Hey my lovely readers! I know it has been about a month since I last updated and I apologize! Life has been pushing on me a little hard but I finally have time to write! So, here is the next chapter. What did you guys think about the last chapter? Did you think it was going to be Ron, or did you think, even for a second, that it was Harry? Let me know!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, that belongs to J.K. Rowling

Why, dear boy, we don't send wizards to Azkaban just for blowing up their aunts. - Cornelius Fudge

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5 MONTHS AGO

The raven haired man slowly walks away from the castle that he has called home for 7 years of his life. He hangs his head low as tears stream down his face in grievance for all of his family and friends that died in this war. He couldn't save them, even though he tried. He failed them when they were relying on him the most. That is something that he can't get over, all of the dead in the Great Hall are just a reminder of how badly he failed.

He walks along the bridge slowly, taking in the sights of the castle around him and it's grounds. The scene is peaceful and calm, like a war didn't just happen here only an hour ago. The tranquility makes his heart ache a little more, knowing all of the rebuild that will have to happen to heal the wounds from this battle. He finally turns around to look through the doors into his home, watching as people bustle around the Great hall, the sounds of sobbing still able to reach his ears. He stays frozen for a few minutes before he turns on the spot and disappears.

Appearing in a small village in muggle london, the young wizard walks to a bench in the middle of the village that is on the outskirts of a small park and he sits down begrudgingly. He leans forward to place his elbows on his knees and places his head in his hands, his tears now flowing freely down his face. All the memories flood back as he sits there and he relives all the painful deaths that he watched in front of his eyes and then he sees all the people in the Great Hall that are no longer among the living. He doesn't know how long he sits there for but eventually a hand lands on his shoulder and it startles the wizard into looking up. When he does, however, he meets eyes with someone that he didn't expect to see here.

"D-dudley? What are you doing here?" The, now, slimmer boy sits down besides his cousin and he leans his arms on his knees to match eye level with Harry.

"I could ask you the same thing. Why are you not with your friends at school?" Harry looks back down and stays silent as sadness overtakes his face and sensing that something has happened since the last time he saw his cousin, Dudley changes the subject.

"Look, do you have a place to stay for now? If not, I have a spare bedroom that you can take until you can get back up on your feet. It is the least I can do after you saved my life." Harry pauses as he replays Dudley's words in his head. Did he hear him right? Harry looks up and stares at his cousin with confusion but then he nods after a moment of silence.

"Okay, thank you Dudley." The big man doesn't respond but nods his head and stands up and starts to walk away. Harry stares after him in shock but then he stands and starts walking after his cousin.

For the first couple of weeks that Harry is living with Dudley, Harry disappears to all of the different places that he, Ron, and Hermione used to visit all the time. He would just live in the nostalgia of the younger years where the trio would laugh and be happy. However, every time, Hermione would end up getting close to finding him and he would disappear before she would see him. He can't bring himself to face Hermione or Ron after he failed everyone so he decided to just stop going to the Wizarding World so Hermione wouldn't find him. He doesn't think she can find him if he is with Dudley so he decides to just stay with his cousin for the time being.

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5 months pass as Harry settles into living with his cousin. He gets a job at the café down the street from Dudley's house and he splits the rent of Dudley's house with him. The two have been getting to know each other over the course of Harry's stay and Harry finally opens up Dudley about what happened to lead up to Dudley finding his cousin sitting on the park bench. Dudley tells Harry about how he moved out of his parent's house shortly after they moved and how he has been living his life since coming here.

The two cousins fall into a smooth rhythm as they go to work and then come home, they usually eat dinner together as they talk about their day and then head to bed. On their mutual days off, the two usually go out for lunch, and then they walk through the village before returning home.

Harry still has nightmares about the things that he saw in the war and he thinks about his two best friends, Hermione and Ron and wonder how they are doing. Hermione, especially, clouds the young wizards mind. It kills him to not be able to see her after all this time but he feels that it is better for him to just stay away from her. However, one changes everything for Harry.

He comes home from work one day and as he steps into the kitchen, Dudley is sitting at the small table in the corner, a familiar newspaper in his hands. Dudley looks up as Harry walks over to him and Dudley knows that this is going to change things for the young Wizard.

"Hey Dudley, what is that in your hand? You don't usually get the newspaper, is there anything interesting?" Harry asks as he sits down across from his cousin. When Dudley doesn't answer, Harry meets his eyes and notices a look of conflict on his face.

"Dudley? What's wrong?" His cousin simply lays the newspaper on the table and slides it to sit in front of Harry. The black haired wizard looks down and notices that it is the Daily Prophet sitting in front of him and he looks back up at his cousin.

"Where did you get this?" Dudley lets out a sigh.

"There was a wizard at the market today, I don't know what he was doing there but this fell out of his robes and I picked it up. I was going to throw it away but then I noticed what was on the front page and thought that you might want to see it." He says as he points down at the paper in front of his cousin.

Harry looks back down at the paper and notices the front page as well and the headline causes Harry to catch his breath in his throat. Please don't say that this is real. This can't be real! Not Ron, his best friend for 7 years, is dead. Harry mourns his friend for a while, Dudley sitting across from him in silence as Harry grieves. After what feels like forever, Harry wipes his eyes and does his best to clean up his face before looking up to meet eyes with Dudley.

"I'm going to have to return, after all this time, to at least send off my best friend. I never got to make things right with him when I left, and not that he is gone, I can't. I can at least go visit him and apologize. Dudley nods with understanding and Harry stands from the table, making his way up to his room to gather some of his things. Once he is packed, he makes his way back downstairs and sits back down at the table with Dudley, who hasn't moved. Dudley looks up as Harry comes back into the room and is still silent when Harry sits down.

"I'm packed, I'm not sure how long I will be gone for but I will come back. I'm not leaving for good." Dudley nods and leans forward to place a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Go take care of your friend, I will still be here when you are done." Harry offers Dudley a small smile and then stands back up before turning on the spot and disappearing.

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Harry appears in front of the door of a familiar building that he hasn't seen since the beginning of the war. 12 Grimmauld place is the same as it was when they left. He can see him, Hermione, and Ron walking up to the front door and slipping inside. When he blinks, the vision is gone and he wipes away a stray tear from his cheek. He steels his breath and walks for the door and slowly opens it, slipping insides and turning around to close the door behind him. However, a moment later, his voice rings in the hallway and he spins around to find the one person that he has been wishing to see for these last 5 months.

"Hermione!"

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There you guys go! I hope you are enjoying this story so far. Please let me know what you think and I will be back with another chapter as soon as I can! Until next time!

HL