Favourite Season (H/D, G)
Title: Favourite Season (1 of 2)
Author:
sesheta_66
Word Count: 706
Rating: G
Warning: No beta. Feel free to point out any mistakes you see.
Challenge: #32 - "Seasons" for
hd_angst
Disclaimer: HP world belongs to JK Rowling. No money made by me - I am only playing.
When Hermione asked him what his favourite season was, Harry wasn't sure how to answer that question.
A year ago, it would have been an easy answer. The fall. It was the time of year that marked his return to Hogwarts. Of course, officially that was still the summer, but the start of a new year at school was the unofficial beginning of fall. Harry also liked the changing of the leaves, the cooling of the air, and the return to using magic. Returning to Hogwarts felt like coming home.
Sure, winter had Christmas, but that was not always a happy time for Harry. He definitely enjoyed the season more since he entered the magic world, but he was always reminded of the love other people got to share with their families. It was always a painful reminder about the loss of his parents, and just how alone he really was. Even though they had met their end on Hallowe'en night, it was Christmas when he missed them the most.
Spring was a season many people liked best, because it represented a time of rebirth and of new life. To Harry, the only rebirth that spring represented was that of Voldemort. All the beauty of winter - the snow, the ice, the freshness - melted away and turned to dull greys and browns in the spring. It was a rainy, grey, messy season. And ultimately spring made Harry think of the deaths of Sirius and Dumbledore.
He knew most definitely that it wasn't summer, because that meant months with the Dursleys. Sure, his birthday was in the summer, but like Christmas, it only served to remind him of how alone he really was.
But now, this year, he dreaded the fall. It meant that Draco was going to go into harm's way. Snape had kept him safe for part of the summer, since his escape from Hogwarts the night of Dumbledore's death. He had eventually brought him to 12 Grimmauld Place for protection, where he had first been met with disdain, then reluctant tolerance, and eventually acceptance. Everyone now knew that he had only acted to save his mother, who was being tortured by Voldemort. He himself had been tortured countless times, so that he knew the true depth of his mother's suffering, as he continued to fail at his task. He came to them a broken man, but over the summer he begun to heal.
With his healing came his will to live, his will to fight back, and his will to do whatever he could to defeat the madman who had eventually killed his mother. He had worked tirelessly with Harry, Ron and Hermione to try to figure out what and where the remaining horcruxes were. But, despite their best efforts, there were still two remaining, and they were at a dead end.
While they had worked, he and Harry had grown closer. First, as two people with a shared need for justice or vengeance, or whatever it was they felt. Then, as friends. And eventually, as more than that. Harry had found in Draco that part of him that had been missing for so long. He felt whole, complete, and strangely at peace when they were together. Even though they had only been "together" for a short time, Harry knew it was where he was meant to be. Now that Hogwarts was in his past, Harry knew that Draco was his home.
Then yesterday, Draco had dropped a bomb. He had suggested that he would spy for the Order. Voldemort didn't know that he had been to headquarters. He didn't know that Draco had switched sides - not that he was ever truly on the wrong one to begin with. And it was the only way he knew of to discover the identity of the last two horcruxes. Snape was too close to Voldemort to be able to poke around, but Draco would be ignored enough to do some looking around. Besides, Snape would be there to distract Voldemort. It all sounded great to the other members of the Order. To everyone except Harry.
So now that Hermione asked the question about the seasons, Harry thought he hated the fall most of all.
Part B - Sleepless Nights