I sit in the still quietness of morning;
Eyes closed, cross-legged
Breathing deeply, rhythmically
Random thoughts float by like so many summer cloudsBrain struggles to replenish but quickly yields to stillness...
My "Special Place"
That rests between; Earth and sky, Moon and sun, Heaven and hell, Euphoria and angst, Courage and cowardice, Light and dark, Right and wrong,
A place of safety and peace;
Sanity and reasonUnlimited consciousnessWhere true-self dwellsWhere all is possible
A special place ruled by a single word...
Love!
-Ray Lucero
-
Harry couldn't take it anymore. He just had to leave, the stares, the whispers, the pointing... it was all too much.
He had gone back to Hogwarts for one more year of school, away from every responsibility. All he had wanted was one more year in which he could regain his lost innocence, a year in which the worst of his problems was his revision for his
N.E.W.T.S. He should have known, really, that that was not what was going to happen.
Harry had realised as soon he had stepped foot in the Great Hall before the Sorting. Yes, the whispers had followed him since his arrival in the Platform 9 and
three quarters, but he hadn't paid as much mind to them. After all, whispers weren't going to be too bad.
Oh, how much he was wrong.
It had been one week of this, one week in which he had been followed by non-so-subtle whispers and staring. He would always hear the same things said behind his back. He was quickly growing tired of, "Merlin, is that Harry Potter?", "I see the scar!", "Can you go talk to him?", "No, you go!".
And they did. Harry was often stopped in his tracks by an innocent first year, eyes full of wonder, and Harry would feel anger surge in him. He didn't even know these students, why would they treat him as more than an equal? All he had managed to
do was get most of his friends killed. It hadn't been a good deed. Why did they think it was?
The incident happened during dinner, two weeks after school happened. He had walked in the Great hall with Hermione and Ron by his side, holding hands. He didn't notice anything off as he sat down beside Neville at the Gryffindor table. The usual giggling girls at the Ravenclaw table, however, were louder than usual.
Harry paid little mind to it; he didn't have time for this. All he wanted to do was eat and go study.
Over the course of dinner, however, their giggles only intensified. He had made sure to turn their back to them so that he wouldn't have to engage in conversation with them. Harry was just about to turn and tell them if they could please speak
quieter, when they burst in giggles again, and Harry finally picked up parts of their conversation.
"But he is so handsome!"
"He saved the world."
"Harry..."
"He would never be your boyfriend."
He burst on his feet, his movement sudden. Hermione and Ron raised their heads and looked at Harry, concern in their eyes. "Harry..." Hermione started, but Harry interrupted her with a glare. He wasn't really mad at them, and he would later on feel bad about the hurt look that Hermione sent him, but he didn't care in the moment. He stalked out of the Great Hall as the whispers intensified, feeling all of
