A/N: Greetings, Potterheads, this is my first Harry Potter fanfic story. I have been a fan for over 20 years. Read the books start to finish seven times and seen the movies several times too. I have no interest in things outside of cannon including ships. My story is set right after Voldemort's defeat. I write on the fly so I can't say how long the story will be, but it will more character-focused than plot-focused though I will obviously still have a plot, it's probably two chapters away, at least. I will stay true to cannon while adding my own details when I feel a need.

Let it be known that I own nothing, all credit for this universe and its characters goes to JKR.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the headmaster chamber walking slowly, all of them determined to avoid going back into the crowded Great Hall. They all wanted peace and quiet, time to process… Ron especially deserved that, losing his brother… It still felt surreal that Fred was gone, all his amusement and laughter around practical jokes… gone forever like so many others. Harry's parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, Moody, Hedwig, Dobby, Lupin, Tonks, Snape…and at least two (of fifty or so) student deaths he had known somewhat in Colin Creevey and Lavender Brown. All these did not even include strangers who died in service of winning the second war against Voldemort. Every death came crashing over him suddenly like an immense wave…Harry stopped, aware that they had not traveled very far, he was leaning against a wall for support.

Hermione and Ron noticed he looked visibly ill. She called his name with concern. "Harry? Are you okay?"

Ron whispered to her worriedly. "What if it's his scar again?"

Hermione shook her head. "Voldemort is dead, I don't think that's it." Ron shrugged. They walked back to him squinting for a better look.

Harry slipped down to the floor against the wall his voice anxious and quiet. "So many people…dead because of me. I'm—I'm sorry."

Ron looked uncomfortable with grief still fresh. He covered it quickly, whispering to Hermione. "Your better in a crisis…" He then said aloud. "I'll go get Madam Pomfrey." She nodded knowing he wasn't in the right headspace to help and he left.

Hermione knelt in front of him and hugged him tightly her voice gently sympathetic. "Oh Harry, it's okay, it wasn't your fault! They died for you and the rest of us, not because of you!"

He was talking quickly now. "I should have done more, told more people…teachers. I should have been fighting from the moment he attacked not looking for that. We still had to destroy others. I could have saved people if I had been focused on protecting them, he called for a stall, gave me an hour, that's when I should have focused on finding the diadem. Lavender…Colin…Fred…Remus…Tonks; all the others…" He could not catch his breath.

Hermione withdrew from the hug to sit next to Harry against the wall and put an arm tightly around him. She was subdued, but unwavering. "Harry, I don't think it would have been a good idea to tell other people, even teachers, about Horcruxes. They are truly foul magic created by committing the worst violation against nature. When I figured out one was attached to you, I was terrified because it meant you had to die. He probably would have attacked the school anyway to crush what was left of the resistance group after he killed you." She dropped her head on Harry's shoulder her voice weighty and emotional. "I don't have siblings and seeing you dead, even for a bit, oh Harry…it was worse than having to memory charm my parents. So, do not start dwelling on your decisions; we won, and you saved us all, always remember that, okay."

Harry was feeling better now, he nodded looking at her with a small smile. "Thanks, Hermione, you should go find Ron. I know he just made up getting Madam Pomfrey, he isn't used to suffering a loss he needs you right now, maybe he'll open up to you."

Hermione made to stand up, taking Harry with her. She smiled, her response was brighter. "He has when we've been alone and if he thinks I'm going to let him shut himself off…" There was determination in her face as she trailed off.

Harry sighed. "I will make a better apology soon, he deserves that much, the whole family does."

Hermione gave a sad, but reassuring smile. "Oh Harry, it's not you, it really isn't. But like you said, this is the first time he's dealt with losing family and I think he feels like he is crowding your space to deal with everything he knows you are going through. You stared death in the face by Voldemort again." Her curiosity got the better of her. "How did you survive anyway?"

Harry chuckled for the first time in what felt like an eternity. "He took my blood, so I would live as long as he did. He shot Avada Kadavra, and we both err passed out, you know the rest. The sacrificial protection counter charm, it lives in everyone that survived the battle now."

Hermione looked on the verge of tears again She was overcome with emotion. "Harry, turning love into magical protection only works if someone is willing to passively sacrifice themselves. That means you went into Forbidden Forest completely willing to die." She threw her arms around him tighter than ever her voice quiet. "You are the strongest person I have ever met Harry; you'll be okay you really will!"

He sighed, tightly hugging her back. "I don't how much I believe that right now, but thanks, Hermione."

They smiled at each other. She was quiet again. "You should talk to Ginny, the year…it's been very hard for her. First, you leave and all she knows is your trying to stop Voldemort, then she goes back to school and it's infested with Voldemort's sadistic followers and she only saw you briefly before the battle where she almost had to sit and wait while everyone else—including her entire family, and the boy she has always loved—risked their lives—"

Harry responded bluntly, talking past her in a daze. "Wait, she what?"

Hermione blushed awkwardly. "Oh boy, I really shouldn't have spoiled that."

Harry clarified, as if trying to process the revelation. "She's always loved me?"

Hermione reluctantly continued. "Yes Harry, why do you think she was so distraught over the diary her first year, it wasn't just because she was possessed, it was because after it was all over she was worried you would never see her as more than Ron's only sister. Do you really think she wanted to date other boys? I had to convince her that you would eventually come around if she acted like herself."

He scratched his head thinking back. "That singing Valentine dwarf, I just thought she was an enthusiastic fan."

