A/N Hello!! Here's the next chapter, I've had some trouble writing it… So I hope you can understand it and enjoy it… But first, thanks to reviewers:

Autumn Skys: Hey! I love new reviewers! Thanks for the one word, lol!! No sarcasm intended here of course… lol! Anyway, here's the update for you!

GoldxxSunlight: Again I love new reviewers! And here's the update for you… But I didn't understand about the 'flying monkeys' comment?

Coudle: Yes… Everything is, back to normal…

Homecoming

"You scared, Potter?"

"Don't fight me, Potter, you won't win."

"You will loose everything."

"Join me, Harry, and together, we will be great…"

"The famous Harry Potter, meets his end."

"I want you to look at me when I kill you! I want to see the lights leave your eyes!"

Harry jolted up in his sleeping bag, breathing heavily. He needed water, but there was none to hand and he had foolishly left his wand on the other side of the tent. He tried to summon it, but his thoughts were not clearly on his wand.

Shakily, Harry clambered out of his sleeping bag and grabbed it. He gulped down the ice cold water he had conjured and went back to his bed.

For a period of time that seemed like hours, Harry tried to get back to sleep. But when he realised it wasn't going to happen anytime soon, he looked at his watch and realised it was his birthday. Today was Harry Potter's twenty-eighth birthday. Seventeen years ago – almost to the hour – Harry was told that he was a wizard; and no ordinary wizard either. But never, not in a million years, did he even dream that seventeen years later he would be in a tent, alone, after just killing another infamous Dark Wizard.

He knew perfectly well why he had just had such a terrible nightmare about Malfoy and Voldemort. He knew that in his subconscious mind he was waiting for another Dark Lord to appear from the depths of the world to fight him. And he was terrified of it.

Malfoy had taunted him for the whole two years that Harry had been away from home, about the way in which he had killed Hermione, raped Ginny and strangled Liam to death. That was why Harry hadn't gone back to his house yet. After a week of Malfoy being dead and gone, Harry was still hiding. Hiding from the truth which awaited him when he arrived at his empty, ghostly house.

Draco Malfoy truly was a bastard.

But he was gone now. However, Harry still found it amazing that it took so long to kill him. In actual fact, the length of time that it did take him to find and kill Malfoy was too painful to think about. He never wanted to think about any of it ever again. The loss of Hedwig after only a month of camping was a blow; but then Malfoy telling him that he had killed his only family and best friend made him want to abandon the whole quest. Obviously he decided not to.

Finally, after no sleep for a couple of hours, Harry came out of his reverie and realised that the sun was rising outside the tent, and it was time for him to go. After almost two years, Harry Potter was going home.

His hand trembled on the door handle one hour later. He wasn't sure if he could do it. Walk into the house which had been his for so many years, and then suddenly had no one in it. Ginny had been raped in this house in the past two years… and then killed…

Gulping, Harry shook away his thoughts and went to press the handle down. It didn't move.

"Alohamora," His horse voice whispered.

He pressed again, but still it would budge. There was only one reason for it; someone else was living here.

He couldn't believe it. That the Ministry would just give away Harry Potter's house! Like he had never even existed.

Harry knocked on the door gently. No one came. He knocked a little harder, but still no one answered. Then he started lashing out at the wood, thumping it with all his mite, willing it to fight back.

Then suddenly the door flew open and he fell to the floor, his glasses falling off his face so that he couldn't see properly. There was a scream and a child started to cry. Harry flipped onto his back and pointed his wand to the source of the scream in a millisecond.

"How dare you?!" It was a woman shouting at him, "We've only just woken up you…"

She stopped talking abruptly.

Finally, still pointing his wand at the woman, Harry retrieved his glasses and put them on. How he wished he hadn't.

"Harry?"

Harry's breath caught in his throat and he found it hard to breathe properly for a moment before whispering, "H… Hermione?"

Hermione's face was pale, her cheeks much thinner than they had been when Harry had left two years ago… But why was he thinking such things?! Hermione was dead!

