––– CHAPTER ELEVEN –––

"She's Gone"

It was early the next morning. Harry had just woken up from what he thought was a bad dream. As he sat up and looked around he saw that he wasn't in the cavern any more. He was sitting in a chair in Professor Dumbledore's office. Harry wasn't quite sure what was going on. He couldn't remember anything except being in the cavern with Tronks, Bobel, Lupin, Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, Sirius Black, Ron, Hermione and Gwen. Harry then remembered that he needed to save Gwen. He ran for the door, but it was locked. He tried a couple of spells but it didn't work. He needed to leave and help his friends. Second later, the fireplace burst into green flames and Dumbledore walked out.

"Good, you're up. Good."

Harry just looked at him.

"What?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yesterday, what happened in the cavern with Sirius Black,"

Harry's stomach flipped at the thought of Sirius' death "And Voldemort and the Orbs, was that a... a dream?" asked Harry.

"Oh No. It was definitely not a dream. Harry, what happened to Sirius and Gwen..."

"Gwen!" interrupted Harry "Professor I need to find her!"

"Harry, you don't need to. Right now you need to sit."

"NO. I will not sit. Why doesn't anyone want me to help Gwen?" yelled Harry.

"Please sit."

"No!" yelled Harry.

Harry tried everything to get out of the room. Dumbledore just sat there and watched. He was not amused. When Harry finally calm down, he sat in a chair, looking frustrated.

"Are you done?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes."

"Good. Now Harry I'm not letting you go see Gwen because there are some things that you need to know about her."

"Gwen has told me everything that I need to know about her." yelled Harry.

"What I need to tell you is something Gwen hasn't told you. She couldn't tell you."

"What do you mean?"

"Harry, last night has been planned for years now."

Harry didn't know what to say.

"How about we start from the beginning. 15 years ago, two children were born. These two children were both extraordinary beings. They came from very magical families, and were very gifted.

It was said that if the two children met, their powers would be unstoppable. Because of this, Voldemort knew that with that sort of magic, he would be defeated. So, he had to do something. The two children already lived at the opposite ends of the world, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before they met. He had to kill one of the children. Also, one of the children, that could defeat him, was the daughter of two of his servers.

Now these two weren't his most loyal servants. They hated the Dark Lord and had been planning to destroy him for years. Voldemort knew of their plans and decided to do away with the whole family. He went after the parents first and then the child."

"Gwen." said Harry.

"That same night, Gwen's parents abandoned her. Gwen's parents were never kind people. They were heartless. Voldemort tortured them so much they became spiteful. That's why they wanted to destroy him. He made their lives miserable and they wanted revenge, but Voldemort got to them first and killed them both. Gwen was next, but I stopped him in time. I had been watching him for while. I knew everything that he was going to do. So the night he left to kill Gwen, I followed him and stopped him. When his plan failed he went after the second child."

"Me." said Harry.

"Exactly. But unaware that your mother would sacrifice herself for you, he failed once again. He couldn't go after you anymore. You were untouchable, but Gwen wasn't. He went after her and you know the rest."

"Now that I'm caught up, what did you mean about last night being planned?" asked Harry.

"Well, several months later I found him seeking his revenge. He was going to do away with Gwen, but I made a deal with him. The deal was that if in 15 years, neither one of you were dead, then he could have one chance to try to kill you both. I knew how strong Gwen's powers were, and combined with yours, then he would have no chance of winning and, it would have been the end of the Dark Lord, but something went wrong last night. I hadn't realized, at the time, that you and Gwen had gotten so close. Seeing her the way she was last night made you too emotionally weak to use your full powers. Gwen was also in too much pain to have done anything. There were also too many people around to interfere, so I had to stop Voldemort myself."

"But what happened before the bright light?"

"Voldemort cast a spell that made everything in the room difficult to see. He then fled as fast as he could. The Death Eaters also fled. When the light was gone, we got everyone out of the cavern as quickly as possible." Then, the door opened. Ron and Hermione walked in. Hermione was limping and hanging onto Ron. They both had cuts and bruises on them. Both of them looked upset.

