A/N: This was an idea that came into my mind awhile back. It's a sort of opposite to my other story "Continental Holiday". Whereas in that story they went on a holiday and ultimately recovered from the war….this is the other side of the coin. Answering the question "What if they didn't recover?" This is my realistic look at how the events of the books might have affected our seventeen year old heroes. This first update is prologue of sorts to segue into it. Hope you enjoy!
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"What do you mean they're gone?"
"They left. They're running."
"Running? Running from what?"
"What do you think they're running from? Have you any idea what they've done? What they've been through?"
"Of course, it's awful....but Arthur you can't be suggesting there was another way?"
"There were plenty of other ways....that we stood by and let them take the responsibility for everything we love and cherish is a crime."
"They're heroes! They have been since they set foot here."
"They're children."
"They're all of age."
"And being 17 makes you qualified to face the horrors of war?"
"It has been asked of those their age since time immemorial."
"And that makes it right?"
"I seem to recall you letting your other sons join the war at 17....what makes it different now?"
"I made my mistakes and now I have one son dead, another who's half a man, and another who's broken beyond repair. So excuse my revision of what's important."
"The prophecy Arthur....Harry was the only one...."
"Words Minerva. A foggy crystal ball on a dusty shelf. Is that seriously all that you can think of? All the justification you need to have stood by and watched?"
"I trusted Albus. I remember a time when you did as well. We all did."
"And look what it gave us."
"We won Arthur, in case you've forgotten."
"Yes, but at what cost? At the end of the day can you seriously say that it was worth destroying three lives that had barely begun so that most of us could keep ourselves safe? Can you seriously say that we wouldn't have won the final battle without them? That the Order couldn't have hunted the horcruxes that Dumbledore knew existed and even essentially knew what they were? That we couldn't find some other way to destroy the one inside him without sending the boy to his death?"
"Arthur, he came back!"
"And I suppose Dumbledore knew for a God given fact it would work?"
"Dumbledore was the wisest wizard of our time."
"Wise? Where was the wisdom in letting school children fight our fight? In letting them become dropouts and fugitives? It wasn't wisdom, it was cowardice."
"The nerve of you!"
"If it wasn't for the final battle....if Voldemort hadn't finally pushed our hand....could you honestly say we would have faced him in the open? Can any of us? How long? How long did good people outnumber the Death Eaters a hundred to one? How long did we let the few frighten the many into complete helplessness?"
"Rehashing the past is pointless. What's done is done."
"You asked why they're gone, why they ran."
"And you answered that?"
"We both did. It broke them. It would have broken anyone."
"Well, I do hope they come back."
"I hope they never come back. They deserve much better than what we've given."
"They will want to return, they'll want to help rebuild."
"And I suppose we can't do that without them either? Ask them to not only save our world for us, but the to clean up the mess we made for ourselves?"
"I pegged you a better man Arthur. I thought you cared about our world."
"I do, I think it would do us all some good to lie in the bed we've made for ourselves. Reflect on just how cruel we've been. Do the math on how many that we've buried in the past month should have been walking these halls the past year. How many of them DID walk these halls."
"Students were not the only ones to shed their blood here, you would do well to remember that Arthur. They'll be remembered."
"Yes, by the parents they've left behind."
"I think perhaps it would be best if we part ways Arthur."
"Yes, I think so too."
"Goodbye, Arthur."
"Goodbye, Minerva."
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Son, wherever you are, I hope you find somewhere better. That you find the life we so cruelly stole from you. I'm sorry, so sorry to have done this to you. I could have stopped you, could have stopped all of you.....my apologies will never be enough.....I love you son, enough to tell you the hard truth: I won't stop you now. If you find you happiness somewhere else.....then I hope to never see you again. I failed you. We all failed you. But I still love you. If you can ever forgive us, we'll always be here. We're always with you, wherever you go.
love,
Dad