"Harry… Is it really you?" She started to cry.

"Hermynee…" The child in Hermione's arms started to moan. It was a little girl; she couldn't have been much older than one.

Hermione put the girl down and called out, "James! Come and look after Harriet will you?"

A boy that Harry recognised but couldn't quite believe he was seeing, ran into the room, gasped when he saw Harry on the floor with his wand held up to his mother.

"Mum!" James said loudly, but one stern look from his mother told him to pick up the little girl – Harriet – and leave the room.

"Harry…" Hermione said softly, "Harry, put your wand down."

He didn't know where his voice had gone, but it seemed to have left him. As Hermione knelt down beside him, he jerked his wand back and just continued to stare unblinkingly at her.

"Harry, it's me, it's Hermione," She smiled and nodded at him comfortingly.

Harry still couldn't find his voice, and he just shook his head.

"What do you mean, no?" Hermione smiled again, "It's me, I'm here…"

Finally, Harry spoke, albeit quietly, "He said you're dead…"

"Who did?"

"M… Malfoy…" Harry stuttered.

Hermione didn't say anything for a few seconds, but then shook her head and said, "Well I'm not, he lied to you, Harry. I'm here. Please, get up."

There was a desperation in her voice so sharp that Harry couldn't refuse it any longer.

He stood up, and the moment he did, Hermione's arms were wrapped around him so tightly that it was like she thought he was dead for two years, not the other way around.

"Oh Harry!" Hermione cried out, "I've missed you so much! I can't believe you're ok; alive! Where have you been?"

"You know where I've been!" Harry replied. It was the strangest feeling; it was like Hermione's hug had brought him back to the real world. He suddenly felt excited, and so, so happy. "I can't… It's…!"

"I know!" Hermione started to cry and hugged him again.

But there was still a burning feeling of dread in Harry stomach; "Where's Ginny?" He asked suddenly, and the burning feeling turned into a fire as Hermione's smile turned into a frown. "She's… Dead, isn't she?"

"No!" Hermione answered quickly. "No, she's not dead. She's in St. Mungo's."

"W… What's she doing there?" Harry asked.

Hermione's face brightened up, "I'll let her tell you. We'll go and see her later. She can talk and everything, but… Well, like I said, I'll let her tell you."

Harry frowned at her as she took his hand and led him into the living room. It hadn't changed at all; it was basically exactly as he left it. The only difference was there was a cot in front of the window. That jogged his memory for him.

"Who's Harriet?" He asked.

Hermione, had her back to him when he asked it, but he could still see her go rigid for a moment or two until she said, "I can't tell you right now, Harry…"

"Why?"

"Because… Well, because I want you to tell me everything about yourself. Where have you been Harry? It said in the Prophet that Malfoy was killed a week ago, did you do it? Why didn't you come home? Ginny's been going out of her mind!"

"I may not know much right now but I feel like that wasn't a good choice of words…" Harry raised his eyebrow.

"Well… No… But Harry tell me!" Hermione persisted.

"I'd rather not go through the story a thousand times, so can we please go to St, Mungo's now, and I'll tell you and Ginny together?" Harry pleaded. Hermione looked weary, so Harry said, "She's my wife, Hermione. It doesn't make a difference how long I've been away, I want to see her."

Hermione thought and then sighed, "Ok, we'll go now. But I'm dropping the kids off at Molly's first."

Harry nodded enthusiastically and hugged her.

They set off for the Burrow five minutes later; all the while James was staring at him like he'd committed some huge crime. When they arrived at the Burrow, Harry hid underneath his Invisibility Cloak. He didn't want to go over all the fuss that Mrs Weasley would talk about before even seeing his wife.

Finally, half an hour later, Harry and Hermione arrived at St. Mungo's hospital. Harry, still under his cloak, followed Hermione through the corridors and in the lifts, and through more corridors before, finally, she stopped next to a closed door which had writing on it that read Privately paid for room, Do Not Disturb.

