Rating: T, just to be safe for a tiny bit of course language.

Summary: The morning after the last battle, with flashbacks of the night before.

Title: Blood Red Sunrise

Author: Ashley Graham

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Blood Red Sunrise

-CHAPTER TWO-

"That…that's great Harry." Ron croaked, his face very pale under the blood.

Harry snapped back into reality as Ron spoke, and soon found himself in a rough hug. He did not hesitate to hug his friend back, immensely grateful that at least he had survived. He would not be completely alone.

"We'd better find more survivors." Harry said softly, watching as wizards and witches apparated out of no where, all bearing the sign of St. Mungo's on their backs and chests. Headmistress McGonagall had lifted the enchantment so people could apparate inside the grounds. The attack had been found out about too late to think up a way to get wizards and witches to Hogwarts more quickly. Either parents came and whisked their children away quickly upon the owl they received, notifying them of the threat, or people came to help and fight.

The two set off slowly, both refusing care when a healer rushed up to them, her wand raised. "We want people who are more seriously hurt to get treated first." Ron finally snapped when she tried to apply some ointment to a burn on his hand. She stepped back quickly and turned her attention to a wizard neither of them recognized, he was gasping for air on the ground.

Not soon after that, they found their first casualty. Dean Thomas lay on the ground, his eyes opened and glassy. The killing curse had struck him when he had tackled Lavender Brown out of its path.

Then came Cho Chang, she had been given the kiss from a dementor, unable to conjure up a patronous in time. She was then followed by Dennis Creevey, who had been crushed by a giant. Susan Bones had been put under the imperius curse, and had drowned herself in the lake.

Neville Longbottom had his back up against a tree trunk, and was clutching his leg with shaking arms. Ron quickly summoned a healer, who immediately started to work on their friend, who thanked them through chattering teeth; his leg was nearly severed from what appeared to be Wormtails silver hand, as the fat balding man lay dead only five feet away.

The pair left their bleeding friend, both getting anxious, they had not yet found any sign of Ron's family members, or Hermione.

All the stars had disappeared from the sky. The shade of violet was nearly gone, the pale blue becoming more pronounced as the sun rose still higher. There was barely any shadow offsetting the scene under it. Yet the bloodstained grass seemed to become even brighter.

Harry and Ron were nearly all the way to the castle before they found someone that they were looking for. Both Hermione and Ginny were stumbling down the path, supporting each other.

Hermione's hair was no longer bushy, but long and straight. At the moment her brown locks were flecked with unmistakable signs of blood. Ginny was as beautiful as ever, her hair was in a loose bun, which had nearly fallen out during the night, she was sporting a large bruise on her cheek and her arm was at an odd angle.

Both women had been crying, but they screamed in happiness when they saw Harry and Ron and broke into a very clumsy jog. Ginny let go of Hermione and practically fell into Harry's chest, whilst Hermione clutched onto Ron like she'd never let him go.

Once the two had finally let go, Harry pointed his wand at Ginny's arm and muttered a spell, healing it instantly. He had known it was broken the moment he had laid eyes on her.

"Oh Harry! Ron! We thought we'd never see you again!" Hermione squeaked, "We…we heard you beat him though, Harry...is it true?"

The raven haired boy nodded silently. "Thank god…now we can finally get on with our lives and put all this behind us." Hermione said, seemingly shocked that Harry had survived and fulfilled the prophecy.

He was not offended however, when he had set off to destroy the horcruxes two years ago, it had been extremely difficult, and that had been with the help of his two friends. Never mind killing the most evil wizard that had ever walked the earth.

Ginny was looking at Ron with a strange expression on her face, she bit her lip before saying softly, "Ron…Percy…he's, he's dead."

Ron stood very still, even though he had called his elder brother a prat before, even though he had stuck up for the Ministry for ages until he finally had joined the Order last year, he did not want him dead. "How?" He asked no one in particular, his voice very quiet.

"He died saving your dad. Mr. Weasley had his back turned when a Death Eater performed the death curse. He yelled that he was sorry as he pushed him out of the way, before the curse hit him," Hermione whispered, "I saw it happen with my own eyes…in the Great Hall."

Ron pulled his little sister towards him and hugged her tightly without a word. "Right, lets find everyone else." He said a few minutes later, as he attempted to keep his voice steady, stepping out of the hug and breaking the pain him and his sister had momentarily shared, there would be a time for grieving later…too many people needed help right now.

So the small group continued to search the grounds for familiar faces, they could see Ministry officials who had survived arresting every Death Eater that had not managed to apparate away in time. They soon came across Draco Malfoy, who held his head in his hands, his knees drawn up close to his body. Beside him lay the limp form of his father, whose black mask was askew.

To be continued...