Hermione bit her lip. "Oh Harry, I think that was when she really started breaking emotionally, not knowing who the diary really belonged to, or that it was the darkest possible magic."

Harry nodded very subdued. "When I faced Riddle in the chamber, he mocked how easy it was to possess Ginny, like I was the tipping point."

They had gone into a deserted classroom now, both sitting down. Hermione sighed sadly. "That's because the kind of magical bind it created is not possible unless her love for you seeped into her soul and he fed off it like a parasite. You need to know, of all the Horcruxes he made that diary, it was truly evil, it takes the most personal activity of recording innermost thoughts and feelings and leeches them." Hermione had a serious look and tone now. "Listen Harry, I expect that Ginny has loved you since she was very young, long before you entered the Wizarding World. As much as any child can love someone they do not know anyway. I studied all the info I could about how Horcruxes can be parasitic to anyone but the person who creates them. Ginny feeling smothered by the rest of her family and nervous about being poor and going to Hogwarts only caused her to start talking to him. I'd guess that when she got to Hogwarts people thought she was naïve for hoping to be with you and since she loves you that fueled all sorts of negative emotions."

He sighed. "No wonder she got completely possessed, Riddle told me that she poured her soul into it, but I didn't realize I was her breaking point, not on that level anyway."

Hermione sounded blunt now. "Harry, she still doesn't fully understand what happened to her or to you, and it's not my place to tell her that you were both connected to Voldemort's soul, but she needs to know all of it.

He nodded. "Do you think the room of requirement still works?"

Hermione wore a contemplative face. "Yes, I think so, if the cursed fire destroyed the enchantment itself then I don't think the doors would have contained it and it would have spread throughout the corridor. The room of hidden things is probably gone forever though."

Harry stood up, looking at her with a fixed expression. "Have Ginny meet me there, don't announce it, I can't think of any other place to talk to her without people coming across us and this is not something I want to take a chance on anybody overhearing."

She nodded. "Okay." He smiled and left the room.

Harry sat waiting for Ginny just before the corridor that led to the room of requirement, he could have waited just beyond its doors but didn't just in case…at some point, he was being roused awake.

Ginny's voice was pleasant as she roused him. "Harry…"

He jolted awake. "Ginny hey, sorry, long 24 hours, blimey I still can't believe it's dawn already."

Ginny sighed. "Long year, but I guess I don't have to tell you that." She pulled him to a stand with an awkward smile. "So, how was your trip?" They began walking, the tone of her question was trying to start a heavy conversation lightly.

Harry rubbed the back of his head. "I have a lot to tell you, but I want to do it where nobody can find or overhear us. How is everything in the castle, has anyone left yet?"

Ginny was flat. "Some, most people are too awake, too sad, or too afraid to go to sleep or home in the case of parents. Nobody knows I'm up here by the way, Hermione pulled me aside while offering condolences and then I told everyone I was going to bed for the night, well not nobody, I told Neville, Luna and Ron. He agreed to keep Mum and Dad off my back. Hermione had to convince him to let me in on whatever you've been doing all year, I almost hexed him at first I'm not a child anymore, and I have worried about you since the day you ended things, longer actually, I remember your fifth year and my first."

Harry nodded. "That's why this is a long conversation. You're sure I'm not keeping you?" He seemed genuinely sure she had better things to do.

Ginny stopped briefly holding the hand that wore his scars from his fifth year. She answered gently. "I always have time for you Harry."

They made it to the wall concealing the room of requirement, doors appeared after walking back and forth three times. He led her inside. They were standing in a room with a desk, two chairs, showers and a bed. Harry guessed that his desire to sleep for hours without being disturbed was the reason the bed was here. Ginny wore an amused look that there was one of the latter.

He reassured her with a small smile. "Not trying anything I promise I had intended to come in here alone so I could sleep by myself, but we need to talk." He turned serious. "Part of what I'm about to tell you only Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and Slughorn know, it's very dark magic that I don't want anyone else knowing about." He sat down on the bed waiting for her. Ginny took a seat on Harry left and looked at him with a long stare, she nodded.

Harry started at the beginning with Tom Riddle his history before Hogwarts. Eventually, he got to the Horcruxes and she took the general explanation of the dark magic better than he thought she would, then explaining that there had been seven. Harry saved the diary as the last of Tom Riddle's intentional Horcruxes.

Ginny's eyes widened; her face drained of color. She sounded haunted when words came out. "That book, that stupid book that was responsible for the worst things I've ever done…was a piece of his soul! A piece of his soul was in me, and I let him in…" She said the last four words again, each word crying with pain. "I…let… him…in!"

Harry stood up his face close to hers, he was emphatic as he consoled her. "Gin it's not your fault!" He hugged her tightly.

Her voice was breaking now. "I put my soul in that diary in him, everything I felt, my hopes, my fears, my…feelings." The last word came out with Ginny not meeting Harry's eyes.

He held her jawline, his expression soft. "I know, you don't have to explain Hermione told me."

She sighed, determined to explain her mindset back then. "When you showed up, I lost my head. I did the exact thing I should not have done and became someone I have never been, shy and hypersensitive. I started writing in the diary. I thought Mum got it for me used, should have asked."

Harry remembered aloud Mr. Weasley's wise words about suspicious magical objects. "Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain."

She smiled sadly. "Yeah, instead I wrote—how nervous I was and it…he told me not to be nervous that Hogwarts was exciting, full of secrets and that I would feel at home there."

