The atmosphere in the kitchen as Harry pushed away his breakfast plate, unable to force himself to continue eating, was rather subdued. Everyone was clearly dreading the forthcoming memorial service, but wouldn't miss it for the world - determined to say one last goodbye to their loved ones. Because of the severely conflicting emotions though, nobody seemed quite sure how to act. Ron seemed particularly disturbed, not even managing to finish his breakfast. Hermione must have picked up on the fact that this was exceptionally out of character for him, as she kept glancing over at him every few minutes, apparently quite worried for his well being.

Mr Weasley had been correct in his assumption the previous night though, as Mrs Weasley was indeed fussing over everyone else in the room, remarking on everything from Harry and Ron's lack of appetite to the fact that Bill was, in her opinion, still well overdue a hair cut.

'Molly,' Mr Weasley eventually said softly, looking at his wife sympathetically, 'We're going to be leaving in half an hour, so don't you want to just sit back and take a break until then?'

'No, Arthur, I don't want to take a break,' she snapped, 'I have to make sure the kids are ready to go, and whilst we're on the subject of getting ready, don't you think it's about time you got your dress robes on?' Harry caught Mr Weasley's eye as he rose to leave the table and head upstairs, and gave him a weak smile, which Mr Weasley returned, giving Harry the impression that he'd known what was coming when he asked his wife to have a break, but thought he'd try on the off chance that she would agree. 'That goes for the rest of you as well,' she continued, once Mr Weasley had gone, her gaze sweeping the room now, a dangerous edge to her voice, 'I don't want the usual last minute scramble - not today of all days!'

That had prompted everyone to get themselves changed and ready to go as quickly as possible and Mrs Weasley seemed genuinely shocked when everyone was downstairs and ready five minutes before they were actually due to leave.

After five minutes, five minutes that Harry thought felt more like five hours, of waiting around in the kitchen, Harry was cursing himself for allowing his determination to decipher his dream keep him awake so late the previous night. He could feel his eyelids growing heavy as they sat there waiting and was actually pretty relieved when Mrs Weasley finally announced it was time to leave. He would be, once again, side along Apparating with Ginny, so took her hand as they stepped out into the garden.

Harry deliberately waited until everyone else had Apparated and pulled Ginny close for a moment, 'I'm going to help you through today and everything's going to be just fine,' he said quitely, 'Today will be incredibly hard, for everyone, but we'll have so much to look forward to afterwards and I want you to know I can't wait to start planning the rest of our life together.' Ginny kissed him, several times actually, in response to this and Harry guessed that because of how tender and soft they were, he might actually have said exactly the right thing for a change. 'Ready to go?' He asked softly, when they had reluctantly come apart, 'As I'll ever be,' was Ginny's quiet response, and then they were gone, Apparating to Hogsmeade to meet everyone else.

Hogsmeade was packed. Infact, Harry was sure it was even busier today than it usually was at the height of Summer when the pupils of Hogwarts visited at the weekend. Due to the sheer volume of people, it took them a while to locate everyone else and it was only the fact that Ron's vivid red hair stood above most of the crowd that they spotted them. Slipping through the crowd, keeping a tight hold of Ginny's hand, Harry finally managed to navigate them to the rest of their party, then all together, they started the walk up to Hogwarts Castle.

Harry had thought Hogsmeade was busy, but in comparison, Hogwarts, or at least the grounds, were positively filled to the brim. There must have been in excess of a thousand people in attendance already and by the looks of things in Hogsmeade, many more were yet to arrive. There were hundreds of rows of seats that had been lined along the lakeside, much in the same fashion as Dumbledore's memorial had been, but on a much larger scale. They all faced toward a podium, that Harry assumed would be where a select few said a few words to mark the occasion.

As they took their seats, Harry found himself sitting with Ginny on his right hand side, with the rest of their group proceeding to her right, taking up a whole row of seats. On his left hand side was an empty seat which, even though he hated himself for thinking it, he really hoped nobody would sit in it, just for the sake of sitting next to Harry Potter.

