Hermione had expected a home like the Lovegoods, hidden from the world and unique in the most magicals of ways. She would have even expected a home like The Burrow, strangely cobbled together to fit those who lived inside.
The last thing she had expected was a brownstone in London. But that was where Minerva had directed the pair of them to go. Thankfully, Minerva had also had the presence of mind to let Trelawney know that the pair of them would be coming so that they wouldn't be unexpected. Hermione have imagined the look on Trelawney's favorite when one of her least favorite former students appeared at her front door.
Instead, when Sybill opened the door, there was warm and welcoming look from the old Divination professor.
"Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, please come in."
The moment they entered the house, Hermione felt a profound sense of deja vu. As normal and sensible as the house had seemed from the outside, it was decorated in nearly the exact style that her former classroom had also been decorated. It gave a very strange sensation like you had just walked through a portal to a different dimension or something of the like.
Sybill led the pair of them to the front sitting room where they sat on the table across from her. She had not aged particularly well in the few years since they had last seen her. Despite the fact that she was only in her early forties, the stress of the last few years had apparently caught up with her. She looked thin and worn as if she had spent a lifetime running from something.
"My dears, the Headmistress sent me a letter this morning informing me of your arrival."
"You didn't see it coming?" Hermione snapped.
"Ms. Granger, despite all of my attempts, you seem to have learned almost nothing about the Sight. While I do admit to be a bit overzealous with my behavior previously, I do possess the Sight as you well know."
"You're referring to the prophecy you made about Harry." Ron asked.
"I am. It only is proof enough of my abilities. After my unceremonious exile from the castle, I have come to understand that I may have played my role a bit too strongly while at the school."
"You could say that again." Ron muttered.
Ignoring Ron, Trelawney continued. "However, my proclivity for posturing is not why you came here today."
"No, we came to speak to your father about Harry." Hermione confirmed.
"You may speak to him all you want, Ms. Granger. However, I am not certain how much you will be able to glean from him."
"Why not?"
"Because my father is nearly ninety years old and could conceivably pass away at any moment." Trelawney reasoned. "About once a day, he is lucid. For your sake, and the mind of Mr. Potter, I do hope it is now."
"You and me both."
That being said, Trelawney stood and made her way towards the stairs with Hermione and Ron following on her heels. After climbing three sets of stairs, the strange trio finally arrived at their destination, a single bedroom on the third floor that Sybill entered without knocking.
If Sybill Trelawney looked as if age had begun to hit her hard, she looked practically childlike compared to her father. Sitting mostly upright in the single bed in the room was the oldest man Hermione had ever seen. For a man of ninety, he looked to be nearly two hundred.
However, he was awake and smiled softly when the three of them came into the room. Sitting next to her father, Sybill whispered softly into his ear before leaning away and standing next to him. When Apollo finally spoke, it sounded as if it took all of his breath to utter a single world, leaving him sounding slow, despite the brilliant mind that was trapped inside a body that had long since betrayed it.
"My daughter tells me you have need of my services."
"We do." Hermione confirmed.
"And it involves the Potter boy?"
Despite the fact that Harry was an adult in every way, Hermione decided now was not the time to correct him.
"Yes."
"Why do you believe that I can help you?"
"Minerva McGonagall told us that you were the only person that had really looked into the magic of the mind. Harry has performed Occlumency to the point that he has lost himself behind the shields, aware of all of his memories but lacking any kind of personal connection to them."
"And how do you believe I can help?"
"I know about your device."
Suddenly, this man, who moments earlier had looked incapable of any movement at all, pushed himself completely upright and leaned towards Hermione, his fingers coming together just below his chin.
"How?"
"I'm the Junior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic. If I choose to run in the next election, I am widely considered to be the front runner. I am one-third of the Golden Trio and a heroine to most of the magical world. If there's information that I want, I can get it."
"Yes, but I was fairly certain that there were only two people that knew about this device."
"Hermione, what are the two of you talking about?" Ron asked with uncertainty.
"Back in the late 1970s, Apollo worked for the Department of Mysteries. There, he pioneered research into the possibilities of restoring memories to those who had lost them using magic. The research was first considered when Augustus Rookwood discovered something that he referred to as the Soul Cube. To this day, no one has quite figured out what it is but all study into the object showed that it had the potential for great power if someone could tap into its power."
"What does this have to do with memories?"
"I'm getting there." Hermione replied impatiently. "So, Rookwood had someone attempt to use the Cube. It failed miserably, leaving the woman without her memories. That woman was Evelyn Trelawney."
"My wife." Apollo agreed sadly. "She was never the same."
"But that didn't stop you from trying to bring her back."
"Her mind was too damaged but I always hoped."
"This happened in 1976. By the mid eighties, Apollo had worked with several other Unspeakables to create what can only be referred to as a giant Pensieve. The theory behind the device was that it operated on the same principal as a Pensieve, with a few notable exceptions. First, it was large enough for two people, which was essential for the other major component."
