Chapter one

Harry was sitting on his bed in the Gryffindor common room, thinking about everything that had happened the day before. It was over, Voldemort was dead, but so were a lot of other people. He couldn't stop the tears falling down his face because he felt so guilty, knowing it was his fault they died and even though he knew everyone would say it wasn't his fault, he still felt like it was. But now that it was all over Harry felt different and he couldn't work out why. He heard the door, when he looked up, he saw Ginny walk in and sit beside him. She didn't say anything, just pulled him into her arms and held him while he cried.

When he pulled himself together he looked up at her, 'Thanks,' Harry gave her a small smile.

'Anytime Harry, are you okay though?' Ginny asked looking sadly at the man she loved.

'Yeah, I'm fine Gin. It's just going to take some time,' Harry sighed deeply, 'Where is everyone anyway?'

'Most are still down in the great hall, a lot have gone home now it's all over. That's what I came to tell you, we're heading back to the Burrow. I came to see if you were coming back with us? We're taking…Fred…' Ginny couldn't continue as tears fell from her eyes and her voice choked up.

Harry pulled Ginny into his arms this time and let her cry, 'I'm so sorry Ginny,' Harry said sadly, knowing this was hard on all of the Weasley's, losing a brother and a son and Harry felt terrible for them knowing he caused it.

When Ginny calmed down, she looked back at Harry, 'So, are you coming back with us?'

Harry stood up and walked over to the window, 'Not just yet Gin, I will soon, but there's just a few things I need to do first,' Harry looked back at her and saw she was upset at this news, 'Please understand Ginny, I just need some time. I'm going to go back to the Burrow, just not today, hopefully tomorrow,' Harry sighed as he walked back over and sat beside her. 'Just give me a bit of time, so much has happened and I need to get my head around some things.'

Ginny pulled Harry into her arms for a few minutes, then let him go, 'Alright Harry and we need to talk as well. So, yes, you probably need some time and I do understand. Just know this though, none of this is your fault.'

'Thanks for understand Gin and as for not being my fault, I'm not sure that's true.' Harry looked into her eyes, then leaned down and kissed her tenderly. 'That's nice.'

'Yes, very nice Harry and it's not your fault, none of it. But I have to go. Please know that I'm here for you and don't be away too long.'

'I know you will Gin, I'll be there as soon as I can.' Harry kissed her softly, then watched as she walked out of the room. Harry sighed again and walked out not long after. He walked along the deserted corridors, seeing all the damage, but also the blood everywhere and felt himself choke up. He came to the door of his dead Headmaster's office and knocked.

'Come in,' Professor McGonagall's voice said from behind the door. Harry opened the door and walked in. 'Harry,' she gave him a small smile and stood up from behind the desk and hugged him. 'Thank you Harry, for everything.'

'I didn't really do much Professor, just pretended I was dead.' Harry shrugged as he sat down as soon as she let him go and looked down at the floor.

'Now we both know that's not true Harry, but I will let it go, for now. Is there something I can do for you Harry?'

'Yes, a couple of things actually,' Harry pulled the elder wand out of his pocket. 'I need to put this back with Professor Dumbledore, I don't want to keep it. It's just too dangerous, if anyone found out I owned it, I would have death eaters or any dangerous wizards or witches that wanted power after me again.'

'I understand, when would you like to do that Harry?'

'As soon as I can actually, but after I put it back, it will need to be resealed and charmed so no one can break it open again. I thought of putting a charm on the wand so in case it was broken open, that way no one would be able to see the wand.'

Professor McGonagall looked intensely at Harry. 'Did you have a charm in mind Harry?'

'Yes, the ones Hermione, Ron and I used when we were searching for the Horcruxes. I'd like to cast it as soon as I put the wand back, then thought you could seal the tomb and charm it.'

'We can go down and do that very soon if you like?'

'I'd like to wait until everyone has left, I don't want anyone to see what we're doing. So if it's alright, I'd like to stay until everyone has left.'

'Of course Harry, I'll let you know the moment the last people have left the grounds, apart from the other staff members, that is.' Harry nodded sadly at her. 'Is there something else Harry?'

'Yes,' Harry stood up and walked over to the pensieve, 'Have you seen the memory that's in here?'

'No, I did see it in there, but wasn't sure if I should.'

