CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
He blindly followed her, barely registering the Portkey, or the whoosh, or the changing surroundings. She had started walking again. The roads seemed familiar but he was so muddled he couldn't tell where he was.
Then he took it all in. He smiled softly at her. "The park?"
She nodded. "We can go to the swings. Or straight to the ducks. Whatever you want."
They sat silently on the swings for a while.
"I was so scared in there, Alexa. I really thought I was going to lose him."
"I know how it feels, Harry. But you didn't lose him. He's okay. It's okay."
He nodded, but didn't say anything after that. He didn't want to talk anymore. Not about Ron. Then they made their way to the little pond where the ducks were quacking away. They sat on the bench near the water.
"Why did you get upset yesterday?" he asked, after a long silence. She shuffled her feet.
"I was jealous, I guess. It's not that hard, considering the connection you and Ginny share."
Before anything further could be said, someone tried to throw some bread to the ducks, Alexa stood up, stopped the man, reached into a small bowl placed near the water and took some bird food from it and threw it over. She sat next to Harry again and muttered, "Did you know you're not supposed to give the ducks bread?"
Harry nodded. Then he smiled faintly. "You said that last time as well." Then he frowned. "But you wouldn't remember. Sorry. Forget I said anything."
She was quiet. He wondered if he had upset her. She was playing with her hands again. "I do," she whispered, so softly he wasn't really sure she'd said anything at all.
"Hmmm?"
"I remember. I remember everything."
Harry raised his eyebrows. Then he frowned. Then his eyes widened. "WHAT?"
"You know how I said that the way you made me feel safe felt familiar? Well, feeling jealous about Ginny felt familiar, and then we were back in the Burrow and then all the memories came back and it was all too much to process. Dying because of Voldemort was no longer a vague memory cropping up subconsciously as a nightmare, it all came back, I felt I was there, right there in the Forest, and my body remembered what it felt, what it's like to have Bellatrix Lestrange shooting the Cruciatus curse until you're on your feet begging for her to stop, only to have Voldemort kick you on the head with his toe. I remembered all of that, and then the letter came from St Mungo's, so I didn't say anything last night at all. But when you came to me, Harry, I remembered all of that as well."
"All of what?"
"I remembered loving you so much that I made a suicide mission that Snape helped me execute. Heck, I remembered being friends with Snape. I think I'll send him an owl today, afterwards, but-"
She found her words cut off by the feeling of Harry's lips on hers. She kissed him back, and after a few long moments, they broke apart to take a breath. Then he smiled at her. "You're really you?"
She grinned back. "I'm really me."
He wanted to kiss her again but he felt too overwhelmed. He could see that she was too. She looked up sneakily at him. He gave her a quick kiss, then stopped, with a frown. "Why would you be so jealous of Ginny, though?" He shook his head. "Silly girl," he said with a kiss, "don't you know," as he kissed her again, "it's only you?"
She kissed him back, then pulled away. "There isn't any magic when we hold hands. When you and Ginny touch there are all those sparks which everyone can see, and I can't possibly compete with that, and your history, and-"
"Alexa. Our past is in the past. And when it comes to the sparks because of Ginny and me being a Bonded Pair, trust me, there are definitely sparks when you and I touch. Nobody can see it, but I can feel it. And I know you feel it too. I know you feel that electricity every time I accidentally brush your arm at dinnertime, or when our fingers touch when I'm giving you something, and," he touched her thin, matching, lightning-shaped scar, "judging by the way your heart is thudding under my fingertips, I know you're feeling it right now as well. So what if nobody else can see it? I don't need anyone else to be able to see it as long as I can feel it and I can know that you feel it too. Because Ginny and I may be a Bonded Pair, but what I have with you is different. We fight, we get angry, we get scared, sometimes you yell at me, but sometimes you also almost die for me." He took out from his pocket the heart necklace he'd got her. "And sometimes I buy you things that seemed good in the moment but in hindsight, I agree with Neville, what was I thinking?" he laughed. "But the point is, what I have with you isn't a Bond thrust upon me by the universe, it's a Bond we both work at every day. It's a Bond I choose, a Bond I choose every single day."
Alexa's eyes gleamed with tears. She was silent for a long time, then she shot him a smirk.
"You've been watching too many Muggle romance movies, Harry Potter. But I love you."
He beamed back at her. "I love you, Alexa."
THE END
A/N: Finally done with this story! Please let me know what you think of it!