4) Awake

He must have fallen asleep. Asleep for the first time after his victory over Voldemort. The first not potion induced dreamless sleep since Sirius died. No nightmares.

"Do you really think he was awake? They wouldn't just say it?"

"No, Remus wouldn't do that to us."

"Will you two be quiet, you will wake him," hushed Mrs Weasley from the other side of his bed.

"Too…late…thanks, anyways."

"Harry!"

Uff.

"Don't you suffocate my best friend, Hermione. You never throw yourself onto me that way I should be jealous." Ron had gotten Harry's glasses from somewhere and reached them over.

"So nice to have you back."

After a while Mrs. Weasley send Ron and Hermione for lunch and to tell the others. Harry was thankful for the moment of silence.

But silence makes you think and what he was thinking about made him cry.

"Tell me Harry, I know I am not your mother, but you have to know that you can tell me everything. I know there is something going on with you. Please don't let it eat you from the inside, talk to me."

She held him tightly.

Finally he found the words to tell her.

"I waited for them. I…I wanted to tell them… but they didn't come."

"Who, Harry?"

"My p…parents. S…Sirius."

Mrs Weasley waited one moment before she said anything.

"It was not your time to die, Harry. What if they showed themselves? Would you have returned to us?"

Harry didn't answer. He doubted it.

"They love you and they are with you, but they want you to live. What meaning would their death have had if you weren't able to start a life of your own?"

"Why did they have to die at all? It was me, my fault."

"No, Harry, no. It was not your fault! Listen to me, it was never your fault, you were a baby and you are not the reason Tom Riddle turned out that way."

"Believe me, they are watching over you and they are proud of what you have become."

"Proud? No, I don't think they are proud that their son is a murderer." Harry looked down at his hands.

"Harry, this was war! And if you had had another chance you would have taken it. And they know it too!" Molly said taking his hands in hers, trying to calm the boy.

"Look at what you have achieved, look at how many didn't die because of you."

"What do you mean, Mrs Weasley?"

"The students. They were able to escape because you trained them. They were out of the way and in safety right after the battle started. Neville and Luna had them all under control, kept them calm.
If it hadn't been for you there would have been more casualties, I am sure of that."

She was right in a way, though it had been Hermione's plan that whatever happened, those two would bring the younger students to the castle. As they were not the best in battle situation they had prepared themselves for this task, even figured out a way to get them all out in case the castle fell in the hands of the Death Eaters.

Neville had actually taken two Death Eaters down who tried to follow them.

The teenagers returned and though Harry was still quiet, absorbed in his own thoughts, Molly knew that he would sort it out.

A few days later all of Harry's friends were studying in the hospital wing again.

Neville played with the wand he had picked up from Harry's nightstand. Harry saw it out of the corner of his eyes and grinned.

"You know whose wand that is, do you?"

"Isn't it yours?"

"No, I have mine here. Why don't you try that one before I tell you about it?"

Ron and Hermione were listening closely. Hermione was wondering what Harry was playing at.

"What should I do?" Neville looked around.

"Try a patronus," Harry suggested.

"I was never able to conjure a patronus. How could I do it with a different wand?"

"Well it is a powerful one and I think it would suite you. You underestimate yourself too much. I would give the wand to you if you can work with it. I would like to give it into hands I trust to never point it at me. It is Voldemort's wand."

"What?" came from all of the friends and Neville's hand was shaking as he tried not to drop the wand in fear that it might go off.

"B…but I…I am not powerful…"

"Neville, you are more powerful than you think. Has Dumbledore told you about the prophecy?"

"The one I smashed?"

"Yep, this one. Dumbledore knew it. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies… "

The room was silent. The friends stared at Harry, confused and in Hermione's case with horror. Harry knew she had understood, but this was not about his part.

"Since when did you know?" Hermione was shaking.

"It is not about me now Hermione, we can talk about it later. It is about Neville and how powerful he really is."

"Talk about it later? No, we talk about it now! You knew you had to kill Voldemort and we weren't worth to know about it?"

"Hermione…"

"Do not…!"

"Hermione!" Ron interrupted and pulled his girlfriend back on the bed. "Harry will tell us, but not right now."

Hermione snorted and sat down with crossed arms.

Neville was confused. "What has that to do with me?"

"Don't you understand, it could have been you! You could be at my place. If Voldemort had chosen you, the pureblood, you would have been the one to kill him. You are powerful, Neville, very! You just never found out. Try it!"

Neville was staring at Harry and then at the wand in his hand. He closed his eyes and whispered: "Expecto Patronum."

A white eagle erupted out of the tip of the wand just to dissolve right away. But it had been there.

"You will do fine on your NEWT's Neville. I want you to keep the wand. As I said I trust it to you."

After he thought about it for a moment Neville pocketed the wand without another word.

Harry turned to Hermione. "If I had told you about the prophecy you would have been a target for Voldemort even more then just for being my friend."

"When did you found out?"

"After Sirius died."

"You hid that for two years?" She was looking at him wide eyed.

"I had to, it was the only advantage I had because Voldemort didn't know the whole prophecy."

"Oh Harry!" To his surprise he found himself hugged by Hermione who was crying. He looked at Ron for help, but his friend shrugged smiling.

After this outburst they went back to studying until Ginny came from her last lesson for the day. She was exhausted and said that if she saw one more book she would scream. Even Hermione had enough and they just sat talking.

Ron pointed at Harry's hand. "Does it hurt?"

"No," said Harry studying the scarred skin. Madame Pomfrey had said that at least the pink colour would vanish eventually.

"Not, anymore."

Ron grinned. "It's a good thing you don't have Divination anymore, though. Can you imagine what Trelawney would make out of this?"

Hermione frowned at his silliness, but Ginny who had taken Divination just for the fun of it took Harry's hand, started to squint and predicted in a misty tone:

"Your future is dark, poor child, death awaits you around every corner and, hell there are a lot of corners here…" she traced the lines of his hand carefully with her finger then she held his hand closer to her eyes as if she was studying it very closely. "But wait! What's this?"
She looked him in the eyes and smirked while the others were laughing hard. "Are you really wearing pink boxers?"

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