Title: while bridges burn
Summary: They're matching broken puzzle pieces.
Word Count: 290
Rating: PG
Warning: Lots of angst once again. There are also some OBHWF hints. And it ends in Harry/Hermione. I seem to be a sadist apparently. Oh, and I violated the Eleventh Fanfiction Commandment (namely, the overuse of italics).
Disclaimer: Harry Potter's not mine - it's all J.K. Rowling's. The lyrics "Maybe it means nothing / It's so beautiful here / This moment now" belong to Vienna Teng. The lyrics themselves come from her song "Recessional." It's a gorgeous track that I highly recommend. 3
Notes: This goes out to you, Ely. Hope you like it. And I'm really sorry this is so late.
- - -
It hurts to think about her.
He can't deny it. They're matching broken puzzle pieces.
Maybe it means nothing. He tried to make himself believe that once.
Shame and guilt try to drown him.
He knows the truth.
It's a bleeding wound that does not truly go away.
-
He's always reminded of why he can't be with her - why they can't exist.
It means something.
What they have is real. It's not out of a cheap and predictable fairy tale. (It's real for us.)
He squeezes their entwined hands.
-
It's so beautiful here.
This moment now.
It hurts even more to think of what they could've had.
Could have. Never should have.
-
His voice doesn't break when he tells Ginny.
His eyes are steady. Life shines through the jade depths.
She smiles sadly and says that she should be sorry. We were never meant to be together, you and me. There already was someone.
Someone I can't replace.
-
(I stopped dreaming a long time ago.
The two of you - you're kindred spirits. Soulmates in every possible way. What you have, what you feel, isn't an ordinary love.
It's honest, pure, unconditional.
Seize it. Never let it go.
You'll live to regret it.)
-
Go, her eyes say.
He leaves without saying goodbye.
-
I understood everything from the beginning, Ron tells her. We weren't going to last.
Ginny and I were temporary substitutes for the real thing.
You guys have something that'll last beyond time. Beyond forever.
You're each other's number one.
He grins wistfully. No one can compete with that.
She hugs him and walks on.
Goodbye doesn't escape her lips.
-
Sometimes you don't need happily ever after, she whispers in his ear.
-
It stops hurting.
-
Epilogue:
Now all is well.