Chapter 28: Happy to See You

I Will Follow You into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie

Elara's lungs were burning as she sprinted through Muggle London, Ron on her heels. She threw "excuse me!" and "sorry!" over her shoulder as she practically hurdled over people as they moved through a rather crowded outdoor display of fairy lights. The lights swirled in her vision, a blur of red, green, and gold as she whipped past them.

"I think we've lost them!" Ron shouted, "Let's go in here!"

Elara felt him grab her arm and pull her to the side, pushing through the door of a small, crowded pub. They shoved their way through the throng of people, finding a table in the back and sitting in the chairs, side by side, facing the door.

They both gathered their breath, Ron laughing a bit as he dug into the inside pocket of his flannel.

"They were angry!" Elara said, "What did you do?!"

Ron's face split into a grin as he pulled four wands from the inside pocket, "Was able to get these from them," he said. "Reckon they didn't appreciate that."

Elara's eyes went wide as they landed on the third wand in his grip. A 10 ¾ inch, springy, beech wood wand with a phoenix feather core. "My wand!" she gasped, "Ron! That's my wand!"

Her heart thundered in her chest with anticipation as she reached for it, her fingers brushing the ashy white wood and as she gripped the knobby handle, she sighed. Home. It felt like home, like a missing piece of her had been restored.

"I didn't think I'd see it again," Elara whispered. "Thought it was gone."

"Snatchers take the wands to the Ministry, only after they've pawned off what they can of them. With as many as that bloke had on him, I'd wager he was on his way to sell them on Knockturn Alley."

"Was it Scabior?" she asked, "I didn't see his face. I just heard you yell 'snatchers' and started running."

Ron shook his head, "No. I hadn't seen this one before. Big bloke, smelled like he was half troll."

"We're running out of money," Elara said, pulling the small amount of notes from her pocket. "Staying in that motel drained us."

"Aren't you a witch?" Ron laughed, tapping his own wand to the notes and looking around to make sure no one was watching them. "Gemino."

Elara's mouth dropped open as the bills multiplied. "Ron!" she scolded, "That's completely unethical!"

Ron shrugged, tucking his wand as well as the others, back into his pocket. "Maybe," he said. "But it's kept us fed and put us in a motel for the last week. Bill showed me how to use it, said it would work on muggle money because they use paper."

Admittedly, Elara felt wrong using money that had been multiplied, knowing that not only was it unethical, but it was probably illegal to use counterfeit notes. She began telling Ron the consequences of muggle crimes and explaining the process of muggle prison to him, all things she had learned while watching the telly at Hermione's house.

"You can say all you want about it El, you're still eating the chips and drinking the cider," Ron said, laughing as she glared at him, a chip halfway to her mouth.

"Yes, well, we haven't exactly eaten much the last couple of days and-

"Ron…"

Elara's mouth snapped shut as her brows furrowed together. Ron choked on his cider and began sputtering, his face going red as he tried to quiet the coughs.

"Did you hear that?" He choked out.

"Yes!" Elara said, "Yes, I did."

"Am I barmy or did it sound like-

"If Ron and Ellie were here…"

"Hermione," they breathed the name in unison.

"It's coming from my pocket!" Ron said, pulling his flannel away from his chest, "Listen!"

"Ron…"

"What is in your pocket, Ron? Empty them! Hurry!" Elara said.

Ron quickly emptied his chest pocket, pulling out a small wad of muggle money, a few knuts, and his deluminator. Elara grabbed the silver piece and held it in her palm, staring down at it, willing it to do something.

"It just turns out lights, Ellie. I don't think-

He was interrupted, the sound of Hermione's voice coming from the silver tube. Elara looked up from her palm, staring at Ron with wide eyes. "What do we do?"

Ron immediately grabbed Elara's wrist and pulled her from the table, pushing past the patrons that crowded the pub. They shoved their way outside and rounded the building, walking into the alley behind it and standing behind a large, metal rubbish bin that smelled sour.

"Let me see it," Ron said. "I- I think I know what to do."

