in the hazel thicket
@iinkhecrt
There was something about silence that made Harry feel uneasy, as if he was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. For news that this was all a dream. That Voldemort had returned once more, more powerful than ever, and Harry would have to suck it up and fight him once again. He would always fight. That was the best and worst part of himself. The part that always had to run head first into a battle no matter the consequences, because he was noble and infuriating, and he knew that. He knew it but couldn’t never stop it.
It should have been surprising then, that Harry found solitude in the silence of the Orchards that were behind the Burrow. He knew it made no sense to both love and hate the peacefulness that surrounded him, and the innocent way the trees leaned towards the sun. Yet he could hear the memories flood into him. The hours spent back here playing Quidditch. Fred’s roaring laughter echoing across the sky. Had it really been so long ago?
Harry sat himself down in the middle of it all, his glasses in his hands as he tried desperately to clean them with his shirt. His wand, the one that he had chosen over the Elder Wand, it lay beside him carelessly. A true sign that there was no more danger. No more enemies trying to kill him. No more prophecy.
He fell back easily, his eyes trained at the passing clouds, wondering when he would feel like himself again. When the aching of his scar would truly stop. It had stopped in the physical sense. But inside? Inside Harry was knotted up tight, his heart still beating a mile a minute. Even sleep was still an issue, something that everyone in the Burrow was trying to fix. They had all become creatures of the night, blindly bumping into things, knowing that while they couldn’t be fixed right this moment, one day they would sleep. One day they would be able to wake up to a new day, refreshed and eager.
It wasn’t long after Harry laid down that he felt a shadow pass over him. He hastily reached for his wand, grabbing it with a desperate firmness before both turning around and flitting himself into a sitting position.
“Ginny,” Harry said, half surprised, half relieved. His wand dropped from his grasp.











