Fairy Tale Endings, a harry potter fanfic

Fairy Tale Endings

"'...and all four of them led long and happy lives, and none of them ever knew or suspected that the Fountain's waters carried no enchantment at all.' The end." Harry closed his sister-in-law's ancient copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard and smiled at the sight of his children fast asleep in one bed. He got up and began to leave the room when a soft voice sounded behind him.

"Wait, Daddy."

He turned around, startled, to see Lily sitting up and blinking her big, round eyes at him. His littlest child, his only daughter, looked absolutely panicked at the thought of him leaving the room. "Please don't go," she whispered. "I don't want you to be gone forever again."

He couldn't help but to smile at his four-year-old's extreme exaggeration of his last mission—and disappearance. "I won't be gone forever, sweetheart," he reassured her. "I'll be fine."

"But you still walk funny and make a hurted face when you sit up and stand and stuff."

As she spoke, Harry felt a twinge in his left side and his hand went automatically to soothe it. Lily's eyes followed his movements, so he redirected the gesture to easing the light switch on. Everything the child said was right, of course; his injuries had actually gotten worse since he had returned from his previous assignment. His limp was more noticeable, no matter how much he tried to hide it, and he had been to St. Mungo's several times for the pain in his side, but they had not yet found a solution or even the problem.

"I'm fine," he told Lily, trying to believe it himself.

"Then why did Mommy cry last night when you told her you were leaving again?"

He sighed. The night before he had gotten into it with Ginny over his assignment. He had received it only an hour before his wife had returned and she demanded he didn't go. He thought back to the argument...

"Are you insane?" she shrilled. "You're still hurt from the last time! And you've only been home a week. Make them send someone else!"

"First off, it's Avillo, the Head of the Department, that's sending me. I can't just say no, if I want to keep my job. Second of all it's an A-class mission and I'm the only one that is qualified to take this on that isn't already on a mission or in the hospital." His voice was calm, patient, but forcibly so.

"Then quit! Then make someone else qualified! Or better yet, check yourself back into the hospital like I've been telling you to do for the past week!"

"You don't get it!" His temper was starting to get the best of him. "This is bigger than 'just a job'! People could die if I don't do this! Do you want that?" Ginny shook her head, tears brimming in her eyes; she hated when he shouted at her, but he couldn't stop himself. "Then why are you causing such a fuss, huh? Why are you making this so damn difficult?"

"I don't want you to die!"

Full streams of tears were rushing down her face, now. "You almost didn't make it last time, and you were missing for months and it was all I could do to keep the kids hopeful while I was starting to dread the worst and you've only been home a week and I just..." Her voice trailed off, the silence in it accompanied by hiccups and little gasps as she tried to calm herself enough to continue. When she did however, her voice was very small.

"I nearly lost you to Voldemort all those years ago...I didn't think we were given a second chance so you could die and leave me alone again."

He stared at his wife for a long moment. All these years she had been hiding that fear deep inside, trying to stay happy for the sake of everyone else, and he had never known. How? How had he failed to notice this for ten years?

"Baby," he said, softly. "I wish, more than anything, that I could promise you that you'd never be without me. That I will always be there for you." He paused. "In truth, I can't; not in the way you want me to. I will always be with you in spirit and there for you in all that I do. But I can't promise you that I won't die and leave you living without me. I can't swear to be able to comfort every time you cry for the rest of your life. I can only promise to try to—"

"Come home," Ginny finished. He had told her this when he had left her to hunt down the Horcruxes and recited it a few times since, when things seemed hopeless and desolate. "I know."

He stretched out his arms and she fell into them, still crying. I can't fix this and neither can she. The realization hit him suddenly and he felt the world fall out from beneath his feet. He gave up on staying strong for Ginny and let salty tears drip off his face and into her long flaming hair.

"Daddy?"

Lily's sweet, baby voice jolted him from his memories and back into the issue still at hand. "Hmm?"

"Why was Mommy crying last night when you said you were leaving again?"

He had his answer now. True, yet simple, it would satisfy his little girl without upsetting her any further than she already was. "Because Mommy loves me," he said.

Lily nodded, laid back down in bed, and fell asleep instantly, all of her worries assuaged. Harry, however, knew his would keep him up for several nights; Ginny wouldn't sleep, either. But that was how it was sometimes. Things left broken for weeks, months, even years. It was inevitable. They would just have to live with it, cope with it, and love each other despite it. Things don't always have a fairy tale ending, after all.

2 At this point in time, according to JK Rowling, Harry would have been Head of the Department. However I took creative liberties and changed that to fit my story. :)

3My Math might be wrong. Let me know if it is, but explain your reasoning! :)

4 Again, creative liberties. :D