Back to Avalon
Disclaimer: JKR's Characters and settings: My Ideas (Sort of): Your time: Thanks for reading
To Harry Potter, the world felt like it was crashing down around him. The pressure that he felt was unbearable. He didn't know what to do next. Harry only knew that he wanted to escape.
It had been almost a year since Harry had defeated the darkest wizard of the last century. Harry felt like the wizarding world expected him to live on a pedestal for the rest of his life. Everywhere Harry went people would stop and stare at him. They would point at him like he was some strange exhibit in a muggle zoo. Then there was the whispering. Every rumour that had been printed in the Daily Prophet was debated as he passed by. Why couldn't people just leave him alone?
Despite the best of intentions, Molly Weasley and her family were suffocating him. Worst of all was Ginny Weasley pressuring Harry to not only get back together with her, but to marry her. They had dated briefly in Harry's 6th year and reunited briefly after the Battle of Hogwarts. At one point Harry had even convinced himself that he was in love with her. That was until he saw Ginny for what she really was.
Flashback to Ginny's 17th Birthday
Things seemed to going well until the night of Ginny's 17th birthday. There had been a large party at the Burrow. Harry was talking happily to friends, when all of a sudden he noticed that she was gone. Having looked all over the grounds of the Burrow for Ginny, Harry decided to try the house. He heard noises coming form somewhere upstairs and began to climb the stairwell looking for the source of the noise. When Harry reached the second floor landing, he looked through the open door into Ginny's room. There was Ginny, naked, shagging Michael Corner. Harry quietly shut the door to Ginny's room. He went outside, found a quiet spot, and slowly drank himself into oblivion.
The next morning, Harry had wanted to break things off with Ginny quietly. Ginny had tried to act like nothing had happened at the party. She stood on her toes to give Harry a good morning kiss. He backed away. Harry couldn't put up with her act anymore. He led Ginny into the sitting room for a private conversation.
"I'm sorry Gin. I don't think that this is going to work out." began Harry.
"Why, Harry? I thought things were going great between us," stammered a shaken Ginny.
"Really Ginny? If that's true, then tell me what the Hell happened to you last night?" replied Harry. Ginny tried to plead her innocence as Harry's temper began to boil. "Come off it Ginny! Don't play games with me! I saw you fucking Michael Corner last night!!!" shouted Harry.
"I'm so sorry Harry. I promise that I'll never cheat on you again! Please Harry, don't leave Me." pleaded Ginny.
Harry turned away from the crying girl and stormed upstairs to pack his trunk. It was only Ron and Hermione's invitation to go with them to Australia for a month or more that kept Harry at the Burrow.
The trio had left for Australia that evening. After restoring the memories of Hermione's parents, Hermione, Ron and Harry went on vacation until the end of September.
End Flashback
Harry had thought about returning to Hogwarts for his final year. The problem was that Hogwarts held too many ghosts for Harry. It was not only the place where Harry had fulfilled his destiny, but the place where he had seen his friends and mentor die.
He had also briefly considered moving into Grimmauld Place. Although it had briefly been the trio's sanctuary, Grimmauld Place was also Sirius' prison. In the end the property was donated to the Ministry of Magic. Kingsley Shacklebolt promptly had the house turned into a museum to commemorate the Order of the Phoenix.
There was no shortage of job offers. Every single ministry department; every single business wanted to be able to claim that Harry Potter worked for them. Harry didn't want anything handed to him. It was that fact more than anything else that led Harry to choose to stay at the Burrow and study for his NEWTS. Hermione also chose to study for her NEWTS at the Burrow. Ron had gone to work with George in order to rebuild the joke shop.
Harry's days at the Burrow quickly fell into a dull routine. He spent his time studying with Hermione until Ron would come home from the shop. After supper with the Weasley's, Ron and Hermione would go off for some alone time. More often than not Ron would say something insensitive, mean or just plain stupid. Then the couple would begin to fight. Hermione would run to Harry for comfort. He would then spend the rest of the evening gluing his two best friends' relationship back together.
Christmas was approaching quickly, and the last thing Harry wanted to do was spend the holidays with Ginny declaring her undying love for him and Ron and Hermione's constant fighting. He made arrangements to stay with Viktor Krum and his family in Bulgaria for the Christmas holidays.
