The rest of the week passed at a sluggish pace. Only one bright point of hope kept him trudging forward. Luna.
She assured him Hermione was safe and that they would find her. The bond also helped. While it sometimes felt clouded, in quiet moments he could feel Hermione clearly. Confused and scared, but not hurt. With practice, the bond told him precisely where she was in the hypothesized alternate castle, but seeing the place where she should be, but wasn't, pierced his chest anew. When Luna wasn't there, he lay awake at night or paced his rooms.
Thursday night was the worst. Not only was it Hermione's birthday, but as he wore a path in the carpet, he found that Noch was gone. She had moped in her corner slowly shredding one of Hermione's shirts since her disappearance. Now she had vanished.
Harry fell to his knees. Tears stung his eyes, but cold fury froze them before they could fall.
While he had long since mastered apparating silently, his rage distracted him. He apparated with a crack so loud it woke the entire Gryffindore tower.
As he appeared on the edge of the forest, he let loose lightning to crackle out from him. Trees more than a hundred years old were cracked in twain, set aflame, or merely burst apart. The ground buckled and rolled under his feet, causing yet more trees to keel over, their tangled roots reaching for the stars.
In a moment of clarity, he tore himself away from the school grounds entirely, appearing on a nearby mountain top. There, far from students and the magical creatures of the forest, he poured his sorrow and fury out as raw magic.
The mountaintop melted beneath him.
In the morning, he woke to Hedwig pecking at his ear.
He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and ruffled her feathers while taking in his surroundings. From the windswept top of Gryffindor tower, he could see for miles in all directions. Below, a thirty foot semicircle of destruction looked like a meteor had struck the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He felt a pang of remorse for any creatures who had been caught in the crossfire. Fortunately, very few made their homes so close to the castle. To the east, the sunrise set the sky aflame and reflected brilliantly off the top of a mountain to the north.
Curious. With Hedwig perched on his shoulder, he apparated to the mountain top.
It sat about twenty feet lower with a smooth black cap of obsidian. Diamonds, raw and uncut, glimmered in places where natural pockets of carbon had been exposed to the intense heat and pressure his unrestrained magic had created.
"No wonder I slept," Harry muttered. He marveled at how refreshed he felt amid the evidence of the magic he had burned the night before. While not at one-hundred percent, he felt confident he could easily best the top twenty percent of duellists on the planet, though perhaps not all at once.
With a sigh, he took one last look at the evidence of the burning passion he'd unleashed the night before. While the lonely ach still chilled his heart, the drive to destroy anything and everything had faded. Hollow dread sat heavier.
Back in his quarters, Noch slept curled in her corner as if she had never left.
A melodic rhythm tapped out on his door distracted him from the creature.
Luna swept into the room without a word to sit beside Noch and stroke her mottled wings, which were losing their fledgling fluff.
"They will call it 'Heartbreak Peak'," she said in a distracted lilt.
Harry only grunted.
Luna could not replace Hermione, not even as a shadowy representation. But she didn't try. She over the week, she had come many times as a true friend and offered nothing more than compassion, support, and understanding.
She listened to his musings and melancholy. Though she couldn't offer Hermione's brilliant insights, she asked the perfect questions to prod his thinking deeper. Plus, she spaced into her own world so easily that sitting quietly for hours while his brain worked away at the problem, was rather enjoyable for the both of them.
Harry did not do all the talking and was glad for the distraction. Luna regaled him with anecdotes from her life. Adventures with her father, scattered half recollections of her long dead mother, feeling the outsider which Harry -despite Sirius's best efforts- related to strongly. The best stories were of Hermione.
Ginny had been Lunas' first friend in the castle, but she'd never felt properly accepted until she introduced her to Hermione. They began to study together almost daily. The other Ravenclaws detested her dreamy quality and oddities. They made it clear to her and the rest of the castle that sorting hat or no, she had no place in their house. More often than not, she walked around barefoot and had to borrow Hermione's textbooks from the year before as her possessions would go missing, only to turn up in the most unlikely of places.
But Hermione was smarter than the ravens and glad for a study buddy that didn't beg answers off her. Quickly, their unlikely friendship blossomed. Ginny joined them now and then. Ron expected help but contributed little and rarely wanted to be seen with either of them. Neville became their only constant.
The three of them formed a safe haven for "freaks and geeks" in the Room of Requirement that had taken off. Not everyone in the group were friends, but they all belonged and would help each other without question.
Luna kept their more illicit use of the room to herself for the time being. Nothing good would come of her throwing the more intimate details of her own relationship with Hermione in his face while his empty bed remained a constant reminder of her absence. Besides, it was not her secret alone and she wouldn't share it until Hermione gave her consent.
In their group, Slytherin had been chronically underrepresented and Hufflepuff made up more than half, but it was the only club in a hundred years that anyone knew of that had at least one member from every house.
"I never knew," Harry said as she finished explaining how they kept the club going covertly under Umbridge and began practicing defensive spells more out of spite initially than anything else.
