A New Breath of Life

Reliving...The Good and the Bad

AN: Hey everyone! I had written this chapter a long time ago, but it got deleted before I could publish it- so I had to start over. Ughhhh. Anyway, I hope you like it!

As Harry sat up, he thought about what he was going to tell them. He had no idea what kind of reaction he would get. He knew that the first thing he would do is apologize for everyone who died. It was all his fault, and they died defending him. If only he had given himself up earlier...Remus, Tonks, Fred, they might all still be alive. He started as the Weasleys, Professor McGonagall, and Kingsley Shacklebolt walked in, along with Hermione. Facing all 13...no 12 now...of them, he found it hard to speak. Ron and Hermione seemed to know what he was thinking and stood up and sat next to him. Hermione whispered, "Harry, I'll start, maybe it'll be easier for you to explain once they know what we were doing." Harry nodded in relief. He didn't think he could go over Dumbledore's death and the tougher parts just yet.

Hermione sat up straight, causing Ron and Harry to smirk. Some things never change. Hermione asked, "First of all, how many of you know what Horcruxes are?" Kingsley and Bill nodded grimly, while the rest of the Weasleys looked confused. Bill explained, "A Horcrux is an object in which a person has hidden part of their soul. They rip their soul apart by murdering, and by hiding it, they cannot truly die."

While all of them looked horrified, Harry quietly said, "Voldemort had 7 of them."
They all turned their horror-struck gazes upon him, while Hermione continued, "Professor Dumbledore knew about their existence, and the end of our sixth year, he told Harry that all of them had to be destroyed before Voldemort could be killed. That's what we were doing all year. Finding the four remaining horcruxes, although there were actually 5."

Ginny interrupted, "Wait Hermione, you said there were 7 horcruxes. So what were the first two?"

Harry looked at her, knowing this would be hard for her, "The first one he made was a ring, which I will explain later. And I'm sorry, but the second was Tom Riddle's diary, Ginny"

She paled and started shaking, until Harry got up, and hugged her, when she seemed to calm down enough to continue.

Hermione continued, "So we were on the run from the ministry, and we knew what a few of them were. The first one we found was Slytherin's locket, but we had to break into the ministry to get it and steal it from Dolores Um...bridge, although that isn't the name I would have chosen for her."

Mr. Weasley started laughing, as did Percy and said, "That was you three?" And when they looked at him quizzically, he waved them off, saying, "I will tell you the whole story later."

Hermione continued talking about their travels, until the point where Ron left, where he took over. He said, "I will make no excuses for my behavior. I was completely wrong, and I'm lucky they've forgiven my huge mistake. But the reason was that locket. It fed on all of my insecurities, made every bad feeling I had a 1000 times worse. It was the worst experience of my life." Mrs. Weasley wailed and hugged him tighter than she had ever hugged him before.

They talked about Godric's Hollow, and Gringotts at which point even George let out a small laugh and said, "If Fred had been here to hear that, we would have been bowing at you feet." Harry sobered, and whispered, "I'm so sorry, all of you, and I never meant for anyone else to die for me...Fred was like a brother to me, and I'm the reason he's dead." Ginny let out a sob, and said "Harry, you cannot blame yourself for the deaths. They knew the stakes and they came or stayed anyway. They knew the consequences so it was entirely their decision. It's a miracle we made it through alive, as well as you." Harry blanched, knowing they would know just how close he had come to death, in a few minutes. He cleared his throat, and said, "I found that Severus Snape...was actually always on Dumbledore's side. He killed Dumbledore on his orders, because Dumbledore was dying anyway. He gave me his memories right before he died, when Voldemort murdered him. In his memories, I found out...that I was the last Horcrux."

Everyone present gasped, although only Bill and Kingsley really had an idea of what that meant. Harry nodded at them, and continued, "That meant, that when he asked for me to go into the forest and give myself up,...I did." Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny started tearing up, as none of them had heard this yet. He detailed how his parents had come back for a little while to help him go into the forest, but didn't specify how. He continued, "I stood there, without my wand in my hand, and he did it. The Avada Kedavra." Ginny broke out sobbing along with Mrs. Weasley, while all the Weasleys circled around Harry in a big group hug. Mrs. Weasley said, "Well you mustn't have died because you are here obviously." Harry shook his head, "I did die, Mrs. Weasley. I woke up in a place where I saw Dumbledore, and we talked. He told me I could come back and finish the job or I could go on," and he paused for a moment and continued. "I came back for many reasons, but you were definitely a big part of the reason why I came back." There wasn't a single dry eye in the room, even McGonagall and Kingsley. Harry finished with, "Well, you know the rest"

Ginny launched herself at him, and hugged him so tightly he felt like his newly healed ribs might crack again. He whispered to her, "I came back for you Ginny, and the last thing I remembered before he hit me with the curse was kissing you, and the smell of your hair." She sobbed harder and kissed him in front of everyone. Harry forgot where he was and who was with him, and reveled in kissing Ginny for the first time as a free man, as a man who had a life ahead of him. They surfaced after what seemed like years to face a horde of surprised Weasleys. Damn, he had forgotten that Ginny had 6, now 5 (😢) older brothers....all of a sudden, Voldemort seems not so scary anymore compared to what they might do to him.

AN: Hope you like! Ended with a bit of humor, and I'll continue that next chapter. I always found Harry brave for falling in love with a girl who is his best mate's younger sister and the girl in question has six, well now five, extremely overprotective older brothers. I know I haven't updated in a while but I will make them more frequent for this story. Thanks! Especially to MockingjayLives0216!!!! Your comment was very sweet.