When She Came Home
Everyone knew the story, it was common knowledge, she was the girl-who-lived after all. Yet, even still, Severus Snape had a hard time recognizing this broken silent girl to the one who he had compared to James Potter so many times.
They had left her. The Gryffindors, the little friends that Hyria Potter had risked her life for time and time again, the house of the brave had abandoned her not one month into their little Horcrux Hunt.
Severus Snape had been furious when Ronald Weasley had strolled into his Defence Against the Dark Arts class one morning, when he was supposed to be with Lily's daughter. The potions master remembered the bone chilling, mind numbing fear, that little Ria Potter had been caught, that she had been killed. The he had failed to save her, to protect her. Yet, all it had taken was one brief use of legimency on the daft red head to learn the truth.
The bloody coward had left her! Had yelled and screamed at her for not being able to defeat the darkest lord in the last 5 centuries in less than a month. The stupid Granger chit had fled to Beaxbatons to 'continue her education'. They had left their 'best friend' in a bloody tent in the middle of the woods! Dumbledore was dead, and their last hope was a sixteen year old drop out, stranded by her friends, and hunted by half the damn country! Not only that, but she was Lily's daughter, and she was alone. Severus Snape had taken out all his anger, all his helplessness on the Weasley boy. To the point where he still flinched every time Snape so much as spoke. Yet, it wasn't good enough, there was no way they could win the war now, they were going to lose.
It was then that the papers started to catch glimpses of her. The Quibbler, the newspaper of the resistance, had been the only one suicidal enough to print the photos.
Photo's of Hyria Potter bruised and beaten while desperately trying to protect two muggle children from a horde of Inferi.
The little girl he had watched get sorted, standing over the dead body of Rabastan Lestrange wand in one hand, sword of Gryffindor in the other, staring into the camera with a steely eyed gaze.
A solitary figure sprinting across the rooftop of Gringotts and jumping off the ledge only to land on the back of an escaping dragon. Her escapades becoming more and more fantastical, more daring, more dangerous with every passing day.
The students had started whispering her name in the halls, saying it like a prayer, Hyria. The D.A. had sprayed her name in gold paint all across the school, making it shine like a beacon. Students stood straighter when they walked by, brushing their hands across the letters as if for good luck. It seemed every other day that another Death Eater fell beneath her wand. Another town saved because of her intervention. She was a hero.
And as if the little brat knew that wasn't enough to give Severus a heart-attack every day at breakfast, she had released The List. The List of every blood traitor, every muggle-born, every enemy of the dark reign, that she had somehow managed to smuggle out of the country right under the Dark Lord's nose!
Severus could still hear the Dark Lord screaming in rage, curses spitting out of his wand with a murderous ferocity, "FIND HER!".
—
It took Hyria Potter eight months to end the war, to obliterate the Dark Lord.
It had started with explosions across the grounds. Legions of Death Eaters lost in the blasts. Coloured lights flashing in the Forbidden forest. Fiendfyre racing towards the front gates.
The students had streamed to the outer windows in a uncontrollable mass, trying desperately to see what was going on. Severus had locked the wards around the school, he would protect his students above all else.
The explosions had continued, the the castle floors the themselves rippled with the aftershocks.
The Death Eaters were panicking, breaking rank and fleeing the grounds. Then as if it had never existed at all, the explosions had ceased.
A terrible silence reigned.
Hyria Potter had won.
Severus would never admit it, but when he had learned how she had managed it, it had been the proudest moment of his life. He wanted to go to the very rooftop of the school, and scream it to the Heavens. To make sure that Lily knew. Her daughter was brilliant and a hero, and she would be so proud.
The beautiful, brilliant girl. She had used runes, runes of all things! The most under-appreciated subject at Hogwarts! Hyria had snuck through the words in the night, laying runes of her own creation on the very grounds themselves. She set them up to act like land mines, activated by the magic contained in the dark mark. Although she never said, Severus knew that she had chosen Hogwarts as the Battle Ground so that if she were to fall, the rune 'mines' would still be there to protect the students should they ever need them. She had annihilated the Dark Lord's forces in one fell swoop with hardly a causality to the light side.
The celebrations had lasted for days. Hyria Potter's name exulted, even as she lay recovering in St. Mungo's for extreme magical exhaustion, spell damage, and over exposure to the cruciatus. Severus hadn't been all that worried, the girl had been in the hospital wing more than all his Slytherin 7th years combined. He was certain she would be fine. She would one day walk in his classroom and fix him with that flaring emerald stare, and grin that insufferable lopsided grin.
Severus, with the help of Minerva, decided to invite the students back to re-take their previous year. The official reason was that the war had been stressful, and students deserved another chance. Severus knew he did it for Hyria Potter, even he could admit that she had given up a lot, and he knew she loved Hogwarts. Hogwarts she had once said, was her home.
The anticipation was killing him, he couldn't wait to see her. Lily's girl. Couldn't wait to have her back at the Gryffindor table, where he could watch over her properly.
—
When she came home, it was her eyes that gave her away. Gone were the sparkling emerald that always held a mischievous delight.
It was said that really powerful magic always left its mark on the castor's eyes. Albus Dumbledore, whose eyes had twinkled like hidden stars, Voldemort, whose eyes had been the colour of blood. Hyria Potter's eyes were broken. Surrounding her pupil was a ring of gold that faded into the green like broken glass. All sharp edges, and jagged points, like looking directly at a shattered soul.
And Hyria Potter smiled at him, Severus Snape, a special smile that she had only for him. But, it was not a happy smile. It was a small, sad, smile; one of understanding. One that said she completely understood why he had to kill Dumbledore, and she didn't blame him for it. It was the smile of someone who had made difficult choices, ones that cost people's lives. The smile that held the absolute understanding that you couldn't save everyone.
And it was in those moments that Severus Snape realized that he hadn't been able to protect Lily's daughter at all, for she had ended up just as broken as him.
Some of you may have already read this one, it used to be in my other file, but after adding the recent chapter though it was a bit confusing so i separated them into to separate stories. Some people complained to me that I was being mean to Ron in this story, totally true. I was just exploring what would have happened if Ron never came back after he left, and if Hermione went with him. Anyways, let me know what you think its helping me procrastinate for my exams! :)