Weathered: Weathered
By Misha

Disclaimer- Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling and is not mine, however much I might wish differently. I don't own the songs either, sorry, they all belong to Creed. However, I am not making any money off of this, so please do not sue me!

Author's Notes- I decided to do something different-write a collection of song fics, each one set to a different song from the same album. Each story is completely seperate from the next, none of them coincide. In fact, I use a variety of pairings and ratings throughout the series. There's everything from Harry/Hermione to Harry/Draco to Ginny/Sirius and everything in between. One of the few pairings that I don't have in here is Ron/Hermione, 'cause I just can't bring myself to write it. Sorry. Anyway, this just one of the stories in the series. I hope you enjoy it and choose to read the others.

Rating- PG-13

Pairing- Harry/Hermione

Summery- Life had left him feeling old and broken.

I lie awake on a long, dark night
I can't seem to tame my mind
Slings and arrows are killing me inside
Maybe I can't accept the life that's mine
No I can't accept the life that's mine

Harry never slept nowadays.

He just lay awake, lost in thought.

He was plagued by doubt and fear. By memories of past pain.

Sometimes, he forgot that he left that life behind him. That one night, he had gotten up and walked away without looking back.

Sometimes it was hard to accept that this was his life now. Sometimes, he longed for what he had.

But that was not option anymore. Nor ever again.

Simple living is my desperate cry
Been trading love with indifference yeah it suits me just fine
I try to hold on but I'm calloused to the bone
Maybe that's why I feel alone
Maybe that's why I feel so alone

He lived a simple life.

A life very different than what he had once lived. From the life that he tried to forget had been his.

He no longer allowed himself to love, he survived on being indifferent.

Life was easier when you didn't let yourself care. When you didn't get your heart ripped to shreds.

He knew that he had become bitter and calloused with time.

He found it hard to believe that he once been an optimistic boy. But those days were long behind him now.

Still, sometimes, he hated being all alone.

Yet, in the end, he knew that it was for the best.

Me...I'm rusted and weathered
Barely holding together
I'm covered with skins that peels and just won't heal

Harry knew that he was still broken and raw on the inside.

He still had not recovered from the wounds he had suffered.

The wounds of the heart. Of falling in love and then losing that person. Of loving someone with your entire heart and holding her as she died in your arms.

When Hermione had died, he had fallen apart and even now, he was barely holding himself together.

The wounds had never fully healed and he wondered if they ever would.

The sun shines and I can't avoid the light
I think I'm holding on to life too tight
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust
Sometimes I feel like giving up
Sometimes I feel like giving up

There had been times when he had considered just ending it all.

But he couldn't do it. Not for himself.

But for them. For those that he had lost.

He knew that they wouldn't want him to do it. That they would consider it the cowards way out. And that was all that stopped him.

Still, he had done the next best thing.

He had run away. He had left his life as Harry Potter behind him and tried to move on.

But it didn't always work.

Sometimes, he couldn't help but feel the way he had before. So lost, so broken.

Me...I'm rusted and weathered
Barely holding together
I'm covered with skins that peels and just won't heal

There were people in his life.

Friends, lovers, but no one ever got close to him.

They never saw past the image he projected. They never peeled down the skin and saw the wounds that lay there.

It was easier that way, if he kept everyone at distance.

Never letting them know him, never letting himself love them.

Not that he ever honestly thought that he would ever fall in love with any of the woman he knew.

For one simple fact, they were not Hermione. And he would love her until the day he died.

There could never be anyone else. Not for him.

The day reminds me of you
The night hides your truth
The Earth is a voice
Speaking to you

He hated going out during the day, because it was another vivid reminder of Hermione.

She had loved the daylight and it reminded him of her now.

But, then lot's of things reminded him of her.

Of the woman who had left him the broken and battered shell that he was. The beautiful girl who had taken his heart with her to her grave.

His body was still living, but his soul had died with her.

She had been his reason for living and without her, he knew that he would never really live.

Take all this pride
And leave it behind
Because one day it ends
One day we die
Believe what you will
That is your right
But I choose to win
So I choose to fight
To fight

He knew that life was not forever.

That one day he would die. That each moment on Earth was to be fought for, to be lived to the best of it's ability.

But he could not do it. Not alone.

Not without Hermione.

Still, on the surface, he did the best that he could.

He refused to give up completely.

But, he still fought the past, still ran from. And he was still felt broken and old.

And he still missed Hermione with every breath that he took. And he knew that that would never change.

The End