Disclaimer: If I owned even part of the rights to Harry Potter or any of its characters, I would be filthy rich, and would have Alfonso Cuarón dragged out and shot.

Also, I'd get a television series going that could include all the stuff the movies had to leave out, but that's neither here nor there.

Notes: Like many Potter fans, I enjoyed the last book immensely, but when I got to the end I found myself wondering where the last chapter was. You know the one, the chapter of resolution that's supposed to let us and the characters wind down before the epilogue. I'm quite convinced that there was some sort of mistake in either the editing or the publishing process that caused this crucial chapter to be omitted, and am confident that in future printings this mistake will be rectified. Until then, this will have to do.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Return to Life

A half-hour or so later, Harry, Ron and Hermione were descending back down the spiral staircase out of the Headmaster's office. They had spoken with Dumbledore at length about many things, including what they were going to do with their lives now that Voldemort was no longer in them. Hermione was convinced she wanted to return to school and do her final year.

'Are you mental, Hermione?' asked Ron incredulously as they exited the staircase and walked past the fallen gargoyle. 'After all we've been through, you actually want to go back to school?'

'Well, yes,' Hermione answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 'We never did our seventh year, did we? And we never sat NEWTs. It'll be awfully difficult to find a good career without those.'

'Yeah, but come on,' Ron protested. 'With what we've done, can you honestly see anyone denying us a job?'

'Actually, I can,' Hermione said. 'We weren't the only ones who fought, you know, Ron. And most everyone else our age did sit their NEWTs. We'll be at a disadvantage.'

Ron opened his mouth to argue further, but Harry spoke up first.

'I think it's a good idea,' he said. 'It would be nice to have a year at Hogwarts with nothing to worry about but homework and exams. Almost like a break before we join the real world.'

Ron shook his head in disbelief. 'You're both mental,' he muttered.

'Well you don't have to come if you don't want to, Ron,' Hermione said, and Harry noticed she was suppressing a smirk. 'I hear the Magical Maintenance crew at the Ministry doesn't ask for NEWTs, only OWLs. You could get a job there.'

Harry bit back a laugh at Ron's stricken look. He knew his best mate wouldn't want to be the one left out, and would go if they went. He himself had ulterior motives for returning aside from peace and quiet and completing his education: Ginny also had one year left. After nearly a year apart already, he didn't think he could stand another one with her at school and him away. Besides, Hogwarts was the perfect place to rebuild their relationship, away from the watchful eyes of Mrs Weasley.

'No, I'll go if you two are,' Ron said. He looked mildly upset that they would even question this.

'It's going to be so strange,' Hermione said, a little sadly. 'We're not going to be with any of our old classmates, and so many people are gone now.'

Harry felt a small pang in his chest. In the past, he would have done anything to avoid sharing a dormitory with Colin Creevey; now, he would give everything he owned for that to be possible.

Without even realizing it, they had been heading back down through the castle toward the Great Hall. When they arrived, they found it was just as crowded as when they had left it, but the restful celebration seemed to have ended; people were already working again. Harry sighed. No matter what was accomplished in life, there was always going to be more work to be done.

Teachers and several others were carefully levitating the bodies of the fallen and transporting them away, toward what looked like the hospital wing. He saw them carry Fred past them into the Entrance Hall, and heard Ron sniffle and Hermione give a tiny sob. He had tears in his own eyes; despite all the tragedy and death that had been occurring since the start of the war, he had somehow always considered the twins to be untouchable. George losing an ear had been enough of a shock, but this…it was hard to imagine a world in which Fred and George would not be constantly making jokes, finishing each other's sentences and letting Harry in on all the new pranks and gadgets they'd devised for their shop.

He looked around and saw Ginny in the same place she'd been, leaning on her mother's shoulder. It was hard to tell just by looking at their backs, but Mrs Weasley looked asleep, and Ginny in perhaps quiet contemplation. His earlier desire to be alone with just Ron and Hermione having been satisfied, he now found he wanted nothing more than to have her in his arms, and to feel that comforting reassurance, hopefully even giving some in return.

He made a beeline over to her, and he could feel Ron moving to follow but being held back by Hermione. He grinned, inwardly thanking her.

