Chapter 7: Wings of Change

The morning of the funeral dawned crystal clear. Harry awoke to a chorus of birds chirping merrily in the summer sun. Well, it might have been the birds, but was most likely the tell-tale sound of Hermione leaving the boys dormitory for the morning. He smiled to himself. If anyone deserved some time together it was those two. Although he couldn't resist a pang of jealousy that he couldn't have Ginny in his bed over night. Ron had refused point blank when he overheard Harry discussing it with Ginny, and even threatened to get his mother involved in he had too.

Harry stood up and stretched while watching a couple of owls returning to the owlery after a night of hunting. He made his way over to the bathroom and began to get ready for the day. After half an hour he came back, got dressed, and proceeded to wake Ron up. As early as Harry had gotten up they were still late arriving to breakfast, mainly due to Ron's ability to not be able to move faster than a flobberworm before 10 o'clock. It was a very somber setting in the Great Hall, which was draped with black silk hangings to commemorate the day.

As Harry and Ron made their way to join the rest of the Weasleys, Harry noticed that no one was sitting by houses anymore. This may have been due to the fact that there were not any Slytherins left in Hogwarts. While they were eating many people began making their way into the Great Hall. Most of these people were friends or family members of those who had been killed during the battle. Harry suddenly lost his appetite as he thought of what was to come. Seeing his dejection, Ginny slid her hand into his and gaze a squeeze, with a reassuring smile on her face.

Harry didn't manage to eat anything. He just sat and looked around, saddened by the large number of people here. There was going to be one large funeral today, mainly because there would have been so many smaller ones. The large affair saved the families from having to come up with money for a funeral. After the ceremony the coffins would be banished to whatever graveyard the family wished their loved ones to rest in. At 11 o'clock, Professor McGonagall stood up. What little talk there had been in the hall vanished immediately. Without a word she began to move out of the doors of the Great Hall. Everyone stood up and followed. As the crowd made their way out of the castle Harry saw a large portion of the lawn was covered in chairs. Up in front of them was a very large raised platform and on it rested the coffins of those who had died during the battle. Harry detached himself from Ginny, watching as she filed into a random row with her family. He proceeded to walk up toward the front where Kingsley was waiting for him. Once everyone had made their way to their seats the funeral started.

The same little wizard who had spoken at Dumbledore's funeral made his way to the podium in stationed in the middle of the stage. Harry looked at him, and the caskets, and to the lake which was shining behind the stage. The wizard began to speak; about why these people had died, about how the world was a better place for it. He mentioned each and every single witch or wizard by name and put in a few words that each family had submitted. Harry could hardly bear to listen and felt a pang with every familiar name. After what seemed like hours, Kingsley stood and walked over to the stage. He gave a speech, about the talents of the individuals and how they made the wizarding community a better place. He also bestowed an Order of Merlin, second class, to each individual who had given up their life in the battle. As he announced this the medals and certificates appeared in the laps of the deceased kin. Harry was surprised when he felt one on his lap, and looked down to find Remus's award laying there.

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to concentrate on what was coming next. Kingsley finished his speech and began to make his way off of the stage. Harry stood up, placed Remus' award on his chair and slowly walked over to the stage. He looked past the coffins on the stage to the rock-littered shore of the lake, past the lake to the misty mountains that surrounded the castle and Hogsmede. He gulped and turned around to face the amassed families behind him.

"Today we should not be in mourning." Harry began and paused as people looked around at each other. "No, today is a day for celebrating. We should be celebrating the lives of the 54 people behind me who put it all on the line so that we could celebrate." Ginny smiled at him, and he felt his heart lighten. "It is all right to feel sad. It's normal. But we must remember that in our sadness we must also see the light. We mustn't blame ourselves. We cannot think in terms of what ifs. We must live in the moment and celebrate that we can enjoy the sunlight. All of these people sacrificed to make sure that we could live to see a world where our children can grow up without fear. We should honor and celebrate their valor, and what they gave to us on the night of that battle. Please take a moment of silence to remember."

Harry bowed his head. He could feel the tears welling in his eyes as he thought about those that had died. His thoughts went back even farther, bringing Sirius, Dumbledore, Dobby, and his parents to mind. The tears were falling freely down his face. He felt something stirring in him. He couldn't place what it was. He could only link it to something similar that he felt the night he blew up Aunt Marge. As he struggled with this sensation he continued to think about all of his loved ones and what they had given up for him and for the world. He felt the pressure building and his sorrow building with it. It got to the point where Harry could hardly bear it anymore. Suddenly, it exploded out of him. A blinding flash of white light shot out from him in all directions. The startled congregation looked up.

Pulses of white hot energy were coming off of Harry, growing brighter every second. Ron and Hermione jumped up, but the light was now so bright that they couldn't see. They could hear a grinding of rock coming from somewhere behind the stage. The light was slowly receding. They could see Harry's outline now, gripping the podium, barely supporting his weight. As the light faded back into Harry, he finally fell the floor of the stage. Ron and Hermione dashed up and grabbed their best friend. "Harry, Harry!" Ginny screamed from the crowd and rushed over to where Ron was cradling Harry's head.

