Chapter Text
May 3rd 1998
Scotland, UK
Hogwarts Castle
Harry could feel the cool press of dirt under his cheek, could hear the soft rustle of leaves blowing in the wind- and beyond that the screams of pain and spellfire. But it was nothing to the feeling of energy coursing through his limbs like a livewire.
"He's dead!" Narcissa Malfoy called, her body tight with tension as she didn't allow a hint of her deception show, and Harry kept his body limp and heavy as jubilated screams shook the forest, almost overpowering Hagrid's scream of grief.
Harry buried any feelings of guilt, and focused on cataloguing the differences.
Physically, he was fine, not a scratch on him that he didn't walk into this forest with.
Mentally, his mind felt clear of a fog he hadn't known was there, the weight of Tom's cloying poisonous presence excised from his mind, but the scars remained where it had dug its hooks.
(Emotionally, he was broken. The man he'd seen as a grandfather had orchestrated his death, he'd left him with the Dursley's so he wouldn't have any familial ties that would keep him from sacrificing himself for the Greater Good. Why why why, how could he? How could he look Harry in the face and tell him that his life meant nothing, that he'd been raised as a pig for the slaughter-)
But magically... Harry felt as if a giant weight had been lifted from him, his magic rushed through his veins like a tsunami, overpowering and devastating, it begged to be released, but Harry held it tight.
Not yet, he promised it, and it pulled back and hovered just out of reach, like a jungle cat content to wait out its prey.
Things happened quickly after that, his mind a blur of movement and the crackle of lightning under his skin as he unleashed the power of gods (-or maybe one god in particular) against his opponents.
It was only several minutes later, when the dust had settled, that Harry's mind pierced together flashes of memory that his brain hadn't been able to compute.
Ginny, crumpling under a sickly yellow curse from Bellatrix Lestrange.
Molly's howl of rage as she unleashed whips of fire that burned her from the inside out as she immolated Bellatrix.
Neville swinging a familiar sword at Nagini, the blade landing, cutting the serpent in half, his clothes shredded bloody ribbons from countless cutting curses, then fading from his view.
George and Percy howling with rage as they tore into Augustus Rookwood like wild dogs, only to be battered under a hailstorm of sickly green spells.
And Ron and Hermione... No where. They hadn't come back from the Chamber after destroying the Cup... And it would only be hours later that Harry would make his way down there and find them glassy eyed and held in each others arms.
"Harry, please let go" a soft but demanding voice demanded, hands gripping his shoulders as he wept over the bodies of the only family he'd ever had.
It didn't make sense- It was supposed to be him- They were supposed to be safe!
"I'm so sorry" Luna's voice finally drifted close enough, and Harry felt the weight of her body pressed against his back, her tears dripping onto his shoulder as they grieved together.
"W-w-wh-who e-el-els-e" Harry stuttered through his sobs and she hummed softly as she ran her hands through sweat damp curls, her grief hanging heavy on her.
"Arthur, Charlie, Bill, and Fleur survived" Luna whispered, and Harry's shoulders shook as he tried to pull the gates back closed.
"And the Order?" Harry asked, and she pressed her cheek against his shoulder.
"Shacklebolt survived, so did about half of the Order" she whispered, but Harry heard the grief-stricken words under it.
Remus and Tonks didn't; his godson was an orphan at barely a month old.
"And the st-studnets?" Harry asked, leaning back into her embrace in a show of vulnerability he rarely allowed.
"There were 57 casualties,14 causalities were from the DA, 32 were from the Order, and 11 were students" Luna said, and Harry's chest burned.
14 casualties, but Harry's friends made up almost half of them.
Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Neville.
6 out of 14.
And then the Order... Molly, the only mother figure he'd ever had. Remus, the last connection to his parents. Tonks, the big sister he'd never realized he wanted.
Who did he have left?
"You have me" Luna promised, her voice tight with grief, and they sat there for who-know-how-long, holding each other beside their dead friends, until the sounds of footsteps through water made Harry look up, his magic crackling protectively around Luna like a shield.
"NO!" Arthur screamed, and Harry's magic slipped away as the last of the Weasley's fell forwards.
Arthur, clutching his youngest sons cold hand. Bill, battered and bruised, but managing to support a distraught Fleur. And Charlie, stoicism cracked as he knelt beside his last younger sibling, his eyes lost and confused like a child.
"We have to go" Luna said gently, and somehow she managed to lever him up, his arm around her shoulders, but refused to let himself be led away.
"We need to bring them back" Harry murmured, and shakily knelt to lift Hermione's deadweight into his arms, barely feeling the strain as he carried his pseudo sister towards the exit.
Charlie did the same with Ron, gently moving Arthur back, and lifting Ron's longer frame into his arms.
The castle passed in a blur, Luna directed Harry towards the Great Halls.
