"Ginny, Rashida wants to talk to you, now," a small girl said as she ran up to Ginny in the common room. Ginny turned from her conversation with her friends to the blonde haired first year.

"What about?" the older girl inquired.

"I don't know. She just told me to get you as soon as possible."

Ginny cursed under her breath. Hermione looked up from across the room. She fixed Ginny with a demanding glare and Ginny mouthed the word, 'grades.' Hermione looked at Ginny pointedly. Ginny rolled her eyes, excused herself from her friends and started towards the Head's Office.

When she got to the gargoyle, she realized that she didn't know the password. She looked up and down the hall, looking for a teacher who might tell her how to get in. After she waited for a couple of minutes, the gargoyle sprang aside. Ginny nearly followed suit, startled from the unexpected movement. The tall Headmistress glided down the stairs and peered at Ginny. "To my office," she said quietly.

Once the pair was in the round office, Rashida took a seat behind the desk and motioned for Ginny to do the same at a straight-backed seat in front of the desk. "Ginerva, I thought we already had a discussion about your atrocious grades," the woman started tiredly.

"We did," Ginny started.

"Then why have your grades not risen?" Ginny opened her mouth to say that her grades had indeed risen, but Rashida held up a hand, silencing the girl. "Not enough to earn you the privilege of staying the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain." Ginny closed her mouth and slumped in her chair. "I realize it must be horrible for him to appear as he did, but really, focus on your grades more and he won't be as distracting."

Ginny looked up at the professor. How did Rashida know about her father? "The healers are getting discouraged, but I'm sure he'll be fine in time," she replied.

"He's been to healers?" Rashida exclaimed, her eyes wide in shock.

Ginny looked at the woman oddly. How could her father not have been to healers? "Of course! He went straight to St. Mungo's," Ginny explained.

Rashida thought back to the man in the hospital wing. Apparently it has been a while since he was at St. Mungo's. Either that, or the healers had forgotten to clean the boy's wounds and to heal him, which Rashida thought unlikely. "Well, he's apparently relocated himself to Hogwarts. I just talked to him in the hospital wing." Rashida tried to think of why Harry Potter would be claimed as missing in action if he had been admitted to St. Mungo's. Maybe the boy wasn't Harry Potter at all. Maybe, he was actually Stan Shunpike. Rashida thought, horrified, maybe he was a surviving Death Eater, trying to infiltrate her school.

Ginny stared at the woman for a moment, too shocked to speak. Her father was at Hogwarts? "Can I go see him?" she asked anxiously.

"I don't see why not," Rashida said, shrugging her thin shoulders. She pushed the dilemma concerning the young man from her mind. Perhaps she could get Ginny to shed some light on the subject later.

Ginny, without waiting for the headmistress to dismiss her, ran from the room, her robes flying after her. She had to tell Ron! Her feet went skidding around a corner and she ran into none other than Ron and Hermione. The girl grinned, unable to hide her excitement. If her father had made it to Hogwarts then he must be awake! After all, Rashida had said that he had relocated himself. "Come on, we have to go see him!" Ginny told her brother, forgetting to say who him was in her excitement.

"You know?" Ron asked, taken aback. How did Ginny know Harry was back?

"Yeah, Rashida told me. Come on, let's go!" Ginny began to pull her brother along.

"Rashida knows?" Ron asked. "Where is he?" he pressed his sister. She seemed to know where she was going.

"He's in the hospital wing of course!" Ginny said as they walked hurriedly down the hall.

The hospital wing? Ron stared at his sister. After a few more steps, he shrugged. If she knew, she knew. The trio rushed down the halls toward the hospital wing. Ginny couldn't wait to talk to her dad. And Hermione and Ron wanted to smooth things out between them. Last night hadn't exactly gone over well.

They stopped in front of the hospital wing doors. They all took a big breath. "I can't believe he's here!" Ginny said finally. "I really missed him over the summer." Ron rolled his eyes. That was an understatement.

"Ready?" Hermione asked after another minute. Ginny looked over to her friend. She had forgotten the older girl was there. The trio pushed the doors open and walked in. Hermione and Ron rushed over to the only occupied bed. Ginny, however stayed in the doorway.

That wasn't her father!

"Harry!" Hermione cried. "You had us worried sick when you ran off!"

Ginny's mouth dropped in shock. Did Hermione just say "Harry"?

Harry looked at them silently. Ron looked back at Harry. They seemed to have a silent conversation by themselves. After a few moments, Ron looked away, shamefacedly. "I should have come after you…both times."

"You had your own problems," Harry finally said.

Ginny walked over to the bed, her feet moving silently. "You're back," she said quietly. Harry jerked at the sound of her voice and rolled over so that he faced away from her.

"Ginny," Harry said longingly. He wanted to turn around and take her in his arms, but she had run from him last time she saw him. Why would this time be any different?

"Harry?" Ginny asked. She reached out a hand and touched him lightly on the shoulder. She felt Harry stiffen at her touch. She sighed silently and bit back the tears.

Ron and Hermione watched the exchange. Should they speak? They decided against it. Those two had things to work out.

"Ginny, go away," Harry said quietly. It hurt him to say it, but he couldn't bear Ginny to see him like this.

"But…" Ginny started.

"Ginny, please," Harry pleaded. His voice was husky as he told her to do the exact opposite of what he wanted.

