The New Remorse

The New Remorse

The sin was mine; I did not understand.

Yes, I have always been slow to understand...too slow...compared to you...you were always brilliant...and smart...the smartest witch in our class...

So new is music prisoned in her cave,

I did not understand why you shut yourself up after he went off...till you told me yesterday...you loved him...

Save where some ebbing desultory wave

But you have to come back, Hermione...come back...don't lose your life for him...what if he never comes back...

Frets with its restless whirls this meagre strand.

Don't waste your life waiting for him...it was his destiny...

And in the withered hollow of this land

Your pretty face has become so pale...it is painful to look at you...the unseeing eyes...the expressionless stare...

Hath Summer dug herself so deep a grave,

Why, my love, why...why did you have to love him and not me...when he had to go away to fight...and may never return...

That hardly can be the leaden willow crave

I can't bear to see you like this...its breaking my heart...

One silver blossom from keen Winter's hand.

Your pale face...oh, I wish he would come back! ...for your sake...

But who is this who cometh by the shore?

Someone knocked...I wonder who it is...

(Nay, love, look up and wonder!) Who is this

I see the expectation in your eyes as you rush to the door...if only...

Who cometh in dyed garments from the South?

Merlin's beard! ...can it be...it's true...it's him!

It is thy new-found Lord, and he shall kiss

Reveal your love...you may not get a chance again...

The yet unravished roses of thy mouth,

I see him blush...so he loved you too...I wonder what took you two so long to realise...

And I shall weep and worship, as before.

I am happy for you, my friends...but I shall always love you, Hermione...even though I know you belong to Harry...

As the reader has no doubt deduced by now, this poem is by Oscar Wilde. The story adopted runs thus:

Harry Potter, the boy who lived, had gone off for the final battle with Voldemort to an unknown place, not telling anyone, not even his friends or Dumbledore where he was going. He just left the castle, unheard, unseen, leaving a note for his friends saying not to wait for him, for he would most likely be dead, but he would have died a happy death knowing that he had taken Lord Voldemort with him.

Harry's friends have been waiting for him loyally, but when he failed to turn up for quite a long time, it was assumed that he had died. During this time, Hermione, who had been confused as to her feelings for Ron and Harry, not knowing whom she loved, discovers that it was Harry that she loved and not Ron. The guilt of this discovery and the fact that Harry has gone to his death without knowing that he had her heart stabs her till she goes into a blank state, not feeling anything. Ron, worried by Hermione's behaviour, tries to get her to talk about what went wrong, misreading her state as grief for Harry. Hermione comes around momentarily; enough to tell Ron that she had loved Harry and not him. Ron is shocked by this revelation. Heartbroken, but yet fiercely loyal, he mulls over it in his own mind, and as he thinks, Harry returns, and claims Hermione. Ron is very sorry for himself, but he decides to get on with life. He knows that he shall always love Hermione, but he decides to sacrifice his love for friendship.

And as to the traditional ending to this angsty poem:

...And they lived happily ever after...