"You wouldn't," she said. "The group was good and you only had your elvesies looking for danger. Sometimes you miss the most by watching too hard."
He thought of Krum then and of his hubris believing his wards could protect Hermione from Snape. "Yes. I do. Too much."
"None of that then." She placed a fingertip at each corner of his mouth and pulled up. "Making mistakes is the only way to learn."
He took both her hands in his. "When I make mistakes, people die."
"And many more live. Fate wouldn't use you so often if you didn't have such a good track record."
"Are you saying all I have to do to have a normal life is walk away? Biff it on purpose?"
"Could you walk away from Hermione?"
"No."
"Guess we won't be finding out then. She's worth it."
"Yes. Merlin, that must sound mental. I've only known her for a few weeks."
Luna shook her head. "Doesn't work that way for soulmates. You could know her for two days. You could still see her as just a friend and she'd still be worth it."
"We sort of skipped over the friend stage."
"Would you be trying so hard to get me back in her place?"
Harry paused to give the question the proper consideration. When Hermione had disappeared he barely knew Luna. Funny how close he felt to her now. How badly it would hurt to lose this kind, soft, calming presence in his life. He wouldn't feel her loss as keenly, and probably would not have melted any mountains, but it would still be a loss. He nodded.
She returned the gesture with a small smile. Her eyes were bright, blue, and present.
Over the week, Harry had dived back into classes hoping that they would provide some mode of distraction. They didn't. In short order, he returned to studying ways of finding Hermione and ignored all but the most obvious of shortcomings the professors showed.
McGonagal continued to teach transfiguration as they were having trouble finding her replacement.
Friday, Divination provided a bit of a commodity. Harly had joined them again. The baby was healthy enough to leave with Dobby and she needed to get away.
Today she would join Firenze on the first run since wizarding kind enslaved the all rushed outside with excitement, though none had more pep in his step than Firenze.
Once on the field, Firenze bellowed, as a horse might whinny in excitement, and kicked his front legs up before galloping off toward the quidditch pitch.
Almost immediately, Harry felt his bond with Harly shift dramatically, though not break, as he had given permission for her to do so she could establish a true bond with Firenze if she desired. He watched their bond form. A brilliant cord of twisted green and white light connected elf to centaur.
Harry fell to his knees with a gasp. A pale green bond had reached tentatively toward Harry. Not forcing the connection, but gently stroking his mind. An offer and a question. He lowered his mental defenses to allow Firenze entry.
"I offer, as boon owed, to form the first bond between centaur and human," Firenze said in Harry's mind.
"I humbly accept." With a house elf, it was customary for the wizard to initiate and determine the nature and letter of the contract. However, this had never been done before and as Firenze had been the one to offer, Harry waited for his formal proposal.
"I, Firenze, exiled from the Forbidden Herd, Professor of Divination at Hogwarts, offer a bond of friendship between myself and any present and future kin to the House of Potter. I vow to hold you and yours above all but my closest kin and bondmate Harly, to whom you would be equal. The defense of your house will be second only to the defense of mine own. My wisdom and aid are yours for the asking if you are ever in need. This I offer."
Harry appreciated the careful words of the centaur. The bond was between equals rather than the wizard dominated bond used to enslave the elves. Another wizard might have taken offense. Harry, whose goal had been to dissolve that domineering bond for years, was overjoyed.
"I, Harry James Potter, Lord and sole survivor of the Proud house of Potter, killer of the Dark Lord and heir of Gryffindor humbly accept your offer of friendship and vow to meet every letter of the bond you propose. May our houses unite as one family under the sun and stars. My wand and magic are yours if ever you are in need."
Silver blue light, much like what created his Patronus or shimmered off his dragon form's iridescent white scales, shot from Harry's mind to coil with the solidifying green light. Both shivered as the unique bond settled.
Firenze ran with renewed vigor, spurred by both Harry's magic and the knowledge that he made the right choice as he heard the vow and felt the purity of the bond. He may have initially offered the bond as a boon and at his stareyed's prodding, but he knew instantly that the bond would benefit him as much or perhaps more than the wizard.
Harly's magic hazed the air around them and the pair shared the first true vision in hundreds of years with their wizard.
All they saw was death.
A clearing in the Forbidden Forest sheltered an ancient ritual circle wreathed in writhing shadows.
Those spectors flickered, danced, and finally coalesced into chanting, robed death eaters as the vision sharpened.
In the center of the ritual space, Padma and Pavarti Patel strained against magical restraints keeping their naked forms strapped to the altar.
The chanting grew louder, more ominous. Lucius Malfoy strode into the circle wearing runes of virility and openness that glowed blood red in the darkness. He didn't enter the circle alone. He led a unicorn that had been tortured to the brink of insanity. Its once majestic coat gleamed with silvery blood or else was charred black. Eyes rolled. Bloody froth rimmed its jaw.
The chanting rose as he led the beast to the were the writhing girls screamed through their magical gags.