"What was that?" Ron asked.
"It was impossible to operate alone." Apollo interjected. "In order to make it possible for the device to handle the entirety of a person's memories, we had to co-opt some of the magic into another person. However, this made the device tricky to use. If the other person hadn't been present for enough of the other person's memories, then the device couldn't work properly."
For a moment, Ron simply stood in stunned silence as he finished listening to the pair of geniuses discuss this device. Eventually, something occurred to him.
"Hermione, your plan-you intend to go into this giant Pensieve with Harry?"
"I do." Hermione agreed without hesitation.
"Has the device ever worked?" Ron asked Apollo.
"Of course. However, we've only ever used it for the sharing of memories. It has never been used to restore memories from those that have lost them. In this situation, Ms. Granger would have to act as a guide for Harry, leading him through the memories that he lost, hoping that he would make the same person connection that he had previously felt."
"This is insane!" Ron replied, turning to Hermione. "Look, I know you love him. I love him, he's one of my brothers, but you cannot do this."
"This isn't just about me and Harry, Ronald." Hermione snapped. "Without Harry, we are dead in the water against Malfoy. No one knows the mind of the Death Eaters like Harry. Without him, we've lost our main strategist. Could we possibly win without him? Sure. But the only way that we can guarantee our success against Malfoy is with him."
"But why does it have to be you?"
"Do you really want to discuss this right now, Ron?" Hermione asked, avoiding the subject entirely.
"Well, it sounds like we're doing this anyway." Ron countered. "And it sounds like you have your mind made up about you doing it."
"You heard him." Hermione replied, pointing at Apollo. "The other person in the device has to have experienced enough of Harry's life."
"What makes you think that I haven't-"
The sudden realization of what she had said came over Ron in an instant. Hermione watched as the blunt nature of Hermione's comment washed over him. Almost an instant, he stopped and turned away, pacing back and forth, an obvious rage burning inside him.
"Come with me." Hermione said, grabbing Ron and taking him back down to the main floor. The moment they were there, Hermione had expected him to explode. Instead, he took a deep breath and spoke rather calmly, albeit with a fairly obvious growl in his voice.
"You think I can't do it because I wasn't there."
"I need to be able to show him everything. That means in between the Goblet and the First Task. That means the time that you left."
"I came back!" Ron snapped.
"You did." Hermione said softly, stepping forward to take Ron's hands in hers. "Ron, when Harry forgave you for leaving, so did I. As upset as I was for you leaving me, that was nothing compared to how angry I was that you had left Harry. He was your best friend. But ultimately, he forgave you and so did I."
"But I wasn't there." Ron said softly.
"You're sorry for it and you wish you could take it back." Hermione whispered to him, placing a gentle hand under his chin so that she could look into his eyes. "But that doesn't change the past. For this to work, there are events that happened while you were gone that I need to show him. I need to show him Godric's Hallow. I need to show him the Forest of Dean. It's important."
For a moment, Ron simply nodded softly. Finally, he looked up at her of his own volition.
"What happened to the two of you in those woods?"
"A lot." Hermione admitted. "More than either of us would have admitted before."
"Before what?"
"To be honest, I don't know. I just know that something changed. Something is different. We've been trying to fight it but the closer Harry gets to being in a better place, the harder it's been for the two of us to fight it."
"Why would you fight it?"
"Because of you, because of the nature of how our relationship ended. Despite how much I care for you, Ron, it's not the same as my relationship with Harry."
"It never has been." Ron admitted softly. "You know that's why I was so jealous of Harry, right? It never really had that much to do with his fame, although that's what I blamed it on so that I didn't have to admit that I fancied you."
"Why?"
"Because he had you."
"Ron-" Hermione started.
"Don't say something you'll regret." Ron interjected. "You love him, Hermione. I've seen it for awhile. Harry told me that he loved you like a sister. He lied to himself just as much as he lied to me. Don't say that he didn't have you. The moment he saw you Petrified during second year, he was lost. Even then, the connection that the two of you had was different. It was special."
Hearing Ron talk about her relationship with Harry was among the strangest of things she had heard. However, the most jarring aspect of the whole thing was that Ron's awareness of the situation was far better than either hers or Harry's had been. For years, he had seen this and said nothing. Suddenly, the realization of just how consistently she had underestimated Ronald Weasley came into view.
"Why didn't you ever say anything?"
"Because I was being selfish." Ron admitted. "I've loved you for quite awhile, Hermione. I don't remember exactly when it happened. Like I said, your relationship with Harry was why I was the most jealous of him. There was really only one thing in the world that I wanted and Harry had it."
"Did you ever stop to think that the one thing Harry wanted was parents that loved him and that you had that?" Hermione countered.
"Sure, I thought about it. But I always came back to the thought that he was Harry bleeding Potter and I was Ron Weasley."
