Gradually the grey light of dawn crept between his curtains. Sleep had not found him last night, he lay watching the shadows on the wall, his eyes stinging through lack of sleep. It didn't matter how long he closed his eyes, the same images always returned. Trees; soulless red eyes and the flash of green light haunted him. His "death" at the hand of Tom Riddle happened so many years ago, but still, the weight of guilt, of expectation of hopelessness hung to him like a bad smell. Harry Potter, the boy who lived was now the man that was broken.
His rise to the top of the Auror department was as meteoric as everyone expected it to be, the saviour of the Wizarding world brought about swift and resolute changes which saw him become the head of the department of magical law enforcement by the of 28. His influence on how the magical world would detect and solve crimes by means of following long-established practices in Muggle police forces was seen, at first, as an attempt to erode Wizarding heritage. Potters police, as they came to be known, proved that with the simple application of detective work and evidence-based research no crime was unsolvable.
Even after all his achievements Harry still felt broken inside. To the world at large, he was a leader that they could look up to, someone that would carry the fight to the darkness and stand triumphant at the end, to his colleagues he was the hardest working man they knew. Always in the office before everyone else, always last to leave. He was a shining example of hard work and dedication. To his friends, he was simply Harry, a well mannered and courteous man who was humble and loyal. To his wife, he used to be the man of her dreams, now he was overworked and under appreciative of her needs. To Ron, he was the man that had everything, everything that Ron wanted; fame, gold, hordes of fans. The only person that knew his hopes and fears and saw how the weight of expectation was crushing the life out of him was Hermione.
He lay waiting, slowly riming of the seconds in his head until she woke, twenty-one thousand six hundred and twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. Ginny yawned and stretched, 'morning darling' she said sleepily before rolling over and kissing him, he kissed her back. More as an automatic response than anything else but as usual Ginny didn't notice. I wonder how long it would be before she noticed I wasn't here, he thought. 'You know I don't have to be in at the Prophet for a couple of hours, maybe we can stay here and ...' she let the unfinished sentence hang in the air while she played with the hair on his chest.
Harry replied 'I have to be at the wizenagamot in half an hour Gin, you know we are finally going to pass your dads Muggle protection act.' As he delivered this news he stroked her hair as lovingly as he could. Ginny sighed, 'I know, it's just I never get to spend any time with you. Next week I have Tuesday off, can you take the day to spend with me?' she looked up him, her bright brown eyes hopeful. 'I'll speak to the boss and square it away' Harry teased 'erm...you are the boss, you know!'
Ginny could never understand his humour; he got out of bed and walked to the bedroom door. 'I know; it was a bad joke, love. I'll take next Tuesday off and we'll make a day of it. Lunch, a show and somewhere nice for dinner, how does that sound?' Ginny gave a yelp of delight and bounce out of bed and flung herself at Harry, crushing the air from his lungs in a patented Molly Weaseley Hug 'thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou' her lips met his before saying 'bugger off you, you've got work to get to' before bouncing back to bed.
Twenty minutes later Harry was sitting at his desk, a cup of what passed for coffee stood with steam curling from it. His desk was a picture of efficiency and neatness, his inbox had three memos, his out box was empty and his pending tray was equally bare. There was very little in his office to show that someone actually spent any time there. He and Ginny's marriage had not been blessed with kids yet so he had no paintings of purple dogs or drawing of houses that had stick people with unimaginably long legs standing next to it.
There were no photos of him and Ginny either, the only photo he had on his desk was from the album that Hagrid gave to him at the end of his first year. The photo was of his mum and dad holding him as a baby. This was the only photo he had of him and his parents together; it was their sacrifice that drove him to make the Wizarding world a safer place. He stared at it every morning and renewed the same promise to keep fighting for those that couldn't fight for themselves.
#
Hermione stood in the shower letting the warm water cascade down her neck and back. Her eyes stung with the suds from her shampoo as well as from her lack of sleep, like Harry the scars were still too fresh for her. The nightmares came most nights, always the same. Bellatrix carving the word "mud-blood" into her arm, whispering all the while about the terrible things she would see done to her and her family before the end.
The war was over, Bellatrix was long dead; now nothing more than a name to frighten naughty children with, but the fear was still there. The memory of that day at Malfoy manor still chilled the marrow of her bones, not even the warmth of the shower could ease that. As Deputy Head of the department of magical law enforcement, Hermione Weasley was a formidable woman. Her well-earned reputation for being determined, uncompromising yet fair was the stuff of legend, not since Amelia Bones had anyone been considered so formidable. The Potter and Weasley team worked swiftly and always got results.
Today she would sit with Harry as her father in laws long-overlooked law was finally passed into legislation. It would be a proud day remembered by the Weasley family for generations. Hermione knocked on Harry's office door 'Enter' came the response, she opened the door and the sight of him sitting there looking forlornly at his parent's photo caused her heart to break a little every time she saw it, he still looked like that eleven-year-old boy who desperately wanted his mum. He looked up at her, his bright green eyes shining with unshed tears.
