And They Expected Miracles
they built a hero out of expectations
There was always so much at stake, always so much expected of him. Even after the first encounter with the man who embodied evil, people believed he'd do great things, and he had only been a baby then.
What if he couldn't live up to the expectations? What if there really was nothing special about him?
He wanted to shed the title "The Boy Who Lived" because it was too much to bare. He didn't want to be watched as if he were under a microscope in a fishbowl his entire life. He just wanted to be him. Just Harry.
he was groomed for greatness from the time he was young
He was followed and watched no matter what he did; whether it be studying in the library or eating in the Great Hall. They dotted on him, whispered about him, and judged him from afar; no one ever seemed to care who he really was.
But then he was thankful for that at times, because what if he wasn't the hero they thought he was? What if he was just a regular boy, who happened to be a wizard, who happened to be the only one who could defeat the thing that caused children in every wizarding home to have nightmares.
Maybe the prophecy was wrong; someone once told him that Divination could not be counted on, and he believed them.
So what if the whole thing was fake and only put up with because the thing that everyone feared was a part of it. What if Harry didn't have to do anything but sit and wait and finish school? What if his fate could be changed?
There were a million what if's, and though sometimes they got him through the night, most of the time he knew they were just thoughts, just musings, with no real merit behind them.
The truth of the matter was that his fate had already been decided, and he only had to wait it out until it was all over.
the world soaked up every drop of drama and insecurity
He didn't voice his feelings in this particular area to anyone, not even those closest to him. He knew they'd only offer the best sympathy they could muster, and encouraging words...but nothing would change the way he felt. Nothing could change the hollowness in his heart and the hole in the pit of his stomach that said he'd die in the end. And it wouldn't be accidental, or even caused by old age.
He knew, ever since he was eleven and had faced it headon by himself and come out alive, that he only had nine lives. He was like a cat, a really stupid, but brave, cat.
He hated cats.
Most of all, though, he hated the hand he had been delt in the card game that was his life. He would trade anything to have his parents back, to just live a normal life. He'd forsake being a wizard just to be with them again, and not have to worry about when he would be murdered.
Sometimes, at night, he tried to fool himself into thinking that he wouldn't be the one to die at the end of it all. But, like everything his friends said, he still knew the truth.
The end was coming, and he would prepare himself to die a hero.
Because that's how his father would have wanted it.
then they expected miracles
-in italics are some random lyrics to "Miracles" by Matt Nathanson.