𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐂 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

Single Chapter

Harry stood back and watched with sadden eyes the scene before him. He had no one to blame, but himself. It was his fault. For all the Gryffindor bravery he possessed, he was a coward. It was a trait engrained to him by the Dursleys and used by Dumbledore.

Merlin, he had been such a fool as a child! And even as a teenager, he had been a bloody fool. He played into Dumbledore's hands like a blind Gryffindor. He never once stopped to think about the consequences of his actions, instead he chose to stay in the background, performing average in school and letting Granger walk all over him, while following Ron's lazy example.

He had been so desperate to be accepted that he became a willing puppet. If people hated Slytherins then he copied that behavior. If people expected him to speak out against the ministry and defend Dumbledore's honor, then he did it without question. And when his actions came crashing down on him, he let his emotions get in the way.

He fought for parents that he never knew and were only shadows of perfection on his life. People idolized them and all their faults and flaws had been ignored. His father, James had been a bully, so much like Dudley and nothing like Draco Malfoy, who played a role since he entered Hogwarts. And his mother had been an identical clone of Granger, who stayed in the background and saw her best friend be humiliated and later abandoned him when he let his anger get the best of him.

Severus Snape was the true hero. He was a powerful wizard, so unlike Harry who won on a technicality. He was not the true defeater of Voldemort. Without Snape's efforts he would have died. The man he had once hated with a passion had been his savior and yet he had never once been thanked. Sirius had mocked him and the rest of the Order distrusted him. All because he was a Slytherin and yet they had all forgotten that a Gryffindor had once betrayed them all decades earlier.

He had once been part of that group, much to his shame. But he never spoke up, scared of being abandoned, so if they asked him to jump he asked how high. He would do the impossible to be accepted, to be useful and not thrown away.

He accepted Ron after his betrayal in fourth year, even when he wanted to do nothing with him. He defended Sirius even when he was the one at fault. He had been such an arrogant fool. Snape had been right in that aspect. He cried and stressed over a war, never once stopping to thinking that others were losing more then he was. That others mourned for their family; family that they actually knew and didn't live through the memories of others like his parents did. No, instead he saw his pain.

He never stopped to think about the pain that Snape was going through or the humiliation Draco had to endure to make sure that the Slytherin house would not defect to the Dark. No, he walked around like the ultimate victim when Neville had the horror of visiting parents that were better off dead than alive.

And for what? To be played by an aging wizard who had a God complex, who saw him as a pawn, but would later tell him that he was his grandson to his face. He played the hero, the martyr and let the wizarding world demand more from him each time, he gave and gave and accepted nothing, but insults and demands.

They wanted a Gryffindor, so he rejected Slytherin. They wanted a hero and he played the part. They wanted him to become an Auror, so he planned to become one. They wanted their hero to marry a Light witch and he chose Ginny, who he always saw as his best friend's little sister and who saw him as the Boy-Who-Lived in return.

Harry so desperately wanted a family and when the Weasleys showed him kindness, he latched on to it and when they began to hint that they wanted to see him marry their only daughter, he kissed her even when he wanted to run away.

And he lost everything at the end.

He lost his individuality, his courage, his self-respect and his dignity. And all to a world that was as prejudice as Voldemort and his Death Eaters had been.