I know! I know! It's been simply ages since I updated. I solemnly swear to never write another story and post before I know how it will end. This story had stumped me time and time again. I am so overwhelmed by the favorites, the follows and the very thoughtful reviews. There will probably be two chapters after this one. I hope that you like this update. I'm terribly nervous. As always please let me know what you think. It means the world to me in these crazy times. Be well. Be safe. Vote and drink your milk. I still don't own this world. Love, Lark.
Don't Forget Me Chapter 14
Hermione and Harry landed in the front hall of Grimmauld Place. She carefully placed the covered mirror on the ground. "Now, I know you've got questions." She told Harry while wringing her hands. "I don't want to show you what I've made until it's time. I'm not sure how much you can block Voldemort. All you need know is that I've created a way for you to face and to fight him." She hesitated, regarding him. "It is my hope that you will be able to live through this." Tears filled her eyes and she looked away.
Harry pulled her to him. "We both know what could and might happen. I can't sugarcoat this for you." Hermione nodded into his chest. "But you must know that I'll come back to you if there is any way in this world that I can." He rested his head on her shoulder. "I wish we hadn't been so young and impressionable. I wish we hadn't had all that time apart. Promise me that after this we only live for ourselves? No more pandering to politics or twisting the plot to suit us. I just want the story of Harry and Hermione."
"That sounds like a good story." Hermione said wistfully.
Harry's hand found hers and his brow creased. "Are you willing to tell me what's happened to the ring?" He asked.
"Oh, I had to use it. I...I don't think the resurrection stone will be a part of this world again." She told him with concern in her eyes.
Harry's grip tightened painfully. "You destroyed it?" He hissed. "You had a gift from Death itself and you threw it away?"
"Harry!" She cried, her voice scaling up in pain and fear. "Harry! Stop! Please!"
"You stupid girl! The Hallows will never be complete again." His hand gripped the hair at the base of her neck. He forced her gaze to meet his cold one.
"Harry. Stop it." She said searching for her lover in the green depths. After a few tense moments Harry's eyes softened and he released her hair.
"Oh Gods! Hermione! I'm so sorry I can't..." He looked stricken and scrubbed his hair so that it stood on end. He looked from her fear filled face to the covered object and back to her again. "Right, let's get this over with."
"What? You mean now?" Hermione shook her head from the rapid changes.
"Yes, before anything else happens. I'm not sure I can keep holding on." Harry gripped his wand tighter.
"Harry I'm not sure..." But he silenced her with a quick kiss.
"No more waiting. I'm tired of always fearing tomorrow. It ends now. And whether that ends with him or with me so be it. I'll not stand by and let him try to harm you ever again." Harry grabbed her arm and walked over to the mirror. "Now, I think we will need a bit more space." He apparated them from the room.
The landed in the same glade in Forest of Dean that Harry had dreamed of. Hermione, after reorienting herself and throwing Harry an admonishing look for moving so quickly and without warning, looked up at the trees curiously. "Is this the Forest of Dean then?"
"It is." Harry told her and began to cast spells of protection and invisibility over the site. "It's where Ron and I destroyed the locket. It's where I met Tom in my dreams. A good place as any to end him don't you think?"
Hermione nodded and walked over to the edge of the pool. "What did you say about seeing him in your dreams?"
Harry paused in his perusal of the perimeter. "He met me here. Made one last bid for me to join him rather than oppose him. It's all bollocks." He said.
Casting a few more spells to further secure the glade he turned to Hermione. "Right, now why don't you tell me what you made with the great blonde prat?"
Hermione bit her bottom lip. It's a scrying mirror. I don't want to go into all it does for fear of it being...overheard. It will enable you to face him I believe and to duel him...to the end. I had to use the resurrection stone to activate it as he is neither alive nor dead. It was the only way. I called on Snape to help. Harry, he knew of a potion to secure the magic onto the mirror's surface."
"Snape?! He helped you? With the ring I assume?" Harry gazed at the tops of the trees. "I will forever be in that wizard's debt. How am I ever to repay him."
"He was in your's more like." She twisted her hair up into a loose bun. "Or rather your mum's." She corrected. "Said his soul wouldn't be at peace until you vanquished him for good."
"Still, he gave up so much for me to live. All his adult years as a spy and teaching children that he loathed. What a life." Harry was wretched. "And now he's gone, like so many others."
"Do you really think that this world would be better off if you hadn't faced him in the Forest Harry?" She touched his shoulder. "Because I can tell you that it wouldn't. A lot more people would have died, could still die. Snape did it for your mother. He did it for things that happened long before you were even born. These were a result of his poor choices. He knows that. Don't you think it's time to remove that guilt from your shoulders?"
"I suppose you're right, as you always are." Harry muttered.
