Continental Holiday

Chapter One

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"...and the first to reach him were Ron and Hermione, and it was their arms that were wrapped around him, their incomprehensible shouts that deafened him. Then Ginny, Neville, and Luna were there, and then all the Weasleys and Hagrid, and Kingsley and McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout, and Harry could not hear a word that anyone was shouting, nor tell whose hands were seizing him, pulling him, trying to hug some part of him, hundreds of them pressing in, all of them determined to touch the Boy Who Lived, the reason it was over at last-" Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, page 744

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Harry was sitting underneath a tree in Rome, Italy with his eyes closed feeling the breeze blow against his face. In the August heat, it felt delightfully cool. Ron and Hermione had stopped at a small ice cream shop for a moment and Harry had gone ahead to the top of a hill for a quiet moment alone.

They had spent the last year on the run fighting a war. Now it was time to catch up on all the life they missed out on. Not to mention that extra week they were going to spend in Australia, putting some lost pieces back in the puzzle.

Ron caught up with him and took a seat next to him in the grass.

"Hey mate, you're a million miles away. What's on your mind?"

"Have you gotten over being bone tired yet?" Harry still hadn't shaken the feeling of being weary down to his core. If he could, he would curl up and sleep for the next two weeks, months, or years..

"Can't say that I have, but then again, it's been like being in another world this week. You'd think a war never happened down here."

They had already been through Paris, had visited the same southern village that Hermione had vacationed at on the Mediterranean coast, and had spent a weekend in Lisbon before passing through Madrid on their way here to Rome. It had been a memorable week and a half with his friends and though they were enjoying the time away, they had yet to get much real rest. They all had trouble sleeping.

Harry had to agree with Ron. The Continent had clearly not suffered as Britain had during Voldemort's reign of terror. In fact, Harry found he was even relatively anonymous. Not that he was complaining. "I envy them. This is what normal life is supposed to be like." He hadn't meant to sound so defeated.

"Cheer up mate. We're still here. It's over now. We won." Ron was trying hard to sound optimistic, but the dark bags underneath his eyes told another tale. Fred's death was still weighing hard on the Weasley clan. Harry certainly could relate. He couldn't go a day without seeing Remus and Tonks being lowered into their graves, holding his godson next to a stone faced Andromeda Tonks.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry changed the subject.

"You know her; she caught a glimpse of some monument or other and had to get the full experience. She'll be up eventually." Ron sounded amused at the very predictable behavior of the third member of their trio.

"So where are you two exactly? With each other?" Harry hoped he hadn't crossed a line. Ron had never really been one to talk about relationships with him before.

"I'm not sure to be honest. I think we're just enjoying being alive and whole right now. I think she wants to sort it out when we're home. What's on your mind?"

Harry weighed his options in his mind. He had been worried about something for a while, but wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about it. A thought that had crept into his mind once he had been able to think clearly for a day or two. Now that they were here, he figured now was as good a time as any.

"Ron, you and Hermione have a chance for a real life now." Harry took a deep breath, gathering the courage to ask a question he was afraid to know the answer to. "You could have had that ages ago without knowing me. Without Death Eaters wanting to kill you for being my friends. Won't having me around simply be a constant reminder of the hell we've been through?"