What Could Have Been - Harry Potter

Epilogue

{ published: 29th october 2014. }

written for The Sorting Hat, The Lottery Competition (7; 19; 25; 28; 41), Twister Challenge, The Greek Mythology Mega Prompt Challenge (Hercules/Heracles), Harry Potter Chapter Competition (The Polyjuice Potion), Hogwarts Casino 2014 Challenge/Competition (raffle ticket), K-POP Challenge (Girls' Generation - Genie), Pick a Card, Any Card Challenge (Three of Diamonds), The Pokemon Journey Challenge & As Much As You Can Competition.

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What Could Have Been
Epilogue

This was... unexpected.

Four pairs of eyes blinked at each other, astonished, the possessors' unknowingly forming a perfect square as they gazed between themselves.

Hermione Granger, Ravenclaw first-year, was clutching a fat hardback copy of Hogwarts: A History to her chest; her frizzy brown hair was wrestled back into a ponytail that contrasted oddly with the blue tint to her robes, and the girl herself seemed uncomfortable with the vain poise she'd adopted. She simply stared around.

To her left was Ron Weasley, the yellowish drapes of his clothing gathered to the side as though he'd struggled to navigate his steps without stepping on the too-big outfit. He was fidgeting nervously, looking torn between being a patient Hufflepuff willing to wait for an explanation, or an enlightening Hufflepuff willing to ask for one. He just looked at his shoes with abrupt interest.

The famous Slytherin himself, Harry Potter, was opposite the redhead. The brilliant green of his eyes clashed with the darker shade of his school trimmings, and even though he sported the typical sour look of his House, behind the frown he was equally as puzzled as everyone else. He settled for a general glare.

Neville Longbottom completed the quadrilateral, a meter away from Harry. His red-toned robes suddenly felt like they were dyed bright ruby when the trio simultaneously turned their focus to his Gryffindor crest. They'd all come across each other purely by chance, the final night before the summer holidays started; all of them had become lost whilst wandering the corridors at night, and they'd passed through the seventh floor hall at least twice when this room had opened.

The silence was suffocating.

Then, laughter.

It was completely random and baseless, but at that exact moment, all of them felt unexplainable joy. The only girl in their midst abandoned her posture as she doubled over with giggles – the one with the brightest hair snorted as he slapped his knee – the Boy-Who-Lived couldn't contain his chortles – Neville chuckled weakly at the odd irony: these were the three who had been Sorted against what had been predicted of them.

"Hermione." / "Ron." / "Harry." / "Neville."

As their happiness faded to simple contentment, the four wordlessly watched the others. Silently, compelled by an invisible force, they all stepped towards the centre and enveloped each other in a warm group-embrace. A moment later, they released and approached the respective doors that they had entered through. A bittersweet sensation followed their synchronised exits.

'Thank you.'

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WORD COUNT: 415.

prompts used: summer; Ron Weasley & Trio Era & Neville Longbottom & astonishing & Harry Potter; write about someone getting lost; write about Harry Potter; write about someone being someone they're not; write about a character discovering a new place; "Even if your overwhelmed heart was to explode, even if it all flies away in the wind, right now, this moment, the world is yours."; write a Golden Trio friendship fic.

A/N: behold! – one of the very few multichap fics i've ever finished. milestone = hit :)
- crystalcanon.

{ original chapter: 29th october 2014. 
updated a/n: 23rd august 2020. }