Written for Hogwarts (Challenges and Assignments)
Prompts: Pop Music Chart Day (prompt: 60s songs that hit #1 over the years — "I'm a Believer", by The Monkees)
I thought love was only true in fairy tales...
Harry had never believed in true love. His aunt and uncle loved Dudley, but they never loved him. Yes, his mum and dad had died for him, but what good was the love of dead people? His friends loved him, but not in the way that he craved so desperately.
Or so he thought.
All of this changed when he met Hermione Granger.
Yes, she was bossy. As hell, in fact. She was over-bearing, kind, helpful, a mother hen to both him and Ron.
But, despite all that, he wanted her to be his.
Disappointment haunted all my dreams...
Ron's little sister, Ginny, was apparently out to catch him. He'd had to hide from her several times.
He didn't want her.
He wanted Hermione.
And at night he dreamt of her. Brown hair, whiskey eyes, that adorable spray of freckles across her cheeks.
When he woke, he was always disappointed when she wasn't beside him.
Then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer...
He first noticed her — he had practically ignored her for a year as his feelings grew — when she descended the stairs at the Yule Ball in that gorgeous dress of hers. It dipped much lower than anything he'd ever seen her wear, and he found himself jealous that her décolleté was on display for everyone to see, instead of just for him. There was also makeup on her face — a look he'd never seen her wear. She pulled it off quite well.
But what amazed him the most was the shy, adoring, brilliant smile on her lips. The jealous feeling got bigger as he noticed at whom that smile was directed. Krum. He no longer looked up to the Bulgarian Seeker.
Not after this.
He suddenly believed in love. He went back over his thoughts...
And that's when he realized he was in love with his best friend.
Seems the more I gave, the less I got...
He respected many people and looked up to them. Tonks, Remus, Sirius, Dumbledore.
He loved, too. Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna...
Hermione.
He had always thought that familial or brotherly love was required and a given thing.
Remus and Tonks died. More people who had given their lives for his cause.
Less people to love and who loved him.
And then the person that he looked up to the most betrayed him. Dumbledore. He couldn't think the name anymore without sneering. Did he not have the right to know that, for Voldemort to fall, he would have to give up his own life?
That's when he decided that he would defeat his enemy, without anyone's help.
He could not — would not — have anyone else dying for him.
What's the use in trying? All you get is pain...
As he laid on the hard ground, the smell of damp earth and trees surrounding him, all he could think of was the intense rush of jealousy while the love of his life kissed someone other than him — and his best friend, to make matters even worse.
When I needed sunshine I got rain...
Since he heard Hermione's scream of denial, of terror, he had been wishing fervently that he hadn't gone through with his hare-brained idea.
He really should've listened to her...
And then Ginny's voice, protesting that he couldn't be dead. She interjected several endearments and pet names into her babbling that made him want to gag. They hadn't been together for a year, and she was still calling him that?
He wished he could see Hermione's face. Maybe there would be some sort of emotion writ there — perhaps jealousy? A sneer directed at her friend's childish antics?
But he couldn't open his eyes.
Then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer...
When he jumped out of thin air in front of Voldemort, his eyes immediately darted around in search of Hermione. When he saw her and met her eyes, he smiled gently, tenderly. Her rosebud mouth had fallen open in shock, her amber eyes that had seen so much more than one her age should have were large and disbelieving. Her face was flushed from exertion, streaks of blood and dirt and tears combining on her cheeks, and her hair even worse than in first year.
And she had never looked more beautiful in his eyes.
She had broken away from Ron, for which he was eternally grateful. But then he sought out his best friend, and his green eyes turned sad. The Weasleys were all kneeling around a body. He could only see six heads of red hair, and knew immediately that one had died.
Not a trace
Of doubt in my mind...
After the battle was over — although it was actually the war that they had won — he sought Hermione out. She was sitting next to Ron, her head resting on his shoulder.
He marched over, grabbed her by the shoulders, ignoring her wide eyes and protests, and pulled her up.
Then he kissed her.
I'm in love...
He discovered that Hermione and Ron had only kissed to find out how he felt about her. It had worked.
They married only months later.
And lived happily ever after.