Elara handed him the Deluminator and watched as he pressed the small button on the side, causing the surrounding lights to disappear, as if sucked into the tube. He clicked it again, and the lights returned, but instead of moving back to their abandoned lamp posts and strings of fairy lights, they hovered in front of them. The ball of light shrank away, leaving behind a small, glowing blue sphere.

"That almost looks like the light around a Portkey," Elara said, pulling her eyes from the glowing ball and looking at Ron.

"Do we… Do we touch it?" Ron asked.

Elara shrugged, "I have no idea."

They stared at the ball of light in confusion as it began to move toward them. Elara felt her breaths become shallow, nerve-wracked as Ron twisted his fingers into hers, interlocking their hands together. The light hit Ron, seeping into his chest.

"What on earth-

"I know where to go," Ron said, his eyebrows shooting into his hairline as he turned his face toward Elara and pulled her closer to his side. "I know where they are!"

Before Elara could question it, before she could try to make sense of the words he said or the situation at hand, Ron apparated them both away from the dark alley of Muggle London.

Their feet hit the frozen ground beneath them hard and Elara stumbled, falling onto her hands and knees and huffing an irritated breath through her mouth. "It's etiquette to let a witch know when you're going to apparate them a long distance, Ronald!"

Ron bent over, grabbing her elbow and helping her to her feet. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't know it was going to apparate us halfway across the country."

Elara dusted off her knees and looked around, trying to pinpoint where they were at. It was dark, and wooded, and there was no sign of anyone nearby. Her heart sank into her chest. Another puzzle piece to work into the picture that she couldn't see full frame. Great.

"Where are we?" Ron asked.

"You're the one who apparated us!" Elara huffed, "What do you mean 'where are we'?! You don't know where you brought us? It's a wonder neither of us got splinched… again."

"The light just told me where to go. I could feel it. I just… I don't know. It sounds mental to say it out loud.." Ron trailed off, looking at Elara with wide eyes, his mouth twisted to the side.

Confusion. Uncertainty. Fear. Disappointment.

Elara sighed, adjusting the straps of her bag on her shoulders and taking Ron's hand again. "If it brought us here, there has to be a reason, right? Maybe they're nearby."

"Should we set up camp?" Ron asked, "Or do you think we could…" His brows furrowed together as he looked past her, his mouth falling slightly open. He pointed his index finger of the hand not wrapped around her own and gasped. "Look! Ellie, it's a patronus!"

She spun around, her eyes scanning the woods and landing on a silvery doe that was trotting through a thick of trees. "What?" she breathed.

"It's Harry!" Ron said, yanking her arm as he took off running toward the patronus, "Ellie! It's Harry!"

"Ron, wait!" Elara said, digging her heels into the ground and trying to slow him. "That's a doe not a stag! That isn't Harry."

"Well, it's got to be someone!" He said, pulling her alongside him. "Death Eaters can't conjure a corporeal patronus, you've said so yourself!"

"Ron, I conjured a patronus! Obviously, I was wrong about that! It could be anyone and-

Ron turned, his jaw set tight and his forehead creased. "If you want to stay here and let me go check it out myself, fine. But I need to see who casted it. If it's even a chance that it's someone we know, Ellie! There's a reason that light brought us here. I know it!"

Elara groaned, her resolve slipping at the determination in Ron's voice. "Fine," she breathed. "Fine. Yes, okay. Let's go. If it's a snatcher… It's not like we haven't been outrunning them for days, anyway."

Ron's face split into a toothy grin, "That's the spirit!"

Quickly, Ron and Elara closed the distance between the patronus and where they had landed in the woods. She realized it was leading them to a small pond and as she squinted across it, her eyes landing on the bank, she saw a pile of fabric. She slowed her pace, tilting her head to the side as she studied it, the patronus dissipating.

Just as Elara opened her mouth to point the fabric pile out to Ron, she felt it. Fear. Confusion. Inquiry. Determination. She gasped, nearly doubling over. "It's Harry!" she said, her voice frantic as the fear she was feeling began to consume her. "It's Harry! Ron, I can feel him! I can feel him! It's Harry!"

"Where is he?!" Ron said, spinning around to search the area, "I don't see him!"

