All Characters are owned by J.K. Rowling
Chapter One
Harry sat down on the steps outside of the main portal. He was incredibly tired, the last 24 hours had taken their toll on him. Up till now he had been on a high caused by the adrenaline rush he felt, after defeating Voldemort. Everybody had wanted to talk to him but he couldn't bear the thought of reliving everything that happened in the past 12 months right now. He didn't want to see Ron and Hermione at the moment or even Ginny. All of them were a constant reminder that many people lost their lives tonight, beginning with Fred, who left his twin and his family behind.
Harry felt incredibly guilty for not understanding Dumbledore's plan earlier.
If Snape had told him what needed to be done earlier that night he would've went straight into the forest after they had found the diadem.
Ron and Hermione would've been more than capable to destroy it. Hell the bloody thing had destroyed itself without any of their influence.
If he would've went into the forest right away maybe Tonks and Lupin would still be alive and their little boy Teddy, his godson, wouldn't be without his parents. His heart grew heavy when he thought about Teddy, like Harry himself he'd never know his parents. He'd never be able to hear their voices, play with them or talk to them about his day or his life at Hogwarts.
It would be the responsibility of other people to tell him how brave his parents were during that night and during their many missions in the Order of the Phoenix before that.
But Harry was sure that the boy would question them later in life, if they would've survived if they'd loved him enough to stay at home that night. Watching over him instead of fighting for what at times seemed like a lost cause.
Harry swore to himself that it would be his life's purpose to remind Teddy every day that his parents loved him to death even though they left him behind and that he'd make sure that Teddy would have a better, happier childhood than he ever had despite of being an orphan so early in his life.
"Harry? Harry!"
A voice from behind made him turn around.
Ginny was walking towards him with Ron and Hermione right behind her. He got up and opened up his arms to pull her in.
They stood like that for what felt like an eternity. Ron and Hermione next to them, looking at the destruction around them. Nobody said a word as they all enjoyed the peace and quiet after the battle.
Ginny was the first to break the silence.
"Do you wanna go back inside for breakfast?" she asked, "or maybe get some sleep first?"
"I think we could all use some sleep right now. At least I know I do.", Harry answered and turned around to see the expressions in Ron's and Hermione's faces.
"I'm coming with you guys", said Hermione and Ron gave an agreeing nod.
The four of them turned around and stepped through the portal without looking back.
They made their way through all the debris and destruction to get to the Gryffindor common room.
Nobody crossed their paths as they had to take a few detours because some of the hallways had either been blown away or had been blocked shut by a thick layer of stone.
When they finally arrived in the common room it was empty but still filled with all the belongings of Hogwarts students who had left them there the evening before, thinking they'd return a few hours later.
To Harrys astonishment the room was still completely intact. Standing here one never would've known that the rest of Hogwarts looked like a battlefield.
The four of them made their way up to the Boys dorms since Harry and Ron were unable to enter the Girls'. When they entered the dorm room that had been Harry's and Ron's temporary home for the past 6 years, Harry felt relieved.
He'd always felt safe here, even after Sirius managed to break in in their third year and he remembered some of the happy memories that connected him to this room: joking around with Seamus, Dean and Neville, seeing Ron in his hideous dress robes when they were getting ready for the Yule Ball, every Christmas morning they spent here and all those talks about Quidditch and soccer he'd had with the other four guys.
He sat down on his bed, his head completely lost in his thoughts.
Ginny, Hermione and Ron each sat down on one of the other beds.
"Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to sleep now. I think we've earned that", Ron yawned and dropped backwards onto his pillows.
Hermione smiled, gave him a short smudge and curled up on what had once been Dean's bed.
Harry thought about laying down next to Ginny but it felt weird to do that with Ron in the room and since the beds weren't made for two people it would be rather uncomfortable as well so he gave her one last smile and then sank back into the pillows and the comfortable mattress that was so much better than the one he'd been sleeping on in their tent.
He was so exhausted that he fell asleep as soon as his head hid his pillow.