Disclaimer: For the last time...*deep breath* I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER!

"Harry."

The voice echoed in his ear like all the other times before.

"Harry."

It was clearer this time. It wasn't just a disconnected voice. He could smell something. Feel something.

He could tell he was lying down. The itchy fabric under him moved harshly against his skin.

He could smell something. Sweet and sensual like a woman's perfume; the aroma overtook his senses and completely enveloped him.

"Harry."

The smell belonged to the voice. The voice got clearer and more distinct. It was a beautiful voice, almost…angelic. It was as if she was singing his name, not really expecting an answer back. Just a mindless hum to push other thoughts away.

The voice touched his forehead and wiped away the hair covering his eyelids. He shivered under her touch.

"Did you—?" The voice seemed shock, immediately recoiling from Harry's movement. "Harry! Harry, can you hear me?"

He didn't want to answer. He didn't want to open his eyes. If this was death, he was fine with it. He was fine with the darkness and the voice of a beautiful angel brushing his hair.

He was fine.

"Please. Please open your eyes for me."

How could he say no to that voice?

Struggling, Harry pushed with all his strength to try and open his eyes. He was awake, but his eyes refused to open.

"Harry, wake up!"

He tried to lift his fingers. He wanted to let the girl know he was trying. With great concentration, he managed to get his pinky to move. Jerkily, he moved it one centimeter.

But it was enough.

"Ron! Hermione!" the voice choked. "I think he's awake!"

Ron and Hermione? They were…they were…here?

And that was when sleep overtook him and he succumbed to the darkness once more.

If he was dead, maybe he could be with Ron and Hermione. Maybe they were real in death.

Harry groaned as he felt his body awaken. He felt so sore, like every joint and bone in his body had been trampled on by a Hungarian Horntail dragon and dragged across a Quidditch field.

"Oh, Merlin," a voice whispered. "I think he's finally conscious…"

This voice was different from the angel before, but it was nice all the same. Then suddenly the voice grew louder. "Ron! Wake up! I think Harry is finally awake! Ron!"

Harry flinched at the sound. Everything was so loud. The noise pounded in his ears. "So loud."

"Oh," the voice became quiet immediately. "I am so sorry, Harry. I'll be quieter."

Did he say that out loud?

"Ron!" the voice hissed, quieter but with the same heat. "Will you get up?"

"Where—" his voice sounded croaky, as if it hadn't been used in a long time. "Where. Am. I?"

"You're at St. Mungo's," the voice answered.

It dawned on Harry…he was back where he started. They just moved him from the children's institution to the adults'. He couldn't survive this. He couldn't be locked up again.

"No, I got out." Harry squeezed his eyes shut. "No, no, no."

"Harry, open your eyes and quit muttering. You're awake. You're alright. It's me. It's Hermione. And Ron is here too."

"I'm here, mate." Came the comforting voice of his best friend.

"No." Harry refused to open his eyes. "You're not real."

Now, she got impatient. "Oh for Merlin's sake, Harry, just open your eyes. The rest of us have been worried for days. Ginny's on her way after taking a nap for the first time in—"

"Ginny?" Harry's eyes shot open and was immediately taken aback by the lighting. It was definitely a hospital, but it looked kinder than the last Institution he was at.

Harry shook his head and let his eyes adjust to his surroundings. He was surrounded by flowers of all different colors. A myriad of roses and tulips and beautiful lilies captured his eyes. There were get well cards scattered on the tables piling up on each other and a giant stuffed dragon doll sitting in the corner. Finally, his eyes settled on the outlines of his two best friends. His best friends…who weren't real.

He stared straight ahead and did not look at them. He did not want to be crazy. He just wanted them gone. He knew they weren't real. He was not going to talk to them.

In his peripheral vision, he could see the fake figments of his imagination look at each other wearily and then back at Harry.

"Harry." Hermione walked closer to his bed. "Are you alright?"

"Why are you back?" he croaked. "You told me you would leave me alone. I was going to get better. I left Hogwarts."