'I think you should Professor, it might explain some things to you about Professor Snape, you should have Kingsley look at it as well. It's Professor Snape's memory, he gave it to me just before he died.' Harry gazed down into the pensieve, remembering what he'd seen. 'But when you're done, I would like to keep it if that's alright?'

'Of course, if Severus gave it to you, then it is yours.'

'Thank you Professor, there's just one more thing. All of Professor Dumbledore's memories of Tom Riddle, they shouldn't be kept where anyone could get them, they could be dangerous.'

'Would you recommend me watching those as well?' Professor McGonagall asked as she walked over to Harry.

Harry thought for a few minutes. 'Yes, I think you should, with Kingsley as well again. It will answer a lot of questions that I really don't want to answer right now.'

Professor McGonagall heard how down Harry sounded and knew it would take him a while to come to terms with everything.

'Well, I'll look through Severus' memory and let you know when you can collect it and I'll let you know when you can return the wand. As for the other memories, I can place them under a charm to make sure no one can get them Harry.'

Harry looked up and smiled at her. 'I'd like to show you something, I'm not sure if you know it's here. You could place them in there then charm it.' She nodded to Harry and watched as he walked over to Professor Dumbledore's portrait and saw he was still asleep. Harry pulled his wand, waved it at the portrait and it swung open.

'How did you know that was here Harry when I never knew it was there?' Professor McGonagall said looking surprised.

'It's in the memory, that's where Professor Dumbledore hid the real sword of Gryffindor until he found out where we were and had Professor Snape bring it to me. Watch the memory Professor, it will explain it all.'

'Alright Harry, why don't you go rest, I'll let you know when it's time to put the wand back.' Professor McGonagall said putting a hand on his shoulder.

'Yeah, I think I will, just one last thing. Has Professor Snape's body been removed from the shrieking shake?'

'No, I didn't know it was there. I will make sure it's removed straight away.'

'Thank you Professor and please watch that as soon as you can, you understand that Professor Snape was really on our side the whole time.' Harry gave her a small smile.

'Harry just before you go, there's just one thing I'd like to ask you.'

'Alright,' Harry said as he watched her.

'When Hagrid carried you out of the forest and Voldemort thought you were dead, why did he think that Harry?'

Harry sighed, 'I will tell you, then watch the memory, you'll understand more. I let Voldemort hit me with the killing curse, we were both knocked unconscious, but neither of us died. Now I better go Professor, you'll know why once you've watched it,' Harry gave her a small smile and walked out the door, closing it behind him.

Harry walked along the corridors, thinking. He knew he should go get some more rest, but he was just too restless. So he kept walking until he stepped out into the ground and looked around seeing all the damage. He strolled down to the Black Lake and sat down in his usual spot under the beech tree thinking about all the people who had died, Fred, Remus, Tonks, Collin and all the others. He'd have to make some time to see Teddy, let Andromeda know he'd be there for the little boy.

''arry,' Hagrid said as he walked over and stood next to him.

Harry stood up and looked up at his big friend. 'Hi Hagrid, listen, I'm sorry about you having to do that. I needed Voldemort to think I was dead. I kept hearing you and felt terrible for putting you through that.' Harry hugged the big man.

Hagrid patted Harry, 'It's alright 'arry, but wha' are ya still doin' 'ere?'

'There's just a few things I need to do before I can leave and I wanted to see you and Professor McGonagall as well. What are you doing at the moment and how's Fang?'

Hagrid chuckled. 'Fangs grand 'arry and I'm just tryin' ta repair me 'ouse.'

'Why don't I give you a hand while I'm not doing anything?' Hagrid nodded and they both walked down towards Hagrid's hut. 'It's got a lot of damage doesn't it?'

'Yeah, tha's why I've been tryin' ta do as much meself. With tha castle so damaged, I didn' want ta ask the other Professors ta do it.'

'Let's see what I can do.' Harry pulled his wand from his pocket and started to cast different repairing charms on the hut and watched as everything started to repair itself. 'There, how's that?' Harry smiled up at the surprised look on Hagrid's face, then Hagrid hugged him again. 'Trouble breathing Hagrid,' Harry said breathlessly.

'Sorry 'arry, but look a' wha' ya did, you fixed my 'ouse, it's back ta normal.' Hagrid had tears leaking out of his eyes. 'Thanks 'arry.'

