Aftermath – Chapter 1 - Healing

The two wizards stood facing each other, a short distance apart. One was short, and had dark unkempt hair, round spectacles, and a lighting bolt shaped scar on his forehead. He wasn't even a man, just a teenager, and his hands and face were covered in grime, burn marks, cuts, and bruises. The other was taller and thinner, but he wasn't even human looking, at least not his face. It was flat, with slits were a nose should be, red eyes shaped like a snake's, and ghostly white skin.

"Avada Kedarva!" shouted the snake man and he raised a spider like white hand with a wand and green light shot from it.

The teenager did nothing but let the green light hit him and then he heard screams and shouts and curses and then…nothing more he heard..

Harry Potter opened his eyes. He was looking at the ceiling. He knew this ceiling well. It was the ceiling of the hospital wing at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had spent many days in here, mending his body, having his bones re-grown in one arm, recovering from a nasty fall off his broom stick caused by Dementors, having his skull mended from an errant Bludger sent his way by one of his own Gryffindor Quidditch teammates. No, he knew it well, and that meant only one thing. He was alive, and what he had just seen was a dream. The snake man, Voldemort, hadn't killed Harry. In fact, Harry had killed him.

Harry felt something heavy on his chest and ventured a look down. He saw a mass of red hair and felt the slow steady breathing of Ginny Weasley. She was sitting on a chair on the side of the bed and her head and arms were flung across his upper body. If Harry hadn't been in such pain, he would have enjoyed having her here like this and would have let her stay there forever. But he was in pain, and the burns, cuts, and bruises from his dream were very, very real.

Slowly he moved an arm to Ginny's head and stroked her hair. She purred like a cat and snuggled closer, moving her arms to his neck, and by accident touched a sensitive burn mark. Harry's eyes watered and he gulped back a cry of pain. His wounds had been bandaged by Madam Pomfrey the night…no, morning…the Battle of Hogwarts had ended in the morning, just at dawn. What time was it now?

It was dark outside the windows Harry could see. Night had come and the hospital wing was lit with lamps.

He could hear voices now, some talking about him, some about what had happened and what was going to happen.

"Burned his body, we did, dumped his ashes in the lake," came a deep rumbling tone very close by and Harry knew that was Hagrid. "Best that way said Kingsley, no marker fer that…whatever he was. Great man, Kingsley, he is. Not like the rest. 'alf of them thought he'd rise from the dead, or explode or sumthing. Stood there with their wands, ready ter fight, said Harry should be there jus' in case. Kingsley jus' shook his head, lit the fire and…well, he burned. Ter nothin', but ash. Just went like normal folks do, he did. After all, he is…guess.. was…normal folks again. Harry seen to that, didn't he?"

"Yeah," a sleepy reply came, the unmistakable voice of Ron Weasley, Ginny's brother and Harry's best friend in the whole world. "Reckon Harry did that. He had bit of help, mind you."

Yeah, that was Ron, all right. Harry smiled and knew Ron would not seek glory, but still felt that Ron deserved as much praise as he did for all they had accomplished.

"So…what actually happened ter…You-Know-Who?" Hagrid asked.

"You can say his name now," said another voice, female, in a very gentle tone, closer to Harry's bed.

"No, no, not yet, Hermione" said Ron quickly. "Not yet. It's too soon."

"He's dead, Ron," she said just as quickly in an impatient voice.

"I know, just…last time people thought he was dead. I mean…what if he ain't?"

Harry could feel Hermione's incredulity even from over here. "We destroyed them all. It's over, Ron!"

"Okay, okay, but…, I need time, that's all."

"Reckon we all need time. Gonna take a lot of healin', more than Madam Pomfrey or St Mungos can do," said Hagrid sadly.

Harry knew what he meant. The dead would not rise. Not Voldemort, nor Fred, or Lupin, or Tonks, or her father Ted, or Mad-Eye, or Dobby or the dozens of others. Harry felt a pain not caused by his injuries and knew that pain would also take a long time to go away, if ever. But then Hagrid was talking again.

"I mean, blimey, no one's bin able ter touch him, ever. 'Cept Harry, of course, but he was jus' a baby and his Mum saved him. But, I thought…I saw the…and Harry fell," then came a big racking sob. "I carried him. He's still so wee, jus' like a baby. Broke me heart, it did. But he ain't dead. And….but yeh said yeh destroyed sumthing?"

"Yeah, we destroyed…." Ron began but then stopped as Hermione interrupted him.

"I think we should wait before we make any announcements," Hermione said in a serious tone. "Sorry Hagrid, but…the things we did….well, I think we should have a word with the Minister first. Don't you, Ron?"

"Yeah, I guess so. And Harry has to be awake and…Oi! How long's Ginny been in bed with Harry?!"

"Sshh!" said Hermione. "You'll wake them. Let them be, for goodness sakes, Ronald."

Ginny stirred with this noise and then looked at Harry through puffy, red-rimmed eyes.

"Hi," he said in a gentle tone. He knew why she had been crying.

"Hi," she said back and reached up and kissed him gently on the lips. Through a groan from Ron across the room and more of Hermione's admonishments Harry kissed her back, their first kiss in almost a year, and Harry never wanted to wait so long to ever kiss or hold her again.