"Ron, Hermione...you're all right." said Harry as he got out of the chair.

"Well almost. After you left, one of the Death Eaters locked the door before we could escape. It was brutal." said Ron.

Harry just grinned.

"Where's Gwen?"

Hermione just looked away. Ron had a scared look on his face.

"Where is she?" Harry's grin turned into a frown.

"She's in the Hospital Wing." said Ron in a very low voice.

Harry then dashed out of the professor's office and headed to the Hospital Wing.

"Harry!" yelled Hermione.

Harry ran as fast as he could. When he finally got there, he looked around, and finally found Gwen's bed. Harry ran over to the side and fell to his knees. His eyes started to fill with tears and his heart was racing. Gwen was bruised, cut and was having a hard time breathing. Her skin was pale and her robes were damaged badly. As Harry held Gwen's hand, it felt as cold as ice.

"Gwen, wake up! WAKE UP! Gwen you can't die, you can't! Please Gwen, live. Please."

As Harry prayed, Hermione and Ron walked through to Hospital Wing doors and limped over to where Harry was. Ron was holding Hermione up with one arm and using a cane to help him stay up in the other arm. They stopped at the end of the bed. Hermione then gasped in shock. Ron look surprised. Harry wasn't paying attention to the two of them, when he felt a soft hand touch his cheek. He looked up and saw Gwen staring at him. Gwen's eyes had very little colour to them, but Harry was just relieved to see Gwen alive. Harry was so happy. His eyes started to water, but Harry's look of joy quickly turned into worry. The look on Gwen's face scared Harry into thinking something he didn't want to believe. Then, Gwen said something that made Harry want to rip his heart out.

"I'm sorry, Harry."

Gwen's hand then started to slide off Harry's face, and limped off the side of the bed. Gwen's head slowly turned and her eyes closed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, tears ran down Harry's face. He couldn't believe it. Gwen, the one he told everything to, the one he loved most in the world, was gone. She was gone, and this time it was real. She was gone, and she wasn't coming back. Harry couldn't believe it. He kept hoping that Gwen's eyes would open, and this would all be some kind of joke; but it wasn't. She was really gone.

At the end of the bed, Hermione and Ron were in shock. Hermione threw her face into Ron's shoulder and started to cry. Ron just held her and cried as well.

"She's gone. She's really... gone." said Ron.

"SHUT UP!" screamed Harry, crying.

As he held Gwen's hand he knew it was all over.

"NOOOO!" yelled Harry as tears ran down his face.

The next day was hard for Harry. It was the last day of school. In the morning, Dumbledore explained to the entire school about Gwen's death, and Voldemort. Harry chose not to be a part of the ceremony. He knew that it would hurt too much. Harry just decided to wander the halls. All day long, he kept finding things that reminded him of Gwen. When he was packing up his things, he found the scarf Gwen had made him. He found a picture of the two of them. Once the ceremony was done and everyone was walking out of the Great Hall, Harry bumped into Professor Dumbledore.

"Sorry Professor." said Harry, in a very monotone voice.

"Harry, I happen to notice that you weren't in the Great Hall during the ceremony. Why's that?" asked Dumbledore.

"I just didn't want to go through all the pain again."

"Harry, do you remember our talk yesterday?" asked Dumbledore

"Yes."

"Well, there was something that I forgot to mention. You see, Gwen has a special ability. She has the ability to, I guess in a way, choose her fate."

Harry just gave the professor a look.

"Harry, last year, Voldemort blasted Gwen with the killing curse and she did, indeed, die. But Gwen is able to choose life or death in a situation like the ones she and you were both in. Deep down inside, Gwen did love you, she just didn't know it at the time. She used her love and your love to stay alive."

"But why did she choose to... to... die this time?" asked Harry in a shaky voice.