"I know it. Wizards pay me very well for my opinion so you better heed it." She warned him.
He smiled tenderly at her. "Where would the wizarding world be if a bushy haired, know it all hadn't driven Ron batty and gotten trapped with a troll?" He kissed her hand and held it for a moment. "I suppose that we better get this done then?"
"I'll be here. You'll come back to me?" She said sternly.
"There isn't anywhere else I'd rather be." He promised. At her nod he walked over to the mirror and cast a circle. It was his hope that if he lost to Voldemort the protective circle would be strong enough for Hermione to get to safety if not try to end the wizard herself. The grass around them was a rich green. It was soft under his feet. Harry wanted to remember and hold these little details in his mind so that he knew where it was he wanted to return to. He glanced across the meadow where Hermione had sat on a log to wait, her wand at the ready. A light breeze lifted the soft curls from her face. The situation was not ideal. However, he was grateful for the opportunity to have had her in his arms again. In all of his travels it had only ever been her that he had wanted. Sensing his eyes on her she lifted her gaze and gave him a dazzling, if worried, smile in return. Yes, he thought, Hermione Granger was worth coming back to.
He closed his eyes for a moment and took in the sounds of the wind rustling through the trees. The smell of fresh growing things tickled his nose and along with that the smell of Hermione's perfume on his skin. Memories of what it felt like to have her in his arms surrounded him. He let go of old hurts from the Dursleys. Years of living in fear of a snake faced monster fell from his shoulders. Harry focused on the sun on his face and a future with his love. When he opened his eyes he saw the mirror, it's black surface shimmering ominously. With sure steps and the elder wand grasped in his hand he walked to stand before it.
Tom Riddle stood smirking at him holding his own elder wand. "Tom." Harry said with steel in his voice. "You just can't seem to stay away."
"Nor can you Harry Potter." he smirked.
…..
The closed ward at St. Mungo's was a flurry of activity. Mediwitches and wizards scurried to and fro. The Minister had been called. Though sworn to protect and heal always and to the best of their ability their eyes remained fearfully averted from the patients. Each of them knew that what they saw would haunt them until the rest of their days. Every child and Ginny Weasley had floated up from above their beds. They hung there in suspended animation as if submerged in water. Indeed, their hair waved about them and above them in undulating waves. Their skin took on a grayish hue and their lips turned dead and blue.
A mediwitch who had been hurrying past clapped her hands over her ears. From their cold mouths a single name flowed out in a uniform hiss. Their voices cold and a lifeless as the wind in the dead of winter. "Harry Potter keeps us." They chanted slowly again and again. "Harry Potter keeps us. Harry Potter keeps us. Harry Potter keeps us." A dread so dense it was almost tangible had settled in the ward. No one had been able to bring the patients back down to the bed. Frantically they went from bed to bed checking their vitals and core magics.
"Good Gods!" Boomed the voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt. He mouth fell open, aghast, as he surveyed the room. He turned to the aurors who had accompanied him. "Find Harry Potter!" He commanded. "Or Hermione Granger! She'll know something of this I am sure." He turned to his aid. "Tea! I need tea, you know how I like it." The aurors nodded and retreated. A sweat born of fear prickled it's way down Kingsley's spine. Why were they saying his name? Had he been a fool to think that Potter would once again act in the interest of them all? Frantically his mind went over the choices that he had made over the past few days. He admitted to himself that he had turned a blind eye to Harry's growing dark side over the past few years. He and the other confidants that he had spoken of it with had put it down to the lingering affects of the war and his close ties to Voldemort. Never in their wildest musings did they think it would ever come to this. He hurried from the room, the sounds of Harry's name being spoken over and over followed him into the hallway. He pulled a yellow silk handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the perspiration from his forehead.
He took a deep breath and reminded himself that wherever Potter was Hermione was with him. Kingsley knew her as his own. He knew that no matter how much the young with loved him she would always do what was right for the innocent. Despite all that occurred Kingsley found that he could not find it in himself to truly doubt The Boy Who Lived. A scratching sounded from the window across the hall. He looked over to see a large, black eagle owl on the sill. Recognizing the owl he sighed and reached over to open it. The owl regarded him haughtily and extended it's large talon. He carefully removed the letter, recalling the bird's tendency to bite. He detached it at last and breathed a sigh of relief. The owl, sensing weakness, lashed out and pecked viciously at Kingsley's hand. "Gah! Off with you, you rotten beast!" He shouted. The bird flew away in a rustle of offended feathers.
Wondering what Draco Malfoy wanted now, he unfurled the letter. His eyes scanned the contents quickly, his eyebrows rising with each line he read. "Right." He said to himself, and then Kinglsley began to run full tilt toward the floo at the end of the hallway. Halfway down the hall he crashed into his unfortunate aid, splashing tea over them both. "It doesn't matter!" he yelled over his shoulder. "Send some aurors to Malfoy Manor. That's where I am headed now." staggering to a stop he pinched some floo powder up and shouted the name of the Manor.
