The Good Old Days
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything related belongs first, and foremost, to JKR and then to her partnerships with Scholastics, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros., etc.
Summary: A real world lies out those big oak doors. A scary and broken world, full of hatred and death. And we enter it, now… You may ask what you can do, as a mere child yourself. But Harry Potter didn't ask.
Author's Note: I'm hoping to get a multiple-chapter story started up on here, but as for now it's going to just be one-shots.
The Good Old Days
I don't think any of us ever really appreciated these seven years of pure heaven. I don't think any of us woke up each morning with a radiant smile just knowing that we were within the walls of this brilliant castle. Where thousands have stepped before us, to learn life lessons, life traits and life's twists and turns.
Where Dumbledore once stayed, day-in-and-day-out, with the same routine that his students had after him. With the same fears and insecurities they will hold even now, after he's gone. Who knows how Dumbledore found his calling in the school. Was he popular with the students? Was he admired by his professors? Did he spend a lot of his time reading and studying? Was he a Quidditch super star? Who knows?
But I feel it safe to assume that Albus Dumbledore found himself within these walls. That he found his calling and decided what he wanted to do: share knowledge and bring witches and wizards together as a whole. And he wasn't the only one to find his calling.
My mum and dad found each other within these walls. They found a love strong enough to raise my brothers and I, to stay together even when the times grew tough and the money became scarce. I don't know if it was the typical Hogwarts love meeting because she needed to be tutored in Transfigurations or if it was just fate. But they found each other. They did. And so did the Potters.
Harry Potter's mum and dad lived too short a life. It was as though the moment they left Hogwarts, they were gone. But they found each other, in those seven years. And they also found others. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, and even, fairly enough to say, Peter Pettigrew. The Marauders. A group who risked everything every day for each other and their own amusement. Who built the Marauders Map out of love for Hogwarts, out of a desire to keep their legacy going even unto younger generations. They utilized their time in school and came out stronger because of it.
But, we, the graduates of this year, have not seemed to utilize what was given to us. Quidditch became a breeding ground of hate. Classes became a joke and a throwaway time. The Ministry tried to morph us to fit its needs and stop us from becoming the next generation of leaders. And we have done nothing to stop this.
A real world lies out those big oak doors. A scary and broken world, full of hatred and death. And we enter it, now, to add more despair and destruction. Death Eaters sit amongst us, eating our food, listening to our plans. We will not all be here by next year. Some of us will be gone. And we still sit here and do nothing.
Where our ancestors stood strong and found their future within these walls, we have found a way to destroy our own. We have stood apart and let the world collapse around us and in these past two years, all we have experienced has been caused by ourselves. You may ask what you can do, as a mere child yourself. But Harry Potter didn't ask. He just did it.
These last seven years constitute as the 'good old days.' Look around you. Look at your classmates and your teachers. Your lives have consisted of nothing but these people for the last seven years... And the good old days are over. Unless we do something to make tomorrow worth looking forward to.
Ginny creased the parchment down the middle and placed it in her pocket. She had forgotten about the speech she made to her year's graduating class. It seemed so long ago. And six years was a long time, she'd admit. And a lot had changed since the day she made that speech.
Her father had died, along with her brother Charlie. Fred had moved away. Hermione had become a Weasley and her and Ron were expecting number two. Remus Lupin settled down to open his own bookstore, a hero of the wizarding world at last. Tonks convinced him to marry her and they had their miracle child.
Ginny's own mother had taken to being around her grandchildren: one of Percy, three of Billy and the one of Ron. George took over the running of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes with his Muggleborn wife. Hermione was in between jobs, still unsure of what she wanted to do. Ron took over his father's position in the Ministry. They reside in their muggle neighborhood. Not too far down the street live Harry Potter and Ginny Potter, newlyweds.
Neville had begun working at Hogwarts as the Herbology Professor. He was the favorite. Professor McGonagall resounded as Headmistress of Hogwarts. The Malfoy men were killed and Narcissa was left alone in her manor. Bellatrix Lestrange sat in Azkaban. Her master would return one day. Severus Snape was dead. Peter Pettigrew was dead. Luna Lovegood took over as the Quibbler's Editor and Chief.
Harry Potter was unemployed and stayed in his house in peace.
He no longer had his scar.
Ginny walked into the kitchen, seeing Harry sitting alone at the table. She gave him the speech to read. They sat in silence as his eyes crossed over the parchment. When he was done, he pulled her onto his lap and he kissed her on the forehead. They sat there staring at nothing in particular. But this still wasn't anything compared to the good old days. Not when so much had been lost.