A/N: Hey guys! I've actually been on Fanfiction for quite a while now, and this isn't my real account. So, anyway, a friend recently came up to me and offered to teach me how to upload stories onto Fanfiction (I was too lazy to find out on my own). So, here it is! Chapter 1 of my very first story! I hope you like it and please drop me a review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Prologue

Everything was perfect, as it should have been. The wars were fought, the good side won, everyone was happy. Everyone except him.

He was their Saviour, their Chosen One. He had spent seventeen years of his life, give or take, trying to defeat Voldemort and his Death Eaters. When the battle was won, he thought it would all be over-the pain, the hurt, the darkness inside of him. He could not have been more wrong. Even after seeing his enemy fall dead to the ground, the shadows of his past would always haunt him.

He was Harry Potter.

Chapter 1

"Harry, wake up!" A familiar voice shouted. "YOU BLOODY FOOL, GET OUT OF BED!"

With a loud groan, Harry Potter stretched on his bed and opened his emerald eyes slowly. "Ron?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes. "Why are you in my room?"

He opened his eyes once more to see his red-haired best friend glare down at him from where he stood. "It's two in the afternoon, Sleeping Beauty. What on earth were you doing last night? You were sleeping like the dead!"

At the word 'dead', Harry flinched. He quickly covered it with a yawn, hoping Ron wouldn't notice. He was lucky. The ginger was walking around Harry's room, drawing curtains and peering at the view outside.

"Hey, it's a beautiful day. Hermione and I are planning to go to the park and meet up with Ginny, want to come along?" Ron asked him with a smile. Harry hesitated. It had been half a year since he had killed Voldemort, but he still had nightmares about the war. Frankly, he didn't want to go anywhere at all. He just wanted to hide from the world who surely wanted a piece of their Chosen One. However, he did not want to worry his friends. They had their own lives and he could not mess theirs up any further. For now, he would pretend he was perfectly all right until he really was fine.

"Sure. When are we going?" Harry asked, stumbling out of bed and making his way to the toilet.

"Now."

A warm pair of arms wrapped around his waist the very moment Ron and Harry Apparated into the park. Harry actually staggered back with the force of the hug. He was about to panic when he recognized the brown-haired girl hugging him. "Hermione!" he exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her thin shoulders.

After a while, Hermione Granger drew back from the hug, grinning up at her best friend. It had been two months since she had seen him. She had been really busy lately helping out at the Ministry, assisting Kingsley. The Minister was restoring peace to the Wizarding World and Hermione had immediately volunteered to help out. Although things in the Wizarding World were better now, she still needed to help out a little more before things would go back to normal. Also, she had to explain things to her very confused and enraged parents after she tracked them down and restored their memories. Thus she had little time on her hands.

Upon gazing into Harry's green eyes, Hermione frowned. She could sense something was up with Harry. His disheveled, tired state told her that much. Briefly, she wondered why Ron had not noticed this. But then again, Ron was Ron, the ignorant pig. How would he have spotted anything being the… guy he was?

She brushed her worries off for a second, placing a smile on her face. "I know you want some peace and quiet, so I put the regular charms around this spot- no wizard nor Muggle would be able to see or hear us," she told Harry as she used her wand to prepare the picnic. "It'll be just the three of us, like old times," she added.

Harry smiled gratefully at her as he sat down on the blue picnic mat. For an hour, the trio talked merrily while munching on the snacks Hermione had brought along. Then Ron had to leave to visit his mother. After waving him goodbye with promises to go to the Burrow in another hour, Hermione grew serious.

"Harry, I know something's up with you. Are you ok?" she asked him gently, placing her hand over his. Harry sighed. Of course he could not escape the questions of the observant Hermione Granger. "I'm fine, I guess. It's just… hard." She sighed in sympathy, "Of course it's hard but we can go through this. I believe that we will have a happy future." He smiled at her, a small smile that quickly disappeared. "I know," he said softly.

Hermione patted his hand before standing. "C'mon, help me pack up, I want to see Molly. I've really missed her cooking," she said, turning to close the empty Tupperwear boxes.

Harry sighed. How long was he going to lie to everyone, himself included? It was never going to be alright.