"Sorry I fell asleep before we could talk," he said as they broke the kiss.

"You needed to rest," she said as she sat up. "You've done more than a hundred wizards will ever do in a lifetime."

Harry sat up also and Ginny helped him adjust the pillows. He had a good looked around now and could see that almost every bed was full with students and teachers, all wounded in some way. Each bed was surrounded by family members and then Harry could see Ron lying in a bed two over from him and Hermione was in bed right next to his and Hagrid was at the foot between his friends' two beds. Hagrid had his big handkerchief out, blowing his nose, his eyes a bit watery and Harry grinned at him. During the battle for one moment he thought Hagrid was going to die, covered by giant spiders. But he hadn't and here he was.

"All right, Harry?" Hagrid asked in his usual way.

"Yeah. Bit sore, but yeah, feeling loads better." Harry looked at his two friends in the nearby beds and they were covered in bandages and had creams on their burn marks and by their beds were bottles of potions and empty goblets.

Hermione was looking at him, and then was sitting up and swinging her feet out of bed, facing Harry's bed. She was wearing pajamas, hospital issue, as were Ron and Harry. "Are you really feeling better?' she asked in her motherly tone and then gave a little start as Ron bounded out of his bed, jumped across onto Hermione's, and sat right next to her, their legs touching. She looked like she was about to say something to him, but then gave a slight grin and just let her hand fall to his upper thigh. Ron almost gave a squeak of fright, but held it in check and placed his hand on hers. Harry wanted to laugh as Ron's face turned red.

"Looks who's in bed with who now?" said Ginny, teasing her painfully shy brother.

"Okay, okay, have a laugh," Ron said but he squeezed Hermione's hand and Harry could see her beam with pleasure though her face was half-covered in bandages and cream.

"So, did he finally kiss you?" Ginny asked Hermione.

"Yes," said Hermione with a look of satisfaction. "Only it was more like I kissed him."

"Yeah," said Harry, suppressing a giggle as he looked at Ron's stricken face. "That's how it happened."

"Blimey, look at yeh four," said Hagrid with pride. "All grown up and datin'. Each other. Well, guess it shouldn' be a surprise. Yeh spent 'alf yer lives with each other. Guess it's time we had some love around here."

Now all four of them turned a bit red and Hagrid knew he had put his foot in his mouth and made his goodbyes, saying there was still lots to do, what with dead Death Eaters' bodies to take care of, and an angry enemy giant still loose in the Forbidden Forest, and lots of dead spiders to bury, and so on.

"What time is it?" Harry asked to get over the discomfort Hagrid's last comment to them had made.

"Close on midnight, mate," said Ron. "You've been out almost twelve hours."

"So, what's been happening? Any news?"

Hermione spoke. "The Minister wants to speak to us."

"Oh," said Harry, expecting this. He had no love for the Ministry of Magic, not when people like Delores Umbridge and Cornelius Fudge were in charge. "I must not tell lies" was still etched in the back of his hand, a painful reminder of the Ministry's attempts to punish and discredit him. But someone new was in charge now. "Is Kingsley really the new Minister?"

"Yes," said Ginny. "Acting Minister for the moment."

"When did he say he wanted to see us?" Harry asked Hermione.

"As soon as possible but Madam Pomfrey whisked him out the door and said we needed to mend first."

"He tried to protest," said Ron, almost laughing. "But you know what she's like."

"So, what else is going on? Has anyone made…any…plans?" Harry asked, wanting to ask a more painful question, but he was not quite ready. "I mean, your parents can come back now, can't they, Hermione?"

She gave a shriek that startled everyone and caused Madam Pomfrey to shoot them a disapproving look from where she was giving a potion to an injured sixth year student from Hufflepuff whose name Harry forgot. "My parents! I've completely forgotten about them!"

She jumped out of bed. "Where are my clothes? I need to go to London, I need to get a ticket to Australia…Oh! I haven't any money! I have to go to the bank. My passport is at home!"

"Slow down," Ron said, standing and putting his hands on her shoulders. "They're safe, right?"

"Yes, but they don't know who they are and, and…." she said and continued on in a rambling tone. Harry and Ginny looked at each other, rarely seeing Hermione freak out like this except at exam time or when marks were about due.

"There's time," Ron said. "All the time in the world now that…V-V-Voldemort is dead."

Hermione could tell it taken Ron a great effort to say that name and she gave him a look of half panic and half adoration and threw her arms around him. "You're right. I'm sorry, I've just lost my head, worrying about my parents when so many are de…"

But she stopped before saying the last word and pulled back from Ron, a look of horror on her face and Ron had gone pale and Ginny started to sniff. Harry put an arm around her shoulder and she leaned into him and more tears came.

"I'm sorry," Hermione said in a voice so quiet you could barely hear it.

"No," said Ron, gulping to keep himself from crying too. "Nothing to be sorry about. Not talking about isn't going to make it go away."

They sat down again and Hermione pulled him close to her and stroked his hair and for a long time they sat in silence as Harry and Hermione comforted the one's they loved who had lost one they had all loved.