Here is basically a stream of consciousness writing because I was bored this morning. This is very AU for both me and the HP universe.

I do not own Harry Potter.

Just A Boy

"I gave up my family, my future, my life for you." She whispered softly, but every word was laced with pain. She was standing in front of me, standing in our living room, looking out our window. I took a step closer to her and brushed my fingertips down her arm. Her eyes closed and her face screwed up that way it does when she's trying not to cry.

"I know, honey." I whispered to her as my right hand gently lifted her left hand. She opened her eyes as I lifted her hand to her eye level, so she could see her wedding ring, our life on her finger.

She closed her eyes and cringed as she turned her head to the left, like she does when she's in pain and doesn't want to think about it.

"Hey, it's okay," I said, my hand cupping her cheek. "I know it hurts, but you chose to leave them for me. . . . Because I'm not just some boy."

She cringed again and her eyes squeezed even tighter. She didn't say anything, but she started shaking.

"But you are." She finally whispered.

I froze. One hand was attached to her face, and the other to her arm. My brain was spinning and flashing as thought after thought after incoherent thought after unhelpful thought raced past. She opened her eyes and I barely registered her hands on my face.

"Say something." She commanded softly and I almost smiled because that's the exact same tone she used when she told me she was pregnant and I went into shock.

Oh god. Our daughter. My brain seemed to slow down as my fatherly impulses turn on and told me to go to my daughter, forgetting that she was at my sister's.

But my wife, my wife, seemed to know what I was thinking because she held my face even tighter, keeping me from leaving.

"What do you want me to say?" I managed to mumble out.

"I don't know. Something." She pleaded.

"Why'd you marry me if I was just some boy?" I nearly spat, but I had to remain calm, yelling at her would only make her leave.

"I thought I loved you. I deluded myself into loving you." She said, every word slicing into both of us.

"I'm just a delusion?" I repeated, my voice catching.

She looked at me conflicted. She wanted to tell me the truth, but she didn't want to hurt me further. "I'm sorry."

Our life flashed before my eyes. Her awkward smile on our first date. Her secret smiles to me when she was around her sisters. Her brilliant, wide smile when she got her diploma. Throwing her arms around my neck and burying her head into my chest when she ran away. Her promise that she wasn't going to regret leaving that life.

A strangled cry escaped my lips. A lie. Our life was a lie.

"They won't take you back." I said sharply and she removed her hands from me as I removed mine from her.

"You don't know them." She countered.

"You left. You defied them. And you really think they'll welcome you back with open arms?" My vision was turning red.

"We already have." A voice said from the doorway, our doorway. I turned to see her sister standing there, with my wife's suitcase in her hand.

I started shaking with anger as my head spun. She betrayed me. She's leaving me just because her family wants her back.

"Don't do this." I begged her.

"I can't lead you on anymore." She said.

"You aren't. You love me. You always have." I said, trying to convince her.

But she shook her head.

"No, you were a fantasy that made me happy. I thought I was in love. I thought I was in love like Scarlett thought she was in love with Ashley." She said.

I staggered back as if she really had stabbed me. My life. Our life. My life was her. My life was filled with memories of her. Our daughter was her. Our house is her. My ring is her.

She was staring at me with pain filled eyes. And that's when I knew that she wasn't lying. She didn't want to hurt me anymore.

"Then go." I said calmly as I approached her. "Be happy."

She looked at me as she couldn't believe me. I smiled softly.

"I want you to be happy and you're not happy here, so go. Find your happiness." I said, still smiling because I meant it. I could have trapped her with me, but she wouldn't be happy and life has beaten her down so much, she deserves some happiness.

She threw her arms around my neck and I breathed her in one last time.

"Thank you." She whispered in my ear.

I didn't know how to respond so I just smiled softly as she removed herself from me and joined her sister. Then they left a moment later and my house seemed so empty.

I fell to my knees and cried.

She better be happy. She better be. Or I'll kill her family if they hurt her again.