Baby's got a secret
She leaned back and rocked the hammock with her foot as she put her headphones to her ears. Closing her eyes and inhaling the fresh air, Hermione was glad that it was summer. 'America is so beautiful,' she thought as the hammock rocked back and forth.
Without opening her eyes, she felt someone come up and sit in an empty chair next to her hammock. She had prayed that it was Harry, but she knew that it wasn't. "Hi," she said softly.
"You deserve this break, don't you? After all that studying you did."
Hermione opened her eyes and saw the open green canopy above her, the sun playing light tricks on the many layers of green leaves. Smiling tiredly, she said, "Only if you think so Ron." She turned to look at him. "Do you?"
"Stop acting like you don't know what I'm talking about."
"Ron, I'm happy for you that you're getting married, and to a wonderful and intelligent witch, but its not what you think. about me." Suddenly, the screen door to the house opened and a thin brunette with dark eyes came out with three glasses of lemonade hovering over her hand as if she was holding an invisible tray.
"Hi guys." With her free hand, she handed a glass to Hermione and Ron and then sat on Ron's lap with her own.
"Hi Antigone," Hermione said looking back up at the sky and sipping her lemonade. Antigone could instantly see what was wrong with Hermione for she was the only one Hermione had ever confided in about this new secret. It wasn't that new though, but it was the newest dilemma in Hermione's life.
"You're sad about school ending, aren't you?" Ron asked.
"Partially." She said, still looking up to the sky, Discman still playing.
"And yet somehow you find the courage to go on living. You've got guts."
Antigone said. Though her words playfully tossed Hermione's emotions around like a piece of meat, Hermione knew that in her friend's eyes she was deeply sorry and only saying that because Ron was there.
Antigone began to finger a ring on her right hand. Hermione closed her eyes again as she felt, but not saw, Antigone fitting perfectly into Ron's arms and putting her head gently on his shoulder. Hermione began to listen to the next song.
' She'd do anything to sparkle in his eye, She would suffer, she would fight and compromise. She's been wishing on the stars that shine so bright For answers to questions that will haunt her tonight... '
Hermione suddenly jolted and fell out of the hammock and landed on the hard, brick floor. Her Discman fell next to her and stopped playing.
"Hermione! Are you-" Antigone quickly covered Ron's mouth to keep him from asking further.
"Fine?" Hermione finished for him.
"Yes."
She pushed herself up on her hands and looked at them to see that they had been scraped from her hard fall.
"I'll just go and clean up. And don't bother getting up, I can mange alone."
Leaving the Discman on the floor, she got up and walked through the screen door into the house. It was a small farmhouse and it belonged to Antigone's parents. She, Ron, Harry and Antigone were all spending the first month of summer here until they could get over the fact that their final year at Hogwarts was over.
Hermione mounted Beau, the horse she liked the most, and walked out of the stable on her back. She turned to see Harry right behind her and just as he left the stable she gently kicked her heels into Beau's sides and she took off leaving Harry behind. It didn't take him long to catch on that it was a simple game of tag and he took off as well. They both galloped over the open plains of the farmland outlined by the woods. Both horses, both near the prime of their life, galloped hard and fast in a game of play. Hermione led Beau into the woods and Harry followed. A path had been worn by a truck with sand on both sides of a grassy median between them. Trees rose on both sides and hung over like a bridge causing dark shadows on the path. A tree had recently fallen on the path and with one mighty leap Beau cleared it, followed closely by Harry's horse.
After a while, the forest began to thin out and Harry had caught up (secretly, Hermione had been making Beau slow down a little bit every few seconds so he could catch up). While both horses were still galloping, Harry pulled up beside her, grabbed her around the waist with one arm and pulled her over onto his horse. Once she was firmly seated in front of him, he gently pulled his horse to a halt, and Beau stopped as soon as Hermione left her back.
Harry dismounted, and then took Hermione by the waist with both hands and helped her down. Whether he had meant to do it or not, Hermione never knew, but just as he was at the point setting her on the ground, his arms gave way and she fell, colliding with his body. They both paused for a minute, staring into the obvious closeness of the other's eyes.