The first thing that happened to Harry when he returned to the Burrow was that Hermione caught him in a rib cracking hug.
"Oh Harry, I've missed you so much!" Hermione then whispered in Harry's ear, "I'm sorry Harry, but I need to cry on your shoulder again."
Ron walked into the small kitchen of the Burrow and briefly scowled as he saw Hermione in Harry's arms. Before he drew any attention to himself, Ron smiled and warmly greeted Harry."Hey Mate, how was Christmas with Vicky?"
Harry told Ron and Hermione all about Christmas with the Krum's. "It was brilliant Ron. You wouldn't believe this, but Viktor has the use of an indoor quidditch pitch during the winter. We spent most of the holiday there; playing pickup games of quidditch with his friends."
"Did he ask about Hermione at all?" Ron questioned.
Harry was just about to tell Ron that Viktor was very concerned about Hermione because she had stopped writing him, when he thought he saw Hermione give a slight shake of her head. "He didn't ask anything about Hermione at all, Ron. In fact Viktor is engaged to a Veela supermodel that lives in Paris." Hermione gave a small nod of her head and a shy smile flashed on her lips.
Later that evening, after Hermione had cried on Harry's shoulder for the better part of two hours, Harry began to voice his suspicions. "Hermione, are things alright between you and Ron? Ron isn't hurting you is he? If Ron doesn't stop treating you like yesterday's rubbish then you should dump his bony arse."
"No, Ron isn't hurting me. He's just been under a lot of strain at the joke shop lately. Trying to fill his brother's shoes hasn't been easy for him."
Harry looked at Hermione suspiciously. He knew that Hermione wasn't ready to confide in him just yet. In the end, Harry decided to send an owl to Hermione's parents. If he couldn't find out what was bothering Hermione, maybe they could.
January was coming to a close when Harry began to suspect that his feelings for Hermione were beginning to change. Slowly but surely he had begun to think less of Hermione the best friend and more of Hermione the woman. Harry loved the way that Hermione smiled at him when he mastered a difficult concept in one of their lessons. Wait a minute. Harry had used the word love in the same sentence as Hermione. Get it together Harry, he thought, she's Ron's girlfriend. Developing these kinds of feelings for her was dangerous.
Harry began to catch himself staring at her face when he thought that she wasn't looking. More than once he had found himself ogling her amazing bum as she walked into the kitchen. Last night had been the worst. As Hermione hugged him tightly while crying about something Ron had said, Harry felt himself grow hard as she crushed her chest to his. He only hoped that Hermione wouldn't notice his growing problem.
On the first of February, Ron had begun to show his dark side. Harry had told Molly that he was taking Hermione to visit the Granger's. Without warning, Harry had apparated Hermione to her parents' house. Amanda and Paul Granger hugged their daughter tightly. They had a great time that day. Harry heard all of the embarrassing stories about Hermione from her parents. After lunch, Harry and Hermione had told them about their Hogwarts adventures that hadn't made it into Hermione's letters. Time seemed to fly by. In what seemed no time at all it was dark outside. Hermione had already left for the Burrow. Harry was just about ready to leave when Paul and Amanda Granger pulled him aside.
"Harry we want to thank you for bringing Hermione to see us." began Paul.
"We're just sorry that we couldn't get Hermione to talk about what was bothering her." continued Amanda. "However, we think we know what is bothering you Harry."
Harry gave the Grangers a confused look. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Paul shook his head and smiled at Harry. "You need to tell her how you feel Harry."
Harry began to sputter but no words came out.
"Harry, we know that you love Hermione. We can see it in your eyes. It was in your letter when you wrote to us about her – even if you didn't put in words." added Amanda.
Harry hung his head low and a solitary tear slid down his cheek. "I can't. She's Ron's girlfriend. I don't want to hurt either of them." With that He apparated back to the Burrow.
Harry had just entered the kitchen and said hello to Arthur and Molly when he heard Ron shouting at Hermione.
"You Filthy, Little Mudblood, Whore! You had no business leaving the house without my permission!"
