Story [Harry Potter] Never Said (drama/songfic) Harry, Ginny

Title: Never Said
Author: Idrelle_Miocovani
Genre: drama, songfic, AU
Characters: Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley
Summary: Five years after the defeat of Voldemort, a vagabond Harry returns to Hogwarts to make peace with the one person he abandoned when she needed him the most.
Notes: This is (yet another!) story written for the JC House Cup. The song is ?Rain? by Patty Griffin. However, if I had been given the option of writing a ?symphony fic? instead, then the music would definitely have been ?Adagietto? from Mahler?s fifth symphony.

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[blockquote][b][color=silver][hl=darkgreen]Never Said[/hl][/color][/b][/blockquote]

In a thousand years time, one would naturally expect change to occur. Forests would grow, rivers would change course, kingdoms would fall and new ones would appear in their place. Time was king of all ? its reign was absolute. In the end, no matter what the struggle, everything bended to its rule.

Hogwarts castle had the single-mindedness to ignore the rules of time for as long as possible. While the Muggle castles and fortresses of its era crumbled with erosion and fell into disarray, Hogwarts remained standing tall and proud, held up by the magic that helped build it. Over the years since its creation, the school had seen both war and peace. It had been a centre for battles in one era and a refuge for tired warriors in the next. No matter what occurred in it or around it, Hogwarts endured. It had stood for a thousand years and it was likely to stand for a thousand more.

Harry Potter had much appreciation for the magnificent castle that had been both home and school to himself and so many others. However, events of the past had buried any fond memories he had of its sweeping halls. He had hoped to never set foot in the school again. Unfortunately, he had come here today with a purpose that he could no longer avoid. It was with much apprehension that he climbed the sloping green lawns in the morning mist, headed towards the grand front doors. It had been five years since he had last stepped foot inside the castle. Five years since the battle that had taken so many lives, yet won so much for the wizarding community? five years since he had approached Voldemort in the Great Hall for one final confrontation that decided the fate of every on-looker in the room.

It was the middle of an uncommonly cold, damp summer; the castle and its grounds were all but empty. It was for that very reason that Harry had decided to come back at this particular time. There would be no students gawking at him in the hallways, no frantic whispers of excitement as he passed. One would assume that he would be used to it by now: everyone in the wizarding world knew his name. They knew him as the Boy Who Lived, the man who had defeated the greatest Dark Wizard of the twentieth century. But Harry was never too keen on the fame that was attached to his identity. He was famous for something that brought many painful memories along with it.

If everything bent to time?s will, then Harry knew one thing that had escaped. His most painful memories were still as sharp as they were, and time had done nothing to smooth them over. They stood strong, surviving the passage of time, just like Hogwarts.

Five years was an awfully long time, yet it didn?t feel like enough.

It was dark for a summer morning; the sky was covered with grey clouds, the sun peaking momentarily out from behind its covers now and then. Mist rolled across the lawns in a dream-like fashion. Harry slowly reached the entrance courtyard and began making his way towards the grand oak doors.

She was waiting for him, standing on the steps as she had promised. Her red hair was brushed neatly out of her face; it was cut much shorter than she had it in her teens. Harry half expected her to cross her arms and glare at him, but at the same time that stance seemed out of place. They were not teenagers anymore.

Harry mounted the steps and stood, somewhat awkwardly, beside her. He did not know what to say.

?Hi Harry,? Ginny said.

 

That was so, so sad!! Beautifully written, but I almost cried.

My favorite line was the last - "I never said I was the hero." Very powerful.

 

Thank you, Nat! I was going for the "bittersweet, almost tearful" reaction, so yay. Here's a box of Kleenex.

My favorite line was the last - "I never said I was the hero." Very powerful.

I thought it fitting. As much as Harry is the hero of the series, he doesn't like being seen as such. If things went very, very differently during the Battle of Hogwarts (like here, where Ron and Hermione died in the fight), I can see him ending up as this drifting person who blames himself even though he conquered Voldemort in the end.