Harry cleared his throat and pushed her back up to her feet. "There you go then, sorry about that."
"Oh, no trouble." She said, rather awkwardly. Her inner emotions went screaming at herself for letting him let go, but she also knew that she would be pushing it if she had let herself.
' Why can't you hold me and never let go? When you touch me it is me that you own Pretty baby, oh the place that you hold in my heart Would you break it apart, again?... '
Lyrics to the songs she heard went echoing through her mind as an explanation to her true emotions. "Hermione.?"
"Yes?"
"Do, do you remember. when we first met?"
Hermione feebly managed a laugh. "That was over seven years ago, and yet I remember it like it was yesterday, why?"
"Oh, cause don't you think it's a little funny.?" he sounded nervous as he found sudden interest in his left shoe. She took his hand gently and held it as she looked at his eyes, which were still pointed at the ground.
Hermione sighed as she tried to get him to look at her without saying anything, but when he didn't she let his hand go. "So what do you plan on doing now that you're done with school?" she asked as she turned away and rested her shoulder on a tree, back facing him.
"Oh I don't know. I guess I might go and start a job in the Ministry of Magic somewhere or go open a shop in Diagon Alley." He paused as he came up behind her and she knew this only because she felt his breath on the back of her neck. "So, what do you plan to do?" "I don't know. I was so focused on school I didn't plan on what I would do once I got out." Harry stifled a laugh as she said this. She turned only her head to look at him. "Can I ask you just one simple question," she paused, "because I know we can both be totally honest with each other, right?" Harry nodded. "Harry. do you love me?"
Harry sort of choked. He couldn't speak, but at the same time he looked as if he wanted to. "Hermione." he managed to say. He sighed. "Yes."
' And as he spoke he spoke ordinary words though they did not feel For I felt what I had not felt before And you'd swear those words could heal. '
Her face suddenly lit up in a smile as she looked up at him. She put her hand up over his shoulder and drew his face so close to hers that their noses touched. "Because, Harry Potter, I love you too." His hand came up from under her chin and tilted her face up ever so slightly so their lips met in a soft touch. When they let go, they stared into each other's eyes. Hermione heard off in the distance a horse neighing and she turned to look and see behind Harry that Beau's reigns were caught in a giant shrubbery.
She took her arm off Harry as they both giggled like little children at their first kiss. She walked right behind Harry, but as soon as she passed him, she felt a giant pain in her stomach as if she had just been shot and bent over, unable to breathe. She quickly caught her breath as Harry caught her elbow and the small of her back. "Hermione?" he asked, panicked and concerned.
"I'm. I think I'm fine." She was unsure, but the pain had left as quickly as it had come and she stood up with some assistance on Harry's part.
"Are you sure?" he asked as he put her on Beau's back.
"I just feel a little dizzy right now. and tired, I feel tired too." She began to drift off as Harry hopped on behind her, using his chest to support her. With his horse's reins in one hand and Beau's in the other, he led the horses back to the house at a rather speedy trot, as fast as he was willing to go with Hermione acting like this.
Before they reached the house, Antigone saw them out of the huge front bay window and came running out to meet him halfway between the stable and the house. "Harry, what happened?" Antigone knew something was wrong when she saw the dazed expression Hermione wore.
"I don't know, she just sort of fell over."
Antigone took Hermione off the horse as Harry hopped off. "Alright then, you take Hermione into the house and my mom will know what to do. I'll put the horses away and get my dad because he is more experienced in this stuff." Antigone handed Hermione off to Harry as he ran into the house.
Mrs. Hall was calmly cutting potatoes with a knife over a boiling pot on the kitchen stove while Ron poured over paperwork about his wedding on the kitchen table. "Mrs. Hall." called Harry as he walked into the kitchen. She suddenly dropped her knife and potato as she ran over to them and took Hermione from Harry and took her to the back of the house. She lay Hermione over a bed as Ron and Harry watched impatiently from the foot of the bed. Mrs. Hall forced open her eyelids to look and checked her pulse and did things of this nature.
Suddenly, Mr. Hall ran in, closely followed by Antigone and the three teens waited at the foot of the bed while Mr. and Mrs. Hall inspected Hermione. After about five minutes, Mrs. Hall stood up and ushered the three out of the small room. "Alright everyone, out!"