"Even though Voldemort was not corrupting Gwen, he still had some of her energy and was able to use Gwen, or her emotions, to get to you. The more emotional Gwen was, or the more emotional she made you, the easier it was for him to get into your dreams. When Gwen was in the cavern, she realized this and decided that as long as she was alive, then Voldemort would have a way of getting to you. This was her way of not causing you pain."

"But she is causing me pain by not being here." yelled Harry.

"I know, and Gwen did this for a reason. She knew what she was doing." said Dumbledore.

"I know. I just wish there was a better way."

"Well, I think that it would help if you went to your dorm and got your things before the train leaves." said Dumbledore, leaving.

Harry looked confused.

"How is getting my things going to help?" asked Harry to himself.

Harry decided to do as the professor said and headed to the Gryffindor tower. When he entered the boys' dorm, Harry was as sad as ever, but when he looked onto his bed, he saw the most wonderful thing. There, sitting on his bed, was Gwen smiling at him. He couldn't believe it. Harry was so happy. He ran over to Gwen and gave her a hug, but to his surprise, it was just a hologram. Harry was confused. Then he looked on the bed and he saw a locket sitting there. Harry picked it up. As he looked at it, he saw different images of him and Gwen dancing around. He then picked up the note that was sitting on the bed next to the locket.

Dear Harry,

If you're reading this letter, I am already gone. The locket that you see is called a Life Locket. It holds all the most important thoughts and memories that the beholder has. Dumbledore gave this to me last year, and as soon as I met you, it started to work. Every thought, from the good to the bad, is in the locket. I decided to give this to you so, even though I'm not here right now, you'll still be able to keep me close to your heart. I know this is hard for you, but someday you'll understand why I did all that I did.

Love,

Gwenethia Gore Gryffindor

PS. I miss you!

A tear fell onto the letter.

"I miss you too, Gwen." Harry whispered to himself.

Harry then folded the letter and put it into his pocket. As he looked at the locket, an image of Gwen, smiling, appeared. Harry knew that Gwen was doing something right because he had a feeling of hope inside his heart. There was a moment of silence

"Harry?" asked a voice.

Harry turned around and saw Ron.

"Are you okay?" asked Ron.

"Not really, but I think I will be."

"Good. Hermione's waiting downstairs. We should get going." said Ron "What's that?"

"Something that means a lot to me."

"It's from Gwen isn't it?" asked Ron.

"Yeah." said Harry leaving

A little while later, Harry, Ron and Hermione were all sitting in one of the compartments on the Hogwarts express. It was finally time to head home. The three friends were all sitting in the compartment, along with Ginny and Neville. No one was really talking. Ginny and Neville were playing cards, while Nightmare, Gwen's cat, slept on one of the shelves. Harry was looking at the locket, watching Gwen dance around.

"Harry," said Hermione.

Harry looked up, not saying a word.

"There's something sticking out of the locket."

Harry looked. He hadn't noticed it before, but there was another part to the locket. Harry opened it and there was a little note inside. He opened the note and read it out loud.

"Dear Harry," he read "This note is my Will. In this Will, I leave all my possessions to the people that mean the most to me. First I leave all my artifacts to Dumbledore, and my plants and creatures to Hagrid. I leave my cat, Nightmare, to Ginny. I know how much she adores it. To Neville I leave all my books on Herbology. To Fred and George, I leave all my pranks and jokes. To Ron, I leave all my candy and trading cards and to Hermione, I leave my books."

"She has an amazing collection." said Hermione.

"And last, but certainly not least, I leave my house to Harry and everything in it. Hope you all like your things. I miss you all dearly. Love, Gwen."

"Harry, now you have a place to live when schools' over." said Ron.

"And it's close to Hogwarts." continued Hermione.

Harry didn't know what to say. He just smiled. There was a moment of silence.

"Harry, it's going to be alright. Gwen must have done all this for a reason. She's a smart witch. She knows what she's doing." said Hermione.

Harry knew that Hermione was right. He just had to believe in Gwen and hope that it would all turn out for the best. He just had to believe. As Harry looked up at the sky, he felt a warmth inside him. He knew that Gwen was always going to be with him, no matter what.

THE END