What They See Him As

What They See Him As

Harry can't be called The Boy Who Lived anymore, can he? He's grown to the nice age of twenty-seven, hardly a boy. He wasn't a boy when he was seventeen and killing the darkest wizard of the day, and he isn't a boy now that he has a wife and two sons and the deaths of thousands hanging over his head.

To many, he was invincible, back at Hogwarts. To some, he still is, despite his rapidly deteriorating eyesight and mind. He's going blind and crazy, and not a person in the world wants to admit it, because he killed the Dark Lord. He did so much, why rob him of the last few days he has left in happiness?

He killed a girl last week, thinking she was the Dark Lord reborn, and the Ministry scoffed it off, saying that he deserves a little room to live. I killed a boy last week, and I sit in Azkaban rotting. Tell me, is he that exempt?

Actually, I'm lying about the whole thing. He didn't kill anyone; neither did I. Harry is still as bright and sane as he was the day he graduated, though that is still not saying much. And the deaths of all the innocents? They're true, of course. I can't be lying about everything.

You don't believe me, now? I could be telling the truth, and tell you that he had sex with his male best friend because he thought he was going to die that day when he was seventeen, and needed one last bit of fucking comfort in the world. Or I could be telling you the truth, and tell you that his wife was the first person he touched in an intimate fashion, and that only on their beautiful and perfect wedding night, the room draped in white and roses on the bed.

Harry Potter has no children, you know. And his wife has been dead for seven years.

Think I'm still lying, yet?

Ever hear about Ronald Weasley in the news, hear about what he did on the day Lord Voldemort fell? Neville Longbottom? Hermione Granger? All you hear about is Harry Potter, and that's when you stop reading the post, or turn off the wizarding radio. Pity, you realize.

And has the name Luna Lovegood ever caught your attention? Cho Chang? Ginny Weasley? Hell, do you know that Draco Malfoy nearly sacrificed himself at the last minute?

Of course you don't. They had nothing to do with anything. It was all Harry, just Harry.

Albus Dumbledore, the greatest Headmaster that Hogwarts had seen in years, nay, ever, died yesterday. The last words that came out of his mouth were 'Harry Potter'. No, this one I'm not lying about. I wouldn't lie about that. I also wouldn't lie about the fact that Harry Potter never actually had a wife in the first place.

Why did I tell you that she was dead?

Why did you believe me?

And Ron Weasley and Hermione did actually play a part in the war, though of course you think I'm lying now. Ron died three days before Harry on that day when he was seventeen, an act of suicide and an act of sacrifice.

Harry Potter is dead. He died fighting the Dark Lord. That is the honest truth.

Hermione Granger died in a Death Eater attack a few months later, and Luna and Ginny and Remus Lupin a few months after that. Pretty soon, everyone was either dying or dead.

Except when they weren't, like Neville, who went on and fulfilled the prophecy he was born into. Neville killed Lord Voldemort, and Neville brought an end to the war. But by that time, there was no one for the war to end for. All who fought were either dead or didn't care anymore.

Neville shot himself with a Muggle gun in the mouth and his parents' picture in his pocket.

Harry Potter never learned of everything that happened to his friends, because he died when he was just seventeen, and still the Boy Who Lived. But he can't be called The Boy Who Lived anymore, can he?