Harry awoke with a start; he had just had a horrible nightmare about his parents. Shaking, Harry put his glasses on and stared down at his hands, trying to remember the dream, but it was no use. It had something to do with Voldemort, probably. As hard as he tried to remember it, the thoughts just kept slipping away. The harder Harry tried, the more he forgot. All he remembered was that it was a horrible dream, and it left him feeling funny about his parents again.
What he needed to do was go and find Hermione, and keep his mind on other things. Harry slipped out of bed and headed down the hall. " Herm-" he started, poking his head into her room. It was empty. Hogwarts, A History lay open on her bed, and a corner of the bed was rumpled, showing that she had been sitting on it earlier. Harry drew back and looked around curiously, wondering where she could have gotten to. Then he heard laughter and conversation coming from downstairs, in the kitchen. It sounded like Narcissa, Sirius, and Hermione.
Harry bounded down the stairs, listening to snatches of the conversation.
" -- hated each other at first, didn't you?"
" I nagged a lot. I hated them too -- "
" -- the same for Lily and James."
There was laughter, then someone said," How uncanny!" and the cheerful laughter continued.
Harry stopped at the foot of the stairs, his heart beating quickly, hands clenching into fists. What were they talking about? Hating each other? And his parents? What did his parents have to do with anything?
" Very clever, Lily was."
" Smartest in our year, too."
" James got good marks, though."
" But Lily usually helped him a lot, didn't she?"
There was a pause. Harry then heard Hermione's voice. " I help Harry with his work sometimes. But he's smart..he can handle it."
" Lily helped me out, also. You help Ron as well, do you Hermione?"
Harry couldn't take it anymore. Something inside him snapped; he couldn't take having Sirius and Narcissa compare his parents to him and Hermione. He could tell almost instantly after listening to them talk that that was what they were doing, and he didn't like it. Harry burst through the kitchen door, trying to keep calm, but failing quickly. He looked angrily from Sirius, to Narcissa, to Hermione, and back again. He took deep, furious breaths.
" Harry!" Hermione said in alarm, jumping up in her seat from suprise. She smiled at Harry brightly, yet her legs twitched slightly underneath the table. " I didn't know you were awake."
" You startled us boy," Sirius said with a smile. He pulled out a chair for Harry to sit in. " Come and sit down. We were --"
" I know what you were doing!" Harry snapped. The smiles fell from their faces at Harry's alarming tone. " Talking about my parents, were you?"
" H-Harry..Sirius and Narcissa were just saying --" Hermione stammered.
" I know what they were saying!" Harry said coldly. " I heard you guys. Finding things that Hermione and I have in common with my parents, right? Weren't you?"
Sirius looked at Harry oddly, frowning. " Harry, there's nothing to get angry about. We weren't saying anything at all offending about you, Hermione, or your parents. You know we would never -- "
" I don't care! You shouldn't compare me to my parents! My parents are bloody dead! You can't compare me to dead people!" Harry shouted.
" Harry!" Hermione cried loudly. " You don't know what you're saying! Stop it!" She looked scared, wondering why Harry was acting that way.
Sirius stood up, the legs of his chair scratching against the tiled floor. " Listen, Harry. Being compared to your parents is a great honor. They were wonderful people and -- "
" I don't want to be compared to them!" Harry shouted, this time louder. He could barely think straight. His vision was getting blurry, then clearer, then blurry again. Why would he want to be compared with his parents? From what he heard it sounded like he and Hermione -- even Ron, were playing rondavew, living the life his parents had lived. But who would want that? Weren't his parents murdered by Voldemort? Wasn't he, Harry, almost killed as well? If so much was alike between him, Hermione, and his parents, didn't that mean that he would end up like them as well? At the end of Voldemort's wand? Worse, his kid would probably be in danger, too.
" Don't say that, Harry!" Hermione protested, looking hurt and horrified at how Harry was acting. She stood up and took a step closer to him.
" I don't want to be anything like them! I don't want you to be a ruddy thing like them, either! I don't want us to end up like them!" he continued to yell, turning on Hermione.
Hermione gasped, tears flooding her green eyes. She escaped from the room, crying. Harry looked blankly after her. He turned slowly to face Sirius and Narcissa, whose expressions were cold.
He made a move to hurry after Hermione, but Sirius caught him by the crook of his arm and pushed him gently towards a chair at the kitchen table.
" Sit down, Harry," Sirius commanded in a low voice.
Harry sat.
Sirius started to pace, stopping every few seconds to look at Harry in disbelief. He then sat down across from him and leaned forward. " What has gotten into you?" he asked in concern.
" Harry, dear..we weren't saying anything to offend your parents," Narcissa added before Harry could respond.
Harry looked at the two of them, thoughts and questions running through his mind. Where should he start? What should he say first? And shouldn't he go up and comfort Hermione, even though he had no idea why she was crying?
" I - I don't want to be like my parents," he croaked finally.
Sirius' face turned stony. He swallowed, then spoke. " Why not? There was nothing wrong with your parents. I'm suprised at you, Harry. I thought you took pride in th --"
" I do. I do take pride in them," Harry interrupted quickly. " I..I just don't want to end up like them."
Sirius looked at him in confusion as he leaned back in his seat. His eyebrows arched. " You don't want to end up like them?" he repeated.
Harry nodded fervently. " There're so many things you found that were the same as Hermione and me. It's like we're living their lives over again."
" But you're not. You're completely different people, Harry," Sirius said slowly. His fingers drummed against the table.
" In a way," he admitted. Harry sighed and glanced out the window, then back at Sirius. His eyes fell quickly on Narcissa, who was watching him intently. He swallowed. " I just don't want to be at the end of Voldemort's wand again..and lose."
The silence after Harry had spoken was a long one. No one moved. Even the birds seemed to stop chirping from outside. If Harry strained his ears long and hard enough, he could probably hear Hermione crying from inside her room. He got up from his chair, the scratching of the chair legs loud and unearthly.
" I've got to go see Hermione," he said and turned. Sirius and Narcissa watched him leave, but still, he got no reply.