The After Life

A Dream of 19 Years

Author Note:

Following some early reviews on Ff.Net (where I am also posting) I feel the need to add this note at the beginning to qualify what this story is for any new readers who find it. Please bear with me, it may save you some wasted time in the future.

This is, primarily, a HARRY & HERMIONE (aka Harmony) fan fiction. This means that the central theme is Harry Potter and Hermione Granger as a couple. SPOILER ALERT: this WILL DEFINITELY HAPPEN at some stage in my story. The when and how will hopefully be what keeps people interested and reading. If you DO NOT ship Harry and Hermione, or are actively against their coupling, I would advise you stop reading at this point. I am a Harmony Shipper and I blatantly disregard and reject the couples that happened in JK Rowling's books (in fact, I ignore books 6 and 7 completely in my world). I do this BY CHOICE, and am a passionate Harmony supporter. If you support other pairings, by all means enjoy them elsewhere, but I do not need anybody to 'correct' me on my interpretation of the Potterworld Romances. I accept the way that Rowling went in her books, but I still reject it. This is why I write fan fiction, to enjoy the couples that I invested in during my enjoyment of the books. Please respect that if you consider reviewing.

Secondly, this is an introspective fic where both Harry and Hermione spend a lot of time internalising and analysing their lives post-Battle of Hogwarts. This story explores how they might have reacted in the aftermath in a very cerebral sort of way. It also allows me to give the characters a chance to do the one thing that JK Rowling never permitted in her books - to consider a relationship with each other. I will try to do this believably and realistically. It is therefore necessarily dark and angsty, and I deal with the problem of the Weasley's in a very unsympathetic way. I offer no apologies for this. There will be no hunting Death Eaters or becoming Aurors or anything action-based like that in this story. It is internal-looking, hopefully emotive, but unapologetically slow-burning.

Finally, I am a distinctly mediocre writer and use fan fiction as a way to practice and improve my skills. This fic is an attempt at a different style of writing, where I may be able to get a little feedback and develop my questionable talent.

If after all that you still wish to read on, Chapter One is below :)

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Harry Potter watched the Hogwarts Express disappear from Platform 9 and 3/4 with a resounding toot of its horn. He waved one last time at his two eldest children vanishing along with it. It was Albus's first day at Hogwarts and Harry hoped he would be alright. He'd seemed so scared. Ginny took Harry's arm in a would-be-consoling way. He barely noticed it, and when he did, he shrugged her off.

Then there was a sudden, high-pitched, angry cry, a flash of green and the train exploded in front of them.

***

Harry had barely time to scream before he was shocked awake, panting for air as if just breaking the surface of water. His scar throbbed painfully and his pyjama shirt was soaked in sweat, boiling in his veins but breaking like ice on his skin. He jerked upright and reached for his glasses, tentatively thought about his wand too. But the panic was subsiding, the fear ebbing away as the pain in his scar eased. It was just a dream. Voldemort was dead. Harry had to remember that.

Voldemort was dead.

Harry ran the words over in his mind, as he'd done a thousand times in the past month, since it happened. Since he'd murdered Voldemort. For the second time. It didn't seem real. Somehow, some part of the phrase just didn't feel like truth to Harry. This evil, this threat, this 7-year burden, gone. Just like that. Harry was struggling to wrap his mind around the concept.