"We all left Hogwarts." Ron reminded him. "The war is over, we can go home."

Harry released a shaky breath and looked down. "What home? I have no home." He swallowed roughly, trying to forge on and forget the tragedy that was his life.

Footsteps thundered down the stairs and Harry could hear the complaints of the healers telling the crowd to slow down.

"Harry!" "Harry!" "Harry!" "Harry!"

He was met by a crowd of red-heads all with bright beaming smiles on their faces. The Weasley clan was led by the shocked and shaky Ginny Weasley who made her way in front of Ron and Hermione.

Her brown eyes studied Harry's green with disbelief and sadness. He stared back, remembering their last encounter.

Why was she here?

The Ginny at the Hogwarts Mental Institution, the one who came only to visit George, was terrified of him. She hated him. He was a freak.

But this Ginny's eyes did not reflect anything close to disgust. Her cold hands reached up and rested on both sides of his face.

The rest of the Weasley family and Hermione decided to give the couple some time and slowly walked out of the room, until it was just Harry and Ginny left.

Ginny continued to gaze at him, not saying a word. Harry did the same, afraid that if he said anything, she would get up and leave. He didn't want to scare her off again.

Her fingers on his face moved subtly, feeling the unevenly shaven skin on his cheek.

"It's been almost a week," she shuddered. "I knew you didn't like to have too much facial hair, so I tried my best. I got a few nicks here and there…sorry about that."

She kept using her thumbs to trace the shave of his skin, until she bent her head forward and let out a small, pitiful cry. Her forehead fell into the crook of his neck and he could feel her tears seep into his hospital gown.

Harry still did not say a word despite his confusion. All he knew was that his Ginny was in pain and she needed comfort.

Her crying got louder and louder and Harry could make out words like "week" (or "weak", Harry wasn't too sure), "cursed", and "love".

He wrapped his arms around her and held her as she immediately let both her arms go around his neck to pull him in closer.

"Never," she whispered in his ear, "ever, leave me again."

Little by little her crying reduced and she relaxed against Harry's comforting body. The two of them lay there on the hospital bed, secure in each other's embrace.

Looking up from her spot on Harry's chest, Ginny smiled, a true and genuine smile, reached up and gave Harry a kiss. It was a short and simple kiss, but all the emotions of reunion and reassurance were there.

Despite its briefness, the aftermath of the kiss endured on as their mouths lingered a few inches from each other.

Harry closed his eyes, preparing to say his first words to the angel. "Am I dead?"

At this, Ginny jolted out of the bed and looked at him, completely appalled. "What?"

Harry's throat felt dry, so he remained silent, reaching for a cup of water beside his bed. The icy cold liquid felt good going down his throat and he tried to ignore the red-headed beauty staring him down.

It was a genuine question. He hoped he was dead. He didn't want to think it was the other option…that he had relapsed…

After all the work he had done to shed his past, only to be thrust back into his nightmarish fantasy world…No, he had to be dead. It was the only option.

"I'm getting Hermione," Ginny said, her voice sounding heartbroken.

It took less than a minute for his bushy haired imaginary best friend to be at his side. "How are you doing, Harry?"

Harry remained silent, staring straight ahead, trying to ignore the figment of his schizophrenic mind.

At his silence, Hermione continued, "Ginny…Ginny told me that you thought you were…well, you—you aren't dead, Harry. You survived."

Harry couldn't bear to look at her and remember everything he lost. He refused to go back.

"Please, Harry. Say something. Please," Hermione begged beside him. At one point, her hand grabbed his and Harry flinched at her touch.

How could she touch him now when she never could before?

"The accident," Hermione tried to explain, "The accident was—there was a Death Eater attack. Some remaining radicals tried their last attempt at continuing Voldemort's legacy and Ginny and…and you got caught in the crossfires and—"

Harry's eyes darkened as he fixed his animalistic and vicious gaze on the disheartened friend, "You're. Not. Real."

He then turned his head away from her, making sure he couldn't see her even in his peripheral.

He heard sniffling as Hermione tried to hold back tears, but he still remained adamant in avoiding her.

