Chapter 2

Harry awoke with a slight headache and then saw before him the crazy witch he had just killed. He tried to move away from her but found himself pinned to her hand with the small dagger she had stuck in him. He pried her hands from the pommel and then slowly removed the dagger from his chest. He felt magic heal his wounds before he knelt and looked around some more. He quickly noticed his sword sticking in Bellatrix.

He watched something or somebody moving towards them. He left the sword in her but stood next to the handle, just in case. His warrior senses alerting him to the danger that may be present. He widened his stance as he saw a shadow appear in front of him.

The shadow had not become clearer when a male voice was heard "You have nothing to fear from me Harry Potter. You have completed one prophesy but have left another unfulfilled. This cannot be and you are expected to complete both."

Harry looked at the man that appeared from the shadow to see a silvered haired, middle aged man with bright green eyes who looked to be around forty or fifty years old. The man had battle robes over a white breastplate with a golden Griffin painted onto its surface. He carried a sword similar to the one he had plunged into Bellatrix's heart.

Harry with coldness asked him "Who are you and where is this place?"

The man gave a small smirk "I have many names and many titles that I am known by but the one I find most agreeable is I am me." he finished with a grin. Harry noticed that his grin seemed familiar somehow.

Harry was not in the mood "You are fate…you son of a bitch! You are the reason that I had to go through all that shit only to die in the end. I won but I lost everything in the process. I lost my godfather and worse yet I lost the woman that I loved above all others."

Fate looked sternly at him "I merely placed you on a stage with certain props of my making my young friend, your actions and words were your own."

Harry responded "The stage I played on was skewed and left me few choices, it wasn't fair."

Fate frowned "I know but I might remind you that Bellatrix was goading you and you responded. Had you left her alone and allowed the aurors to handle her you would not have died."

Harry looked at him "She was one of the fiercest death eaters and the most loyal. I had to do it because another may have lost their life, I couldn't allow that to happen."

"By your own admission you made your choices and that is the way of fate." Fate grinned at him "You made your life and this place is the result of all that you have done. You are at the crossroads young Harry Potter." Fate finished.

Harry with a tear rolling from his eye "I…I…am here without Hermione…I need her. I can't lose her because I promised her."

Fate looked at him "You did not lose Hermione. You will be with her again very soon. You and she are the one thing that I can never and would never mess with. She is the very air that you breathe Harry." The man lowered his head and breathed a small sigh "Fate is one of my many names." Harry heard the distinct sound of longing, of love, and of sorrow when Fate spoke Hermione's name. Harry thought it very curious.

Harry took his wand and conjured a bench for himself and for the man. The man looked at it and smiled "Thank you Mr. Potter."

Harry sat down and looked at him and then to Bella "What will happen to her?"

Fate looked at her "That is one reason I brought you here to the crossroad. You have to make a choice not only for yourself and Hermione but Bellatrix too."

Harry sat up "What do you mean a choice?"

Fate smiled "It is exactly that, a choice and you have reached a place where your path can go in many different directions. You have reached a crossroad and because life has been so unfair to you in the past I wanted to give you a choice, after all you did save the wizarding world and completed a part of a prophesy.

Harry looked towards him "What do you mean I completed a prophesy, Voldemort is dead and his message went the same way as he did. I did my part."

Fate gave a sigh "You killed the symbol, you killed an evil man who could gather others to an unjust cause and nothing more. Your views are too simplistic and they are of a warrior who sees little value in other more important arenas." Fate turned towards him "Think about what really gave rise and power to a wizard that was not that intelligent but very talented and a majority feared…even his name."

Harry scoffed "I have done my part for god and country. I expect those in power to clean this up and to set things right. My part of the greater good is over. "

Fate grimaced and wore a very sad looking frown "Harry, if you do that I guarantee that you will become a dark lord the likes the world has never seen and in fact you will be the last Dark Lord they will ever know because only you will be left in the world."

Harry shaken and disturbed stuttered "How can I …I mean…I would never…"

"Harry…" Fate began "Your path and this choice right now is pivotal in time. That is why it is a crossroad." Fate sighed and looked towards something in the distance "This crossroad is not yours alone, it is for all humanity and for Hermione. Humanity has hurt you, certain people have left you emotionally damaged, this path you are on will cause a hurt so great you will lose your sanity and there is no return for anyone because by that point you will not care anymore."

