Misguided Ghosts

BryoneBang

Story Summary:
Short of what may of happened in the hours following the Battle of Hogwarts.

1

Chapter Summary:
A take on what may of happened the hours following The Battle of Hogwarts.
Posted:
04/03/2014
Hits:
0
Author's Note:
This is my first attempt at writing a piece. Wanted to keep it short and sweet. If you take the time to read it, please leave a review with your thoughts. Constructive Criticism is MORE THAN WELCOMED. Thanks for reading!

Fifty-two days. It had been fifty-two days since the Battle of Hogwarts, since the Dark Lord Voldemort had been stopped. The casualties from that night were by the hundred. During the battle a small crew started to re-take the hospital, and gathered light healers to prepare from the aftermath. For five weeks the hospital was full of war heroes, and a small restricted section for the Death Eaters; many people had attempted (some succeeded) in breaking into this area to “finish the scum off”. Doctors from oversea had to be called in to help with the overload.

There had been five hundred and forty one deaths that night, including The Dark Lord. Out of these, three hundred and ninety two of them were Death Eaters, Snatchers, and an assortment of Dark Creatures. There were also members of the public who chose the wrong side during the final fight. Once the Death Eaters had broken through the spells protecting the castle, the gates were open for anyone and anything to come through and join the fight.

One hundred and forty-eight deaths had been on the side of light. Thirty-seven of these were students, eight were faculty, sixteen were members of the Order of the Phoenix, and eighty-seven were members of the public who chose to give their life in order to ensure their country's safety, also coming through the front gates.

The following hours after Voldemort's defeat, Great Britain celebrated. Fireworks and parties reigned on, not unlike the festiveness of the Dark Lord's first downfall, but on a scale much bigger. Muggles were becomming more and more confused, but as the Dementors had fled the country, the weather had cleared up, as had the overall mood, it was ignored while they basked in the good weather, the best they had seen in over nearly two years.

The damage from the battle was extreme, but as it had taken place mostly on Hogwarts Grounds, the impact area was restricted. Many people only openly mourned for their loved ones for a few hours, seemingly wanting a distraction to take their mind off things; and so, the purge began. Wizards from all over Europe turned up to help with the clean up; nearly two thousand Magical folk worked hard on the rebuilding of the Castle and remodelling of the grounds. Among the crew were most of the War Heroes, Volunteers, Students, and Teachers. Everything was oversaw by Professors McGonagall and Flitwick. They decided on keeping the original structure, but updating a little to be more efficient. Using magic for building was hard and tiring work, meaning small groups of seven to ten were working on one area for twenty minutes, having a break and refreshments, then continuing, a precaution to prevent fatigue. "The New Hogwarts" was predicted to be the greatest magical structure the world had ever seen, and was said to be a reminder of all that had been lost.

There were, however, three faces that had not been seen helping with the clean-up. Nobody questioned, and nobody complained, about the missing faces; these were the faces of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger.

Upon leaving the Great Hall in search for his friends Harry found himself wandering the halls, taking it all in. The Prefects' Bathroom: destroyed; Myrtle's Bathroom: destroyed (Myrtle nowhere to be seen); Ravenclaw's Tower: destroyed; The Quidditch Pitch: destroyed; The Forbidden Forest: destroyed. Blood red breached the darkness of the Great Lake, and the sounds of mourning could be heard coming from within.

Harry's feet came to rest outside an unused classroom. He decided to give his best friends some time alone, and as he locked the door behind him, Harry noticed it was the same classroom that had been used to store the Mirror of Erised all those years ago. Lying on a table, facing the ceiling, Harry allowed himself to get lost in thought. He thought back to the naive eleven-year-old, who saw his parents in that mirror and returned every night. All those nights he spent under the invisibility cloak, wandering the halls of the majestic castle. He remembered the look on Ron's face when he saw himself in the mirror. Harry thought that had Ron of attended his final year, he would have achieved that dream. Then Dumbledore's words floated into his head: "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." Thinking of those words unlocked something inside Harry, and he knew that for the rest of his life, he would live.

Harry was unsure when it started, but tears came. Ron and Hermione slipped into the room, unnoticed by Harry, and together they embraced him. Nothing was said, and no sounds escaped, but the Trio wept in each others' arms. None of them knew for how long, and none of them ever mentioned it again, but they wept. There were tears for everything. For Cedric, for Hermione's amnesic parents, for Mad-Eye, for Fred, for George's Ear, for Bill's scars, for Remus Lupin, for Tonks, for the orphan Teddy, for Colin Creevey, for Rufus Scrimgeour, for Professor Burbage, for Draco's choices, for Frank Bryce, for Bathilda Bagshot, for Crabbe, and even Peter Pettigrew; they cried for Dumbledore, for Sirius, for Dobby and for Severus Snape; but most of all, they cried for themselves, for the past eight years in which they had lost their innocence much too young, for the things they had been made to do, the decisions they didn't want to make, for the arguments they had had, the things they had said, the lies they had told. They cried for the past year, and the journey they had been on, and the task they had been given.

And when all their tears had stopped, they wiped each others' faces, held each others' hands, and walked out the door.

"Harry?" asked Ron, as they were about to enter the Great Hall. "You realise you are now the most famous and loved wizard on the planet?"

Harry laughed. "Will it get me out of the clean-up?"

"Probably, but I think we ought to stay close to my mother for the next week or so; so no."

Hermione chimed in, "Let's help with the clean-up, then go on a holiday this summer perhaps?"

"A holiday? Mmm, a holiday yeah; perfect," smiled Harry. He put his hand on the doors ready to open them and braced himself.

"Right, so that's settled: holiday this summer. But for now, Bagsy not helping with the spider bodies!"

They all laughed and walked through the doors together, ready to face the world all over again.