A/N

I don't know if the story is a bit confusing at some points, but I wanted to tell the story some time after the battle ending, but I still thought it was important to tell what happened right after the battle, so I chose to write it six months after with flashbacks every now and then.

I would really love it if you gave my story a review so I know how I'm doing! :)

A/N

A round of applause. Some people form the audience even stood up to get a better view of him. Harry lowered his wand – he had had it at his neck to enhance his voice making it loud enough for everyone to hear him.

Harry took a step back and turned to face Kinglsey Shacklebolt, the temporary minister for magic. They shook hands and Shacklebolt went forward raising his wand to his neck. ""Thank you for those wonderful words, Harry," he said to the watching crowd. "Now, if you would all join me in a moment of peace to honour the fallen ones." He lowered his wand and folded his hands around it. Silence.

Harry looked down at his hands folded around his own wand. Why was it always him who survived? It would be better if he had fallen as the only one and they would all have lived. But it wasn't.

Shacklebolt asked for their attention once more. Some wiped tears from their eyes in remembrance of who fell. Their lost ones; their loved ones. All dead because of Harry. "There's food and drinks available for anyone – please help yourself to any of it. And if you wish then the memorial graveyard can visited. Thank you." And with that people started rising from their chairs. Some went straight for the graveyard, some lingered not knowing what to do, others went for the food and drinks perhaps too scared to say their final goodbyes.

Harry went for the graveyard. There had been placed a graveyard in memorial to those who had died in the battle against Voldemort. It had been discussed were it should be placed and in the end it was chosen to be Hogwarts. The place of the final battle, the place where it all had ended. It was perfect in Harry's opinion.

He walked in between of all the stones, not knowing which one to stop at. There were too many. He didn't have much time to though, because people started coming up to him, thanking him. The worst was when Andromeda, Tonks' mother, came up to him holding Teddy. "Harry, dear, thank you so much for what you've done. I'm just so sorry to see Dora and Lupin not making it to see their beautiful son grow up," tears were starting to form themselves in her eyes. Harry swallowed, feeling uncomfortable. "It's so unfair for a child to never experience the life with a family. It's not fair to never have seen your par.." she started but stopped when she saw the look on Harry's face. She had probably forgotten for a moment that Harry too had been an orphan too. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot!

"It's okay. But you're right. No child should ever be without parents. And as Teddy's godfather I'll do my best to make him feel he at least got father figure."

"I know you're his godfather Harry, but let me help you? At least until you're finished with your education." She said while Teddy made a motion for Harry. She gave him to Harry.

"That would mean a lot. My life is not something a child should be a part of." He said while looking at Teddy. Harry saw Teddy give a yawn. He did look tired.

"I know this might be hard for you Harry, and if you ever need anything, I'm here for you! You really became a fine young man, I hope Teddy will do the same."

"Thanks," Harry started, "I really appreciate it."

"I should probably put him down for a nap. You know, Teddy is lucky to have you as a godfather." And with that Harry handed her Teddy and she took off.

Harry now knew which grave he should visit first, and within second he found himself kneeling before a headstone with two names on it; Lupin and Tonks'. He noticed something missing – Lupin's name from his time as a Marauder. Harry took out his wand and carved 'Moony' into the headstone.

Snow had now fallen on the stone as Harry laid a few roses on the grave. There was now crowd anymore either. That day when they had said there goodbyes felt like an eternity ago, yet it was unreal that so many months had already passed.

Harry brushed the snow away that covered their names. Told them Teddy says hi before he got up again, wiped the few tears away that had formed in his eyes. On his way back up to the castle he met Ron and Hermione. "We thought you might be here, Harry," Hermione said. Seeing the wet around his eyes she embraced him in a hug.

"We wanted to go say hi to Fred as well, want to come mate?" Ron added giving Harry a pat on the shoulder. Not that he very much wanted to go back to the graveyard; he did feel he owed Fred his respect. So together they went back.

Later that night Harry, Ron and Hermione, who had managed to get some of the good chairs in front of the fireplace, found themselves in a discussion regarding the missing Death Eaters. The discussion had started after they went back to the castle after having been to the graveyard. They all had been eager to set on a new adventure – to hunt those last free Death Eaters down. Well, at least Harry and Ron did, Hermione had been a bit more reasonable. 'All' she wanted was to see them locked up.

"I read yesterday that they caught Dolohov, at least that's one less to wander the streets," Ron mentioned.

"You actually read the Prophet on free will?" Hermione joked with him.

"Oh, ha ha," Ron said sarcastically. "Ron reads, that's just hilarious." He grabbed Hermione's side and started tickling her. She laughed so hard she started crying, and they ended up rolling on the floor.

"Guys, do you mind? It's great that the two of you have started dating, but if you could be a bit more casual about it," Harry said, but couldn't grinning when he saw his two best friends rolling around on the floor. So long it took for them to finally come to their senses.

"She's still not talking to you then, huh?" Ron asked seriously. He was actually quite understanding about Harry's misery. Even though, Harry assumed, Ron had a hard time facing the fact that his best friend was actually in love with his little sister he was able to take Harry seriously. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he, Ron, had now finally felt some kind of success when it came to love.

"I just feel so helpless about it," Harry admitted. He was watching the fire. They were dancing up and down on the wood, so easy and so smooth. The fire did its job so casually.

"Harry, just give.. " Hermione began.

