Alternate Ending

"Good morning, Harry."

Harry blinked. Where was he? He looked around, and his gaze met a pair of twinkling blue eyes. "Wha-" he started to ask.

"Dobby the house-elf reported that you were having nightmares. I decided to check up on things."

It was then that Harry noticed he was sitting on his bed in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory. The other beds were empty, and looked as if they hadn't been slept in.

"I'm…fine. Fine."

"Are you sure, Harry?"

He glanced around once more at the dormitory, and nodded. "I'm sure."

When Dumbledore had gone, Harry stuck his hand into his pocket. One wand. He hoped that meant what he thought it did.

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Harry had never felt more relieved than he did the first day of school that year. Seeing Hermione walking into the Entrance Hall washed away the last of his fears. Voldemort was defeated for now, and both of his friends were alive. What could be better?

"Harry, have you…er…been drinking too much butterbeer?" Hermione asked him, when she and Ron walked over to where he was standing.

"Huh?"

"You've got an ear-to-ear grin, mate. I know we're your best friends and all, but you can't have missed us that much. You were here at Hogwarts all summer! Bet you got in loads of exploring."

"I'm sure he did, Ron, but I'm also sure that he used it as an opportunity to learn more as well, right Harry?"

"Hermione! Is that all you think about? More learning?!"

Ron and Hermione turned to look at him. "Well, Harry?" they chorused.

"Both right."

Ron groaned. "Mione, what are you done to him?"

"Just because Harry's finally taking an interest in his studies…."

Harry smiled as he listened to them bickering. To think that he'd come so close to never seeing these type of scenes again….

"Harry?" He looked up into Hermione's questioning eyes. Without warning, her dead body flashed before his eyes, and he winced. "Harry? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he lied. "Nothing." But he knew that what he'd had to do would definitely continue to bother him. And what would they say if they knew?

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Slightly happier, right? The Year and Month Turners were destroyed, so they were never used, and everything goes back to normal. And everyone's alive in this shorter, sort of happier version. Yay!