The Last Hurrah
A/N: Complete summary: When Harry attempts to kill himself after the final battle, things change. New lines are drawn in the wizarding world and old ones are erased. Hermione and Ron, finally a couple, are left to pick up the pieces of their shattered friend once they move to America in order to separate themselves from the memories. But a legendary evil is rising again, and this time, Hermione is caught betwixt and between because of a prophecy. In their final year of schooling, not everything is as it seems, and the lines between love and hate have become too blurred for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to hold on . . .
Prologue: the Escape
Harry stood alone after the battle, watching the dead be carried into a tent, some in pieces. He knew most of them, had known a few well enough to have had them tell him their hopes and dreams. The same hopes and dreams were now cutting him into pieces. Each person's plans for the future were now cutting him into ribbons of despair.
He hadn't slept for a week. Perhaps it was this that made him consider seriously something he had only ever known in the abstract.
He was sitting on the edge of the Astronomy Tower. He had found himself drawn up here once Hermione and Ron had left for some alone time. He had a feeling he knew just what that reason was. He didn't begrudge them in the least for their time together.
With one last look at the vibrant green grass below, he turned, hopped off, and walked to his dormitory.
***
The next night found him in the same place, as did the night after that, and the one after that. He was spending most of his free time on the Astronomy Tower nowadays, something he saw fit to not tell anyone. He was afraid that once he told somebody, they would take it away. And he didn't want that. He believed he thought better in the open air.
What better way to die? he thought grimly, then shook himself. He had just completed a task that had been his for years. He wanted to enjoy a peaceful, Voldemort-free existence.
Didn't he?
***
As was becoming customary, he found himself on the Astronomy Tower again. He had been thinking over the past day, and he found that he really wanted something different than everyone else.
With a cry that was both joy and despair, he pushed himself over the edge.