"You know that he would have given anything to switch roles." Hermione replied gently. "He would have given every Knut to have your family."
"That's the thing, Hermione: he does have my family." Ron answered. "He may not be blood but he is family all the same. So are you if we're admitting other people into the Weasley clan."
"Do you have the authority to do that?" Hermione asked with a smirk.
"I'm one third of the bloody Golden Trio. I think I can get away with adding names to the family tree." Ron replied, feigning superiority before down at Hermione. "Be honest with me: is this about Death Eaters or is this about getting Harry back? Because the Junior Undersecretary can't go about unearthing hidden prototypes from the Department of Mysteries just to bring back a disgraced Auror, even if that Auror is Harry."
"This is about both, Ron. I would be lying if I said that it didn't have something to do with Harry. But you know that we need him."
"I do."
"So are you going to help me with this?"
Ron smiled. "I was always going to help. I was just making sure that you were doing it for the right reasons."
"Which was?"
"Bringing Harry back so that he can school Malfoy once and for all."
Two days later, Hermione returned to St. Mungo's after finishing up her preparations. Unfortunately, with the Healers there possessing no knowledge of how to help and believing that he wasn't a danger to anyone, they had released Harry back into the general public. For the rest of the day, Hermione searched high and low for Harry before choosing one final location, hoping that he had returned home after all.
When Hermione landed on the outskirts of Godric's Hallow, she raced through the town, sprinting to the site where Harry's parents had given their lives for him. Sure enough, standing in front of the signs which were complete with even more graffiti than their previous venture there, was Harry. He looked strange as he leaned over the gate, like he was an entirely different person.
Of course, Hermione had to remind herself that he was, in fact, an entirely different person. Finally, Harry saw Hermione standing next to him and gave her a coy smile.
"Hermione, it is good to see you again."
"Is it?"
"Of course. Seeing someone who I know cares about me brings me pleasure."
"Oh."
"Did you expect that I would be displeased by your presence?"
"I expected you to feel nothing." Hermione admitted.
"I feel all of the same feelings that you feel, Hermione." Harry replied honestly. "The shields that I have brought up in my mind do not prevent me from creating new memories, only from accurately accessing my previous ones."
Tears formed in Hermione's eyes as she was once again reminded how different he was now. He spoke clinically as if he were some embodiment of the English language and nothing more.
"This saddens you?" Harry asked.
"Of course it saddens me!" Hermione yelled, emotion bursting from somewhere deep within her. "The fact that you don't remember me in the same way that I do saddens me. It hurts me. Hell, it nearly destroys me!"
"Hermione, I do not remember you using such coarse language in the past."
Suddenly, Hermione stepped forward, getting to within inches of Harry's face.
"When you think about me, what do you remember?"
"I am not sure what you mean."
"What is the first thing that you think of when you think of my name?"
"Why, your name, of course." Harry replied with a small smile. "Hermione Jean Granger. It is quite a unique name."
"That's what you think of first?" Hermione snapped.
"Of course. Why would I lie to you?"
"Do you know what I think of when I think of you, Harry?" Hermione asked, pressing forward despite the overwhelming desire she felt to collapse into tears.
"How could I know?"
"I'm sure that if you still had access to your memories, you would know."
"I do have access. I remember everything."
Hermione turned from Harry, unable to look at him for the moment. This was so much to take in all at once. However, she had a mission that she needed to complete: for the country, for herself and most importantly, for Harry.
"You may remember but that's not the same." Hermione whispered, mostly to herself. "When I think of you, Harry, I think of Hagrid bringing your body out of the forest, I think of what I said to you when you left Ron and I to go sacrifice yourself."
"I'll go with you." Harry muttered.
"I think of your hair, jet black and never even close to in its place. I think of your scar, still visible though it fades every day. I think about the glasses that you could have replaced years ago. I think about your warmth and your passion and your love for everyone, whether they deserve it or not."
Finally, Hermione couldn't continue and the tears that she had long pressed back came flowing forward.
"I am sorry, Hermione. But this makes my decision easier."
"What decision?" Hermione asked between breaths.
"I am leaving."
If there had been anything that Hermione had been expecting, that certainly wasn't it. Finally turning back to him, Hermione saw the face of Harry Potter, uncharacteristically stoic as he stared at her.
"Excuse me?"
"I am leaving, both England and the magical world, behind."
"Why?"
"There is nothing for me here, Hermione. Even my presence harms you now. Despite the fact that have no real emotional connection with you, I know how I felt about you. Even through the shields, deep as they may be, the connection that I felt with you bleeds through."
"So why can't you feel that?"
"I cannot answer that, Hermione." Harry said earnestly. "I understand how I felt for you but I do not feel it myself. In addition to that, most of the memories that I have access to are empirically unpleasant. The burden that I face if I remain in this world vastly outweighs the connection I feel to the rest of the world. I intend to go to the Ministry of Magic tomorrow morning and have them remove my memories and implant new ones, giving me a new life as a muggle."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Of all the nightmare scenarios that she had considered, this one had never even crossed her mind. A world where Harry Potter lived and breathed and yet knew nothing of all of the lives that he saved and nothing of those that loved him.