Harry sat shocked by what he was being told. It was not possible he could ever do something like that. Fate watched as the emotions played over his face and knew he was not convinced yet and did not want to tell him the next bit.

"Harry, My name is fate. I can see many possible futures and many outcomes across the dimensions. This realm and your time is a nexus. The last human alive was a little girl that looked very much like your youngest daughter. She asked for a hug for the last time before you killed her. She wanted her death to help you and went willingly." Fate had tears in his eyes. "You didn't even realize she whispered in your ear with her last breath "I forgive you."

Fate wiped his eyes "Your choices on my stage will lead you to this conclusion and you have to make different choices Harry because the alternative is unthinkable. You are far more powerful than you know and your emotions fuel that power. Love makes your power tranquill and stable."

Harry looked scared and realized that the key to all of this was Hermione… it had to be. She was the only person who really mattered to him because deep down humanity could go screw themselves. "Do all the choices get me back to Hermione?"

Fate shook his head before he smiled "I see you understand the key to everything is Hermione. She is what stops all the madness from happening and you must protect her or suffer greatly but unfortunately you only have two paths that will get you there with her."

Harry sighed "At least I have that and the other choices are not important. I can't and won't leave her behind."

Fate looked uncomfortable "Harry one of those paths will lead to Hermione leaving you within ten years. You are both alike in that many have caused you great amounts of emotional pain and this has left both of you damaged." Harry looked stunned at this revelation.

Fate continued "Harry your brooding and failure to give emotion will leave Hermione hurting and cause her to emotionally distancing herself from you. You will eventually walk away from each other never to love another for the rest of your lonely lives. Your achievements will be turned to ash from your failure to truly love without hesitation. The only good in this is that the world will be safe."

Harry looked down and felt his heart hit the floor. He thought for many minutes before he spoke "I can change I just need to know what to do and how to fix this. I love Hermione and I need her." Harry exclaimed.

Fate came over and sat beside him "Yes, Harry you do but you cannot take the path alone. Hermione must come on this journey with you. She must also learn to love unconditionally for your relationship with her to work."

Fate stood up and looked concerned before he closed his eyes and then swirled his hands and caused a mist to appear before them. Harry watched as the mist became a picture of Hermione clutching her knees as she sat upon a couch in her parents den.

In the door into the room stood her parents crying as they watched Hermione suffering. Harry watched her and tears leaked from his eyes at the grief he was witnessing. Fate touched the mist to stop the view from movement.

Fate wiped a tear from his eyes "She has begun her journey Harry. She had to know true loss and the fear of not having you there. It was the only way to shake her world enough to lead her to the path of her redemption. In another month she will leave the magical world to never return to it or her parents. Harry she will never recover from your loss and will be lost to the world and time. In her grief of your loss she will find no solace and no quarter but there is hope if you choose the right path. You can help her and yourself."

Harry stood up and pleaded with Fate "What is the right path? Tell me because I can't stand seeing her like this." Harry pleaded with him.

Fate sighed "This will be the hard part for you and Hermione. I must bring her here to join you in this decision. There is a way for you to heal yourselves and go on with your lives but it is a rocky path and one that you both cannot travel alone." Fate faded from view.

Harry sat there for many minutes and watched Bellatrix lifeless body. He was getting antsy when from afar he saw Hermione appear through the mist. She had two trunks with her and looked very sad as she was waiting for a train. He ran toward to her and when she heard the shuffling of feet she looked up to see Harry appear before her. Harry was stunned because she refused to look directly at him. She kept looking around to see if anyone else saw what she saw.

After a very uncomfortable few moments and the image of Harry was still in front of her, Hermione crumpled to the floor and began to cry. Harry fell to his knees beside her. He did not reach out for her, at first, he merely held his hand under her face so she could see that he was there. Harry gently stated "Hermione it is not a dream, a vision, or psychosis. I am here with you."

Hermione stopped rocking very stunned at hearing Harry's voice from the vision. Hermione didn't look up and began to shake her head no "I can't." she sobbed. Before the rocking continued even harder and she drew her knees into her chest "Every day for a month I have seen you in my dreams. I moved to a different apartment and we even sat down and had breakfast together last week."

