Harry and Ginny made it back to the Great Hall as Mrs. Weasley was gathering up the others to return to the Burrow.
"There you are, Harry and Ginny." She smiled but it was strained. "We're going home. The Burrow is sure to be in a state after the Death Eaters came. We are going to set it to rights."
Harry nodded. "I'll help out if you tell me the spells. Never really did much-cleaning magic before."
She pats him on the shoulder. "You'll get the hang of it. Oh Ginny dear, they have made a temporary removal of the ban on underage magic for today. So you can help as well. Lots of families' homes were ruined it seems."
Harry felt so bad for the Weasley Matriarch, she fought so hard to try and save all her family and now surely her home was ruined and one of her sons dead. He felt a slight poke in his elbow. He turned to see Ginny shaking her head at him.
"I know what you're thinking."
"It's true though." He argued back. "If I had just turned myself in…"
He was cut off by Mrs. Weasley pulling him into a hug. "Harry, please don't think that. It nearly killed me to see your body in Hargid's arms. You are just as much one of my boys as the others are. You part of this family, dearie. F…Fred always spoke so highly of you. He would never have wanted you to trade your life for his."
He looked at Ginny who could only nod with her eyes misty with tears. He felt his own eyes prickle as well. He had not allowed himself to grieve, not for Remus, for Tonks, or Fred. He fought it back. Later, he told himself. Save it for later, when you and Ginny can be alone.
Ron and Hermione came up and took Mrs. Weasley's place, pulling him into their embrace. The three friends just stood there, gathering strength from each other.
"I'm so glad you're alive Harry." Hermonie wiped away her tears. "Don't ever do that to us again. Do you understand me?" She smacked his arm, though not very hard.
"He gets it, Hermonie." Ron soothed his new girlfriend. "Let's not hurt him more than those Death Eaters did. If he is a prat again, then you can hit him. If Ginny leaves enough of him after she's done hexing him."
Ginny nodded gravely. "I always wanted to try out a few of the new hexes I learned this year on a person. Would be worth a test."
Harry rolled his eyes, hoping his girlfriend was joking. He longed to pull her in the way Ron was doing Hermonie, but she was right. They really needed some time together before they became the center of attention. Though he doubted the others would notice at present, Ron and Heromine's new intimacy went undetected. Soon, they were all grabbing the old boot portkey and returning to the Burrow.
The Burrow was not as bad as they feared. It seemed the Death Eaters had grown bored of attacking an empty house before too much damage was done. In fact, it was so little that Harry had put it all to rights using the same spell Dumbledore used on the Muggle house Slughorn was hiding in back in his sixth year. Mr. Weasley clapped him on the shoulders.
"Thanks, son, that was a handy spell."
"Thanks, Dumbledore showed it to me. I'm surprised I got it so quickly."
Bill, who was collecting some fallen sticks from the nearby tree, came over. "I heard that after a massive victory, a wizards powers can grow. With You-Know... Sorry, Tom Riddle, being as strong as he was, I suspect you're feeling the effects."
That was a big change brought by Minister Kingsley. He had decreed that all records and other media would use the name Tom Marvolo Riddle and never mention Voldermort or one of his alias again.
"Dumbledore would have approved of the change. It breaks his mystique and humanizes him. Maybe less will feel he is worth imitating." Harry reasoned.
"Aye. Hey Harry, why don't you take a break? We can handle the rest."
"Thanks, I will." Harry raised an eyebrow but did not reject the older man's request. He had seen Ginny go towards the orchard with a 'follow me' expression.
He walked out of sight of the Burrow and came across Ginny resting against an apple tree, looking out over the water. He sat down next to her and she buried her head in his chest. For the first time since he knew her, she cried. He gently stroked her hair but said nothing. He knew she just needed silent comfort for now. When she was done, she wiped her eyes and smiled weakly up at him.
"I'm sorry, Harry. It's just, been so much this past year. Losing Fred, well that was the last straw."
Harry kissed her on her forehead. "You don't have to worry about me, Gin. I understand, if you need to break down, you can with me."
Ginny gave him a hard look. "That goes for you too, mister. If you need to mourn or cry, you can do it with me. It's not a burden. You are never a burden for me, love."
He snuggled closer into her. "You think at some point I wouldn't need to hear that anymore? The Dursley's spent so long telling me how worthless I was. How no one would ever love me. I think deep down, I sometimes still believe it."
Ginny huffed. "I will never forgive them for that, you know? If I could, I'd curse the daylights out of them. Maybe with Kingsly in charge now, something can be done about your Aunt and Uncle at least."
Harry sighed. "Maybe. Kingsly is a good man. I want to help him make the British Wizarding community a better place."
She kissed him softly. "You'll do an amazing job of it, my love. But no one would blame you if you wanted to take some personal time to rest and recover. Whatever you decide, know I am in your corner completely."
He rubbed her back softly. "I need to go back to Hogwarts if I want to be an Auror, and I do. I want to make sure the bad wizards all go behind bars and none of them can get strong enough to become the next Dark the Ministry wasn't so corrupt, there is a chance that Tom Riddle would have been caught and stopped before it got too bad."
Ginny let him ramble, she knew he needed it. She was worried about him becoming an Auror, of course, but she always knew Dark Magic had affected his life so badly that he could not possibly sit back and relax. "I'll support you. Maybe not fighting by your side, but from home. But you better come back to me after each mission. Honestly, this past year was like a test for our futures, if you become an Auror."
