Coming back home

Part 1: Something left to do

Everything that Harry wanted was to rest. His biggest desire was to lay down in his bed, upstairs, in Gryffindor's common room. But before doing that, there was something else he had to do. He could not sleep until then.

—I must go find him—he said out loud, causing Ron and Hermione to look at him without understanding.

The three of them where in the middle of a hallway destroyed during the battle. They had moved the wounded and the bodies of the fallen, but Harry could still see the holes in the walls and the stains of blood. He tore his eyes from a particularly big stain and forced himself to look at his to best friends.

—Harry?—asked Hermione—. What...?

—Snape. I have to go find him—he repeated—. He can't stay there, all alone.

Hermione and Ron shared a look. The two of them were as exhausted as Harry, but they understood what he must have been feeling.

—Alright, I will inform Professor McGonagall and ask her to send somebody—said Hermione—. You go to sleep, it's clear that you need it.

—No! No, I can't-

Hermione opened her mouth to reply but Harry was quicker.

—You don't understand. It has to be somebody that believes completely in his innocence I can't risk it! —he noticed that he had raised his voice and he forced himself to calm down—. There are a lot of people that still want revenge for Dumbledore's death and... well, not everyone has believed me as fast as you guys. I cannot risk them cursing the body or doing something to it.

—Okay, I understand—Hermione put her hands up, trying to calm him down—. You are right.

—I need to bring him back—insisted Harry—. He has to be at home—he said, and his voice broke.

His mind could not stop reminding him of all those people they had lost in the battle: Remus, Tonks, Fred, even poor Colin Creevey. But they rested beneath the starry sky of the Great Hall, surrounded by their families. Snape, instead, was alone in that horrible place and Harry needed to do something about it.

—We will go—said Ron firmly—. You go get some rest, Harry. Hermione and I will bring him home.

Ron wore the pain of Fred's loss in each centimeter of his face, and Harry looked at him without knowing what to say.

—I can't ask you that—he said—. If anyone deserves to sleep it's you.

—Harry is right—said Hermione softly. She put a hand on Ron's shoulder and squeezed, showing her affection.—. Besides, if you don't want to sleep, you should be with your family. I can take of this on my own.

Ron shook his head, maybe with too much energy.

—No, I don't want to. I can't right now—he closed his eyes and tried to breathe deeply—. I'm not strong enough to be there with them. I can't handle looking at my mum's face or seeing George with those empty eyes that he has and...

Suddenly, he felt out of breath and started breathing fast and shakily. A heartbeat later, Harry and Hermione were there, hugging him both at the same time. Inside that safe place, Ron could finally let himself go and started crying silently. It took him a while to notice that they were crying too, and in a way, it made him feel better. If he wasn't in that situation, he would probably remark how crazy they must have been looking: three teenagers alone in the middle of a hallway, hugging and crying in silence.

They stayed like that for a few moments in which they said with the strength of their arms what they couldn't say out loud until, finally, they let go. They all had tears on their faces, but they felt better than before.