Disclaimer: The characters and places and stuff belong to JKR. But for now, they are at my mercy. *evil grin* I'll return them as soon as I'm finished…maybe.

This is the sequel to "What Is Happiness?" To understand this story, you must first read that one. It is located at http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=946096

In this chapter: The aftermath of killing the Dark Lord.

~~~

Over the next two weeks--the last two weeks of the term--Draco and Harry went to classes only occasionally. Their parents didn't want them to wear themselves out, so they only went when they were bored. Everything they missed, they would make up in the summer, anyway.

The Ministry had found out exactly what happened during the month that the boys were missing. They used the Memorius Spell, so that Harry and Draco wouldn't have to talk about it. Not three days after the Ministry found out, did the media get hold of the news. Every wizard newspaper and magazine in Europe printed a story about 'how the Boy-Who-Lived defeated You-Know-Who for good.'

That, of course, meant that Harry began to receive a lot more attention. Classmates would stare at him as he walked through the halls. Others would pat him on the back and praise him. He received hundreds of owls from complete strangers every day (after the first day, he threw out everything that was unfamiliar).

By summer break, Harry's speech had improved greatly. It was nearly back to normal. He and Draco were starting to get back to normal, as well. They'd each talked with their parents about what had happened, and it really helped. They felt safe again, and they weren't constantly looking over their shoulders. They could be separated and still feel safe. They still had nightmares and flashbacks, of course; but they were doing considerably better.

The second day of the summer holidays, the Snapes had come to the Lupin-Black house for supper. Just as they were all finishing dessert (apple pie, made by Harry), an owl flew in the window and perched on Harry's shoulder. Harry removed the letter from the owl's beak and gave it a bit of food, and it flew off again. Harry opened the letter and read it to himself. He frowned and paled a little at its contents.

"Something wrong, kiddo?" Sirius wondered, concerned. "What does it say?"

"Normality is stolen once more," Harry muttered, handing the letter to Sirius and folding his arms across his chest. Sirius began to read out loud.

"Dear Mr. Harry Potter," he read. "As a result of your amazing show of bravery and ability in your destruction of the Dark Lord, the Ministry of Magic wishes for you to attend a ceremony in your honor, where we will bestow upon you the Order of Merlin, First Class award."

"That's bloody amazing, Harry!" Sean exclaimed. "The Order of Merlin? Wow..."

"It also goes on to say," Harry said, hotly, "that, basically, I can randomly kill someone and get away with it. I can learn to Apparate and do it without a license. I can become an Animagus and not have to register. I can do whatever the bloody hell I want, and I can get away with it. All because I'm the 'savior.' I'm the bloody Boy-Who-Killed-Voldemort, so I get all these special privileges. But they can't give me the one thing I want."

"Harry, you know you're never going to be normal," Remus sighed. "You never have been, and you never will be."

"But that doesn't stop me from wanting it."

Harry pushed his chair out and stood up, heading up to his bedroom. Draco followed him and lay on the bed with him. Harry rested his head on Draco's chest, and Draco ran his fingers up and down Harry's arm.

"They're trying to give me all kinds of things, acting like it will make me happy," Harry murmured. "So far, I've gotten three new broomsticks, all kinds of rare potions--I gave those to Severus--rare books, twenty-six marriage proposals, and a total of 5,483 Galleons. All because I killed thirty-four people."

"Thirty-four people who deserved to be killed," Draco added.

"I killed a lot of the Slytherins' parents," Harry sighed. "Did you know that? I made them orphans."

"Don't think about that, honey," Draco told him. "If it hadn't been for your killing thirty-four people, so many more other people would be dead right now. He can't kill anyone anymore, and it's all thanks to you. I understand that you hate all the attention and everything, but it can't be escaped. You just have to grin and bear it."

"I wonder..." Harry said, thoughtfully. "If I send a request to Mr. Weasley, I wonder if he could get everyone to tone it down, you know? Like the newspapers and stuff, tell them to print less about me and all that."

"You could try," Draco replied. "But why send a request? Aren't you going over to visit the Weasleys' tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but I assume he'll be working while I'm there," Harry said. "Now that he's the Minister and all." He changed the subject. "What am I going to do about Ron tomorrow? I don't want to see him." Draco chuckled.

"Grin and bear it, love," he repeated. "I'm sure Fred and George will protect you from the git."

~~~

"Harry, dear, come in!" Molly Weasley greeted him as he and Remus stood in the doorway at The Burrow. "Remus, hello. Are you staying?"

"If that's all right," Remus replied. Lowering his voice so that Harry wouldn't hear, he said, "Harry's still not very comfortable without Draco, Sirius, or me nearby." Molly nodded in understanding as they entered the living room.

"Lunch is almost ready," she said. "Harry, the kids are all outside, except for Ron. Bill and Charlie are here, too, and they've been looking forward to seeing you." Harry looked at Remus, uncertainly.

"It's all right, go on. I'll be right in here."

