Chapter 11

Harry slowly opened his eyes, his vision was blurred, as if his contacts had fell out. He couldn't clearly make out his surroundings. He felt different, somehow less substantial, lighter, like freed from the bounds of flesh. He could still feel though. He registered this fact by touching his face, it felt real enough. He stood up and looked around, and he saw nothing, literally nothing. The whole expanse around him was all white, but a white he had never seen before. It was a sort of translucent white, like the area around him was immaterial. He looked down at himself, as his eyes cleared, his vision sharpening now. He was still wearing what he had on before. The last thing he remembered was looking deep into Hermione's eyes before a blinding pain took him.

Is this it, he thought, has that bitch fate finally won and claimed his life, he didn't know. If he was dead where was he? This wasn't like before, for one thing the scene didn't begin taking shape, it stayed an infinite sea of white, that went on forever. He didn't really feel as if he were standing or floating, it was hard to explain. It was as if there were no floor, nor sky, it was all white.

It was weird, Harry thought that with death came a certain feeling of peace, but he didn't feel that. He felt frustrated, frustrated by the fact that he couldn't figure his surroundings out. These feelings were assaulting his mind when he heard a soft and familiar voice at his back, the sound made him jump.

"Hello Harry, it's wonderful to see you again my love," the voice said in a voice that filled Harry's heart, it held a mesmerizing quality about it, like it filled the whole of the infinite expanse.

He spun and the figure he saw caught him. She was wearing a flowing white gown that shone with a brilliant white illumination that transfixed his senses. Her pale skin seemed to glow with this other worldly light as well, which held her fiery hair in even greater contrast. He just looked at her for a moment, never in her life had she looked so beautiful, so perfect.

Ginny," he finally managed to get out in a tone that was less than a whisper.

"Yes my love," she responded.

"Does this mean it's finally over, does this mean I'm dead," he asked, almost hopefully.

"I don't know Harry, I can't tell you if you are, but if I'd have to guess I'd say your close, nearly there in fact, but if I know Hermione she'll do all she can to bring you back, be thankful you've found someone like her, she'll try with her last breath to save you, and knowing her like I do I really don't think she'll fail," Ginny said in a dreamy voice, smiling warmly at her husband.

"What if I don't want her to save me, what if I want to stay, stay here with you," Harry said, feeling truly confused himself, not really knowing what he wanted himself.

"Harry you know the answer to that, you know deep down you want to return, return to her, and before you start I'm not angry over this, in fact it's what I want, you and she can have something that's not possible for us now, you and she can have a life, a long and happy life full of love, and I want, no I need for you to have that. I've watched you Harry, I've seen the pain you've brought on yourself and it's being tearing me up, you know your pain is my pain, and watching you fall apart has been unbearable. That's why I was so happy when you and Hermione found each other, she gave you what you needed to bring yourself out of that pain. And once you were I could truly be at peace. You know I still love you, as I've said that will never change, so for that I need you to be happy. You can stop Harry, you can stop blaming yourself and holding yourself back out of fear, I need you to move past what happened to me and let yourself find the happiness you deserve, if not for yourself then please do it for me," she finished now standing right in front of him, piercing his very being with her delicate eyes, letting him read the truth she felt in them while gently taking his hand into hers.

Harry stood awestruck, he didn't know what to say, finally he managed to find his voice, "I'm sorry Ginny I really am, it has been hard, I've just missed you so much" he said in a slightly quivering tone, wondering to himself in he could even cry here.

"You don't have to apologize, I've told you it wasn't your fault and that's the truth, and believe me I've missed you too, but you know we've never really left each other, we still have each other stored in here," she said pointing to her chest where her heart once beat, "But that doesn't mean you can't truly love someone else, in many ways I feel it should have always been like this. Don't get me wrong, I cherished our time together and wouldn't have done anything different, but seeing how you are with her I can see your heart is truly hers, and you don't have to feel guilty about that, there's so much love a person carries inside its not unreasonable for them to truly love two people, but when you get down to it, it seems you two were meant to end up sharing each others life, sharing each others souls." she said.

"So you don't regret it, our life together," he asked in a longing tone, reaching his hand out, being so grateful for the fact he could touch her soft face.

"Harry," she said in a low tone, "How can you even ask me that, of course I don't, it meant so much to me, it was truly the happiest time of my life, but we can't control what happens to us, the universe has a will of its own and we are just along for the ride, that's not to say we don't have free will to choose how our lives are lead, but in a contest of wills the hands of fate will always win" she said.