'Hi,' he said quietly, stepping up behind Ginny. Instantly her head jerked up and she spun around, staring at him with an expression he couldn't quite place with her mouth hanging halfway open. He wasn't sure what expression he was wearing himself, either, because when their eyes met he was suddenly struck as if with a Stunning Spell by how incredibly brilliant she was, how amazingly wonderful…

She launched herself at him so hard he nearly fell over, and he had to take a couple of steps back to maintain his balance. She said nothing, but clung to him so tightly he thought he might burst. It felt so good, and he clung just as tightly in return. He was glad Mrs Weasley and the few other people who had been sitting with them seemed to have fallen asleep, because it meant he got to share this private moment with Ginny even in the crowded hall. As he held her, revelling in the relief that he felt, he received another shock. Ginny, who was always so tough and who was so rarely reduced to tears, was shaking against him, apparently racked with sobs as she hugged him for dear life.

The sudden protective feeling that welled up in him was unfamiliar; usually it made him uncomfortable to see girls cry, but all he found himself wanting to do now was comfort her and do everything in his power to make her pain go away.

'Ginny,' he whispered. She lifted her head from his chest, her face streaked with tears and more still coming. Without releasing him from her grasp, she rose up and kissed him so strongly she might have thought he would disappear if she didn't. Maybe she did.

For Harry, who hadn't felt this for so long, it was like being reborn. He'd seen Voldemort fall with his own eyes, seen the last of the Death Eaters either flee or been taken down, and even gone through the celebration after the fact with everyone else who'd made it through, but not until this moment did it truly sink in that he was now able to do whatever he wanted with the rest of his life. For the first time since before he'd even been born, he was free.

It felt marvellous. The ever-looming shadow of Voldemort and his destiny no longer hovered over him, and he no longer had anything stopping him from spending every waking moment with the beautiful girl in his arms, who was kissing him so desperately he felt like he was a gulp of air to a drowning person.

He heard someone clearing their throat from behind him and looked up to see Charlie Weasley watching them with his arms crossed across his chest, attempting a stern look but not quite succeeding in concealing his amusement.

'What do you want, Charlie?' Ginny asked without even turning around. She was clearly annoyed, though Harry couldn't decide if the situation was embarrassing or funny.

'Enjoying yourselves, were you?' he asked.

'Well, we were trying to, until you showed up and decided to be a prat,' she said. 'Come on, Harry.' She had quite finished crying by now, and was already pulling him towards the doors to the Entrance Hall. Harry, taken aback by this, barely had time to call out to a stunned Charlie before they were out of earshot.

'We'll, er, be in the first classroom on the ground floor if you need us, okay?' He allowed Ginny to lead him away.

'What did you tell him that for?' she demanded. 'They'll come and pester us.'

'I don't think they will,' he told her honestly. 'Besides, with everything that's just happened I don't think it's a good idea to go wandering off without anyone knowing where we are. Even though we probably aren't in any danger right now, it might cause a panic. Especially for your mum.'

'I suppose you're right,' she sighed. 'Come on, then.' They walked across the Entrance Hall, past the crumbling marble staircase and into the first door on the right in the corridor opposite as Harry had said. It was a mess. Desks were strewn about, many in multiple pieces and many more charred or destroyed outright. There were a few small craters in the floor and on the walls, and many of the lamps near the ceiling had shattered. Remarkably, both windows remained intact, as did the teacher's desk, though it had slid across the room and now rested in the far corner from the door, which was hanging from its hinges.

It was to this desk that Ginny led him, and with a wave of her wand she turned it into a wide armchair, just barely large enough to sit both of them. Impressed in spite of himself (he'd never been able to do more than turn a footstool into an ottoman without a spoken incantation), he almost missed it when she plopped down in it and said, 'Sit with me, Harry.'

He obeyed instantly, and found the chair to be slightly smaller than he'd first thought, requiring the two of them to squash together, with Ginny sitting partly on his lap. He had no complaints regarding this arrangement, and was fairly certain Ginny had made it that way on purpose. She waved her wand again, this time mending the door and shutting it ('to give us some privacy') before turning to him and kissing him fiercely once more. Distracted though he was, he managed to raise his newly repaired phoenix wand and point it at the door, casting a non-verbal colloportus charm before wrapping both arms around her and allowing himself to forget the rest of the world.

#

Some time later, when they had fully exhausted themselves and released all their pent up feelings for one another, they sat in the armchair and talked – really talked – for the first time since before Dumbledore's death. It had started slow; Harry, after a year of wanting nothing more, suddenly found himself unsure of what he wanted to say. Fortunately, Ginny started things off.