Harry smiled squeezing her hand. "He's not wrong I feel the same way."

She shrugged. "Everything he said made me feel better. At first, I thought it was a motivational diary that was enchanted to tell someone the things that they wanted to hear, positive reinforcement of the writer's thoughts. looking back now that's utter rubbish."

Harry shook his head, that was ironic. "Not entirely rubbish, telling people what they wanted to hear was how he made a name for himself at Hogwarts and whenever he was searching for objects to make Horcruxes. He was as gifted as Dumbledore just not as brilliant."

Ginny continued darkly. "Well it worked, for a while we just talked, eventually he asked if I knew anyone special and that's when I told him about how I read about you in books my whole life and then heard about you for two summers from my brothers."

Harry rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. He sighed. "I always forget that I am in books."

Ginny continued with a blush. "You were cute too with your Mum and Dad."

Harry was surprised. "There were pictures of me and my parents in the books?"

Ginny clarified, giving an awkward sort of smile. "Not in the books, but Dumbledore must have given a family picture, a momentum. Mum's brothers were in it then. I guess even though she was not in the first Order from raising us, he thought Mum should have that as a reminder that they did not die in vain. She was really broken up about their deaths from what dad has told us and I think when she sees you it gives her pride knowing that they were part of the reason the Potter line survived and led to you, same with the picture."

Harry had a sad smile. "Wow, I didn't know that I always felt like I was barging in on your family."

Ginny gave him a dismissive look. "Come on Harry, we have all been worried about you since before we ever met you… Growing up away from your own kind, just like anyone that's seen the memorial in Godric's Hollow, which we visited when I was young. I knew I had fallen for you even with so little to go by. Well, as much as any little girl can fall for a boy she wasn't likely to meet. Next thing I know my youngest brother is best friends with you and you're staying at our house.

Harry placed his other hand on her shoulder. He was curious. "What made you think that you couldn't talk to me? You're used to your brothers, so I know it wasn't anything they said, and I am not intimidating."

Ginny blushed. "I watched you from afar for a while mostly just butterflies, I guess, but I started to realize you were friendly, hated the fame. She continued with contempt. "Then Malfoy, he has a way of getting under the skin. That day at Flourish and Blots when he said I was your girlfriend, I started to get worried about pestering you too much." She blushed. "Her voice was full of self-disgust now. "I stayed in the background, writing in that damn book. Until I felt like I passed out one night and when I woke up feathers were all over me and I couldn't remember anything."

Harry nodded moving closer. He was gentle. "The first attack."

She nodded looking at him kindly. "I knew it wasn't you even before I realized that it was me, but I still don't understand why I couldn't get ahold of myself?"

Harry sighed. "Hermione believes the magic of the diary was the worst of all the Horcruxes because emotions are its magical bind that creates a parasite feeding off the writing soul's deepest emotions, making it more difficult to fight against it. It started with loneliness, then every emotion after, made the bind stronger. Confusion, fear, anxiety— "

She cut across him sadly. "You forgot heartbreak and humiliation…"

Harry laid a hand on her face and continued delicately. "That day with the singing Valentine, I didn't realize that you really— "

Ginny cut him off, her words were dismissive. "Come on Harry, I was young and stupid. I gave a boy that hates the spotlight a singing Valentine dwarf, I don't fault whatever impression of me you had then. Plus, I am complete rubbish at artistic expression. I'm sure you remember the get-well card from last year."

"That wasn't quite as bad, just loud. I had to stuff it under a bowl to drown it out. You could have just come yourself and stayed, I was thrilled you came by at all."

"I wanted to, but I thought Dean would come too so I told him I was just dropping that off." They both blushed.

Ginny returned to the Valentine fiasco. "Anyway, it was Malfoy rubbing it in that really broke me then. He is a professional git!" She sighed. "I stole the diary from your things and just kept pouring my soul into Voldemort's. She squeezed Harry's other hand with an increasingly flat voice. "By the time I realized that I was being controlled by dark magic I was too scared to tell anyone except you and Ron because I knew from him what happened in your first year. I tried to tell you the morning Riddle sent me into the chamber but…I couldn't figure out how and then Percy spooked me…"

They sat on the bed; Harry kept his arm around Ginny. He smiled touching her face. "I'm sorry Gin, really I should have realized sooner."

Ginny shrugged. "You couldn't have known about the book until I flushed it."

He shook his head with a kind, loving smile. "Not about the book, about how fantastic you are."

Ginny shook her head with a sad smile. "You couldn't have known that ether because that wasn't me, the blubbering shy mess you saw." She was subdued. "I was ironically alone after getting out of the hospital for the last few weeks of school. I understood you a lot more too. Everyone either shut me out or pitied me." She placed her hands on Harry's chest smiling at his worn Muggle clothes while gazing into his eyes. "Everyone except the boy who lived, for third time too." She was reflective now. "People think that they know all there is to know about you, but I learned then, what the rest of the world will never know about Harry Potter."

He had a curious smile. "What's that?"

Ginny moved her arms around Harry's neck. Her words held emotional weight. "That, your most heroic acts are quiet moments, like when you walked across the Gryffindor common room where I was alone hoping for some company without judgment and challenged me to a game of Exploding Snap. That love is what helped me be myself again and I learned with Hermione's advice not to force things. I was willing to be as patient as I needed to be."

Harry put a hand in her hair, looking at her with an apologetic smile. "I wish I would have realized years ago honestly."