"What!?" Demanded Harry.
"You'll have to wait outside. Antigone, please turn everything off on the stove and keep the gravy boiling at a low temperature." As soon as they were out of the door, she shut the door and they heard her lock it.
"What do you think is wrong with Hermione?" asked Ron, as they all sat on the bench outside.
"Harry, what did Hermione do exactly?" asked Antigone.
Harry, who was almost beside himself with panic and worry, took a deep breath and began. "Well, she was just walking and then suddenly she sort of bent over like she had been hit with a baseball bat in her stomach and she fell to the ground. She said she was fine and when I put her on the horse she said she felt tired and then sort of passed out."
"What happened before that?" asked Ron. Harry just sort of looked away. "Harry?" Antigone and Ron heard him sniff, as if he was trying to hold back tears, and then he abruptly stood up.
"Look, its not my fault you guys found true love so easily and that you can just express your love and have no other care in the world! Well there you have it Ron! You're finally better than the great Harry Potter because now you can have all the attention in the world from someone you love but it doesn't come so easily for someone who's parents died, does it?" Harry was just blowing up.
"Harry-"
"I hope you're happy Ron!" he screamed and ran off. Ron and Antigone stared at the point where he disappeared into the woods. Antigone felt Ron shiver next to her and she put her arm across his chest and put her nose into his red hair in an affectionate way.
"It's okay Ron." she said softly into his ear. He turned his whole body toward her and she held him in a hug (sort of like the reverse of a guy to a girl for Ron was the one being held). "Shh." Antigone rocked him back and forth on the swing as she let him heal the scars his friend's words had left.
Hermione was tormented. Her arms and legs refused to move and her mouth would not open though she tried very hard to scream. Mr. and Mrs. Hall stood over her giving her medicines and casting anti-spells over her but as much as she tried to talk to them, she couldn't. She remembered how when whatever it was had hit her, it felt like something was cast into her body. She couldn't breathe because it froze her diaphragm and her lungs. It them slowly worked its way up her back and down her legs, which was why Harry had to help her onto the horse. By the time she had reached the house, it had taken her over entirely and she couldn't speak.
'Where is Harry?' was the first priority thought. 'What happened to me?' was the second. In her mind, she shivered from the cold and wished that Harry would come and put his arm around her and she could crawl under the blanket with him and just be warm forever in his arms. Now, however, she was out in the rain, alone, cold and wet and totally miserable.
' As the sun shines through it pushes away and pushes ahead, It fills the warmth of blue and leaves a chill instead. I didn't know that I could be So blind to all that is so real and pushed ahead but as illusion dies, I see there is so much to be revealed. '
In her mind, she curled up into a ball and began to cry. Suddenly, there was a flash of white light and a rush of visions came flooding into her mind at once. As soon as it had come, it was over and Hermione looked up. Trying to remember a small image of one of the many she had seen, her mind raced back through what she had just seen. Another flash went by and a few of the faces looked familiar.
She could just make out her own face once or twice, and Harry's also. There was a dark figure, and then her being supported by Ron and Antigone. Questioning her unconscious self on what this meant, she had another flash, only this time, instead of being quick and of several images at once, it seemed to be a long video. She was watching Harry running through the forest when suddenly he collapsed. He looked up to see a dark figure descend upon him, but before it ended there was another flash and another video began to play.
It was of her running through the woods and she had tears in her eyes. She suddenly came upon a clearing with Harry's limp body on the ground and a dark figure standing above him. Its mouth was flowing with blood like it was a vampire, but its teeth were that of a regular man. It looked up at her when she entered the clearing, but right before she saw his face, the vision changed into one of her. It showed no picture, only feelings. It was great and searing pain running through her body but more so her hand. Her unconscious looked at her hand and saw that it was dripping badly with blood. It trickled down her arm and dripped profusely onto the gray material of ground she sat on in her mind.
When she could no longer take the pain, she saw herself back in this room, only it was calm and clear and everything seemed so serene. Ron was sitting next to her bed and Antigone was looming in the doorway, but Harry was nowhere to be seen. As suddenly as her flashed went, they left again and a voice, so softly speaking, began to peer through her dreary, gray world. 'Hermione.'
