Author's Note:
So begins my first fanfiction in an awfully long time, and my first DHr in about... 2 years. Hope my writing has improved since then, and hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: JKR owns the characters in this story, which is written for pleasure, not profit.
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Prologue
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June, 1997
The beginning was one word, one spell. The weaver sat at the loom and picked up a thread. Matter exploded into existence. Darkness and light separated. And for the first time, there was a duality in the eternal unity.
Threads crossed into other threads as the tapestry took form. The nebula formed a star. The star formed helium. Then heavier, complex atoms. Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen danced around each other like the four Hogwarts houses until they fell into pattern upon the land. Enchanted by the spell, the soil grew and the earth was fertile.
Hermione understood that no amount of magic could change the fundamental laws of physics; matter was available in a finite amount. Every time she transfigured or conjured an item, the raw material was pulled from a distant planet or star.
But as she watched her friends disappear behind the brick wall at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, she wondered if love was also finite. Or maybe it was like electricity, and could be infinitely generated by the friction of two different souls.
What could power the turbine? Who would be the generator of such love?
Perhaps if she solved this mystery, there would be no need to sacrifice more lives to find empty horcruxes. Maybe she would be able to spend one more languid summer at the Burrow without the secrecy of the Order. Maybe Harry would be able to finish his final year at Hogwarts in peace, with Ron, Ginny, and herself by his side. Maybe Dumbledore had known the answer.
She doubted it. A tear escaped her eye.