He winched at that. "I hope I'm not running around in a tent catching bad guys for the rest of my life. I love Ron and Hermione, but I can only handle so much of living with them like that. They will be off to Australia soon, and I'll need to be showing a certain Weasley girl that she is more important to me than anything else before September comes."
"Oh? Do I know this Weasley girl, Potter?"
He grinned and they began to snog. The afternoon passed slowly for the two lovers, hidden from the eyes of their family as they went through their grief.
The next morning was dark and rainy as Harry prepared to head to Gringrotts. Mrs. Weasley had announced last night that she was taking to her bed to mourn Fred until his memorial later in the week. Harry had offered to help with cooking and cleaning so she could have some peace. George was still not speaking to anyone, but he had eaten that morning at least. Harry and Ginny managed to sneak a quick goodbye kiss before he headed to the apparition point and departed for the Leaky Cauldron.
Bill was waiting for him inside the pub, which looked mostly intact. Tom the barkeep was nursing a broken arm though. To his surprise, Hannah Abbott from their year at Hogwarts was cleaning tables. They exchanged grim nods but said nothing as Harry and Bill headed out into Diagon Alley.
"Harry," began Bill, "are you sure you want to go through with this now? No one would think less of you if you wanted to wait. The Goblins are very hard to make up to, they hold awful grudges."
"I know, but I need to do this now. It's only been three days since the event, coming back now should show that it was something we had to do. Not done out of greed."
Bill nodded. "I just hope they see it that way. Let's get this over with."
The two of them approached the bank. Goblins looked at them warily as they entered. A goblin appeared as the two of them stopped before the raised dias.
"Mister Weasley, I see you have brought in Mister Potter. We were not sure if you would get our owl or not."
The two humans shared a look. "What owl?" Bill inquired. "Harry was coming to surrender to you, and make amends for his part in the break-in to the Lestrange vault."
"Ah you see, we were summoning him here about that very thing. Come, there is a conference room open. Mister Potter, I do not believe we have met. I am Ragnok, the goblin in charge of the Potter vaults. I also became in charge of the vaults of the most ancient House of Black when you became the heir. This meeting should have occurred last July when you reached the age of 17, but due to the events of the last year, it had fallen to the wayside."
Confused, the two wizards followed the goblin to the conference room. Once there were settled in, Ragnok inked his quill and looked at Harry.
"Mister Potter, as the Head of the House of Black, you have access to all family members' vaults. There was no need for you to have broken into that vault, as you have access. Since we had failed to advise you of your proper inheritance, we will not be pressing charges on your entering one of your vaults in such a fashion. We would ask, for the record, what was so important that it required you to force our security team to work on updating all our measures."
"There was a Horcrux in that vault, Ragnok." Harry said firmly. "A goblet with a piece of Voldermort's soul. He was using your security measures to insure he could not be killed. I had to destroy the goblet, to make sure he could be defeated."
The goblin nodded. "We humbly apologize, Mister Potter. Horcruxes are on the list of banned items that are not supposed to be stored in the vaults. We actually have security against them. A simple spell that completely erases the Horcurx from existence if it is in the vault. But we will not begrudge you for not knowing this, though Griphook should have."
"What happened to Griphook? He might have betrayed us, but I didn't want anything to happen to him." Harry asked.
"He was killed when the Dark Lord attacked the bank, having learned about the vault being robbed. I can only assume he did not know what it was you were after, or he would have helped you to be rid of it. Foul dark magic, Horcurxes are."
Harry glanced over at Bill who looked aghast. "I'll tell you the rest later, Bill." Harry promised. "You and the rest of the family. You all deserve to hear the full story from me, Ron, and Hermonie and not whatever censored version the Ministry will release."
Bill nodded his thanks. Harry continued. "Ragnok, I would like to do something as a show of good faith to the goblins of Gringrotts."
The goblin sat up and steeples his fingers. "You have my attention, Mister Potter."
"All goblin artifacts in the vaults I own or am head of, I would like them returned to their proper owners, or their families if they no longer live."
Ragnok smiled for the first time. "That will be very acceptable, Mister Potter. The goblins would certainly favor you for such an act. I will see to the operation as soon as you depart today. Is there anything else?"
"Yes, I would like all of the non-goblin treasure in the Lestrange vaults converted into coin. I would like a portion of that money to go to pay Alice and Frank Longbottoms medical bills as well as trying to research a cure. The rest, I would like converted into a trust fund for Muggleborn children starting school."
Bill added in. "Fleur has been looking for a new contract to pick up, she be happy to handle both those issues for her fellow Tri-wizard champion."
"Very well, an acceptable use for the treasures in that vault if I say so myself. Mister Potter, you surprise me. I had thought you would be simply glad to be off the hook for the charge of breaking in, and not offer further reparations. But you have just started the biggest reclaiming of lost goblin artifacts this establishment has ever seen. Consider yourself and your accomplices forgiven. Just don't do it again."
He rose and offered his hand. Harry stood and shook it. Bill patted him on the back.
"Well done, Harry. We should get you back to the Burrow soon. Unless you want to tour the main Potter and Black vaults first."
Harry sighed and nodded. "Better to do it now, than later. Will you come with me, Bill? I would rather have someone with me, just in case."
"Of course. You're like another brother to me, Harry. And you know we Weasley's never abandon family. Though, I suspect you might want Ginny here instead."
Harry blushed but did not comment. He was unsure if the other man knew he and Ginny were together or just thought they should be. He would have to ask Ginny later. Harry was soon going through the vaults and found some interesting things. He could not wait to get back and tell Ginny everything.
What did Harry find? What is next for the secret couple? Find out next time!