Elara pointed to the pond, "Ron! He's dying! I can feel it!"

They sprinted across the remaining stretch of land between them and the small pond. Elara fell to her knees beside the pile of clothes and felt the tears spring into her eyes. She saw the crack in the ice, where Harry must have fallen through and- there at the bottom, glinting silver and ruby red...

"We have to do something!" she cried, staring into the icy water. She could see Harry, trapped under the thick ice and struggling against something, his hands hitting the iced over surface, trying to break free. "Ron! I can't swim! I can't get him out, I don't know how to swim!"

In the blink of an eye and a blur of red hair and flannel, Ron waved his wand over the ice, cracking through the entire surface and dove in, head first. Elara yelped, sticking her arms into the icy depths to grab onto Harry as Ron pushed him to the surface. Elara hooked her hands under his arms and pulled him onto the bank, her heels dug into the frozen ground as she fell backwards. Harry rolled to the side, sputtering and coughing up water onto the ground. His skin was tinged blue and completely covered in goose flesh and his lips were purple.

She steeled herself, returning her focus to the pond and launched forward, on to her knees to lean over and grasp Ron's hand. As his right hand swung out of the water, she could see that it was wrapped around the ruby encrusted hilt of Godric Gryffindor's Sword.

"The sword was at the bottom of the pond," Ron said. Huffing as he used Elara's outstretched hand to help hoist himself out of the water. "He jumped in with the horcrux on his neck! The bloody thing tried to kill him!"

"Ron?" Harry's voice croaked. He coughed a few more times "Accio glasses. Ron, is that you?"

Harry's glasses flew into his hand and he shoved them onto his face. He stood from his place on the ground and summoned his clothes to him, quickly pulling his baggy jeans on over his legs and slipping back into his jumper.

"Yeah, mate. Me and-

"Ellie!" Harry's voice came in a shuddering breath as his eyes landed on her.

Elara stared at him, her eyes glued to his face and her feet cemented to the ground. She wanted to run to him, to cry, to shout in elation at the sight of him. But she couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. It took four beats of her heart, four beats that felt like an eternity stretching over her, before she blinked.

Finally, it was as if her body woke up from the frozen statue it had become and she was closing the distance between them. Harry's arms were wrapped around her and she felt him lift her from the ground, her legs locking around his waist as she tried to get as close to him as she could. His arms squeezed around her, pushing the air from her lungs and their lips collided in a hard, desperate kiss. Teeth and lips gnashing together as hot tears cut lines into her frigid face.

Elara's hands twisted into Harry's hair, pulling him painfully close to her. His skin was ice-cold, still soaked from the freezing water and her clothes were wet from pulling him out, but she didn't care. She couldn't care. The only thing that mattered right now was Harry. He was here, alive, and breathing into her mouth with treacle and chocolate flavored kisses.

Ron made a coughing sound from somewhere behind them and Elara chuckled into Harry's mouth.

"I don't want to be that guy, but do you think you could hold off on the shagging until we get back to camp?" Ron asked.

Elara slowly untangled her legs from around Harry's waist, and dropped back to the ground, her knees feeling weak and her chest full. "Sorry, Ron," she said, feeling her face grow warm with embarrassment. "I couldn't help it."

Ron shifted his weight from foot to foot, a lopsided smile pulling at his face. "I know."

Harry leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on her lips before turning away and smacking into Ron, embracing him nearly as tightly as he had Elara. "I knew you'd come back," Harry said. "I knew it."

"I'm sorry I left, mate." Ron began, "I swear I tried to find you guys. I went back to the camp, I went everywhere else I could think of. I tried. I tried to find you. I regretted it the minute I left, the minute I-

"It's fine, Ron. Really. It's okay, I forgive you."

"You do?"

Harry nodded, "You just saved my life, mate." Harry pulled the horcrux off from around his neck and held it out to Ron. "Let's get rid of it, yeah?"

Ron nodded and Elara moved forward, watching as Harry placed it on a flat stone. Ron held the sword out to Harry, "Here."

Harry shook his head, crouch on the ground next to the locket. "No," he said. "You should do it."

