Harry woke with a start which was a surprise because he hadn't expected to wake up at all.
He didn't know what he had been thinking when he'd rushed into battle. One moment he'd been terrified watching all the Aurors get killed, the next moment he'd had a sword in his hand and had run at the Basilisk.
As he opened his eyes he heard someone sigh in relief and he turned his head to find Amelia Bones sitting beside his bed.
"What happened? How am I-" he cut off the sentence, not quite wanting to admit that he'd nearly died.
"Alive?" he nodded. "Albus's phoenix cried on your wound. Phoenix's have magical tears that can bring people back from the dead."
Harry swallowed, feeling the weight of how lucky he'd been. He'd felt the venom burning through his veins.
"What about Voldemort?"
She flinched and Harry could commiserate, after all he'd read and experienced he knew Voldemort was a scary man. He wasn't willing to stop saying his name though.
"Well, luckily I didn't have to kill Lockhart. It was a book that was possessing him and I was able to destroy the book with the sword so he's not coming back."
Harry let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't wanted Lockhart to be killed, no matter that he was a pompous fool who could barely cast a single spell, but he'd thought it necessary. The fact that his death wasn't on his conscious was brilliant as far as he was concerned.
"Also I feel I should tell you that Headmaster Dumbledore has been reinstated and Lucius Malfoy, who apparently threatened the Board of Governors to get him suspended has been sacked from the Board of Governors and is being investigated."
She took a deep breath while Harry wrangled with his conflicted feelings on the subject.
"Exams have been canceled for most students except fifth and seventh years, you've been awarded two hundred points and an award for services to the school, and I have personally recommended you for a second Order of Merlin First Class."
"Finally the students who were petrified have been cured and Gilderoy Lockhart is expected to make a full recovery from his possession by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at Saint Mungo's."
She seemed to be wavering now, unsure of herself and Harry took the time to think through everything that she said. He didn't necessarily care much about the awards but he supposed it was nice. And it was wonderful that everyone had recovered or would recover fully.
"I have to say," she began again, "That that was one of- if not the most terrifying, gut-wrenching, horrifyingly bravest thing that I've ever seen."
Her voice shook as she continued, "I was ready to retreat- You-Know-Who is- even as a teenager- but you-"
Actual tears had sprung to her eyes and Harry found himself feeling very awkward. "Thank you. You saved us all- again. The country- nay the world- is in your debt."
Harry swallowed, "I uh- I just did what I had to do. I didn't really think about it."
If anything she looked more stricken by this and she wiped her eyes with a rag. "Of course, of course. I've heard how good you are but this is…"
She cleared her throat and then said, "Hm, the Minister of Magic has asked that we keep this all quiet, of course, he was quite furious with me when he learned that I had already spoken to the press. I just couldn't let people keep thinking that you were the villain, not after all you've done."
Harry felt his eyes sting, "Thank you, it's been so hard. All this time you and your Aurors have been working so hard to clear my name. Thank you."
"Of course, it was the least I could do. Do you have any questions?"
Harry frowned to himself, right then he couldn't think of any questions but having free reign to ask questions of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was an opportunity that he couldn't pass up.
"Can I write you this summer if I have any? I can't think of any right now but…"
"Yes, of course. Feel free to write me any time and I'll respond as quickly as I can. Of course, we'll be training seven new Aurors over the summer so we'll be quite busy, but I'll write as quickly as I can."
"Of course, thank you."
She nodded, hesitated, then said, "Thank you again, really."
After that Harry was allowed to leave the Hospital Wing and meet up with his friends. Hermione had already been released while he was sleeping and Ron was with her in a sunny courtyard. Summer had snuck up on them without him even realizing it.
The rest of the school year passed slowly with a lot of time spent out in the sun. Harry cut himself a break and didn't work too hard on his extracurricular activities other than occasionally practicing Mandarin with Hermione and Ron when the mood struck them.
Of course with Dumbledore back the meddling was in full force and so Alastor, whose last name was Moody, followed Harry the entire last day of term, not letting him out of his sight once. Even as he gaped at the skeletal horses that had certainly not been pulling the carriages the year before he could feel both of the man's eyes boring into him.
He felt more disheartened than angry as he had the year before.
Instead of taking a cab to the arranged meeting place he climbed into a sneakily expanded car, was squashed up against Alastor Moody, and drove all the way to Devon, through a small village named Ottery St. Catchpole, and up to a house that looked as though it had once been a large stone pigpen, but extra rooms had been added here and there until it was several stories high and so crooked it looked as though it were held up by magic (which, Harry reminded himself, it probably was). Four or five chimneys were perched on top of the red roof. A lopsided sign stuck in the ground near the entrance read, THE BURROW. Around the front door lay a jumble of rubber boots and a very rusty cauldron. Several fat brown chickens were pecking their way around the yard.
Only once Harry was inside in the house did the Weasley adults, Molly and Arthur, shoo the man away.
Harry was shown up to Ron's room all the way up on the fifth floor. The room was bright orange and covered in Chudley Cannons memorabilia. There was a bed and a camp bed, along with a small desk and Harry sighed despondently.
"It's not that bad," Ron said, sounding offended.
It actually was, it was less than half the size of his room at home, and most importantly it wasn't at home.
"It's just… not home."
Ron was quiet after that and began to unpack, quietly telling Harry that he didn't need to do so as well.
Dinner was a raucous affair with the twins eating some fizzing whizzbees part way through causing them to float several feet off the ground.
"That's their favorite trick," Ron quietly told Harry and Harry nodded, recalling occasionally seeing them do that during mealtimes at Hogwarts.
He wasn't able to write a report before bed but he knew that by now they would've been able to figure out that Harry wasn't able to come home.
After he'd laid in the camp bed for nearly two hours Ron got up and shook him, "Wake up," he whispered.
"I am," he whispered back.
"Come on, grab your things."
Harry activated the enchantment on his trunk that shrunk it down to pocket size and followed Ron through the house, avoiding the steps that he avoided and coughing to cover up the sound of the door opening.
Ron led them to a shed where the car had been parked and Harry felt a burst of hope.
In a few quick minutes, they were in the air with the invisibility booster. Harry led them to Surrey, not directly to the Research Facility so Ron couldn't accidentally lead someone there, then hugged Ron goodbye, thanking him for his help.
A quick call with his emergency cell phone and he was soon home.