I came up with this listening to the Kenny Chesney song, "Better As A Memory, Than As Your Man". I know it's short, but I don't really care. So get over it.
Disclaimer: if I owned Harry Potter, would I be writing this??
He was better as a memory to her, better as a memory than as her man. She needed to see this, to realize it. To know that everything he was doing, all of it, was for her benefit. Everything.
He could not le t her waste her life on him. He was too old, too poor, too dangerous. She was young and whole. She deserved someone better than him. Someone her age that could support her, but her things, take her places.
But merlin, he loved her. He loved her more than life itself. Every time he told her this his excuses, his heart would rip and shred into smaller and smaller places. She was hurting, he was hurting, but it was the only way.
He was the only one that needed to be hurt though. She would find someone some day and realize he was right. Right about him being better as a memory than as her man.
Push that little purple button! Come on! You can do it! PUSH IT ALREADY!! please??
