Author's Note:
After Deathly Hallows, I have a strong urge to repair the damage that has been done. If you've read any of my stories, they have been exceedingly dark. This one will not be. This will be a more typical Portkey story - new for me, actually.
Hopefully you like it - this chapter is short because I want to get something out quickly and get a response. Do you think it's believable? I don't want to look back and want to start over because of a faulty premise.
Well, have fun reading, I suppose, and prepare for some revenge on the Deathly Hallows Epilogue, which I am conveniently ignoring. As far as I'm concerned, Rowling was JK when she wrote it (horrible, I know), so I'll just laugh it off.
On with the story...
(Formatting is fixed, thanks to Ancient Werewolf. Hope you like it.)
Looking Back
Prologue
by hpotter225
Happiness, joy, peace - feelings Harry had expected to have - were absent. He had won, with luck, and he was alive, a fortunate bonus, yet he felt as though he had lost. Up the hill to the castle he heard the occasional holler of triumph, but it fell upon deaf ears. Not only was the fight over; so was Harry.
The wand in his sweaty palm and the cloak draped about his shoulders were hardly prizes considering all that was lost, Harry thought bitterly. He just wanted to be normal. More precisely, he still wanted to be normal.
"Knut for your thoughts?" interrupted Hermione's calm voice, sending Harry jumping to his feet.
"How did you know where I was?" Harry asked, letting the cloak slip from his shoulders.
"Luna," answered Hermione simply.
Harry sat down and leaned back on his elbows, staring impassively over the lake. "Well I don't want to take you away from the festivities," he said.
"Nonsense," said Hermione, her face blank, though noticably forced. "How are you holding up?"
"I just killed Voldemort. How do you think I'm holding up?" asked Harry with intentional sarcasm.
Hermione stared at him for a moment. "Relieved, I would assume. Are you still planning on being an Auror?"
"I don't know," Harry said, shrugging.
"Tired of fighting Dark Wizards?" asked Hermione, smiling slightly. "I don't blame you. But if you aren't going to be an Auror then what will you do?"
Harry sighed, still staring at the lake. "I haven't really thought about it. Didn't plan on living this long."
If Harry had been watching, he would have seen Hermione visibly stiffen. "That is a terrible thing to say," she said crossly. "Everyone has dreams. Just because you had to kill Voldemort doesn't take that away."
"Most of my dreams involved taking Voldemort down with me," said Harry, turning to face Hermione, whose face was a tinge of pink.
"Don't say that," Hermione said. "How could you have lived at all, knowing that if you killed Voldemort you wouldn't have been able to live your own life after? Wasn't that the whole point?"
"Give me a break, Hermione," Harry shot back. "I didn't have anything to look forward to then and I have nothing to look forward to now."
"Nothing to look forward to?" asked Hermione incredulously. "You have everything to look forward to - friends, a job, a wife and kids."
Harry snorted. "None of those can happen. I'm not going to find a job where I'm not chased by Harry Potter fans everywhere I go, and I can't get married with Death Eaters on the loose. I could live in Grimmauld Place, I suppose, and I have enough money to support me, but I can't do more than sit around all day."
Hermione looked hurt. "And your friends, Harry? You forgot about your friends. We-"
But Harry cut her off. "How many friends do you think I'll have after you and Ron get married? Everyone else is going to get a job and settle down because that's what people do when they leave school. They're not going to hang out with Harry Potter."
"So you think Ron and I are going to forget about you. Is that it?" asked Hermione dangerously, her eyes blazing.
"Look," Harry said, his face softening. "I know you won't do it intentionally-"
This time Hermione cut him off. "We won't do it at all. We stuck with you through the past seven years, through every expedition, every test, through good and bad. We're not going to stop now."
"Of course not," Harry responded dryly, once again staring over the lake. "You'll come visit every day once you have your own place, and you'll send me OWLs from work, and we'll go out to lunch and dinner all the time. And once you have kids, they'll have parties at Uncle Harry's house."
"I-" Hermione started, but she bit her lip thoughtfully.
Harry smirked. When Hermione was at a loss for words, he knew it meant he had a good point. And he did.
"It's not like we're getting married immediately. I mean, he hasn't asked... but it would be nice."
"He will," said Harry. "Soon."
This seemed to brighten Hermione's features and she lay back on the grass, letting her hair spill all around her in a fan. "I hope so," she said under her breath, then rolled her head to look at Harry. "But we'll still be friends. We'll always be friends."
"Right," said Harry, forcing a smile. But even though he had convinced Hermione, his thoughts were not so easily persuadable. The future looked nothing but grim for Harry Potter.