There was an odd tingling sensation in their left shoulders and suddenly the world went black. Harry woke up instantly and was dressed back in the same robes he had left in, but Ron and Hermione were naked. He began to laugh as they both sat up and looked around them confused until they realized the state they were in and both wished for clothes. Hermione was frantically dressing, her face brighter than Harry had ever seen and Ron was fumbling with his trousers.
When at last they were decent again they both rounded on Harry,
"How come you didn't warn us that we were gonna be naked? How come you just stood there and laughed?" asked Hermione hotly,
"Because honestly, I need a bit of a laugh."
"Oh Harry" Hermione flung her arms around her best friend and Ron put his around them both. They stood that way for an undeterminable amount of time, taking comfort in the warmth of their friendship. The three who conquered, their friendship stronger than steel, tested by fire and had stood true, something that Harry's failed relationship with Ginny couldn't.
Eventually they all parted and they arranged themselves in the comfortable chairs that automatically arrived.
"So do you guys wanna meet my parents?"
"Hell yes" said Ron, "Do you remember the mirror in first year? I was so excited to see your family." Harry smiled fondly and then called his parents out to them. When the lights cleared there stood Lily and James who immediately opened their arms and Harry went straight to them. Ron and Hermione sat, awkward but happy until Lily opened her arms wider saying,
"You are the family that we couldn't give Harry and for that we thank you."
Hermione teared up and hugged her best friends mother and Ron looked nonplussed for a moment and then shrugged,
"What the hell, lets have a group hug," and proceeded to join in. Harry burst into laughter and Hermione elbowed Ron,
"Honestly, you have no grasp on emotions do you?" she said with exasperation.
"Ah, but you see, I really do and I just pretend not to so that way I can surprise you with my tact on the odd occasion." Ron replied straight faced and Harry's laughter only became louder, before Ron too cracked and joined him. Eventually they settled themselves into the seats that appeared and started talking.
Harry looked like he didn't know what to say and so James started,
"See you have the awesome group of friends. The Potter, the one who always cracks jokes and the brainy one just minus the traitor, why didn't you give yourselves an awesome codename?"
Harry looked surprised and then realized the parallels between the marauder's and his generation. Hermione put it together and then frowned,
"That makes me Remus." She said, "I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not."
"Well he said brains, not looks so you're fine." Ron said and Hermione mock-gasped at him and he continued quickly, "but your looks are fine too, more than fine actually."
Hermione smiled at him, and held his hand gently before turning to Harry.
"So explain everything again to us."
Harry sighed and started.
"I used the Elder wand to switch all the spells and injuries to me. If I die once per fatal injury then everyone remains alive."
"So our shoulder's hurting when we came here, that was a killing curse?" Ron asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, it'll give you a lightning bolt scar, I have the same one, so when this is all over we'll be matching."
"No we won't" Hermione said a bit hysterically, "because you have to die so many times and you haven't seen your body Harry, it's a complete mess!"
Harry winced and Lily looked very upset.
"Well, still, me having a few scars is better than everyone dying."
"A few scars?! Harry James Potter, you are worth more to us than as some human curse receptacle!" Hermione exclaimed hotly.
"Well I've already started and I can't back down now, if I did, people would die again." Harry argued back and Hermione deflated.
"I know." She sighed, "Doesn't mean I have to be happy about it though."
Ron laughed and squeezed her hand,
"That's our Mione, never happy unless everything is perfect." She blushed and mock hit him across the shoulder.
This action broke the remaining ice and the group began to chat. Hermione told James and Lily about many school adventures that Harry had conveniently forgotten to mention, such as his escapades with Cho in fifth year and the singing valentine in second.
After some time, or no time at all, depending on how you viewed the "other" place, the conversation drew to a halt. Harry decided to send his parents back because he wanted to have a discussion with just Ron and Hermione. They all had a tearful farewell, and promised not to see them again, for as long as they could help it.
When Harry's parents had faded into whiteness, he turned to his friends.
"Right, I'm pretty sure I've been bitten by at least one werewolf, possibly a vampire and I've definitely been poisoned by Nagini. I can't be healed till after, but it'd probably be a good idea to get some sort of plan organised to heal me as soon as possible. I don't really want to die again as soon as I've stopped dying."
Hermione frowned in thought and Ron guided her to a chair, saying to Harry as he did so,
"Well, while she works it out, can you conjure up a chess set? Cos face it, we're not the brains of the operation."
Harry just laughed and did so, and then proceeded to lose very badly, several times. It was nice to just spend time with his two friends in such a familiar situation, even if it was in a strange location.
Hermione eventually straightened and asked for some paper and a quill. A thought from Harry gave her some and she created a list titled,
Injuries to be healed
She looked at Harry and he started listing the ones he knew about.
"Killing curses, they're just a lightning bolt. So work out what will heal up yours and then do that en masse. Other curses, I had a blasting curse in my chest before. Um, werewolf bites, possibly vampire bite, venomous snake, and those who were crushed by debris. That's about all I can think of."
"What about Sirius? You said you brought him back too, but he fell through the veil, what do you have to do for him?" Ron asked, and Harry frowned but answered slowly,
"I'm pretty sure that will just be a death with no visible cause, I can sort of sense them all now. I guess that comes with the territory of being master of death."
"Alright, well the killing curse scars are perfectly fine to live through, you are proof of that, so we should focus on healing the other injuries first." Hermione said, her business like tone indicating the boys should stop messing around and help her plan.
The trio sat around a table that appeared and organised an order and what spells, potions and ointments that they would use when they could.
"I think that you should talk to the first werewolf and the person who invented wolfsbane at the same time and see if you can't find a cure." Hermione suggested, when they were trying to think of a way to get around the werewolf problem.
"That's all fine and dandy, but you may have forgotten that I am absolute pants at potions." Harry reminded her.
"Then bring Snape" Ron suggested and they others looked at him very clearly surprised,
"No I'm serious. You just brought him back to life, that means he probably owes you some sort of debt. I reckon he'd probably jump at the chance to cure werewolves, he'd be famous if he did it."
"That's true, "Harry said slowly, "I just didn't ever expect to hear you willingly suggest Snape as a viable option.
Ron laughed,
"Me neither, but.." he paused, "After what you told us, I guess, maybe we were actually wrong about him for all those years."
"Wow Ron, I 've never heard you say something so mature before," Hermione complimented and Ron stuck his tongue out at her,
"Always the tone of surprise." They group laughed at that and broke the tension, discussing such a painful topic had created.
"I guess that's all we can organise at the moment. We should go back, can you make the list come with us?" Hermione asked,
"Sure, here, you hold it and link hand with me."
The trio stood and the furniture vanished. Ron and Hermione grasped a hand of Harry's each and he focused hard on returning his friends to their bodies.
The world faded into white and then black before it reformed around them.
Instantly, Ron and Hermione dropped Harry's hand and clapped it over their aching shoulder, coming away with blood on it. Hermione, opened her bag and summoned the essence of dittany, applying some to Ron's shoulder and then hers. It closed the skin over the scar and left brand new, shiny skin that itched and pulled in the shape of a skinny lightning bolt.
"Oh thank goodness you two are alright." McGonagall's voice interrupted their silent reverie next to Harry, (who had once again died) we were quite frantic when we saw you unconscious next to him.
Hermione smiled up at her old teacher and transfigured a chair for her to sit in before filling in the deputy headmistress on the details of Harry's selfless sacrifice.