"You can't." was all that she could utter.
"I can and I am, Hermione. You must understand. I don't want these memories, Hermione. I don't see these memories through any lens of love or hate, I only see them for what they are. They are a life of hardship and challenge. Harry has lost so much in the short amount of time that he has been alive. Without that connection, all I can do is rationalize what I see. The rational answer is that the world will still expect me to be a hero, to fight for them."
"That's not true. It could be explained."
"Everything in my memories says otherwise and you know that I am correct, Hermione." Harry said coldly. "This is the easiest way for everyone. I am no longer burdened by the weight of these memories and those that Harry loved are no longer pained by the sight of his body every day, knowing that almost nothing remains of what he once was."
For a brief moment, Harry simply looked at her. Then, he leaned forward and gave her a small peck on the cheek.
"For what it is worth, Hermione Jean Granger, he did love you." Harry replied, the smallest hint of the old Harry bleeding through.
It was all she needed. As Harry turned to leave, Hermione caught his hand. Turning back towards her, Harry looked at her in confusion.
"Give me a chance."
"To do what?"
"I can show you what you're missing." Hermione whispered. "There is a way for me to give you that connection back."
"How?"
"How isn't important right now, Harry." Hermione said firmly. "What is important is that there is a chance. It isn't certain by any stretch of the imagination but I believe it will work. Does that mean anything to you?"
"It does." Harry whispered. "You are often correct."
"Then let me try." Hermione pleaded. The look on Harry's face was one of confusion as Hermione pressed forward, begging for his own life. "All you see right now is the bad. I know that there is a lot of it. Your life has been anything but easy, I know that. But right now, you lack the proper context for your memories."
"Why would the context matter, Hermione?"
"Because it's not the what of these memories that matters, it is the why. You almost always chose to do what you did, even if it was hard. There were so many times that you could have walked away. You could have let it simply be someone else's problem two dozen times. Instead, you stepped up and you did the impossible, despite the odds."
"Why? Why would I do that? What possible reason could there have been for that?" Harry asked. "My memories don't appear to connect like that at all."
Leaning forward, Hermione pecked Harry on the cheek. Instantly, she noticed a red hue appear on the corners of his face, along with a smile that was the thing that had reminded her most of Harry.
"Because of your love for people, that's why. It's why you didn't leave Ginny to die in the Chamber of Secrets. It's why you saved Sirius from the Dementors and it's why you mourned with Dumbledore sacrificed himself for you."
"But love caused me pain." Harry pleaded softly.
"Yes, it did." Hermione replied. "And it's going to cause you pain again. But the Harry I know would say that all of that pain was worth it in the end. Because without that pain, none of his friends or family would live in world that's free from Lord Voldemort."
"I have no family."
"That's what you may feel now." Hermione countered. "But the number of people that love you and count you as one of their own is startling. Do you trust me, Harry?"
For a beat, Harry seemed frozen, simply staring ahead as he tried to process the question that Hermione had asked him. His head dropped to the floor and his eyes closed as he tried to block out every other sensation but the words that now bounced around the inside of his brain. After nearly a full minute, Harry looked up at Hermione, the most fearful look she had ever seen on his face.
"I do." he said shortly.
"Then there are some people that we need to speak to."
"OK."
Taking Harry's hand, she looked at him for a moment. It seemed that despite the confusion that was apparent in his face, he had resigned himself to trust her that she could connect him to his past in a way that no one else could.
Unlike everyone else, who would have required information beyond that which she could have even given, Harry had trusted her simply on her word.
It was something that one little thing, the ability to trust her when no one should have, that was the most Harry-like thing he could have possibly done.
And it gave her the hope that instead of Harry, it would be her doing the impossible this time.
A few hours later, Harry and Hermione were seated in Apollo's room, preparing themselves for what was to come. It hadn't taken much urging on Hermione's part to get Kingsley to gain possession of Apollo's prototype. Once they had taken possession of the device, they had quickly had it delivered to the Trelawney's home, setting it up in the thankfully large attic room that Apollo considered his home.
Now, the pair of them sat in two chairs next to the giant Penseive, awaiting their instructions. For his part, Apollo seemed to be enjoying the nerves of the pair in front of him, chuckling at the obvious discomfort of the two.
"The first thing that both of you must understand is that this has never been attempted before. There is only good result possible: Harry regaining connection his memory. In counter, I have calculated approximately thirty scenarios where this could end rather terribly for one or both of you. There are even scenarios where the presence of Sybill and myself could cause problems."
"Will you remain in the room?"
"We will wait just outside once I have activated the device." Sybill replied. "I will levitate my father's bed out of the room." she added, answering their unvoiced question. "Once the device is activated, it will take control of the process."
