NOTES-> this is a slightly shorter chapter. The next one will be longer what with a party happening and all. I'm sorry for the delay but I'm finishing up classes this week and the following week so everything has been really, really busy. The next chapter should be up in about two weeks but if it isn't it is because I'm packing to head back to the USA after living in England for the past 9 months. Enjoy!
Harry was beginning to feel half-way normal. It was incredibly strange and overall uncomforting. As he untangled himself from Hermione's sleeping form he also reached for his glasses. Years of living at the Dursleys had taught Harry how to walk with cat like grace. It was easy for him, once he put on his glasses, to sneak out of the room.
Unconsciously he made his way out the front door, and with a pop he found himself standing in a forest. The trees were pretty dense making it so Harry could just barely make out a clearing in the distance as the sun rose higher into the sky turning it from a purple haze to a pink orange. Determined he began making his way to the clearing and upon closer inspection he realized where he was.
"How do I get myself in these messes?" He questioned himself as he took in the graveyard before him.
It was unlike the graveyard he had been in when he was in his fourth year at Hogwarts. In this graveyard there were no menacing statues and no crazy guy waiting to kill him. Every grave marker was white and pure, and the whole place had a sense of calm to it. Harry felt like he was home as he wove his way through the markers before finally reached two at the back of the site.
"I know it has only been a month," Harry started as he plopped down in front of the markers. "But last time I was kind of drunk. So I figured I owed you this sober visit. To be honest I'm completely confused on what I'm suppose to be doing with my life."
Harry took out his wand and did a scourgify-ing charm. They became sparkling clean and the weeds that had begun to creep up died back down. Now, Harry could probably read the names of his parents, Lily Evans Potter and James Potter.
"I fulfilled my purpose and killed the bastard, and unless there is another prophecy for me to fulfil then I'm stuck. Hermione would just tell me to get over it and move on because I was never stuck to begin with, and sometimes I think she is right. But I still have my doubts about what I'm suppose to be doing. I'm lost and I need someone to tell me that it is okay to feel this normal. I need you mum and dad probably more than I have ever needed you before."
As Harry was talking he didn't hear another person approaching, but he distinctively heard the other person speak. "Mr. Potter I say you have finally become a normal teenager." Harry let out a small chuckle as he turned to see Professor McGonagall standing behind him.
"Hello, Minerva. I would say what brings you here, but we both know you visit this site more than I do." Both of them took in the site of the graveyard. This is the place where almost all the dead order members where laid to rest. All but Dumbledore, Harry reminded himself with a shake of his head.
"I've seen you've made my job a tad bit easier by taking care of two of the graves." She placed a hand on his shoulder as he made to stand up. "Harry the feelings you are experiencing right now are no different then those in their seventh year at Hogwarts. They have no clue what they want to do with their lives and I have to say I'm glad you are feeling this way because it shows you are healing."
"Healing?" Harry said the word as if he had never heard of it before. Minerva let out a small light laugh at this. "Yes healing, Harry. Amazing isn't it? To think that their can not only be life after a war, but happiness too."
"Professor" Harry said as she turned to go, "we can come back to school next term, right?"
"Hogwarts has yet to deny anyone of an education." She gave him a small smile, and then placed a lily across his the two markers, his parent's markers. "They were her favourite flower because James insisted upon giving them to her all the time to remind her that she was more beautiful than her name in his eyes."
The sun was high when Harry finally got off the ground. "See you later, Professor." McGonagall stop placing flowers on the tomb of someone Harry didn't know. Harry knew she was watching him as he left the cemetery.
It was quiet when he made it back to the Burrow. Almost too quiet for a house with Mrs. Weasley residing, but Harry guessed she was rather upset with them for moving on so soon. He entered the kitchen to see Ron, Hermione, Remus, Tonks, and Mr and Mrs Weasley having breakfast. All but Hermione and Ron stopped eating and talking when Harry entered.
"So, I think it would be really fun if we had a get together with Neville's gang." Ron talked around the egg and toast he had in his mouth.
"Oh good idea," Hermione nodded her head enthusiastically. "After we get all settled in we should do that. Ron, since it was your idea, you can be in charge of the planning," she turned to grin at Harry. "Morning honey," Harry walked into the room as soon as Hermione addressed his return. "How were they?"
