Memoria Excidere

There is a young woman walking across a road. She is crying - no, she is weeping. There are tears running down her cheeks, caressing her skin, and slicing from her chin to the cobbled ground. Her breath does not hitch; she does not have enough energy any more. It is just another day, and she must go on as normal, as if nothing can affect her and she is simply content. No matter what she may tell herself, though, she is not. He lingers on her, his presence clings to her like a silk scarf slipping slowly along hair and getting caught at the nape of the neck. But he is not there - she has left him. She has hidden from him. Now she lives with the consequence.

The time has passed slowly since he ceased to be there. She has come home, rebuilt her life...without him having any knowledge of her current existence. Her friends do not know where she is - not even where she has been. It is many years since the name Hermione Granger has been uttered in conversation. The great Potions Mistress who was working to triumph over Voldemort...who disappeared one afternoon in the Ministry Of Magic...along with all hope of ever stopping him. Since then, lives have been lost. Hogwarts still stands, but its barriers are not as strong as they used to be. The Wizarding world is in the heat of war...and their most unexpected saviour has been lost in the folds of time. Not even Harry Potter, forced to mature earlier than any boy should, can take this foe on without so sharp a wit.

But her memory lives on...in one man's heart. It takes a strong force to shatter a mind of steel, and an even stronger one to conquer it afterwards. Hermione Granger was one such force - a mystical energy, channelled through her passion. Only the most passionate of people were able to harness this energy, though everyone possessed it. It was the most archaic of magic, and connected them to the beginning of time. Muggles called it Greek Mythology - but Wizards knew better, knew that it was history, not myth. And the Gods and Goddesses lived on...in those most passionate of people.

Hermione Granger was one of these people...and so was the man she loved.

While she walks the winding roads of her childhood, however, he is sitting where they have once lain together. And he remembers, too...but not so fondly. He is hardened by loss, convinced that she is a far more evil force than Voldemort could ever be. She has turned him into the iron man - no one, no animal nor human may touch him now. His barriers are back, and they have returned tenfold. Their love is lost forever in the blackness of his heart...he has project his passion towards his work, his arrogance, loathing and hatred of her. The heart has two sides...one darker than the black velvet that Nyx paints across the night sky. Still, though...the dark side clings to the other. He is on the brink of losing hope, but while some remains all is not lost.

His memories are forgotten; living through two wars has torn them away...but surely there can always be love in his heart, if it is strong enough...

Memoria Excidere...