I have no long Author's note in the beginning I'm just going to get to it.

Disclaimer: I really wish you would stop asking me that.

Chapter Three

He was tripping, a lot…on branches and rocks and just the ground.

He could hear a whisper around him but couldn't make out what it was saying.

He felt a sudden pain in his forehead. It was different, it wasn't his scar, even though it was in that area, but it was a different pain. He couldn't make out what it was.

When he reached over to touch it he felt a fire. He was on fire.

"Harry!" It was Ginny.

He looked around. Where was she?

"Ginny!"

"Harry!"

Suddenly everything was shaking and things were falling apart. There was a light breaking through the dark sky.

"Harry!" He opened his eyes to see Ginny shaking his shoulders awake.

"Ginny." He whispered.

He realised that he was out of breath and his hands were shaking.

"It was just a bad dream." She said quietly and sat on the arm of his chair.

He ran his hand through his hair shakily.

"You were screaming in your sleep." She said. "What were you dreaming about?"

"I don't even know…" He whispered. "I was in the Forbidden Forest, I think, and I was on fire…."

"It was only a dream." She said and ran her hand through his hair.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"It's barely seven." She said still stroking her hair. "We don't have to be there until nine."

He nodded. "Ginny, about last night, I'm sorry, we were with Kingsley until late."

"It's ok." She had the blanket he had given her the night before wrapped around her shoulders.

"Ginny…" He whispered. Her hand stopped in his hair and she brought her hand back to herself.

"Harry, I'm not sure I'm in the best mood for this." She said.

"No, look, Ginny, I need to tell you what happened the other day…when I gave myself up." She looked at him sadly but he didn't stop. "I found out that, well, in order for Voldemort to die, I would…have to let him kill me…voluntarily."

He wondered if she had stopped breathing because she hadn't seemed to move.

"So, I went to the Forbidden Forest and I gave myself up. And when he…killed me…the last thing that I thought about was… you."

She stared at him with a blank expression. Apparently he was not getting his message to her through.

"Ginny…" He took her hand. "I love you and I want to be with you."

"Harry," She whispered.

"It's okay, you don't have to say it back." He said and kissed her wrist. "But I had to tell you."

She laughed and slipped off the arm to his lap. "I've been in love with you since I was nine, that was never a problem."

He smiled and pressed his lips to hers. "Wait," He said moving his head back. "There's a problem?"

"No…it's that…Harry, I mean we haven't even seen each other in months, how do you know that I'm still the same person? That we can still be like we were before."

"Because…" He smiled. "I still can't stop thinking about you and when I see you, that's all I see, like tunnel vision." He laughed. "And," He placed his hand on his heart, which began to beat extremely fast. "You are the only person to make my heart beat so fast."

She smiled and pulled him into her arms. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too." He mumbled and kissed the side of her face and any place he could get to. "You have no idea. At night I would look at the map just looking for your dot."

She laughed and kissed his forehead.

Harry moved his hand to her cheek and pulled her lips to him. Their lips moved slowly against each other. Almost as if they were trying to drink each other in. It didn't need to be passionate or rushed because they had as much time as they wanted.

Everything was okay.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and their tongues explored each other's mouths leisurely.

All of a sudden they heard a coughing sound and Ginny pulled away from him with a red face.

"Morning." Neville said.

"Morning…" Harry said.

Neville blushed and began to walk out of the common room.

"Uh…" Harry said and looked at Neville. "I'll be right back." He whispered to Ginny and kissed her softly before getting off the chair and running after Neville.

"Hey Neville." He said as he caught up with him. Neville was covered in cuts and had a long gash in the side of his face.

"Hey Harry." Neville said with a smile. Harry was suddenly reminded of all the times that Harry and him had said talked over the years and it was beginning to get to him that he wouldn't be in Hogwarts anymore. Ever. For the past year there was always the faint hope that if they had gotten all the Horcruxes and killed Voldemort than he could come back but he had ended that hope the night before.

This could be his last night in Hogwarts. He quickly pushed those thoughts aside.

"I just wanted to thank you for the other day." Harry said.

"It was no problem but uh, would you mind explaining why I had to kill that snake?" He chuckled.

"Let's just say that it was the final key to killing him."

"I think I can live with that." He nodded.

Harry laughed. "Yeah, well I really couldn't have done it without you."

Neville shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. "I'm glad you're okay Harry."

Harry nodded. "So, Neville have you given any thought to what you're going to do? I mean you were living in the Room of Requirement for the past couple of months but I can't imagine you'd want to come back."

He laughed. "Not anytime soon no, I was thinking of just taking a break and spending some time with my Gran. "

Harry nodded. "Well, I may be able to help you get a job in the mean time. And I don't think there could be anyone better for it but you. I just need to talk to someone."