'Yes?'
'Hermione. he needs you.'
'Who is this?' she asked, a little nervous and a little unsure.
'This is Lily.'
'.Potter?'
'Yes. You need to go now.'
'What I saw, did you send it to me?'
'What I sent to you is the future. It may change now that you know what it is of, but it is the future.'
'Is Harry going to die?'
'Not if you don't do something.'
'What can I do?'
'The Rex Spell has hit you. It causes you to become paralyzed in a matter of minutes and the victim can almost never be recovered.'
'Am I going to be like this forever?'
'Not if you get up.'
'I can't! I can't move myself!'
"Yes you can! You know of a power so great that you feel alive whenever it is with you and so cold when you are without it. It is what causes me to be able to be in your mind.'
'My love?'
'For my son.' Lily finished. 'Now get up!'
'I can't!'
'Get up!' Hermione sighed and with every piece of power in her she lifted her arm and to her surprise she felt her body move. He opened her eyes and saw Mr. and Mrs. Hall looking at her raised arm like it was a sign from God. With little bits of her inner strength from Lily, she pushed herself off the bed and stood before Mr. and Mrs. Hall.
"Excuse me." She said flatly but not unkindly. Both of them hurried aside as if she were a ghost. She walked over to the closet and pulled out her long cloak and her wand (which she pocketed) and walked out of the door.
"Hermione, you can't just leave, like, now you are in great need of special- " Mrs. Hall stopped short of herself when Hermione stopped and shot her a dark look and continued on her way. She almost ran out of the house to the bench where Antigone sat holding Ron like he was her child.
"Antigone, is Beau saddled?" Both of them jumped, as Hermione was suddenly there when she wasn't before.
"Hermione! Are you-" Antigone began in a high-spirited tone.
"Is Beau saddled!?" she demanded rather harshly.
"Yes." She said in a very small voice. Without saying another word to her, Hermione ran off towards the stable leaving a very bewildered Antigone and Ron. Before she even checked to see if he was properly saddled and bridled, she hopped onto his back and took off out of the stable into the woods.
Harry had run into a clearing. He had run long and hard to get there, but he put his hand up to a tree and bent over to catch his breath. He looked up to realize that he had been here before. in fact earlier that day. with Hermione. Breathing heavily, he let that memory slide in and out of his consciousness as he relived their first kiss. Harry pushed his back to the tree (realizing that it was, in fact, the same tree he had relived the memory to) and thought about all those awful things he had said to Ron. He did feel bad about it, but what was he supposed to do now, go back and tell him that he was sorry?
Suddenly, there was a whoosh in Harry's mind and something jumped down upon him from up in the tree. It pinned him to the ground and stared at him in the face. 'Well well, it seems that my Master's role will be avenged, now after he is dead."
"You Dark Lord Followers are all the same!" Harry yelled as he pushed off the thing. He reached for his wand, but before he could recite the spell the 'thing' gave him a hard punch to the jaw. Harry found it rather difficult to move his jaw, but still tried to say the spell anyway. When nothing happened, the thing tripped him onto his back and kicked him in the stomach.
He stood atop Harry and pulled his face close by his shirt. "I would have had you earlier today, but that little witch stepped right in front of you as I cast my spell!" "That was you!?" Harry said with difficulty.
"No, it was the Easter Bunny." He let Harry go and he hit the ground hard and the thing kicked him again. It was obviously a man, and one not much older than Harry, but he was pale all over and spoke with a low rasping voice. He did, though, have a familiarity to him. "After all you put my master through and all we did to suffer for him and it was al because of you!" He kicked Harry again.
Harry felt himself cough and saw blood spill out onto the ground. The thing still continued to beat him up. "And now, Potter, you will see only a mere fraction of the pain you have inflicted upon our Master!" He rose his wand and a thick, gold, lightning bolt came forth and struck Harry and sent him into fits of electric shock. It lasted for about thirty seconds, but those thirty seconds seemed to last an eternity for Harry. "Some powerful wizard. you're pathetic." Harry felt the lightning hit him again and his body spasmed into convulsions.
