Disclaimer: Any recognizable character from Marvel's Agents of Shield, The Avengers, or Harry Potter is the property of their creators and/or publishers.
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"...Either must die at the hand of the other..." And so Harry had to kill Voldemort, for just like it was predicted: "...neither can live while the other survives…".
Harry had come out of the battle as the clear victor because once again, he had defeated all odds and survived.
If Harry couldn't do anything else but, he could survive, it was the one trait he had that he seemed to be the best at doing.
But he should be, his whole life from the moment his parents had died up until Voldemort was killed had been nothing more than a struggle to survive. Survival of the fittest. If not surviving Voldemort and the Death Eaters attempts to kill him, it was surviving the long summers and even longer years with the Dursley's. Harry might have a knack at surviving but he was also human. And no human wanted to spend his whole life defeating the odds of survival. It got old, fast.
After years of fighting Harry wanted a chance to live his life like he wanted to live it. The prophecy had said that neither could live while the other survived and now that Voldemort was completely out of the picture and the Aurors were taking care of the remaining Death Eaters, Harry could live for himself.
Because after a thunderstorm came a rainbow and Harry was tired of killing.
Some of his best friends had died in the fight to rid England of Voldemort and all the Dark Lord stood for. Sirius, Lupin, Fred, his parents, Dumbledore, Severus... all had made the ultimate sacrifice and now that the war was over and he was the victor, the only thing Harry could do now to honor their memories was to live. Live in ways they could not. Harry could finally live life without fear and worry, he was now a free man to do whatever he wanted to do now that all the families had been reunited with those dearly departed and the others who had survived just like him.
Harry stayed just long enough to join in on the celebrations and gaiety, and help rebuild the buildings and lives that had been damaged during the war. But he was tired of the misplaced hero worship. The real heroes, at least in his opinion, were the people who gave their lives. He needed a new start. One where he wouldn't be recognized as the Boy-Who-Lived, or The Chosen One, or whatever new name they had picked for him.
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Harry had been living in New York City for two years now, and he was loving it. With some of the money, he had been left by his Godfather and his parents, he had bought a coffee shop and aptly named it White Stag to pay homage to his father and all the people who sided with him in the war. It was a small tribute to the larger sacrifices of everyone in the war, but it was a way to honor the support of the light side.
In comparison to the other coffee shops located throughout the bustling metropolis, it was very small, but it was all Harry needed. He never employed anyone to help him in the two years it had been open. This was his way of giving back to make up for all the damage he had caused, whether it was tearing families apart due to people helping him win the war or destruction caused by spell use.
He didn't work for the money, any profits made when to a muggle war relief fund, but rather to have something to keep him busy and as a way to show a simple act of kindness. Although not a fan of coffee himself, Harry liked selling it because he knew it was making other people's day a bit better. Almost everyone liked coffee to varying degrees, and to have one good cup of coffee could potentially turn someone's day around.
Harry remembered back when he had been on the run, and how he longed for the days where he, Ron and Hermione could once again chat over butterbeer or firewhisky. It had been those very memories that had been the deciding factor that led him to open a coffee shop. To have a beverage where people could come together and recall the fond memories of bygone days.
Hermione, Ron, and their children, along with Andromeda and his godson, Teddy, would all come by to surprise him from time to time, or when Ron was in the states on official business. The one Weasley's Wizard Wheezes store in America seemed to be doing well, and Harry would know, as George still insisted Harry remain a silent partner in the business.
Usually, though, he just stayed in contact with the Wizarding world by other means. He'd firecall Teddy every week and spoke to Ron and Hermione on an almost daily basis.
A smile spread over his face as he thought about his godson. He couldn't wait to see him over Christmas.
"I'll have the usual." An impatient voice of a customer who Harry hadn't heard come in said, effectively shaking Harry from his musings.
"Of course," Harry said with a small smile while glancing at the person who had spoken, it was one of the few college students that was a patron of his shop while school was in session.
Whipping up a hot macchiato, that was one size larger than what the boy usually ordered, Harry waited for it to finish making before passing it off to the boy. If the boy noticed the difference in size, he did not comment on it.
Taking a testing sip, the boy gave an appreciative hum before stepping out into the gusty winter wind leaving behind the small, safe and warm embraces of his shop.
The rest of the day saw a steady trickle of people stopping by. Many of them were shoppers hunting for Christmas presents and decided to get something warm before continuing, but others were people on their lunch break, they would order their coffee while looking down at the cellphones or with an air of impatience while Harry hurried to fulfill their orders.
One of the customers Harry saw throughout the day was a man. Nothing about the man seemed to warrant Harry's extra attention, as he was just another businessman but sometime during the two years Harry had been doing this, he found himself looking for him. Harry didn't know his name or what he did, but there was something about the middle-aged man that Harry liked.
Just like him, the man seemed to be shrouded in mystery, although appearance wise he seemed to be just another suited businessman, with a phone in hand, on his lunch break.
That didn't serve basis for anything though, as Harry looked just like another barista but he was also a highly trained wizard.
Regardless of the time of year, he would always be wearing a black suit. A black suit that hugged his frame rather than hung off his frame. It was matched with a black tie, polished dress shoes and on occasion, black aviator sunglasses. If nothing else about the man, he was something to look at.
Even though the man came in every day with the exception of a duration of three month period where Harry hadn't seen hide nor hair of him. It had been a totally new phrase that they did not use in England but it summed up those three months.
At first, Harry assumed that the man had gone on a business trip, as people in that profession were known to do on occasion, but after two weeks, Harry had begun to worry.
Was he going to come back? Two weeks turned into two months and still, the man hadn't come to get a cup of coffee. Another month passed, and it was with a reluctant heart, that Harry came to the conclusion that something had happened to the stranger that he had been silently observing for the last while.
Then one ordinary day out of the blue, the man strolled into his coffee shop as if nothing had ever happened. As if he hadn't been gone for three whole months and walked up to the counter and ordered his regular. Harry had been careful not to show any emotions when he had handed the man his usual but on the inside, Harry remembered being relieved, in the exact same way he had been relieved to see Ron and Hermione after the final battle.
Like clockwork every day after that, the man came in and Harry gave him his coffee. Because he was such a prompt and reliable customer, Harry could take the risk of having it already prepared for him and cast a wordless warming and stasis spell on it so that way when he came, he could just bypass the line.
Today was shaping up to be no different.
Harry had just finished making the businessman his usual and putting it under stasis when the door opened and welcomed the two people Harry had hoped he'd never see again followed by the one person he had been looking forward to seeing.
