Chapter One: They're awake!
Harry slowly opened his eyes as the sun streamed in through the window. It took him a moment to realize where exactly he was, and as he started to regocnize the familiar white curtains and metal beds all lined in rows, a thousand memories came rushing back to his head
"Harry!" shrieked a feamale voice.
"Her...Hermione...?" asked Harry, struggling to make out who was speaking to him. He couldn't black out again...
Harry tried to turn over onto his side, but when he made the slightest move, he let out a gasp of pain. He could hear familiar voices to his right calling for Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster.
Harry leaned back on his pillows and let all the awful memories flood back...Voldemort was gone. His friends, they'd all helped, he would have died without them...Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Cho, Fred, George, Neveille, Dean, Seamus, even Draco, a new addition to his group of friends. All Harry could remember of Voldemort's final defeat was him standing there...pain beyond pain, even Dumbledore couldn't help him, but just before he was knocked out from over-exhaustion and overwhelming pain, he rememberd feeling a huge sense of ease, as if his subconsious knew that it was over.
Dumbledore burst into the Hogwarts hospital wing just as Harry began to come around and was feeling his hand beside him, groping for his glasses. Harry let out a small grin when he saw Dumbledore's face - his eye's hadn't twinkled like that in far too long.
"Harry! You're awake! Excellent! You gave us quite a scare for awhile there, but Poppy came through once again! I've had Professor Snape prepare an intense painkilling potion for you, but it won't be ready until tomorrow. For now, I know that you are in a lot of pain, but I daresay Ronald, Hermione, and Giverva wouldn't mind giving you a hand up to your common room, much to Poppy's distaste," Dumbledore said with a smile. "We have healed your injuries as best as we can while you were unconsious, so feel free to head back to the common room as soon as you feel ready," and with another wink and a whip of his cloak, Dumbledore swept out of the room.
"Always the same..." Harry murmured.
When Dumbledore left, Ron immediatly stood up from his chair by the door and called for Draco who was standing just outside the hospital wing door. The two gave Harry an admirng grin and stood on either side of Harry helping him to his feet, sensing he would be eager to get back to the Gryffondor common room as soon as possible. Hermione kissed Harry on the cheek, as did Ginny, and they both walked behind Harry, Ron and Draco. The five of them slowly made their way back up to the Gryffondor common room, not saying much.
Harry noticed that Ron was starting to look rather pale, and kept glacing at Harry, then quickly looking away.
"Ron?" asked Harry puzzled, "Is something wrong?"
Suddenly Ron stopped, turned toward Harry, and gave him a hug. Gentil, but friendly all the same."Harry, you - you almost died! I sat there day after day, watching you struggle to live! You are one of my best friends! If anything had happened, I..."
Harry could tell that Ron couldn't continue, and like they were reading eachother's minds, he and Hermione both stepped up (well, Harry more limping then anything) and gave Ron a huge, comforting hug. Draco stood there watching with a nice smile on his face, and after a moment, he and Ginny joined the group hug as well. Then, the five of them started laughing, all of them just happy to be together again, unthreatened by a certain You-Know-Who.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Draco all broke apart as all of sudden, hundreds of pounding feet sounded above them.
"Oh shit!" exclaimed Ginny, checking her watch. "It's dinnertime!"
"Come on then, lets get Harry out of here and out of they way!" said Draco.
They started to move towards the Great Hall thinking they could make it there before the crowd of students did, but before they had taken more then a couple of steps, they heard a girl's voice shout;
"Harry! Holy shit...you're alive!" And in a rush of movement, Harry found himself surrounded by a large amount of black, silkey hair.
"Uh...Cho?"Harry asked as he was being hugged tighter and tighter.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" exclaimed Cho, releasing her grip on Harry and looking him in the eye.
"Don't mention it, I'm okay. Just a little bit sore still," said Harry giving her a reassuring smile.
