Disclaimer: All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s) and are in no way connected with J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Publishing or Warner Bros. The author of the following FanFiction does not in any way profit from the story and it is written solely for entertainment purposes only. Rights to characters and their settings is neither claimed nor implied.

Author's Note: I wrote this to pick up exactly where DH left off. I am planning on a seven chapter story. I think I will continue writing, just in a different time period of Harry and Ginny's lives. I dislike the idea of super long fics (like 57 chapters). Thank you for reading! Reviews make me smile.

Post War Slumber Party

Harry lumbered up the all too familiar steps to the Gryffindor tower. Hermione and Ron lagged slightly behind them. Hermione had been rummaging around in that extremely useful beaded handbag of hers.

The portrait of the Fat Lady stood before them, as if nothing had happened in the year that Harry had not attended Hogwarts. The Fat Lady gave a start and with beaming pride began to congratulate Harry loudly. Between her exclaiming, "From my own house!" and "I always knew he was special," the portrait hole swung open without a password and Hermione and Ron clambered into the Gryffindor common room behind Harry.

Harry looked from Ron and Hermione. They were caked in various substances: ash, blood, dirt, sweat. And yet, at the sight of his two best friends in the whole world, there was absolutely nothing in the world more beautiful to him than them now.

They climbed up the stairs to the boy's old dormitory. It was as if they had never left. With a swish of her wand, Hermione flung Harry and Ron's beds together. She then proceeded to peel off her shoes and socks before draping herself unceremoniously across the width of the two beds. Ron and Harry followed suit.

A tidal wave of relief swept over Harry's body. He was so grateful that his friends survived. Then suddenly, with a pang, the images of the people who died for him swept across his face.

Hermione was the first to speak, "I know we haven't slept properly for over two days…and I don't normally do this sort of thing…but considering the circumstances…"

Ron and Harry propped themselves up to stare at Hermione quizzically.

Hermione continued uncertainly, "I was thinking of casting a sleeping spell on us. Considering the events, I think it would really be proper. Loads of wizards have become dependent on them though. I once read that this one witch over did it and never woke up! And this one old wizard…"

"Just do it, Hermione. We're exhausted." Grumbled Ron.

And just like that, they fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

Harry awoke the next morning when the sun shone on his face. He awoke alert. He was not used to waking with the sun, not after a year of skulking about in a magical tent.

Fumbling for his glasses, he noticed with mild amusement, that Ron had shifted in his sleep and was now completely curled up to Hermione. His right arm across her waist held her to his chest while his right leg was dangling over her legs. It was very comical, it looked like he was trying to ensure her captivity.

Not wanting to be bothered, Harry gathered his shower things and pulled the invisibility cloak over his head so he could bathe in peace. After all, he smelled like a barbeque pit.

Harry took his time in the bath. It had been ages since he had a real bath. At one point, he think he dozed off, for when he opened his eyes, Moaning Myrtle startled him.

Myrtle for once did not look gloomy or the least bit depressed. He hadn't seen her this happy since Hermione accidentally transformed herself into a cat with polyjuice potion.

"HARRY!" squealed Myrtle. Harry lunged for a towel, hastily covering himself and slipping into a robe. "Hey Myrtle. Long time no see." He said awkwardly.

"You saved my little friend, Malfoy! Last year he was so certain that he would be killed. Well not that would have been that terrible. But he may have not stuck around as a ghost."

Harry shook his head in disbelief. Myrtle would care about that. Not about the world ending, Hogwarts closing, or the castle walls falling down. "Um you're welcome then." He gathered his things and hurried back to the dormitory, not sure of how much time had passed.

Ron and Neville were the only ones in the dormitory. Ron had already showered, revealing some cuts on his face and hands that had been covered by the dirt before. Neville's ears looked like they had been cooked with a pound of bacon.

Both of their faces lit up when they saw Harry. Harry smiled back.

"Neville, you did wonderfully."

Neville's bacon colored ears would have turned red, for he shifted his weight uncomfortably and examined his dirty shoes.

"Thanks, Harry. But we all know the amazing sacrifice you made."

They stared at each other for a moment, until a low rumbling noise interrupted the moment. Ron, clutching his stomach, asked Neville if the great hall was still serving breakfast.

"Breakfast was over two hours ago and we've an hour to go before lunch."

"I'll fix this. Kreacher!"

With a loud crack, Kreacher appeared in the dormitory. He was beaming with pride of his master. He held his head high and looked happier than Harry had ever seen him. Before Kreacher could begin idolizing Harry, Harry spoke first.

"Kreacher, I need to thank you. Thank you for leading the house elves against the death eaters. I am proud to have you as my elf. If you wouldn't mind, could you possibly get Ron and I some sandwiches? We haven't eaten since –"

But Harry was cut off by a mixture of sobs, bowing, and words like "best master in the world," or "Kreacher lives to serve master."