'I was so afraid you'd been killed,' she said, her eyes glistening once more. Her voice was steady, though.

'I know,' he said, his voice hollow. 'I heard you. I'm so sorry, Ginny.' His heart wrenched as he remembered her voice, crying his name in despair so absolute he hoped he would never hear it again, from anyone.

'What happened?' she asked. 'Why did Voldemort think you were dead?'

'Well,' began Harry, not quite sure how to word it. He decided to just be blunt and get it over with quickly. 'Because he killed me.' And he told her everything: the Prophecy, the truth of his mother's death, the Horcruxes, his last task from Dumbledore, and why he couldn't tell her or anyone else before. She listened intently, never stopping or interrupting him once.

'And then I found out from Snape that part of Voldemort's soul was in me; it had jumped into me when he tried to kill me all those years ago, so I was a sort of accidental Horcrux that even he didn't know about, and as long as I was alive he couldn't die.'

Understanding lit Ginny's eyes and the tears that had been fighting to break free finally managed to escape from them again.

'So you went out into the forest to meet him, so he would kill you and destroy that last piece of his soul.' It wasn't a question, but he nodded anyway.

'I saw you on my way there,' he said. 'You were comforting a girl who was hurt and wanted to go home. I wanted to go over to you, to say goodbye, to say…something, but I knew if I did I never would have been able to go through with it.'

There was a long pause as Ginny digested this information, and then she asked, 'But how come you're alive? He's dead, so the Horcrux in you must have been destroyed, right? What happened?'

'Well, when I got there, I heard him say he thought I wasn't coming, and when I appeared it gave him a bit of a shock. He told me he was going to kill me, and I didn't care, because I knew I had to do it so it could all end. And then I thought of you.' He brought his hand up to her face and caressed her cheek; she closed her eyes and leaned into his hand. 'I thought of your face, and how great it felt that first time we kissed, and I just knew what I had to do, to keep you safe. To keep everyone safe. And then he killed me. You were the last thought in my head, and it didn't hurt at all.'

'Oh, Harry!' she dove at him and kissed him again, and his heart swelled in his chest to the point where it felt like he might explode. The kiss only lasted a few moments, but when it was over she was smiling so brilliantly that she somehow made up for all the shattered lamps in the dim room. She was well and truly crying now, but it didn't bother him at all because she was so plainly not hurting. Unable to resist, he leaned in and kissed her again before continuing his story.

He told her about meeting Dumbledore in the Beyond, or wherever it was, and about learning what was connecting him to this world. He told about finding himself back on the forest floor, very much alive, and then about Narcissa Malfoy's request and playing dead all the way back to the castle.

'I almost bunged it up right there,' he said. 'When I heard you and Ron and Hermione I almost couldn't stand it, but I held out long enough for things to go crazy. I got under my invisibility cloak and waited for a chance to go after Voldemort. I almost ruined it again when I saw you and Luna and Hermione duelling Bellatrix; I nearly went to help you instead of going after him, but you were brilliant,' he said, beaming. 'And then your mum came and saved me the trouble.'

They sat in silence for a few moments, smiling at each other in what Harry was sure must be a very sopish way, then Ginny turned her head and rested it on his shoulder, letting out a deep sigh.

'I love you, Harry.'

A jolt so strong went though him he swore his heart must have stopped for a brief moment. No one that he could recall had ever said that to him before, nor could he remember saying to anyone himself. It was frightening. He knew how he felt about Ginny, and had always possessed a fair idea of how she felt about him, but to have it put into words like that, to have someone feel for him so strongly and just come right out and say it…

He knew he should say something. That wasn't a declaration that was supposed to be met with silence or indifference, but what could he say? Should he say it back? Could he? He cared for her, yes, felt affection, certainly, and he was most definitely attracted to her. But could he say those words, those life-altering words that meant everything and truly mean them? Before he even finished pondering the question he knew what the answer was, but somehow that didn't make it any easier. He'd never had to say it before; the only people he would ever say it to were either dead or simply understood. Why was it necessary to say such things?

But he found, drifting to sleep in that chair with the girl he'd do anything for, even die, that the beautiful smile on her face upon hearing it made it absolutely worth it.