"Sweetie, how about you let me talk to him?"

Harry turned his neck to see Molly Weasley with her hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry croaked, surprised that she showed up.

"Harry, honey. It's so good to see you awake." The mother-head brushed a bit of Harry's hair away from his forehead.

Harry shook himself away from her touch. "Where's Dr. Dumbledore?"

Molly and Hermione exchanged confused glances. "Doctor Dumbledore?" Molly asked.

"I don't know where they are. Where's nurse McGonagall? Where are they?" Harry began to raise his voice, panic creeping upon him, "Dr. Riddle is on the loose, he tried to kill us. I—I need my meds…I think I'm relapsing. I'm seeing…I'm seeing them."

"Who?" Molly asked with great concern.

"Them." Harry squeezed his eyes shut and tried to block everything out. "Everything's back. It's too much. I need to—I need to get out of here."

Raising his body, attempting to get out of bed, Harry felt the hands of the two women push him back down. "Harry, you need to calm down. There is no Dr. Riddle. Voldemort is dead. You killed him. Remember? We destroyed the horcruxes." Hermione reminded.

"I didn't kill him, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, still ignoring Hermione, "Vol—Dr. Riddle was in the car that crashed into us. He was the one who caused the accident this time. The car—he was in the car that crashed into us. He was in the car that killed my parents too! He killed my parents!" Harry began hyperventilating. "The car—he was in the car. There was red and—and there was green."

He was transformed back to the car accident, but he couldn't tell which one it was. The crash that killed his parents or the crash that killed him and his friends. Riddle was responsible for them both.

Harry whispered, "There was red and green. They were so bright. The light was green—"

His haunted eyes pierced Molly's. "And we were dead."

"No, Harry." Hermione refused to be ignored, "You. Are. Not. Dead."

Then Hermione began muttering to herself, Red and green lights. If that's what I think it means…

"I can't go back."

"Go back where?" Hermione asked, shook out of her reverie.

Harry dismissed her.

"Go back where, Harry?" Molly repeated.

"Hogwarts."

Hermione shook her head, "But…you love Hogwarts. We're rebuilding it and we can finish our seventh year. Wouldn't you want that?"

That's right, Harry remembered. He had set the damn institution on fire. Of course it had to be rebuilt before patients could be transferred back.

Determinedly Harry clenched his jaw, "I'm not going back there. I would rather die."

Hermione quickly left the room. Harry knew her enough, or at least his version of who she might be, to know that she had gone off to do more research or cry; perhaps even both.

Molly looked dejectedly at the broken boy, "Get some rest, Harry. You'll feel better when you wake up."

She picked up a small blue bottle by his bedside and tilted its contents into his mouth. Harry didn't know why he agreed to drink it, but he just felt so tired, he couldn't resist anything.

Even before the last drops of the potion hit his tongue, Harry felt himself drifting off to sleep once more.

The next time he awoke, he felt much more energized and alert. This time, the room was empty and he could actually observe where he was with greater clarity.

The first thing that caught his attention was the long thick stick at his bedside. How could he have not seen it before?

His wand was sitting there at the ready. He felt around his neck for his father's old chain but it had disappeared…and his wand was back.

Cautiously and with trembling hands, Harry picked up the jagged piece of wood and nimbly felt its grooves and ridges. Power surged through him like electricity.

It was like…magic.

Harry furrowed his brows in deep concentration as he experienced the influence of his schizophrenia.

Where was nurse McGonagall with his medication?

He remembered his first day at the Hogwarts Mental Institution after he woke up from the surgery. Dumbledore gave him James Potter's ancient chain and told him he could leave if he could perform a spell. Any spell.

Harry chose Alohomora and unsurprisingly, it didn't work.

However, this time, with his true wand in his hand, Harry felt compelled to try once more.

There was no harm in trying, Harry reassured himself.

He raised his wand towards the door and Alohomora.

Even with a simple spell like that, Harry felt a rush of new energy consume him. It was like he was given a shot of Firewhiskey.

