And then she visibly wilted.
"You're right, Harry," she said quietly. "It's a real struggle and what progress Shack, Arthur and I made after the war stalled pretty quick. Not many of the laws that I've written have even made it to the floor of the Wizengamot and a lot of the ones that do, don't get passed. But we press on because it's the right thing to do for world we love, we want it to get better and how can it if people simply give up or walk away?"
Harry stared at her. "Is that what you think I did? Give up? Walk away?"
"You have to admit, Harry, that that's what it looks like," she replied. "You went through Auror training, achieved your dream job and then, after only a couple of years, you quit. And then, one day, you simply up and left. If I had to pinpoint a time when magical Britain started sliding backwards, that's the point I'd pick. People simply gave up trying. We faltered without you there as our beacon, showing us the way. And that allowed the old purebloods their foothold to begin dragging the momentum back towards their way, the way society has been for centuries."
Harry stared at her, aghast.
"You're seriously going to lay the blame for all that on me?" he asked.
Hermione shrugged. "Oh, I know that it's not your fault, but the people needed their leader, their Hero, the Man-Who-Conquered showing them that their world could be better."
"I hate those titles," Harry spat.
"I know that, Harry," Hermione replied. "But that doesn't mean that that's not who you are, especially not to everyone else here in magical Britain."
"Yes, I've never been anything more than what everyone made me to be," Harry stated with a shake of his head. "Hero or villain, that's been my whole life here. Remember what it was like in Hogwarts? I was the Boy-Who-Lived one day and the Heir of Slytherin the next; a liar, cheat and attention-seeking git or a TriWiz Champion depending on the mood of the population."
"I remember," Hemione replied softly.
"I know you do," Harry said, squeezing her hand. "You were the only one who was there through it all; even Ron left a couple of times."
She nodded and, seeing that she did understand, he continued.
"That's why I had to leave; you know that," he said. "I saw exactly what you were saying, that everyone was wanting me to be another Dumbledore, to be the Leader of the Light. But that's not who I am, I'm Harry, just Harry, not an entire society's role-model or compass or whatever they wanted me to be."
"Now you're also 'Mage', for the whole world to look up to," she smirked.
Harry crinkled his nose at her. "And the best bit is that no one knows the true identity of Mage. I can still be me, Harry, as well as indulge my 'saving people thing' that you say I have. Here, in Britain, I couldn't do that. I'd be in the spotlight all the time and I'd hate every minute of it. I'd go insane."
"I know," Hermione sighed. "Your travels around the world and your life in New York with the Den, not to mention your new friends has been good for you. Doesn't mean that your friends here don't want you to come home. We miss you, Harry."
"You don't have to. You could move, come with me to New York," Harry said hopefully.
"You know I can't do that," Hermione replied. "Shack needs me and I've put too much time and effort into my work here to leave things half-finished; that's simply not me. And I will change the world, I will not let magical Britain slide back to what it was before and during the war even if it takes me the rest of my life."
Harry nodded sadly at her. He knew what her response would be, he'd always known, really. And while they'd always be the best of friends, it didn't seem likely that they'd ever be living on the same continent, let alone in the same city, again.
"Alright, enough of this depressing topic," Hermione said, tugging on his arm. "Come on, stand up."
Harry complied with a confused expression on his face.
"There was a reason I asked you here for dinner, apart from getting out of cooking because Mum enjoys cooking for us," she said. "Now, transform into your sparrowhawk form."
Harry stared at her, making sure that she wasn't going to crack some kind of joke in Tony's absence. Seeing only interest and earnestness in her face, he complied.
"Wonderful!" she exclaimed. "That form suits you so well. And your colourings are perfect. The feathers on your back and wings are only a few shades off of your dragon-hide cloak even. Now, seeing as none of the original Marauders are here to do it, it falls to me to give you your Animagus name."
Harry looked up at her, startled.
That he decided, was a very bad idea.
He still remembered 'SPEW'; Hermione had horrible taste when it came to naming things.
"Therefore, as the representative of Padfoot, Moony and Prongs," she continued, "I hereby name you … 'Ged'."
Harry instantly transformed back.
"'Ged'? What sort of name is that?" he asked.
Instead of replying instantly, Hermione moved across to one of the nearby bookshelves and took down a package that Harry hadn't noticed before.
"This will explain," she said, thrusting the package at him.
Curiously, Harry ripped off the brown paper to find a set of six books.
"Ursula K. Le Guin," he read, noting the author's name on every one of the books, before looking up at her questioningly.
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