Title: Continuity
Author: A. Linnea Elindor
Summary: A grieving lover takes matters into his own hands
Disclaimer: These character's do not belong to me in any way, shape or form, with the exception of the storyline I've just put them in. I do not make any money off of this, so J.K. Rowling, WB Entertainment, and assorted publishing houses take note.
She died within my arm's reach.
I dug for 56 hours straight, never tiring in my pursuit to find her. When most of the rescue team and the volunteers, wizard and muggle alike, had quit, I burrowed deep beneath the rock and metal. My hands cut up to ribbons by the sharp edges, my skin burnt from pockets of hot air, and my wand useless in the heavy field of magic, I dug until I could not tell the sky from the rock beneath.
After 56 hours, I found her hand behind a piece of charred wood. Her engagement ring still twinkled despite the dim light.
I took in all the air I could, welcoming the charcoal dust, dirt and fumes into my lungs so long as they brought oxygen, and screamed her name. Screamed and screamed, my throat coated so thickly with coal that I could hardly move my vocal cords. I screamed past the sting, past the abject pain until I felt a tiny squeeze.
The fingers moved so slightly that I had thought it wasn't real, but it was there again. It was weaker, but it was still there. I dug a bit more out, and found a graceful arm attached to the hand, and then a shoulder. Finally, curls of brown hair poked out of a pocket of air. Blood dried deep brick red across her brow and left eye, and her chin looked more tilted to the right than usual, but as beautiful and defiant as ever.
Pressed against her chest was a panel of concrete that seem to stretch into unimaginable eternity. I whispered her name into her hand, stretching my free arm into the small track I had cleared into her space. Only the very edge of my wrist entered the air space- my fingers twirled to reach her, any piece of her. I pulled my arm out, dug out a bit more and peered down the tunnel the size of a tea saucer.
Her lips moved slightly, and her right eye fluttered against her cheekbone. I love you, she mouthed, and again I was graced with a light squeeze of my hand.
'Oy, who's down there?'
A light of hope beamed a circular spot to the right of my outstretched body.
'Come quick, I've found her, she's ali...'
But the hand had already gone limp and cold, bathed in the blood of my short triumph. I looked back down the tunnel and called her name again. Again and again, louder and louder. She didn't stir. Louder and louder, over and over, hands pulling my legs, dragging me to the surface as she slipped from my grasp.
I don't remember when I had stopped screaming, but I must have. I opened my eyes and found my head on a pillow, my body buried in linen and feathers. Hermione lay next to me, the down comforter over both our heads and the ivory-filtered glow lighting her skin perfectly. Her eyes were bright and her lips were curved into that knowing and slightly condescending smile that I loved on her. The light champagne shift she wore fell to every curve and it was as if every moment I had seen her before was only a facet, only a part of the perfection. She was perfect and for the first time, I could see the whole of her, like a diamond that had been buried in the rough with only a few spots glittering. She had been unearthed.
I opened my eyes and found my head on a pillow, my body buried in white cotton sheets. Bent into the easy chair in the corner, Harry balanced his head precariously on his shoulder. His head turned half away from me.
Blood dried deep brick red across her brow and left eye, and her chin looked more tilted to the right than usual, but as beautiful and defiant as ever
I gasped, my stomach heaving in time to the clench of my heart. I popped up in bed and held my mouth in hopes gravity would help as my head spun. A touch fell on my shoulders and melted into a hug, thin arms wrapped in sinewy muscle latched across my chest. The shadow of his tears on the back of my neck sent me into wave after wave of grief. Our tears soaked through the cotton sheets as he hugged across my back and I clutched my mouth.
Two days later, I found my way to the basement of the hospital St. Agnes. Harry walked next to me, watching as I walked. The bandages around my hands masked all the injuries I had sustained and padded them when I pushed the door open. A long, silent corridor met us and Harry took my hand. He led me down a row of doors, stopping at the 3rd last to turn the handle. Some one called after us, but Harry took care of her as I peered through the open doorway.
Hermione lay motionless on the hospital bed, tubes and wires connected in and out of her paper skin and pallid lips. Compressions and blips echoed in the dead room, and her mother stood near the wavy-line machine crying into the arms of her husband. He noticed me first and whispered something gently into her ear. She looked up from her daughter and caught my eye. She left her husbands arms, walked around the bed and collapsed against me, her arms thrown around me shoulders. I would have fell the floor, but Harry had mysteriously reappeared and caught my shoulders, straightened me out. Hermione's mother released me and spilled onto Harry.
I walked to Hermione and brushed my wrapped fingers against her lips and traced the tube that connected to one of the machines from them.
'That's breathing for her.'
Hermione's father's voice, gravelly and soft said. I looked up at him and he picked up his daughter's hand and ran a gentle touch over the IV.
'This is giving her medicine and fluids.'
He traced a few thin wires that led beneath the hospital gown to her chest.
'These count her heartbeats.'
He traced a few more that poked from beneath the thin cotton sheet. His breath hitched and he spoke with great difficulty.
'And these count the baby's.'
Author's Note: This is me testing the waters a bit. I'll post the next 2 chapters over the next couple of days to see if there is any interest, cause if not, then I'll just resume my eating Dulce de Leche by the teaspoon and studying. Thanks for reading!