Disclaimer: Alas, Harry Potter is not mine. It belongs to the wonderful writer of
all writers, J. K. Rowling.
Author's Note: This chapter will be long, sad, and a tad bit creepy/strange. Just
thought I'd warn you. Also, you're going to hear the phrase, "gone forever" in this part.
Hence, the title. PS: As for the last chapter when Harry went into that catatonic state?
How many fanfics have had *that* happen? Enough said, on with the fic.
Chapter Fourteen- Gone Forever
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all in the Great Hall, gazing at the faces of the
survivors of the horror that occurred at Hogsmeade. They were looking for the
Baudelaires, praying that they lived through the destruction of the wizarding village that
they and Harry were visiting just this afternoon...
Madam Pomfrey had reluctantly released them from the hospital wing after
checking them over for any permanent damage their attackers had caused them. They
were just about to go up to the Gryffindor Tower to wait anxiously for any news on
Harry, when Professor Dumbledore found them and informed them of what had happened
at Hogsmeade. The three were so horrified from the news that they had immediately
volunteered to help the survivors in the Great Hall, where they would be spending the
night.
And then there was one final shocking piece of news: Dumbledore had also
explained (in a grim, sad tone of voice) that Harry had been found, but something
happened that put him into some kind of catatonic state. The teachers had taken him to
Professor Clark's office, where Professor Clark herself had insisted on placing him, rather
than the hospital wing.
"What do you think they're doing to try to bring him out of it?" Ginny asked her
brother and Hermione in a trembling voice.
"I don't know," said Hermione sadly. "I've heard about catatonia; Muggles
sometimes have it too when they have too much stress. I'm not sure magic is going to get
Harry back from this..."
"HERMIONE! RON! GINNY!" a voice suddenly screeched.
The three saw none other than Emily Baudelaire running towards them. Her robes
were ripped, her face streaked with tears and covered with ashes.
"Emily!" Ron cried out as Emily reached them. "Emily, we've been so worried!
What happened? Where's Joshua and Lili?"
A sudden tragic look crossed Emily's face. Her chin trembled. One of her hands
clapped against her mouth. Her eyes closed tightly as tears started to run down her
cheeks. "They're... They're dead!" she howled. "He killed them! The Dark Lord killed
them! They're gone! Forever!"
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all felt a sudden feeling of emptiness inside of them.
First Harry was catatonic, and now their newest friends had been murdered, leaving
Emily alone in the world...
Hermione slowly put her arms around Emily and embraced her. "There, there,"
she murmured softly. "You're safe.... You're safe..."
***
At Fiona's office, Harry was seated in a chair. Since he had been brought in, he
hadn't moved. His face was completely expressionless, his brilliant green eyes now had
a certain vacant look about them.
Fiona sat in another chair nearby him. Her hands were folding in her lap and her
head was bowed down so low that her long hair was hiding her face. She liked it like
that. At least if anyone came in, nobody could see her crying.
Why? Why? Why? she kept thinking in complete despair. How did this happen?
Why did this happen? How could she have let this happen? She had saved him from the
dementors, yet she had still failed.
"I'm so sorry, Harry," she said softly. "Please try to forgive me."
"Forgive you about what?" a familiar voice asked. Fiona jumped, she was so
startled, but then she saw that the person who just said that.
It was Celeste.
"Oh... hi," Fiona mumbled, quickly wiping her eyes. She looked at Celeste and
asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see if you were alright," Celeste replied. She narrowed her eyes and
asked, "Now, you wouldn't happen to be thinking about giving up, are you?"
"What else can I do?" Fiona said, her voice filled with despair. "I mean, look at
him!" She pointed at Harry. "He's gone, Celeste. He's still alive.... but he's gone."
Celeste stared at Harry and shook her head.
"No," she said calmly. "He's not gone... he's in there... somewhere... but he's
lost. Don't you even know why you're on Earth in the first place?"
Fiona was puzzled. "To protect him, I know that. I saved him from the
dementors, but..."
"The dementors weren't the things that were a danger to him," said Celeste slowly.
"That was part of the events that led up to the danger to Harry. *This*, Fiona, is what you
have to save him from. You have to get him back."
Fiona stood there, stunned. Then she swallowed and said, "I know what you mean
by 'getting him back', but I've never done *that* before. I've entered dreams and
changed into a human form... but this is something else altogether! And besides..." She
looked down. "what if I fail? Just like almost fifty years ago?"
