The sun was setting over the mountains. Its rays made the Lake seem like a placid pool of blood. It was Midsummer's Eve and the night was filled with the peaceful hum of nocturnal insects. It was a night for lovers, but tonight it was a time for goodbye for two people. There, beneath a Golden Elm tree, were two figures. One of the two figures was a boy whose hair seemed dark in the dying sunlight. The other figure was a girl whose hair was untied to let it catch the cool summer breeze. The girl idly picked at the flowers that were growing underneath the tree on the grassy banks of the lake. The boy blinked. A tear trickled down the boy's face. It slowly dropped down to the boy's black robes, but before it did, it caught the dying rays of the sun. For one moment, it was a tear of blood.
The girl looked up and saw the face of the boy. She looked at him thoughtfully. The boy looked around at the girl and for one moment their eyes met. It made a swirl of colours that made their hearts race. The boy turned away again quickly. Seeing this the girl looked down into her lap and looked at the flowers she had picked. She let only one tear drop, and for one moment, it too turned down into a tear of blood.
'You love hum." It was not a question but more a statement of truth that came from the boy. The boy stared out past the lake and to the mountains.
"The girl looked up. She tried to see the eyes of the boy and see what emotion might be held there. His eyes were unreadable.
"Yes. Yes, but not in the way you may think," the girl whispered, more to herself than to the boy. Her eyes were filled with sadness.
The boy shook his head. "Do not tell me I do not how you feel for him. I knew for many years that you and he would… be like this! I knew for so many years, but I was afraid. Afraid of this! I knew I would be alone. I would always be singular but not in this way and certainly not now. Not here!" He turned his face to the girl. Their eyes met again. "I know my fate and I accept it. I do not resent that both of you will have each other and you would forget me, but this?"
Emotion entered the boy's eyes. Hate, sadness, love, despair and happiness all melded together.
"Why must he and you hurt me so?" Suddenly the boy's eyes were unreadable once more.
The girl stared into the boy's unrevealing eyes. "I… I, oh why must you think such things about him and me? Why do you despair? Why must you…?"
The boy broke in, "You two were made for each other. You two will live together forever, but what happened to all of us? Are you two going to be another two people in this world who think of me as the 'Chosen One'? Yes, you are. I bear this burden but you are not willing to remember me as the true person I am inside? No." The boy turned away. "I bear the burden on myself only. I know I will not come back. I know that even if I do come back with some twist of fate, I will not have loving arms envelope me. I know that I will have no-one to love me."
The girl shook her head. "Don't ever say such things Harry…"
"No Hermione. No! Don't say my name and never say that! Never say something that you know won't come true!" Harry's green eyes blazed. He did not know whether he referred to his return or whether someone would love him.
"I wonder for one moment what life would have been if Neville was the one marked with this scar. I wonder whether I have fought for the love and if we would still be friends…" Harry's voice died away and on his lips was a rueful smile. "I wonder if I would have dared to commit myself to admitting my love earlier and with out a worry that I would always be there…" Harry turned around looked at Hermione with a desperate look. He soon turned around again.
It seemed the night had fallen silent at the paining rift between two people. Midsummer's Eve trickled away. Further away couple celebrated their love and youth.
After a while, the boy stood up and walked away. It was an action that meant 'goodbye-forever'. Before the boy walked past the trunk of the Elm, he turned around and whispered, "I love you and always will, no matter what has happened and what will happen." With that the boy walked away. The girl was left by herself.
"Oh Harry, you were wrong. You do not know how I love him. I love him only as a sister does to her brother. Forgive me for hurting you. You are Harry and only Harry, the one I have and always loved. God forbid me for never telling you but I know it would hurt you more. You go away knowing that you go with someone waiting for you to come back and envelope you with loving arms. That someone who loves you more than life itself. Just as your burden is to kill the Dark Lord, this is my burden. My love for you will be buried in my hear forever." And there the girl's unshed tears dropped and became tears of blood for one moment.
In the shadows of the Golden Elm tree, hot tears of regret, despair and love flow out of green eyes and become tears of blood for one moment too.
Midsummer's Eve is a time for goodbyes, but who knows, out of those goodbyes, love can form. It was Midsummer's Eve.