#

The next few weeks were a constant stream of emotional ups and downs. The jubilation felt by the wizarding world at Voldemort's defeat was tempered harshly by the loss of so many loved ones and notable people. Harry imagined this feeling must be similar to what people close to his parents must have felt the last time; it was very confusing.

Also unsettling was how much easier the grief was to deal with when he didn't have to focus it all on one person. In the past, with Sirius and Dumbledore and even Dobby, there had only been one lost loved one to occupy his thoughts. Now, with so many for his heartache to travel between, they seemed to diminish the pain of each other somewhat.

Andromeda Tonks had approached him exactly one week after the final battle to ask him how active he wanted to be in his role as godfather over little Teddy Lupin. Harry, whom had thus far been so preoccupied he hadn't even thought about it, was very enthusiastic about this. For one thing, it lessened the pain to think that a part of his friends still lived on through their baby, and for another he was excited for the chance to help provide his godson with what he'd never had after his parents died: a loving family and a happy childhood.

It was decided that, at least for the time being, Teddy would stay and live with his grandmother while Harry visited frequently. After all, Harry had decided upon returning for his final year of school and it would be very difficult to look after an infant at Hogwarts, and they both also agreed that Harry was probably still to young to be responsible for a child just yet.

Also taking up a lot of time were the funeral plans for Lupin, Tonks and Fred. He would be attending others as well, of course, but these three were the most important to him and he also had a hand in planning them. George had pulled him aside one day and handed him a small box of Weasley Wildfire Whizbangs, with the instructions to set them off as soon as the proceedings got too solemn for their own good.

'After all,' George had said with a sort of sad grin, 'Fred would never forgive me if I let everyone start crying at his funeral.' Harry had smiled, thinking that was exactly the sort of thing Fred would indeed do, and took the fireworks gladly, promising to do as instructed.

'Thanks, Harry,' George said, clapping him on the shoulder with a trace of his old spark in his eye. 'We'd do the same for you, you know?'

It was surprising, really. Harry (and just about everyone else, as well), had expected George to take Fred's death the worst, but he was actually handling it better than anyone. That resilience and good humour that had always been the twins' greatest strength seemed to be carrying him on, not failing him even in the death of his other half. He was clearly sad, but he said that was only natural, and that Fred would kick him in the arse for it before going and having a good cry himself. Indeed, it was George who helped the rest of the family through the mourning period, much as he and Fred together had done so many times in the past.

Mr Weasley could often be found in his chair in the sitting room with one Muggle gadget or another in his hand, just turning it over and examining it for hours on end without speaking to anyone. Mrs Weasley would break into sobs two or three times a day before berating herself and saying how proud she was of her son who died fighting the greatest fight. Ginny, who had probably been closer to the twins than anyone else, was coping fairly well by reminiscing over the happy times with George, and by spending a lot of time with Harry. Ron was handling his grief by imitating George, saying he was trying to keep Fred's spirit alive. George seemed to appreciate this, so much so that he didn't take the mickey out of Ron for missing three perfectly good joke opportunities regarding his ear.

The one who was having the hardest time coping was Percy. Having been there when Fred died was surely a part of it, but Harry knew (without Hermione even having to tell him) that his real issue was that the twins had been the ones most furious with him for deserting the family, and yet had been the first to welcome him back. Indeed, it had been Fred who had offered him that first handshake of forgiveness.

As June rolled to a close, Harry decided to move back in to Grimmauld Place (though he still ended up spending a lot of time at the Burrow regardless). It was a much more pleasant home now that he and Kreacher were getting along, and he thought he might have another go at removing Mrs Black's portrait. He and Ron were also planning a trip to Australia with Hermione to get her parents back, which they were all looking forward to. With the Ministry in such disarray, it would take a little while to make the travel arrangements, but that suited Harry just fine, as it meant that Ginny would be of age and could therefore accompany them. All in all, in spite of everything they had lost, life was finally starting to look good again.

#

That's it; that's the end. I actually wrote this a year ago right after I read the book, but for whatever reason I never posted it. Maybe I felt like it wasn't finished, but looking at it now I can tell there really isn't anything left to say. The purpose of this was, as I said, just to tie up all the loose ends that were hanging around at the end of the book. When you read it, imagine it's tucked in there between Chapter 36 and the epilogue, and it will feel more complete. That goes for the book and this fic. P