Rows of bodies lined up where tables should be, the sound of weeping, both relieved and grieving, filled the Great Hall, but Harry didn't hear any of it.
Murmurs followed them as Harry gently laid Hermione out, gently moving her curls out of her face, and it was only Luna's iron grip on his shoulders that kept Harry from weeping opening in front of the masses of spectators.
"Just breathe, Harry" Luna's voice was soft as she held him together.
And he did.
That night, as he fell face first into bed, not even bothering to change, he felt felt a stab of discomfort as something hard dug into his chest, then the weight of a blanket settling over him, and the smooth texture of wood slipped into his right hand.
And then the sensations faded like smoke, and Harry fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
If Harry thought the aftermath of the Battle would be any better, he was quickly proven wrong.
The next day, before the first of the bodies could even be lowered into the ground, another round of deaths followed.
Arthur, who couldn't handle the idea of burying his wife and 5 of his children, was found in his room with an empty vial of poison in his slack grip. The broken look in the remaining Weasley's eyes would haunt Harry for the rest of his life.
The handful of people who had been injured, but not dead, either succumbed to their injuries, like poor Lavender and little Colic Creevy, or walked out as shadows of their former self, like Neville.
Neville walked away from the Battle a patchwork of scars, one of which nearly bisected his face, from his hairline to his chin, it cut through his left eye, the eye a milky white. But that didn't keep Neville from pulling a relieved Luna into his arms and kissing her in the middle of the infirmary.
(Through the haze of grief and rage, Harry was happy for them, and was glad that Neville was one less friend he would have to bury)
Among the bodies that were pulled from the rubble was Andromeda Tonks, who had singlehandedly held off the South Wall breach, saving not only dozens of children, but her grandson as well.
Harry was barely holding himself together when some Third Year Ravenclaw he didn't recognize, with shadows in her eyes that she was too young for, handed Harry the sleeping infant.
The Ravenclaw didn't judge him as Harry started crying over his perfectly unharmed godson, love and grief battling in his heart, but Harry simply pulled Teddy close, and the infant slept peacefully through his new guardian's hysterics.
Eventually, the unknown Ravenclaw was replaced by Luna, who led him to a private room, and held them both while Harry lost it.
"I'm sorry," Harry rasped, looking at Luna, "I've been losing it all day, but I haven't even asked how you're handling it" Harry swallowed, and Luna's eyes grew misty.
"I... I'm not okay, but I know I will be. We will be" Luna said solemnly, and they leaned on each other.
Anyone who walked into that room might have been confused to think they were interrupting an intimate moment, but there wasn't a drop of romantic feelings between them. Harry had always seen Luna purely as a little sister, and this experience would only bind them closer until they eclipsed the paltry ties of blood.
They would be okay... Eventually.
May 19th 1998
London, England
12 Grimmauld Place
Harry had failed to take the Ministry's stupidity into account, and now it was royally biting him in the ass.
He was glad Luna had taken Teddy into another room so that the infant wasn't woken up by Harry's furious screaming at the insensitive government lackey that had been sent to ask Harry to make a speech to 'increase moral in the reformed government'.
Yeah, right.
Nothing had changed.
In the two weeks since the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry had attended more funerals than he cared to remember, had moved back into Grimmauld Place, the wards completely refurbished courtesy of Bill and Fleur. He'd put together a nursery, had several uncomfortable meetings with goblins to discuss the damages, and had no less than 10 breakdowns.
And the Ministry had... Done jack shit.
Oh, some of them were trying. Shacklebolt had lit a fire underneath them, chasing out all but the most covert Death Eaters, and attempting to establish order, but already, the flood of 'imperiused Death Eaters' was coming in. People were returning to business as usual, as if they hadn't been complacent with genocide for the past year.
And the Ministry? Well, they wanted their dancing monkey to get up on stage, and pretend the Ministry was definitely not rotten to the core.
Yeah, no. Harry wasn't having it.
Half an hour after the Ministry peon had felt his doorstep in terror, Harry was still steaming, until an unmovable Luna shoved Harry into a chair across from her, and set a stack of parchment between them.
"They aren't going to change" Luna told him, eerie knowledge in her eyes, and Harry felt a heavy weight settle on his shoulders.
"I can't do it" Harry whispered, and she gave him a sly mischievous smile.
"They won't let you go, they will follow you to the deepest darkest corners of this world, and hound you until you do what they want," Luna held up her hand to stop Harry from speaking "Unless... We go somewhere they cant follow" she finished, and Harry's eyebrows rose in disbelief when she slid the parchment over, and Harry saw it was a research paper. Harry had to keep his jaw from dropping when he saw the title.
The Next Great Adventures of Harry, Luna and Teddy aka How To Piss An Old Goat Off From Beyond The Grave: Dimensional Hopping by Luna Lovegood.
God, sometimes Harry wished he could marry that woman.