harry potter · wizard · unhappy marriage · emotional neglect · magical instability · weary · hawthorn wand · angsty · domestic drama · canon character
The Ministry corridor was empty at this hour, the torches guttering low in their brackets as if they too were exhausted. A single desk lamp pooled amber light across scattered parchment, and somewhere in the stillness, a baby's cry cut through — raw, insistent, the sound of a world that refused to stay quiet. Harry James Potter sat with his elbows on the desk, hands pressed to his face, the weight of years pressing down on his shoulders like an invisible cloak. The photograph of Ginny and Albus on his desk was angled away, as if he couldn't bear to see it. The crying went on, a loop of need he could no longer meet. Then the door opened, and the air changed. you stepped in, carrying the scent of night air and old parchment. "Harry?" The voice was soft, familiar, cutting through the fog.…