At this point, Ron could stand the pain on his sister's face to more. He took a step forward and clasped a hand on her shoulder. He started to pull her towards the door, but she shook him off.

"Harry, look at me!" she told the boy on the bed. Harry remained stubbornly facing away from her. She began to walk to the other side of the bed, but Harry hid his face in the pillow. She bent down to kiss him on the cheek. "Harry…" she said softly as Harry jerked away. She sat down in the chair next to his bed. A few tears traced their way down her cheeks silently. Ron watched his sister as she used her eyes to plead Harry to look at her.

"Ginny," Hermione said quietly. Ginny shook her head to silence Hermione. She wasn't going anywhere.

"Ginny," Harry said quietly. She looked up, thinking he was now facing her, but he wasn't. He was looking at Ron, who was returning the stare. "Please, just go," Harry pleaded again. "Please," he repeated.

Ginny stood up numbly and walked toward the door. What was she doing? She didn't want to leave! But Harry told her to, her other side told her. Harry doesn't want you anymore. Erik was right. With that final thought, she looked back at Harry and saw his face. She looked at it for a brief moment, but when Harry looked at her, she turned away and left the ward. The pain in his green eyes was enough to see even from the door. It was more than Ginny could bear.

Harry watched the door close. Ron heard the door shut and rounded on Harry. He opened his mouth to yell at his friend, but found he couldn't when he saw tears streaming down the boy's ragged cheeks. "Your welcome to go to the Burrow. You can live there as long as you want," Ron offered.

"I can't," Harry said, shaking his head.

"Then where are you going to go?" Hermione asked. "Are you going to ask Rashida if you can stay here?"

"No, I've got Number Twelve," Harry said. "As soon as they let me go, I suppose I'll go there," Harry shrugged. He couldn't bear the thought of living in his godfather's house by himself, but that was his only option. During the war, he at least had had other people cycling through the house constantly. The house had never been silent. Harry had rarely been in the house at all, let alone by himself. Now, he had to spend every hour of every day in that house, alone, silent.

"What will you do for money and food?" Hermione asked imploringly.

"My parents left me enough money. My dad didn't have to work, nor do I," Harry shrugged.

"So what are you going to do with yourself? Stare at a wall all day?" Ron asked.

"I don't know what else to do," Harry admitted. "I don't know what I want to do for a living."

"You could…" Ron started.

"I can't be an Auror. I've had enough of that. I always thought being an Auror would be glorious and fun, but I know better now. I saw plenty in the war."

"That's not what I was going to say," Ron said.

"Why don't you teach defense against the dark arts?" Hermione suggested. "You know that better than anyone else. And that way you don't have to be in that big house by yourself all the time."

"Hermione," Harry started.

"Harry, don't say anything. Just promise me you'll think about it," Hermione asked.

"Sure. So what are you going to do after you're done here? What are you doing here anyway?"

"First off, we're here to bring extra security to Hogwarts since the war just ended…it was Rashida's idea," Ron said.

"Ginny and I are going to train to be healers after this year," Hermione said.

"Ron, what about you, do you still want to be an Auror?" Harry prompted.

"I don't know…When you first left, I thought I'd wait for you to come back and we'd be Aurors. Then what happened in the war sank in. I couldn't be an Auror. I know they do good things…but it's not for me. So, I don't know Harry."

The trio exchanged glances. Hermione opened her mouth, but the nurse interrupted her. "I'm sorry to break this lovely party up, but Mr. Potter requires rest. I'm trying to minimize the physical damage, and that takes time and rest. So you will have to leave. Goodbye," She set a tray with a few goblets of potions next to the bed. "Drink this one last," she said, pointing to the one Harry recognized as the dreamless sleeping potion. He was looking forward to a night's sleep where he didn't have to worry about nightmares for a change.

He looked up at his friends. "I'll see you guys later," he said. Hermione bent down and hugged Harry.

"It's good to have you home," she whispered. Harry awkwardly patted her back. She stood up and left the wing, leaving Ron and Harry alone.

"I don't know whether to be happy you're finally home, or to pummel you for being gone," Ron confessed. Harry shifted his eyes away from Ron's blue ones. "You really messed people up by not even contacting us," he continued.

"I'm sorry," Harry mumbled.

"Don't," Ron said. "Don't even bother. Sorry can't give us our summer back. We spent all summer worrying about you, waiting for you, and with everything else going on, it's a miracle we made it to the school year."

"Ron, I'm sorry, what more do you want me to say?" Harry asked.

"I shouldn't have to tell you. But I will tell you this, the day you came home, at breakfast, I told Ginny that she deserved someone better than a jerk like you. And you know what? I still think that," Ron hung his head and left the room.

Harry watched his friend go and reached numbly for the potions.

Author's Note: So what did you think? Am I doing better with the length? What about update time? (I kinda forgot about when my last update was oops)

Oh…bittersweet comment-this story is almost over…just figure you all deserved to know.

Response to Reviews: Overall you seemed to like it :) thanks you! 17 reviews and only 300 some hits! Much better percent grins

Anonymous Reviews: Wow, there was a bunch! Here goes:

Bubble: Aww thanks!

Kenneth: hehe, sorry, didn't mean to catch you off guard! But I'm glad you reviewed, even if you didn't remember it! Hope you're more awake now :)

james's little boy: Oh, don't worry, I will smile

Dante D.: Wow, your enthusiasm makes me blush blushes lol I hope this chapter was to your satisfaction!