Dear Harry,
You do realize that you've won your last battle, right? Voldemort is gone, and you never have to even pretend to duel again! Please, just come home! Because of you even all of the Death Eaters have been captured. People love you here! I love you! I know you always wanted to be an Auror, but I'm sure McGonagall would let you teach at Hogwarts. You'd be an amazing DADA professor and I doubt you want to be an Auror still with all you've seen and done.
Love ALWAYS
Ginny
PS- At least write back and tell me your safe!
Harry Potter put down the latest letter from his old friend. He wiped at his eyes with his wet sleeve. Leaving his friends had been harder than defeating Voldemort, but surely they didn't want him around anymore. He pulled out a scrap piece of parchment and tried to write a letter back.
Dear Ginny,
I'm fine, and no, I won't come back, you wouldn't want me to.
Harry
He read the short letter once and crumbled it up and threw it into the fire. As he turned away from the fire, he briefly glimpsed his image in the mirror that was his one possession other than his wand and the clothes on his back. A tear traced its way down his cheek as he saw the horrid image. The flickering firelight threw the scars into stark relief. It was a face that belonged in a house of horrors, not on the body of a boy who hasn't seen his eighteenth birthday. It was worse than the famous Auror veteran, now dead, Moody, Mad-Eye Moody. It would have been cruel to force its presence onto his friends, to ask Ginny to kiss it. Harry stood up from his seat on the stump. He limped over to the fire, strongly favoring his right leg. He slowly laid himself down on a small area of cleared land. He took his shirt off and piled it up beneath his head. The fire flickered reflections in his eyes, eyes that hadn't held the simple presence of a smile for too long. Hedwig fluttered over and landed next to his chest and hooted softly. Harry raised a gnarled left hand and stroked her softly.
"Hedwig, what should I do?" The voice was gruff, as only shouting powerful curse after powerful curse could make it. She hooted softly and nibbled his ear affectionately. She briefly lingered over the area where an ear lobe should have been.
"No, Hedwig, I can't go to the Burrow, and this is home." Hedwig turned her head away from Harry and hopped a short distance away.
"Hedwig, don't be like that! You're the only one who won't scream at the sight of me!" Harry reached his hand out to stroke his only friend, but she bit his finger. Harry smiled ruefully. "Hedwig, I know you don't understand, but really, they don't want me there." Hedwig hopped another few feet away from Harry and turned toward him. She hooted gently. "Go on, girl. Maybe they'll put you to better use than I have." Hedwig hopped over to Harry and gently gripped his right arm gently with her foot. She flapped her wings and pulled his arm up with her. Harry growled and yanked his arm away. "Hedwig, they don't want me with them! Just go and live with them! You belong to them now!" Harry rolled over so that he faced away from the fire and Hedwig. Hedwig picked up a piece of parchment and dropped it on Harry's face.
Harry sighed, "I suppose you're right, they'll want to know why you're now living with them." Harry crawled over to the stump he had been sitting on earlier.
Dear Ginny,
As I have no more use for her, Hedwig is now yours.
Harry
He rolled up the parchment and tied it to Hedwig's leg. "Now, fly to the Burrow, and don't come backā¦ever." Harry smiled as Hedwig nibbled his finger affectionately for the last time. He stroked her back once more and gave her a gentle push. Hedwig hooted gently and she flapped her great wings a few times before she was in the air, rapidly shrinking into the night air. Harry watched until he could no longer see his last friend. He sighed and faced the fire again watching the flames lick the logs.
Harry closed his eyes and sighed deeply. He was truly alone now. Hedwig had been his first and best friend since he turned eleven years old. Now she was the last friend to leave him, but leave him she did. A tear rolled down Harry's disfigured cheek. He reached his roughly bandaged hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out the letter from Ginny that he had received only hours ago and read it over and over again. God, I love her! Harry thought miserably to himself. He carefully folded the letter and placed it back in his pocket, amongst many others. He ran his fingers over his face, examining all of the crevices and rough spots that now decorated his face.