"Fiona," her friend said in a serious tone. "Tom is gone forever. You know it, I
know it, all our friends know it, and even He knows it. And what we also know is that it
wasn't your fault. It's time you realized that. I think you're blaming yourself for that
because you can't bring yourself to blame Tom. Oh yes, you hate Voldemort for all the
horrible things he's done to others, but you cannot bring yourself to hate Tom. That also
isn't your fault; he was your best friend. It's understandable. But you have to pull
yourself together, *Fi*. You have to save Harry from Tom's fate; you love him too, you
know. You love him too, and you're going to have to prove that."
There was a moment of silence. Fiona stood there, speechless. Celeste's words
had definitely hit home.
"I have to go," Celeste said finally. "Good luck, Fiona." She vanished.
For a few moments that seemed like forever, Fiona stood there, her friend's words
echoing in her head. Then there was a knock in the door that broke the silence. "Come
in," she said, as politely as possible.
Dumbledore entered the office, flanked by Professor McGonagall and Snape.
"Madam Pomfrey is tending to the survivors," Dumbledore said quietly. He
looked at Harry. "How is he?"
"The same," Fiona replied flatly.
She was about to tell Dumbledore what she was going to do, but was interrupted
by Fudge bursting into her office. He couldn't have picked a worse time to do so, as
everyone else present in the room (except Harry) was tense at the moment. Especially
Fiona.
"What's all this?" Fudge demanded. "What's going on?"
"Shouldn't you be addressing the survivors of Hogsmeade?" Dumbledore asked
him cooly. "Most of them have lost loved ones, and all of them are homeless. They
should at least hear an explanation of why this tragedy, Cornelius."
"They should indeed," replied Fudge stiffly. His eyes were on Harry when he said
this.
At that moment, Fiona lost all sense completely. She had tried to hold her feelings
back, to try to be civil towards Fudge, even though he was accusing the one she was
supposed to protect of something he didn't do and refusing to accept the truth of
Voldemort's return, even when it was so obvious. But she had enough of all this
nonsense...
"Why are you accusing this boy of destroying Hogsmeade?" she spoke up boldly.
"Does *he* look like the kind of person who would murder innocent people?"
Fudge stared at her with narrowed eyes. "I don't know what Dumbledore has or
hasn't told you when you came here, miss, but for your information, this boy is a
Parselmouth. He can talk to snakes, for God's sake, and everyone knows that's the mark
of a Dark wizard!"
Fiona crossed her arms. "Did you think I didn't notice this before? So he can talk
to snakes. Doesn't make him a Dark wizard in my book! A close friend of mine
happened to talk to snakes!" she blurted out without thinking.
"She's absolutely correct," said Dumbledore. "Just because Rita Skeeter wrote in
the Daily Prophet that Harry was 'disturbed and dangerous', doesn't necessarily mean she
was telling the truth. It seems to me that you're just using that excuse to not believe that
Voldemort has returned!"
"It seems to me that you are just using the excuse that he's Harry Potter in order to
protect him!" shouted Fudge. "It is clear that this boy cannot be trusted around people!
He needs to be locked up!"
"Over my dead body," Fiona snapped through gritted teeth. She stepped in front
of where Harry was sitting as though trying to protect the boy from Fudge.
"I suggest you leave Hogwarts now, if you cannot accept the truth that Voldemort
has returned," said Dumbledore in an even tone. "And take the dementors with you.
Whether I'm fired or not, I will not allow those things to attack the students here."
Fudge looked as though he were about to explode, but he left the office without
further comment.
Immediately afterwards, Fiona turned to Snape and seethed, "If you say one word
about me favoring this boy as a student, just one word...!" But it seemed as though Snape
was both impressed and afraid of how she spoke (or rather yelled) to Fudge.
After taking a few steadying breaths, Fiona said to Dumbledore, "Clearly, if this is
how the Ministry of Magic works here, then it appears you cannot work against
Voldemort like this."
Dumbledore nodded. "I had hoped to stop Voldemort without interfering at the
Ministry, but I suppose that's impossible with Fudge as Minister." He turned to
Professor McGonagall. "Round up the other teachers and tell them go to my office. I
will be with you all shortly."
Professor McGonagall nodded and left the room. Just then, Fiona remembered
what she was going to tell Dumbledore.
"Sir," she said briskly. "I think I know a way to bring Harry back from this
catatonia he seems to be in."
"Really?" asked Dumbledore thoughtfully. "Go on, then."
"It's old magic... I've never really done it before," Fiona admitted. "But I think I
can do it. I'll probably need about an hour or so to do it..."
