Harry Potter (imperfect_saint) wrote in unforeseen_rpg, @ 2007-08-13 16:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | harry, hermione, ron, thread |
The Morning After In The Headmaster's Office
Who: Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
When: May 8, 1998
Where: Headmaster's Office
What: The morning after the final battle, Harry, Hermione, and Ron wake up to face what has happened.
Notes: Rated PG for talk of people's deaths and overall angst.
Harry sat up from where he was laying down, his eyes heavy and his body sore. He glanced at Hermione and Ron before he looked away again, unable to stand the fact that his friends had gone through so much for him. So much, but it was finally over, over and done. But if he had only been faster, more careful, more...something, he would've been able to save so many lives. He sighed, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on top.
Ron had been lying on his side, facing Hermione. She had finally gone to sleep purely from exhaustion and he found himself wide awake and unable to do anything but stare at his surroundings, ignore all the aches he felt, his hunger. His eyes had been awake for so long they were dry and hurt.He heard movement behind him and figured Harry would be up. He turned over on his back quietly, closing his eyes briefly, feeling very tired and yet wide awake. He turned to face Harry and looked at him a moment. It felt almost like a dream, seeing Harry there, alive and breathing. He forced himself to swallow and said, "Alright, Harry?"
Harry slowly turned his head and watched Ron for a long moment before he answered quietly, "Alright. You?" he asked, noticing that it seemed Ron didn't get a single bit of sleep the entire night. Harry himself kept waking up during the night from the same dream.
Ron forced the bit of saliva he had to nod and say, "Alright. Wish I could have slept on the bed though. This will only hurt soon as I sit up."
Harry attempted to smile at him, but it probably only looked like a grimace on his tired face. "It does hurt," he murmured, not even wanting to stand up yet.
Ron bit his lip and tried not to grimace as he forced himself to sit up, feeling his muscles protest the movement and even hearing some cracking. He looked around for his wand and found it between himself and Hermione, then crawled to where Harry was sitting a few feet away from them. He raised his legs towards his chest like Harry did, sighing and looking down at the floor. not knowing what else to say. "Hermione's still sleeping. Poor thing's probably worn out."
"She can sleep for a long as she needs," Harry said quietly, not looking at Ron just yet. He wanted to know what time it was, how everyone else was, but he definitely wasn't ready to leave the office yet. "You should sleep, too."
Ron shrugged, looking away before Harry could tell he was lying. "I slept a bit. No big deal."
Harry finally looked at him, a strange look in his eyes. "You look like you haven't slept at all."
Ron scoffed and said, "It isn't like I'm in my own bed, Harry. Haven't had a lot of sleep lately but I managed to last night. I'm awake, aren't I?"
"I guess. If you say so," Harry murmured, resting his chin on his knees again. "Uhm...hey, Ron?"
"Yeah?," he asked, turning to face Harry again for lack of anything else.
"I'm sorry," Harry said softly, not able to look at Ron yet.
Ron groaned and beat his head against his raised knees. "Harry--why do you keep doing this? It wasn't your fault!"
"It just feels that way, alright?" Harry said, closing his eyes with a small sigh.
"Then don't," he said rather crossly, but then sighed and realized he sounded too harsh. He reached over to rest his hand lightly on Harry's shoulders, trying to get his attention with a small squeeze. "Please don't do this to yourself, mate. There was only so much you could have done and you couldn't be many places at once."
Harry shrugged, only biting his lip as and looking straight ahead. "I wish I did something, though, Ron. Anything to help..."
"You did help, Harry," Ron said with confidence, squeezing the thin shoulder once more before he set them back on his knees. "You-Know---Voldermort's dead, once and for all. And you're still alive, which is what matters, to me, to Hermione, to anyone that ever cared for you."
"But what about Remus? And Tonks...and.." Harry paused, glancing over at Ron. "...Your brother, Ron..."
Ron's whole body tensed up and he didn't reply for the longest time. He had been pretending that nothing about this war had affected him or his family, but the fact that Hermione was still sleeping and they were there, meant things he wasn't ready to face yet. He turned away from Harry and said, "Remus and Tonks knew what they were doing when they came back. You couldn't have done anything for them had you tried."
Harry noticed that Ron didn't mention Fred, and he knew it was probably too soon to be even talking about this. "I know, Ron," Harry sighed, wanting to drop the converstaion now.
"I don't want you to do this to yourself for the rest of your life," he continued quietly, trying to gather his thoughts properly before he said something stupid that might cause an unwanted argument. "You can only do the best you can with what you have, mate. Let's just try and take it one day at a time, yeah?"