HL one shots + asks

Prompt: August

Two Augusts ago she had told him how she felt on a late night on her cottage roof under the stars. Felt him stiffen beside her, and heard the hesitance in his voice as he told her he didn't feel the same.

One August ago he went back home, to Gaunt Manor for the first time since he was eleven years old, marking the day he had begun to ignore her and became a boy she didn't know, one who acted superior, who ignored mudbloods like her.

It had to be an act. He couldn't have changed so suddenly. They never would have worked, a Gaunt and a muggle-born. He was protecting her, perhaps?

Whenever she saw him in the hallways she made sure to make sure he knew that she was happy, that she was doing fine without him. That she didn't notice his lingering gaze as his wand stayed pointed in her direction for far too long when she laughed at something a boy had said.

She told herself that this was how life went. That only girls in books have happy endings. So she pushed him away. She knew she was making this about herself, she was selfish but didn't care.

She was sorry she loved him.

He was the best, her first real love. And so he was the worst.

Two summers later she saw him, sitting on her front steps. He offered to take her for a ride and with him she went. They laughed at all memories, and she barely concealed her tears.

When she went to leave, he took her hand and said. "It's dangerous to ask you to be with me and likely foolish but I have to tell you...I love you...I'm sorry."

"You love me? Then it is worth the risk."