Ginny gave a sad chuckle sounding subdued again. "A lot of the girls in my year said I would only get you with a love potion, but I would never have done that. Hermione's the one that told me to just be patient, she knows you well, Hermione does. She did suggest dating other people."

Harry. grinned. "Well it worked, so she does know me well. When we ran into you in the middle of one of the secret passages with Dean, it created a quiet rage in me that wouldn't go away."

Ginny was mildly amused. "Jealous, were you? A happy accident, but I guess a little luck doesn't hurt."

Harry confessed himself now. "What if I told you that it was liquid luck?" He explained about trying to get the memory from Slughorn and drinking half of the potion he'd won, inadvertently bumping into Ginny through the portrait hall while under the cloak.

She laughed. "That's wasn't really luck. I was going to dump him anyway once I noticed that you were noticing me." She gave him a meaningful look smiling too. "That just made me do it sooner, he was already waiting on me hand and foot at that point; annoying, and not in the lovable way Ron and Hermione are with each other."

Harry's ego showed a little, his smile rhetorical. "I know that's the last thing you want, to be treated like you can't take care of yourself. You get that enough from your mother."

Ginny nodded. "Exactly and honestly there was wasn't anyone else I wanted to be with more than you Harry I hope you know that."

He nodded. "I do, when you almost got killed by Bellatrix, I nearly killed her myself but you're Mum got there first." Harry kissed the top of her head.

Anyway, that's my end of things from the diary, keep going with your story."

Harry calmly continued his story. "Alright, where was I… 16 years ago Voldemort marked me as his equal when he failed to kill me. My mother died for me, even though he would have spared her. Sacrificial protection is an ancient but powerful counter charm that lives in magical blood forever."

Ginny was curious. "What is it?"

Harry smiled at her sad but happy all at the same time. He whispered gently. "Love Ginny, Love, and it lives in the blood of everyone who survived the battle today too."

Ginny stretched her arms and legs turning her hands over as if looking for a sign mesmerized. "Even me?"

Harry squeezed her hand taking in the scent of her hair. He was emotional. "Especially you, you were the last thing I thought about before the curse hit me."

She sighed sniffing quietly. "Oh, Harry! If it hit its mark, then how are you alive?"

"He used my blood to reform his body that night in the Graveyard and my Mum's sacrifice flows through my blood so because of that mistake, I couldn't die by his hand.

Ginny smiled and tried to remember what he had said so far. She was uncertain. "Hang on, you mentioned seven Horcruxes but said he only split his soul six times."

Harry was quiet. "He made the seventh one unintentionally when he tried to kill me as a baby. The curse bounced back and split what was left of his soul onto the only living thing in the room."

Ginny hesitated, disbelief in her voice. "Wait, but that means…?"

He turned around his expression sad, his voice was empathetic. "I understood what you went through more than you think."

Ginny's shock and sadness were all over her face. She felt tears well in her eyes and stream down her cheeks. Her voice was quiet. "You had a piece of his soul in you too didn't you?" She buried her head in his chest and cried.

Harry hugged Ginny tightly and whispered consolingly in her ear. "Shhhhh it's okay Gin, I don't anymore…"

Ginny halfheartedly hit him through sobs. "Why didn't you tell me all of this madness before you left!"

Harry squeezed her even tighter. She had every right to be upset. He whispered gently. "I'm telling you now, and I know you're mad, but I didn't find out I was the seventh Horcrux until about four hours ago."

Ginny shook her head calming down again. "Don't be stupid Harry, I knew you were protecting me, but it was so hard with you gone. She bit her lip sadly. "It's just…the Carrow's torture was terrible. Neville, Luna, and I took turns taking the Cruciatus curse because we were always sticking up for you and because we refused to practice it on other people." Her expression was downcast and her voice angry as she recalled the horror. "Neville tried to take all of it for me especially after Luna was kidnapped, but hell if I was going to let him suffer like that, taking the curse that sent his parents into madness."

Harry asked her gently. "How bad did it get?"

Ginny's voice shook with fear. "They started lashing us eventually, when they realized that the Cruciatus curse would drive us mad if they kept it up and they might lose information on what you three were doing. We hated Snape at the time for not stepping in, but now that makes sense given it would have blown a 16-year cover. The other teachers tried to prevent it, but we didn't want anything to happen to them. I had it the worst, they are all over my back."

Harry thought back to when he saw Neville again, all kinds of cuts and gouged skin. He whispered gently. "Can you show me?"

She had a sharp look in her eyes, answering dryly. "Why so you can blame yourself? Yeah, that's likely."

Harry gave an anxious plead. "Please Gin, don't leave me to picture how bad it is, the last thing I need is to be blindsided by it…" He trailed off trying to hide where his mind had gone.

Ginny realized what Harry had been about to say. She nodded, ignoring his awkward look. "Alright, they don't look as bad now, Madam Pomfrey helped lessen the scarring, but since they were inflicted by dark magic they will never go away completely, here."

Ginny stood up and turned her back to Harry, loosening her tattered school robes enough to show her back. The skin had notable gashes, some shallow, most were moderate or deep, some fresher than others, but they were all over it. It made the scars on the back of Harry's hand seem like pinpricks. Harry felt as though a fire erupted in his chest, a boiling hot rage.

He stood up and placed his hand on the oldest gash across the center of her back. His voice was wounded. "I'm sorry Gin, defending me just led to suffering for you and a lot of other people." He moved both his hands on her shoulders, as she fastened her robes again.