Before they could decipher what Kreacher had said, there were two more cracks. Kreacher had brought two full course meals on breakfast trays.

Later that day, Harry decided that it was probably time to emerge from his dormitory. He wanted to see Hagrid, to thank all the people that stood up to Lord Voldemort, even as he lay at his feet. Above all, he wanted to see Ginny.

As he emerged from the tower, he walked right into Ginny. Her eyes were still bloodshot with grief, but Harry found her absolutely beautiful.

They paused for a moment, staring at each other. For a moment, Harry wondered if she even still liked him . He had been completely absent from her life for almost a year. Did she still feel the same as she did on the morning of his seventeenth birthday? Before he could act on these thoughts, Ginny threw herself into his arms. Harry tensed automatically, fearing that she would start crying, but then relaxed as he inhaled her scent and placed his chin on top of her red hair.

"You have no idea how glad I am that you're alive."

A muffled, "Me too," came from Ginny, with her face buried in Harry's chest.

"Ginny?"

"Hmm?"

"I need to tell you something…" Harry began awkwardly. "Could we maybe walk somewhere?"

Ginny pulled away slightly to tip her face toward Harry's. "That may prove a little difficult. There are people everywhere, putting the castle back together."

The past few hours Harry had completely forgotten about the damage and state of disrepair Hogwarts was in. Between the horcruxes, Voldemort, his friends, and a complete state of exhaustion Harry thought it was understandable. He then glanced around the hall, portraits askew, ceilings and walls crumbling, suits of armor dismembered. He felt a pang of responsibility. He had made the only home he had ever known look like this.

"Right. Well I should probably help clean up, seeing how this happened on my account."

"Harry, it's not your fault. I knew you would blame yourself. I mean yes, it happened yesterday because of you, but it was going to happen eventually. You just gave everyone the courage to fight." She looked up at him with nothing but love filling her eyes.

Harry bent down slowly. His green eyes were locked onto her brown eyes. His lips brushed lightly against hers in a brief kiss. They were incredibly soft and Harry never wanted to spend another day apart from them. Apart from her. Before he could tell her this, Ginny returned his affections, a little more strong than he had expected. The kiss intensified. Ginny's hands found Harry's untidy hair. Harry wrapped his arms around her small waist, pulling her closer. A loud clang ruined the moment. Harry acted on impulse, whipping out his phoenix wand in a swift movement and stepped instinctively between Ginny and the noise. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Luna making a large suit of armor fly along the corridor with wingardium leviosa.

"You're a bit jumpy, aren't you?" Ginny teased from behind him. "Not that I can really blame you, of course."

Harry turned to Ginny, a blush slowly claiming his ears. "Er right. Well I think I will help with the castle. Have you slept?"

"No, that's where I was going before…" she trailed off and stared at her shoes as her cheeks turned a rosy pink.

A smile spread across Harry's face. "I'll talk to you later then. Um, good night."

Ginny smiled in response then said, "Voldermort's dead." to the Fat Lady and clambered inside the portrait hole. "That's really the new password?" Harry asked incredulously. The Fat Lady grinned wildly in response. She raised a glass of wine and said, "To Harry!"

Harry set off to the great hall to find Professor McGonagall. He found her mending Syltherin's hour glass. With a wave of her want, thousands of emeralds lifted from the ground and went back to their place behind some repaired glass. She caught Harry observing her out of the corner of her eye. "There you are, Potter! I know you have done a lot, but you should really go into the hall and meet the families of the people who died fighting on our side. I know it would mean a lot to them."

Disappointment came over Harry. Of course he would be expected to do a thing like that. He couldn't just go about cleaning the castle like a normal person. He nodded his head and slowly made his way into the great hall, clearly dreading what he had to do. He decided to save the Weasley family for last. That would be the hardest.

He made his way up and down tables, shaking hands, receiving hugs and offering his thanks and condolences. He stopped abruptly when he recognized the Creevy family. Collin had snuck back against orders to fight, even though he was so small and young. He had the soul of a true Gryfindor. He told Collin's parents and brother his thoughts and then tried to tell them how sorry he was. He was interrupted by an embrace by the entire family.

Hours later, he had visited with all the families in the great hall. Some were grieving, some were celebrating. Some were caught up in a clear conflict to do both at the same time.

He looked around to spot the red haired clan, but to his disappointment, they were nowhere to be found. He made his way to the exit, to search for them in the room of requirement or the Gryffindor common room, but was distracted by a wizard wearing bright mismatched robes and holding Luna Lovegood's hand who almost knocked Harry over.

"Harry! Please forgive me! What I did was inexcusable! I was quite sure my own dear Luna would disown me but luckily she hasn't although it may have something to do with the narguls and –"

Harry cut him off and offered Mr. Lovegood his right hand. Mr. Lovegood's mouth fell open a little, then recovered from shock and shook Harry's hand firmly. "You're a great man, Harry Potter. " he said with his eyes filling with tears from behind his wire spectacles.