"You are sure you know what you are doing?"
Fiona nodded.
"Then... good luck. Come, Severus." Dumbledore left the office, and after
shooting a sharp look at Fiona, Snape followed. Fiona closed the door after them, took a
deep breath, then adjusted her chair so that it directly faced Harry.
It was very complicated work. She had to somehow release her spirit part of
herself from her body and enter Harry's mind. If anyone walked into her office while she
was in Harry's mind, it would look as though she was catatonic as well.
"All right," she muttered, sitting down in her chair. "Let's do it."
It was important to maintain eye contact with Harry while doing this. Trying not
to blink, Fiona stared directly into Harry's blank eyes... she suddenly had the sensation
that she being blown about by the wind.... she felt herself being lifted up from her human
body...
The next she knew, she was in a living room. What am I doing here? she
wondered. Looking down, she saw that she was in her complete angel form. It worked!
she cheered silently. But what was this place? It was oddly familiar...
She could hear singing from the dining room... it sounded like the song, "Happy
Birthday to You." She left the living room and peered into the dining room. There was
what seemed to be Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, and a younger Dudley, who seemed a lot less
fat then what he was now. A group of Dudley's friends were in the room as well, and
Mrs. Dursley was preparing to cut a huge chocolate cake on the table.
Now she knew what this place was: it was the Dursleys house on Privet Drive.
This must have been one of Dudley's past birthdays; there were eight candles on the
birthday cake.
"That cake looks pretty good, doesn't it?" a small voice whispered.
Fiona whirled around and saw a little boy, small and skinny standing behind her.
Fiona wasn't afraid, she had recognized the voice immediately... and this boy wasn't even
a year older from when they first met.
"Hello, Harry," Fiona said, smiling.
The seven year old Harry Potter stared at her through his round glasses. "Aren't
you that nice lady from the nurse's office?" he asked.
Fiona nodded. "Yes, yes I am." She put a finger to her lips. "But keep your
voice down, or else your uncle will think you're talking to herself. You see, nobody can
see me or hear me but you."
"Are you a ghost?" Harry asked uncertainly.
"No," she replied. "I'm.... a friend."
The little boy looked down. "I don't have any friends."
"Well then, I'll be your first one," Fiona said simply. Her voice hushing down to a
whisper, she asked, "What are you doing here?"
Harry looked confused. "I *live* here."
Fiona mentally kicked herself. This wasn't really Harry, it was a memory of
things that had already happened. He didn't know about Hogwarts yet. Trying to make
conversation, she said casually, "So, it's your cousin's birthday?" Harry nodded. "Why
aren't you in the dining room with the other boys?" she inquired, even though she knew
the answer.
"My aunt and uncle never let me participate in the party. And they never let me
have any sweets of any kind."
"Hmmm," Fiona said thoughtfully. "That's not fair. Although there are two
advantages to this. One, you could look like *him*." She pointed at Dudley and Harry
let out a small laugh. "Two, I expect you don't have any cavities from eating sweets, do
you?"
Harry shook his head and smiled shyly, showing his teeth. "Oh, good, you don't,"
Fiona said. "That's a good boy, Harry."
As Harry blushed, a harsh voice rang out, startling both of them, "WHAT ARE
YOU DOING OUT HERE, BOY?"
It was Mr. Dursley. He must have spotted Harry. Harry looked petrified with
fear. He marched up to Harry, walking right through Fiona, and slapped him across the
face. Fiona felt the blow as though Mr. Dursley had it her too. Then he grabbed Harry
by the scruff of his neck, dragged him to the cupboard under the stairs, opened it, threw
Harry in, and locked it.
"And stay in there or there'll be trouble!" shouted Mr. Dursley. He stormed off.
Shaking slightly, Fiona passed through the cupboard door. Harry was sitting on
the floor. A red mark was on his cheek where his uncle hit him.
"Does it hurt?" she asked gently.
Harry shook his head. "No. I'm used to it."
Fiona sat down next to him. "Would you like some company? I can stay here
with you as long as you want."
Harry showed a small smile. "That would be nice, but I wouldn't want to waste
your time."
"Oh, you're not wasting my.... time?" As she started to say this, the setting around
her changed. It happened very quickly; Fiona was no longer sitting in the cupboard under
the stairs with the younger version of Harry, but sitting somewhere outside... a field.
Exactly which field it was, Fiona knew instantly.
