Chapter one

The first few weeks after the battle of Hogwarts Harry Potter helped the staff by documenting everything, from the damage to the castle and grounds to the people that had turned up that night to fight for the side of good. Naturally they used memories to get everyone's name as some like Harry only saw some, he had too much on his mind. They also wrote down everyone that was on the other side; that fought for Voldemort, they made sure to mention that some had not fought, some that actually helped the good side, like Draco Malfoy.

It took memories for Harry to prove that Severus Snape was really on the side of good, the minister had first watched Snape's memory, then he had watched a few of Harry's. Once Harry knew the Snape had really been helping he went back through his life at Hogwarts so he could remember the times when Snape actually saved him, like on the broom or when Remus transformed into moony, even when the fake Mad-eye was about to kill Harry, Snape with the help of Dumbledore and McGonagall had saved Harry that night.

Hermione had left with the Weasley family and not one of them could understand why Harry wouldn't go to the Burrow with them; that he wanted to remain at Hogwarts. They all tried, Hermione with her logic, Molly acting all motherly, Arthur with his advice, the twins who thought of Harry as a little brother, but the worst was Ginny who wanted Harry back, something he didn't want.

Right at that moment, Harry was not ready to tell the fiery red head that they would not get back together and Harry remembered that he never did tell Ginny they would and it had been her that kiss him on his birthday, not the other way around. Every Weasley and Hermione got to see how stubborn Harry was, he refused to budge on his decision, so they left but kept saying Harry should go with them.

Harry was walking around the castle with a quill and clipboard writing down everything he could, even though they were taking pictures then also needed the written accounts. Every staff member was doing the same, all but Snape who was still recovering from his attack by Nagini. Harry wasn't sure how he felt about Snape anymore, but he did know that the man that had been friends with his mother was very brave. Harry thought to himself that he believed his mother would have forgiven him if she was watching, she would also be proud of what Snape had done over the years.

Lots of people like Neville and Luna, some other friends, they turned up some days to help, not every day and Harry understood, they all had family and they were all moving on with their lives. So whenever any of them did turn up Harry would talk to them for a while before continuing his work.

Whenever his friends left he always had the same thought, things were going to be different now. They would not be as they were; just students seeing each other for the school year, they were all adults that survived a fight to the death with Voldemort and his supporters.

It still felt unbelievable to Harry when he thought of that, he had survived when he always believed it would be Voldemort that survived, he would never have given up, even if it meant he died, but he survived. Harry still found it hard to believe he was here, alive.

It was time like these when it really hit home to Harry that he was alone, no family. He had his friends, lots of friends and he would be forever grateful for those friendships, but nothing could ever replace family. The few times he had braved going into a magical populated area Harry saw it, his friends with family whether it was their parents or siblings, even Neville with his feisty old grandmother, or Luna and her weird and strange father, Seamus with his witch mother and muggle father. All his friends had very different family's, some average as they say, mother, father, kids, but some with just one parent or no parent or just a grandparent.

Harry knew that would change now, with so many deaths being reported there would be a lot of kids, young and old that lost their parents, sometimes only one, sometimes both. When those thoughts hit him he kept wondering if there was anything he could do to help, so far nothing came to mind.

Harry had been pleased when he received an owl from Kingsley saying that Draco Malfoy would not be going to trial. As he was marked under the age of seventeen it showed that his parents had given permission, or in Draco's case been forced by his father, but they also saw Draco's memory of some of the things he had been forced to do under the threat of death and the torturous death of his parents. Harry had already told Kingsley how Draco helped him, so even though they might never be friends, he was glad the blond wasn't sent to Azkaban with his parents, where they belonged. Kingsley also wrote that even though the ministry were confiscating all vaults of known death eaters, Draco would be allowed to keep quarter of what they had, but the rest of the money along with Malfoy manor now was in the hands of the ministry.

It was two months since the fall of Voldemort and they had finally begun repairing Hogwarts. They had to cast a lot of counter curses to remove remnants of dark spells before they could start rebuilding. One thing Minerva had explained to Harry, the founders had foresight when they built Hogwarts, they had combined their magic on every part of the castle so if it got damaged by accident or fighting, the old castle will be able to be fixed. The only thing was how long it might take as there was not a part of Hogwarts that wasn't damaged in some way.

Harry was taking a break from his work rebuilding parts of the lower walls of the castle. He never realised how draining using this type of magic was, but to Harry, it was very satisfying. So he was sitting on a blanket down under the large beech tree with some food and drink that Kreacher had brought him. He's back was against the tree as he ate, but his eyes would wander around, whether it was watching some of the staff moving in and around the castle or Grawp and Hagrid working around the grounds.

'It's looking good mate.'

Harry turned his head to see his two best friends walking towards him, 'Yeah, it does, takes a lot though. Minerva explained that using our magic on something like Hogwarts which is filled with a thousand years of spells, charms and hexes will drain us. So we work for a couple of hours before taking an hour break and to make sure we eat, and we have to keep doing that. So how's everything?'

'We're good, the ministry found my parents last week, but they decided to remain in Australia. They said they understood why I did it so they aren't mad at me, but they are settled and love their life in Australia. So my parents wired me some money to keep me going for a while and the Weasley's said I can stay with them until I figure out what I'm going to do.'

'Hermione's been anxious to know if you've heard anything,' Ron rolled his eyes making Harry chuckle.

'I have, they are still working on it, but at the moment there's a couple of choices, we can take a basic test at N.E.W.T. level which will be done at the ministry or we can study for a few months and take the full test, there is a chance that if you wanted to you could return and do your last year, they're not sure if that will work or even if it would be worth it when a lot of our age would not want to return, for many reasons. Some are grieving, some just don't want to remember what went on, so that's still being worked on. Kingsley said that all the ones like us that fought will be passed even with the basic test, then it's just applying for jobs with a letter from the minister and head of Hogwarts stating how involved we were in ending the war. I think he just wants to pass all of us, but some people might not like that and some of the students might not like it either, so they came up with this.'

'Hermione will want the full test; she won't believe she passed unless she sat the full test.'

'No she won't, she would believe that she got something wrong unless it's proven in a test she got it right, then she'll still go over the answers,' Harry and Ron both laughed at the look on Hermione's face, 'Oh yes Miss Granger, we know you very well, don't ever forget that.'

'Ah Mr. Potter, how could I, just remember, I know you two very well also and have a lot of embarrassing information that you would never want anyone to know.'

'Okay, let's forget all that,' Ron chuckled, 'My girlfriend and best friend are both smart arses.'

'Sometimes,' Harry chuckled but handed Ron the plate with the last of his sandwiches on it making Hermione laugh when Ron instantly took it and started eating. Some things might have change but Ron always eating will never change, Hermione and Harry knew that more than anyone else.