Harry noticed that people had stopped on the stairs and in the hallway, all craining their necks to get a good look at him, almost as if not believing their eyes. Once that shock wore in that it really was Harry - a little bruised and cut but basically okay - standing in from of them, the crowd slowly started to make their way towards the Great Hall again. All except for a few; Fred and George Weasly, Dean Tomas, Seamus Finnigan, Neveille Longbottom, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, and Katie Bell, all crowded around Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Draco. They hugged everyone, gave praise on Voldemort's defeat, and thanked Harry, with only Cho not saying anything, silent tears pouring down her face, just staring at Harry looking very sad. Harry took her hand in his, and as he stood there, explaining (rather modestly) about his triumph over Voldemort, with Cho holding his hand, he felt truley happy for the first time in much too long.
Everyone decided to head up to the Gryffondor common room, with no objections to Draco and Cho tagging along. When they got there, they all sat in the squishy armchairs and couches by the fireplace. Cho let go of Harry's hand to go and sit with Lavender and Parvati, but she left a note in Harry's hand and whispered, "Read it later!" with a smile.
Professor McGonagal appeared later the evening with a tray of food and an enourmous smile on her face.
"I noticed several of my Gryffondors missing at dinner, so I decided to bring up some food," said Professor McGonagal. "With the help of Dobby, of course," she added with a slight smile at Harry.
Dobby emerged from behind McGonagal with a shy smile and another tray of food. He waved at Harry and said "Hello Mr.Potter," then began to place the food on the tables near the fireplace. Harry grinned at him and tried to get up on his own to greet him and help him unload the food, but he let out another gasp of pain and stayed put. Everyone looked over at him concerned, and it was hard to tell who was more worried, Ron or Cho.
"You okay mate?" asked Ron, reminding Harry of Mrs.Weasley.
"Yeah..."said Harry slowly, rubbing his sore ribs. Almost every move he made sent sharp pains up his sides and, though he hadn't really looked himself over yet, he suspected that he had some pretty serious cuts and bruises on his back and stomach.
"Are you sure you're alright Harry?" asked Cho, standing up and sitting down beside Harry while Parvati and Lavender exchanged sly smiles. Harry turned a little pink, but smiled at Cho and moved over to make room for her. He thought about the note she had given him that lay unread in his pocket.
The group sat talking for hours while a warm fire burned in the fireplace, and as the minutes ticked by, more people joined them just returning from supper. Harry just sat and talked, enjoying the feeling of being with his friends again, not to mention Cho was holding his hand again and leaning against him ever so slighty, often making eye contact with him and blushing.
When the sky started turning to a pinky-orangy glow, everyone decided to head back to their dorrmatories and sleep in until noon. Fred and George clapped Harry lightly on the shoulders, Dean, Neveille and Seamus gave him a high-five and told him they'd wait for him upstairs. Parvati and Lavender hugged him, Draco smiled and said, "Latter Potter." Looking teary, Ginny and Hermione kissed him on the cheek, and Cho looked teary as well as she kissed him on both cheeks and squeezed his hand. She gave him one last hug, as if to make sure he was okay, and turned to walk out the Portrait hole.
Ron helped Harry up the stairs, and when they reached the sixth year boy's dormatory, Dean helped him into his pyjamas with Ron and Seamus started to unpack some of Harry's things. Just as Neveille offered to help Harry into his bed, Seamus came up with an idea.
"Hey guys?" What if we all just grabbed our blankets and pillows and slept on the floor? I mean, Harry...I just...remember last year? You had those nightmores, and if you have them again...then we'll all be here for you." Seamus looked at Harry, hoping he wouldn't feel like he was being put down, especially after the horrible way he had acted towards his friend last year.
Harry understood, and was grateful. He nodded at Seamus and threw his pillow at him with a grin, as a way of communicating a thank you.
In minutes, the floor was covered with fluffy pillows and soft blankets, and Harry, Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Neveille were all nodding off. The last thing Harry did before falling asleep was read the note from Cho he'd pulled out of his pocket earlier. He fell asleep with a smile on his face, drifting into a deep sleep almost instantly.
The note read:
Harry,
Meet me in the Room of Requirement tomorrow at exactly noon. We have to talk. Love,
Cho
xoxoxo
