After the Battle

Harry rose slowly from the kneeling position he had taken on the floor, and turned to see his two best friends standing in the doorway, hand in hand.

He opened his mouth to say something like, are you both alright or, how many survived, but instead he said:

'Where's Ginny?'

Hermione and Ron smiled, Hermione looked as though she was restraining herself from tackling him in a massive hug, but she merely replied.

'In the Great Hall... with Fred.'

A wave of grief hit Harry so strong he felt the urge to drop to the ground and let it swallow him up, so that he didn't have to feel this pain. He didn't know who was dead and who was alive or wounded. He tensed his muscles so hard it hurt, to stop the tears threatening to overwhelm him.

He smiled finally, using a tremendous amount of effort, and left his friends to go find Ginny, who at the moment was the most important person in the world to him, a shining beacon of light amidst darkness.

Another mind-blowing tsunami of grief hit Harry when he came to the Great Hall. He scanned the Hall with blurred eyes; he saw a glimpse of Fred's red hair in the middle of the Weasleys. Lupin's brown hair and Tonks' pink hair could be seen next to each other slightly further along, along with Colin Creevey's blond curls. They were the only ones Harry recognised. He searched the Hall for Ginny – there she was, with her family, her hand lightly placed on Fred's chest.

Hermione and Ron, who had followed Harry down, lightly touched him on the shoulder, and went to join the rest of the Weasleys. As they reached the group, Ginny turned, and spotted Harry.

Seeing her face, among all the grief and misery, was like an anchor. Her face, soot-stained, with tear tracks all down her cheeks, and a cut above her right eyebrow, to him was the most beautiful thing in the world. She opened the cage holding all his emotions, threatening to swamp him, to drown him. But she held him down, held him to earth. Her love was the only thing stopping him from being swept away by his feelings.

She immediately ran to him, and hugged him. The stood there like that for a few long moments, just wrapped in each other's embrace, until Ginny pulled away slightly.

'Come on,' she whispered. 'Mum's been asking for you.' Immediately guilt hit Harry. He knew how Mrs Weasley must be feeling; all he could think about was that if he had turned himself in sooner, if he hadn't been such a coward, Fred might not be dead.

Mrs Weasley turned and swept Harry into a warm hug.

'Harry, I can't thank you enough,' she cried, fresh tears still pouring down her face.

'Mrs Weasley I'm –

'No, Harry James Potter don't you dare say you're sorry. If it wasn't for you, half my family would be dead, not just F-Fred. Fred knew what he was getting into, it was his own choice, and saying that it's all your fault will merely ruin his memory, alright? Part of me has always known that we won't all come out of this, and I'm happy that Fred died fighting for freedom and justice,' she said fiercely. Harry was surprised by her speech, but nodded and turned to George, who was knelt next to Fred's body, cradling the upper half in his arms. He turned to look up at Harry, and his expression was like his heart had been torn in half – which was probably how he felt.

'I don't blame you, mate,' he managed to choke out,

Ginny laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. 'Let's go upstairs – you need some sleep,' she murmured. Harry nodded and let her take him up to his dormitory.

'You know,' she said quietly. 'I could stay here for the night. Dean, Seamus and Neville are going home, so it's just us and Ron – and I bet you he isn't going to be a saint with Hermione.'

Harry smiled and pulled her into bed. The instantly fell asleep together.

When Harry opened his eyes in the morning, sunlight was streaming through a gap in the curtains. Groggily, but careful not to wake Ginny, he reached out and checked his alarm clock. It was 1:30 pm.

Yawning, he lay back down next to Ginny and started sorting through all his memories. After a couple of minutes, he heard someone mumble something in the bed next to him. And then he heard another voice, mumble something back.

He sat bolt upright, accidently jogging Ginny and waking her, and stuck his head out of his curtains. He had forgotten that Ron would also be sleeping in the same room – and Ron most probably would not be happy to find that his baby sister was in the same bed as Harry.

'Harry?' mumbled Ginny. She sat up and wrapped her arms around him. Harry put a finger to his lips and pointed to Ron's bed. Ginny stifled a giggle, and then said very loudly in a frighteningly good imitation of Mrs Weasley's voice 'Ronald Weasley, what on earth are you doing in bed?'

Ron swore loudly and fell out of bed, pulling the covers with him. Unfortunately this started to reveal Hermione, who screamed 'Ron! Wait!' and grabbed the covers, getting her pulled out of bed as well. They ended up on top of each other on the floor, mercifully still covered by the duvet, and looking around for Mrs Weasley with confused and very scared looks on their faces.

Harry and Ginny burst into laughter, while Ron scowled when he realised his mistake, grabbed the nearest towel and clothes in reaching distance and headed off to the bathroom to get dressed.

'What are you doing here Ginny?' asked Hermione coolly, getting up and hiding behind the curtains of Ron's bed to dress.

'I was going to ask the same question of you, in fact,' replied Ginny, just as cool.

'Fine, whatever, but please don't tell me the details,' growled Ron, coming back from the bathroom. He chucked Harry and Ginny's clothes then said: 'I've accepted that you two are an item, but I still don't want to see or hear too much!'

'Sure, fine,' laughed Harry. 'What're we doing today?'

'I think just going back to the Burrow, to prepare F-Fred's funeral and to work out what's happening in the near future.

So, what do you think? I changed the chapter slightly, but not drastically. Only when I realised my TEACHER does this.