"Excuse me?"
"The device seems to possess some sort of instinct. You will be able to direct it, Ms. Granger, but complete control is entirely out of the question."
"That's reassuring." Harry muttered to himself.
"We'll be fine." Hermione assured him.
"I wouldn't be so certain, Ms. Granger." Apollo interjected. "As I said, there is a high probability of failure. In fact, the only reason why I agreed to do this in the first place is because of your professed faith in Harry and his ability to defeat the threat that faces us all. If not for that, I would have denied this as foolish, too risky for the both of you."
"How is it risky for myself?"
"The most important aspect of this device is that it allows for an almost complete merge of the two minds that enter."
"Merge?" Harry asked cautiously.
"If everything works properly, you both shall remain in control of your own minds but with the ability to peer into the other's willingly. You will share memories, knowledge, secrets. This requires complete trust of the other in order to even establish the most basic of connections."
Hearing this concerned Hermione slightly. Would Harry trust her to enter every aspect of his mind or would the shields that he had established bar her from entry?
"What happens if that connection doesn't get established?"
"It's hard to say, really. You might connect but end up unable to access each other's minds, leaving you in a strange limbo. You may toss all of your thoughts into the device, leaving you both as blanks with no memories to speak of."
"We could both lose our memories?" Harry asked in concern.
"It is possible." Apollo confirmed.
"Hermione," Harry said in a panic, turning to her. "You can't do this. What happens if they lose both of us? You think it's bad enough that they've lost me, we can't do this if it means losing both of us."
"Harry, do you trust me?" she asked softly, placing a gentle hand on his.
"Yes, I wouldn't be here if I didn't." Harry admitted.
"Then just continue to trust me and everything will be fine." Hermione replied before turning back to Apollo. "Is there anything else we need to know?"
"You must take off your stockings and shoes."
"Pardon me?" Harry asked.
"The device requires a physical connection to the mind. This requires you to enter the device barefoot. Once inside, you will grasp hands and stand in the center of the device."
"Fine." Harry replied softly as he started to remove his shoes. Hermione did the same and moments later, the pair was standing in the middle of the device, shoeless. It was a remarkably strange sensation. Despite the fact that they were clearly almost knee-deep in liquid, Hermione couldn't sense any sort of moisture whatsoever. Taking Harry's hands in hers, she looked to Apollo, who in turned nodded to Sybill. With a quick flip of her wand, the bed lifted off the ground and floated out of the room.
Finally, Sybill turned back to the pair of them.
"For the sake of the both of you and the rest of us, I pray that this works."
Leaning down, Sybill touched her wand to the rim of the device before walking quickly out of the room. For a moment, Hermione had thought that something had failed.
Then, the liquid in the bowl around them started to move. Faster and faster, the mysterious substance they were standing in swirled around them, creating a whirlpool of sorts where they stood. However, none of this seemed to affect the pair of them as they stood in the center. Around the outside of the bowl, a series of runes that Hermione didn't understand started to glow, causing the substance to start floating around them, creating an orb around them.
Then, all at once, the runes went dark and the orb crashed into them, plunging Harry and Hermione into darkness.
When Hermione came to, the world around her had changed entirely. Now, instead of the room they had been in before, she and Harry stood alone in a void entirely devoid of everything else, save for the color white.
"I remember something similar to this…." Harry muttered softly.
"What? When?" Hermione asked.
"When Voldemort killed me in the Forest the first time." Harry replied.
Just as he spoke, the world around them suddenly shifted. Around them was suddenly a blurry version of the Forbidden Forest around them. Standing across from Harry was a out of focus Lord Voldemort, wand in hand and muttering something that Harry couldn't hear.
"Why is it so foggy?" Hermione asked.
"It looks fine to me." Harry replied, suddenly looking afraid. "It's just as I remember it."
"You remember it?"
Harry nodded. "Just this moment. I don't really remember how I got here or what happened afterward but I can feel everything about this particular moment flooding into my mind."
"Can you show it to me?"
"How?"
"Let me in." Hermione answered.
"What does that even mean?"
"I'm not exactly sure. But when you mentioned this memory, this was the one to appear. I think it seems to work on our intention. Whatever we intend to see is what appears."
"So if I intend to let you see this, you should?"
"It would clear it up for me, I think."
"Okay. Let me try."
Instantly, the frozen blur around her started to move, clearing up so that she could hear and see everything.
"The Boy Who Lived…...come to die."
"Oh god."
This was the last thing Hermione wanted to see. Even if she knew that she was going to see some terrible things again, this was the one thing in the world that Hermione didn't want to see.
And then, the entire vision was gone, leaving the pair of them back in the white void.
"What happened?" Hermione asked.
"I could see your face." Harry replied sadly. "I didn't want you to see that."
"But you might have to."
"I remember all of it, Hermione." Harry assured her. "Let's keep moving."
"Fine." Hermione replied softly. "Let's start at the beginning."