'It's time, Harry.' He got up and walked to the door, 'you never knock, why start now?' he asked as they made their way to the chamber, for a few seconds silence passed between them she replied 'I had a feeling that you needed a moment of privacy.', 'I wish Ginny was as perceptive as you 'Mione. Sometimes she is so overbearing that I can't breathe' said Harry. 'She just wants to spend time with her husband. Surely you can understand that?' she asked. Harry gave a humorless laugh, 'you mean she wants to constantly show off that she's married to the boy who lived!' there was no response to that, Hermione knew exactly what Harry meant by this.
They arrived at the chamber and took their seats, there were a few laws being passed, Arthurs being seventh on the bill, they had a little bit of a wait before seeing Arthurs life's work come to fruition.
#
Finally, after a few hours of readings, questions about the various acts and how they will be policed, The Muggle Protection Act was passed by a unanimous vote. Harry and Hermione went over to congratulate their father-in-law. Hermione hugged him and asked 'How does it feel to finally have it passed?' Arthur was choked up with emotion and stood shacking his head in disbelief before saying 'I couldn't have done it without all the changes that you two have made. Dumbledore would be so proud', at this Harry groaned inwardly 'Arthur, Albus was a great man, don't get me wrong, but a lot of the problem we have had to deal with over the last few years was down to him and people like him that didn't want things to change. Too many people got hurt because Dumbledore kept too many things to himself,'
Harry visibly sagged 'listen, don't mind me Arthur, I'm tired-'a yawn cut him off 'I've not been sleeping well of late, to tell you the truth I could do with a few days off.' With that Arthur said 'We're having a family dinner at the burrow tonight; it's been ten years since Fred...' Hermione embraced the Elder Weaseley before tears got the better of him. 'We'll be there, all of us.' Harry nodded in agreement.
#
Harry was sitting at his desk wondering why he forgot that almost ten years ago to the day he had stopped Tom. Had it really been that long? He was nearing his 28th birthday and if he was honest he would gladly forget the entire thing. The only really good thing that had happened on his birthday was Hagrid bringing him his Hogwarts letter, and since the end of the war he had tried to forget them. Ginny wouldn't take the hint and always went over the top, huge cake; lots of gifts, everyone coming to the party and always the inevitable questions about kids. He had had enough.
Everyone had already arrived at the burrow when Harry appeared; Ginny had been there since this afternoon, the atmosphere was light with only a few sombre faces dotted here and there. Every year the anniversary of Fred's passing hit George like a hammer blow all over again, some years it took hours to get him back to his normal self/ Tonight Harry saw him sitting alone by his dads old shed. 'Hi George, how's business?' Harry tried to be upbeat in the hope that this would shake George out of his funk. 'Hi Harry, business is good. Who would have thought "won-won" would be so good at business?' George's smile beamed Harry sat down. 'What's on your mind, mate?' George took a deep breath before answering 'I'm really proud of dad for getting his law passed. Fred would be too; in fact he would be bouncing off the walls with excitement seeing all the changes that you and Hermione have made.' This was not the reaction that Harry was expecting, George continued, 'I miss him everyday Harry but days like this just make it harder to keep going. I know that they all mean well and everything but sometimes I just want them to leave me to get on with it, you know?' Harry smiled at this brother-in-law and said 'more than you realise mate, more than you realise. Look I'm gonna head in and say hello to everyone, I'll get them to give you some space.' George smiled his appreciation, as Harry was walking away George call out to him 'A word to the wise mate, Gin is talking about babies again.'
Percy and Audrey were sitting with Angelina as their kids played, Ron was standing by the stairs with Bill and Arthur while Ginny, Hermione and Molly were in the kitchen. Fleur, Luna, Neville, Rolf and Charlie were engaged in a deep discussion on magical creatures and herbology. Harry stood just outside taking in the sight before him, The Burrow always felt like a second home to him, some of his happiest memories were closely linked to his place yet tonight he felt uneasy about going in. He took a deep breath and walked in the door 'you know Hermione, you could help harry out a little. I never get to see him anymore and we are trying for a family.' The bossy sound of Ginny's voice was starting to grate on his nerves.
Ron approached him 'alright?' the men embraced 'I'm good Ron, how are you doing?' Ron shrugged his shoulders 'could be better I suppose, but it is what it is. Is what Ginny saying true; that you're trying for kids?' the hope in his voice was evident 'maybe Hermione could take the hint!' Harry just shook his head 'Mate, I barely have time to scratch my arse never mind thinking about getting Ginny pregnant.' Ginny had heard Harrys' voice and came over 'What's this about getting me pregnant?' she asked.
It wasn't so much what she said more the way that she said it that caused Harry to react the way he did, 'for fuck sake Ginny, can we have one night without you constantly going on about kids? I get it you want kids and as fucking usual the chosen one makes an arse of it again.' Ginny stood open mouthed 'Harry I...' the colour drained from her face as her unloaded again. 'I've had it up to here, when are you going actually listen to me? Huh? When will you actually ask what I want?' Ron tried to cut in 'Harry mate calm down!' This just stoked the flames 'why Ron? Why the fuck should I calm down? its incessant, it's always "I'd like this" or "I want us to go here" or "we need to be seen at so and so's party"' every pair of eyes was now fixed on him, Ginny stood before him, tears running down her cheeks, as she reached out to him he said in barely a whisper 'don't touch me' before walking out the door and walking to the edge of the wards. Before apparating he here the plaintive cries of Ginny calling him 'Harry, don't go!'