Harry again didn't know how to respond, his heart flooded with true affection for her, he reached forward and wrapped his arms firmly around her, he held her tightly in them for what felt like an eternity, it may well have been as time is not a part of this reality.

He finally let her go and she once again looked deeply in his eyes, as if it were a sight she would never be able to get enough of, She smiled and leaned forward, pressing her soft lips firmly to his cheek. She just looked at him and then looked down, a bit disheartened now.

"What's wrong Ginny," he asked lightly.

"It's my worthless excuse of a brother, you know he did this to you, and to achieve it he's had to call upon truly evil magic, which means if he dies before finding redemption he will face an unspeakably horrible fate, so please Harry, I know you want to, but please for me, and my parents, please don't end his life," she asked in a pleading voice.

Harry just looked at her, he read her pain in her eyes and it broke his heart, "For you, but he has to answer for this, I can't live my life constantly worried about what sort of schemes he's cooking up, and I promise I wont kill him, but I will take a different kind of vengeance, and please, please don't look upon me when I do because I don't want you to see it," he answered in a deep rich tone.

"OK Harry, I promise, I wont look, and I wont even bother saying not to because I know he deserves it, so do what you have to, and after that I only hope he can find redemption in Azkaban, one last thing my love, I want you to have this back," she said softly, while taking his hand and placing something hard and cold into it.

He looked down and what he saw made his breath stall, "But how, you were buried with it," he said in a breathless tone.

"I know but it's been in your family for generations, and that's where it should stay, Hermione needs to pass it to Lily when she comes," she said smiling as she began to slowly back away from him. She wasn't walking or floating, it was as if she were being pulled away, no wait, she wasn't being pulled away, he was, he was being pulled hard and fast backwards.

The whiteness before his eyes began to fade as he watched Ginny smile and wave, "Goodbye my love, until we meet again live well and be happy," was the last words he caught before the scene completely dissolved and he felt himself falling, free falling hard. He felt as if he had hit the ground hard and his eyes shot open.

Like before it took him a moment to gauge his surroundings, their were several people standing over him, speaking rapidly to each other, he couldn't make out what they were saying clearly.

"His vitals are stabilizing, looks like he's going to pull through, good work Hermione, the blood stone potion worked," he heard the voice of any older man say.

He tried to move but found he couldn't, it felt as if his limps were petrified. It was now that people had registered the fact that he was awake. Hermione being the first amongst them as she leaned over him and nearly broke her face in a wide smile, "Harry don't try to move, I had to give you a potion that solidifies yours organs and blood vessels, it stopped the bleeding long enough for us to heal them completely, your going to be fine baby, oh Harry I love you so much don't ever scare me like that again," she said in a truly relieved voice while throwing her arms around his stiff neck, kiss him full on the mouth, which he could nether feel nor return.

He could move his lips slightly though, "I Love You too," he managed to whisper in her ear before he again feel asleep, the treatments and potions leaving him wiped completely.

He awoke a full day later, just as the bright steaks of the new day began poking their warming rays through the window of his room. He looked over to a chair beside his bed and saw Hermione sleeping softly with her head resting on her chest. Harry tried to sit up, finding he could move again but still feeling extremely sore. He finally managed and propped himself up and just looked at her, unsure whether he wanted to wake her or not. He did just love watching her sleep. His question was answered as the sound of a stretcher was heard being loudly pushed past his room. The sound caused Hermione's head to jerk somewhat, she brought it up and looked at Harry sitting up in his bed through a half open eye. She beamed like the fires of a thousand suns, so relieved he was OK.

"Morning" she said groggily.

"Morning, what the hell happened to me, what was that cloud," Harry asked, truly wanting to know what had done this to him even though he knew who was behind it.

"I don't fully know, but I think it was something called the soul flame net, it's a trap that hasn't been used since the tenth century, during the great wizard giant wars, see due to their extremely thick skins the killing curse doesn't really work on them, so new and more devastating hexes were invented, but nothing more devious or underhanded as that one. It was banned completely, the knowledge of how to cast it was thought lost, I don't know where a person could even learn it," Hermione said truly puzzled by this.

"If it's so rare how did you know about it," Harry asked.