A streak of red hair blurred past behind Mr. Lovegood's shoulder. Harry excused himself, running after a Weasley into the courtyard to discover Ron chasing one lone spider out of the castle. Ron was shooting a mixture of swear words and hexes at the spider who was roughly the size of a beach ball.

He looked up when Harry shot it with a large stunning spell and the spider fell over on the ground. "Oi! I could've done that!"

"Sorry, just trying to help. Reducio!" The stunned beach ball spider shrank to the size of a grape. Ron stalked over to it and squished it under his shoe. "Thanks, Harry, but I really was getting to that."

Harry grinned and then asked, "Do you know where your family went?"

"Last I saw, they were in the common room. They're pretty exhausted you know? But I know they'll be going back to the burrow shortly after the service tomorrow. Did you hear about the service?"

"What service?"

"Right I guess you haven't run into Nearly Headless Nick. He's helping McGonagul organize it, seeing as she's a bit busy repairing the castle. Anyway, they are holding a memorial service tomorrow morning for those who…well you know." Ron looked off into the forbidden forest, clearly trying not to think of his fallen brother. He screwed his eyes up to a large cloud that had just covered the sun and said, "After the service, everyone is gonna go home. The train will arrive at noon tomorrow. We're to wear dress robes if we have them. Reckon Hermione packed us some?"

"It's very possible. There isn't much that she didn't pack!" grinned Harry.

Ron returned Harry's grin, pride radiating from his face. "She's one amazing woman, isn't she?"

"Who is?" Hermione had snuck up on them. Her hair was disheveled and she had owl droppings on her shoulders.

"You. What happened to you? You look –"

Harry coughed loudly, warning Ron not to continue. Ron luckily stopped his train of thought and began up again, "We were talking about how amazing you are….you know how you always think ahead and how you packed everything imaginable in that handbag of yours. Did you pack us dress robes?"

Hermione watched him with interest, waiting for him to shove his foot in his mouth. Harry could have imagined it, but he thought he saw the briefest flash of disappointment across her face. Maybe Hermione had been looking forward to a row. "No, I didn't pack dress robes. I didn't think we'd be going to the Yule ball or anything. Although I do have the clothes we wore to the wedding. That'll do I suppose. And I have been chasing owls back to the owlery all morning. THAT was has happened to me."

Ron swished his wand and the bird droppings flew off her clothes onto the ground beside the squished grape spider. Hermione smiled at him. Harry felt like he was intruding on another private moment, similar to what he witnessed in the room of requirement.

"Right well, I'll be in the common room I suppose…"murmured Harry. Although it was doubtful either of his friends had heard him. They seemed a little distracted snogging each other.

When he returned to the common room, it was not as quiet and serene as it had been previously. Cheers erupted as his presence was noticed. The commotion was equal to winning the dragon egg in the Triwizard Tournament, or catching the snitch after an important game. Harry did not feel like celebrating. He felt like smashing things, crying, or just going back to bed. He plastered on what he hoped was a convincing smile as he made his way through the cheering crowd to the red haired clan clustered around some comfortable chairs.

They all looked at him with smiles, but he could see the sadness in their eyes. Mrs. Weasley rose from her seat and folded Harry into a warm hug. "I am so proud of you! We all are." Mrs. Weasley said nothing about Harry's tears that now wetted her shoulder. She gently squeezed him and did not pull away until he did, regaining his composure.

"I'm sorry….I wish things ended up you know," Harry began awkwardly.

George clapped Harry on the back. "Personally I think ole Fred would have loved to go this way. Bit of an adventure, eh?" They stood huddled in their spot for several minutes, thinking about Fred. His love of mischief, adventure, and humor.

That evening, the entire castle had been put back together. It was really quite easy when you had loads of witches, wizards, and house elves all working together. That evening the house elves prepared a sumptuous feast for all who came. The headmaster's chair was once again, left vacant. The enchanted ceiling in the great hall did not reflect the weather this night. Instead, it looked like a pool of aqua water. Written across the water were the names of those who had sacrificed their lives. It was a somber and yet happy atmosphere.

The centaurs did not eat at the feast, but did stop by after the feast had ended to make sure they were not needed. Harry and Professor McGonagall spoke to Bane. They thanked them sincerely for their help. As the centaurs turned to leave, Bane bent down and took Harry's hand in his own. Harry shook it and before he knew it, they had left.

The common room had been cleared out of its normal furniture. Instead there was an odd assortment of beds to accommodate all of the extra people staying at Hogwarts. The Gryffindors were a little confused upon entering, because all of their dorm beds had vanished. Hermione was the only one not puzzled. "It's obvious that the castle wants us to have sort of a slumber party, isn't it? This may be the last time we see each other for a while."