Hermione turned to him and said, "Leave the cloak on until I come out and get you."

And with that she walked in, closing the door on Harry behind her.

Harry had to admit he was a little put out by the abrupt change of Hermione's attitude towards him. Was it his fault that he was pining to see his wife that he had thought dead for little over a year?

He went to sit down on a chair that was about three metres away from Ginny's room. He couldn't hear anything going on inside it, so why bother standing up?

He wished Hermione would hurry up with whatever she was saying to Ginny; each second of waiting was making him more and more nervous. Why he was nervous, he had no idea, but he certainly was. Perhaps it was the fact that the last time they had seen each other they had had the most passionate sex Harry could have dreamt of. But then again, why would that make him nervous, or embarrassed like a guilty teenager? He and Ginny were married!

About ten minutes after Hermione had left Harry, she came back out of the room, with a slight smile on her face, which had to be a good sign.

"You can go in now, Harry," She whispered to the room at large, for she could not see him.

Harry jumped off his chair and stroked Hermione's shoulder as he walked past, to let her know that he had heard her. And then he turned to face the room, and the ginger haired woman sitting on the bed that was inside it.

With a soft click, the door behind him closed, and he heard a meek little voice whisper, "Harry?"

Hearing her voice made him feel warm, and melt inside. His legs turned to jelly and his breath got quicker as he pulled his cloak off himself and watched Ginny turn to look at him.

They stood in silence for a long while, Harry taking in every inch of his wife that he could see. Was it possible for her to have gotten more beautiful in the terrible two years that she must have had, or was it just because Harry hadn't seen her for that long?

"I can't believe it…" Ginny said, making Harry jump slightly.

"I thought you were dead," Harry said. He had no idea where the comment came from.

"I thought you were dead!" Ginny said without a smile.

Harry had no idea what to say… He walked forwards a little, and then a little bit more. He kept walking until he ended up on the chair next to Ginny's bed.

"I'm sorry…" He said quietly.

"Why didn't you write to me?" Ginny asked sharply, "The first month, and then nothing…"

"I… Hedwig… She died…" Harry spluttered.

"No!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, and I couldn't go and buy another owl; my whereabouts would have been given away so easily," Harry explained.

"You own an invisibility cloak!" Ginny shouted.

Very taken aback, Harry said hastily, "But… Gin, it was too dangerous to go to Diagon Ally…"

"Don't call me that!"

"What?"

"Gin," She said in a mocking voice.

Harry started to breath heavily, he had no idea what was happening, "Why?"

"I hate it, I always have!" She shouted.

"No you haven't…" Harry was completely confused. What had happened to Ginny in the past two years?

"I think you should go," She said suddenly.

"No!"

"Hermione!" Ginny shouted louder than before, calling out of the closed door.

"Ginny!" Harry said exasperatedly.

"HERMIONE!" She screamed

The door flew open and Hermione rushed inside. "What is it, Ginny?"

"You told me this was Harry!" Ginny yelled at her.

"It, well it is Ginny…" Hermione said, trying to hold a squirming Ginny still on the bed.

"No it's not, get him out of here!" Ginny cried.

"Gin, it's me… It's Harry…"

"You're not Harry!" She shouted louder still, "Get out! Get out!"

"Harry, you'd better go," Hermione said, holding Ginny's hand.

"No, not until you tell me what's happened to her!" He argued.

"I'll tell you later, please leave," Hermione begged.

He looked from one girl to the other; the love of his life crying, and his best friend trying to calm her.

Silently, he picked up his cloak and walked out of the room. Closing the door behind him.

A/N There you go! I hope I made the time difference clear for you at the start, and then later on I just said it like a thousand times anyway!! Poor Harry eh? Gets told everyone he loves in the world is dead then goes home to find out they're alive but his wife is in a crazy hospital, then she decides she hates him!! Bless him… Poor boy… Man…