"During my time at the academy I read about as many treatments I could, and I found a recipe for a potion that basically turns ones organs into a petrified form to stop internal bleeding, it was found in a historical text that documented cases of this during the wars, I thought the potion handy to have so I brewed some a while ago and had it in my bag. When I saw the cloud and then ran my diagnostic scans and found you hemorrhaging I suspected that was the what it was, I just don't know who would even know how to cast such a terrible spell," Hermione said in disgust, chills running down her spine at the thought of someone conniving enough to actually resort to using it.

Harry thought about it, and knew at once who and how. Now it was clear to him, now he knew why Ron had begun working for Lucius Malfoy, to get access to his restricted library. Every Auror ever to walk the beat knew of this nefarious collection of banned ancient dark magic. Harry felt himself a fool for not seeing it before, but even if he had there was not much he could have done about it, it not being illegal to work for the Malfoy's. His anger was beginning to rise as he saw Ron's plan clearly now. The trap was meant for both he and Hermione. Ron knew of the party, Draco and Luna's engagement party. Being so close to Lucius now he would know of such things. He also knew they were friends with Luna so they would defiantly attend. Harry could now see Ron's intent, to catch them both with the net as they left for the party. Leaving them both struck and bleeding to death on the floor. And that's what would have happened if Harry hadn't tried to leave first to go for a walk. Hum, he thought to himself, maybe fate wasn't so terribly cruel, by making him leave in haste it saved Hermione from enduring this and made it possible for her to save him and bring him back.

Harry was still full of a glowing red wrath for what Ron had tried to do to him and Hermione, so much so he nearly forgot his promise to Ginny. But the memory of his encounter with her was burned into his mind, he knew he would never forget it. He would keep good to his promise, he wouldn't kill Ron, but he would make him pay dearly for this.

He was brought out of his thoughts of rage and revenge by the sight of Hermione standing and walking over to his bedside. She motioned for him to move over so she could get into bed with him, which he did. She wrapped her arm around his neck and brought his mouth into hers for a tender and yet still hotly passionate kiss. Harry's numbness and soreness began to fade as he could feel her titillating talented tongue work to recesses of his mouth. Harry could feel her fear over what had happened leave her soul through the kiss, she was exorcising those demons by making sure he were real, and really here. And to do that she felt she had to snog him rotten. After their very passionate make out session she removed her lips from his and just stared deep into his eyes.

"I was so scared Harry, seeing you lying there, not knowing if you were going to make it I realized that I would die if I lost you. Not figuratively either, my heart would stop have literally stopped beating and I would have dropped to the floor dead. I realized then that I don't care if we ever get married, I'm content to simply be wi…" she began to say but was silenced by Harry's fingers pressed softly to her lips.

"Marry me Jeanie," he blurted out in haste, "Marry me so our lives can find that completeness," he said through a voice of truth and deep convictions.

She just stared blankly at him for a moment, then she looked away, "You don't have to do this if its not what you wa…" she was again cut off by Harry whipping her head around, once again roughly covering her mouth his, putting his heart behind the kiss, letting her know that this was indeed what he wanted.

Once they broke apart again he clenched his fist and felt the same cold metallic feel that he had when he was with Ginny in the other plain, he had held it firm since his return.

He took Hermione's face as he spoke, "Jeanie I don't want this, I need it, I truly do, my heart and soul truly needs this peaceful contentment in my life. I love you so much that if we can't be married it would destroy me, really it would. No longer will I ever be afraid to live my life, the evil that soaks the world has held that power over me for to long, from now on my life is mine and I'm going to live it like I bloody well want to, so I ask you again, Hermione Jean Granger, will you marry a sorry, dangerous, damaged git like me," Harry finished smiling wryly.

She jumped on him, forcing him onto his back as she wrapped her legs around his middle, straddling him as she lowered herself for another kiss. After she lifted her head she shone like the sun as she said, "Yes, yes, yes, a million and one times yes, I love you so much Harry Potter," she practically yelled.

Harry smiled as he took his clenched hand, "I know this isn't a ring but I'd still like you to have it," he said as he revealed a platinum necklace that carried a precious emerald stone in its center, the one he had given Ginny all those years ago, his families heirloom.

She was stunned as he undid the clasp, she held her hair so he could reclasp it around her beautifully long slender neck. She looked down at it hanging low across her chest. She looked up and smiled, "But Harry how, I thought it was buried with Ginny," she said through a breathless tone.

He simply gave her a side mouthed smirk, "Hey It's a kind of magic."