"This is the field where Tom and I used to play!" she exclaimed aloud. "But...
why is it here?" She stood up and looked all around. The place had changed so much:
the sky was no longer sunny, but cloudy, like it was about to rain. The grass was dead.
And the beautiful flowers and plants that she and Tom used to look at in awe? Gone. In
their places were patches of weeds.
As Fiona stared sadly at the place which at one time had been filled with laughter,
friendship, and at some times tears, the place that only existed in Tom's dreams, she
noticed that there was a graveyard in the distance. That was strange. There had never
been a graveyard there before.
Another person was in the field... heading towards the graveyard... Curious, Fiona
followed this mysterious person. The second they entered the graveyard, she saw who
the person was...
"Harry!" she called out. It was him all right. Not the seven year old Harry she
had encountered in that memory, or whatever it was. It was the current version of Harry,
the sixteen year old boy she had taught this year, along with many others.
Harry stared at her, but said nothing. Nor did she to him. He was holding five
roses in his hands: one red, one yellow, one orange, one pink, and one white.
"What are you doing here?" she asked finally.
Harry didn't respond. He just walked through the graveyard. Fiona followed. As
they walked by countless graves, she caught sight of some names written on the
tombstones, such as "McKinnon", "Prewett", "Bones".... and then she saw one name on a
tombstone that made her stop dead:
TOM RIDDLE
Of course she knew it wasn't Tom. Not the Tom she had known; it was his
father's grave. Fiona had seen it before in Harry's fourth year. Suddenly, Fiona realized
that these, somehow, were the graves of people that Voldemort had murdered. "This is
experience is going from strange to just plain creepy," she muttered.
She caught up to Harry, who had stopped in front of five graves. He slowly bent
down in front of the first one, and placed the pink rose on it. The grave read:
LILI BAUDELAIRE
He moved to the second grave and placed the orange rose on it:
JOSHUA BAUDELAIRE
So, Fiona thought. These two must have been that little girl's- Emily's- brother
and sister. Harry was placing the yellow rose on the third grave:
CEDRIC DIGGORY
The nice Hufflepuff boy who was killed in Harry fourth year. Fiona supposed that
Harry put the yellow rose on his grave because yellow was one of the Hufflepuff colors.
She moved to the fourth grave, which Harry had already placed the red rose on:
JAMES POTTER
Harry had finished placing the white rose on the fifth and final grave, and was now
sitting, cross-legged, on the ground, facing it. Fiona read the name on the grave:
LILY POTTER
Fiona stared at Harry with a mixture of sadness and sympathy. "I'm sorry," she
said to him softly.
"Don't be," Harry replied in a dead, hollow kind of voice.
Fiona gazed at the entire graveyard. "These are all people that Voldemort killed."
Harry shook his head. "Not all of them. I killed these five."
Fiona had heard those words, but she didn't believe it for a second.
"No," she said. "No, you didn't kill them... Voldemort did."
"The only reason why Voldemort killed them was because they were in his way of
killing me. Because of me, they're all gone forever."
"That isn't true and you know it!" Fiona said firmly.
"Is it?"asked Harry. "I don't know why Voldemort had it out for me and my dad,
but my mother shouldn't have died. Only reason he killed her was because she was
trying to stop him from killing me. Cedric was killed because I told him to take the
Triwizard Cup with me. As for Lili and Joshua, Voldemort killed them to try to get to
me. So I'm responsible for all of their deaths."
"Harry, stop talking like that. You're scaring me."
"You're not the only one. I scare myself. I must be something so terrible if
Voldemort kills others in the way of me."
Fiona was about to tell him that this wasn't true, but once again, the scene
changed. The graveyard turned into something that made Fiona gasp.
It was a black ocean.
***
Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Emily were still in the Great Hall with all the
survivors. Most of them had curled up in the sleeping bags that Dumbledore and the
others had given them. Emily had stopped crying, but she looked even more terrified
when they explained to her what had happened to Harry.
Speaking of Dumbledore, he was approaching the four. They all stood up.
"Well?" Ron asked. "Is there any changes? How is he doing?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "As far as I know, he's still the same, but Professor
Clark is trying to reach him."
"How is she doing that?" Hermione asked.
"I do not know," said Dumbledore. "She said that she was old magic. We just
have to trust her." He sighed heavily. "I must speak to the survivors...."
***
At first, Harry didn't know what was going on.... He had just had strange visions
playing in his head, but none of them made any sense. He had the dreamy sensation that
he was floating...
He vaguely heard someone calling his name: "Harry! Harry! Where are you?"
