him and what Harry had said about him, he was surprised and a little disturbed to see that on his face.
Dumbledore stood, quickly waved his wand to fix himself up, and then addressed the room.
"I told you that there would come a day where Harry would be the one we would follow," Dumbledore said softly. "Some of you asked why. Why would we trust a child over me? I think the answer has made itself clear today. Harry is already a better man than I am and a better leader. He inspires confidence in those that follow him in a way that I have never achieved. While the Legion is still not ready to lead the fight against Voldemort, I want everyone to know that I trust Harry to lead when the time comes, not that my opinion might mean much at the moment."
While Harry may have just partially destroyed Dumbledore's public image, Harry also knew that there were plenty of people in the room who would always value Dumbledore's opinion. For him to so publicly throw his support behind Harry was not a small thing and for the next several days, Harry became arguably as important to the Order as Dumbledore. Whenever information came in, someone made sure that Harry knew at roughly the same time as Dumbledore.
Harry made it known that anyone who needed to stay at his home was able to for as long as necessary. Thankfully, over the next several days, they were able to get letters out to the families to arrange for most of them to be sent home via the Floo Network, which had been temporarily established inside the house. Since Harry intended to live off the grid as much as possible, he had requested specific assurance from the Minister of Magic herself that the house's information would be removed the moment he asked for it to be done.
Over the next three days, Harry helped where he could while acting as something of a liaison between the students and The Order. The rest of the Weasleys arrived the next day. They immediately set out to make the house a bit more like a home, a tall task considering its size and the fact that it was a medieval castle. Still, they organized a small section of the house on the second floor where Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys could stay. It wasn't quite home yet, but it was better than sleeping on the floor.
During that time, Dumbledore and a group from The Order returned to the castle to ensure the safety of the house elves who had been trapped inside the castle during the attack. They also sent everyone's belongings back to their home as best as they could.
To that end, Harry spent most of his evenings, when he wasn't enjoying his last few days with Parvati, reading the journals that Dumbledore had given him. Much of the information in the first couple of journals were taken from interviews of Tom Riddle's former classmates. By and large, these tomes told the story of a highly convincing and genuinely likeable student, even if some knew that he wasn't as genuine as he seemed.
Still, there were those, like Theodore Nott I, his classmate's grandfather, who believed that Tom did care for those that he befriended. Apparently, during their seventh year, Nott's father passed away. Tom Riddle was the first one there for him. To be honest, Harry couldn't read these without his biases getting in the way. There was nothing about Tom Riddle as he stood today that could have made Harry believe that he actually had friends. More than once, Dumbledore had told him that Riddle did not have a need for friends nor did he want them. How was it possible then that so many of his former classmates found him not just charming but authentically likeable?
The easiest answer was that he was recruiting from the moment he entered Hogwarts. But that meant that Riddle would have planned his quest for world domination from the moment he discovered that magic was real. Even Dumbledore's notes from the time period suggested that Riddle was a lonely and brilliant child but not one that seemed prone to violence or manipulation.
Obviously, something changed because by his fifth year, he was releasing a basilisk with the intention of murdering Muggleborn students. And yet, the story that Nott had told took place in his seventh year. Was it possible that Riddle's hatred of Muggleborns didn't extend to the rest of his classmates? Maybe he did genuinely believe that his classmates were his friends.
But again, something changed because the current version of Riddle clearly had no love for anyone other than himself.
All of Dumbledore's notes pointed to a period of time after he graduated from Hogwarts. After his graduation, the former Slytherin embarked on a world tour before he returned to England for a few years. Then, he disappeared entirely for almost twenty years. When he returned, Tom Riddle was gone and Lord Voldemort had been born.
Something during that time changed Voldemort. While he may have never been a good man (he did hate Muggles and Muggleborn after all), he was still a man. The thing that returned from his adventures was no longer a man but a monster in a man's skin.
The only connection that Dumbledore had made was that it was known that Tom Riddle spent a rather significant amount of time in Albania and Hungary during his world tour. The last place Tom Riddle was seen before his disappearance was Albania. Finally, when he had been broken after his attempt to kill Harry, all rumors pointed to his return to Albania.
