(A/N: I realize that I have had many reasons for my slow updates lately...but I can assure you, none of them match this. The reason this update is so much later than usual is because I broke my arm last Monday. I was on painkillers that pretty much knocked me out, and with my numbed fingers finally regaining feeling by the day of my school's homecoming dance, I had absolutely no time to write. I had been in a full cast from the tips of my fingers to my shoulder, making piano and typing impossible. Let me tell you...those were dark days. But once I received a different cast typing is now easy and I'm verrrry thankful for it. So anyways, I hope you all will understand and now, no more delays here is the next chapter. But let me tell you...the reviews for last chapter were WONDERFUL!!!!!! So thank you and enjoy! Hugs, Haystack)

Usual Disclaimer

sappjody: I'm sure you probably have not read up to Chapter 32 but I just wanted to say thanks for reviewing chapter one and Sort Tordu as a whole. So when you get here...you'll see! Glad to hear from you!

Smiles28: If I can assume sappiody is your friend then yes, some of your friends have reviewed! Lol...thank you for doing that again. Once I finish this story up, I've got plot diagrams on my desk for a completely different story so we'll see how that all turns out! It's so nice to know that reviewers will transfer from this series and onto other things I'll write. So thanks for that too! Sorry about the update, but I'll update as swiftly as I can though looking at my calender the most I could hope for would be probably Friday though it might be possible if I get good ideas for dialogue for Wednesday. We'll see and keep our fingers crossed!

dracoisahottie13: Your faith in me is so comforting. I will do my utmost best to live up to your expectations of ending with a 'big bang'. Yes I'm very sad that this series is coming to an end as well, but I'm excited about this new story. Hopefully everyone else will be too!

Taela: I'm terribly sorry about your computer. I can sympathize I've been there. Don't worry about reviewing certain parts of chapters, it's very difficult to do I know. I was flattered that I threw you into this story...truly I am, since it's a goal every author has. So thank you for letting me know! But seriously, you have NO idea what a comfort the second part of your review was for me. I was feeling so depressed about not updating before the weekend was out but I had just taken another painkiller that restricted me from writing anymore and then I read your review. I don't know if you remember what you wrote but if not you told me not to worry about updating, to take my time. Those were exactly the words I needed to hear. So thank you! It's nice to hear from you again!

draco-luver-4-eva: You have no idea how much you're review meant to me...I can't even begin to tell you what inspiration your words gave me. Seriously, I don't' know how to respond to it except....THANK YOU!

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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: EXPLANATIONS PT. ONE

It was several days later until the newly reformed six were released from the Hospital wing. Ron sporting the most injuries and Hermione loosing the most blood, their release this year was unlike any in the past.

Every year, Ron, Hermione, and Harry had run into conflict with Voldemort or his followers. And after they'd defeated the enemy, the trio resided in the comfortable white cots, recovering emotionally as well as physically from the events of the day before.

They were quiet days; each member retreating into the deepest part of their minds and hearts, solemn about their close escape or the lives lost.

But this time...everything was different.

They had Harry back...they were all together again, with the exception of Luna. Nobody except Death Eaters had died. The last threats to the world were vanquished. There was celebration and lightheartedness in the air, instead of depression and gloom.

Lavender Brown was their first visitor and she eagerly greeted everyone with a relieved smile and Ron with a shy kiss.

She bombarded them with questions of what had occurred after she'd left to inform Dumbledore. They could ask her none of their own, for her visiting time was up and Madam Pomfrey whisked her away, eager for her patients to have some peace and quiet.

The next day, they awoke to piles of cards and candy piled miles high upon their metal nightstands, from students in the school they'd never met before. Ron accepted this with enthusiasm, eating all of Ginny and Draco's candy as well as his own; to which everyone laughed.

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The May air was intoxicating and they had done nothing but lay in the fresh green grass out by the lake, lazily moving from one class to another. Now that Voldemort and his Death Eaters were no loner a problem, the six soaked in the feelings of freedom.

Harry's return was a shock to the world. The first people notified were the Weasleys, Lupin, and the members of the Order. Mrs. Weasley had cried; dabbing her eyes daintily with a handkerchief, violently throwing Harry into the tightest embrace he'd ever experienced. Mr. Weasley had clapped him back, and laughed heartily, his loud voice exclaiming his welcome back. The remaining members of the Weasley family had similar reactions to Mr. Weasley, leaving Ron and Ginny beaming with happiness, Ginny holding Harry's hand the whole time.

Ginny and Harry had become inseparable. Never once, except during class, did you see one without the other. And even then, simply leaving for Herbology and Charms required a two-minute snog.

Everyone accepted this with good humor, just thankful that Harry had indeed returned.

The Daily Prophet had a field day, and for once, Harry actually gave an interview insisting though, that a copy be run through Hermione first, to which she blushed as she corrected the reporter on a fact or two and three spelling mistakes.

