Divergence

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She waited for him in the Entrance Hall after their last exam and a part of her hoped he would never come. She had to tell him something that she rather didn't. But time was not in her favour and so she didn't need to wait long.

"Done!" he shouted excited when he saw her and swept her off her feet and whirled her around. "I'm done with school! No more studying, no more exams, finally freedom!" He laughed joyfully until he saw her stricken face. "Hey, what's the matter?" he asked tentatively, and her heart ached. He had been the kindest boyfriend she could imagine – but it just wasn't enough.

"I can't be your date for the Graduation ball," she quickly said the dreadful words.

He looked at her stunned. "What?"

"I'm sorry, I really am. I shouldn't have accepted your invitation right away."

"But I don't understand. I thought we were doing great together."

"We are," she replied and took his hand. "I love you, I do. But I can't spend my life with you. You want to travel the world before even thinking about what to do with your life, and I want to go to university straight away. And I don't believe in long-distance relationships."

"It's because I'm a Hufflepuff, isn't it?" he then asked sadly.

She wanted to deny it but it was partly true. He was wonderful and kind and lovely and loyal and could make her laugh, but she needed someone in her life who could challenge her mentally, with whom she could talk about great philosophy problems or how Probability Theory could be included in Arithmancy. She loved reading and learning, he loved drawing and talking about cloud constellations. It just didn't fit in the long term. Her friends had warned her from the start, over a year ago when she had started to show an interest in him.

"Don't even bother," they had said. "A Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff can never be happy with each other."

She had tried to prove them wrong and here in the secure space of Hogwarts it had worked very well but now that they were entering the wizarding adult world, their expectations of life diverged.

"It's okay," he then said and even smiled a bit at her. "I've always known."

"What have you always known?" she asked puzzled. Why wasn't he shouting at her in anger or leave her cold-heartedly? She deserved to be treated horribly after what she had done!

"That a Ravenclaw like yourself wouldn't be with me Hufflepuff for a long time. That sooner or later I would bore you."

"You don't bore me," she replied at once, "it's just…"

"Not enough," he finished the sentence for her, and she couldn't contradict him.

Tears filled her eyes. She felt terrible because she did love him and wanted to be with him, but it was better to sever all ties now than to get divorced in twenty years. Maybe now she had the possibility to meet with whom she was truly meant to be.

"You know what," he then said and intertwined his hand with hers, "I still want to go to the Graduation ball with you. One last evening where everything is perfect without thinking about tomorrow."

"I don't deserve that," she whispered, crying. He was too good for the world.

"Yes, you do. And so do I."

Finally, she nodded. She could give him that. One evening of forgetting who they were and just be happy with each other.