Who do you want me to be?'s Journal

Harry Potter was having a bad day. The sun was high in the summer sky, the birds were singing, and auror training was over for the week. By all accounts, he should be be having a rather pleasant afternoon, but what did those accounts know, anyway? The day had gotten off to a poor start when he'd slept through his alarm, waking with just enough time to pull on his robes and run his fingers through his hair before he was late to training. When he'd arrived home, Ginny had been there waiting for him, which had seemed like such a nice gesture at first, but then they'd ended up having a spectacular row over... well, that was actually part of the problem. Harry still had no idea what the entire fight had actually been about. Ginny had stormed off, letting him know that she would be at the Burrow when he decided to get his act together. Whatever that meant. It seemed that lately he couldn't do anything right in Ginny's eyes. Every little thing seemed to set her off on another tirade. If past experience had taught him anything, she wouldn't even allow him to try and apologize for whatever he had done for at least a week. And then, to top it all off, he had received the letter - an invitation to the banquet. Yes, another one, as if there hadn't been enough already. Of course the invitation was just a formality, as his attendance was never optional when it came to these things. And, of course, he would be expected to bring a date. Normally he would turn to Ginny for that, but that wasn't exactly an option at the moment.

Some days, he dreamed of just packing everything up and leaving, going to some place where no one knew his name. A place where he could be just Harry, rather than the Wizarding World's Golden Boy. He was hardly a boy any more, after all. He just wanted to get on with his life in peace.

Distracted as he was by the fight, he should have realized that it was the kind of day where anything constructive was just not on, but he had set aside that afternoon to replenish his stock of frequently used potions and so he forged on. Or, he would have, but on opening up his potions kit, he found himself in need of a number of ingredients. Just one more thing to add to his already bad day. Well, it was probably best that he get himself out of the house for a bit anyway. He quickly made a list of what he would need and apparated to Diagon Alley.

The street was a bustle as always, but he easily found his way through the crowd to Slug and Jigger's Apothecary. The bell jingled as he entered, announcing the arrival of a customer.