My eyes opened. I lay on a surface that betrayed nothing of the room it belonged to. The scene in front of my eyes was blank as well. Unrelenting white that stretched as far as I could see.

"Well your back then" said a voice from my left. I turned my head and saw a woman sitting cross-legged on the floor next to me.

"Back?" I asked as I sat up. My back ached and my chest was throbbing.

"Yes back" she said.

"I have never been here before" Is what I was about to say. However just before the words left my mouth a flood of memories entered my head. I remembered me jumping off a roof and then talking to someone who looked like Hermione but introduced herself as Fate. The deal that we made and the words she spoke all came to me as if from nowhere.

"Now do you remember?" she asked. Her face stayed the same serene mask.

"Yes I do. Why did I die again, that's a huge price to pay?"

"A life for a life" she said simply.

"But Hermione died as well"

"It was the only way to guarantee your repayment"

I was fuming now I stood up and glared down at her.

"Your killed her just so I would die"

"I didn't kill her. I just nudged the people involved to do certain things" as she spoke she stood as well. She was slightly shorter than me and locked her eyes on mine.

"She died. I didn't die because I was stupid. I died because I didn't want to live without her"

She looked at me with an indifferent look on her face.

"I know" she said and turned around and walked towards a door that had just materialised. It looked remarkably like the door to the great hall at Hogwarts. She looked over her shoulder and beckoned me to follow her.

I followed. She reached the door and motioned me to go in.

"What's in there?" I asked, not unreasonably.

"Go and see" she said. I was about to ask again but she just faded away in front of my eyes with a final faint chuckle.

I reached for the door handle and grasped it. Just as I was about to open it I heard a noise through it. It sounded like cheering. I pulled the door open and took a step inside.

"HARRY!" screamed the assembled people. I blinked the sudden light from my eyes and looked around the room. It was the great hall. There was only one table however that stretched all the way down the middle of the room. The teacher's dais was also occupied by a large table. Both tables were full of people.

"Hey Harry" called George "Good day today!"

"Hi Harry, good to see you" called Ginny from next to him.

I kept walking down the hall towards the teacher's dais. As I went I saw the faces of people turn from their meal to nod at me. Lavender, Percy and Parvati all greeted me as well as I walked past them. As I got closer to the dais I saw other sitting at the table. McGonagall and Dumbledore were sitting side by side next to the Headmasters chair. This was odd, since Dumbledore is the headmaster. However as I went up the steps to the platform I saw that the headmasters chair was empty. I stood in front of the empty chair and waited while Dumbledore stood up.

"Harry. I am glad that you are here." His mouth opened to continue but I spoke first.

"But I am dead and so are you. You're glad that I am dead?"

"No of course not Harry, but we were not sure if you would come here or go... Somewhere else" he said slightly hesitatingly. His tone mollified me and I looked to the Headmasters chair.

"Who sits here if not you?" I asked Dumbledore.

"You" he said simply and then he looked over my shoulder to the door next to the table. I turned to see what he was looking at and then my heart started fluttering.

Hermione walked through the door and walked over to the table and sat down in the chair next to the Headmasters. I walked around the table and went to stand next to the Big Chair.

"Sit down Harry" she said without turning around. She sounded angry so I didn't argue the point.

I sat down heavily and looked out on the sea of people who were all turned to face me. Then I heard Dumbledore start talking.

"Friends! Harry has finally joined us. I know that this is a sad occasion because we have all passed on. But also just remember that Voldemort has been defeated" at this there was a deafening roar of noise from the assembled students. He raised his hand for silence but the noise continued.

"SILENCE!" he called as loud as he could. The noise immediately stopped.

"I love doing that" he said to me over his shoulder. I grinned at the memory.

"Now I bid you eat your fill and enjoy yourself" this got another rousing cheer.

I was not sure how much time passed during the meal. It seemed to go for ever I struck up conversations with everyone seated at the table. With one exception, for Hermione would still not talk to me. Dumbledore expressed his condolences and McGonagall wished that it had ended differently. I reciprocated these feeling to the pair of them and they shrugged it off. Finally Dumbledore rose.

"Well friends I am sure you are full from our feast but before I send you off to bed I would like to say one thing." There was a second of utter silence and then he continued.

"Harry gave his all to save the world from Voldemort and he sacrificed everything he had to do it, but now we are gathered here to be together once more. I know some of you are sad at leaving your family behind but I will remind you that at Hogwarts we are all family. Now off to bed all of you"

There was a huge clamour as the assembled group rose from the table and made their way out of the hall, some laughing and joking, some depressed and silent. When they had all gone Dumbledore spoke again.

"Come now let us leave the two heroes alone" and with that he took McGonagall's arm and walked down the hall followed closely by the rest of the table. Now it was just me and Hermione. I rose and she mirrored me. We walked around the table and started the walk to the door.

"What is the matter love?" I asked to break the silence. She rounded on me.

"What's the matter?! What's the fucking matter?!" she shouted at me.

"Look I am sor..." Was as far as I got before she started again.

"Why did you give up?"

"You saw what happened?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes and you just gave up"

"I kept fighting"

"Only after Sirius kicked you back into normality"

"I was upset"

"So was I. I had just died" she said. He voice was calmer now. She sounded disappointed rather than angry. All told it was actually better when she was yelling at me.

"I know babe. And I am sorry about that" at this she looked at me and I saw the anger returning to her eyes.

"YOUR SORRY!" she almost screamed the two words at me. She opened her mouth to continue her current rant but I stopped her. I grabbed her face in my hands and kissed her. She was resistant at first but she stopped fighting after a few seconds and she returned my gesture with equal gusto. I broke it off when I needed to breath.

"I am sorry babe. Am I forgiven?" I asked, trying to instil into my eyes the look she gets in hers when she asks this question. She took a deep breath and then smiled.

"Yes" she took my hand in hers and intertwined her fingers through mine.

"So what now?" I asked as we continued our walk to the common room. She didn't answer me but when we got to the third floor she pulled my arm away from the staircase.

"Dumbledore has given us the prefects lounge for us to use" she said and lead me down the corridor towards an ornately decorated door at the end of the passage.

"Emerald Lion" she said as she approached the door and the door swung open without a sound. I halted on the threshold.

"Ours?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Ours" she confirmed. I was about to enter when there was a faint rustle in the corridor behind me I spun round but there was nothing there. It may have been my imagination but for a second I thought I saw a pair of green eyes looking at me from behind a tapestry. But I blinked and they were gone. I shook my head and mentally berated myself.

"Voldemorts dead and gone, you can stop looking over your shoulder. He is not here and can't come back." I nodded in agreement with my thought and followed Hermione through the open door. As the door swung shut behind me there was a almost imperceptible noise from the corridor.

It sounded like a dry, evil chuckle.

"It's just the wind" I said to myself and went to see my new home.