Something was there in Albania that called to him. The last place anyone had seen Tom Riddle was almost fifty years earlier in a small town called Theth. According to several members of the town's population, Tom Riddle, English and remarkably attractive, had shown up one night and spent nearly a month in town. He rented a room at the town inn and would disappear for several days at a time before finally, he just disappeared entirely. Riddle didn't even bother to return for his belongings.
That's where Harry wanted to go. In the days since the attack, Harry had made up his mind: he wasn't returning to Hogwarts. While there were some things that he could certainly still learn at the school, it was nothing compared to what he could learn out in the world. Additionally, for as long as Harry was at Hogwarts, the school would be a target for Voldemort. Harry would not allow more death and destruction because of his presence.
When he sat down to tell Ron and Hermione, he expected them to argue with him. He expected them to tell him how much of an idiot he was being. Instead, he got a slightly different reaction.
"We're going with you," Hermione said firmly.
"What?"
"You honestly think that you're just going to go roam the European countryside on your own?" Hermione asked. "You've never left Britain. You haven't traveled the Muggle way in your entire life. You need us."
"What she means is you need her," Ron said frankly. "I'll be along for some extra muscle in case we get caught."
"He needs both of us," Hermione argued. "You told me that I was supposed to be there to make sure that you don't do anything stupid."
"That was with the Legion! I wasn't talking about something like this."
"What's the difference?" Ron asked. "You said it yourself, the Legion was made to fight a war. You need to get better and you need to know more about Voldemort. Doesn't seem like you can do either of those things here."
"But you won't win this fight alone, even if you are as powerful as Voldemort," Hermione added. "You need us."
"Are you going to tell Parvati?" Ron asked.
If he was being honest, Harry hadn't considered telling Parvati at all. She was leaving for India in a few days and he didn't want to burden her with anything else. But the moment that Ron mentioned it, he knew that he should. It was the least he could do.
"I suppose I should," Harry replied. "I'll talk to her tonight."
"We'll have to stay through Bill and Tonks's wedding," Ron added. Bill and Tonks had agreed to move their wedding to the ballroom at Harry's house. Since it was intended to be a small wedding anyway, they would be far better protected at Harry's house than The Burrow and this way, Harry wouldn't have to leave the house where his protection was greatest.
"I don't have a problem with that," Harry said. "My only question is how are you convincing your parents that you are coming with me?"
Ron and Hermione looked at each other. Then, Hermione reluctantly turned back to Harry.
"We're not going to ask," Hermione said. "We'll leave a note and just go."
"You would do that to your parents?" Harry asked.
"They'll be upset," said Ron nervously. "I don't know what Mum will do to me when I get back. But...they'll understand. Everyone knows that this is coming to a head sooner rather than later. Merlin, Voldemort just attacked Hogwarts! You aren't safe here and you can't trust the Ministry to hide you."
"Or Dumbledore," Hermione said. Of all of them, Hermione's faith in Dumbledore might have been damaged the most. For years, she had been one of the Headmaster's most faithful supporters. If Dumbledore said it, then it must be true. To know that she had been so desperately wrong had shaken her confidence in herself a bit. But more importantly, it had rendered her faith in Dumbledore nonexistent.
"In either case, people can't know where you are," said Ron. "So you have to run. We get it but we're not letting you go alone. They'll be glad for it eventually once they've gotten over the fact that we ran away from home without telling anyone."
Harry knew that he had great friends. But every once in a while, he was reminded of just how incredible they were. Hermione would be leaving her family entirely without any way of contacting them or letting them know what was happening. Meanwhile, Ron was clearly still dealing with Lavender's death. He spent most of his days simply sitting in the corner and staring out the window. Harry thought that all of them had underestimated how much he had cared about Lavender. Clearly, she had meant a great deal to him.
And yet, he was still ready to jump on board Harry's European voyage at the first moment.
If they got through this war alive, there would be no way that he could ever make it up to either of them. All he could do was try to be the best friend he could in return.