In the end, it wasn't Ron or Hermione who found him. It wasn't Ginny, Fred, George, or Neville. It was Luna. He was sitting in the birch tree at the edge of the Black Lake, staring out over the water. Luna, for once absent of her usual dreamy expression, walked down to the tree. "Harry?" she called.
"Oh," he looked down at her from between the branches of the tree, another tear joining the mixture of the others on it's way down his face. "Hi, Luna."
Luna sighed, her serious and slightly sad expression looking out of place on the usually bubbly girl. She focused on Harry, taking in his small frame shaking slightly in the cold. "You know, Harry, I understand what you're going through. When I was little, I lost my mum in a potions accident. She quite liked experimenting, and..." she trailed off, focusing on the Giant Squid's tentacle waving at her from the icy water. "And I know it's hard, but they're not gone yet. You can stop them from dying, you know. And when they do go, they're never really gone. " Luna shivered.
Harry climbed down out of the birch tree, wiping his face with his hand. "Thanks Luna." He wrapped his arms around himself and waved a hand towards the castle. "We should probably get back up there."
Luna nodded, her dreamy expression returning. They walked up to the doors in silence, save for Luna's humming. Harry went straight to his dormitory where Ron and Hermione were waiting for him. They stayed there for the rest of the day, laughing and joking until they all fell asleep.
In the next few months, there were very many changes in the Wizarding world.
First and foremost, Sirius Black came to Harry, Ron, and Hermione's trial on helping him escape to give his side of the story. Umbridge tried to have him Kissed right then and there, but Amelia Bones kept her in line. The four were cleared of all charges after Sirius was given Veritaserum. He was awarded 25,000 Galleons for being wrongly forced into Azkaban for twelve years. Peter Pettigrew was put on posters all over the Wizarding world, a 5,000 Galleon reword over his head. Harry moved in with Sirius at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.
Harry was awarded 10,000 Galleons for his reputation being publicly destroyed and becoming an object of wrongful public loathing. Harry immediately forced the Weasleys to take the reword money, as he neither wanted or needed it.
Fudge was sacked and Kingsley took charge of the Ministry, Amelia Bones as his new Senior Undersecretary. Umbridge was fired and put on charge for using a blood quill on many students and on Harry for over a month when the Ministry received an anonymous tip. She received 10 years in Azkaban and died 8 years into her sentence.
Voldemort cam to an early demise in Harry's sixth year. Sirius, Dumbledore, Fred, Tonks, Remus, and many others survived to live out their lives. Ron and Hermione got together in the middle of their seventh year, Harry and Ginny at the end of his sixth. Both couples were happily wed and lived peaceful lives after Voldemort's death.
Fin.