The sun rose morosely over a purple tinged mountain, illuminating a small country village in a valley below. Quivering rays of dewy sunshine revealed miles and miles of rolling hills and pleasant mountain streams. Sunshine engulfed the valley fully, but try as it might, could not warm it. Quiet brooks giggled softly in the light, but did not, could not, smile. The pale yellow sunshine was not like most light. Although it gave off heat, it was not the same heat one would feel on a happy day. It was not a bright and cheerful yellow, but pale yellow.
On this particular morning, the area's weather may have been directly connected to the presence of a young man with dark hair sitting on a mountainous ledge over looking the village. Or perhaps it was more connected to the young man's current mood. The ledge he was sitting on would not be easily accessible to a normal person, but the man on the ledge was not a normal person. Nevertheless, it might not be a coincidence that there was also a broomstick hovering a few inches above the ground. The dark haired man looked to be around twenty-five, give or take a few years, but at the moment he seemed much older. He stared idly around, surveying his surroundings, but something in his face said that he was not really seeing the mountain in front of him. He frowned as though reliving a painful memory, stretched his arms out behind him and tried to relax, but to no avail. Instead, he focused his bright green eyes on an owl flying far above him. He followed the normally nocturnal animal as it flew down towards a house in the village set apart from the rest of the buildings. The man frowned again and reluctantly got up and grabbed the broomstick next to him. Looking around carefully to make sure no muggles were watching, the man leapt lightly onto the broom and set off towards the house below him.
Many terrible things can happen in a person's life during the course of seven years: war, death, depression, and paranoia. However, along with the bad, there can always be good: marriage, children, safety, and the security of a home. The last seven years of Harry Potter's life was a mixture of the two, the good and the bad. The war had ended with Voldemort's defeat when Harry was seventeen, but while the entire wizarding world rejoiced, most of the members of the Order of the Phoenix sat in a St. Mungo's waiting room sitting silently. Unfortunately, the war's end had not come without pain and death. Both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had died in the final battle along with Percy, who was at least reunited with his family before he died in battle. The Order had lost members too, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hestia Jones, and Mad-eye Moody all died either in battle or shortly afterwards. Hermione had to spend quite a long time at the wizarding hospital to fully recover from a nasty curse that had rendered her close to death midway through the battle. Ron too, had to spend weeks in St. Mungo's in order to regain physical health, but mental and emotional health would take longer to heal than a few weeks. The death of his parents and estranged brother would not be easily overcome. However, Ron and Hermione's recovery time seemed as fast as a winter breeze compared to Harry's. If killing Voldemort was difficult, then surviving the aftermath was near impossible. After a month long coma, Harry had woken up with fresh memories of war, bright and painful, in his mind. The memories of pain would haunt him day and night and create a scar inside that was far more painful than any on the outside.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months and months into years. Scars of all types attempted to heal, friendships turned into much more and families were formed to replace the ones lost. Ron had married Hermione a year after the war. Remus Lupin had finally given in to Nymphadora Tonks and allowed himself to love, and they were married too. For Harry, there would only ever be one woman and Ginny, true to her Weasley nature, made sure she was the only option to Harry. They were married a month after Ron and Hermione's wedding. More years passed. Families grew larger and scars grew fainter, or at least some did.
Harry touched down on the wet grass and promptly dismounted his broom, his eyes still curiously watching the owl that was now swooping through an open window in the house ahead. The owl had vanished and Harry's mind returned to its previous thoughts. "Seven years," he thought, "its been seven years to the day." His mind was still littered with memories, just as vivid and painful as the actual experiences. Mostly everyone had healed and forgotten, but not Harry. Maybe it was his deep connection to the very core of the war, but it had been seven years and it was still almost as painful now as it had been one hour after the battle. The melancholy atmosphere that had surrounded Harry since that morning, lifted when he entered the house. The smell of cooking bacon wafted in from the kitchen and Harry, turning the corner, found a very pregnant Ginny standing over the stove, wand in hand.
"There you are! Finally decided to show up, I was going to have to eat all of this food myself!" Ginny exclaimed grinningly, sitting her husband down at a table full to the bursting point with food.
"Think you got enough food here? Just because we're having twins doesn't mean you have to eat for three!" said Harry grinning back at her.
"I am not eating that much!" she responded indignantly, all the while pulling up a large plate of bacon and taking at least five pieces. "Anyway, where did you go this morning?"
"Um…just for a little fly around the valley and don't worry no muggles saw me."
"Are you sure?" questioned Ginny, eyeing Harry suspiciously.
"Yes, yes…what are you and the kids doing today?" Harry asked, trying to steer the conversation away from his previous thoughts.
"Don't you remember? We're all going to Ron and Hermione's place today." She said
"Are Charlotte and Katherine coming too?" Harry asked.
"Oh yes, the kids haven't seen their cousins in so long and it would be nice to catch up with the old crowd, especially today…" Her voice trailed away and both looked down at their plates. There was a long pause. "Oh! And you've got a letter, the owl came in right before you did." Harry looked up and suddenly remembered why he had left the ledge overlooking the village. He got up and turned the corner to find a letter on the counter by the window. At the time, he had not known the owl and had wondered whom it was from and turning the letter over he immediately recognized the Hogwarts crest.