Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. I'm not an Heron shipper, thank you very much.
A/N: My response to the "My sin, My virtue" challenge from cosmopolitan, here's the link to it: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26784 Hope you will enjoy, and as usual if you read, please review, ok? Thanks! Oh, by the way, I think this could be considered a collection of one shots, everyone focusing on a different sin/virtue. Just so you know and aren't disappointed by the lack of continuity between the chapters, lol. Also, the chapters will feature a virtue, and then the opposing sin in the following chapter.
Thanks to my beta Gingercat!
The Seven Virtues And The Seven Sins
Chapter Eleven: Humility
If you ask him, he will tell you he isn't the hero of the Wizarding World. Or, better, he is, but only because the others say he is.
To him, having killed the most vicious Dark Wizard of all times is not something that should make him a hero.
"I should be labelled as a murderer" he will tell you. And it's not false humility. He really thinks so. In fact, it took him quite a while to understand why his birthday had become a national holiday in the Wizarding World, and why there were parties in his honor, most of which he didn't even want to attend.
He's never liked his fame, he has always thought he shouldn't be known for his name and for something he did as a baby, something he didn't even know how had happened, or why.
"Why do they celebrate me if I don't even know how I did that? Anyone else might have done the same" he told me once in our first year, as we were in front of the fire in the common room. He has always wanted to be known, and loved, one day, as just Harry.
He will never admit it, but I know that's the reason why he broke up with his long-time girlfriend Ginny a couple weeks ago. She has always seen him as her knight in shining armour, and even if with time she lost her shyness around him, thanks to my advice too I must say, she never stopped seeing him as "Harry Potter the Hero". Sad, really, because I know how much she wanted to be with him, and I knew she needed to let go of that vision to be able to make him fall in love with her. I tired helping her on that road, but it worked only to a certain extent.
Well, that works fine for me. I won't deny it, Harry is an amazing guy and any girl would be lucky to be dating him. So yes, add me to those who would want to be his girlfriend. If only he asked…
Now he's up on that stage, giving his speech as Head Boy, the seventh year students gathered in the Great Hall for this graduation ceremony. There are many known faces, even if we should have graduated last year. But you know, Horcrux hunts tend to get in the middle of attending your last year at Hogwarts, so Harry, Ron and I did it this year. With us, were many of our classmates who decided to repeat it because last year was a farce with the Death Eaters in charge of the school.
I hear him say that we shouldn't be afraid of doing what's right instead of what is easy, and I smile to myself. Dumbledore taught his lesson well, and while Harry doesn't realize it, it's just that which makes him a hero. Not everyone would be able to stay and fight the Death Eaters, if given the chance to flee to safety. He did. Of course me and Ron too, but only because he was there. Had he fled, we would have too.
He looks at me with a radiant smile and a nod, and I nod back. It's time for my own speech now.
--
I watch her speak to our classmates, and I can't help smiling. She will never acknowledge it, but she's a hell of a witch. Smartest, and probably most powerful one in our generation, in fact. Although, she won't admit it.
"Books and cleverness, this is all that I am" she will say "There are other qualities that make a great wizard or witch"
Of course she's right, she just doesn't see she has those other qualities too. She's brave, otherwise she wouldn't have been in Gryffindor. She's loyal, and I know that more than anyone else, as she never left my side. I can't say that of anyone else, not even my best mate. She's caring, and her campaign for house elves proves just that. Few would look twice at the friendly creatures and wonder about their rights, but Hermione did. It didn't go too well, admittedly, but it's the thought which counts and gives you an idea of who she really is.
And, of course, she's humble. As I said, she'll never think she's better than someone else. At max, she might say she has worked harder, which is probably true anyway, but that's not the point.
She's become a beautiful witch in her own right, even if she denies it, which I've found is something most girls do, but I don't understand why.
I barely hear her words, transfixed by her, lost in my thoughts about my best female friend. She's always seen me as nothing else than just Harry, probably the only one to do so because she didn't grow up in the Wizarding world with legends about me told to her every day. I'm sorry I can't say the same for Ginny.
I tried, I really tried, but in the end I couldn't see myself spending the rest of my life with someone who idolises me, so why keep the relationship going?
Which brings me to the point I am now. I can see myself spending my life with Hermione, because with her I can be myself, not a hero, and that's a reassuring thought. The terrifying one is to ask her out.
I'm scared she will laugh in my face, which she should do, because really, who would want to date a murderer? Ok, maybe I'm making this over-dramatic, I know I'm not exactly a murderer, after all it was a case of "you or me" so I just did what I had to do to survive. But I surely am not a hero. I don't even want to be, honestly.
Here she comes, her speech finished, and I'm ashamed I can't tell you what she was talking about because I wasn't paying attention. She smiles at me, and squeezes my hand as we go back to the Gryffindor table, waiting for Headmistress McGonagall to hand out our diplomas.
As we are called, one by one, to the head table to receive it, I can't stop looking at her. She's gorgeous, she truly is.
She must have felt my gaze upon her because she looks at me questioningly. I grin at her, and lean to whisper in her ear.
"You're gorgeous"
I sense her tremble from my closeness, and when I pull back I notice she's blushing. Does this mean…?
Oh, heck, I'm a Gryffindor, I can face rejection, right?
I lean in again. "Would you laugh at me if I asked you to be my girlfriend?"
In the absolute silence of the Great Hall, the crash of her glass on the ground, shattering in a million tiny shards. Everyone is looking at us now, but I'm more concerned about Hermione's reaction.
She turns toward me, her eyes still wide, before a smile starts to spread on her lips.
"I'd love to" she shyly whispers, and I feel my heart swell.
From now on, I'll be more than glad to be a hero, as long as I'm her hero.
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