Love's Mile

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Sometimes I wish I did...just sometimes though.

A/n: This was a prompt I wrote for a friend a while ago as the beginning of a time travel fic. I came across it today and decided to post it as a one shot.

Harry stood upon the edge of the cliff looking out over the sea at the oncoming storm. This is where he retreated to when things got bad. When he felt that the just needed to be alone. Few knew about this place, not even his closest friends knew about it. Sometimes he needed to escape from them too. The place was a small cottage on the English coast line overlooking the ocean towards America. Placed high above the shoreline below it was generally safe from the treacherous waters below, however that would soon change.

Of all the times that Harry had come here this time he was the most depressed. He had come here when some of his friends died, when the war to a spectacular turn for the worse. Even now, when the war was still going badly that was not the reason that he was here. He was here because he was mourning the loss of something that he never had. The one person who could save him from himself. Nymphadora Tonks. The person that he was secretly in love with, and had been since he had first seen her all those years ago. But times had changed, he had be afraid to act, afraid that she would not accept his love, and now she was married to the one link that he had to his family. Remus Lupin. Not only that they now had a child, who while he was Teddy's godfather and brought him great joy, still reminded him of the fact that that should be his child. He should be the one married to his love.

Now Harry was alone. The war was getting steadily worse, friends had died, people he loved were hurt, yet he was still alone. He had to bear the weight of the future of the wizarding world by his own. This place along the coastline was the one place he could go to get away from that. The place had once been owned by his parents, as a place to get away from it all, and now it belonged to him. Yet it too would soon be gone. The approaching storm was predicted to be the storm of the century and would take out most of the surrounding terrain, and Harry knew that the small cottage would go with it.

Harry idly kicked a small rock over the edge of the cliff, watching it careen over the side and into the foaming waters below, smashed to bits against the more jagged rocks that marked the bottom of the cliffs. His hands in the pockets of his muggle clothing, a small tear made its way down his cheek. He couldn't bear to see Tonks so happy while he was so alone.

Harry didn't even flinch at the small crack that came from behind him. Truthfully he had wondered when anyone would find him. For he had been here for over three hours after leaving the party abruptly.

"Harry?" came the soft call as someone sided up to stand next to him overlooking the ocean.

This time Harry did flinch, for the voice was one that he loved to hear. The one that brought him warmth to his heart.

"Why can't she just leave me alone? It makes it worse when I see her"

"How did you find me?" Harry whispered softly, his voice almost being carried away in the increasing winds.

"Dobby told me you would be here. What's wrong Harry?"

"No..Nothing"

"Harry. I can tell something's wrong. You've been missing for three hours, even Ron noticed"

Harry laughed bitterly "It's nothing Tonks. Nothing that is going to change anytime soon"

"Harry, please talk to me. You're my friend, I need to know if I can help you"

"You can't"

"Why not?"

"Because…because….because I love you Tonks" he finally admitted.

Tonks leaned over and embraced him as Harry cried into her shoulder. "I love you too Harry."

For a moment Harry's heart leapt, but it was squashed down by the realization that she did not mean it the same way. "No, you don't understand Tonks. I'm… I'm in love with you."

Startled Tonks pulled away and looked at Harry sharply "What?"

Harry sighed "I'm in love with you Tonks. I've always been. Ever since I first met you, I've loved you. But I was afraid of you rejecting me. I've been rejected so many times it hurts, and if you had rejected me I think I would have died. And now your with Remus and I can never be happy."

Tonks didn't know what to say. Here Harry had just poured his heart out and declared his love for her. Yet she was with Remus, who she loved dearly, and now had a son. Not knowing what to do Tonks just pulled Harry into a hug and said nothing as he cried.

So they stood there together on the cliff overlooking the oncoming storm for a long time. Doing nothing, just standing there. Tonks knew that Harry had never had a girlfriend, and that he was hard to get to open up. Now she knew why. It was because he loved her. He wouldn't open up to anyone that wasn't her. Coming to a decision, Tonks pulled back from Harry and began to speak.

"Harry, I…"

But that was all the farther that she got as she heard a muffled crack from in the distance and immediately her auror reflexes kicked in and pushed Harry lightly away, but it was too late.

The bullet from the rifle about a mile away on the opposing cliffs pierced into Harry's chest and into his left lung, immediately filling it with blood. Harry collapsed into Tonks arms as he fell to the ground, coughing up blood from his rapidly filling lung.

"HARRY!" Tonks panicked and pulled out her wand to cast healing spells on him to stunt the flow, until she could get him to a healer. But with her limited knowledge in spells of that nature, she was unable to do anything. Looking at his now pale face Tonks saw his lips moving with slight rasping sound coming out. Placing her ear near his mouth she was able to make out what he was saying.

"I…love…you…Tonks"

Tears flowing down her face and onto Harry's body, Tonks immediately came to a decision and smiled sadly down at him.

"I…I love you too Harry"

Harry struggled to smile up at her as a soft golden glow began to form around both of them at Tonk's declaration. The glow began to fade from them just as the storm began to crest over the top of the cliff. Its waves on their way to destruction.

Czar Rorsach looked down the scope of his rifle grimly at the collapsed figure of the boy he had just shot. Czar felt no remorse at what he had done, it was his job after all. You had to have no remorse for in his kind of work. Yet he felt something tugging at his cold heart. Something that he had not felt in almost 20 years, since he started as a hitman. Just as quickly he squashed it down and began to pack up his equipment.

While Czar felt no remorse for what he had done, he did feel bad for killing one of the two people who were obviously in love. But it was not his job to question his contracts. Yet for the first time after a hit Czar wondered what exactly this Riddle character had had against this boy.