A/N: Ah! It's been a while… SORRY! I won't waste much more time except to say that this is the last chapter in this story. Don't' worry, it will have a sequel! Moving right along….
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The First Goodbye: Part Six
The Epilogue
By Heather Michelle
Colors, shapes and reality swirled around Hermione as she traveled backwards through time. A sudden jerk and sharp pain in her stomach quickly stopped the hastened, euphoric effects of her journey. Having been slammed into darkness that contained no definite form at all, Hermione shook and collapsed against it, dazedly trying to decipher the cause of the interruption. A booming voice let her know what she had forgotten: "TIME DOES NOT EXIST HERE!" It was the Grensalmia.
She had tried to go back in time through a place without any. She couldn't have made a larger mistake. The Grensalmia had said all that she had needed to hear. The shock of hearing it, however, sent her into hysteria. She couldn't save him. She couldn't change her mind and decide to love Ron. Couldn'ts and should'ves filled her head and exited as water, flowing from her eyes. In the far distance and vast expanse of the Grensalmia's lair, Hermione could barely see herself and Harry, listening to the Grensalmia's instructions.
Standing up as quickly as possible, Hermione began scrambling towards them with pressing urgency. She attempted to warn them by screaming, which became an exercise in futility because she was winded from running. Blood pounded in her head and her shoes thudded across the plain, but she didn't seem to be getting anywhere. A collision with another barrier rendered her helpless, except to watch herself and Harry, their heads pressed against each other as she had remembered them doing in the past.
Regardless, Hermione beat upon the glass-like barrier, shouting for them to stop and not kiss each other. It had been the key to their downfall. If they had some restraint, they could have stayed in the lair forever. Though it would have been pure torture to be in such close proximity with someone you loved so much and not be able to do anything, it would have been preferred to unleashing an evil wizard as powerful as Harry on the Earth below.
Hermione cringed in fear, anger, pain and pure happiness. How could she feel all of these at once? Fear: She was afraid of having to kill him. Anger: She was mad at herself for not stopping to think about the time-turner. Pain: It hurt Hermione to see herself and Harry kissing each other, feeling that their first kiss would be their last. Happiness: Seeing Harry alive and well for these few short seconds was enough to make her tingle, elated from head to toe.
The seconds she spent screaming materialized into hours for Hermione. It was paradoxical to think that there was such little time available, yet it passed so slowly. She, with eyes soaked through with tears, continued to pound upon the barrier that acted as a two-way mirror. They couldn't see her. Maybe they were too consumed in each other to notice that someone was trying to save them. Hermione shrank against the restraining wall, now on her knees and looking up at her past self and Harry. She had just looked up into his eyes. Hermione watched the muscles in his arm as he tightened his grip on her. Hermione relived every moment of that kiss, though she was sitting 20 feet from Harry. She placidly watched them, having given up on trying to warn them. Her heart had already been shattered and she had to accept it. It wasn't his fault. They had never seen it coming- oh, but they HAD. She remembered… If she had stayed away from Harry, none of this would have happened. If she had only listened, if she hadn't messed up, she could have saved lives. Little did she know how many.
Every one of the lover's actions sent a chill through Hemione as she recalled every action that was made. Harry's hand slid through her hair and molded to her cheek, their bodies matched perfectly while being pressed against each other, and she knew he loved her just as much as she loved him… It would have been perfect.
The lair was fading quickly and Hermione witnessed it outside of herself, seeing the background evaporate into the world that she was familiar with. The lovers were too busy with themselves to pay attention to it, drowning in each other. Hermione ran to the edge of the lair, to where the real world began. She walked straight through the division and hid behind one of the common room's expansive couches, waiting for her past self and Harry to arrive. They did, sure enough, and Harry collapsed in pain, just as he had earlier. Hermione, now correcting time by appearing as her present self (before she had used the time turner), stood over Harry, watching his eyes dull, his lips open, and his tongue making unfamiliar Parseltongue hisses.
It was now or never. Hermione, still weeping, reached for her wand. She found that curling her fingers around it became extremely burdensome and fatiguing. She struggled with herself, but managed to get the wand out and pointed toward Harry. It began to emit a faint white light that encompassed his body. Hermione whispered her first "I love you." after leaning over and kissing Harry's scar that seared her lips. Then she began the killing curse.
"A- Av- Ava- Ava…." Her voice trailed off. She had meant what she had said to him earlier. She couldn't do it. Sending a warning to Dumbledore and the quidditch field, she turned and ran. Never stopping or looking back, she ran and ran and ran.
Perhaps she thought she would outrun fate. Maybe she was being selfish. She might have just fallen in love.
A/N: Well that's the end of this story, but not the end of the tale! I will be doing a sequel that will focus on the events of parts 1 and 3 of this series (the FUTURE!).
I appreciate the following people for being EXTREMELY PAITIENT and caring enough to write a review:
kim, the theoretical gutter, Can't go to sleep clowns will, Sashina Potter, shipcommander, thor magi, The Game, Cassiopia, Nice, Minnie, clio, Minzzer, MyC, Groovy Chick, Morgaine, Phyllida, Heather-Bether, GOOD STORY!!!, Lynzi, *J*E*N*, Harpo, Weasley Girl, Valkyrie, Bertie Bott, Portia, T'Anna Phoenix, Sev, Chole McLearly, Reader, clara200, starling, She, Renee, Neko-Dorothy the Bondage-Maid, Electrique