And it was like an evening that Harry had never experienced. The tense atmosphere had lifted. They were all there together. They sat and laughed, played wizard's chess, drank butterbeer, and at the end of the evening, everyone was demanding to hear the adventure of Gringott's.

Harry, Ron, and Hermoine moved to the front of the room and stood on a coffee table to recount the tale. They took turns interrupting each other and adding details. Everyone was very entertained. They howled with laughter with Hermoine impersonating Bellatrix. They gasped when they heard how they almost were buried alive with fake treasure. Their faces brightening when they escaped on the old dragon. By the end of the story, Harry felt like he was much younger. It was as if he had never really left Hogwart's. It was almost as if he wasn't labeled "UNDESIRABLE NO. 1."

This story of course imprompted several other stories. Neville recounted his tale of killing the snake while others filled them in on all the trouble they had given the Carrows the past year.

Gradually, people fell asleep. Some in beds, some on the floor. The number of stories lessened until all you could hear was the fire. Harry lay very still, willing his body to fall asleep. Every time he tried to clear his mind, he would think of Fred, Tonks, or Lupin. Sometimes he would think of Hagrid's tears pelting him as he carried him to the castle.

He heard a muffled sob a few beds over. Curiously, he picked his head up and put his glasses back on. Ginny was laying curled up, twitching a little violently in her sleep. Harry empathized with her. He knew all too well what kind of nightmare she was having. Without really thinking on it, he slipped out of his own bed and crawled into Ginny's. It was a stupid thing to do really, with all of those people there. But he couldn't just leave her alone and miserable. He lay beside her and put one arm around her. He tenderly kissed the back of her shoulder. Ginny's face relaxed and her body moved closer to Harry's. Harry was overwhelmed with contentment. He placed his glasses beneath the pillow with his free arm and fell into a blissful sleep.

He woke up to an annoying prodding in his right ear. His eyelids opened to reveal an amused Ron. "Get back in your bed before my parents wake up! What are you stupid?" he whispered loudly.

Harry looked a bashful and took himself and his glasses to his own bed. He was disappointed that it wasn't warm like Ginny. He glanced out the window and saw that it was early dawn. "I owe you one, Ron." Harry whispered. "Nah, we've saved each other so many times, I can't keep track." Ron replied.

The next day passed quickly. They breakfasted, changed into dress robes, and returned to the great hall. Its ceiling showed a glorious sunny day with large clouds. The clouds seemed to sometimes turn into the face of a fallen hero. It was comforting, seeing them look down at their own memorial service.

The Minister of Magic, Kingsley, had returned with some medals. After awarding them to various wizards and witches, Harry was called forward. He was presented with the Order of the Merlin, First Class award. Harry felt unworthy of the award, but held his head high as the award was pinned onto his robes. As he looked to the ceiling, he saw his mother and father's faces for a brief moment. No one had to tell him this time, he knew his parents were proud.

McGonagul gave a lovely speech, followed by Kingsley. They retreated to their towers to change once again and to set off to the train. Packing this time leaving Hogwarts was painfully easy.

Harry was staring at the countryside whizzing along outside the window. Neville and Luna were talking quietly while Ron and Hermione were off patrolling the train for one last time. Ginny flung herself on the seat next to Harry, which startled him a bit, pulling him out of his daze. Ginny tilted her wand toward Neville and Luna and mumbled, Muffliato under her breath.

"So I had the strangest dream last night." She began.

Harry raised one eyebrow and waited for her to continue.

"I dreamed that you were dead. Really dead, not fake dead. And then you came back to life, um again. And then you held me in your arms and kissed my shoulder."

Ginny looked up at his face to see his response.

"You looked upset while you were sleeping last night, so um I climbed in your bed and held you. And I did kiss your shoulder. But Ron woke me up when it was early morning and I moved back to my bed. I am sorry if that was weird or whatever. Ginny, I want to know if…well if you want to go with me."

This last part did little to ease the apparent look of astonishment on her face. Her silence was making Harry increasingly uneasy. "If you don't want to, I get it. I left you for almost a year. But I really didn't want to hurt you, Ginny. I am really sorry. I just couldn't think of loosing you."

Ginny slowly closed her mouth and looked out the window pensively. "It was hard. But seeing you dead the other night once again confirmed…" she paused and flicked her eyes onto Harry's. "It confirmed that I still have deep feelings for you. And I can't explain the pain it caused in my heart when I thought you were dead."

"You know why I did that though, right?"

"Yes, I understand. Still was gut wrenching."

Ginny's hand found Harry's. Her fingers fit perfectly in between his. "So my answer….is yes. But you have to take me out. No more sneaking around or leaving to backpack across the country in a tent."

Harry grinned. "Sounds great."