How do you feel about being the Boy of Lived? The savior of the Wizarding World?
People asked Harry this question a lot. Sometimes he wondered just why this was their curiosity. But then, he realizes, it is not every day you get to talk to a war hero. Especially the one who defeated Voldemort.
Harry knows that he is no Hermione, but he isn't stupid. He is a grown man now, not a barely adult just trying to survive with Hermione and Ron by his side. No, now he has Ginny and his three kids.
What he has realized has chilled him to the bone. He has realized that he had always been a pawn for the war. Always. There was no argument. Ever since he had survived the killing curse, he had been used as a secret weapon, it was never a secret, for the 'good' guys. For Dumbledore.
He has always been a simple pawn. Why else would you send a twelve year old into a battle, one in which maturity would be much more suitable than rashness that comes to Gryffindors so easily? It mattered not if he was invincible to Voldemort.
He never was invincible though. Had Voldemort thought to, Harry probably would have died, or become a vegetable, if he was stabbed or shot. Horcrux or not.
Being a child, Harry was sure he didn't have the experience to out maneuver nor the courage to kill another person on purpose. He never did, not even when he was supposed to be in his seventh year. Voldemort had killed himself when he drowned in his own madness.
Now that he was older and wiser, Harry knew another thing. The Slytherins, they didn't fight with the school because they agreed with Voldemort. Everyone is human, everyone had morals in some form, and Harry was sure almost none of the Slytherins had completely agreed with the Dark Lord.
No what happened was that since Slytherin had been branded the evil, sinful house, Voldemort had taken their insecurities indoctrinated by others, and made promises that were hard to resist. They had been promised superiority when they were marked before they had the chance to prove themselves.
The Slytherins that had not gone down that path, still did not help the other houses. Why would they? Under those cloaks, were their families and friends. Sure they could go into battle with the others, but they would be likely to fight their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and cousins. Loyalties to family has always been more important than choosing the side morally better. For if you could completely cut the ties of family, what did that say about your other loyalties?
So when his fellow wizards question him, Harry always gave a small smile and the same answer. "I do not wish such a large trial put on anyone else's shoulder. It is a dangerous and stressful thing, being the savior from a very young age. People try to get you to do the right choice, the mature choice, even though you are a child, with no life experience, no knowledge of the real world. I would have been fine being any other average no name wizard. I suppose it is an honor to be held in such high regard, but being so famous is tedious at times."