Professor Clark? What was she doing... wherever he was?
His eyes snapped open and with a thrill of horror, he realized that he was
underwater. The shadow creature.... he looked down and saw that the shadow creature
was gone. Using all of his strength, he kicked his way up to the ebb of the water...
He burst to the surface gasping for air. He breathed so deeply as though he had
gone days with out air. No sooner had this happened, he heard Professor Clark scream.
"HARRY! Oh, Harry!"
She was there all right, standing on the edge of the now visible shore. She looked
exactly like Harry had seen her when she saved him from the dementors; she glowed
brightly through the mists.
Harry spotted a large piece of wood drifting nearby him. He swam over and held
on to it. The woman on the shore, using a path of rocks sticking out of the water, hurried
over to him.
"Harry! What happened to you? You could have drowned! Are you alright?"
Harry didn't answer her questions. Instead, after erupting a fit of coughs, he asked
one question that was burning through his mind ever since he first met the woman calling
herself Fiona Clark:
"Who are you?" he asked her in a hoarse voice. "You were the woman
substituting at the nurse's office when I was seven, weren't you?"
She nodded.
"And now you're a teacher at Hogwarts. But I saw what you looked like tonight
when the dementors surrounded me.... you're an angel."
Without hesitation, the woman... angel nodded again. "Yes. I am an angel. A
guardian angel, to be more specific. Yours."
Harry was speechless. Of course he believed in angels, he had for a long time...
but it was still a shock to meet one face to face. Especially when it was his guardian
angel.
"You certainly look the part," he said slowly. "What's your name? Your real
name."
She suddenly had a pained expression on her face, as though she was recalling a
memory that was very sad. But she quickly shook this off and replied, "Fiona. My name
is Fiona. The 'Clark' part is something I just added. I was sent here because you were in
danger. Now, what happened to you? When I got back to you in the alley, you were
somehow rendered catatonic!"
"I have no idea," said Harry. "I heard Fudge and Dumbledore arguing, and Fudge
blaming me for what happened to Hogsmeade... and suddenly I was underwater... This
shadow creature thing was trying to drown me... and I guess I blacked out or something.
Then I had weird kinds of visions... one was of Dudley's eighth birthday... and the second
was something with a graveyard and roses..." He stared at Fiona and suddenly exclaimed:
"You were in both of them! I saw you!"
"You mean those were memories of yours? Dreams?" Fiona asked, puzzled.
"I dunno..." Harry looked around. "What is this place? A few months ago, I came
here in a dream... I saw Tom Riddle's body underwater."
Once again, Fiona showed that strange pained expression. And once again, she
shook it off and started to explain, "This is a black ocean, Harry. It exists in the mind of
people. It's sort of their own dark side." She pointed at the water. "It isn't really water;
it's made up of people's fears, anger, and grief." Fiona eyed Harry seriously out of her
blue eyes. "It's very dangerous. If you ever come to this place and set foot in the
'water', the darkness will consume you, and your soul will be forever lost in the darkness.
You are very fortunate to have been here twice and survived."
She paused for a few moments, and then asked, "Harry, I don't know if you
remember, but when we were in the graveyard, did you really mean what you said?
About you feeling responsible for those deaths?"
Harry didn't answer, but it was as though Fiona could read his mind. She shook
her head and said, "Harry, it isn't true. Are feeling responsible because of what Fudge
said?"
"Yes," Harry admitted. "What he's saying is true, though. If it wasn't for me, all
those people at Hogsmeade would still be alive."
"If it wasn't for you, what would have stopped him and the Death Eaters for
murdering all those people in the first place?" Fiona asked incredulously. "You stopped
Voldemort fifteen years ago, at the height of his power, remember?"
"The only reason I survived that night was by a lucky chance," Harry said bitterly.
"I don't deserve that fame. Voldemort was stopped that night because my mother died to
save me, when she shouldn't have."
"She wanted to do that because she loved you!" Fiona insisted. She looked as
though she couldn't believe her ears. "What's gotten into you Harry? You're acting just
like..." Trailing off, she could only shake her head repeatedly. Suddenly, she gasped.
"Harry! You're sinking!"
"Huh?" Harry looked down. She was right. The dark water was starting to pull
him under, as though he was wearing heavy bars of lead. The only thing keeping him
from completely sinking underwater was his tight grip on the piece of wood. Yet already
his fingers were starting to slip.
"Harry, take my hand!" Fiona cried, holding out her hand. "If you sink
underwater, you'll be lost forever!"