"... her some time. Yeah, I know. But how long is 'some'?" He asked. But he never heard their answer for at that time an owl tapped at the window making taking their attention. A second got up to let it in and it zoomed over to Harry dropping a letter. He immediately recognized the handwriting as Andromeda's. She sent a weekly update with a picture of Teddy and what he'd been up to during the week. Harry loved it and it could take his mind off of anything.

In this picture creating a Christmas decoration with Andromeda. Harry hadn't given much thought that it was December. Next weekend had there been planned a Hogsmeade trip, so he, Ron and Hermione chose to do their shopping then.

So when Saturday came they found themselves at the main gates waiting for an empty carriage. It had started to snow last night, so when they looked back at the castle it reminded them of a fairy tale.

The streets of Hogsmeade were crowded. Apparently the three of them wasn't the only ones who had chosen this weekend to do their Christmas shopping. The snowing had drastically increased which made it almost impossible to see – they were almost only able to see white.

"I was thinking, perhaps we should start with a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks?" Ron suggested, so off they went to the local bar. Ron went to buy them three butterbeers while Harry and Hermione tried finding some empty seats. In the end they found a table at the far end of the bar. Everywhere else was full.

Even though they had been outside in the snow for only a short period they still felt chilled, so the warmth really felt wonderful. They had not been there for more than five minutes though, when people started coming to Harry asking for autographs, pictures taken, invites to interviews and the sort. In they agreed to finish their drinks and head into the blizzard to get their shopping done. The snow was less painful than the people who didn't give Harry a moment of rest.

"Why exactly didn't we stay at Hogwarts?" Harry wondered aloud when they walked down the main street, heads down to avoid getting snow in their faces.

After what felt like an eternity they had finished. Ron, who after a few indirect hints from Hermione, had been a real gentleman and took Hermione's shopping bags.

When they walked down towards the carriages, which would take them back to Hogwarts, Harry saw it happen out of the corner of his eye. It was like everything happened in slow-motion as he turned and drew his wand to face three hooded figures. "GET DOWN" Harry yelled as he went to stand between his two friends and the attackers. At the exact moment as Harry had spoken those words the Death Eaters had fired off their first spells. They only missed by inches.

The attackers would not make a miss like that again. "Stupefy," they yelled but Harry was quicker; he had instantly non-verbally used the protego charm. He flicked his wand, thinking 'reducto' and hit one of the nearby streelamps causing it to drop exactly where the Death Eaters where standing.

'Explelliarmus' Ron yelled, aiming his wand at the closest opponent. He caught the wand in mid-air. Hermione had disarmed the other. But the third kept sending stunners in their direction. They kept their defences up, and when Hermione cast a blinding curse at him he chose to disapparate – so did the other two.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked, his voice a bit shaken.

"I don't know," Harry answered. He thoughts were racing. So much didn't add up.

"We got two wands at least, that means we identify who they are," Hermione told them when none had spoken for a short while. "We better let McGonnagol know, though," she said and she produced a patronus, which within a few seconds were racing towards the castle.

"Don't you guys find it odd, that Death Eaters try to stun us instead of going for the kill?" Harry said, unable to withhold his thoughts.

The remainder of that day went by with countless of explanations to all sorts of ministry people and teachers. When they were finally able to escape all the drama they were happy to be able to relax in front of the fire place in the Gryffindor common room.

Harry's thoughts started to wonder. It was a mystery to Harry that after six months some of Voldemorts supporters could still show up in Hogsmeade and attack three students. Something to Harry that it wasn't an accident that Ron, Hermione and especially Harry were the ones the Death Eaters had met.

What was more mysterious was that nobody had seen any of the missing Death Eaters ever since they managed to escape that night six months ago, and now that show up in the middle of Hogsmeade only to cast stunners. To Harry there was something strange going on.

Harry hadn't participated much in the conversation Ron and Hermione had had, but they seemed okay with it. What had started out as a debate between them about the incident in Hogsmeade had now turned into a chit-chat about everything and nothing. He couldn't resist a smile while he watched them. They had all three been so great friends for so long, but there was just something about the two of them that made sense. Something you couldn't really put your finger on. Harry wondered if people thought the same about him and Ginny. But what did it matter? She didn't even want to talk to him.

As he sat there watching them he felt his eyes become heavy, and in the end he gave in to sleep. At one point he was almost woken up by someone rustling nearby. He opened his eyes a bit to see Hermione conjuring a blanket and putting it over him. When he woke later it was still night. The fire was still burning and the room should be warm, but it was somehow chilling. He went to the window and noticed the sky was a shade of red. Harry had seen red sunrises, but this was nothing compared to it. It wasn't just reddish; this was a brilliant shade of red. In the next moment it was like all air got sucked out of Harry. It only lasted for a second. He had been able to breath normally up until then – nothing felt out of the ordinary. Then without warning the air in him went out and it happened so fast it hurt. There was no possible way to prepare for it; it happened as quickly as when light was turned on.

He felt weakened when it happened and he staggered backwards starting to cough when the air returned. It was surreal. And just like that it was over. The next thing he knew the sky turned back to its natural black colour. Still not entirely awake Harry went off to the staircase leading to the boys' dormitory. For all Harry knew it could just have been something he imagined.

The next morning he remembered nothing about the chill of the room, the red sky nor the air being sucked out.