Ginny turned around putting her hands on his chest once more. She sounded firm but gentle. "Don't you dare blame yourself for this Harry! The DA leaders chose to let the Carrows know we didn't give a damn about their rules. You can't stop people from making choices on your behalf and there was no way I, or anyone else who believed in you was going to fall in line with Voldemort's take over."

Harry smiled, his hands moving slowly through her hair, he was subdued. "Your strength is incredible, but I don't deserve loyalty."

Ginny's voice was sharp with anger. "Shut it, for me this year goes way beyond loyalty!"

Harry was suddenly worried. "I can't help it I don't feel like I deserve these sacrifices…the way people, the way you— "

She cut across him forcibly. "I said shut it with that rubbish! I'm going to show you the truth about me, when it comes to you, Harry Potter!"

The fury in her voice was so terrifying that he knew better than to say another word even though he had no idea what she was about to do. There was only one other time Harry had ever witnessed a fire like what Harry now saw in Ginny. Albus Dumbledore when he exposed Barty Crouch Junior after Harry escaped from the graveyard. Molly Weasley was of course a close second in taking down Bellatrix mere hours ago, but somehow the former felt more accurate here. There was something raw in her eyes, and it was just as intimidating as the quiet fury Dumbledore showed that night.

Her temper climaxed and holding her wand Ginny spoke in a loud, but clear tone. "Expecto Patronum!"

A doe of bright golden sunlight, clearly not silver vapor erupted from the end of Ginny's yew wand and trotted around them. The aura was so powerful it lit the entire room brightly. She put her wand away, yet the doe just continued to circle them. She was blunt. "Get it now!

Harry was in emotional shock. "I've never seen a Patronus like this, it's golden like sunlight and it changed form too, it's—"

Ginny was again quiet as she spoke closing the gap between them. "The mate to yours." She put her arms around Harry's neck calm once more. "I thought it would help you to understand."

Harry remembered that they change because of heavy emotional shifts, but he had never seen this kind of aura. He gave her a meaningful look. "Ron said you were really cut up when I ended it, I have to tell you something else…" He watched the doe; it was still circling them but more slowly now.

Ginny was stoic. "Wait until I'm done… I was mad because the man I hate kept me separated from the man I love."

He noted her sadness. "Still, I put you through hell."

Ginny was looking up at him with a meaningful gaze and shook her head. "That'd be the Carrows…early in the year they sent dementors after anyone who wasn't a pureblood. Just long enough to have them relive their worst experiences one at a time as punishment." She sighed. "I did nothing at first, I was afraid of reliving the hell of my first year. It only took a few weeks before I couldn't handle hearing other kids screams and I burst into the room during another class, some muggle-born probably first-year students were terrified as the rest of the class watched from the back." Ginny continued with a sense of captivation. "I conjured my Patronus expecting to see the Mare, but it was the Doe instead, golden sunlight and all. It was powerful enough that it vaporized the Dementors Harry. The Carrows were furious and scared, I couldn't believe it myself."

He was taken aback, sure he'd misheard. "It did what?"

Ginny was still mesmerized herself. "It destroyed the Dementors, two of them." Her tone was flat again. "The Carrows thought they could get information out of me about you once they realized my Patronus was the mate to your stag."

Harry sighed. "Probably Umbridge passed that along."

Ginny nodded darkly. "Anyway, that is when they switched to torture, I guess I took away their fun." She was emotional now. "Even after they switched to the torture curse and then later slashing us…Harry, my Patronus, it felt like it was inside my body. I felt it every night since the summer, but that was the first time I'd conjured it and it was different, both the animal and the aura." Ginny sat back on the bed, taking Harry by the hand with her. The doe followed and settled next to them. She sighed. "It's all still in my head you know, the diary, the Carrows, and I haven't slept well in a year. The only reason I slept at all is because of you, because of us. My Patronus it feels like it didn't just change, it evolved it's something more."

He was thinking, also emotional. "I reckon you're right, good thing I was able to fix my wand."

Harry pulled out his own wand and conjured his stag, it had the same powerful, golden aura as Ginny's doe. They seemed as living as Patronuses could possibly be. Both met in a tender, joyful reunion of affection.

Ginny whispered curiously to Harry. "What do you reckon? It's like they have a mind of their own?"

Harry whispered quietly with a smile. "I have a pretty good hunch, come on."

Harry had never seen corporeal Patronus like this. The normal vapor-like substance that defined any Patronus wasn't present at all in this case. It was solid and palpable, closer to the substance that defined memories, yet beyond even that…it seemed spiritual.

They got up and bent down to the Patronuses, touching them. Harry was looking slowly from the doe to the stag and then whispering quietly. "Mom…? Dad…?"

Both Patronuses faced them. Then Lilly and James' voices answered. "Yes."

He smiled curiously. "How?"

Lilly rang through the doe; her words gentle as the night they helped him escape Voldemort. "The soul is its own magic sweetheart and it can be affected in all kinds of ways. Voldemort bound his soul to his physical body, that is not natural, the body is not meant to transcend death, the soul is. True love, Harry does not die, it is the complement to the soul, the thing that strengths it."

Harry was stunned. "You're beyond death?"

Lilly continued. "Why do you think soulmates exist Harry, love can create and grow a bond that binds two souls together, leaving behind the possibility for rebirth, but it must be fostered, again and again, between two people similar to a bloodline, it seems to have something to do with her, the one who's magical energy I am bonded with." Lilly's voice seemed to be directly talking to Ginny now. "Who are you if you don't mind me asking sweetheart?"

