Chapter 11 – Heaven

The silence was broken only by the muffled noises of the death eaters' breaths. In a great hall, built to look like an ancient amphitheatre, they had gathered on the bleachers. On a cold marble table lay Nathaniel on his back. His arms and legs were chained to the table. Next to him, facing the audience, stood Voldemort. With trembling hands, he raised the knife he was holding, and quickly cut his wrist.

"Open your mouth," he ordered as he turned towards Nathaniel, who did as he was told without hesitating. Voldemort didn't need to force him, since the pain in his chest was so strong that he would do anything to make it stop.

Voldemort pressed his wrist over his lips. "Drink."

Nathaniel slowly swallowed the warm blood that pulsated into his mouth, without thinking about the taste. After half a minute Voldemort pulled his arm away and held it towards Peter Pettigrew, who quickly healed it.

"The potion," Voldemort demanded.

Pettigrew ran across the stage to pick up a bottle filled with a dark green liquid. When he pulled the cork a smell - so sharp that even the people at the top of the bleachers could feel it - spread. It smelled similar to ammonia, but with a hint of sweetness. Pettigrew handed the bottle to Voldemort, who immediately brought it to his lips and drank half. He winced. Then it was Nathaniels turn to drink, which he did.

"Any final wishes?" Voldemort asked with a fake smile.

Hurry.

Voldemort laughed like a maniac. Some of the death eaters joined in even though they didn't know what he was laughing at. "This has to be done properly, my son.. But I'll try to hurry."

Pettigrew fetched another bottle containing an ominous looking potion. This one was black as charcoal.

Nathaniel.. He winced. It was Hermione's dying voice.

"Stop," he mumbled quietly. He didn't want to hear it.

Why did you kill me?

Someone screamed. Several hands pushed him down, and something thick with lumps was poured into his mouth. His body started to burn, and he wanted to cuff his ears, to keep the horrible scream away, but the hands stopped him. Finally the darkness that he had longed for came and everything else disappeared.

…

"Hermione, are you sure you're all right?" Ron whispered. He sounded worried.

She nodded. "You know that a person can't cast Avada Kedavra without being certain that he wants to."

The look he gave her was anything but convinced. "I still think it was a bad plan."

"It worked, didn't it?" she said with a raised eyebrow.

"Shut up," one of the aurors muttered. "We're almost there."

"Why didn't we just use broomsticks?" Ron didn't sound happy. They had been forced to walk more than a mile.

"It's the only way to get past their protection spells safely," said Dumbledore in a calm voice. "If we had used brooms we probably would've missed most of them."

Ron sighed. "I can't understand how muggles.."

"Shut up, Weasley!" the auror exclaimed, just to be hushed by the other aurors.

"There it is," said Harry quietly and pointed at what looked like a small tent. "I though Volde.."

Hermione quickly put her hand over Harry's mouth. "Don't say it, or he'll know that we're here."

"If you three don't shut up soon.." The auror and Ron glared angrily at each other.

"Confundo," said Dumbledore calmly while pointing his wand at one of the death eaters outside the opening of the tent. "Get ready, we're here"

They pulled their wands out and carefully sneaked after Dumbledore towards the tent. The protection spells were removed one by one, and the death eaters that they encountered were dealt with as quietly as possible.

Hermione felt like she was being pulled towards the tent. It was as if a flame rested in her heart, and the closer she got the more alive the flame became. It filled her with a strength that she knew was Nathaniel's life force, and it was leading her towards him.

Suddenly they heard a horrifying scream. Harry caught hold of her arm and prevented her from dashing into the tent. Pain. It felt as if her whole body was burning.

"I have to.." Harry quickly pulled her out of the way.

"Hermione, stop, you're going to blow our cover." Ron helped pulling her away.

The aurors followed Dumbledore inside the tent and for several minutes there was pure chaos. Harry left Hermione with Ron and ran in to the tent to help. After a while the deafening sounds and blinding flashes from the spells subsided, and were reduced down to the lone cry that they had heard from the beginning.

Hermione fought to free herself from Ron's firm grip, but he held her like a bear might hold its pray. She scratched his arms and kicked at his feet and legs, but still he refused to let go.

"Let me go! Let me go, Ron!"

"No," he said flatly. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Hermione's panicked brain searched franticly for logical arguments. It didn't come up with anything better than: "If you don't let me go I'll hate you for ever!"

Ron winced, but did not let go of her. "It doesn't matter. I'd never forgive myself if I let anything happen to you. You who I love more than anyone else!" The scream coming from the tent suddenly went quiet and she felt the pain disappear. She didn't know how much time had passed, but it was still dark outside.