"Everyone tries to say it is my mind missing you and my magic is wishing for you to come back so the images are conjured to bring you back to me but I know what it truly means and that one day I will completely snap from reality and I will find you there all the time." Hermione cried harder "Harry I am going crazy and if I give in I will not come back because frankly I wouldn't want to. I can't function without you."

Harry worried for a moment and then a smile appeared on his face "That is called crazy love then. I always wanted to be in crazy love. I thought I knew what that was when I was alive and with you but I didn't and neither did you."

Hermione looked up and into his eyes "What… you can't make fun of me like that. Wait you said when you were alive…past tense. Then you're a vision a figment of my imagination?" As she looked into his eyes her brain began to wonder and ask questions. "You never did this before." she whispered to herself. "You never made fun of me."

Harry smiled "I use to whenever I needed to get your mind around something… or I needed to distract you from a rant." Hermione actually laughed.

Hermione said with a smile in her voice "You were always good at distracting me." Hermione sat up straighter and looked very closely at Harry. It was evident from the emotions coming from her that she was coming to a decision and having reached it asked "How Harry, how did you get back here…to me?"

Harry understood her question as he placed a hand on the side of her face "How? Hermione is that the best question you could come up with?" Harry leaned forward and smiled at her as he answered "Love is the answer Hermione because you are the very air to me and I cannot function without you."

Hermione had a mischievous glint in her eye "Harry-dore? Because that sounded so much like Albus I had to look twice." She stated with a laugh in her voice.

Hermione did not even hesitate as she launched herself at him and felt his solid body impact with hers. This renewed her tears and within fifteen minutes Harry's robe was soaked. Hermione sat in his lap and wouldn't let go. It was many minutes before she calmed down enough that Harry could say or do anything.

Hermione "I am sorry that you had to go through the last month. I never meant for that to happen. I can't believe I let Bellatrix get the better of me."

Hermione clung to his cloak "Harry what happened to you? Where did you go?"

Harry lifted her face to kiss her lips "Hermione I died."

Hermione hesitantly asked "Does this mean you are still dead?"

Harry's smile faltered "To be honest I don't know exactly if I am dead or alive." Harry thought for a moment "I think therefore I am, is the best way to express it. I don't feel dead at all."

Hermione closed her eyes and began to shiver "Then with a resolve that Harry had not seen before she flashed her eyes "Fuck It!" she exclaimed "If this is my psychosis then I am crazy as a loon but as long as you are with me I can endure anything. I am tired of missing you and hurting like I do. My life was over the second you disappeared. How do I get to where you are? Do I need to die too?"

Harry gave her a concerned look but before he could speak a cough from behind them broke the moment. Hermione looked over Harry's shoulder and then quickly asked "Who are you?"

The older man smiled "Well Harry calls me fate and I guess you can too."

Hermione jumped up and stood in front of him. She placed a hand on her hip and then took her index finger to poke fate in the chest as she spoke "You are going to bring me to where Harry is. You are going to straighten this mess out and what were you thinking when you separated us?" she scolded him.

The man merely smiled at her before a twinkle shone in his eyes. "You are currently where Harry is so that task is accomplished."

Hermione interrupted him by pointing a finger at him "Don't even think about separating us again."

Fate grinned "I wouldn't dare. I do believe you would hurt me very badly." He finished with a smirk.

Fate whispered under his breath "I had forgotten how beautiful you are." He said as he looked at her. Hermione noticed the look he was giving her and did not know quite how to take it. It did not disturb her as much as it probably should have.

Hermione noticed right away that his eyes and Harry's were very similar, if not the same. She felt a chill run down her back. She moved back to Harry. "Why are we here?" she asked quietly.

Harry answered "We are at a crossroad where I… I mean we must decide what to do. It seems I have another chance."

Hermione grinned "Only you Harry Potter would tempt fate."

Fate chuckled at this little twist on words. He sighed if only they knew how accurate Hermione's words were. Perhaps if this works out then they will have never known the pain and suffering that he knew. Fate watched the couple as they clung together. He had forgotten how right they looked and how happy they made each other. He hoped this worked out for them as he knew this was their… his best chance.