'Anything for you Hagrid, you know that.' He smiled as Fang ran up to him and started to lick his hand. 'Fang, how's it going?' Harry knelt down and hugged the huge dog, giving his head a rub before standing back up. 'I'll let you go sort your home out Hagrid.' Harry hugged him again and walked back towards the lake, then realised he was hungry. He walked back to the castle and saw there were still a lot of people in the great hall. He sat down at the Gryffindor table and dished himself up some food.

'Harry,' Kingsley's deep voice sounded from beside him.

'Hi Kingsley,' Harry said as Kingsley sat beside him.

'Are you doing alright Harry?' Kingsley asked seeing how drawn and tired Harry looked and had dark circles under his eyes.

'Yeah, I'm fine,' Harry saw the look Kingsley was giving him. 'Really, I'm okay, just a little tired, but I was hungry so I thought I'd get something to eat before I went and slept some more.'

'Good, there is one thing I need to talk to you about. I would normally wait after everything that's happened, but I need to start working on the upcoming trials.'

'No problem Kingsley.'

'Narcissa Malfoy, she told me what she did in the forest. Is it true Harry, did she lie to Voldemort and tell him you were dead when you weren't?'

'Yeah, she did. I think she did for two reasons. One so she could get back to the castle to find Draco, make sure he was okay and two, I think she'd finally had enough. I remember seeing her when we got captured and taken to her home. She didn't want to be involved with Voldemort anymore but knew she couldn't get out of it. You don't just leave Voldemorts inner circle.'

'No you don't, there was only one way you did that and I think we both know what that is. Anyway, that will make her trial easier then. What about Lucius Malfoy?'

'No, he definitely wanted to stay in the inner circle. He was doing everything he could to get back into Voldemorts good books. So as far as I'm concerned, you can be lock him up for life.' Harry said fiercely.

Kingsley saw the look on Harry's face, 'Okay, one more, what about Draco, what can you tell me about him?'

'Well, when we were captured, Lucius was trying to get Draco to look at me, to see if it was really me.' Harry saw the puzzled look on Kingsley's face. 'Hermione hit me with a hex, so my face was all distorted, so they wouldn't recognize me. Anyway, Draco said he wasn't sure if it was me, but I know he recognised me and just didn't tell them. He was scared about everything that was going on and I was able to get the wands off him really easy. So even though he's a big git, he didn't tell them it was me and didn't really fight to hard either. He was also threatened by Voldemort, so you can take that information and decide what to do with him, but I think he should be just given a warning and let go. But that's not up to me Kingsley.' Harry said then went back to eating.

'Okay, I'll take that into consideration Harry. You know you'll be ask to testify when the times comes, along with Ron and Hermione. For those things you saw that took place at Malfoy Manor.'

'Yeah, I figured I would, it's not going to be straight away is it? I'd like a bit of time first Kingsley. After everything I just want to relax for a while. Oh, I did want to talk to you about Gringotts.'

'About your big break in Harry,' Kingsley laughed softly, 'It's been taken care of. The ministry paid for the damage and the fine the goblins hit you with.'

'You didn't need to do that Kingsley, I could have taken care of it.'

'It was the least we could do Harry. You did finish off Voldemort.'

'I didn't do it all by myself Kingsley, I did have help, especially Ron and Hermione and of course Neville.'

'Yeah, what was with that? Why did he slice the snake in half?'

Harry sighed, 'I've told Professor McGonagall to show you a memory. When you see it, you'll understand more Kingsley. I really don't want to answer any questions just now. After, if you need to see me about it, I'll be around, but just give me a bit of time.'

Kingsley heard how down Harry sounded. 'Alright Harry, but are you sure you're okay?'

'Yeah, I'm fine Kingsley, Just tired, I'm just going to finish eating and go sleep for a while. I have to wait until Professor McGonagall watches the memories before I can leave.'

'Well, I'll go see her now then. I'll speak with you later Harry.' Kingsley gripped his shoulder before he got up and walked out of the great hall.

Harry finished eating quickly, not wanting anyone else to come over to start asking him questions. He'd seen everyone glancing at him, but he tried to ignore all the looks. He took a drink of pumpkin juice, stood up and walked out of the Great Hall back to the Gryffindor common room. He lies down on the couch and fell asleep instantly.