After about fifteen minutes, most of which had been spent chatting quietly with Ginny, Ron and Hermione, a lone woman with a baby in tow took the seat to Harry's left. Harry turned to smile politely in welcome, but was forced to do a double take, as sitting next to him was Andromeda Tonks, with his little Godson, Teddy Lupin.

'Mrs Tonks!' He exclaimed, completely taken aback by their arrival, 'It's so good to see you - and Teddy!'

'It's good to see you all too,' she replied, smiling at them all, then speaking directly to Harry, 'First of all, it's certainly not Mrs Tonks to you, we're practically family now for goodness sake, I insist you call me either Andromeda, or just Dromeda. Whichever you prefer. Anyway, I thought you would like to spend some time with Teddy - I've been telling him all about you.' Harry's feeling of sudden, surging panic must have been clearly displayed on his face, as she continued with a laugh, 'Don't worry, Harry! I won't just be handing him over and leaving you to it - come here and I'll show you how to hold him properly.'

As Harry held his Godson for the first time, he was hit by such an overwhelming force of emotion, that he never even felt the tears that were suddenly stinging his eyes come. It was a mixture of incredible happiness, for having Teddy in his life, and desperate grief for Remus and Tonks, who would never see their little boy grow up. Harry dropped his head, as if leaning closer to Teddy, to disguise his emotion, but Ginny wasn't fooled, as she was suddenly caressing Harry's arm, ever so gently, just letting him know she was there for him.

'Oh, Harry!' Andromeda suddenly exclaimed, 'It seems he's captivated by you already! Look ... his eyes!'

Harry finally looked up, and right into Teddy's eyes, which up until moments ago, had been a light shade of brown. They were now, incredibly, a brilliant emerald green that was so familiar to Harry. Teddy was giggling slightly, as if he knew exactly what he was doing, 'They're just like mine,' was all he managed to mumble before he had to stop himself talking anymore, certain he was about to burst into tears any moment now.

Andromeda must have noticed Harry's fight to keep control, as she decided to take Teddy at that moment. 'He's taken quite a liking to mimicking features from those he feels a connection with,' she explained, with a loving look at her Grandson, 'I imagine he finds everyone's reaction rather amusing!'

They all laughed at this, but Harry was actually very touched. Even though it was quite plausible that Teddy had changed his eye colour to Harry's purely because the colour was so vivid, Harry firmly believed that Andromeda was correct and that it was the first sign of the connection he and Teddy were going to share for a long, long time.

Suddenly though, as the noise level dropped several notches all around them, all of this was pushed to the back of Harry's mind for the time being. For at that very moment, Minerva McGonagall was making her way up to the podium, and as she reached the top, she spoke to the full crowd, her voice magically amplified to ten times it's normal volume, 'If everyone could please take their seats,' she said, rather stiffly, 'The service will be commencing momenterally!'

Suddenly there was a huge rush from behind them to grab a seat. Harry hadn't noticed the Hogwarts grounds filling up as much as they had, but surmised there must have been many people gathered around at the back of the seating area, out of his line of sight. As he watched hundreds of Witches and Wizards hurry towards their seats from the back, he also noticed Kingsley Shacklebolt slip into his front row seat along with Percy. However, after a minute or so, Percy stood and made his way over to where Harry and the rest of the group were sitting, and much to Harry's relief, he went to sit beside his parents.

Then, as an elderly, tufty haired Wizard that Harry thought he vaguely recognised made his way to the podium, the service was underway. This prompted Harry to wrap an arm around Ginny and allow her to slide a bit closer to him. He had already promised himself that he would be strong for Ginny today, just like she had been for him at Dumbledore's memorial. Therefore, he forced himself to sit there, listening to the solemn words of the little, tufty haired Wizard. At this point of Dumbledore's memorial, he had been able to lose himself in his own grief and anger. Today though, he was determined to stay focused, so he could comfort Ginny at all the right moments.

