I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any profits from this ficlet or any that follow.
After a bit I realized I had a bunch of little fics and starts for the Harry Potter verse (or various interpretations of it) so I decided to dump them all here after renaming the original one-shot.
This one is just something I wrote probably a year ago and just came back across. This is pretty AU when compared to the cannon epilog but it was a fun exercise and I enjoyed both writing and reading it later so decided to share. Very light on details which is unusual for me but fun none the less.
Sacrifice.
Destruction or surrender of something for something else; Something given up or lost.
It was the definition that best fit his life.
He had lost his parents. He had lost the chance to grow up as a child. He had lost the chance to be normal. He had been groomed and raised for one purpose, to put an end to something. Everything in his life had conspired to make him incapable of demanding anything.
She was smart, "brilliant, but scary" as Ron had so eloquently put it years ago.
She was pretty, he hadn't noticed first but Krum hadn't been the best seeker in the world for nothing. His eyes had immediately spotted potential that everyone else had missed.
She was caring. Every effort had been made on her part to make his life better, from schoolwork to emotions and everything in between.
She was loyal, never once considering leaving him no matter how desperate the situation they found themselves in.
He was just so emotionally stunted he hadn't been able to grasp what his body and mind were desperately trying to inform him of until Ron had already started showing interest in her as well.
Sacrifice.
Ron wanted her, so Harry Potter could never stand in the way. He wasn't allowed to do that, to want things. So he never let his emotions develop further, forced the possibilities away.
She had eventually returned the other boy's feelings, and so Harry let her go. Not with a fight, but just an unheard whimper that he chided himself for.
The one thing he thought he wanted in his life was a family that loved him. He had gotten that, in a way. No one had ever survived a Killing curse before, and after two Harry found his desires for children of his own could never come true the natural way. Luckily for him Ron and Hermione had let him continue to drift around them as they began to build their life together.
He stood in the door frame, watching her fret about the room. White silk hugging her body and radiant even in her frazzled state.
Sacrifice.
Ron was a good man, not the best man, but a good man. He would love her and cherish her for his whole life. She loved him and he made her laugh, smile, all the skills Harry had sacrificed in life were present in him. They would be happy.
Sacrifice.
Just once. Just this once he would take something he wanted. His body burned at the thought, searing pain at the audacity of his decision.
A quiet Imperio stilled her nervousness. Warm chocolate eyes met his and he could see outrage at his betrayal in them. The first true betrayal he had ever committed in his life. Stabbing pain through his whole body but it didn't stop him.
Just once he would take what he wanted. No, wanting wasn't allowed, what he needed.
The syringe easily broke the skin of her elbow. Vibrant red fluid filling the vial. Two minutes and a quick charm later her skin was once again unblemished and the vial slipped quietly into his pocket. He can't meet her eyes yet, trembling as wave after wave of pain rips through him over his selfishness. A simple memory charm covers his heinous crime and the outrage and betrayal vanish in the course of a blink.
"I'm sorry."
She'll forget those five minutes of her life. Forget them forever if his plan fails.
Her wedding day was perfect. Ron, acting like the true gentleman he was becoming, and Hermione the blushing bride that sparked a flurry of weddings throughout wizarding society. He had been the best man, handing his friend the ring that would finally take his little mismatched family away from him.
Sacrifice.
A month later he was gone. Disappearing from the world as his estates were split amongst those he had called family and friends, he never had use for it. He lost himself deep in the wilderness, tracking ley-lines of power for the one place that could grant his single selfish wish.
Just once.
The knife spills his blood into the basin, mixing and melding with hers inside the massive circle of runes. Dark magic at work. Magic that would see him dead if he made the slightest mistake. Magic that others would use to condemn him for years if they knew. Magic that could lash back against Her as well, but in the end he has to do it. Needs to do it.
To sacrifice is his way, his lot, and his fate. But just once he will fight against it, fight to become something just a little more whole.
She's beautiful. Black, bushy hair and dark eyes. Only a hint of his own green shining back from the tiny bundle wrapped in his arms. Fat, healthy limbs and a set of lungs that would put Molly Weasley to shame.
He didn't have long left anymore, but he made the most of that time. Eleven years spent raising the perfect child. Watching as she grew everyday, smiling as more and more of her mother came to the surface. On her eleventh birthday the letter came, and he knew his time was up.
Sacrifice.
Life can't be created through magic. However it can be taken by force or given away through choice. As a fairly powerful wizard Harry was expected to live to be over one-hundred and twenty years of age. At thirty his time was almost up.
He brought her to the station hours early. Waiting patiently for his lost family to show. They didn't disappoint.
Ron had filled out, bigger then life with a voice and presence to match. Boyishness was still draped around him like a cloak and Harry felt his lips form a smile.
Hermione glowed. Pride in herself and her accomplishments, smiling at some comment from Ron. Her first son's hands hands tight in her own as she pointed to the train.
When he approached, his daughters hand lightly held in his own, he saw the initial shock fade into joy over each of their faces. His family was back together. Quick introductions were all the time they had left before their children were boarding the train. After the red steam-engine had pulled away Harry turned back to face them, arms around each other.
"She's yours." He whispered, placing a small folder in their hands.
Just once he had decided that being a simple sacrifice wasn't enough, and that one choice had made everything else worth it.
He let his hold over Hermione's memory finally slip. Watching as realization, hurt, and morbid understanding welled into those gorgeous eyes. They were the last thing he saw before his body collapsed, never to rise again. Ninety years of life happily given so that he could have eleven with a daughter. A daughter from the woman he loved.
Because in the end Harry Potter was not a hero, he was just a sacrifice.
I know this doesn't really fit anywhere in the established cannon, and I never read the final two books in the series or even watched the movies (honestly from what I've heard I didn't really miss anything awesome in the books and thus had no real incentive to watch the movies.). From what I've gathered Harry basically never became the hero I was waiting for him to become. And if he wasn't a hero, or a villain, then he was just a means to an end. Something created ultimately for the purpose of being destroyed, to be sacrificed.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this. Or hate it enough to give me a piece of your mind. As a mere dabbler in this series (currently at least) I honestly won't feel bad if you need to rage and howl at how I messed everything up, but it was interesting to write and hopefully equally enjoyable to read.
~SimplyWaters~