Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything related; "Breaking the Habit" is property of Linkin Park.

A/N: Songfic challenge response from the Hideaway.

: P

Harry awoke with a pain greater than he could imagine. His head felt as if it would simply burst any moment. It was as if it were a balloon verging on breaking point. The alarm clock went off with the most obnoxious buzzing sound he ever heard. Harry grabbed the clock from the nightstand. Hefting it, he chucked it across the room into the far wall.

"Shut up! Everyone just shut up!" he screamed in frustration and pain.

Ron, who had been forced to duck for cover after a flying alarm clock, wandered across the room to his friend. He knew Harry to be irritable from time to time, but nothing like this. "You all right, mate? You look a little pale."

"Ron, go away," Harry moaned and rolled over in bed, covering his head with a pillow.

Memories consume

Like opening the wound

I'm picking me apart again

You all assume

I'm safe here in my room

Unless I try to start again

But Ron did not go away. He pressed on with genuine concern. "Harry, you can't lie in bed all day."

"Who says I can't?"

"Well, me for one."

"What do you matter?"

Ron was taken aback by the statement. It was mean and vicious, and it hurt. "I'm your friend! And whether you like it or not, you have a duty! If you want me and Hermione and the rest of the world to suffer because your not having a good time of life, then you're no better than-than Voldemort himself!" It was obviously an effort on Ron's part to actually use that name, but Harry made no move one way or another.

I don't want to be the one

The battles always choose

'Cause inside I realize

That I'm the one confused

Ron, finally realizing he was getting nowhere, left in a huff, slamming Harry's door hard enough to rattle the frame. It had the unintended effect of jarring Harry out of his total self-pity. He still felt miserable, but something in his mind started working faster. His thoughts were becoming slightly more focused for the first time in days.

Lately Harry had been running from all his troubles, letting them pile up more and more. Ron's "intervention" if you will woke him up just the slightest bit to that fact. The door was open a crack and all Harry had to do now was take the initiative to throw that door wide open.

I don't know what's worth fighting for

Or why I have to scream

I don't know why I instigate

And say what I don't mean

I don't know how I got this way

I know it's not alright

So I'm breaking the habit

Tonight

Harry got up and got dressed slowly. He did not really have the energy to face the day yet, but he knew eventually he would have to do something. Once his mind started working, it did not really stop. He reluctantly opened his bedroom door and padded down the stairs. Ron was having a staring match with his bowl of Cheerios. Hermione was nowhere to be seen, a gift in Harry's mind. Hermione more than anyone had been pestering him lately in regards to his duty. Each day the final battle loomed closer and closer, and each day Harry ran further from it.

"Hey, Ron, I'm sorry about what I said," he mumbled in a hurry.

Ron did not look away from his Cheerios. "Whatever," he quietly responded.

Harry helped himself to some cereal and slowly began to eat it. Ron got up and dumped his bowl in the sink and left the room. Harry sighed deeply and pondered about his life.

Clutching my cure

I tightly lock the door

I try to catch my breath again

I hurt much more

Than anytime before

I had no options left again

He knew what he had to do. It was pressing on him so hard that he could no longer escape it. His head ached so badly and he suddenly wanted nothing more than to make it just go away. Harry stood decisively and called to Ron. 'Now or never' his mind kept telling him. 'It's now or never for you to finally rid the world of Voldemort.'

Ron, still being angry with Harry, took his time in responding. When he finally came back to the kitchen, he noted the determination on Harry's face. He was really going to do it this time. No more lies, no more deception, this was it. The final straw. Either Harry would prevail or Voldemort would rule the world. There was no time to think about it any further as Harry looked Ron square in the eye and silently asked if he was going to be there.

Ron replied, "I'll floo Hermione."

In an instant Ron had gotten ahold of Hermione and the Order of the Phoenix. Everyone was ready to move.

I'll paint it on the walls

'Cause I'm the one at fault

I'll never fight again

And this is how it end

Harry knew there would be no war, no fighting. Voldemort would plan on that. It would be a massacre plain and simple. Harry would go in and simply destroy his enemy. Nothing would ever be the same for him again, and that was fine just as long as everyone else was safe. In the silence of the dawn Harry snuck in to his enemy's stronghold and did what needed to be done. Everyone cheered at the fact he had finally done what his destiny dictated. But for Harry, this was the end of something frightening and the beginning of something just as frightening.

I don't know what's worth fighting for

Or why I have to scream

But now I have some clarity

To show you what I mean

I don't know how I got this way

I'll never be alright

So I'm breaking the habit

I'm breaking the habit

Tonight

Once, he knew who he was, why he was who he was. But the destruction of Voldemort destroyed something of Harry at the same time. He knew why everything was the way it was and why it should be that way, but somewhere he lost himself. He was no longer the Harry everyone thought they knew. And that was something Harry would have to fight with for the rest of his life.

End