A/N: This is for all of you who wanted Harry's PoV, enjoy!
For Anne, Jacy Evans, k_t18, Libbie and everyone else I met at the H/Hr Shippers Meet up at TWH. *hugs*
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Dream Come True
He was dreaming, he thought.
But the next minute he decided that if he were dreaming, he never wanted this dream to end.
She was coming towards him, a soft smile just touching her lips; she was-she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen or ever dreamed of seeing. She was all he'd ever wanted in his life-and she was his…
His heart swelled with a mixture of love and poignant joy and awe as she reached his side and hand in hand, they turned to face the presiding wizard.
There was a sort of buzzing in his ears so it took him a moment to process and realize what he heard next.
"Wait!" A sharp, high protest from a voice he knew: Ginny… He closed his eyes for a moment, wondering why he wasn't particularly surprised. Not that he'd been expecting this-and yet-he realized that some little part of him had been so sure that something would happen to mar this dream of happiness. It was, had always been, too good to be true-at least for him. He was Harry Potter; he didn't have dreams come true like this…
He heard a collective intake of breath from everyone watching as he turned slowly around to face her.
Ginny met his eyes directly, a look of appeal, of hope-of, he realized with something like a twist of his heart, confidence-in her eyes and on her face. Confidence… She really had no doubt of what she was saying; she was so sure that he really loved her and not Hermione…
"Harry, you know you don't really want to marry Hermione. You don't really love her. You love me, you've always loved me!"
He stared at her, some part of his mind that somehow remained detached, noticing just how pretty she looked with the tears glittering in her eyes, the appealing expression, one hand reaching out in invitation.
He felt a slight chill in his hand and realized Hermione had slipped her hand out of his and he felt the first pang of apprehension. Surely-surely she couldn't doubt…
"Come on, Harry. It's not fair to Hermione to marry her when you really love me."
He looked at Ginny, remembering those few weeks they'd been together in his 6th year, remembering that she'd been his first real girlfriend. She had been-in his boyish eyes-the embodiment of all that was pretty and attractive… Looking at her now, he wondered where all that attractiveness had gone. Oh Ginny was still pretty, beautiful he supposed, by any standards-but there was something almost hard about her beauty, he thought dispassionately. And looking at her, all he felt was pity. She had never been denied anything she wanted, he suddenly realized, as the youngest child and only daughter of a family as kind as the Weasleys. It was what made her so confident, something that had been appealing years ago but now, he could only think that it was selfish, this single-mindedness in her pursuit of what she wanted. She really didn't care, he thought, about disrupting a wedding, about how much she might hurt Hermione… All she cared about was getting what she wanted…
He belatedly realized how silent everything was, that everyone was wondering what he was going to say, how he would react.
But there was really only one thing to say. "No," he said quietly, even gently. He wondered for a moment why he felt no anger at Ginny-and yet he didn't. He felt only pity.
"No," he repeated again. "I love Hermione. I want to marry Hermione."
"But you can't!" Ginny burst out, desperation beginning to tinge her voice. "You can't! I mean, look at her! She's just-Hermione! You love me, you've always loved me since your 6th year, remember? I've been waiting for you all this time since then…"
He felt the first tinge of anger at how easily she dismissed Hermione, looking from Ginny to Hermione-at the truer beauty of her-and then back at Ginny.
"You can't! Just look at her," Ginny said again, her voice rising.
He looked at Hermione, his eyes meeting hers and recognized, with a pang, the flicker of hurt in her eyes. She did doubt his feelings… After all, the small streak of vulnerability, of insecurity, couldn't be completely gotten rid of. And looking at her, he knew exactly what he needed to say, to reassure her once and for all that he was, and always would be, hers.
He addressed Ginny but his gaze didn't waver from Hermione's. And part of him was glad to have this opportunity to declare his feelings for Hermione to Ginny and to everyone else. "I am looking at her," he began quietly. "But you don't see what I see when I look at her." He looked at her and he remembered years of friendship and unwavering devotion, remembered all the times she'd questioned him to make sure he was ok, to make sure he was keeping up with his homework, even-because she cared about him and worried about him… He remembered years of trust and believing in him, when no one else did. He remembered tears and smiles and laughs-and dangers faced together… "I see my best friend. I see loyalty and kindness and cleverness. I see my past in the one person who's always been there for me, my present in the woman I'm going to marry, my future in the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I see love…"
Slowly, he moved towards her, taking her hand, as any thoughts of their audience- of Ginny- of anyone besides her- faded from his mind. "I love you, Hermione," he said softly. I love you… I'm sorry… I'll never make you doubt me again… "I always have and I always will. Marry me?" he asked again, somehow needing to hear her say the words again.
She smiled through her tears. "I already answered that question," she said softly, the beginnings of amusement in her tone.
And he knew that the last doubts had been put to rest for good… His arms closed around her, holding her to him as his heart swelled with relief and joy-and the simple certainty that now, nothing could ever come between them again.
He let her go only to cup her face gently with his hands, the face he knew so well and never tired of looking at. And then he kissed her, letting his kiss tell her all he felt.
And he knew that this dream really was coming true-as the last of his fears that this was too good to be happening was put to rest… He was with Hermione, would always be with Hermione-and with her, he could face anything the fates had in store for him.
~The End~
(for real, this time)