The next moment, the image of Harry's home in Godric's Hollow appeared, complete and adorned in Halloween decorations. It was the Halloween of his parents' murder. Despite the fear building up inside her at the thought of watching the death of Harry's parents, she pressed on, showing Harry the sacrifice that his parents made in order to ensure that he lived.
For what seemed like hours, the pair of them wandered through Harry's memories. Most of them Hermione had been a part of and required no assistance from Harry to see. For those that she hadn't been present for, a simple thought from Harry cleared up the entire image.
Through the years they progressed watching image after image.
The meeting with Hagrid.
His Sorting.
The Troll.
Quidditch.
The entirety of their quest for the Sorcerer's Stone.
Second Year included Ginny, a number of random events and the events regarding the Chamber of Secrets. Harry seemed to pause for a rather lengthy period of time when he saw Hermione's Petrified figure.
Third Year was Harry's introduction to Hogsmeade, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and his first experience with Prophecy.
Fourth Year allowed them to revisit the Goblet of Fire, The Quidditch World Cup, All Three Tasks and the Graveyard where Lord Voldemort returned to physical form.
Fifth Year, they discovered Dumbledore's Army, Cho Chang and Dolores Umbridge. It was the last image from his fifth year when Harry protested for the first time.
"Hermione, I don't want to see this." he said as they landed in the Veil room.
"You need to." Hermione replied sadly.
"It doesn't matter, Hermione. I remember what it was like. Even if I didn't experience it, I know it was torture for me."
"It's a part of who you are, Harry." Hermione said as the action around them started. Watching as Harry and Sirius fought side-by-side, she marveled at just how talented Harry was for his age. The joy on Harry's face as he fought with Sirius disappeared as Bellatrix's curse struck Sirius in the chest, throwing him into the veil.
The moment Sirius hit the veil, both the present and past Harrys had the same reaction: a bloodcurdling cry that nearly killed Hermione to hear. She knew it would be hard for Harry to experience this again but she had no idea just how much it would hurt her to watch, knowing that she was putting Harry through this.
Giving Harry time to collect himself, she eventually came over to him, helping him off the floor before imagining the next memory: the recruitment of Horace Slughorn.
She showed him his romance with Ginny, his time as Quidditch team captain. She showed him the memories of working with Dumbledore in his office, the time with Penseive. Finally, the night with Dumbledore came up and again, Harry began to protest.
"I don't need to see this." he whispered softly.
"It's okay to be afraid, Harry."
"I'm not afraid, Hermione." he snapped. "I'm in pain. I'm reliving every terrible thing that's ever happened to me."
"You're also reliving the good things."
"Then why is it that only the bad things seem to stick out?"
Finally, the image of Harry and Dumbledore going to the cave played out in front of them. She watched in horror as Dumbledore downed that vile potion, forcing him to relive all of his worst memories. However, the power that Dumbledore showed moments later, setting fire to the entire cave with a single spell, impressed Hermione more than the previous image had scared her.
Sadly, she watched as Dumbledore expressed faith in Harry as he Apparated the pair of them back to school. Eventually, Severus Snape appeared and this time, the image froze as Harry actively prevented them from viewing it.
"You need to see this, Harry. You need to feel it."
"I don't." Harry growled. "I hate you for this, Hermione. How could you possibly think that this was a good idea?"
"Do you trust me, Harry?" was her only reply.
For a few seconds, Hermione thought that Harry was going to snap back at her. Instead, he nodded softly as the image continued. When the green curse hit Dumbledore square in his chest, throwing him off the balcony, the mirrored nature of both Harrys was again startling.
This time, they both stood in stunned silence as the great wizard disappeared over the embankment.
"Hermione." he pleaded softly.
Hermione turned to Harry, taking his face in her hands.
"We are almost done, Harry. If I didn't think this was important, I would never do this to you."
"Fine."
The scene in front of them shifted to the happiness of Bill and Fleur's wedding. Then, it was onto the chase in London.
She showed him their time hiding away in Grimmauld Place.
She showed them their infiltration of the Ministry and their escape to the woods.
Against every wish in her body, she showed him Ron, screaming and fighting with Harry before disappearing into the woods.
"How could he do that?" Harry growled, nearly chasing off after Ron himself.
"Give it time, Harry."
She showed Harry some of their time together in the woods before showing him their first visit to Godric's Hollow.
Next came Harry's venture into the woods after Snape's Patronus where Ron returned to save him. Then, Ron destroyed the Horcrux and Harry told Ron that he loved Hermione like a sister.
Even as Hermione watched the image in front of her, she could tell that he was lying, something that Harry was terrible at.
"Hermione, I don't want to see this either."
"We need to." Hermione replied as she internally thought the same thing. Eventually, Malfoy Manor came into view. For the next several minutes, Hermione watched Harry as he ended up in the cell in the bowels of Malfoy Manor.
