The Exchange Program

Chapter 2

A/N: I just want to say that I haven't read Harry Potter in a long time and some characters from the series may be different than you know and may feel like some things they do are uncharacteristic but bear with me please. Lastly, I am sorry for the incredibly slow updates but I can't do much about it since this year I am going prioritize studying so, I may go a month or two without any updates to any of my stories. 

Harry's pov

Harry Potter. That name is now known all over the Wizarding World. They see him as their saviour, as a hero who defeated the darkest wizard of this age. He felt good for the first few weeks. Wherever he went wizard and witches congratulated him and offered their gratitude. He felt like he belonged here and had a place among his peers.

After a while, the glory started to die down. The handshakes, the congratulations, and the points and stares did not stop but he started thinking about his future. Till now, every year in the wizarding world, he had challenges to face. A danger to overcome. The orchestrator was always the same. But now he was dead. Harry defeated him but instead of immense joy and pride, he felt like he was drifting. He felt lost like he had no purpose anymore.

Hogwarts was his home but it was also the place where most of his worst memories lay. Still, he couldn't get around the idea that this was his last year at Hogwarts. He had spent most of last year searching for Horcruxes and wishing every day that they could be safe within the Hogwarts walls and eating and joking together with the other Gryffindors. Where Voldemort was not waging a war against him.

Nevertheless, he was happy to be going back to Hogwarts because staying in the Sirius' house is very depressing especially since Sirius himself was gone. He was old enough to stay alone but even so a member of the Order always came over every other day. They'd always give inquisitive stares and ask if he was okay. Harry had always replied with a casual shrug and a reassuring smile. On the inside he wanted to scream 'Do I look okay to you?'

He knew they wondered why he stayed there all alone instead of staying at the Burrow with the Weasleys and Hermione. And a year before, he would have done just that, in fact he would've jumped in joy at the prospect. But things had happened last year, he had kissed Ginny Weasley. Sure, she had grown into a beautiful woman but the kiss itself had rubbed him the wrong way. They hadn't had any time to think more about it just then but after the war was over Ginny had sought him out and asked him out on a real date. He had agreed at first but farther into the date it became clear to him that he did not think of Ginny Weasley as a love interest. She was more of a bossy, cute sister who had hero worshipped him in her younger days. She had agreed with him to not date each other but he had seen in her eyes that she had hoped for something more. If both of them had stayed under the same roof, it would have created a lot of unwanted awkwardness and tension especially since, they were still mourning the death of Fred Weasley.

So, he had told his friends that he would live in Sirius's house since it had been left in his name and try to clean the place up a little. After all, he did not want to make Ginny uncomfortable in her own home. He also did not know how the Weasleys including Ron would react when she told them that he had broken her heart.

The last few days at Hogwarts had been interesting to say the least. Many number announcements were made that completely took him by surprise.

Apparently, Dumbledore was alive. He had been fighting off the death eaters under the influence of Polyjuice potion. It had been a very dramatic reveal.

A wizard no one had ever seen before had been the cause of downfall for many death eaters. The others were very inquisitive of who he was. They had all crowded him when he had simply waved his wand and his skin had rippled and changed to pale colour and the rest him shifted and morphed into the calm appearance of his headmaster.