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Disclaimer - These are not my characters. I just like to play around with them.

You Found Me

It was like he was submerged, or rather levitated. His hands hung limp beside him, as did broken branches, hanging onto the bark by merely a thread. His lanky, gaunt chest rose and fell almost unnoticeably. His eyes were shut but he could feel silky white tresses embrace his rough skin, and gently asphyxiate his beaten form. It was like a pallid fog of death that tormented him to near end, enough to drive him almost wild but never push him over the edge, never completely take him; devour him.

The hairs on his back stood erect as the chill of demise caressed his spine with torturous leisure. He wanted to shiver, to scream and to shout, to cry and beg for release. But he had no feeling; numbness overcame him, of what now seemed, centuries ago; or was it just minutes that had passed? He had no voice, no power, no strength to push out tears; not even memories. All he had were his thoughts and emotions, and the looming, 'til this time redundant, company of death.

'Til this time, because suddenly, after so long of suffering a painful numbness, he felt a dull ache. It started at his core, in his heart, spreading like wild fire, consuming his ashen body and sending him convulsing. Somehow, he seemed to fall, or rather be dragged what he thought to be downwards by an extremely powerful force.

Now he was sure that he had been levitating because, soon, he had gone crashing into a large body of liquid; water? He didn't know. What he did know was that his feral black locks were swaying angelically around his face like a charcoal halo. He had forgotten for a moment that he could not breathe, but remembered soon as unimaginable pain overtook him and he convulsed unstoppably this time. He was hurting intolerably and all he could do was open his mouth in a silent scream. His hands reached up to his throat as he began to suffocate.

Suddenly, he was being dragged down once more, with inconceivable force and speed. He stared up at the teasing tresses of death that had taunted him before, longing for that sensation; anything but the pain he was forced to encounter now. Somehow, though he believed himself to be sunken, a tear escaped his eye and he blinked for what he thought would be his last time.

He began to cough horribly, each one sending needles into his throat. And when he opened his eyes, amazed at his ability to breathe again, he found that everything around him was hazy, but that he was lying on a warm, wooden surface; on land, so to speak. He wanted to rub his eyes clear, but had not the strength to do so, or the will power to overcome the fatigue. Soon though, his eyes began to clear themselves, but concurrently his head was feeling quite heavy. His eyelids began to droop but before he could fade away into unconsciousness, he caught the vague glimpse of wet eyes, shimmering with color that as bright as the bark of the Acer Griseum; copper-brown contrasted by the winter of her skin. He called out the only name that seemed to fit with these set of eyes, "Hermione," and his eyes rolled back into his head as he slipped into a much awaited, painless sleep.

The gleaming rays of the moon penetrated the tattered curtains that lined the windows of Grimmauld Place. The great orb had once again won its battle against the sun and risen proudly in the velvety sky. Its triumph emitted light, which bounced off the ridges and concrete that built the gloomy house, making it appear absolutely gothic. The quiet of the brusque night screamed at Hermione to let her mind to rest. But she couldn't.

She had finally found a way and brought him back this morning, he had fallen unconscious by what she predicted was the trauma and after moving him to the bunk on the opposite wall from her, in her bedroom, the day had consisted of many congratulations and tears and extremely grateful gestures towards her. To say she was tired was an understatement, but she couldn't rest. She turned away from his bed and to the wall that her bed was backed up against, closing her eyes in a vain attempt to sleep, when the hush of early morning was disturbed by a fit of painful sobs.

Hermione threw back her covers and paced the short distance to the other side of the room, leaning down and placing her hands on his stubbled cheeks. She stroked his forehead, trying to hush him to sleep, but his sobs grew louder and then he opened his eyes.

His body shook, rising and falling incoherently, as he continued to sob and look at her with an unfathomable expression in his ebony eyes.

She moved closer to him and he dug his face into her stomach, his arms circling her waist. Hermione brought her knees up onto the bed and then slowly directed him to a lying position. She kept her hold on him firm, lying next to him, cradling his head in her arms, just as he held onto her with a vice-like grip. She was his hold on reality, on life, and he was not intending to let go anytime soon.

He cried into her flimsy, overgrown, nightshirt, mumbling quietly.

"You found me."

"Yes love, I've found you. And I'll be here with you. Whatever you want, whatever you need, ask anything…" She kissed his forehead, and he seemed to relax a little, tears slowing, but not stopping altogether.

"You found me," he repeated like a mantra, and placed a small kiss on her covered belly.

In the end, everyone ends up alone. He had lost her once, the only one who's ever known, who he was, who he wasn't and who he wanted to be. There was no way to know, how long she would be next to him. And so he stayed in her embrace, and kept her in his, determined to stay this way for as long as he could, as they both could.

Hermione pondered over his words. She did not know what the Veil was like, and how it felt to be ensnared in there. But she knew that he had been lost and insecure, and that Sirius would perpetually be obliged to her for retrieving him from his artificial death.

And she would forever more hold onto him, as she did tonight; her friend, her love and her soul mate through all.

Damn I love them so much! I love you too but I'd love you more if you sent me a few words. By the way... I would like a few pointers on how to improve if you guys can give me any. I hope you loved this.