Shattered

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Harry stood in the cemetery, hot tears making a silent trek down his already tear streaked face. His whole world had been shattered to pieces in a matter of seconds, in a flash of light. Green light to be exact, sending his world crumpling down around him.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Harry tried to keep the memories at bay, he could not bear to see the horrific images again. Flickering and flashing through his mind again, like some sort of sick filmstrip stuck on repeat.

No matter what he did, the images assaulted his mind's eye, sending the terrible images back to him with perfect clarity.

*Flash Back*

It had been a long day at work for Harry, mostly field training with the new recruits, training them to be ready for what was out there. So with his body aching and his mind fatigued, Harry readied himself to apparate back to his home, to his waiting wife and children.

It was as he was closing the door to his office that all hell broke loose. Ron came running up the hallway, Auror robes billowing behind him, a panic-stricken look on his face. Harry immediately felt his insides tighten with apprehension. Something was wrong, something was VERY wrong.

“Harry! There's been an attack...” That is all Harry heard him say as he took off running down the hallway, his heart in his throat. He knew right then, he knew his family was in trouble, hurt, dying….'Oh god please don't let them be dead,' he thought frantically as he reached the lifts.

Jabbing the button that would call the lift, Harry waiting impatiently for it to come down, it seemed as though time had slowed down, as the lift descended in the slowest pace Harry had ever seen it move. As soon as it was low enough for him to get into, Harry dashed inside and slammed the metal gate shut, jabbing the button for the Atrium.

With no time for the lift to stop completely, Harry dashed out of it in the Atrium and apparated to his home. When he reappeared, the scene before him was like no other he had ever scene.

The house was completely leveled, a fire still smoldering in the rubble. Blazing above it was the symbol that Harry had been dreading seeing there, the Dark Mark.

An anguished cry ripped from his throat as he fell to his knees in his front lawn, tears pouring down his face. “NOOOO!” He screamed repeatedly, beating the ground with his fists, finally collapsing in a sobbing heap.

“Harry? Harry…come on….there's nothing you could have done…..come on now,” a voice that sounded like Ron's said from above him.

“No, no, no, I can't leave them!” He cried, his emotions taking over his common sense.

“Harry there's nothing we can do, come I'll take you to St. Mungo's, they can give you something for the shock,” Ron said, trying desperately to pull the broken man to his feet.

Harry wouldn't budge, “No I can't, I have to…save them…” he said in a hollow voice, devoid of emotion. “Have to save them…”

“Harry you can't save them, they're gone,” Ron said in what he hoped was a comforting voice.

The words did not seem to penetrate Harry's fogged mind, as he tried to crawl his way to what was left of his house, clawing at the ground with his fingers, gauging out pieces of the ground, trapping bits under his fingernails, as he did so.

The sight of the man who was normally so strong, so cool headed under pressure even when facing the Dark Lord himself, unnerved Ron and scared him more than he cared to think about.

“Harry, please, there's nothing you or anyone can do, they're gone,” he repeated, a note of pleading creeping into his voice.

Harry continued his journey towards the house until finally he collapsed again, sobbing hysterically once more. His sobs broke the still silence of the night, sending another chill of unease through Ron.

Walking slowly towards his best friend, Ron laid a hand on Harry's shoulder, hoping again that he was doing something that was comforting. “Please, Harry, come with me to St. Mungo's, you can't stay here, it won't do you any good,” Ron tried again, hoping he was getting through.

Finally, Harry seemed to awaken from his stunned stupor, looking around like lost, scared child, which did not recognize where he was, even though he was in familiar surroundings.

“How…how did I get here? And where am I?” he asked Ron, in a flat voice.

Summoning all his Gryffindor courage, Ron said in a small voice, “You're home Harry, or what's left of it. There was an attack, they didn't see it coming, they just snuck up on them, took down all the protective wards, don't know how yet, but they managed to get them down and apparated right into the house.

She was sleeping on the couch, the kids were upstairs, playing, they killed her first, then the kids. God Harry, I'm so sorry, if I had known….” Ron trailed off, his voice becoming thick with emotion as he remembered what the first Aurors on the scene had told him.

They had not removed the bodies yet, but the team from St. Mungo's would be along short, and Ron thought it would be best if Harry were not around when they removed the bodies.

“Come on, let's go,” Ron said again, giving Harry's shoulder a squeeze of silent support.

Harry didn't say a word as he stood, Ron could see how pale his face had become, and the dark circles that were already starting to form under his eyes.

Without a word he apparated them both to St. Mungo's, the Healers took Harry to a room right away and gave him a Dreamless Sleep Potion, along with an Calming Potion to help alleviate the shock and stress.

Ron stayed with him until he woke up the next morning, making sure he was okay before telling him he could come back to The Burrow with him if he wanted too. Harry nodded numbingly, not caring about anything anymore.

All he could think about was the horrific scene he had witnessed the day before, the smell of burning still stung in his nose, along with the awful stench of death. His wife's death, his children's deaths, so many deaths, so much destruction, hadn't he faced enough? Why had, the most precious things in the world been taken from him? Those bastards, hadn't they taken enough from him? Hadn't he done enough to them? By taking down their leader.

But no the rouge ones were still out there, still causing trouble, seeking revenge against him for bring Voldemort down for good. Now he had paid the ultimate price: Or should he say his family had. They were gone. Gone forever. Because of him.

*End of Flashback*

A howl of rage and anguish erupted from his throat then, as the images finally flickered and faded, expelling the sound into the wind, carrying it away as if it was nothing more than a dead leaf.

That leaf, he mused, was piece of him though, a piece of him that died when that flash of green light had shattered everything he knew. Everything that he loved had been taken from him the instant that green light had reached its target.

Taking from him, his very soul, his will to live, everything was gone. Harry felt the familiar cold feeling settle around him again, the same cold feeling that had been with him since everything had happened.

Reaching out with a hand that shook visibly, he traced the name on the gravestone before him, another choked sob escaping him as he did so.

Hermione Jane Potter
September 19, 1979 - July 26, 2005

Beloved Wife and Mother
You were an Angel in life and so will you be in death

As he traced the next words, Harry felt his breath catch in his chest, his leg muscles giving up on supporting his weight, his legs collapsing under him.

Andrew James Potter

Feb 28^t, 2000 - July 26^th, 2005

Beloved Son

You were a miracle sent from heaven

So you return to the place from where you once came

Lillian Jane Potter
Aug 30, 2001 - July 26, 2005

Beloved Daughter
A ray of sunshine to us all
In Heaven you will forever shine down on us

The sobs, which had started out as quiet muffled sounds, quickly turned into body wrenching hysterics as Harry continued to trace the words in front of him. His family, his son, daughter, and beloved Hermione, were gone.

There was nothing he could do except cry and cling to their graves. The full weight of his guilt at not being able to stop it from happening crashing in on him as it had since that fateful day. Knowing that at least half of him, if not all of him, had died already, never to return. Just as his Hermione and two children would never return to him, forever lost to the flash of green light known as the Killing Curse.

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