As the little Wizard finally wrapped up his service, about an hour later, and stood down from the podium, there were sobs audible throughout the crowd. Many of which were coming, Harry realised with a pang of guilt, from his right hand side, where the rest of the Weasley's, Hermione and Fluer sat. Knowing there was nothing he could do for any of them at that moment though, Harry kissed Ginny softly on the forehead as she leaned on his shoulder, tears gently trickling down her cheeks, and then flashed what he hoped was a reassuring smile at Andromeda, who seemed to be holding up very well, all things considered.

Then his attention, along with everyone else's, was pulled back to the podium. McGonagall had stood up, a long piece of parchment in her hand. Harry knew immediately, without quite knowing how, that she was about to name the dead. He pulled Ginny even closer now, knowing what was sure to come when she heard her brothers name called out along with the others who had died that fateful night.

The name list was the trigger for Ginny to finally let go. She went from gently weeping on Harry's shoulder, to full on sobbing when Fred's name was mentioned. Harry tried to be as calm and solid as possible, to stay strong and comfort her, but at the mention of Fred, then Remus, Tonks and Colin Creevey amongst over fifty others, he too felt the tears coming thick and fast.

It took everyone, including McGonagall, who had faltered several times whilst reading the names, several moments to compose themselves again, but they were in for one more shock. McGonagall had went on to say a few short, but respectable words about one Severus Snape. Mentioning his bravery, loyalty and of course the fact that he had been on the right side the whole time. This certainly proved to be quite a point of interest, and more than a few hushed whispers were exchanged about this new revelation. Harry was glad McGonagall had decided to do that for Snape. Although he still certainly wouldn't ever call Snape a friend, he was one of the bravest men Harry had ever known and had saved Harry's life on more than one occasion. So, despite the fact he was a greasy git, sarcastic, and downright horrible to Harry whenever possible, he couldn't help but admire his old Potions Master, and was more than happy to forgive him for the six years of hell he had tried to put Harry through at Hogwarts. He truly hoped everyone else would feel the same way.

After a few more words from McGonagall, a terrifying arrow salute that was too close for comfort from the Centaurs and some eerie music emitting from the Lake, which Harry recognised as a sign of respect from the Merepeople, the service was finally over. They all stayed long enough to say goodbye to Andromeda and Teddy, and a few other familiar faces, such as Hagrid, Neville and his Grandmother and Luna and her Father, then all headed towards the Hogwarts gates, to make their way to Hogsmeade, where they had decided to Apparate straight back to the Burrow to have a private wake for Fred. There was a wake being held at Hogwarts too, but they all unanimously agreed that there was nowhere they would rather be than the Burrow, and nobody they would rather be with than their family. They did of course extend an invite to Hagrid, Neville, Luna and Andromeda, who were all considered family, but all of them, understandably, had their own plans to deal with the aftermath of the service.

'How're you feeling?' Harry asked Ginny quitely, as they made their way towards Hogsmeade. 'I'm going to be fine, thank you for earlier, I can't tell you how much it helped having you there today.' She replied with a teary smile, 'I just want to be back home now, so we can have time together with everyone else ... we all need to help each other through this.' Harry thought Ginny was quite right, and he too had thoughts only for the rest of the family as they finally reached Hogsmeade and Apparated back to the Burrow.

As soon as they arrived back into the Kitchen of the Burrow, Mr Weasley summoned a large bottle of Firewhiskey from one of the topmost cupboards and proceeded to pour everyone a generous measure of the fiery hot drink. 'To Fred!' He toasted, as they all gladly accepted the drink. It burned Harry's throat wickedly on the way down, but filled him with a warmth that instantly made him feel a bit better. Everyone else had also knocked back their first measure, so Mr Weasley poured another equally large drink for everyone again, before they all retreated to the Living Room.