He planted a kiss on top of her head as he pulled up a stool. "Good, they were good. Saw Professor McGonagall, she said I'm healing."
"Oh…healing," Ron said sarcastically, and Harry threw some toast at him. "Well, good for you mate. Now, what do you think about the party idea?"
"Fine with me," at this Hermione stood up and walked into the living room. She came back just as her parents made their way into the kitchen. In her hands she had three backpacks. "Everything all set?"
"I was thinking we would leave around noon, and don't worry, Ron, I informed Martha. She said she would have lunch all ready for us when we arrive. Remus and Tonks are coming with us to help us get everything settled." Hermione spoke quickly as she set the backpacks on the floor next to her stool. Harry watched her parents' reactions to see they seemed slightly uneasy about the whole thing. He could only assume it was because she was leaving them again, and not because she would be living with two boys even if one was her fiancé.
"You can sit here Mrs. Granger," Harry immediately stood up offering up the stool he was sitting on to Hermione's mum.
She smiled warmly at him and accepted his generous offer. It was amazingly hard for her to think that just as they had got them back that they were going to be leaving so soon. Hermione had always been overly independent, but she became even more so as her years at Hogwarts went on. Now, Jane realized, Hermione wasn't overly independent she was in-fact highly dependent on her two best friends.
Time passed rather quickly, and Jane found herself out front of the Burrow watching the love of her life load up their station wagon as Arthur was inside the car tinkering with the radio and looking like it was Christmas. Her daughter and Harry were off to the side discussing something while Ron tried to get his father out of the car. As she approached Hermione Harry fell back to give them the room they needed.
"Are you ever going to come back?" Jane took in her daughter's face. It was still slightly drawn with exhaustion and from what the past year had held, but Jane could tell Hermione was beginning to slowly mend.
For the first time in Hermione's life her mother looked small and confused as she stared at her face. She rushed forward and hugged her mother hoping that she could give her a little comfort. "I promise to always come back. Remember at the beginning of this I made that promise and kept it. You mean the world to me, mum, but right now I need to get better."
"Be careful, my baby," And with that Jane let go of her daughter, and her dreams. As she stepped away Edward came up and pulled Hermione into one of his bear hugs. Jane looked towards Harry; he was someone she was still trying to figure out, but the only thing that mattered was that Hermione loved him.
"You ready, baby," Edward's voice was thick with untold emotion. Jane nodded her body moving towards the boy-who-captured-her-daughter's-heart.
"Harry," one of his arms was wrapped around Hermione's waist as she leaned against him. "Try to stay out of trouble." With that Jane kissed the boy on the cheek.
It wasn't easy for Harry to watch the Grangers leave. He knew Hermione half wished she was going with them, but he also knew she was staying because she believed it was the right thing to do. As they walked back into the Burrow he watched as Hermione got down to business. She did this every time something emotionally painful had happened. When Ron had gone coma-like after he first used the killing curse Hermione hadn't broken down until after she had gotten Harry's permission to crumble. Now as he watched her closely he could tell she was putting aside her emotions once more for him.
"Hermione," his voice came out in a cautious whisper as he pulled her into an embrace. She stiffened slightly and then relaxed into his touch. "It's okay to not want to see them go."
"I know," her voice was slightly muffled by his shirt collar. He let her take the time she needed to pull herself together. After a few moments she pulled away, "I love you."
"I love you, too," Hermione smiled lopsided at him as she reached out to brush his bangs away from his forehead. Harry loved that smile. It was the one she reserved for him, and only him. "Come on I know you want to get a move on." He saw her eyes light up at the prospect of a new adventure and inwardly groaned at what he and Ron were getting themselves into.
Ron was waiting at the kitchen table. He silently handed Harry his backpack. Their bags had been with them through the war. Each held stains from battles and from the aftermaths of those battles. As Harry shouldered his bag he couldn't help but be comforted by the familiar weight of it. Almost as if his whole life was in the bag now resting on his right shoulder which Harry reasoned was true. Everything except for his family was in that bag.
"Everything all set?" Remus's voice came into the kitchen and the three teens turned to see that for that moment they were the only people inside the kitchen. Taking a glance around they walked outside to say goodbye to the Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and start the next stage of their journey.
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