Ginny looked on the verge of crying but held herself together. "Ginny Weasley."

James was rather amused. "Molly and Arthur finally had a daughter, that's great!"

Lily was joyful. "I do not know how but I sensed it, the love you have for my son is as powerful as what I came to feel for James in life and him for me. There are many women who could have loved our son but only you can sustain that love through the burdens he will carry for the rest of his life beyond Voldemort's defeat. "

Harry sighed. "Yeah, like everyone else making sacrifices they shouldn't have had to."

Ginny shook her head irritation in her voice. "You're still on about that even when I've told you to knock it off."

Harry smiled. "You don't quit trying to get me out of my head, do you?"

Ginny was blunt. "Someone has to keep your head on straight."

James was amused. "They remind me of us Lilly."

Lilly was melancholy. "Sweetheart, you can't stop willing sacrifices, that is love. It is no accident that I am joined with Ginny's soul in this form, just as your father is joined with yours."

Harry was emotional. "You're saying this is reincarnation?"

Lilly was calm. "If Horcruxes fracture the soul, love can strengthen and evolve it."

Harry was surprised. "How do you— "

Lilly was gentle. "I have been living in you all your life just like your father has. I understand how we exist in this form now. It is the connection of your souls that served as the conduit for our return. Her voice focused on Ginny again. "Thank you for your unwavering love of our son."

Ginny blushed. "It's been nice to meet you both."

Lily sounded emotional toward Harry again. "We are extremely proud of you sweetheart; you've done so well, we will remain silent to the outside world, unless we sense a need to speak when either of you summon us."

Ginny gave an honest confession. "I'll need to show my family this to get them to understand us, when the time is right."

James chuckled. "Yes, if Molly is as stubborn and protective as we remember, you will."

Harry gently pet both Patronuses. He was full of solace now. "I love and miss you both."

Lily was full of solace now too. "You need not miss us, honey, we may not be living in the sense of flesh, but our spirits have been alive the entire time. It is the bond of both of you that gave us form and at least for now it is time for us to sleep."

James offered the last word. "Remember, the soul is its own kind of magic, oh, and try to enjoy some manageable mischief."

Both Patronuses trotted backward and then galloped full speed into their casters and were gone. The sensation was the exact opposite of a ghost passing through the body. Where that was cold and unnerving, this was warm and pleasant. It felt like they took refuge within them.

That was when Ginny lost it tears slowly falling down her face. "I understand now, your Mum's Patronus was a doe."

Harry joined Ginny squeezing her hand. "Yup and Dad used to transform into a stag as an Animagus." He grinned. "It's funny, we didn't start dating until later and my parents were the same. She thought he was an arrogant toe rag until their seventh year."

Ginny chuckled smiling. "Well you have that in you especially when you're afraid or angry. Don't worry though, no matter what happens I'll keep you in line."

Harry was fighting the urge to kiss her on the spot instead he squeezed her hands on his own. "I know you will."

She was hugging Harry around the back now. "Harry, this feeling is what I felt over the summer after you left and every night since then especially when I got back to Hogwarts, their bond is so strong, that they lived beyond death itself." Ginny confessed quietly. "I felt our love, I have felt it since then burning in my body like an endless warmth, even when things got dark, and they got very dark… Still, since you left our love has been the light that pushed back the shadows when sadness and anger and fear threatened to destroy me. You were miles away and I knew nothing except that you were alive, on a mission, but still with me watching over me."

He gave her a meaningful look. "Every night I would look at your dot on the Marauders Map, so I was watching over you, I'm glad my mother was too in her own way."

"I didn't understand then, how you could be so present with me, but so far away. Now I do. Luna said before she was kidnapped my aura was emanating white-hot, soul magic she called it, souls connected with mine. It all makes sense now."

Harry confessed. "I raised my parent's souls or spirits I think before I faced Voldemort in the forest. I wonder if that's when my dad merged with my stag because I cast it during the battle and the aura was normal silver then."

"What then how did mine change right after you left?"

He smiled. "I have a guess about that."

"Go ahead and have a guess then?"

"I think it's love… my mother's love was so powerful it prevented me from being killed by Voldemort and then tethered me to life even though he could harm me when he returned because he used my blood and it is infused with her sacrifice… I think that your love for me was different but just as powerful. How's that saying go? Same difference? Yeah, I think that's what did it. It connected you and her. Of course, I have no idea if she could have talked to you and just stayed silent until now, and I don't think we'll know for sure, but it makes enough sense, so I'll stick with that."

Ginny nodded in agreement and smiled at Harry, looking impressed. "Sounds like something Dumbledore would say if he thought all this out." She put her hand on his heart and spoke with a weight to her voice. "It makes sense to me too because when I saw you dead…I was hoping that I would die in battle just to be with you again. I pity Voldemort for fearing death, that is nothing compared to the crushing grief and loss I felt in that moment, all that mattered was you were gone forever and when Bellatrix's killing curse missed me I thought it cruel. I fought in honor of your death and Fred's and everyone else and, lost but I was spared by luck, forced to live without the man I have loved my whole life, that I hoped would one day end up loving me as much as I loved him." She wore an emotional smile now. "After nearly six years of knowing you, you finally did. Thank Merlin you weren't dead because for that little while, easily the worst time of my life, I felt as dead as someone still living could possibly feel."

Ginny hadn't said any this with any trace of anger or cried…it was just the truth of that slice of time for her.