The door, that was once closed, had shot wide open.

No. Way. Harry thought, his eyes widening in shock at the turn of events.

He jumped out of bed and reached for the pile of clothes that were sitting on a chair beside him. Haphazardly throwing things on, Harry didn't realize someone was watching until a cough—

Immediately, his fight-or-flight response taking over, Harry pointed his wand at the innocent bystander, prepared for any standoff.

"Mr. Potter, I am your healer today." The young lady had her hands raised in fear. "You were admitted after a run-in with Death Eaters. You've been in and out of consciousness. We've used a few potions and draughts to keep you sedated, while we healed your mind. There must have been a cross of spells—"

"STOP LYING TO ME!" Harry yelled at the poor mediwitch, who was just trying to do her job.

Harry still had his wand pointed at her. "None of this is real? Is it? It's all just in my head?"

"No, Mr. Potter, I assure you this is real."

Harry let out a cynical scoff as he disagreed. "Magic isn't real. Magic is a fantasy a child locked in a cupboard under the stairs comes up with to escape his sad reality." His lips began to quiver as everything dawned on him. "I will never believe in magic again."

"Then don't believe in magic." Ginny's voice came from behind the nurse.

Harry turned his gaze unto the headstrong girl.

"Don't believe in magic…but believe in us." Ginny gestured at Ron and Hermione who stood by her side. "Because we will never stop believing in you."

"They're not real, Gin," Harry said pitifully. However, he did lower his wand and let Ginny walk towards him and hold his hands. "Every time I felt like I had hope. It was taken away from me. Every time I got close. I can't go through that again."

"If they're not real, would you be able to touch them?" Ginny asked softly.

Harry shook his head no, his eyes focused on Ginny and Ginny alone.

Ginny waved her hand asking Ron and Hermione to walk forwards and they did.

"If Ron and Hermione are able to touch you, will you believe they are real?"

"I—I don't know."

"Let's just see, alright?" She cajoled patiently.

She took his hand and put one in Ron's and one in Hermione's. Then she backed away and let Harry process the feeling of holding his best friends.

"Harry, we're here." Hermione squeezed his hand gently.

Harry squeezed back, feeling how different Ron and Hermione's hands felt.

Ron's hands were calloused and weathered down from years of playing quidditch, while Hermione's were soft and smooth.

Harry sunk to his knees, bringing the two people closest to him down with him.

He gripped their hands tighter and tighter to the point of pain, but Ron and Hermione gave no indication for him to stop. They would do whatever it took to help bring their constant companion back from the depths of oblivion.

"You're real?" Harry asked, his tone almost begging, "You're really here? You won't lie to me?"

"Never." Ron said with great vigor.

"You won't leave me?" Harry knew he sounded like a child, but he didn't care.

"Never." Hermione confirmed.

You'll stay with me?

Until the very end.

At that, Harry could feel tears springing to his eyes as pieces began to fall into place.

They were real.

The ones who love us never really leave us.

They were his family.

They were his home.

Ron and Hermione both leaned forward to embrace their best friend and the three of them stayed there, huddled on the floor.

Harry could not remember the last time he smelled Hermione's flowery shampoo or Ron's over-applied cologne. To him, it was the sweetest scent in the world.

While taking the steps to recovery, Harry had to stay at the hospital for a few days longer, just so the healers could confirm his well-being. After being prescribed some draught or the other and weekly therapy, he was finally free to go.

Throughout the entirety of his stay at St. Mungo's, Harry was never alone just as Ron and Hermione had promised.

People would always come and visit the Boy Who Lived and he appreciated every single person he saw.

Neville, Luna, and Dean and Seamus all stopped by to make sure he was okay. Harry was glad to see they were all back to normal.

Luna was loony again (in the best way possible), Neville had grown in confidence (all-naturally), Dean was back to being fit (although it didn't stop Harry from handing him a pudding cup—he didn't complain), and Seamus didn't purposefully start fires (they were all accidents, he swore).