Neville looked at him with a slightly confused expression but didn't question him. He turned to leave but Harry stopped him again.

"Neville," He turned to look at Harry with a questioning look. "I think your parents would be very proud of you."

Neville smiled and nodded. "I think yours would be too."

It had barely been two hours when Harry stepped out onto the Quidditch field. Gone was the happiness he had felt this morning with Ginny in the common room. It was all erased by the coffins lined up on the field.

Ginny came up behind him and held his hand tightly. He squeezed it but released it when he saw Andromeda with Teddy in her arms.

She saw him and smiled. "Harry, it's good to see you."

Harry nodded. "—"

"Nonsense call me Andromeda."

"Andromeda, I'm so sorry about—"

"Don't you dare." She smiled sadly at him. "None of this is your fault."

Harry nodded.

"And I want you to know how highly Remus and Nymphadora thought of you. And I hope you will come around to see Teddy." She said and bounced Teddy slightly in her arms.

"As often as you'll let me." He said. "Do you…I was wondering…could I…maybe hold him?"

She smiled and maneuvered Teddy into his arms. "Now be careful to support his head, their necks are very fragile at this age."

Harry nodded and did as he was told. Teddy seemed to be asleep but snuggled safely into Harry's arms.

He tried to hand him back to her but she shook her head. "I wouldn't dream of separating you two. Why don't you hold on to him, at least until after I give my…well until after I get off stage."

Harry nodded.

"If he starts to fuss, just rock him back and forth and that should do it." Andromeda left to take her spot in the audience and Ginny kissed him on the check before doing the same.

Ron and Hermione walked over to him and he could see that Hermione had been crying again.

"Is that Teddy?" She whispered when they got to him.

"Yeah, Andromeda said I could hold onto him during the ceremony." Harry said.

"He's so tiny." She said and reached for his little hand.

"He's drooling." Ron said with a small laugh.

Teddy shifted slightly in his arms and began to babble nonsense in his sleep.

Hermione laughed softly and Ron reached up to rub her shoulder.

"Oh good, I was hoping to see you three before we started." It was Kingsley, Harry didn't bother to look up through he was too entranced by Teddy. "We were hoping you three would sit up on the stage, during the ceremony."

All three stuttered.

"Please, it would mean a great deal to us."

Harry sighed.

"We would also like it if your friend Mr. Longbottom would sit with us as well."

They relented and nodded. They were all too exhausted to argue.

As much as he hated himself for it, Harry ignored most of the ceremony and eulogies. He was too busy looking at Teddy. He was too scared to take his eyes off of him, in fear that something would happen to him.

It was only when George came up did he tear himself away from Teddy.

He kept his speech short; it was mostly about his life and how he fought for a greater world and died with a smile on his face, the way he would've wanted.

"Whenever somebody says something I think is funny," He said quietly. "I turn to my side just to see if he thinks it's funny too…I never noticed it before, because it wasn't until now that there was no one there to smile back at me." He stayed silent for a moment and then walked off the stage.

Andromeda came up next, talking about Tonks from a young age and couldn't handle it and ran off stage.

Harry stood up to go after her but Hermione shook her head and took Teddy from his arms and went after her.

Kingsley motioned that it was time for Harry to go up.

He hadn't been looking forward to speaking to the crowd but he was the only one left to speak for Remus, and he owed it to him.

He went up to the stand and tightly gripped the ends. He hated that people were watching him. He hated even more that people would most likely only be watching him not because of Remus but because they wanted to see "The Chosen One."

"Lup—Remus was one of the best people I ever met. He was understanding…compassionate…he was the best teacher I ever had. Better than that he was a friend, and even more he was family to me. He was best friends with my parents and I know he would've been a wonderful parent. When I think of him, I can't help but think of how much of a father he was to me. He had no idea how much he meant to me." Harry had tears forming in his eyes. "He trusted me enough to look after his son, and I would've done the same…"

Harry had nothing left to say, and he knew it was not wise to start crying in front of Rita Skeeter, who's quill had been moving since he stood up.

"Thank you." He said quietly and ran off looking for Hermione.

Ironically, he found her in the bathroom that she had run into when Ron had teased her in their first year.

He laughed when he came inside and saw that there was still a chip in one of the sinks from where the troll had hit it. She was sitting on the floor while bouncing Teddy in her arms.

"Haven't we met here before?" He asked.

She smiled at him. "I couldn't find Andromeda."

"So you decided to sit in the bathroom with a baby…of course." He sat down next to her.

"I just passed by the bathroom and couldn't resist coming in." She looked at him. "Can you believe it's been seven years?"

"More or less." Harry said and reached over to grab Teddy's little hand.

"It's just so weird, everything's different but it all feels the same." She whispered.

"Well, overall I think it's good that it's all different." Harry said.

Teddy made a babbling sound and Hermione bounced him slightly.