Smack! Harry heard the unmistakable sound of flesh striking flesh. His heart was torn from his chest and before he could react Arthur Weasley shot past him into the sitting room.
"Petrificus Totalus" Arthur roared as a spell fired from his wand and hit Ron square in the chest. Ron hit the wall and the whole house shook.
A frightened Hermione bolted into Harry's arms and held on for dear life. It took a couple of hours of soothing words from Harry, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley before Hermione quieted enough to drink a strong cup of tea. Hermione sobbed quietly as Molly healed the large bruise on her cheek.
An apologetic Ron begged Hermione to forgive him and promised to never hurt her again. Of course Hermione forgave Ron and the two made up. Harry could only glare daggers at his, now, former best friend.
Ron seemed to treat Hermione better after that. For a few weeks Hermione was back to her old self. As March began, Harry suspected that Hermione and Ron's relationship was back to abnormal. Hermione had begun to wear long-sleeved shirts and refused to wear shorts no matter how warm the weather got. Harry also noticed that she was wearing more makeup than usual. Whenever somebody tried to touch her, Hermione would recoil as if she had been burned. Each day Hermione began to withdraw into herself as the time got closer for Ron to come home.
With his suspicions growing, he watched in disbelief as the Hermione that he knew, that he loved began to fade from existence. How could his first best friend treat his other best friend this way? Harry hated to see Hermione like this. He hated Ron more for treating her so badly. Harry begged Hermione to leave Ron and go back to her parents, go into hiding, leave the country, anything – just as long as she was safe. More than once he had been tempted to confront Ron. It was only the tears in beautiful Hermione's eyes that restrained him. Harry held his tongue and his temper, but just barely.
As the end of April approached, Harry had a strange dream. In the dream he saw a golden phoenix. The rather large bird landed on Harry's shoulder and began to sing a song of hope. The golden phoenix spoke to Harry in his mother's voice. "Take your love and fly away. Leave all your demons behind. Seek the road back to Avalon. There you will find peace." The phoenix flew away into the sunset.
Harry knew that it was time to confess his feelings to Hermione. He also knew that it was time to leave. Hermione and Harry had finished their NEWTS before the last weekend in April. Completing the last of their tests at the Ministry of Magic, Harry took Hermione out to lunch in order to celebrate. After a quiet lunch, Harry held Hermione's hand across the table and looked into her soft brown eyes. "Hermione, I love you. I'm leaving in the morning. Please come with me."
Hermione leapt from her chair and crushed Harry in ferocious hug. "I love you too Harry. I think that I have for a long time now. I'd love to come with you, but I'm in love with Ron and I don't want to hurt him. I'm sorry Harry but I just can't leave him." Harry and Hermione held each other tight and cried.
The next morning Harry woke up and packed his trunk. He shrunk it to the size of a small candy bar. After a quick shower, Harry walked down the stairs to say goodbye to Molly and Arthur.
"Forgive me Mr. and Mrs Weasley, but I just can't stay here anymore. I need to break out of this old spell. I've given into it for too long."
Both Molly and Arthur hugged Harry. "We understand Harry; do you know where you're going yet?"
Harry shook his head and gave his surrogate parents a sad smile. "No. I don't think I'll know until I get there. I'll send you an owl once I figure it all out."
Out of nowhere a golden phoenix burst in front of Harry. It hovered above Harry's head. Harry was just about to reach up and grab the phoenix's tail feather when he heard Ron shouting at Hermione.
"Where the fuck do you think you're going Hermione? You can't leave. I forbid it!"
Hermione burst out of the kitchen, closely followed by Ron. Ron ran nose first, straight into his mother's clenched fist. He hit the ground with a thud. Hermione continued to run straight into Harry's arms. Both of her eyes were black. One eye was swollen shut. Hermione's cheeks were bruised, and her lips were swollen and bloody. Hermione's brown hair was soaked red with blood above her left ear.
"Harry, I love you! Take me with you! Please!"
Harry hugged Hermione to him with one hand and grabbed onto the tail feather of the phoenix with the other. Harry and Hermione were gone in a burst of flame. One single phoenix feather floated gently to the ground.
AN: Is there more to this story? I'm not sure yet. C.C.