Blearily, Harry blinked his eyes. His whole body ached. He tried to sit up but something was restraining him. He tried to open his eyes again and they watered as the light burned them. He moaned groggily. "Ron! Hermione! He's awake!" He recognized the voice and smiled stupidly trying to place it. He opened his eyes more slowly. He could make out a blurry face, haloed in a mane of fiery hair that was glowing from the light behind it. "Oh, Harry, thank goodness you're awake." She smiled at him as his eyes focused on her face. She swept a lock of hair off of his forehead as Ron and Hermione dashed over. Ginny climbed off of Harry who sat himself up and felt around for his glasses.

"Blimey mate," Ron looked shaken as he stared Harry up and down, "the bloody war is over, why in the name of Merlin's pants do you have to go scaring us like that?" He sat down wearily in a chair next to Harry's bed. Hermione looked lost for words and just sat down in Ron's lap, her eyes never leaving Harry's face. Ginny was sitting in a chair now too and was dabbing his face with a cool towel. Harry was still trying to make sense of things. He was in the hospital wing, that he was sure of, merely because of how familiar the room had become to him over his many stays there. But how had he gotten here? He remembered the memorial and he remembered getting up to speak, but then things got blurry.

"What happened? Did I pass out when I tried to give my speech?" Ron shook his head and Hermione still looked tense, but Ginny stifled a giggle.

"Well, no, not technically. Well it wasn't your nerves that made you pass out." He looked confused.

"Look will you just tell me what happened?"

Hermione stood up and sat on the edge of Harry's bed. "Well you had just talked about how we should remember all the fallen and you asked for a moment of silence. So everyone's heads were bowed and we'd been quiet for like a minute when a bright light shot out of you." Harry looked completely nonplussed.

"What like I was glowing or something?"

"Nah, mate it's like you were shooting out light from everywhere. It kept coming out like it was pulsing or something. It was blinding, we couldn't really see anything. After about a minute the light ebbed and I and Hermione ran over to you but you were passed out. No one could wake you up. We took you straight up here mate." Ron said looking carefully at Harry. "So you don't know what you did?"

Harry stared back at him. "You've just told me. I glowed and then passed out." Hermione, Ron, and Ginny looked at each other.

"Well after we left Kinglsey finished off the funeral and sent the bodies to be buried. We talked to him after but he said he'd never seen anything like it before. None of the Professors had. So eventually someone went to get Professor Dumbledore's opinion. What you did was about the biggest amount of accidental magic ever." Harry stared at Ginny.

"It's true mate. Madame Pomfrey said it almost killed you. You just like radiated pure magical energy. She said you nearly emptied your entire magical core." Ron looked half scared and half awed.

"But what did I do? I just glowed?" They smiled at him.

"Nah mate you did something way cooler. You know those big rocks behind the stage? Near the shore of the lake?" Harry nodded. "Well during the flash of light or whatever a bunch of the large ones fused together and created a statue." Harry stared at him.

"What?"

"Really Harry, it's quite beautiful. There are several types of rock and they made a large phoenix carrying a shield." Harry's jaw dropped.

"I did that?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah and that's not all. Every single tombstone of the people who died has a miniature phoenix carved into it!" Harry sat not quite believing what they were telling him. Just then the doors opened and Kingsley, the Weasleys, and Professor McGonagall came in.

"Ah, Harry you're awake. Good show lad." Kingsley said in his deep voice.

"Are you feeling alright Potter?" McGonagall asked looking him up and down.

"Yeah I feel fine." At that moment Madame Pomfrey bustled over with several bottles of potions. Harry groaned inwardly.

"Well Mr. Potter I'm surprised you feel well at all. Now I'm restricting you to absolutely no magic for the rest of the day and nothing over 4th year spells for at least a week. Drink these up. You've drained your magical core you know. It was a very impressive display though." She looked softly down on him as he gagged over a smoking orange potion.

"It seems you were harboring a lot of built up emotion, which I'm guessing was released." Professor McGonagall looked down at him. "Didn't we just have a conversation about holding your emotions in Potter?" He looked at her sheepishly as he drank a green potion that sent a tickling sensation throughout his limbs.

"It's alright Professor. I'm pretty sure I got rid of all that." He smiled around at the people clustered around his sick bed. It was true. He no longer felt the bone numbing sorrow that he had felt earlier the same day. The grief was there, but it was not nearly so overwhelming. Harry knew he was on the mend. He reached over and grabbed Ginny's hand. The others conjured chairs and they began what turned out to be a long fun afternoon spent reminiscing about anything and everything. Sometime later, as Harry was about to go to sleep, he smiled at Ginny who was asleep on his chest, at Ron and Hermione who were cuddled sleeping in the same chair and thought that he was ready to fill the space in his heart with memories and happiness.

A/N: Sorry for the long time. I find myself getting caught planning out what I want to do chapters from now and am having a hard time getting there. Leave reviews! They are good encouragement!