Harry stroked Ginny's head so slowly as if trying to rediscover the feel of her hair and answered her with notable regret. "I wish I told you then, but I didn't want you to have to carry the weight of knowing that my soul was tied to Voldemort and I don't think I could have gone to the forest if I stopped to tell you."

Ginny grabbed his hand keeping her voice firm. "You should have manned up and let me say goodbye to you! When I thought you were dead, it crushed my soul and the only thing fueling me was my anger and I wasn't clear-headed that's why Bellatrix almost killed me. Part of me was just waiting for her to do it because the combined grief was too much to handle. I don't know how you have dealt with so much loss."

He nodded a serious tone in his voice. "Because as much as I've lost, I haven't by some miracle, lost the people most important to me. You, Ron, your family, Hermione, Hagrid. Others were blood or teachers and it hurt a lot, but I didn't know them, not really…not like I know all of you. Fred hurts enough, if I'd lost any more of you, the people I grew up happy with who I love more than my own blood whom I never knew. I don't think I could cope with that. I solemnly swear that if there's ever a chance I know I'm probably going to die again; I'll say goodbye to you."

Ginny smiled with stern eyes. "Thanks, but hopefully you won't have to worry about that now." She let herself kiss him for a moment.

Harry held her face touching the many freckles on both sides of her cheeks. "So, anything else you want to know?"

Ginny answered sadly with her arms around Harry's neck and longing in her eyes. "Why any of this had to happen to you at all and what was that business about an Elder Wand?" Harry explained the prophecy and the Deathly Hallows leaving Ginny feeling both sad and impressed. "You have faced so much."

He seemed sad for the first time since laying eyes on all the dead. "You have too, I'm sorry, about the diary, the Carrows torture, and about Fred, and for not telling you everything sooner."

Ginny whispered quietly wearing a smile as she met his forehead with hers. "You told me now, and you know Fred would be annoyed that you think you're the only one who was allowed to put their life on the line."

Harry's emotions were swelling again. "I know, I just can't help it, it's not fair to anyone, it's cruel!" Just like that Harry felt himself sob uncontrollably in Ginny's arms as he released 16 years of bottled up emotions.

Ginny hugged tightly as Harry continued to sob over her shoulder, massaging the back of his head gently. Her voice was slow and consoling. "Harry, it's okay."

Harry was anxious. "It's too much, I just keep thinking about everything, the death, the torture. I just want to forget. I feel like I haven't slept well in a year either."

Ginny pulled back, drying his eyes as she took off his glasses. "I have an idea; it'll help both of us I think." She touched his face briefly, then said out loud. "Kreacher!"

There was a loud crack and the house-elf appeared in front of them, same croaky voice but now a pleasant demeanor. "Kreacher comes when any of Master Harry's friends call." He frowned slightly when he noticed Harry had been upset. "Master Harry is sad?" He vanquished the Dark Lord so Master Harry should be happy, Kreacher is happy because Master Regulus' death is avenged!"

Ginny spoke calmly. "Harry is just tired Kreacher, can you bring him a potion for a dreamless sleep please?"

Kreacher nodded, answering sympathetically. "Kreacher suspects vanquishing the Dark Lord was very tiring. Master Harry shall have his potion, the fat potions master has been making them for other students." He addressed Ginny directly. "Kreacher is sorry for Mister Fred. Would you like a sleeping potion Miss Westly?"

Ginny nodded with a small smile. "Yes, and you can call me Ginny, Kreacher. I'm staying with Harry while he sleeps. If anyone asks where he is, tell them it's none of their business, okay. Maybe fetch him some robes too."

Kreacher nodded, looking sympathetically at Harry again, who'd finally regained his composure. "Of course, Master Harry deserves his peace and quiet after everything he has done."

Harry managed a smile. "Thanks, Kreacher."

The House Elf had a glint in his eyes. "Of course, Kreacher will return." He bowed to them both before he disappeared with a crack.

Ginny set his glasses on the desk, looking Harry with a subdued smile. "He's right you know; you do deserve peace and quiet."

Harry shrugged. "You don't have to stay. Your family needs you more. Besides, I don't think they would like us, err… sleeping together anyway." He suddenly remembered Ron busting into Ginny's room over the past summer.

Ginny was defiant. "They can survive without me for a while longer and they'll just have to accept I'll be of age in three months." She put her arms around Harry's neck. "You need me more, and after we spent almost the entire year apart, do you seriously think that I would let you spend your first bit of sleep after the war by yourself? Nice try, but I'm not going anywhere."

Harry gave a grateful smile holding her around the back. "I'm very lucky to have you, aren't I?"

Ginny smiled rhetorically. "I'd be happy to discuss how lucky another time, but we've discussed a lot already."

There was another loud crack and Kreacher returned with a large tray with food and the potions, setting it on the desk, careful to not crush Harry's glasses. He then snapped his fingers and Harry's most recent night robes appeared on one of the chairs while girl's robes appeared on the other.

Kreacher gave a smile. "Everything Miss Ginny has requested, and Kreacher took the liberty of getting food as well. Can Kreacher serve Master Harry, or Miss Ginny further?"

"Nothing right now, but thanks. It's good to see you Kreacher."

"Master Harry missed Kreacher… Kreacher has not been missed by anyone since Master Regulus left the house of Black. Kreacher is moved sir, please don't hesitate to call for Kreacher again." He bowed and left with another crack.

Ginny grinned. "He is so much more pleasant now."

