Harry woke with a start and sat straight up, reaching for his wand. For several confused moments, he looked around wildly, with absolutely no idea where he was. Then, slowly, as he took in the familiar shape of the room, with the five four posters draped in red hangings, sunlight streaming through the window, his heart rate slowed and he realized where he was: back at Hogwarts, in his own dormitory. Judging by the cacophony of snores coming from behind the hangings, Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus must be here too. Relief, patterned with gut-wrenching regret, swept over him as the events of the past twenty-four hours replayed in his mind. He pressed his face to his knees as pain at the loss of Fred, Remus, Tonks, Colin, and so many others hit him like a punch to the gut. He stayed sitting that way for several minutes, fighting hard against the howl of misery threatening to escape from him as images of the battle and its aftermath flashed across his eyelids as though someone were playing him a video-recording of it all. Finally, though, came the image of Voldemort, falling to the ground in the Great Hall, nothing left but the shell of a man who had made so many terrible choices and destroyed so many lives.
As he thought of that moment, he took a deep breath, finally managing to master himself, and sat up, absentmindedly rubbing his scar. Then, a truly amazing thought hit him: his scar would never hurt again. It was over, the bit of Voldemort’s soul inside of him was gone and so was Voldemort himself. Never again would he have to share Voldemort’s thoughts or have strange dreams about terrible deeds, or feel the sudden pain as the lightning scar burned on his forehead. It was finally finished. A feeling of glorious relief rushed through Harry so fast he felt light-headed and, in spite of his grief, he had to smile.
Looking around the room again, thinking that he had never before appreciated how wonderful it looked in the sunlight, he caught sight of the Elder Wand lying beside his own on his bedside table. He remembered what he had planned to do with it, but had been too tired to manage earlier. He wondered suddenly how long he had been asleep and, glancing at his watch, was shocked to discover that it was only noon: the battle had been over for less than six hours. No wonder he still felt as if he could sleep for a week. But now that he was awake, there were things that he wanted to take care of; it was time for things to be put back in their rightful places, time to try to restore some form of order to the world.
Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he put on his glasses, wondering briefly who had taken them off because he had no recollection of having done so, and holding both the Elder Wand and his own, he made his way out of the dormitory. He hesitated as he passed Ron’s bed, but there was no real reason to wake him up and besides, this was something Harry felt he’d rather do on his own.
His plan fell to pieces, though, as he entered the common room, which was empty except for one person, curled up in an armchair before the embers of the dying fire. Even from across the room, Harry could see the top of her head, her hair the color of the last of the flames. Throat tight, not wanting to wake her if she was sleeping, Harry moved slowly across the room.
But Ginny wasn’t asleep. She turned her head at the sound of his footsteps and he could see the tear tracks on her cheeks; the sight made his chest hurt. She stood up and Harry stopped, just three feet away. He wanted to hold her, to tell her it would be alright, to say he was sorry for the whole mess that she’d had to be a part of, that her whole family had had to be a part of, but he was afraid to move closer. What if she didn’t want to be with him anymore? Or worse, what if she blamed him for Fred’s death? And so he stood there.
Ginny stood there, regarding him for a moment. Then, like a sleepwalker, she stepped towards him, closing the gap between them. Not tearing her eyes away from his, she gently placed one hand on each side of his face, drew him towards her, and kissed him. Harry returned her embrace with enthusiasm. He could feel again, like last July 31st, the golden bubble swelling inside his chest and, this time, there was no rude interruption to destroy it.
After some time, they broke apart. Ginny’s face was still tear-stained, but her eyes were blazing and Harry felt finally, truly happy for the first time in months.
“Wow,” was all that he could think to say.
Ginny smiled then. “Had to make up for all that lost time. And make you forget about those veela I’m sure you met, of course.”
Harry laughed. “Blew them right out of my mind.”
Ginny laughed, too. “So where are you off to?” she asked at the same moment that Harry said, “What were you doing down here?”
Both of them laughed this time, and it felt so good, so normal, that for awhile they couldn’t stop. Finally, Ginny got a grip and said, “I just couldn’t sleep. Where are you off to?” she repeated.
“Dumbledore’s tomb.” When she looked surprised, Harry held up the Elder Wand. “It’s time to put this back where it belongs.” And although he’d previously thought that he wanted to go alone, it seemed completely natural to instead ask Ginny, “Care to join me?”
“Absolutely.”
Hand in hand they left the Gryffindor common room and made their way down through the partly demolished castle, not talking much, just enjoying being together. As they walked down the steps and out onto the grounds, though, Ginny shivered.