Life could not have been better, Ginny, Harry, Draco, Hermione, Neville, and Ron floating on air with the joy of death not hanging over them for once. There was no threat to their lives; they'd all survived. How fate had allowed it to be so, none of them knew. But it certainly appeared twisted.

The irony of the battle and of all day's events troubled no one. No one except Harry.

At night, the one time of the day when he was not in Ginny Weasley's presence, he sat in his dormitory staring upon the moonlit grounds of Hogwarts, thinking.

How had he come back from the dead? It wasn't possible...everyone had tried...bloody hell even Dumbledore had tried to bring Sirius back! Nobody had succeeded, yet here he was just as alive and healthy as anyone.

His memories jostled from his time spent dead, questions flooded into his mind. He didn't dare ask about the past year's events for he knew (thanks to a comment made by Hagrid, who'd spilt several beady tears into his hairy beard at the sight of Harry) that they had not been good.

He'd observed the others, and slowly as the days passed by, he'd pieced together a vague idea of what had occurred before his astronomical return.

Hermione's pain he understood. He'd witnessed the suffering she'd endured while choosing between himself and Draco and the couple's constant clinging to each other was explained.

Harry hadn't been blind when Neville shot Ginny longing glances behind her back and when they hugged and he held onto her for a moment longer. Ginny didn't notice, but Harry did and he had more reason than one to believe that something had happened between the two. He wasn't jealous...Ginny was his. But the mystery troubled him.

Ron was the toughest to decipher. He was his same old self, but Harry definitely noted that he spent less time with the group than from what he remembered. He was sure that his death had been a catastrophe to Ron, but something else had happened...a few things if he wasn't mistaken, that no one seemed willing to talk about. He and Hermione had become incredibly close and even though he didn't blame them (for he was glad they had remained such good friends to each other when he was gone) he couldn't help but feel like a third wheel.

Such thoughts were running through his mind, as Harry, Neville, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Draco made their way down the winding corridor to the Headmaster's office.

Muttering the password, Hermione lead the way onto the spiral staircase, the gigantic eagle rotating slowly.

Taking the six seats that were provided, they didn't speak but instead entertained themselves with observing Dumbledore's office until the Headmaster finally poked his head in the door in the back, smiling that familiar twinkle that immediately put everyone at ease lighting up his old, wrinkled face.

"Hello Professor" they chorused

"Good afternoon" He said, moving across the room to his desk where he sat in his chair.

There were a few moments of silence where no one said anything, Dumbledore smirking knowingly from behind his half-moon spectacles at the students who sat, shifting uncomfortably in the chairs, under his gaze.

"Um...Professor?" Ron egged along, hoping to break the heavy quiet that hung in the air quite the way thick humidity wafts along on a hot summer's day.

"Yes Mr. Weasley I understand that you all are not comfortable with me looking at you for so long. But I find it immensely humorous that no one has yet asked me a question. I expected them to come hopping off your tongues."

"Questions about what, Professor?" Neville inquired

"Well I did promise to explain. And I'm never one to break a promise...so here we are. I apologize for having not retrieved you earlier but you see, I myself did not know many of the answers, and now that the handful of remaining Death Eaters have been interrogated and thrown in Azkaban, I can give you all the explanation you deserve."

"There are Death Eaters still alive?!" Draco asked horrified

"Yes Mr. Malfoy, but I can assure you that they are being taken care of" Dumbledore said reassuringly

"Who survived?" Draco asked in a low menacing voice, hatred for the men searing through his body, evident in his white knuckles that were currently grasping the wooden handle of his chair as though his life depended on it.

"Several whose names you all do not know, but among those you do, were Peter Pettigrew and Mr. Crouch" The Headmaster responded simply

"Wormtail??" Neville and Harry shouted in unison, disbelief etched across their faces

"Yes"

"The coward...betrayed my parents...hurt Ginny...die" Harry sat muttering under his breath

Ignoring Harry's mumbling, he turned to the two girls and three other boys sitting quietly, waiting for him to continue, "As I said before, Wormtail is facing terrible consequences...more so than the others. But capturing Mr. Crouch was the true treasure."

"Crouch?" Ron asked

"Oh yes...the mind behind the carefully constructed, even brilliant if I may say so, plan of his, that you all fell into."

"What plan?" Hermione inquired suspiciously

"Of how to raise me from the dead" Harry said miserably

"No, Mr. Potter, though magnificent as it may appear to us, your return truly was not their main goal. I'm afraid it's much more complex than that."

"Well if it wasn't Harry then what was it?" Ginny asked, confused

"Death Eaters strive for death Miss Weasley...they never bring people back. It defies everything they believe in. They aim to hurt life, not revive it"

"Then why would they even bother bringing Harry back?" Hermione asked, her face now matching the others, with utter confusion plastered across it

"You best sit back Miss Granger. It is a long story..."

TO BE CONTINUED..............