With only the faintest nudge of compulsion from Lucius, the unicorn, driven mad by pain, thrust its wickedly sharp foot and a half long horn between first Pavarti and then Padma's legs.
The Death Eaters released the girls' gags and bindings as they bled and whimpered on the altar. They didn't have the strength to pull themselves off the stone, much less try to flee.
Lucius began chanting in earnest and, once the magic rose to a crescendo and his runes began to smoke, he slit the beast's throat. Two deep gashes up his own forearms with the same obsidian blade let red blood flow to obscure the unicorn's fatal wound. Both wizard and beast fed the forest floor with their lives.
As the twins, unicorn, and Dark wizard gasped their last simultaneously, the patch of night sky above the altar shimmered and then rent apart.
Pure darkness oozed from the wound in space. The viscous liquid passed over the twins. As it dribbled off the altar it revealed the empty space where the women's bodies had lain. Only bare stone remained.
Now twice the size, the malevolent liquid moved to Lucius.
"Harry," a voice whispered.
Who was Harry?
"Harry," she cried. "I'm here. See me!"
Hermione's voice jolted him from the disembodied observance of the vision. Emotions crashed into him like a truck. Recognition. Confusion. Loss. Pain. Panic.
Hope.
He gazed around frantically, his vision blurred as his brain tried to reject the
reality before him. A reality in which he had no self.
He breathed and through sheer force of will, stayed in the vision.
There. A warm light. Fire, love, and recognition flared through the wrent in the air as the dark ooze connected with Lucius and the Unicorn. Hermione, bathed in fire, reached for him.
His soul reached for her. Her fingers brushed the jagged rim of the rip. Lucius stirred. The unicorn gasped a ragged breath which whistled through the slit in its throat.
The rip stitched itself closed. Hermione's presence winked out.
A female Lucius sat upon the unicorn. Both bloodied, black, and rippling with power. Around them, Death Eaters died and rose anew, pale with bloodied pits where there eyes had been burned away.
Lucius's scorched sockets stared at Harry. Not the point in space where he observed from, but at him.
"This hasn't happened for you yet." From Lucius's lips, a female voice, cold, detached, and devoid of humanity, cut the air. "No matter. You can't stop this, champion of light. You can't kill me. Not truly. I am you. You are me. As long as you exist in this plane I shall claw my way back. For you."
Lucius squeezed his sockets closed. When they opened, effeminate eyes with jet black sclera and irises of burning coal froze Harry where he was.
He, she, they caressed his cheek. Except here he had no cheek. Instead it was as if they caressed his very being.
Warmth.
Recognition.
Acceptance.
Those eyes. They knew him in a way no one else ever could. Loved him. Despised him.
They were Voldemort's eyes. And yet, not.
For a moment, Harry became a presence in Voldemort's head. Perfect understanding. A feeling of coming home. Of being whole.
Only the others saved him.
Voices. Beings. Twisted and perverted spirits who had wandered in the world beyond for untold years before being drawn to Voldemort's fresh power. They'd fed on it, merged, and hitched a ride back.
The moment of confusion let him focus on the innocent voices of Padma and Pavarti screaming for help incoherently. They were trapped. Part of the ravenous compilation of criminals itching to vent their pent up frustrations on an unsuspecting world.
Harry would join them. Harry was strong. Harry would feed them. Harry would have everything he ever wanted.
The dark lady smiled. Beautiful. Through her touch, Harry absorbed writhing twisted souls of murderers from beyond the veil.
Skin cracked and turned to ash, he mounted the black undead unicorn. After all. She'd raised it for him. The champion of life. She laughed.
He killed the centaurs.
He killed the elves.
He killed aurors and professors.
He killed defiant students.
He killed Draco.
He killed Luna.
He killed Hermione.
He burned the world and shattered existence.
He could have it all. By her side, he would take it all. Everything. Anything. Power. Control. Acceptance.
"That's right my pet. My love. Stay with me. Come to me in the real world and all of this will be ours in truth. Together we will have what we deserve."
"And what's that?" He had to ask. Something was missing. Something important. He couldn't remember.
"Everything."
"Why me?"
"We belong together. I want you. I deserve you. You've been mine since my foolish short-sighted self marked you. You are my equal."
"That's not quite right. My family-"
"I'm the only family you need. I'm the only one who can understand you. The only one strong enough to rule you."
She would never do that to him. She loved him. A voice, weak and muffled jogged his memory.
Death, destruction, and debauchery ruled the day. This was his doing? This was what he wanted?
What of your real family?
Family? He had that. Sirius, Draco. Hermione even Luna.
Hermione.
He had to save her. He knew where she was!
He felt a brief flicker of her presence, which gave him the will and focus to break free of the dark conglomerate and go spinning off into the darkness.
Even as he left the vision, She laughed.
"Run my pet. This is only an illusion, a vision of your inescapable fate. You are mine.
So run from this shadow of what I shall be, for when I come in truth the chase and taste of fear in your soul shall make your capture all the sweeter."