Draco stopped by after a while, but their interaction was kept to a minimum. Ron and Hermione were visiting at that moment, though it seemed like they never left Harry's side.

"I shouldn't be here," Draco muttered, mostly to himself. He seemed to teeter on the edge of walking into the room or running right out.

"Then why are you?" Harry questioned.

"You saved my life during the battle. I just wanted to let you know…" Draco coughed, feeling uncomfortable. "I owe you one."

Harry forced down memories of the Mental Institution when it felt like Draco, of all people, was his only friend.

"You don't owe me anything. Don't worry about it."

Draco stiffly nodded his head and without saying anything else, made his way to the door.

"Malfoy," Harry called out, just before the Slytherin boy could leave.

Draco turned his head to meet Harry's and waited for what he had to say, "I'm sorry about Crabbe. I couldn't imagine what I would do without—"

"Well, you don't have to." Draco hid a pained grimace, but Harry knew the sorrow he was facing. Stealing a quick glance at Ron and Hermione who hovered over Harry like a protective hawk, he fixed his shirt, adjusting it at the collarbone and met Harry's gaze once more. "Have a good life, Potter."

Harry nodded. "You as well, Malfoy."

As soon as Draco left, both Ron and Hermione turned to face Harry.

"That went better than expected," Ron commented.

"At the Mental Institution…" Harry paused. Despite having told Ron and Hermione the brief details of his experience at the wonky Hogwarts, Harry still hated reliving its moments. "Malfoy was the only person who treated me like I was normal."

"Huh." Ron chuckled, "Then it really must have been hell."

Harry gave an insincere laugh. "Yeah."

A day before, while Harry had been recovering, still on the cusp of believing he was living a lie, Hermione had told him about the books she had read and her research about why Harry had concocted such a strange version of Hogwarts, the place he loved most.

"The red and green lights," she told Harry.

"Yes? What about them?"

"During the attack, you were facing off against a number of Death Eaters and you were doing fine, deflecting all the spells and such, but then…you were open on one side and hit by two incoming spells and—"

"Just bloody tell him already, woman!" Ron impatiently remarked.

"I'm getting to it, Ronald." Hermione rolled her eyes, "After doing a form of the Prior Incantanto spell on you…which was quite interesting to see how the modifications of spells used in healer practices are able to piece together how a patient got to where they are. It's just amaz—"

"Hermione!" Ron interjected, "Basically, Harry, we found out that you were hit with a cross between obliviate and crucio. The red and green lights that you saw were the lights of the spells hitting you at once."

"I was trying to ease him into it, Ron!" Hermione protested.

"By not saying anything?" Ron challenged.

"Obliviate and crucio?" Harry interrupted.

Hermione paused in her arguing to clarify matters with him, "Yes, the cross between spells possibly caused your mind to forget memories or create excruciatingly painful memories that are unlike the ones you already possess."

"I don't understand."

Hermione sighed as she sat down beside his bed, "It took your best memories of the people and places who mattered most to you and twisted it into the worst versions of them that you could imagine."

Ron sat in one of the hospital chairs beside Harry's bed and added, "It would explain why Hogwarts was your prison instead of your home and why Ginny avoided you and why Malfoy was your only friend and Voldemort was still alive and—"

"Why you two weren't real." Harry looked at his blanket and began picking off pieces of lint, "My worst version of the two of you would be a version of you that didn't exist." He blinked, "My hell would be a world without my two best friends."

Hermione had tears in her eyes. "We wouldn't know what to do without you either."

"We never gave up hope, you know." Ron looked awkward in the midst of all the emotion. "We always knew you were going to wake up."

"It was just a Death Eater attack." Harry repeated the information to himself, making sure to pronounce each word in the statement.

"You're safe now, Harry."

Harry looked at his friends, "Now my question is why a Death Eater would use an Obliviate spell in the middle of a duel. Of all the things they could have cast, they chose a forgetfulness spell."

Hermione shrugged as she got out of his bed and took a seat beside Ron. "Beats me."