However, when she started hearing her own voice, she looked away, not wanting to see how Harry reacted. But instead of watching his reaction, the image suddenly shifted from the basement to the main dining room where Hermione suddenly saw the image of her body pressed against the wall by the wand of Bellatrix Lestrange.
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"I'm not sure." Hermione admitted as she saw the first lines start to appear on her arm. If they stayed long enough, they would eventually form the word, "Mudblood."
"This is your memory." Harry whispered.
"I didn't ask for my memory."
"I did."
"Why would you do that?" Hermione asked in shock.
"Because I need to see what she did." Harry growled. "I already remember this."
"How? I hadn't shown it to you."
"The moment we entered the house, I remembered all of it."
"I don't want to relive this, Harry." Hermione pleaded.
"But I need to."
For several minutes, Harry watched Bellatrix torture Hermione as Hermione buried her face in his chest. Hearing the sound of her own cries was bad enough but listening to Harry's teeth grind as he watched the scene in front of him was almost worse.
"Let's go."
A blur of Gringotts, Shell Cottage and Hogsmeade flashed before her eyes before she realized that she was no longer in control of what was happening. Harry was filtering through his own memories at superspeed, experiencing the entirety of the several days before the Battle in mere seconds.
Hermione watched the beginning of the Battle play in just a few moments before the scene stopped, pausing in its entirety during the break in the Battle. Standing over the crowd gathered, Harry stood apart from Hermione as he looked over the bodies of Fred Weasley and Remus and Nymphadora Lupin.
"They died for me."
"They died because they loved you."
"Because they believed in me."
"They did."
"I didn't deserve it."
"Yes, you did." Hermione replied, recognizing this version of Harry as the one who had existed just prior to the Battle of Hogwarts. "You've always deserved it."
"What makes you say that?"
"Keep going."
"What do you mean?"
"You're in control now, Harry. Keep going."
Again, time sped forward as the events of the Battle flashed before their eyes. Time stopped for a moment, just long enough to hear Hermione say:
"We'll go with you."
The second she said it, time was moving again. The rest of the Battle and the events of the last year sped forward in seconds, ending with their capture at the hands of Draco Malfoy and Harry's last memories before the shields went up.
"I've seen it all, Hermione." Harry growled as they returned to the void. "I still don't see what I did to deserve this."
Having seen the entirety of his life, Harry still felt that he didn't deserve the love that he garnered from those around him. Having seen it all, he still didn't feel like himself again.
Then, an idea came to her mind.
"Go through my memories." Hermione whispered.
"Excuse me?"
In an instant, Hermione eliminated the space in between them, getting to within just a few inches of his face.
"You trusted me with the darkest corners of your mind, Harry. You've trusted me with everything. Now, it's my turn to trust you."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Take control." Hermione replied softly. "I want you to revisit every memory that we just went through and I want you to watch it from my perspective."
"Why?"
"Because I think I've figured out why you still don't get it."
"Why don't I get it, Hermione?" Harry asked with the smallest of edge in his voice.
"Because you can't see what we see."
Harry hesitated for a moment. Rather than wait for him, Hermione ceremonially placed his hands on her head.
"Do it, Harry."
Again, he waited a second but this time, that was all the time he took. Something about Harry's personality gave him an innate understanding of how this device worked and it allowed him to plunge through the bowels of Hermione's memory bank, watching every single memory between the two of them.
Most of them were innocent enough but as time went on, their interactions became more important, more personal. The first one that Harry watched in real time was their conversation after Hermione witnessed Ron kissing Lavender.
It was heartbreaking to experience just what Hermione was feeling. But then, Harry remembered just what he had been feeling, a similar empty feeling, one he thought would have been filled by Ginny.
Then, there was the wedding when he danced with Hermione for the first time. It was a rather simple affair as they talked about Ginny and Ron. But whereas Harry had originally felt confident in his love for Ginny, this time he felt conflict and realized that it had belonged to both of them as they fought to remain attached to the person they felt they should have ended up with.
After that, Harry returned them to the woods and replayed Ron's outburst from Hermione's perspective. That conflict that Hermione had felt at the wedding was now multiplied exponentially as her love for both of the men in front of her placed her directly in between them.
But all of these paled in comparison to the last two. The first was that single night in the woods after Ron had left. Hermione had been wearing the Horcrux when suddenly, Harry approached her, taking the Horcrux off of her neck and taking her to the center of the room where he began to dance terribly. It was a simple thing but it may have been the moment that broke the dam. As Harry watched this moment through the lens of Hermione's emotions, he suddenly realized just what Hermione had meant to him all through these years.
The dance itself had been simple enough but that one dance was all it took to push things in the direction they had been going for years, ever since Harry had stuck his wand up that troll's nose.
Then, time skipped ahead again, this time landing the wreckage of Hogwarts Castle. Harry found Hermione and Ron sitting on the stairs alone.