The rest of the night at the Burrow was a real bittersweet affair. Harry, Hermoine and Fluer mostly listened as the Weasley's told stories of Fred's antics before his untimely death. At the start there were many tears, but as time went on and a few more drinks were had by all, the stories became more amusing, and laughter was more frequent than crying. It was great hearing everyone laughing and sharing their fond memories of Fred. Everything from his first word, which Harry wasn't surprised to hear was 'joke', to hilarious stories of him and George planting spiders in Ron's cot when they were younger was discussed, and Harry was so glad to be able to be there for the Weasley's, as they'd been so many times in the past for him. Despite the awful circumstances of the gathering, he couldn't help but feel that together, as a family, they would all get through this.

It was getting late though, and Mr and Mrs Weasley soon decided to head to bed, bidding everyone goodnight. It wasn't long after that when Charlie, and Bill and Fluer also decided to get some sleep, then George announced he would be heading back to his flat for the night, as Lee Jordan had persuaded him to have a few drinks for old times sakes. So, this just left Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione. Harry had actually been hoping for a moment like this at some point, as he had been desperate to offload his concerns about his dreams for the whole day.

As they all returned to the Living Room though, after seing off George, it was Hermione who spoke first. 'Erm, I know that my timing is really awful,' she began tentatively, like it was a real struggle for her to have this conversation, 'It's just ... well, I've been waiting for the four of us to be alone for a while now, so I hope you don't mind hearing me out for a bit...' Harry was a bit taken aback. He had expected to be the one having this conversation with the rest of them, but it sounded like their friend was really concerned about something, so he was fully prepared to listen to whatever she had to say. 'Of course we'll listen Hermione, take all the time you need.' he said softly.

'Thanks, Harry,' she said, with a weak smile, 'There's probably no easy way to ask this, so I suppose I better just make it quick ... I've got to go to Australia and restore my parents memory. I really don't know how they're going to react after they find out I've had them in another country for months, without any knowledge of their only daughter, so it would mean an awful lot to me if you would all come with me ... I know I'm asking a lot, so please don't feel like you have to, it would just mean a lot to have you all ... to have you all there for support.' She finished with a soft shudder, and began to cry, obviously dreading having to tell her parents the lengths she'd had to go to, just to ensure their safety.

Ginny left Harry's side at that moment, to go and comfort Hermione with Ron. Harry was watching on, once again feeling absolutely terrible, as it had somehow completely escaped his memory that Hermione's parents were still in Australia with a memory charm in place that made it impossible for them to recall anything about Hermione. He hadn't even thought about the obvious - that Hermione would have to go back for them and undo the charm.

Chastising himself once again for his stupidity and lack of awareness, he too joined Ron and Ginny with a comforting arm round Hermione, and reassurances that they most certainly would be accompanying her to Australia. She was so delighted to hear this, that she started to sob uncontrollably, thanking them all over and over again. It took her quite a while to calm down and it was at that point where Ron suggested they went to bed too, and Harry wasn't going to argue. He had completely decided against bringing up the dream after Hermione had revealed her problem, feeling that his dream issue was pale in comparison.

So, as Ron and Hermione went up to bed, he and Ginny were left together on the couch. Harry was so glad to have her to himself for a while and immediately pulled her close for a long, lingering kiss. 'Do you want to lie down here for a bit,' he whispered softly to her, as she laid her head on his chest. He suddenly realised how tired he was - it had been a long day.

'Of course I do, it's so lonely up there in bed alone, I really wish you weren't in a seperate room.' She sighed.

If it wasn't the fact your Mum was such a prolific dueller,' he joked, 'Or, of course that you didn't have five brothers that are more than capable of looking after themselves, then I might just have joined you tonight...'

She laughed tiredly, then cuddled in a bit closer, 'I love you, Harry, stay down here with me tonight at least, and I promise if any of my brothers, or my Mum has a problem with that, I'll fight it out with them.'

Harry smiled at Ginny's fiery attitude, 'How could I refuse after that offer?' He said, finding it more and more difficult to keep his eyes open, 'I love you too, and you're right, this is so much better than bed alone.'

Then they were both drifting off, Harry's last conscious thought being how soft and warm Ginny felt as they melted into one another.