"Nobody said Death Eaters were the brightest bunch." Ron leaned back in his chair and rubbed the back of his neck. "They call themselves Death Eaters for Merlin's sake."

Hermione and Harry chuckled at Ron's blatant statement until their chuckles turned into full-blown fits of laughter. When Ginny came to visit a few minutes later she would find the three best mates still laughing together—at nothing and everything all at once.

Flash-forward once more and the time came for Harry to pack his hospital bags and rejoin the "real" world. The one with quidditch and magic and family and love. His world.

False memories would hit him out of nowhere once in a while. Random moments would trigger events at the Mental Institution, but with his friends at his side, with Ginny and the rest of the Weasley's, Harry would be safely brought back to reality.

The first place he went after leaving St. Mungo's was the Weasley burrow. He would visit Hogwarts soon, but it would take a while for him to begin trusting that place once more.

As soon as he stepped into the small burrow, flanked by his two best friends and Ginny, he was greeted by the sound of "WELCOME HOME!"

Many people had come to throw the boy a surprise party, similar to the one that had started the whole mess.

Ginny gazed at him flirtatiously, "Now, about that Hungarian Horntail tatt—"

"DEATH EATERS! DEATH EATERS!"

Cries of horror came from all around the couple as Harry tried to push Ginny behind him in an attempt to protect her.

"I can handle myself, Potter. Remember?" Ginny reached for her own wand and got into a ready stance.

Harry nodded and the two of them ran into the middle of the conflict.

There were more Death Eaters than Harry had predicted and his fighting skills took over as he cast shield charms and offensive spells.

Out of his periphery, Harry could make out the figures of Ron and Hermione dueling the prejudiced wizards. Hermione shot out powerful spells as she dodged incoming ones and Ron shot back at the enemies with great precision.

They were bred for war at such a young age.

Various Aurors and Dumbledore's Army held their ground as well. Neville had mastered spells that brought out his Herbology talent and Luna held her own against two other Death Eaters with ease.

Despite the beginning onslaught of Death Eaters, little by little their number began to dwindle as each one was taken down by a powerful witch or wizard.

Just when Harry thought they would be on the winning side, he watched as two Death Eaters ganged up on Ginny as she had her back to them.

"Ginny!" He cried out as he ran to her defense. He needed to catch her attention and get her to move out of the way, but the spells had already been cast—

"CRUCIO!" "OBLIVIATE!"

With no other option, Harry jumped forward like he was about to catch the winning snitch and took on the two spells to save his girl.

"Harry!" Was the last thing he heard before he was met with white. Blinding white.

"Harry!"

He gasped as he came back to the present. The party had triggered his past memories and he seemed to have blacked out for a bit.

"Sorry," he murmured. Realizing he was on the floor, surrounded by his kneeling friends, Harry picked himself up and adjusted his glasses.

"Do you want to go somewhere else?" Hermione offered, "We could go to Grimmauld Place?"

"No, no, I'm fine. Honestly."

Ginny studied Harry closely, not believing a word he said. "Can I talk to you, Harry? Alone?"

Without waiting for an answer, Ginny grabbed his hand and led him upstairs to her room, ignoring wolf whistles from the less than mature people at the party. Ginny paid them no heed. Harry knew it was serious when Ginny forwent her famous Bat Bogey Hex on anyone that bothered her.

Despite that, as soon as they stepped in to the secluded room, Harry wasted no time in grabbing her by the waist and planting a firm and loving kiss on her lips.

When the kiss ended, he placed his forehead on Ginny's and closed his eyes, just feeling her.

"What was that for?" Ginny asked, sounding a little out of breath.

"That was for last time. I didn't get to kiss you at the last party we were at." Harry opened one eye and gave her a crooked smile.

Trying to hide her guilt, Ginny broke away and sat on her bed, her knuckles pushing in the mattress. Harry, confused at her sudden dismissal, leaned against one of the walls and crossed his arms.

"It was just a joke, Gin." Harry reached up and ruffled the back of his hair. "You know I'm okay now. What happened downstairs…that was just a random flashback of the last party. I remembered what happened, but that's a good thing, right?"