Harry knew exactly what this was from the moment he saw it but watching himself come down the stairs was still a strange experience. Feeling Hermione's pain as she realized what Harry intended to do nearly broke him but it was that strangled tone in her voice when she said it that finally caused the tears to flow.
"I'll go with you!"
The scene in front of him collapsed as he noticed that Hermione had taken over once more to show him one more thing. Back in front of the castle, Hermione stood on the steps looking out over grounds as a black mass walked towards her, a half-giant in the lead with a body draped across his arms.
If Harry thought he had felt anguish before, it had been nothing compared to the feeling that he felt when Hermione realized that the body was his. In fact, the feeling was so intense that Harry was forced down onto one knee.
Never before had he felt something as personal and acute as the pain that Hermione felt as she cried in horror upon witnessing the body of Harry Potter being carried by Hagrid.
In that moment, as he watched both versions of Hermione exhibit that same pain, all of the shields that Harry had placed finally broke away, allowing Harry full access to his memories.
And in that same moment, he realized something that he had never fully vocalized.
He loved Hermione with every fiber of his being. Just as Harry realized that, the memories of both of them flashed before their eyes at such a speed that caused both of them to collapse back into reality and falling unconscious inside the prototype Pensieve.
Thankfully, the noise got the attention of the Trelawneys waiting outside and Sybill burst into the room, dragging the two of them out of the basin.
As Hermione came to, she saw that she was in the same room that she had last been in, albeit in another bed that had been magically conjured. The moment she awoke, Sybill entered the room with a tray of tea.
"To answer your question, dear, Mr. Potter has been awake for a few hours now. He left with instructions to inform you that if you woke before he returned that we were to inform you that he will return before nightfall."
"How did you know that I would ask that?" Hermione asked.
"I am a Seer." Sybill replied dryly before smirking slightly. "It is obvious to anyone that you care about him, Ms. Granger, even to those without the Sight."
"Oh."
Then, as if he had been Summoned, Hermione saw Harry standing in the doorway behind Sybill, a very strange smile on his face. Turning, Sybill saw Harry and immediately exited the room.
As Sybill walked past him, a thousand thoughts went through Harry's mind as he looked at Hermione with new eyes. For a few seconds, he simply stood there, looking at her. Finally, Hermione spoke up.
"I'm not contagious, am I?" she asked with a rare display of snark.
"I don't think so." Harry said quietly as he came in and took a seat next to her bed. Again, the silence between the two of them was startling. For years, they had been able to talk about everything.
Now? Neither of them knew what to say. Eventually, it was Harry that bit the bullet, so to speak.
"How could I not see it, Hermione?" he asked softly, taking her hand in his.
"See what?"
"You."
"You've seen me, Harry." Hermione whispered.
"Not like this." Harry admitted before standing to pace the room. As he stood, Hermione sat upright in her seat, watching Harry with new eyes as well. "How could I not see it? Since we were eleven, your entire world has revolved around what mess I've been involved in. You've given up everything. You could have done anything, been anyone. But instead you've spent your entire life making sure that I was going to survive."
"You were my best friend, Harry. You couldn't have done what you did by yourself, no matter how hard you tried." Hermione smirked.
"Still, I can't tell you how much I appreciate that, how much I appreciate you. You've been there for me even when I didn't deserve it, especially when I didn't deserve it."
"Like when?"
"Third Year. The Firebolt." Harry admitted sheepishly. "I valued a broom over my friendship with you."
"OK. Yes, you were being an ass about that." Hermione chuckled.
Harry had to laugh before quickly sitting next to Hermione again. "Without you, I don't know where I'd be." Harry thought about that possibility for just the briefest of moments. "Actually, I know exactly where I would be. I would be dead a thousand times over. Without you, Tom Riddle would sit as Minister of the world, destroying all Muggles, Muggleborns and Half-Bloods."
"Harry, I am exactly where I want to be and you forget, without you, the same scenario takes place. As smart and witty as I may be, I'm no soldier. I couldn't have stood before Voldemort like you did. I couldn't have fought him and I can't fight Malfoy and Dolohov now."
"You risked everything for me."
"You've done it for me. Knowing us, I doubt it will be the last time this happens so I'd rather not keep some kind of ledger."
Harry couldn't help but chuckle at Hermione's comment. The fact that how they felt about each other was now out in the open was about as relieving as anything Harry could have imagined.
"I love you, Hermione." Harry said softly.
"I've always loved you, Harry." Hermione answered. "However, there is one thing we need to take care of before we can discuss anything further."
"What's that?" Harry asked, suddenly worried.
"Draco Malfoy." Hermione growled.
"I suppose we should deal with that, shouldn't we?" Harry replied. "No time like the present, I suppose."
"Well, let me get out of this bed and we can get back to action."
"While you're at it, let's call in some reinforcements." Harry smiled.
"Reinforcements? Like who?"
Again, Harry's smile told most of the story.
"Do you still have your trick Galleon?"