Draco was waiting when Kingsley came through. The minister sank onto a blue striped couch and attempted to catch his breath. "Please let this be the last time You Know Who disturbs my life." He muttered between breaths. He turned to the blond wizard who looked quite pale even by his standards. "They were here? You helped Hermione?"
"I did." Draco confirmed. "I needed to let you know lest something happens to Potter. Can't risk anything being misunderstood about my family. Wouldn't be the first time." He said sullenly.
Kingsley waved away the concerns. "Where were they headed?" He demanded.
"I haven't the faintest idea." Draco examined his fingernails. He looked up with fear in his eyes. "The thing is that...Potter seemed a bit off. And he took Granger with him. I don't want anything happening to her you see." He looked at the jewel toned carpet on the floor.
"I see." Kingsley said thoughtfully. "Don't worry Malfoy, nothing will happen to your good name. Why don't you start at the beginning. First, let your house elves know that I've go some aurors on the way."
"Oh delightful." Draco drawled as he summoned his elf.
…..
Harry looked at his reflection that was not his reflection. Tom Riddle stood before him, holding his own version of the elder wand. The reflection slowly morphed into an image that was equal parts Tom Riddle and Harry Potter. He was terribly beautiful, magical power practically rolled off him. "This is as we could be. Take a look Potter. Think of what you wish to destroy. There will be no point of return for you or for me. To destroy me is to destroy yourself. What will there be left? I made you extraordinary. The world believes you to be special. Once I leave your soul you will be no more or no less from any other wizard." The reflection nodded outward toward where Hermione sat. "Unlike you, she was born for greatness in her own right. She's drawn to power if you hadn't noticed. Stay with me and I can help keep her enthralled to the end of days. You alone cannot do it boy, I know these things. I always do." The reflection told him smugly.
Harry's body tensed defensively. In the mirror Riddle did the same. His green eyes roamed over the figure that was both himself and Tom. A small, mean part of himself admitted that perhaps he did not want to give this up. The feeling of being alone and abandoned was still with him even though Hermione had returned. A lifetime of being left behind flashed before his eyes. And following these were a hundred different moments of Hermione starting from when she was a large toothed girl of eleven by his side. She had loved him even when he was a skinny unkempt boy. She had stayed by his side to help him to defeat Voldemort once before. The only time she had left him had been when he had failed her, but she had come back, had forgiven him his very human error, because she loved him. He wondered why Riddle was so intent on swaying Harry to his side. Why hadn't he simply began to battle as he had done in times past. He was missing something.
He did not warn Riddle as he would have done in the past. His Avada was strong and perfectly aimed. Harry cast it with every fiber of his being. Unfortunately, so was Riddle's. The wands being reflections of the other, collided in the middle of the two combatants as they had done all those years ago in the graveyard. Harry moved his wands to the side so that the two spells fell harmlessly to the ground. Riddle scowled at him. They backed away from one another sizing the other up. Several more spells were cast each bouncing harmlessly off the other. Harry was considering his options when a wicked grin split Tom's face.
Hermione had broken his wards and was standing by his side. Never taking her gaze from Riddle and keeping her wand aimed at his heart. "I am not going to sit by and watch him murder you. He will have to take us both. It's the way this was always going to end. Your wands are evenly matched. This will go no where. Let me help." Hermione told him and cast a quick series of curses Riddle's way. These were easily deflected.
"Hermione Granger, so good of you to come." Riddle said.
Hermione gave him a level look. "I know why you don't really want to kill Harry." She told him sending more curses his way. "I've figured it out you see. The piece of you that's left isn't enough. It's tattered and broken. You are a parasite, feeding off of Harry. If he leaves this body you would never be able to own it." She continued to attack him as she spoke. Harry had to admire her lightening quick curses. He had cast a shield charm and made sure to deflect any curses that Tom sent her continued. "Currently you are feeding off the energy of the children that you've managed to ensnare. They are temporary, have made you strong enough to think that you have a chance to break free. However, even draining the magical cores of seven souls will not be enough. They are young and not yet formed." She shot an especially vicious slicing curse at him. "It also helps that the core of them is protected by the love of their parents. Once again, something you cannot possibly begin to understand."
Riddle doubled his efforts in trying to send curses her way. "Always interfering where you shouldn't. You would have been my queen. I would have given you the power you always craved. I saw into your heart when you wore my locket around your pretty neck. It's a shame really." Riddle cast an Avada quickly but Harry caught it once again with his wand. This time he concentrated on the jet of green light connecting him to Tom.
"Do it Hermione! It has to be you." Harry growled.