"Ron.." she mumbled.

He didn't move. "Yes?"

"You can let me go now."

"Don't go into the ten, we don't know who won yet," he warned her.

She nodded and he slowly let her go, but maintained the grip around her arm. Ron loves me. What had he meant by that? In what way did he love her?

"Why isn't anyone coming out?" he asked confusedly.

Hermione felt Nathaniel's presence, so she knew that he was still alive, but she had no idea about Harry. "They'll be here soon, I'm sure. I hope Harry is all right," she said, sounding worried. She didn't doubt for a second that Nathaniel would be injured, or worse.

"I can't believe he just left us here to deal with it himself.. Although that's who he is, I guess."

Eventually a blond head popped out from the canvas. "Are you coming or what?" the grumpy auror said.

Hermione hurried in after him. The room she entered looked like a huge amphitheatre. At the bottom of it, on the stage, she saw Nathaniel laying on a marble table. He didn't move.

"Hermione! Ron!" She spotted Harry next to Nathaniel. Dumbledore and a couple of medics were standing there too.

She went down to Harry, careful not to tread on any of the death eaters that were laying sprawled all over the place.

"Are you all right?" she asked when she reached Harry.

Harry smiled. "Great. Most of the death eaters ran when they realised that something was wrong with Voldemort."

Hermione looked at Voldemort's limp body. "Is he dead?" she asked hesitantly.

"No, just unable to return to his body." It was Dumbledore who had spoken. "If he returns he'll be tried in court, but until then he'll be locked up in Azkaban."

"Well, that went fast," Ron mumbled. ".. And ridiculously simple. Are you sure this isn't a trap?"

"Don't say that, Ron. Be grateful that one thing in our lives went according to plan. It's probably the first time." Harry smiled. It was as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and he looked happier than he had in a long time.

"How's Nathaniel?" Hermione asked worriedly.

Harry shrugged. "Fine, according to Dumbledore. Their trying to wake him up right now."

Hermione patted Harry on the shoulder and went over to the marble table. Despite the fact that she wanted to disagree with Ron, she couldn't. The things he said had made sense. It had been way to simple.. Or maybe she just wasn't used to things going according to plan. Nathaniel groaned as if he was in pain.

"Is he okay?" Hermione asked worriedly while looking at the medic who seemed to be in charge.

Hermione's heart sank when he shook his head. "He has been given a lot of potions whose effects we don't understand, and a couple that we haven't even heard of before. It's not simple to administer antidote to something when you don't know what something is."

She ignored the medics and pushed through them to reach Nathaniel. She could see his eyes moving franticly under his eyelids. Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead.

"You look like you're in pain," she mumbled and took his hand. "Alohomora." She pointed her wand at his chains and watched contently as they opened with a click. "Come back now, Nathaniel," she whispered softly.

…

It was dark, but the pain did not disappear. Voldemort and the rest of the world was gone, but the memories were still there.

Where am I?

He couldn't talk. Even though his thoughts were a great mess he managed to recall that his body wasn't with him.

That's right, my body belongs to someone else now.

Nathaniel didn't understand why he still existed, if you could call it that. If he was still able to think, it had to mean that he was going somewhere. Although it didn't feel like he was moving.

Nathaniel? Can you hear me?

It was Hermione's voice again, but this time it didn't sound accusing, just confused. He answered despite being convinced that he had been imagining.

H-Hermione?

A wave of relief washed over him. Though it wasn't his own feelings.

Nathaniel! You have to wake up.

Wake up? Hermione, I'm dead.. And so are you.

Suddenly the world started shaking and white light blinded him.

"Nathaniel, wake up!"

He stared into Hermione's face. She had grabbed onto his shoulders and was shaking him violently.

"Heaven.." he murmured. But why was he there?

"What did he say?" This time it was Ron's voice.

Nathaniel sat up suddenly and looked around. He was in a white room with two big windows that supplied the room with plenty of sunlight. Next to his bed stood Harry and Ron. Hermione was sitting at the edge of his bed. He stared at Hermione with wide eyes, without saying anything.

"Nathaniel, how are you feeling?" she said with a soft smile.

Without answering he reached out and touched her shoulder. The fact that his hand didn't go right through her, and that she was warm, only added to his confusion.

Ron reached out and grabbed Hermione's hand. "Dumbledore said that he probably wouldn't be himself when he woke up. I don't think it's any good to talk to him."

Nathaniel suddenly felt annoyed. "I'm not delusional," he snapped. "If you were me, you'd be chocked too if you ended up in heaven."

Ron blinked. "Heaven? We're at St. Mungos." He smiled amusedly.

