Aftermath

With a loud thud Ginny and an unconscious Harry landed on the sitting room floor in Grimmauld Place. Ginny overcome with emotion could only sit on the floor and hold Harry's head in her lap while she cried uncontrollably.

"Ginny?" Arthur asked as he walked into the room to see what had caused the noise. "What happened, where have you been?"

"Dad," Ginny said between sobs, "Harry is hurt."

"Come on, Harry, wake up mate." Ron said while sitting on the edge of the hospital bed in the hospital wing of Hogwarts. "Ginny needs you, we all need you."

"Ron, its time for our Potions class." Hermione said from the doorway.

Ron gave one last look as the door closed behind him.

"Its not fair, 'Mione. He beat Voldemort, why is he still in there like, that?" Ron asked with a tear in his eye.

"I don't know, Ron." Hermione answered taking hold of Ron's hand and giving it a tight squeeze. "He will pull through though, it's only been a week."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Albus, its been a month, do you think he will ever wake up?" Professor McGonagall asked from the chair on the opposite side of Dumbledore's desk.

"That, I do not know, Minerva." Dumbledore said sadly. "Poppy has told me that other than being asleep Harry seems to be healthy. Perhaps his body is still in shock from the battle, from what Ms. Weasley has told us, after Tom died Harry grabbed his head and began to scream. I think that maybe the part of Tom that was in Harry died with Tom, and now Harry's mind has to readjust to that."

"Albus," Professor Flitwick spoke as he entered the room. "Madam Pomfrey would like to see you in the hospital wing."

"Very well, Filius." Replied as he stood from his desk and headed for the door. Filius and Minerva both followed him out of the office. The walk from Professor Dumbledore's office to the hospital wing seemed to take an eternity to Minerva who hoped Harry was waking up.

They walked into the room to see Madam Pomfrey standing over Harry dabbing his forehead with a wet cloth. They could see that with every dab of the cloth it was being it was getting redder and redder.

"Poppy?" Dumbledore spoke as he quickly walked to the bedside. "What happened?"

"I don't know, Headmaster." Madam Pomfrey replied, "He let out a loud scream and then his scar began to bleed. It won't stop, no matter what I do."

"How long has it been going on?" Dumbledore asked.

"About five minutes." Madam Pomfrey responded getting a new towel. "I've tried everything, sir."

"I know, Poppy, I know." Dumbledore replied.

Before the Headmaster could say another word, he heard the last thing he was hoping to hear. The voices of Harry's three best friends as they walked through the door to the hospital wing.

"Ginerva Weasley, you have to eat!" Ron snapped at his sister.

"I did eat, now leave me alone!" Ginny snapped back.

"Honestly, this is a hospital, now be quiet!" Poppy yelled across the room. The trio then noticed the looks on the faces of their professors and nurse. Ginny was the first to speak as she ran to Harry's bedside.

"Harry! What happened to him? Stop the bleeding, hurry!" Ginny yelled before she began crying uncontrolably.

"Ms. Weasley, Poppy is doing her best, now if you will please stand back and let her do her work." Professor Dumbledore said, the twinkle in his eyes gone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

"Why won't you just leave, Tom?" Harry asked from the ground where one of Tom's curses had knocked him to, wiping blood from his scar.

"I don't give up that easily, Potter!" Tom hissed back. "You may have killed my body but there is still a way for me to live."

"Yeah? And how is that, Tom? I fulfilled the prophecy, I killed you. Only one of us can live, and that is me!" Harry yelled with his wand aimed at Tom.

"Yes, Harry only one of us can live but it doesn't say anything about which body we have to live in." Tom smiled as he raised his wand. "You are getting weaker, Harry. You can't last much longer and when you fail I will take over your body as well as your mind."

Suddenly, Harry realized that he was in his mind, not on a battle ground not in Tom's mind, but his. Harry let a small smile appear and he closed his eyes. The field that Harry and Tom were in slowly began to fade out of view. Soon the two of them seemed to be standing in the middle of an empty room, the single door was shut with a large wooden beam across it. The windows had bars over them, this was a room that would prove to be very difficult to get out of.

"What is this?" Tom hissed raising his wand at Harry.

"Welcome to your prison, Tom." Harry replied as Tom's wand vanished. Before Tom realized that his wand was gone Harry had sent a spell at Tom that knocked him to the floor. With a casual flick of his wand Harry conjured ropes and tied Tom's arms and legs together. "You will not be able to harm anyone ever again, Tom."

"Harry, you can't keep me here forever." Tom laughed at him. "You will always know that I am here in your mind."

"I don't plan on keeping you here forever, Tom." Harry said coldly.

"You won't kill me either." Tom laughed again.

"I already have once, why wouldn't I again?" Harry said as he sat down in a chair he conjured.

"Because, I am defenseless, you are to good of a person to kill me now."Tom was beginning to plead.

"You have killed plenty of defenseless people, Tom, that will not stop me in this case."Harry slowly lifted his wand and aimed at Tom. "Avada Kadavra!"

A flash of green light filled the room and consumed Tom Riddle, likea burning log Tom's pale skinbegan tochar and turn black. The charred remains of Riddle fell apart and turned to ash, a sudden gust of wind blew the ash out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ginny and Hermione both screamed as Harry sat straight up in bed coughing. Madame Pomfrey jumped away from Harry as his head narrowly missed hitting hers. Dumbledore, Minerva and Filius smiled as they saw the blood from Harry's scar stop. Ron was the first to speak, however.

"Ewww, Harry, cover your mouth when you cough." Ron said quietly wiping the dust off his face as he was standing at the foot of the bed when Harry woke up.

"Welcome back, Harry," Professor Dumbledore said with a smile, the twinkle in his eyes returned. "I trust everything went well?"

"Yes, sir. He is gone now, forever." Harry said lookingat Ginny. "Hello, Ginny love, how are you?"

"Harry Potter!You have had me worried sick! What took you so long to wake up?" Ginny replied with her hands on her hips.

"Yes dear, I'm fine thanks."Harry replied with a grin. "I am sorry it took me so long, Ginny. I had to destroy Riddle again, it just took me a while to remember that I was in my mind and had total control."

"Holy cricket, Harry!" Hermione said excitedly. "Your scar!"