Author’s Note: First, none of this belongs to me. Duh.
Second, on MNFF Forums I go by Tea, from Hufflepuff.
Third, this story is very emo. Beware.
Last, this is for challenge 1:

Challenge One: Redemption. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.- Audrey Hepburn

It's New Year's Eve, late at night, and most of the world is out and about, except for two people. One person is lost emotionally, perhaps beyond all mortal repair, and another one is up, unable to sleep, just sitting. What happens when the two meet?

Challenge One of Winter Snows is about redemption. New Year's Eve, traditionally, is about fresh starts and clean slates, a chance to begin anew. For the first challenge, pick any two canon characters. One must be a person who is in need of redemption; the other person must the one who can, in some form or another, give that to them.



New Year’s Eve, 1998. The wizarding world had been torn by civil war for a long time. But it was finally over. The Chosen One had defeated You-Know-Who, and so peace, however fragile, was restored. The Chosen One was the world’s hero.

But The Chosen One was tired of being famous. What he had always wanted was to have a normal life. So, though he had survived, and You-Know-Who had perished, he had not won. Harry Potter, the Chosen One, The Boy Who Lived, the hero, sat—on this cold New Year’s Eve—all alone. He stared into the fire of number twelve Grimmauld Place and thought. Thought about the choices he had made and their consequences…

Miles away, in an oddly shaped house filled with many snoring people, a young woman sat staring out of the window at the brilliant moon. She glanced over at her husband’s sleeping form. Ron Weasley let out a snore. Hermione Granger got up and kissed his forehead. She turned back to the window and disappeared.

Harry Potter’s Muggle neighbors noticed nothing amiss, even when a young woman appeared suddenly on the front step of number twelve Grimmauld Place. Hermione knocked tentatively on the front door. No one answered. She knocked harder. Still no answer. She turned the handle, and found it unlocked. She went inside.

“Harry?� she called from the entryway. No one answered. She went into the kitchen. Harry was sitting with his back to her, staring at the fire.
“What are you doing here, Hermione?� he asked sharply, making her jump.

“How did you know it was me?� she asked. He snorted.

“I never took down the protection Dumbledore left on this place. Didn’t see the point, really. I’m on other hit lists besides Voldemort’s I’m sure,� Harry said tonelessly. He was still looking into the fire. Hermione shifted uncomfortably. Ever since the end of the war, there had been a barrier between them. She had never been very good at talking to him, but now it seemed like he didn’t even hear her at all.

“You still haven’t answered my question,� said Harry. “What are you doing here? You should be with Ron, enjoying your holiday.�
“Ron’s asleep, Harry. It’s nearly three in the morning. Everyone’s gone to bed. I couldn’t sleep so I…� Hermione trailed off. She didn’t really know why she had come. She just couldn’t sit there and watch this go on anymore. The four of them, her Ron, Harry and Ginny, were all still alive. They should be happy. She sat down in one of the kitchen chairs.
“So you thought you’d come here and try to do what exactly?� snapped Harry.

“I don’t know. I was just… thinking. And I thought, since tonight’s the New Year, you might want to… I don’t know… talk?� she said hesitantly. “I thought maybe it’d be a good time to start over. Now that Voldemort’s gone and we can live in peace again…� Harry turned around and moved to the chair across from her, but he still wouldn’t look her in the eye.
“I don’t want to talk. I thought you would have realized that by now. You shouldn’t have come,� Harry said.

“I miss you, Harry. We all miss you. Why don’t you come to The Burrow anymore? The war’s over now. You don’t have to worry anymore,� she replied. Harry looked at her. He looked so tired. Hermione felt like he was staring right through her.

“It’s not that easy, Hermione,� he said quietly. “I can’t just go back to the way things were before…�

“Why not? What’s wrong? It’s over, Harry. You won. You don’t have to worry anymore. You can just be yourself. Be happy. It’s what your parents would have wanted. It’s what Sirius would have wanted. It’s what Dumbledore…�

“I won? What did I win exactly? Voldemort’s goal was to conquer death. I took that from him. But didn’t he also take my wish from me? He took it from me when I was a year old. Do you know what I saw in the Mirror of Erised?� Harry interrupted her. Hermione shook her head with a frightened look on her face. “My parents,� said Harry. Hermione’s eyes widened. “Nobody won, Hermione. This whole time I was just evening the score.�

“Oh Harry…� said Hermione, her eyes watery. But Harry was still not looking at her.