Hermione aimed her wand at the mirror's surface. "Avada Kadavra!" She cast. A jet of green light sailed through the air and hit it's target. Tom faded from view and both his and Harry's wands shattered into splinters. Tom's last spell that Harry had been holding off shot into both of their bodies. They were blown backwards several feet. They landed side by side in the soft green grass and did not rise. Across the meadow the mirror's surface shimmered and then melted into a puddle of molten silver.
…..
Hermione was walking through the empty King's Cross Station. She had seen it like this once before in Harry's memory. She felt panic rise up in her. Quickly she whirled around looking in all directions. It was empty as far as the eye could see. She wanted to walk, to find Harry but knew that if she stayed put he would be able to find her more easily. Spying a row of benches she walked over to them, thinking to sit and wait. A gasp of horrified breath escaped her. The form of the childlike imp she had seen whimpering in Harry's memory was no more than a blackened corpse, turning slowly to dust. A whorl of air blew the dust away and at last Hermione could feel Harry standing beside her. She did not turn to look at him.
"You found me." She said softly.
"I'll always find you. I told you." Harry's hand slipped into hers.
"Are we dead then?" Hermione wondered.
"If past experience is anything to go on we are in the in between worlds." He told her.
"It looks like he might well and truly be gone." Hermione indicated the pile of ashes.
"He is. I can feel it. I am lighter somehow." Harry mused.
A train rushed past them and they turned to look at it passing.
"Perhaps you will be able to return." Hermione said sadly. "I'm not so sure I can. You killed Voldemort's soul that was inside you. I must probably go on. Death wouldn't want to be cheated by me." She said sadly.
"Do you really think I wouldn't follow you?" Harry asked her tenderly.
"I can't ask that of you!" she was horrified. "You deserve to have a life in the sunshine Harry! I can't let you come with me."
"What would my life be without you I'd like to know?" He retorted at once.
"Good Gods! Have you two still not figured it out?" A laughing voiced barked from behind them.
They whirled around to find Sirius Black with a smile on his face. "Sirius!" Harry exclaimed and launched himself at his godfather.
"There now!' Sirius gave him a long hug. "You didn't think I ever left you really did you?" he looked young and healthy, more so than he ever had when they had known him.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked, giving him a hug of her own.
"Dispensing a little Godfatherly advice, of course." Sirius laughed. He turned to Harry. "It's done you see. We can all rest. Or be reborn. Or whatever it is we people of magic need to do. Snivillus will be so relieved, the grumpy git." He shook his head affectionately. "But I digress. Hermione, you may be dead at the moment but whether or not you stay dead is up to you."
"I really don't understand." Hermione's brow furrowed.
"It was Voldemort who cheated death several times over. It upset the balance of things terribly. You were not meant to die today, unless you would like to." Sirius quirked an eyebrow at her. "And as for Harry, well, you know the drill don't you boy? Take the train and go on or choose to wake up."
"What is it like to be dead Sirius?" Harry wondered.
"Quiet. Peaceful." Sirius pondered a moment. "Now that Voldemort is well and truly gone I'm not sure I want to stick around." He toed a crack in the floor and then looked up with a mischievous grin. "I might want to be reborn. Have the life I should have had. I think the wizarding world will be a much better place to grow up in thanks to you two. I won't remember any of who I am now but hopefully I'll still be able to raise a little hell." he winked.
"So, I can choose to return without repercussion?" Hermione asked. "Truly? How is that possible?"
"Death wanted only the one who purposely sought to evade him time and time again. It is understood that when it is your time you will go willingly." Sirius told her.
"What do you think Harry? Choose life with me?" she smiled at him.
"You know it's not going to be easy for us." Harry said thoughtfully. "There will always be people begging for favors and wrongs to right." He took her hand in his again. "Of course I will go with you if that's where you are headed. We belong together. I thought you knew."
"I did." She told him and took a deep breath. She turned to the older wizard. "Thank you Sirius. I hope I see you again."
He grinned at her. "Hope so." He turned to Harry. "Take care won't you? You'll not come back here a third time. The next time death comes calling you will have to answer as we all do."
"I'll remember." Harry stepped over to Hermione. "Take care Sirius."
"Goodbye and thank you for all you did to keep us safe." Hermione said softly.
"Just go and live a good life. I'll see you soon." Sirius told them. He glanced down the tunnel. An approaching train could be heard. "It's time for you to wake." he told them and then the station disappeared and became a burst of white light.
They woke in the light of the summer sun. they had landed facing one another. As their eyes focused a smile lit her face. Harry smiled back and crawled over to her. His hand reached over and caressed the contours of her face. "We did it." She said wonderingly.
"I love you." He told her.
"I love you." She told him. And then it seemed that all hell broke loose as aurors swarmed the field.