Harry sighed, again, loudly.
His hands rubbed at his eyes and, for a brief moment he wished that when he opened his eyes again that the "problem" sitting across his desk would be gone.. but she didn't vanish .. she was still there .. still crying .. still refusing to meet his eyes .. still tense .. still breathing hard after her screaming rant at him .. all her problems were his fault apparently.
Harry sighed, again, loudly.
And not for the first time that night his mind went back to the events of 21 years ago and he wondered, again, how he could have got things so wrong.
Voldemort was dead.
His friends had paired off and life was supposed to keep getting better and everyone was supposed to live happily ever after. Supposed to. That was the kicker. Actually, everyone did, more or less. But not Ron and Hermione. That marriage went wrong more or less from the moment Ron said "I do". Although no one was ever sure what exactly it was that went wrong, everyone knew it was wrong. Very, very wrong.
Ron's death didn't surprise anyone.
He had been out of control for a few years, but, recently had seemed happier and more like his old self, smiling and laughing a lot more, the strain and tenseness gone from his face. Hermione's name was never mentioned.
Harry sighed, again, loudly.
That Ron had had an affair didn't really surprise anyone - most people regarded Hermione as a waspish, bitter, shrew of a woman. That the girl was a muggle, and that they had a child raised a few eyebrows. That Ron and the girl were both killed in a car crash outwith the wizarding world and that Hermione invoked ancient laws designed to protect wives from philandering husbands' thus depriving said husbands family from having any contact with the child ... well that raised more than a few eyebrows. But no one could do or say anything .. hell hath no fury like a woman scorned .. or so they said.
Seems like they were right.
Harry was a young up and coming lawyer working in the family courts at the time. He was determined that no child, magical or otherwise, would have the life that he had growing up. That no child would be manipulated or abused, or otherwise neglected like he had been. He would make sure they had a choice and that they would be monitored - no-one would be ignored ... The fact that he was 15 months old at the time he had been abandoned on his relatives doorstep and would have been incapable of making any choice was conveniently ignored as he had peered down into the anxious eyes of the 3 year old daughter of his best friend.
The choice was simple.
Go and live with your mummy's sister and we will come and visit you regularly, or stay here with us and we will find a nice wizard family for you to live with. He could feel the chill from Hermione's eyes drilling into his back as he spoke to the child, unaware that the child could feel the tension in the air and the animosity directed towards her by the scarey lady. It was inevitable, he thought later, that she would choose to go live with her Auntie Sheila. Really, it was Hobson's choice for the kid.
He meant to check up on her.
Really he did.
But the family moved to the States. He started his own family, his career took off ..
Harry sighed, again, loudly.
He was making excuses now. He realised he had almost said it was for her own good .. he flinched as he thought of Dumbledore and his excuses for his childhood. His greater good.
And now here they were.
The girl had screamed at him for what seemed like hours about her neglectful family. Living on a Hellmouth. No one to help her grow up with magic and understand. No one to help her when her magical inheritance kicked in and power surged uncontrollably through her body as she had no wand to siphon off the excesses. About how she was lucky to have the love of a friend to stop her from ending the world. About how that friend had stopped her from plotting to kill Harry.
Harry felt sick.
He had lambasted Dumbledore for turning a blind eye to the torment of Tom, leading to his "issues". He had lambasted Dumbledore for turning a blind eye to his own torment .. and now Willow lambasted him.
Was it his fault?
Harry sighed, again, quietly.
The girl cried louder.