"Me?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded, "You just saved my life, Ron. You deserve to kill the thing, you should be the one to do it."

Elara could see Ron's throat bob as he swallowed and could feel his hesitation. He slowly nodded, taking a few steps closer to the locket. "Yeah, okay then."

"If it's anything like Riddle's diary," Harry said. "It's going to put up a fight. Don't let it get into your head. Just stab it. I'm going to open it with parseltongue..."

Ron took a deep breath and nodded.

Harry carefully leaned over the locket, whispering words that sounded like garbled hisses and falling backward as it fell open. Elara looked away from the nearly blinding light as it exploded from the locket, twisting and turning around them before steadying itself in front of Ron. A voice spoke, deep and haunting.

"I have seen your heart and it is mine…"

"Don't listen to it, Ron! Just stab it!" Harry shouted.

"I know your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and I have seen your fears. All you desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible…"

"RON! KILL IT!" Harry yelled, "STAB IT, NOW!"

"Least loved, always, by a mother who craved a daughter… Second best, always, eternally overshadowed…"

Elara's knees buckled as the terror pouring out of Ron and Harry consumed her. She felt her knees hit the hard ground, she looked up at the scene unfolding, her eyes glued to the strange caricature of Harry and Hermione that appeared from the locket. Ron seemed mesmerized, completely drawn in to the grotesque figures.

A warped version of Harry's voice echoed around them, "Why return? We were better without you, happier without you. Glad of your absence. We laughed at your stupidity, at your cowardice…"

Finally, Elara found her voice, bellowing over the perverted words flowing from the locket. "RON! DON'T LISTEN TO IT! YOU KNOW IT ISN'T TRUE! YOU KNOW IT'S LYING! STAB IT!"

"...Your mother confessed she would prefer me as a son... "

"...What woman would prefer you?"

"RON!" Harry and Elara roared in unison.

Finally, as if the hypnotic trance the locket had placed Ron under had been lifted, he gave a small shake of his head and swung the sword high above him. Harry dove out of the way as the sword crashed down onto the locket. Elara scrambled to her feet, her wand gripped tightly in her hand as a deafening drawn-out scream pierced the air around them. In a swirl of golden light that turned to black smoke, the strange figures were gone and the locket lay, shattered on the rock.

Harry's eyes found Elara's, lingering on her gaze for a brief moment before falling to Ron. "You okay, mate?" he asked.

Ron took several deep breaths and fell to his knees, burying his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking. Elara moved to his side, crouching beside him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"After you left," Harry's voice came from above them. "We were miserable. Hermione cried for a week straight. It was my fault, I may as well have pushed you out the door. I'm the one who punched you, who yelled at you-

"You hit him?" Elara asked, looking up from where she knelt next to Ron. "Harry-

Ron dropped his hands from his face and looked at Ellie, "I hit him too. I provoked him, started talking about you and told him it was his fault you were gone. I deserved the punch." Ron looked up at Harry. "I'm so sorry, mate. I really am. I was such a- a…"

"Me too," Harry said. "Besides, you made up for it tonight, I reckon. Getting the sword, destroying the horcrux, saving my life."

"Sounds a lot cooler when you say it like that." Ron said, standing up and pushing a hand through his hair.

"It always does when someone else says it. Been trying to tell you that for years," Harry said, a smirk on his lips.

"Harry?" Elara said, looking around where they stood for the first time since pulling him from the pond. "Where's Hermione?"

"Back at camp."

The walk back to where Harry and Hermione had set up the wards and tent wasn't a long one. Harry's right hand was wrapped around Elara's and his left was on Ron's shoulder, clutching to the sopping wet fabric of his flannel as they searched for the camp. They shared only a few words, electing to walk in quiet as they all tried to process everything they had just seen.

When they found the camp and entered the tent, the warmth that flowed through Elara was almost painful against her frozen skin. Elara's eyes landed on Hermione, sleeping on a cot in the corner, a book on her chest and her arm dangling over the side.

"Hermione," Harry said, calling her name to wake her. "Hermione! Wake up!"

"Harry?" she said, sitting up on her cot and rubbing her eyes, blinking heavily. "Harry, what is it? Is everything okay?"