Harry nodded smiling. "As much as I hated to admit it Dumbledore was right, Sirius didn't show him any kindnesses, like his mother and brother had, he's loyal to those who treat him with respect." He walked over to the tray and grabbed a roast beef sandwich, it looked better than everything he ate while on the quest for Horcruxes. He smiled his voice longing. "I've missed the food at Hogwarts."

Ginny pulled her wand out and moved the robes to the bed, allowing the two of them to sit down at the desk. She confessed with a heartfelt tone. "I missed you…so much." She squeezed his free hand.

Harry nodded. "Me too, I was always thinking of you, and knowing what you went through…" He interlocked her fingers, squeezing her hand. "Gin, does your family know about the torture from the Carrows?"

Ginny sighed. "No, I didn't leave until the Easter holiday once the Death Eaters knew Ron wasn't ill. I wanted to stay to protect the students and help the staff as much as I could, so they still don't know. I've been very careful about hiding the scars and with Fred gone I'm not going to tell them anytime soon. They'd treat me like glass for the rest of my life." She took a seat on Harry's lap. Her voice was emotional. "You don't treat me that way and I really appreciate it."

He smiled. "I wasn't thrilled about you fighting, but it is not fair to stop you when you are an amazing witch."

Ginny kissed him briefly. "Thank you." They ate in silence for a while, eventually Ginny spoke again. "You ready for bed?"

Harry nodded and yawned lifting his arms. "Yeah, long day."

Ginny nodded "Long year, but thanks for telling me what you were doing all that time."

He smiled. "You know, maybe once things settle down, I can just be Harry, that would be nice."

She grinned. "Well, that is exactly the man I love, not the boy who lived, or the chosen one, just you, Harry Potter."

Harry ran his fingers through Ginny's hair. He was only just now remembering how much he loved the freckles on her face. She was beautiful. "I love you too Gin."

She was nearly at his lips now. "You've gotten even more handsome in the last year Harry."

He whispered quietly. "You're even more beautiful you know." She moved into his lips, and they kissed for several minutes, with their tongues tangled calmly against each other. It was slow and purposeful, rediscovering one another's mouth after nearly a year apart.

Ginny was the one to break the kiss, it took an effort to restrain herself with him, but she managed it. "Not yet, I won't get another first and it's too soon after everything."

Harry was quiet. "You mean you haven't either?"

Ginny was amused. "Did you really think I would waste my first time on anyone else? I have loved you since I was 11 Harry Potter and fancied long before then. That's why it can wait, we have time now that you've saved the world and all that, a lifetime… if that's what you want?"

He blushed. "Yeah, I do, and well…I wasn't sure because your brothers always said you were too popular for your own good."

Ginny scoffed and her expression turned irritable. "Stupid gits, my brothers…I would never settle for anyone but you when it comes to that, and Mum and Dad would kill me if I were casual about it anyway. Remind me when things calm down, they deserve the bat bogey hex for that!"

Harry felt amusement for the first time in ages. "Will do."

Ginny kissed his forehead with a soft expression again. "Thanks, for now, it's time to get some sleep." She got off Harry's lap and looked at the potions with a contemplative stare. "I just realized we've both taken this potion before. After being put through hell because of Voldemort, Madam Pomfrey insisted after you rescued me from the chamber."

Harry nodded, putting his arm around her. He had an expression of disturbingly comfortable irony. "We both had bits of his soul in us too."

Ginny sighed sadly. "Now I know, you're the only person in the world that understands the scars I feel from that. Even before I knew what the magic was, I tried to forget I ever played host to that monster, but I can't."

Harry squeezed her tightly. "I know, I think his ghost will always be with us, the best we can do is try not to be haunted by it. He smiled. "I'll give you this end of the room to freshen up… it will be nice to put my robes on again."

Ginny was briefly flirtatious. "I'll help if you need it."

Harry gave her a meaningful look. "Maybe I will." She met his eyes with a suggestive smile, turning toward their fresh robes on the bed.

At opposite ends of the room, they showered and changed. For Harry, it felt so good to be out of Muggle clothes. Ginny grabbed the potions and brought them over to Harry who was sitting on the bed, he took one, looking at it indifferently.

Ginny urged him gently. "Drink up you."

He shrugged. "I don't think I need it this time."

Ginny was insistent with a skeptical look. "Harry, I know how you are, you'll be stuck in your head, wide awake if you don't take the potion, and if anyone needs a good bit of sleep it's you."

He knew she was right, so they drank the potions, one large sip each, at the same time, and left the rest. Both were hoping for a few hours of peaceful sleep. They settled in the bed together Ginny pulled Harry into a tight embrace with her arms around his back.

Harry was at peace for the first time since all their lazy time together by the lake in his sixth year.

The potion overtook him first. "I love you, you know."

She ran her hands along his neck and through his hair, her voice quiet. "I love you too, Harry."

Ginny kissed him deeply for a moment and soon after they were both asleep.

A/N: Hopefully this gives a good sense of my writing style. I felt this would be a conversation that Hinny should have.

Also, I have read many stories that bring the dead back, most obviously Harry's parents. I understand the temptation, but I didn't want to cheapen their deaths or the concept itself. That was when I came up with the idea for light-based soul magic, one such effect of this is the evolution of Patronuses as a reincarnation. I'm quite proud of how the details surrounding this turned out.

Another note is that PTSD will heavily present in this story, in varying degrees. The next chapter focuses more severely on this.

Please Review as this my first crack at Harry Potter fan fiction!