He got even more annoyed. "I killed you, and then I died, therefore this has to be heaven or hell. Since you're all here this must be heaven, and I obviously ended up in the wrong place."

"Nathaniel, we're not dead." Hermione smiled.

"I killed you," he said flatly. Maybe this was hell after all.

"No one can use Avada Kedavra without really wanting to."

"I saw you die."

"No, I just faked it. Harry and Ron wasn't even in the room.."

Nathaniel cut her of. "You're dead."

Ron gave out a loud groan. "We're alive! Is it really that hard to understand? Hermione, come. There's no point in doing this."

Nathaniel watched Hermione stand up and starting to walk away. Her eyes were blank, and she looked as if she might start to cry at any moment.

"You really think I'd be standing here and welcoming you if you murdered Hermione and Ron?" Harry grumbled and looked down at his feet. His hands were clutched at his sides.

"How could you possibly have survived?"

Hermione turned around quickly, with newly found hope in her eyes. "I found the spell that keeps you alive and cast it on you. I was the only one in the room, the others were actually in another room."

"Hermione, I could feel you die!"

Suddenly he felt her presence in his head. "You mean like this?" She disappeared again.

Nathaniel thought his heart would stop. Once again he saw how the life had disappeared from of her eyes. To his big surprise she was still standing in front of him when he opened his eyes. He hadn't even realised that he had closed them.

"It's not.."

"It is possible. You didn't kill any of us."

Nathaniel found that he had now answer to this. He had no idea how to react. Once again he went through his memories, despite the pain they caused him, and ransacked them for any little clue that might help him understand. "The port key," he eventually mumbled.

"The snowglobe? That was just to convince Voldemort." It was Harry who had spoken

"Where is Voldemort? I can't feel his presence any more."

"His body is being kept in Azkaban. His mind.." Harry said hesitantly. "Is somewhere else."

"Not in me?"

Hermione smiled. "No, he can't hurt you any more."

For several minutes Nathaniel just sat there, staring at his own hands. It couldn't be true. He had never been free before, and now he suddenly had the freedom to do what he wanted? He would never ever have to hurt someone again?

"Does that mean I'm.." his voice cracked. He was crying. Without saying anything, Hermione sat down at the edge of his bed again and put her arms around him.

"Um.." Ron fidgeted. "I thought I heard mum call my name," he mumbled before hurrying out of the room. Before the door had closed, Harry came up with an apology and followed Ron.

Hermione wasn't completely new to handling crying people, there probably isn't a girl in the world who isn't. But Nathaniel didn't cry like other people. If she hadn't actually seen the tears she wouldn't have thought that he was actually crying. He didn't let out a single sob, nor did he shake.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him again.

After a while she got her answer. "Better." His voice sounded strained, like he had to force himself to speak.

"The Blackfield students has been moved to Hogwarts," she said, mainly to get him to think about something else.

Nathaniel froze. "You've got to be kidding me. There wont be enough dormitories in Slytherin to house them all." He tried his best to sound cheery, but was obviously still shaken.

"I bet some of them will end up in Gryffindor, like you did."

"I wouldn't count on it," he mumbled and carefully pulled away from Hermione. He had stopped crying. "The student's from that school hurt people because they want to, not because they're being controlled."

Hermione nodded understandingly. "Maybe I should get a doctor who can release you from the hospital, since you seem to be feeling relatively well," she said with a smile.

Nathaniel looked down at his hands again. "I guess Dumbledore will let me stay at Hogwarts during the summer."

Hermione shook her head. "You'll be staying with me and Harry, at Ron's place."

He looked up with a surprised expression. "But.."

"It's already decided. Ron's parents don't mind. Actually there exited to see you."

"So we're all going to..?"

"Yeah, isn't it great? You'll love his family. You've already met Fred, George and Ginny, but he has three more brothers.."

While Hermione happily chattered on, Nathaniel felt for the first time that he would finally be able to really enjoy something, knowing that it was he who enjoyed it, not someone else.

(Well, that was the last chapter of part 1. It'll be followed by 3 chapters in part 1,5 and then another 15 chapters in part 2. Phew, I've got my work cut out for me. I haven't started on part 3 yet but I'll get there.. Eventually.

I'm really grateful for your reviews! There really is nothing better than to check your e-mail and discover that you've gotten a new one. I'd like to thank Lady Cougar-Trombone (What the heck is up with that name?) for all your nice little comments. Makes me really happy to know that someone actually reads it and cares about the plot, haha.

Btw, I'm also writing this fiction (about Fred and George after the battle of Hogwarts) together with a friend of mine. Be sure to check it out! .net/s/7995099/1/Now_were_both_holy_mate - Alvarin)