Bittersweet Victory
Summary:The woman sighed shakily. "It was a victory. But we lost a hero and a savior. I lost one one of my best friends." The woman let her fraying red hair fall into her face. "Such a bittersweet victory."
The Quidditch border of a boy's room, complete with twinkling Snitches and small broomsticks, lined the room. The boy who claimed it as his own pounded into it. A woman entered not too long after.
She scooped the little boy in her arms. He giggled as she swung him back and forth through the air, safe in her arms. After she deposited him on the floor, she plopped into a chair and grinned slightly as he climbed into her lap. Her expression turned thoughtful.
"Have I ever told you the story of Harry Potter?" she asked, contemplation dawning on her face like a flitting shadow.
The little boy looked confused. "It's my favorite story, ya'know that." The woman shook out of her reverie and put on a forced smile, looking down at the boy on her lap.
"How does it end?" she questioned. The boy squirmed and twisted until he was looking into the woman's eyes. They seemed alight with sadness, a deep grief that seemed etched onto her features. The boy twisted back and stared out the window to the side of them.
"It ends, 'Harry Potter dared not look back at the smouldering ashes, the last remains of Lord Voldemort.' Right?" The boy looked up at the woman and was alarmed to see tears in her eyes.
"I didn't mean to-" She shushed him, bowing her head for a second. The boy wrapped his arms tightly around her, fearing she might break if he let go for a single second. Slowly, he let go of her. She lifted her head, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
"I lied."
"What?" The boy's eyebrows knitted in confusion.
"That's not the ending." There was a shocked silence, briefly interrupted by the boy.
"How's it end then?" The woman no longer tried to hold her tears in, but let them overflow her eyes and dribble down her face silently. The boy took each of her cheeks in each of his hand. She let out a sob. He wrapped his arms around her neck.
They held this pose for several moments. The woman angrily swiped away her tears, muttering an apology to the boy.
"I'll tell you the real ending, okay big guy?" She let out a long raspy breath that she didn't know she had been holding in. "The battlefield had suddenly gone silent as the two green beams met in midair. There was so much smoke that not one person could see the outcome. As the haze cleared, the saw not one pile of ashes, but a dead body beside it. For Harry Potter, savior of the Wizarding World, Boy Who Lived, had saved their lives, but lost his in the process. On the day of his memorial, all around the world, people clinked their glasses together. With silent remorse, they said mournfully, "To Harry!""
The boy was left stunned, "He died?" The woman nodded. "He died! But he survived when he was a baby, he survived when he was at Hogwarts, and he-he.." The boy trailed off. "That ruined the happy ending." He sulked.
The woman brushed a stray red curl from the boy's eyes. "I think about that story every day. I was there, in the battlefield. I miss him."
"You knew him? You've been telling me this story, but you knew him? Did my parents too? Why are you all hiding this?" the boy cried out. The woman made no answer. "So it was a victory right? I mean, You-Know-Who is gone, right?" The boy's eager eyes looked up at her.
The woman sighed shakily. "It was a victory. But we lost a hero and a savior. I lost one of my best friends." The woman let her fraying red hair fall into her face. "Such a bittersweet victory," she murmured.
She gazed out the window and the boy followed. Together they recollected what was left of a fallen hero, a savior, and his bittersweet victory.