Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its world, characters and so on and so fourth belong to J.K. Rowling and anyone else involved I'm not making any money of this I'm just doing this for my own and possibly the entertainment of other fans.

Notes: This is set post series. It will be mostly epilogue compliant but it will not be word of god compliant. So the extra stuff Rowling has revealed will not necessarily come to pass in this fic.

Pairings: Canon pairings and the non canon Percy/Oliver pairing

Warnings: The original version of this contains a decent amount of sex but this version has virtually all the sex removed to comply with site guide lines. If you wish to read the original uncut version go to my profile and click the webpage link which will take you to my dreamwidth fic journal where the uncut version can be read.

Harry Potter

Starting Over

Prologue.

He found himself walking through the halls of Hogwarts alone, unlike the rest of his family he didn't seem to be able to sleep. He was glad they could especially George, his younger brother had been so fragile after everything was over. He shook himself thinking about George would only lead to him remembering what had kept him awake and drove him out into the mostly deserted hallways of Hogwarts. He came to a dead end and glanced to his left there was no way he was heading down that corridor it led to the place it happened.

He turned right and headed further into the school down hallways he used to patrol first as a prefect and then as head boy. He had been so proud to get both of those badges and now looking back it was completely pointless. He heard a slight sound from one of the classrooms so he glanced through the cracked door and saw an indistinct pair of bodies celebrating their survival. He didn't bother staying to identify who it was he had no desire to intrude on their celebration of being alive.

He couldn't help but smile as he thought back to how often that had happened when he'd been a prefect. He'd been surprised the first few times and then learned to just accept that it was one of those things that happened. He'd even been walked in on once by his little sister during her first year at school. He was always grateful that he and Penelope had only been stealing a quick kiss and hadn't yet got to the point in their relationship where more was likely to have been going on. He frowned as he thought of her and wished he could have handled things better she never understood why he'd broken up with her just before school ended.

He had never had the nerve to tell her what had been going on behind her back that year even after it was over. She had been everything he was supposed to want in a girlfriend intelligent, ambitious, and beautiful. However, he'd still ended up cheating on her with his best friend during their final year in Hogwarts. He wished he could go back and do things differently letting Penelope go and actually trying to make it work with Oliver.

He shook himself to avoid thinking back on those events he didn't need to go down that road. It certainly wouldn't help him get any sleep. He knew he needed to get some sleep tomorrow he would be going with the order of the phoenix and the trustworthy former members of the ministry to begin straightening out the mess that was their government.

He had always loved his jobs but after everything that had happened he wasn't sure he was still cut out for the ministry. He had made so many mistakes in large part because of his loyalty to something that in hindsight wasn't worthy of that loyalty. He once more pushed his thoughts aside and turned back toward the great hall where most of the folks who fought in the battle had bedded down for the night. He should just focus on getting threw the next few days he could worry about his future after that.

"Looks like you couldn't sleep either," a familiar voice said causing him to turn in shock. Oliver Wood was standing there looking a lot more worn down but very much like he used to. "I wanted to say I'm sorry about Fred." Oliver looked extremely uncomfortable. "I'd have said something earlier but everyone was crowding around you guys."

"Thank you," He said at a loss as to what to say. "I just can't seem to get my brain to turn off every time I close my eyes I see Fred laughing and then..." He could tell by Oliver's face that he didn't need to say anything else. "I wish I could do things differently."

"Me too," Oliver said closing his eyes. "I mean Quidditch doesn't seem so important anymore." He had only ever heard Oliver say something like that once during a fight toward the end of their second year. He turned and headed into an empty class room reaching out to pull Oliver in with him. "What are you doing Perce?" Oliver asked his voice strangely hesitant.

"I don't know," He said leaning in and giving Oliver a kiss. "I just want to start over." He waited he wasn't going to push but he hoped Oliver would take him up on his offer. It had been one of his biggest regrets that they'd allowed their respective career goals to torpedo any chance they could have had at a relationship.

"It can't be like it was before," Oliver said after a moment. "But I'm willing to try starting over." He just leaned in and began to kiss Oliver again pulling their bodies tight against each other. It felt just as good as he remembered it even though it had been way too many years since they'd held each other like this.

He felt Oliver's hands traveling under his robe against the back of his shirt as well as a familiar hardness pressing against his leg. He let his own hands do a bit of walking realizing for the first time that Oliver was better built than the last time they had done this.

"I meant what I said it can't just be sex this time Percy," Oliver said as they used their wands to clean themselves up. Oliver was staring at him with a serious expression on his face. "I know we can't make a big deal about things but I don't want it to be a secret this time."

"It won't be," He said meaning it. "I think we should make plans to have dinner in a few days." He wasn't going to make old mistakes again and letting things go so badly with Oliver at the end had been one of them. Once they had made it back to the main hall and back to their sleeping bags he finally fell asleep still dealing with things but feeling better.

To be continued...