The Years to Come

The Pages of a Special Book

Ron had snuck downstairs to talk and spend time with Hermione. That was a few hours ago and Harry was still alone in Ron's room. Not that Harry minded, he was glad Ron and Hermione had finally realized they liked each other. It had been along day, after he and Ginny had walked through the Garden of the Lost , they had met up with the rest of their group for lunch in the Great Hall. Harry got to spend some more time with the surviving members of the DA, he also got a chance to talk with Kingsley. They had come to an agreement that Harry would lead a team of people, mostly DA members who wanted to join, and they would hunt death-eaters their own way. Kingsley had accepted Harry's decision to return to Hogwarts in the fall and was even glad Harry would continue his education. He talked to Mcgonagall and she welcomed him back to school saying they would probably repeat most students a year unless they passed the required tests to move on. So Harry and whoever else wanted to join him could retake their respective year of school. Another major thing that happened that afternoon was that Harry got to meet Audrey and little Ethan. It was a short visit and Percy was not able to join them as they couldn't let out that they were a couple yet. But Harry enjoyed meeting her and Ethan. Then Harry got pulled into a sort of press conference where he decided to give an interview simply because he wanted the facts to be straight and as Ginny reminded him they would only keep bothering him until they got what they wanted. "Besides Lord Potter you will want to have a good relationship with the press" she had said. So he had. He told them most of the story of the previous year and a rundown of what happened the night of the battle. Walking away Harry felt a huge sence of relief, it wasn't nearly as bad as he had feared. He had dreaded talking to the press ever since the incident that happened the last time he was at the school. After all that he, Hermione and the Weasleys had gone back to the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley had then showed everyone out of the kitchen for the rest of the afternoon and Harry was pretty sure she had made enough food to feed many more people than was there. Needless to say Harry was starving by 6 o'clock. Anyway, since they had gotten home  close to 4:30, Harry finally got a chance to sit down and have a real conversation with Ron and Hermione. They got to discuss jobs for the summer, Hermione wouldn't be working with them instead choosing to study for the comming year but Ron was all for hunting and fighting the bad guys as he didn't want to return to Hogwarts. Though he didnt want to start that week because he wanted to go to Australia with Hermione to get her parents. Harry had completely forgotten Hermione's parents and had immediately insisted that he help by paying for their portkey there and returning flights as muggles couldn't use portkeys. Hermione had been very thankful. Harry told them about his past few days, his medical, trip to Gringotts, and his and Ginny's trip to his family home. In turn they had shared the events of their past few days. They had mainly been planning how to get Hermione's parents, mourning the lost and spending some time together. Harry could tell Hermione was still affected by what happened at Malfoy manor and the Battle itself. They all were but Hermione seemed to be taking it hard. He could tell she hadn't been  sleeping well and Gin had told him she often woke up from nightmares. To Harry, Hermione was a dear sister in all but blood and he wanted to do what ever he could to help her. Ron on the other hand seemed to be trying to ignore what happened and trying to act normal even though that was no longer possible because he had changed. Over all Harry enjoyed his conversations with them and mentally reminded himself to make more time for them, he didnt want them to grow apart now that the war was over. He valued their friendship immensely.
After their chat they had all sat down for a delicious dinner, there was little chatter and talk but they felt so much more like a family.

Now Harry was sitting in his bed late at night looking through some of his mothers books. He had absolutely loved looking through the scrapbooks. He got to see pictures of his dad growing up, the Marauders at school or during summer and winter break. He especially loved the ones of his parents together or with him. He got to see how much they loved each other and him. He got to see the whole picture of his tea party first Birthday, pictures of his dad and him playing with magical toy dragons, of him and his mum baking cookies, even him sleeping with Padfoot and their cat. He then opened his mothers diary. Here he got to read of his mothers early childhood starting when she was seven. As he read he saw a great friendship between Lily and Snape and also Lily and Petunia. He got to essentially meet his mother and her family before Lily was discovered as a witch. He read about her accidental magics, her birthdays, Christmas, and other holidays. He got to read about how she did in school and what her hobbies were. He discovered that his mum was a good student but struggled with science like he had. He learned that every summer his mum would go to this beach cottage where her grandparents and his great grandparents lived. She loved the sea and swimming. He learned that she loved reading specifically fantasy and mysteries. She also loved to cook and Harry found many of her favorite recipes. Her favorite foods included pizza and chocolate icecream. She always made her room look nice and tidy. Lily had also loved baby dolls and Harry got to read about some of her and 'Violet's' (the doll) adventures and how Lily took care of Violet. He got to see a glimpse of what his life could have been had she lived. By the time he had finished the 4th book he was crying and missing his parents more than ever before, because he new them better the loss hurt more. Still Harry kept reading, ignoring the minutes then hours that were passing. He read about how she discovered she was a witch through Snape, her thoughts on Hogwarts and the magical world. He learned that the hat could have sorted her into any of the houses but she chose Gryffindor even through she would be in a different house than her friend, she had thought Gryffindorwas best for her. He read about how she kept close to Severus and noticed he was being bullied because of it. Harry read about how Lily was first friends with Remus. She was good at most subjects, especially potions but she wasn't any good at Astronomy or flying. Something, he learned, Sirius was quick to point out. Harry loved reading the diaries and for the first time he could remember he knew who his mum was. In the early hours of morning Harry fell asleep with Lily's 1st year of Hogwarts diary (a rather long book) still in his hands.