Still, Harry looked extremely nervous as he folded his arms across his chest. Though he'd regained most of his speech, he was sometimes unable to voice his thoughts properly when he was nervous. Remus realized that this was what Harry was worrying about, and he lowered himself to Harry's level, taking his hands.

"Harry, listen to me," Remus said, soothingly. "Take a deep breath and calm down. It's just the Weasleys, and you know them. There's nothing to be nervous about."

"I'm going to say something stupid," Harry sighed. "And I just took my medicine an hour ago. I don't want to get sick in front of everyone."

"Everything will be all right," Remus assured him, placing a hand on either side of Harry's face. "But if you really want to, we can go home."

Harry bit his lip and glanced out the window, seeing the red-haired Weasleys flying on their brooms. He'd brought his broomstick, shrunken so that it would fit in his pocket. Finally, after a moment, he looked at Remus and nodded.

"But if I start to feel sick, I want to go home."

"No problem. Go have fun."

Harry slowly made his way out to the backyard, and he was immediately bombarded by voices. Bill, Charlie, the twins, and Ginny were all out there, and they all started talking at the same time. Harry's palms started sweating, and he began to shiver a little as everyone crowded around him. He tried to answer their questions, but his voice stuttered a bit, and he couldn't get complete sentences out. He began to feel a little dizzy as they kept on talking.

"Everyone, shut up and back off!"

The voices suddenly stopped, and everyone backed away as Bill pushed through. He placed a hand on Harry's arm, keeping him steady.

"All of you, go back to flying," Bill instructed his brothers and sister. "Harry doesn't need everyone crowding around him and talking all at once." Reluctantly, his siblings obeyed. Bill led Harry to a picnic table, and they sat down across from each other.

"Thanks," Harry muttered, weakly. He ran his fingers through his hair, then stopped when he noticed his hands were shaking.

"You all right?" Bill asked, gently. He conjured up a glass of water and gave it to Harry, who accepted it and began to sip at it.

"Just a little..." Harry's mind blanked, and he quickly tried to remember what word he wanted to say. "Ne-nervous. Damn it..."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Bill told him. "It's perfectly understandable that you're nervous."

"I-I get like this when I'm nervous," Harry mumbled, trying to calm his shaking hands. "And I took...medicine earlier, it makes me sick..." He closed his eyes, taking a breath. "I think I need to lie down..."

Bill led Harry back into the house, where he lay down on the sofa. Just as he closed his eyes, Remus and Molly came out from the kitchen. Remus saw Harry and sat on the edge of the couch, placing a hand on the boy's face.

"Are you all right, kid?" Harry nodded, silently.

"Bill, tell the kids lunch is ready," Molly requested. "Harry, dear, are you going to eat?"

"I'll try," Harry murmured. "Can I have a few minutes?"

"Of course, honey," Molly replied. "In fact, I'll bring your food out here for you."

After Molly returned to the kitchen, all of the Weasley kids (aside from Percy, who was at work) herded in after her. Everyone soon came back out to the living room, each person bearing a plate. Remus had two, and he put one on Harry's lap, while Bill helped Harry to sit up. Ginny, Ron, the twins, and Charlie sat on the floor. Bill and Molly sat in chairs, and Remus sat on the sofa with Harry.

"Arthur and Percy were hoping to see you, Harry, but they were called in to the Ministry for the day," Molly said.

"Where's Draco?" Ginny wondered. "I thought he'd be coming with you."

"Sev and Katie took him to Australia," Harry replied, feeling a little calmer. "For a week."

"They wanted to get some quality time in together before the baby's born," Remus explained. "Katie's doctor doesn't want her to do any traveling after this week. Until they return, Harry's just going to have to suffer with me, Sirius, and the kids." Harry gave a tired smile, but he didn't reply.

After lunch, Molly, Remus, and Ginny went to the kitchen, to clean up. Ron went upstairs, while Harry and the other Weasley boys stayed in the living room. Harry motioned for the twins to come closer to him, and he removed a small something from his pocket. He enlarged the something, and it became a pouch of money, which he handed to the twins. Fred and George's eyes were wide with awe as they felt the weight of the pouch.

"Consider it a donation from a..." Harry closed his eyes, mentally berating himself. "An anonymous benefactor. Yeah, those are the words I wanted."

"Bloody hell, Harry, how much is in here?" George asked, amazed.

"Five thousand," Harry replied. "People keep sending me all this stuff that I don't want or need. I want you guys to have the money for your shop." He was instantly bombarded with hugs from the twins.

"Fred, George, I think a simple 'thank you' would have sufficed," Charlie commented, grinning.

"Harry, we'll love you forever," Fred vowed as he and his twin backed off. Harry just smiled.

"What else have you gotten, besides money?" Charlie wondered.

"Three broomsticks," Harry said. "Rare potions, rare books. I gave the potions to Severus, and I think I'll keep the books. I got twenty-six marriage proposals, all of which I disregarded. You probably know, what with your dad being the Minister and all, they want to give me the Order of Merlin, First Class."

"Are you going to accept it?" Bill inquired. Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"Everybody wants me to," he sighed. "I suppose I'll have to."