"I feel, almost as if I don't have a purpose anymore. We just spent a whole year and more trying to get to this goal and we did but now there's nothing." She said and looked to the wall opposite of her.

"Hermione, this was never your purpose it was mine…and I'm sorry if I involved Ron and you so much that you thought that it was." He turned to her and took her hand even though she was using it to hold Teddy. "You have not even begun to tap into your potential. And you are going to come back to Hogwarts and you are going to become something excellent."

She sighed and rolled her eyes at him. "Thank you. Now, we should find Andromeda, I believe a dose from this adorable child will help her." She tickled Teddy's belly and he laughed. "Yes it will, yes it will." She said in a baby voice.

She lifted him up before standing up and Harry followed her. "You promise you're going to spoil this baby right?"

"As much as possible." Harry said with a laugh.

Kingsley was talking when they had made it back to the ceremony; unfortunately Andromeda had left with Teddy.

"Now as a close to the ceremony we would like to present some individuals with the Order of Merlin."

"Oh no. You've got to joking." Harry mumbled.

"Harry," Hermione said. "This is a great honour."

"I just wish I wouldn't be getting so much attention. I just want to disappear already."

Hermione shook her head disapprovingly.

"In the Order of Merlin, Second Class, I would like to present Molly and Arthur Weasley for aiding and protecting the Order of the Phoenix, even in the face of immediate danger."

Applause arose as Mr. Weasley went up and took the medal and shook Kingsley's hand before going back to his seat.

"In the Order of Merlin, First class, I would like to present Neville Longbottom, who protected many Hogwarts students from Death Eaters; and showed tremendous bravery in the face of and aided tremendously in the defeat of the Dark Lord."

Harry could see Neville turn red as he stood up from his seat and shook Kingsley's hand and took the medal. He whispered something to Neville and he looked down to his trainers before returning to his seat.

"In the Order of Merlin, First class, I would like to present Ronald Weasley with aiding in the defeat of the Dark Lord."

Ron stood up and took the medal and happily shook Kingsley's hand.

Harry looked at Hermione who was smiling proudly at him and he wondered how Ron was daft enough to believe that Hermione thought nothing of him. It was impossible not to notice her feelings for him.

"In the Order of Merlin, First Class, I would like to present Ms. Hermione Granger, for aiding in the defeat of the Dark Lord." Hermione quickly walked up to Kingsley and quickly took her award but Kingsley hugged her instead of shaking her hand.

"And finally, in the Order of Merlin, First Class, I would like to present Harry Potter, in the defeat of the Dark Lord."

Harry blushed as he heard the roar of applause, much louder than it had been for any of the others, and he practically sprinted to Kingsley, in attempt to end his humiliation as quickly as possible.

Kingsley shook his head and whispered to him, only loud enough for him to hear over the roar of the crowd. "Your parents would be extremely proud of you." Harry nodded and walked off stage as quickly as possible.

The next few hours were even more emotional as all the families had to take home their caskets to be buried.

He had intended to help the Weasley's take Fred's but couldn't let himself when he saw Andromeda, she had come back, all alone to attempt to take both Tonks' as well as Lupin's casket.

He swallowed and went over to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"I hate to leave you at a time like this but I can't just leave Andromeda to deal with this by herself." Harry said.

Mr. Weasley nodded. "Of course Harry, we'll see you back at the Burrow."

Mrs. Weasley gave him a glare that he could only describe as a death glare.

Harry was scared.

"Don't mind her, she's a little upset lately is all. She understands, it's difficult…she has to bury one of her sons today…but I'd be back soon, if I were you."

Harry nodded and squeezed Ginny's hand quickly before going over to Andromeda.

She smiled softly at him and handed him Teddy.

Ok so that's this chapter, I was trying to include the funerals in this chapter but the chapters are beginning to get really long. Also since it's taken so long to bust out this chapter I haven't really double checked it or anything. So sorry if there were mistakes. I'm trying to decide about getting a Beta but I don't know if they can check as fast as I crank them out.

Also one of the problems I had with other stories about the "in between" is that they seemed to skip over the effect Lupin's death had on Harry, which would upset me because that was practically the last bit of connection he had to his parents.

So how was Harry and Ginny's talk? I wasn't really too sure about it.

Just as well how was Harry's speech that was something else I had a problem with.

Ok and I'll try to get the next chapter out soon, there's some serious Ron and Hermione in the next chapter :D yayyy. And there will be a little surprise for Harry maybe more than one surprise and Rita Skeeter will rear her ugly head soon. I like to use her to cause trouble ;)

Alright now please review. Pretty, pretty please with Rupert Grint on top!

Oh! I almost forgot to ask, is there anything you guys would like to see in the story? I like to have reader involvement and if you give me an idea for something I will let you know, probably just not until after it happens in case it's a secret. :D