All the wrong choices

Hogwarts reunion

Maybe it was his age talking, all 32 years of them, or maybe it was the foul mood he was in where he felt bitter and glum about the world, but he was sure that the last time he had heard the Weird Sisters play, they had sounded so much better. Now they sounded tired and repetitive making Harry flinch slightly inside.

Maybe it was the memories that they dredged up in his mind of a yule ball so many years previous where he was once again, sat at a table alone and dateless. He shook his head as he sat at one of the large round tables in the new and 'improved' great hall at Hogwarts. He hadn't seen it since it had been rebuilt after the battle, but he didn't like the changes that had been made since the refurbishment. Some up-and-coming magical architect had come in with their new-fangled ideas of what would make a statement. He scrunched his nose up in disgust. The high ceiling was no long bewitched to reflect the weather outside, apparently, that enchantment had been lost to the ages. The new ceiling now depicted scenes from the battle of Hogwarts. The centrepiece "the downfall of Voldemort" could rival the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Each Horcrux had its own tableau of equally beautiful and awful imagery surrounding them as the images danced like a kaleidoscope. It was dizzying to watch as the subjects were enchanted to enact and re-enact their parts for all eternity. He looked away before his eyes could settle on the raven-haired figure in the centre, the lightning bolt clear for all to see. He knew that if Professor McGonagall were still headmistress, the new art installation would have been something much less gaudy.

He was most definitely getting old he thought, as he sipped his almost forgotten drink. Running the cold glass around in his hands as he rested his elbows on the table. He scanned the faces around him as if looking for someone specific. Some of the faces were familiar to him but some had changed so much, he wasn't sure whether he would recognise them from their school days. Every face was 15 years older, however, some people had aged more gracefully than others. Even his own hair was beginning to become salt and pepper, something which he actually liked. Some of the women at the office had told him he'd be a silver fox by the time he was forty. He laughed it off hoping to avoid any advances on him when the time came. He ran a hand through his hair as he scanned the crowd for Ron or Hermione. They were dancing over by the stage, clearly enjoying the music. Harry sighed again.

He knew he shouldn't have come. He was in no mood for partying or socialising, Unbeknown to Ron or Hermione, He and Ginny had just signed the divorce papers. His heart hung heavy at the prospect of having to go through over a decade of accumulated and shared belongings. He knew that right this second Ginny would be in the arms of her 'Seeker weekly' journalist lover whom she had been having an affair with for at least the past year. Harry looked down at his drink, He wished he could be angry with her, but he just couldn't find it in him. Maybe it was his own fault that she had looked elsewhere. Since leaving school he had lost all his ambition and drive, he had tried joining the Auror training academy only to drop out a few months later; Ginny, on the other hand, had become even more vivacious and adventurous after making the Holyhead Harpies, main squad.

He knocked the rest of the fire whiskey back hoping it would either numb the guilt or awaken the pain which he was waiting to feel. He had expected to be more broken up about it all, fifteen years was a long time to be with anyone, but he found that he was happy for her finding attention from someone else, someone that wasn't him. The passions in their bedroom had been mediocre at best and he wasn't sure whose fault it was. He knew that he no longer loved her, not in a romantic way. Whenever he did start to get hot under the collar, it was never her he thought about to quench his appetites. He blushed at this admission to himself as though the whole room could hear him.

The loud throbbing music came to a stop for the moment when someone announced a short interval. The sudden change in noise level jarred the senses as everyone began talking and laughing among themselves as the mingled and moved away from the stage. The recently transfigured food tables and bar were now swarming with people, removing them from view completely. He saw Hermione's purple dress first, followed closely by Ron's sweaty red hair.