When people asked Harry about his life just after the war many expected vague answers and anecdotes and that was what they got. But that wasn't what he remembered. Harry could remember what felt like every second of the aftermath of the war. It felt like time had slowed down especially, just to torture him with the pain of knowing that he had come in a full circle; that once again, he was alone. It felt like every time he managed to push one person from his mind another would take their place. He could see the faces of the dead, all staring at him with their accusing eyes,

Tonks. The mother who never got to know her son.

Lupin. The man who had so looked forward to being a father.

Fred. Once full of laughter now just as empty as his twin.

Colin Creevy. The boy who had only wanted to do right.

Ron.

Hermione.

No one sentence immediately came to mind when the last two names came into mind, it was more like six years worth of memories playing through his mind unrelentingly.

Ron. Hermione. Ron. Hermione. Ron. Hermione.

He stayed in the Burrow for a few weeks after the war. No one talked to him and he didn't seek anyone out. Deep down in a place that Harry wouldn't even acknowledge he knew that they didn't blame him. They were just too busy being wrapped up in their own worlds of misery. It was times these when his mind would conspire against him.

Ron. Hermione. Ron. Hermione. Ron. Hermione.

The memories would play over and over again until he couldn't take it anymore. He would simply leave the Burrow and walk. He would walk for miles with his only destination a peaceful state of mind. None of the Weasley's stopped him when they saw him heading out. They didn't need to; he always came back.

(the nights were the worst. There wasn't a night go by where he didn't wake up in a cold sweat and shaking from half remembered dreams. In his dreams he would see their bodies laid out just as they had been in the Great Hall. Pale, cold and unmoving. When he had first seen them he had physically fallen. His knees had given out from under him and it was only Neville's hands as they hauled him up that kept him from falling to the floor and laying there until he too died.

The dream came every night and would leave him a wreck by the end of it. The only consolation was his horror seemed to deep for screaming so none of the others knew, he would suffer in silence. Of course, they did know really but this way he could at least pretend. It was because of this that it came as a great shock when he was pulled from his dream one night by a soft hand stroking the hair from his forehead. He opened his eyes and without his glasses, recognised the blurry figure of Ginny hovering over him with nothing but understanding and compassion in her gaze)

His days became a writhing mass of funerals and speeches, none of which he wanted to attend. He did so out of respect for the fallen and he hoped that it would be enough to assuage people's curiosity about him. It wasn't. The public wanted to know everything about him whereas he wanted nothing to do with them. He took to wearing his invisibility cloak out of the house most days and he revelled in the anonymity it afforded him. Soon it became too much for him even with his frequent invisible excursions. He moved back into Grimmauld Place and practically boarded himself in. He only ever left to see his young Godson or Ginny.

(the first time he had seen young Teddy Lupin he had cried. So had Andromeda and so had Teddy in the end but as he held the baby in his arms, untouched by the ugliness of war he vowed to do anything and everything in his power to give this child the best life anyone could ever have. He visited frequently and helped Andromeda in any way he could, after all he wasn't the only one to have lost family in the war.

As for Ginny she came and saw him often. They didn't always talk, sometimes they sat and ate or just curled up on the sofa. Harry occasionally got the feeling that she used him as an escape from her family, but he wasn't complaining, he used her as an escape from the convoluted mess of his life)

They never put it into words but Ginny and Harry were together once more. They didn't announce it or tell anyone but they didn't deny it either. They were still broken but when Harry was with Ginny it was like he could be himself- just Harry. There was no need to hide whatever he felt because she had felt it too.

Four years after the war Harry proposed and to his everlasting shock and joy Ginny said yes with tears over flowing from her eyes as she laughed. It was a long engagement but neither felt the need to hurry. They were married three years later and for the first time in years he was truly happy.

(even after he and Ginny had settled down into a happily married life he still broke down occasionally. In hindsight the career choice of being an auror probably wasn't the most wise choice he could have made. Sometimes in the heat of battle he could feel the panic at the edge his mind bubbling but that might have been what made him so good at his job. Good though he may be, it didn't stop the memories of voices calling out above shouts and the sounds of a war being waged against children. As it was he well liked and respected though no one ever tried to get to close to him. In truth he scared them. He always looked slightly off balance no matter how hard he tried to hide it. More than once people had seen him smile and look over his shoulder to find that there was no one there to share the moment with. They like him, but they kept their distance and for that he was glad)

Soon his life with Ginny grew and they found themselves with three children. Harry could honestly say that he loved his children more than any other person he had met in his whole life. His love for Ginny had grown and matured but his love for his children had sprung into being instantaneously and irrevocably. For the first time he could understand his parents sacrifice for him.

When Ginny had found out that they were to have a child they had both begun searching for names. Tentatively, Ginny had suggested Ron for a boy or Hermione for a girl. For all of twenty seconds it had seemed like a good idea to Harry; a way to honour those who had once been his everything. But then the reality set in. It felt too much like trying to replace them and he couldn't even contemplate such a thing. It would be too painful to call their names everyday and not see them. He could tell Ginny understood and although they did name their children after dead hero's somehow the names of his parents seemed less personal to him than those of his dead friends.

(Harry lived a long life. He had poured his heart and soul into his family and made sure that they had had everything they could ever need. Love and attention were given freely and his family was home to Harry.

They lived through the years, a shining beacon of hope to war ravaged souls like himself, spreading laughter and light to the most dark of places. It filled him with an indescribable warmth to think of how he had seen his family grow and flourish under his care and he knew that spending his life with them was his greatest achievement.

By the time that he began to feel a tiredness pervading his bones he knew that it was his time. His hair was thin and completely white and his frame stooped with age. He was ready. He was laid out on his bed surrounded by his wife, children and grandchildren. He looked at each face and the love that shone there and found himself at peace though even after all of these years he still looked for the two faces that were never there. He could feel death creeping up to him but he wasn't afraid, it was more like anticipation. A half remembered phrase made its way to Harry, "to the organised mind death is but the next great adventure", for the life of him he couldn't place it but he had had plenty of time to organise his mind. He was ready.

Harry departed this world as an equal and with a smile on his face.)

…

A/N- Thank you for reading and I hoped you liked it! This is the end so I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it and I would love to know what you thought in a review!-VE