Rating: PG, for people who don't like any type of swearing
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry and Draco, would I really be bothering to write this??
Warning: This will eventually be a slash story, so if it bugs you, don't bother to read any further.
Author's Notes: Ok, I know I said I was waiting to see what people thought before writing more, but by the time I'd posted the first part, this was already begging to be written, so I did. And being impatient, I couldn't be assed waiting a couple of days to post it.
This was supposed to be just a short chapter from Harry's POV, to help explain Harry's behaviour in following chapters, but my bloody muse decided to take over, and it has ended up a lot longer and more complex than I intended. Turns out Harry had a lot to say. Damn muse.
Merlin, so much has happened in the last year. I think I'm still processing it all. One thing I do know without having to think much... the world is never going to be the same, and my life certainly won't be.
The thing, person, that has been looming over my head and causing me so much pain and trouble for the last six years, and in many ways my whole life, is gone. Voldemort is gone. He's dead, for real this time. He can never return to plague the wizarding world, and me. I, Harry James Potter, killed him.
That thought scares me sometimes. I only just turned 17 a few days ago, and I've already killed. It was necessary, and in doing so I know I've saved thousands of innocent lives, but it's still a scary thought. Before I knew Voldemort existed, and about the prophecy that said one of us would have to kill the other, I would never have imagined that at any time in my life I would take another's life. But it was necessary, and if I hadn't done it I wouldn't be sitting here in my best friend's backyard, I'd be dead.
But I don't want to think on that anymore. I've grieved, in a strange sort of way, for my innocence, and the life I took, even if it was that of a completely evil person. It's time to move on and think of the future.
My life is no longer overshadowed with the knowledge that I could die very soon. Suddenly, I can entertain the thought that I could die a very old wizard, I could live a very long life. It didn't even occur to me until Voldemort was dead, that somewhere in the back of my head, I wasn't sure I'd live to see even so young an age as 20. In the back of my head sat the firm knowledge that I could die before I'd even graduated Hogwarts. Now, that tiny lead weight in my brain is gone.
Now that I know it was there, a lot of things in my head make more sense. I'm about to enter my sixth year at Hogwarts and haven't really known what I wanted to do once I graduated. Now I think I understand why I couldn't decide. In the back of my head, I wasn't sure I was going to live long enough to need to make that decision.
The world has suddenly opened up for me in more ways than one. Before, I've always had to be so careful about where I went, who I met. My movements, or lack of as has been the case, was always restricted by the need to keep me safe from Voldemort and his spies and Death Eaters. Voldemort's dead, and his spies and Death Eaters are all either in prison or dead. Suddenly I can go anywhere I want with no fear of being captured and killed.
So far, this has been one of the best things. Finally I've been able to leave the Dursley's for good. Never again do I have to go back there if I don't want to. This summer, for the first time ever, I had the choice of staying wherever I wanted to, going wherever I wished. I'd never really been anywhere, the few occasions when the Dursley's went on holidays, they never took me with them, so I decided now was the time to change that. I felt freer than I'd ever been, and I wanted to make the most of it.
The first two weeks of holidays, Hermione's parents had invited Ron and I to stay so they could get to know Hermione's best friends better. But instead of going to The Burrow after this as intended, I informed Hermione and Ron that I was taking them on a trip. I already had quite a bit of money from my parents, and surprisingly Sirius had named me as his sole beneficiary in his will, so I'd inherited a substantial amount from him as well. I told Herm and Ron I wanted to see places, and I wanted my best friends with me, so I booked us a round the world trip that would last four weeks. Those were amazing weeks for me. I saw so many amazing sights, and learned a lot, not just about the places, but about myself and my friends. We have never been as close as we were that trip. We had seen and done so much together, been with each other when we had all been stripped to the bare bones of our souls, and had emerged together intact. We all now understand each other better than we ever have, and it's been wonderful to feel so connected to them.
We've come back to The Burrow for the last two weeks of the holidays, and it's been so nice to be back here. Mr Weasley ended up Minister of Magic. He didn't really want to be, but Dumbledore very vocally supported him, and he's so well liked people followed suit in their support. Since it happened four months ago, there have been some changes to The Burrow. There are quite a few new things around the place, and everyone's got lots of new clothes, as well as possessions. The Weasleys have always put their kids first, and it's evident in the number of new things the various children have received.
The most touching thing that has happened to me since I got here was one night when Mrs Weasley pulled me aside when everyone was sitting around after dinner. She sat down with me in a quiet corner of the room and said to me how very proud she is of me, and how proud she knows my mum and dad would be too. Then she said to me how she's come to think of me as one her son's, and she didn't want me to get upset with her, 'cos she knew she could never replace my mum, but if I wanted to call her mum once in a while, she wouldn't mind. I didn't know what to say. In a way I'd come to think of her as the closest thing I've ever had to a mum, and I told her that. I wasn't really sure if I'd be comfortable calling her that, but I thanked her for telling me I could, and maybe one day I would. She got all misty eyed and gave me a big hug, one of the ones I love to get from her, then stood up and suggested all of us go on a walk, since it was still light and a lovely evening.
Yes, the past year has been very eventful for me. I'm definitely not the same person I was at the beginning of our fifth year at Hogwarts. According to Mr and Mrs Weasley, a lot of people have changed drastically over the last few months. After we got back from our trip, they told us all the news from the Ministry and stuff. A lot of the people who were Death Eaters were parents of kids who were in Slytherin, and a couple surprisingly had kids in other houses too. Once all the Death Eaters had been sentenced to either prison for life or the Dementors Kiss, a curious thing apparently happened. A lot of the kids who were now free of their parents began to express their thanks to the Ministry for punishing their parents. Turns out a lot of the kids didn't agree with their parents views about purebloods, muggles and Voldemort especially. Many kids whose parents were Death Eaters admitted to having arguments with their parents about not wanting to join Voldemorts ranks. That's not to say that they all turned out to be nice, but there have been a fair number of them.
Mrs Weasley told us, after making us promise to not say anything, that Draco Malfoy's father was one of the first to receive the Dementors Kiss, which everyone knew. But what people didn't know was that afterwards Narcissa Malfoy, who had managed to remain uninvolved in her husband's activities, met Mr Weasley privately and told him that she was glad Voldemort had been defeated when he was, because Lucius had intended on forcing Draco to join the Death Eaters ranks, or be disinherited, and she had not wanted to either to happen to her beloved son. Draco had confided in his mother he thought his father was wrong in supporting Voldemort.
That came as quite a shock to us, from the way Malfoy behaved, we had always thought he would be a strong supporter of Voldemort. Turns out he's nowhere near as fond of violence as we all believed. When I think back now on the past few years, I think we've made quite a few assumptions about Malfoy that may be wrong. I realise now that he was much more liable to curse me with words than his wand. It's made me wonder a bit about how things could have been different when we first met. If I had accepted his friendship, things might have been very different. We might have even become good friends. But then again, somehow I don't think his father would have liked it, or might have even used it to try to lure me to Voldemort.
The past is done. Now is time to look to the future, which is looking brighter to me than it ever has before. And who knows, maybe Malfoy will no longer be so mean to us this year, he no longer has to live up to his dad's expectations. No constant fights with him would be really nice, and I've always wondered what he looks like when he's not sneering. Maybe this year I'll find out.