"So what?" asked Harry quietly. Nothing but dark thoughts were clouding his
mind. "If anything happens to me, who would care?"
"*I'd* care!" Fiona shouted. "And Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, all your other
friends, Hagrid, Sirius..."
"As long as I'm around, they'll get hurt. Just like this afternoon when the Death
Eaters tortured Ron, Hermione, and Ginny! Like I said before, I must have been
something so terrible that Voldemort kills others in the way of me."
"That's not the reason why Voldemort tried to kill you!" Fiona blurted out. Harry
looked up at her.
"You know why Voldemort tried to kill me in the first place? Tell me! I've
waited so long to know...."
"I-I can't," Fiona stammered. "You're not ready to know."
"Please tell me!" Harry begged.
Fiona wouldn't be swayed. "We're not allowed to reveal things you're not ready
to know. That won't help anything right now."
"Easier for you to say," Harry said despairingly. He losing his grip on the piece of
wood. The black ocean would drag him down for sure.... "You don't know what it's like
to feel responsible for something so horrible, it haunts you day after day."
Fiona's head bowed down so low, Harry couldn't see her face. When she looked
up again, Harry was astonished to see her face in tears. "Yes, I do," she said in a sad
whisper.
"What?" Harry asked absentmindedly. "What did you say?"
She took a deep, shuddering breath and said, "Before you were born, I was the
guardian angel of another boy who was a wizard. His name... was Tom Marvolo Riddle.
He was a nice boy when we first met; a little moody, a little secretive, but still overall
kind. We were inseparable, Tom and I. And then he started changing. At first it was
nothing; it was things like sneaking into the Restricted Section of the library, pushing
away the only true friends he had... and then...." Fiona gulped. "...when he turned
sixteen... he killed his father. I tried to persuade Tom to change his ways before it was
too late, but he turned away from me."
Harry was stunned by this new information. Fiona? Voldemort's former guardian
angel? Impossible!
She went on, "I was convinced that it was all my fault; that something happened
between the two of us that shouldn't have. That I was supposed to protect him from what
was to come. The others told me it wasn't my fault because it was Tom's choice. For
almost fifty years, I just went on hurting. Until I became yours. You always reminded
me of Tom, but you are different. You have wonderful friends and people that care about
you. Nevertheless, I still felt guilty for what happened to Tom..."
"It wasn't your fault," said Harry suddenly. "You can't blame yourself for things
beyond your control."
Fiona smiled faintly. "I know that now. You must realize that too."
Harry just stared at her blankly. She's right, you know, a small voice in his head
said. His throat was too tight to speak.
"And if you think, for one moment, that your parents, Cedric,that little girl's
siblings, and all those people at Hogsmeade died just to have you blame yourself for what
happened, you're wrong. I know for a fact, that you hear your mother's dying screams
when the dementors come near you. Do you think that she pleaded with Voldemort to
spare you so that you could be miserable for the rest of your life? Your parents would
have wanted you to live and be happy, wouldn't they?"
She looked down again. "So now you have the same choice Tom had long ago: it
would be easy to succumb to the Darkness, but the right thing to do would be to resist, go
back, and be happy. What's it going to be?"
Harry's fingertips were seconds away from sliding off the wood. Fiona's words
kept on repeating in his mind. He made his decision...
With a sudden surge of strength, Harry pushed himself up, wrenching himself
from the black ocean's grasp, and grabbed Fiona's hand. Surprised, but in a happy way,
she helped him out of the water.
***
Fiona suddenly found herself back in her human body, back in her office. A little
overwhelmed by what had just happened, she almost slumped out of her seat, but quickly
steadied herself. She looked at where Harry was, and with a sigh of relief, she saw that
Harry was moving.
For a moment, he blinked fervently and looked around him. Like Fiona, he also
looked overwhelmed by the ordeal he went through. Then, he slid out of his seat, fell to
his knees, face in his hands, and his shoulders started shaking.
Without a second though, Fiona got out of her chair, knelt beside Harry, and put
her arms around with. The two of them said nothing for a long time.
To be continued...
Okay, first of all, I hope none of you found this chapter corny. This will probably
be the longest chapter in the story. If you have any problems with this chapter, I will
accept constructive criticism. All right, so I'm an old softy, sue me!
Up next: I didn't call this story a drama for nothing! The drama continues as
Harry meets up with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and a grief-stricken Emily. By the way,
what do YOU think should happen to Emily? Tell me in your reviews. So stay tuned!