“What’s wrong?” Harry asked quickly, looking around.
Ginny shook her head. “Just remembering this morning. You have no idea how horrible it was to see Hagrid lay you at You-Kno”V-Voldemort’s feet. I tried to block it out, but coming down the front steps just now, I couldn’t help it.” She shuddered again.
Harry squeezed her hand, hard. “When I heard you and Ron and Hermione, and McGonagall too, scream when you came out of the castle, it took everything I had not to call back. You have no idea how badly I wanted to let you know I was actually okay.”
She squeezed his hand back. “It all worked out. But tell me one thing,” and she looked at him hard, “did you walk past me on the grounds, on your way to the forest? Because I could’ve sworn, at one point, that someone passed by me and there was no one there when I looked.”
“Yeah, I did,” Harry admitted. “I stopped, for just a second. What I really wanted to do was take off the cloak and let you stop me from going.” He looked down at their joined hands. “But considering how things turned out, I guess it’s just as well I didn’t do that.”
Ginny had that blazing look in her eyes again as she looked at him and Harry couldn’t stop himself from leaning down and kissing her, just because he could.
When they began walking again, Ginny said, “I didn’t believe him at first when he said you were, well, you know, but when I heard Professor McGonagall, right before I got out there, I knew.” She suddenly sounded as though she had a head-cold and didn’t say anymore.
“That got me, too,” Harry said after a minute during which he looked away, giving Ginny a chance to swipe her sleeve across her eyes. “I’d never have believed Professor McGonagall could sound like that. And speaking of…”
They had nearly reached Dumbledore’s tomb and beside it they could see a familiar figure, collecting up bits and pieces of broken marble and laying them neatly beside the tomb.
Professor McGonagall jumped as Harry and Ginny approached.
“Potter! Miss Weasley! What are you two doing out here?”
She didn’t sound reprimanding, more surprised, yet habit had Harry feeling guilty.
“Just putting this back where it belongs,” he said, holding up the Elder Wand.
Professor McGonagall looked surprised. “Are you sure, Potter? It’s rightfully yours now, I’m sure Professor Dumbledore would understand if you wanted to keep it.”
Harry nodded. “I’m sure he would, Professor, but the truth is, I don’t want it. I don’t need any more deranged wizards trying to hunt me down and kill me. I’ve had about enough of that.”
Both Professor McGonagall and Ginny laughed at that. “Very well, Potter, if you’re sure,” Professor McGonagall said.
“I am,” Harry said. Letting go of Ginny’s hand, he stepped forward, right up to the edge of the tomb, and peered down at the wise old face, looking merely peacefully asleep. “Thank you, sir,” he whispered, and he placed the Elder Wand carefully back into its old owner's hands.
Stepping back to stand between Ginny and Professor McGonagall, Harry felt a sense of calm steal over him. The Elder Wand had been there at just the right moment, exactly when he most needed it, but this was where it belonged; this felt right.
“Rest in peace, Albus,” Professor McGonagall murmured, raising her wand and sending every last marble shard back to its proper place; within seconds, the tomb was repaired so perfectly it might never have been broken into at all.
The three of them stood there quietly for a minute. The day was warm and sunny, insects could be heard buzzing in the grass and birds were twittering in the trees of the Forbidden Forest. The giant squid was propelling itself lazily across the lake, just as it had so many times before. Just another day at Hogwarts. Harry felt almost as if he should be studying for exams.
“Well then,” Professor McGonagall said finally, breaking the spell of the grounds, “I should be getting back up to the castle, to supervise the reconstruction.” She turned to look at the beat-up building and both Harry and Ginny followed her gaze. “We took blows last night, there’s no denying it, but what’s been torn down can be mended. It will take much more than a pack of Death Eaters to bring down Hogwarts!” She said this last bit with a fierce pride and Harry felt another swoop of affection for Minerva McGonagall.
She began to walk towards the school, but turned back after a few steps and said, “Potter, I am glad you are alright.”
Harry grinned. “Thanks, Professor. You too.”
She smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and made her way back up to the castle.
They watched her go, all the way back up the steps and through the damaged double doors. Then, Harry turned to look down at Ginny to find her already looking at him. The look on her face sent his stomach flipping. “Shall we”I mean, fancy a walk about the grounds?” he asked.
Ginny nodded. The two of them set off around the edge of the lake, looking for a spot to sit down and, if they had time, talk about the events of the past year.