"Better than okay!" Harry said, a beaming smile splitting his face. "Look!"

Hermione's eyes seemed to finally focus and they instantly landed on Elara. Elara smiled, her chest swelling at the sight of her friend. Hermione jumped out of bed, kicking the blanket that was tangled around her legs to the ground and smacked into Elara. Elara began to cry the moment she heard Hermione sniffle.

"You're okay!" Hermione said, "How did you find us? We heard your message on Potter Watch! What happened to you? Were you hurt? I couldn't tell by the-

"Hermione, I'm fine, I'm fine!" Elara laughed, squeezing her tightly. "And you? You're okay?"

Hermione's curls brushed the side of Elara's face as she nodded. "Yes, yes!"

They pulled apart from one another and Hermione took a step back. Elara shifted to the side and motioned toward Ron. "I'm not the only one who is here, you know."

Elara wasn't sure if she expected Hermione to run for Ron the way she had run to Harry, but she certainly did not expect the look of fury that flashed across Hermione's face and the anger that pulsed into her.

"Ron?"

"Hey, 'Mione." Ron said, a small smile on his face as he lifted a hand to give a little wave.

"Hey?" Hermione tilted her head, her jaw clenched tight. "Hey?" Hermione charged at Ron and began slapping him furiously, smacking every bit of him that she could reach. "You left! You're gone for weeks and all you can say is hey?!"

"Ow- Mione! Ow! Stop hitting me!" Ron said, flinching with every smack.

"You absolute arse!"

"Hermione!" Elara said, her eyebrows high on her forehead.

"You just walk in here like nothing happened!" Hermione punctuated every word with a slap to Ron. She turned on her heel and looked at Harry. "Where's my wand?"

"I-I don't-

"Harry, give me my wand!" Hermione said.

"Why do you have Hermione's wand?" Elara asked.

"Mine got broken," Harry said, backing away from Hermione. "Hermione, stop!"

"I will not stop! Give me back my wand!" Hermione hissed.

She began swatting at Harry and he looked to Elara for help. Elara chuckled, let Hermione get another slap in and then cast a shield charm between them. Hermione stumbled backward, her legs catching on a chair and sending her to the floor. She jumped to her feet, spitting the hair from her mouth and cast a furious glare at Elara.

"Just calm-

"Harry, don't say it!" Elara warned.

"...down, Hermione!"

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" Hermione shouted, stomping toward Harry. "Don't you dare tell me to calm down, Harry James Potter! He left us!" She threw her arm behind her, pointing to Ron. "He left!"

"Hermione, I-

She spun around and faced Ron, who suddenly looked terrified that he would be hit again. "I went after you! I searched for you and tried to find you! And you left. You arsehole! I cried! For days I cried because I was so worried about what would happen to you and you just waltz back in here?!"

"I'm sorry!" Ron said, "Hermione, I'm sorry. I-

"He destroyed the locket, Hermione." Harry said, tossing the shattered locket to her. "He saved my life, cut him some slack."

Her next words seemed to be caught in her throat as she stared at the locket in her hand. "What… What happened?"

The four of them sat at the small table and began to explain what happened. Ron and Elara telling Harry and Hermione about the deluminator and the strange ball of light that told Ron where to apparate. Harry told them about the patronus, receiving a scolding from Hermione for leaving the wards, which then broke out into a small argument because had he not left the wards, Ron and Elara would have never found him and they wouldn't have the sword.

Hermione explained everything they had learned while separated from Ron and Elara, and brought out a few scrolls of parchment with notes scribbled into them about places they should look at next. She told them about Godric's Hollow, and what had happened to Harry there. How his wand was broken, completely by accident, and how they hadn't gotten any real information.

They spent the better part of the early morning hours talking and going over everything that they had all experienced while being separated from one another. Finally, just as the sun was beginning to break through the inky black sky, painting the tent in a soft orange glow, Hermione agreed to take watch first and headed out the front of the tent. Ron followed, whispering a "maybe she'll finally talk to me" on his way out.

