Forever Changed
Hermione sat across from Harry sipping slowly at her tea. The war had been over for many years and much had changed in the aftermath. The two old friends had run into one another while visiting London for different reasons, and had somehow found themselves in a café catching up.
"So, I noticed you do not have a ring on." Harry commented while looking at her over the rim of his coffee cup.
"How perceptive of you." she chuckled. "You're surprised that I didn't marry Ron? It took a couple of months after you left for me to realize that he was a moron with a severe case of mental instability."
"What happened?" Harry asked after controlling the choking that her comment had caused him.
"Oh, nothing extreme. I went to the wizard university and he became jealous of everyone I spoke to. It was almost like he was stalking me. His issues of inadequacy are very deeply seeded. After I left him, I began seeing Neville, but that didn't last. Then I gave up on the wizarding world all together."
"Why? You always seemed like it was want you wanted." He was concerned that he should have been there for her when she needed a friend.
"It was, but after I had to make my parents forget I existed, it was never quite as wondrous after that." Her eyes had become cold and distant. "I do not think that anything could change what had to be done, they needed to be protected, but I feel like I killed them. My parents may not be dead, but that is what I have to tell everyone now. How do you explain that to non-magical people?"
"I don't know. I still tell people that my parents were killed in a car accident."
"I still find it hard to believe that the adults allowed children to fight in a war. Too much was stolen from us in while we were busy saving their hides. What kind of people expects teenagers to save the world?" Hermione seemed angry at this point. "They should all be ashamed of themselves."
They sat in silence for a long time just staring into their cups, lost in thought. The war had changed them, but not for the better. They had both become bitter and blamed the magical world for the damage that was caused. Some wounds last forever.
"So, what about you? Why did you not say anything when you left?" Hermione could not disguise the slight regret in her voice.
"After I saw Snape's memories of my parents and Dumbledore I had my reservations about who I really was and my true role in the war. Snape was the real reason I was alive, and during all that time I did nothing but make the man's life miserable." He put his coffee down because it seemed to be too bitter for his taste. "I trusted Dumbledore above all others, and I thought he really cared about me. I came to realize that he only wanted me alive so I could die, and he could sweep in at the last moment and save the day. He man was manipulative and a liar."
Hermione was quite for a while slowly digesting what Harry had told her. "So, you think that Dumbledore wanted you to die? Why didn't he just do it when you were a baby?"
"I think that he wanted me to die at the moment that was the most opportune for him. If he had killed me while I was a baby Voldemort would have known that Dumbledore knew about the horcruxes. I do not think that the man ever really cared about me. Like Snape said, I was raised "like a pig for slaughter'."
Harry chuckled to himself, "Did Ron ever tell you that I overheard Molly giving Ginny tips on how to manipulate me?"
"No! Why? When?" She seemed horrified at the idea.
"Didn't you ever think it was odd how pushy Molly was that Ginny and I stayed together? I found out that they had a plan to try to get my money away from me. I would have gladly given them whatever they wanted, but they tried to take it instead. Ginny was going to marry me and then divorce me to get money. What's worse is it was all Molly's idea."
"I guess crazy runs in the family." She said with venom in her voice.
Hearing the reality of it out loud was shock to them both, but they had also both thought the same thing a long time ago. Each had become bitter and hardened to the wizarding world, and each saw the blind arrogance that would one day cause the raise of a new Dark Lord. They still had the class system of pure-blood and muggle-born, and that was the true cause of the war.
Harry and Hermione talked for a while longer about more mundane topics. They spoke about their occupations, new interest and difficulties adjusting to a new world again. They traded addresses so they could write to each other and went their separate ways, although they never would communicate after that day. Sometimes when the people you love the most are gone from your life their memory is more precious than the reality of how we have changed.