"Buried, almost tangible secrets filled the space between them, and so, without a second to think, she closed it."
The scars of war opened more wounds than Harry Potter thought possible. As he returns to Hogwarts for his eighth and final year, he le...
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a/n: i'm currently working on the next chapter after taking a long mental health break, and because of the break i've lost some ideas and framework. if you get literally ANY ideas or thoughts, please please PLEASE let me know so the next chapter can get out sooner. thank you and ily guys ): okay now enjoy <3
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It was by a stroke of luck Harry was seeing Annabelle more often.
She had not eased nor relented her anger, though he couldn't blame her. He knew that it was his wrongdoing and jealousy, his nosiness that sparked their parting. When he thought of the explosive, sudden feud they had, Harry felt nothing but guilt, but couldn't for the life of him think of what to do. He wanted to fix it — more than anything, he wanted normalcy with Annabelle. He'd settle for neutrality. What he couldn't stand was losing her over his mistake; he couldn't stand Annabelle's pain being his fault. Seeing Hermione's loneliness and Ron's frustration left him so despaired and guilt-ridden he could hardly bear it.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had fallen into an odd rhythm. They were uncomfortably conscious of the missing member in the group, though Ron and Hermione were off devoting themselves to each other. So besides Hermione hissing about exams and occasional fun with Ron, Harry found it hard to have entertaining days without the energized Annabelle, always with something to say. He had never lived a quiet life, but without her, the world wasn't nearly loud enough.
He was embarrassed to say he hadn't been himself. Asking Hermione (as conspicuous and vague as he could've been) gave him the opposite result than he wanted.
"It's your trauma," she told Harry. "Coming out of war made you desperate for change, something new. That includes relationships."
"But Annabelle and I aren't in a relationship," said Harry, swinging his foot.
"Not romantically," Hermione said as she edited his and Ron's essays. "Needing change can be friends and family as well. It's not like you pick how your mindset shifts after a long period of... pressure. My friendship with Annabelle got stronger — that's a change. Ron's relationship shifted with his family. You've changed, we all have. It isn't necessarily a bad thing."
"Yeah," said Harry distantly. "Clever, Hermione. I just... dunno how it applies."
"Because needing change can be in a romantic aspect. Oh, do be mature. I just meant, why else would you fall out with Ginny so fast? You two were so close before we left to find the Horcruxes — there wasn't any reason for a change, was there?"
Harry, stung by this, dropped his smile into a frown. "Sounds right."
Hermione looked up for a moment, trying to read him. When she came to a conclusion, her eyebrows shot together and returned to her book looking cross.