The silence that fell between Harry and Elara was thick. It had been an emotional night, for everyone, which left Elara feeling drained. She yawned, her eyes feeling heavy as she slowly pulled herself up from the table they had been sitting at. Harry stood, walking around the table and taking her hand, leading her to the bunk beds that were pushed against the far side of the tent.

"You need to sleep," Harry said. "You look exhausted."

"You don't look much better," Elara said, slipping her boots off and sitting on the edge of the bottom bunk.

Harry laughed, "I imagine that's true. I haven't slept a full night in… I honestly don't know how long it's been."

Elara pulled her knapsack from her shoulders and dug through it, pulling out the red pajama bottoms with little swirling snitches on them that she took from Fred and the matching tee shirt that was far too big on her. She peeled her jumper off and before she could slip the tee shirt over her head she heard Harry's sharp intake of breath.

"What?" She asked, looking at him, the cotton tee shirt in one hand and her jumper in the other.

"You said you were splinched," He whispered, stepping closer to her and slowly bringing his hand out to ghost against the twisted, purple scars. "You didn't say how bad it was. El, this looks…" He trailed off.

"I know it looks awful," Elara said. "But I had to sew my arm back together myself and it wasn't exactly easy."

"You...You did what?"

Elara sighed, motioning to the broken clasp on her bag. "I broke the clasp off my knapsack, made a needle out of it and sewed my arm back together," she stated, the tone bored and matter-of-fact. "It got infected, Fred and George healed it for me. But the scarring isn't going to fade, at least not anytime soon."

"I don't care about the scarring," Harry said. "I care about the fact that you were horribly splinched, by yourself. That you had to stitch your own arm back together, on your own."

She could feel the anger beginning to flood him and she pulled away from his touch, pulling her shirt over her head and shoving her jeans off to pull on the pajama bottoms. She felt irritated. Annoyed, that Harry was angry with her. That she hadn't seen him in months and he was using this small amount of alone time to scold her.

"It's been a long night, Harry. Can we please just get some sleep, and you can yell at me about it in the morning?"

His brows pulled together and he took a step back. She could see the muscle in his jaw twitch as he clenched his teeth, his arms folding over his chest. "I'm not yelling at you about getting splinched. I just want to know why. Why did you let go? Why did you leave us- leave me?"

Elara stood from the bed and heaved a deep breath, shoving her hands through her hair and pulling it into an elastic. "He had hold of me, and I couldn't shake him loose. He had already seen Grimmauld Place, and I didn't want him to follow to camp."

"There were four of us, Ellie! We could have taken him on!"

"I know that!" She snapped, "But the risk of him calling you-know-who to the campsite outweighed the logic! I was afraid that he would call for him and then we'd all be caught! It was the only thing I could think to do right then!"

"You let go of me! I was a mess! I was terrified that something had happened to you and I-

"It isn't about you, Harry!" She shouted, "It isn't about you! I'm sorry you were upset, but I knew you had Hermione and Ron with you! I knew you would be fine without me! But if you-know-who was called and we were all captured-" She motioned to the opening of the tent, waving her arm frantically. "They would have been killed! You would have been killed and I would be a pawn used to do whatever he wants! So, I had to let go! I had to make a decision! And I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry that you were left without me, but I couldn't risk you getting killed because I was the one he grabbed hold of!"

Harry stood in silence, staring at her with his mouth slightly open, trying to process her outburst. She could feel him working through it, could feel him trying to bury his own anger. Her chest heaved angry puffs of breath as she tried to calm herself but it was as if she had opened a gate and all of the fear and anger she had felt in the last months were flowing freely from her.

"Too many people are dead because of me!" She cried, angrily swiping the tears from her cheeks. "Too many people are being hurt because of me! Mad-Eye, Ted… They're both dead because I couldn't do anything fast enough! Fred and George's shop is destroyed now, by the way. I saw it in Diagon Alley when I was there with Ted! Weeks after I had stayed there, do you think that's a coincidence? Blaise's mum was tortured because of me, Harry! And Draco! Merlin, Draco has probably been crucioed a thousand times over by now! It isn't just about you, Harry!"