"You remembered the party?" Ginny asked softly as she studied her hands, not making eye contact.

"Yeah. You were wearing a beautiful dress and—"

"You remember the part where you risked your life for me? For my stupidity?" Ginny interrupted harshly as she sharply looked up, her great brown eyes piercing through him and her voice sounding rough with unshed tears.

Harry was struck speechless at her intensity.

"All of this." Ginny looked like she was facing an internal battle. "All this pain you've been through is because of me. If I just…If I just stayed behind like you told me to, then none of this would have happened."

Coming to his senses, the boy comforted her. "If you stayed behind, you wouldn't be the Ginny I know and love." Harry moved closer and sat on the bed beside her, grasping her hands in his. "I don't blame you, Ginny. I never will."

Harry was a man of few words, but the words he said mattered most.

Ginny smiled through unshed tears as an understanding dawned on her. "I love you too."

Harry's eyes widened in shock as he realized what he said. Then he released a breath and shyly grinned. Even if it was by accident, Harry didn't regret saying he loved Ginny. Unexpected or not, Harry knew it to be completely true how Ginevra Weasley took his world by storm and changed his life for the better.

He could have stayed like that, hand in hand with the red-headed woman of his dreams forever, but the sound of a champagne bottle being opened broke him out of his daydream.

"We should get back to the party, yeah?" He stood from the bed and held out his hand for her to hold.

She nodded, wiping away at her eyes, and clutched his hand. "Yeah."

Harry walked down the stairs with Ginny at his side and fixed his eyes on the two most important people in his life. Ron and Hermione were holding champagne glasses and talking amongst themselves. When they saw Harry, their faces broke into large smiles.

They immediately put down their glasses and walked towards him, but he got there faster.

He wrapped his arms around Ron and Hermione and pulled them in for another big hug. Harry didn't realize how much he needed and appreciated them until he lost them. He swore to himself he would never lose them again.

The two friends were surprised by the usually reserved and constrained boy's onslaught of affection, but nevertheless returned the hug with equal vigor.

As they parted, Ron clapped his hand on Harry's shoulder and gripped it tightly, "It's good to have you back, mate."

Hermione's arms looped around his and the side of her head rested on his shoulder; she nodded in agreement.

Around the room, Harry could make out the faces of all the people who supported him through different moments of his life. Professor McGonagall was chatting with Kingsley Shacklebolt. Ginny was being teased by her brothers Bill and Charlie. Fleur and Molly Weasley were bringing out more platters of appetizers. His classmates from Hogwarts and more importantly, Dumbledore's Army, were recalling stories from their time as students.

Each and every person there had impacted his life in one way or the other. Without them, he couldn't imagine where he would have ended up. He would have gone mental.

Harry beamed, he absolutely beamed. "It's good to be back home."

Author's Note: Wow...so that's it folks. MY FIRST COMPLETE MULTI-CHAPTER FIC! Woot Woot!

All my haters didn't think I could do it...just kidding! I had absolutely no haters because everyone on this site was so, so amazing and kind!

Thank you so much for every single review. I don't think you understand how much it meant to me to read them. I started this fic waaay back in 2014 and I'm still here! That's crazy! I posted the first chapter that long ago and then I added the second chapter in 2018 because that's just how I roll lol. I hope my writing improved between chapter one and two, but who even knows.

When I started the fic, I literally had no idea how it was going to turn out. I knew I wanted Ron and Hermione to be in his head and I wanted Voldemort to be alive, but that was about it. I didn't even know if I wanted a happy ending or if I wanted Harry to actually be in the Institution, but in the end I decided that this is FanFiction! If we can't get happily ever afters here, we can't get them anywhere! Hope you guys liked the ending. Just remember that home is not just a place, but it's the people. Hogwarts wouldn't be special if it weren't for the people there that made it so.

I know this is a really long spiel, but I can't believe I actually made it here!

In conclusion, thank you, I hope you all have your happily ever afters just like Harry, and as always...leave a review!

Love you guys (always)!