In the end
~~~
Author's Notes: Set at the end of the Order of the Phoenix and I'm hoping that it is evident whose point of view this is from.
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You never thought you could be wrong.
Misinterpreted, misconstrued or misjudged.
But never completely and utterly wrong.
It's days like these that you remember that you're only human. And when the boy that you love like he's your own screams at you that he doesn't want to be human anymore, you can almost taste the bitter recrimination choking in the back of your throat.
You were supposed to be the wise wizard. The one person everyone went to for advice and you always believed you would have the answer. Yet so much power only accounts for so little perception. You thought you were doing the right thing to keep him safe but you forgot the wilfulness of the youth, your own days as a child disappearing into the swirling mists of a Penseive. You made a mistake, held back the truth and now it has cost you dearly.
So you tell him the truth, what the Prophecy means and you can see the hollow despair of comprehension creep over him.
"…that one of us has got to kill the other one… in the end?"
In the end, you've lost either way. You tried to help both of them but in both cases you failed. Underestimated the man they would have to be and the man they have become. You thought you could change their fate.
In the end, one will kill the other.
In the end, your beard will still be wet with tears.
In the end, you will still grieve.