“Be myself, you said? How do you propose I do that? Who I am is entwined with Voldemort. I can’t begin to separate my life from his. The war is over. I do not have to be The Chosen One anymore, but I don’t know how to be anyone else. Don’t you see? I fought this war until I had almost nothing left, and now everyone expects me to go back to normal. I don’t know what normal is, Hermione. I have never known it. I don’t know if I have the energy to learn it.�

“But can’t you just… I mean you still have Ginny, and Ron and me. You don’t have to be alone,� Hermione said, the tears really flowing now.
“You’re right, I still have you. But you’d be better off without me anyway,� Harry said sharply. “You say Dumbledore would have wanted me to be happy? I suppose that’s true. But look what trying to protect me got him! What has it ever gotten anyone? No… no… It’s over. I’m done. No more…� Harry started shaking.

“Harry, that’s not true. We love you. You know that. Why would you say something like that?� Hermione asked, tears falling slowly onto the wooden table.

“Because it’s true. If I had died, you would mourn and move on. But this… You and Ron, and Ginny as well, deserve a life free from worrying about me. You shouldn’t have to begin your New Year listening to me bemoan my life.�

“But I didn’t have to. I chose to, just like you chose to defeat Voldemort because you were worried about us,� Hermione said firmly.
“It’s a choice you shouldn’t have to make!� shouted Harry. “I fought so you would be happy. I fought so you wouldn’t have to worry anymore! It never ends, does it? Voldemort’s evil lives on. He’s dead and still he is ruining the lives of the people I love. If I had died, he wouldn’t be able to haunt you. As it is, I lived. Now I have to live wondering whether things could have gone differently if I had just…� That was it. Harry put his face in his hands and continued shaking. Hermione blinked and stared at Harry. He was shaking. Hermione had not seen him show any kind of emotion since the end of the war.

“It’s not your fault, Harry,� she whispered. Harry looked up into her eyes, and this time Hermione could tell that he was really looking at her.
“You think I don’t know that?� he asked. “I know it. I do. I’ve heard it enough. That doesn’t change things though. That doesn’t stop the nightmares. It doesn’t stop me waking in the middle of the night, screaming, because I’ve seen—for the hundredth time—Snape standing over Dumbledore. Or I’ve seen Sirius, falling through the veil. Or I’ve heard Dumbledore, pleading with me. Dumbledore, begging me to stop giving him that potion,� he said, getting louder and louder until he was shouting. “That doesn’t stop me from hearing Ginny’s screams as Voldemort tortures her! Yes, the war is over in reality, but in my head, it goes on and on. I can’t just forget, Hermione. It may not be my fault, but I can’t help but think that if I had just done something…if I hadn’t been so stupid…� Harry trailed off and put his face in his hands again. This time, Hermione could hear him sobbing. She walked around the edge of the table and put her arms around her best friend.
“The way I see it,� Hermione whispered, “pain never really fades. You either accept it, and move on, or you decide it’s too much, and give up. It’s always going to be there, but after a time, you get used to it. You don’t have to forget, Harry. No one is asking you to pretend it never happened. Remember the war; remember the suffering. But remember also that the world is not all pain. There is evil in the world. But as long as there are people willing to fight, what does it really matter? In the end, you still have Ron and me. You still have Ginny. We have suffered, but we have survived, and today is a new year, and a new beginning. We will remember the war, but it will only have the meaning we give to it. It doesn’t have to matter anymore. As long as we are alive, the past doesn’t have to matter. The consequences of our actions are so complicated, it’s pointless to try and guess the future.� Hermione stopped speaking and broke apart from Harry. He looked up at her.
“Dumbledore told me that once,� he said. “After we used the Time-Turner, in our third year. I said it’d be my fault if Wormtail helped Voldemort came back, and that’s what he told me… I’m just so tired, Hermione. How do I just pick up and live normally after so many years?�
“I don’t know. Who does? It’s not easy, going back knowing things will never be the same again. But they don’t have to be. Today is for a new beginning,� Hermione said firmly. Then she stood up. She adopted a look reminiscent of Professor McGonagall and said: “There’s too much Gryffindor in you for your own good. You need to stop worrying about everyone else for a change and ask for some support once in a while.� With that, she turned and left the house. Harry stood there, staring after her for some time. The sun was peeking above the houses of his neighbors before he moved at all.

“Happy New Year, Hermione,� he whispered.

Author’s Note: Yeah, I know, three in the morning isn’t technically New Year’s Eve, but I couldn’t think of another way to get Hermione out of the house without Ron wanting to come too, so…

Also, I’m not a Harry/Hermione shipper. For some reason, I really saw her as being able to help Harry out in this situation, even though in the past, she hasn’t been all that good at talking to him.*cough* Ginny would be too close to his heart I think, and Ron… Ron is not that understanding, especially when it comes to how tough it is to be “the Chosen One.� So there you go.