"It isn't about you either!" Harry said, his tone deceptively even for the rage boiling beneath his skin. "The war, the killings! None of it would be happening if it weren't for me! He wants me dead, Ellie! I'm the only one who can kill him, don't you understand that?! 'Neither can live while the other survives', it has to be me! Do you think that I don't know the people who have died?! The people who have risked their fucking lives to keep me safe? Do you think you're the only one who has something to worry about? You would be safe if it weren't for me!"

"I would be trapped in the Manor!"

"Good!" Harry shouted, "At least then you wouldn't be here! You wouldn't be getting splinched and watching people get killed! You would have had your parents to protect you! Your bloody brother, to make sure You-Know-Who didn't hurt you!"

"You would rather I be there? Being used against the Order? Against you? You would rather me be a Death Eater?"

"At least I would have known what to expect! You're a Malfoy! I would have expected it!" Harry said, moving to sit on the edge of the bunk. He dug his elbows into his knees and hung his face in his hands.

Elara felt the air rush from her as his words settled over her, "I thought we were past that." She whispered. "You said you were past my name."

Harry threw his hands in the air before bringing them down to scrub at his face. "I am!" He said, "I am! I just… Elara, I was terrified that something had happened to you. This is all my fault! Everything! If I would have just left you alone when you broke things off, if I would have just let you go, you wouldn't have followed me into this! You would be safe."

She regarded him for a moment, clicking her tongue in her mouth and sucking at her teeth. "If you think that's true, then you are very stupid, Harry Potter."

"Excuse me?"

She crossed the space between them, sitting down on the bunk next to Harry, she pulled one leg up, folded under her and turned to look at him. "Harry, I want to make something extremely clear to you. Under no circumstances, would I have been safer at the Manor. My brain would be a mound of porridge right now, mush in the hands of the Dark Lord. He would have weaponized me by now, tortured me until I couldn't say my own name, if it meant he could use my abilities to bring pain on to others. I wouldn't have been given a choice. My choice would have been to do what he wanted, or suffer, and do it anyway."

"But-

"No." she said, "No buts. It doesn't matter that my parents are there, that Draco is there. They know what would happen to them if they tried to protect me, so they would step aside. That's why I followed you, Harry. That's why I chose you. Because every time you proved that it didn't matter what would happen to you. You would never step aside."

Harry remained quiet, his eyes on her face, roaming the slope of her nose and the peaks of her cheekbones. Searching for something, searching for regret on her features. Regret that she would never feel.

"Harry, I will follow you into the dark and through the flames. If I have to burn or drown to walk with you, I would choose to over and over and over. Don't you understand? When I tried to distance myself from you, it wasn't because of you. It was because of me. Because I know what you have to do, I know the weight that is on your shoulders and I didn't want to be one more burden for you to carry."

"You aren't a burden," He murmured. "You could never be a burden to me."

A humorless laugh pushed past her lips as she looked away from him, shaking her head. "I'm the reason Death Eaters took over Hogwarts, Harry. Or did you forget that I came up with the formula to get the cabinet working again? I have done nothing but create a mess since I stepped through the castle doors and into the Great Hall."

"You don't get to do this," Harry said. "You don't get to sit here and feel sorry for yourself and blame yourself." His hand curled under her chin, turning her head to look at him. "You don't get to tell me that you choose me, but that I can't choose you. I'm the one who gets to decide what is too much for me to handle, and Ellie, you're not a burden to me."

Elara could feel the tears escaping her eyes, the cloudiness in her vision clearing as they fell down her cheeks. The pads of Harry's thumbs rested below her eyes, swiping them away. He pulled her into him and pressed his lips to her forehead, wrapping his arms around her.

"You said that you chose me," Harry said. "But I chose you, too. And that means I'm gonna be upset when you put yourself in danger for me. And I'm gonna be a little cross with you for it, but it's because I never feel fear the way that I do when it comes to you."

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a/n: Hey! So how are we feeling after this chapter!? I know it was lonngggg but it took on a life of its own as these things sometimes do! Anyway, I hope you liked it! Next one will be posted on Wednesday! Please remember to review! and come join me on my fb group! Mimifreed Writing

xo

Mimi