Chapter Three. Days Pass and Minds Race.
It had been two weeks, two weeks of cleaning, repairing, and remodeling Hogwarts Castle so that maybe by September it would be ready for school again. Most people had left after two days of working, leaving it to the Weasley's, Harry, Hermione and a handful of professors. The Castle had been torn to pieces and shattered in more ways than one. Classrooms had been upturned, corridors blocked, and many of the Hogwarts Portraits had been all but ruined. It had been two weeks of cleaning, two weeks of working, and two weeks that were silent. No one knew what to say or do to make one another feel better, for now the grief and anger had set in, the shock was gone and now the time was to cope with all the incredible loss they felt.
Harry and Ginny were still staying in the 7th Year Boys Dormitory whilst Ron and Hermione stayed in the Girls Dormitory. The two couples gave each other the space they needed, and were often seen walking the grounds and talking, and sometimes they weren't seen for hours, only to turn up at dinner with goofy grins and rumpled clothes. Mrs. Weasley kept quiet about this, much to everyones surprise. Harry suspected that after the war, she figured they could use a few stolen moments and goofy grins among all the pain that still surrounded them. Yet, for the past two days, there were no grins for Harry, he was sinking into a depression. Blaming himself for everything that had happened. And Ginny had been so busy cleaning and working that she barely had time to ask him what was wrong or to talk to him, Ron and Hermione both asked how he was, Hermione even cornered him and demanded he tell her and to stop beating himself up.
"Harry, what in the name of Merlin is going on with you?" Hermione said, placing her hands on her hips. So, she didn't need his help cleaning the Transfiguration classroom after all. "Hermione, please, I really don't wanna talk about this now," Harry said in a low voice, she ignored and walked up to him. "Harry, look at me. It's over! You don't have to worry, you can be with Ginny, you can calm down, you can be normal now," she said in a surprisingly soft tone. "It's my fault that Ron and Ginny cry at night, I hear him, 'Mione, don't think I don't. People I loved died for me, they died, Hermione. And they are never coming back." Harry said, storming out of the room. Hermione called after him but he was already gone.
Harry was sitting in Gryffindor Tower by himself, still fuming over his conversation with Hermione, when he heard a noise, instinctively drawing his wand he stood up, it was George. He looked pale beneath his freckles, thinner then ever and the sparkle that had once ignited his eyes was gone. "Hey, Harry" he said in a low voice, he sat down on the floor next to the fire and just stared at it, Harry came and sat next to him. "How are ya holdin up, Mate?" Harry asked, even though he knew the answer, George shrugged, "I've had everyone tell me he wouldn't want me to be this way, he'd want me to make a joke out of it. Truth is, I'd tell him the same, but he'd in the same boat I am if I had died." George said in a whisper, furrowing his brow. "I know he would be. But if he could, he'd tell you not to cut off everyone else, that even though this hurts like hell, he'd want you to be around your family" Harry said in hopes that George would listen, if he did it didn't seem like it, for he only sighed deeply and shrugged. Harry grasped his shoulder and got up and walked out of Gryffindor Tower to see if he could help any.
The Castle was nearly repaired, with just simple things like dusting, mopping and putting things back where they belong such as paintings and sculptures. Harry walked along the corridor with his hands shoved deep into his pockets, sighing as he passed windows and saw that patches of what was once green grass is now scorched earth. He decided to walk to the Owlery, a place he hadn't been since 5th Year, since Sirius died he had no reason to go up there, and Hedwig always came to him, Hedwig, another wave of emotion crippled him when he reached the steps to the Owlery. Harry gripped his wand in his pocket and walked up the steps, he could break once he got inside, he could succumb to the pain once he was inside.
Harry slammed the door and feel to his knees, with great wracking sobs and shallow breaths he cried. Harry Potter cried like he had never cried in his life, even as a child when he had hurt himself and his Aunt Petunia would lock him in his cupboard till he was quiet. He felt everything now, all the pain, the anger, the pure unadulterated hate that he felt for what had happened in his life. Harry pulled himself up and sat down next to where he used to write his letters to his Godfather, another surge of emotion over took him…
Ginny Weasley was walking up to the Owlery when she heard something quite odd, something like a child crying. She drew her wand and tiptoed up the stairs till she banged the door open, "Show yourself!" she yelled. "Gin-Ginny, it's j-just me" she heard a deep voice say, she walked around the pillar in the middle of the room to see Harry slumped on the floor crying, looking up at her like a small lost child. "Oh, Harry!" she whispered and dropped her wand and knelt beside him. He sobbed and laid his head on her shoulder as she held onto him with a death grip, "I'm here, it's okay, I'm here." she whispered and held him close.
Ginny and Harry stayed like that for a long while, though neither knew how long they were there exactly. Ginny hummed a lullaby and stroked Harry's mane of shaggy black hair and after a while he fell asleep, snoring softly but with a firm grip on her. She looked down and moved his hair from his face and kissed his forehead softly and wiped away the wet tears that were still trickling out of his sleeping eyes. Ginny sighed and leaned her head back on the wall, only to feel something wet, she ran her hand though her hair and found she had leaned against bird dropping, "Great, really fantastic," she whispered, wiping her hand clean on her jeans. Harry moaned a little and pulled her tighter.
Ginny sighed deeply and lost herself in thought, she thought of Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Mad-Eye, and all the other who had lost their lives. She wimpered a little while thinking of Fred, her brother, the one closet to her, was gone forever. She cried softly as she thought of the life that was now open to her and how she could have all she wanted and more with Harry now, but that Fred would not be part of it. Her children would never see their twin uncles playing pranks, pulling jokes, and spoiling them absolutely rotten.
Children… She remembered Teddy, Lupin and Tonks' now orphaned son, and Harry's godson. How would they raise him? Ginny laughed, they, she had thought, meaning her and Harry both raising him as if he was their own. She sighed again, they could do it, she thought, besides after all they had been through, they were more mature than most people twice their age. But where would they live? Not the Burrow, it'd be too crowded. Grimmauld Place, maybe? Yes, that's probably where they would live. Ginny laughed a little as she thought of the look on Lupin and Tonks' faces when they knew Harry would be raising their son.
Her laugh woke Harry up, he yawned and looked up at her smiling, his tear stained face spread in his wide, lop sided, boyish grin. "What's so funny?" he asked, his voice a little raspy from sleep. "I was thinking of Teddy" Ginny said as she stroked his hair, Harry furrowed his brow a little, "What about him?" he asked. "Well, like where your going to raise him" she said, pulling herself free from him and sitting next to him, "I plan on living in Grimmauld Place, and I'm sure that he'd live with his grandmother, Tonks' mum, and stay with me on the weekends," Harry shrugged. "Oh, that makes more sense…" Ginny whispered as her bubble burst, "You all right?" he asked. "Well, I thoughtthat we would raise him, together" she whispered, looking at him apprehensively, "Ginny, I want him to live with Andromeda. And besides, the first kid I raise with you should be our own child" Harry said, smiling even wider, Giiny looked up at him suddenly, "Our child?" she said. Harry laughed, "Yes, Ginny, I want to be with you more than anything in the world. No, I do not think we are ready for marriage, but we have time, don't we?" he finished. Ginny giggled and kissed Harry, and yet again that day, they had no idea how long they stayed that way.