He knew, now, that he only held on by a thread. Any more of his lightning games and he knew he'd be gone. He felt someone nagging at his sides, knowing the thing was kicking him but he didn't feel anything. At last the nagging stopped and he felt the thing lean over. 'Oh god.' Harry thought, 'please don't.'
Hermione rode hard and fast into the woods in an attempt to save Harry. She had no idea where she was going and only went on an impulse deep inside of her that was the voice of Lily. Suddenly, she heard a loud crack and Beau reared up and fell to the ground with her on top of her. She crawled from under the limp horse to see a crevice in the ground. 'Whatever it was set a booby trap for me.' She thought to herself. She looked over at Beau, but she wasn't dead, just knocked out.
She ran. Hermione never had been so determined to get to a place so fast other than now. She ran fast and hard, branches tearing at her cape and thorns ripping her pants. At last, she knew where she was and that she was at the clearing that Harry told her that he loved her. Hermione burst into the clearing and the sight laid out before her would stay with her for the rest of her mortal life.
Harry lay unconscious on the ground, bleeding badly and was deep in pools of his own blood. There was also a darkly robed figure with silver hair and skin and had blood dripping from its mouth. As she entered, it looked up and she could see his face in the moonlight.
"Malfoy?"
"Mudblood!" He raised his wand and pointed it at Hermione and giant vines came flowing out, pushing her roughly against the tree behind her and wrapped her tightly around it and all before she even thought of reaching for her wand. "Ha. You were just in time. I just got done drinking the blood of the enemy and now I would also eat his heart in the memory of my Master. but I think it would be more appropriate if I ate the heart of his lover!"
Malfoy raised his wand.
'Oh God, it can't end like this!' Hermione thought. 'I don't believe this! I will die unable to save Harry and then Malfoy will only gather more followers in Voldemort's name. Please don't let it end this way!'
' Well all she wants and all she needs are reasons to survive. A day in which the sun will take her artificial light. '
Things began to happen in slow motion. Malfoy's wand was raised high in the air when Hermione heard Lily speaking to her. 'Hermione. he needs you and you need to save yourselves. It doesn't end this way, remember?'
Her eyes, once shut, snapped open again. With a mighty thrust on her part the vines fell apart and shattered around her like glass.
Time was slowed down, because Hermione stepped forward as a thin, silver lightning bolt came forth from Malfoy's wand. Pieces of shattered vine came bursting all around her but never once striking her. The bolt was small and narrow, but moved very slowly in this time change and was aimed right for her. Just as it came within arm's reach, she reached out and grabbed it like she would the handle of a knife.
She felt an outrageous pain in her hand as blood trickled down her arm and also onto the ground as she continued to grip the bolt. Forcing the bolt to turn, the pain in her hand only grew though she tried not to let it show on her face. When the bolt was turned all the way around, she let it go and stepped back. Hermione had just enough time to see the surprised expression on Malfoy's face before time resumed to normal. The last pieces of vine hit the ground, Malfoy's wand dropped, and the lightning struck Malfoy. There was a giant explosion and Hermione only stood there, staring at the spot where Malfoy had last been.
Breathing heavily, she glanced sideways to where Harry lay and thought, 'He's safe. I'm safe. We're all safe and no more Dark Followers.' Hermione fell to her knees and felt extremely dizzy again. The world became fuzzy and began to grow dark around the edges. She knew it was not from the Rex Curse because she had woken up from that, but she wasn't quite sure what it was. Her slow and heavy breathing was all that she heard.
Hermione looked over at a rustling in the bushes and saw Antigone and Ron come bounding though to them. 'Oh God.' Hermione thought, and she let herself be taken. The last thing she remembered was seeing Antigone's face as she fell to the ground.
Hermione opened her eyes. Sitting next to her was Harry. "What?" She sat up, realizing that she was in her bed in Antigone's house, and that it seemed to be midmorning judging by the light effects on the walls.
"Good morning."
"What happened?"
"Lie down." It was a soft request and Hermione obeyed. "To be quite honest, I don't know. I was out of it before you came to help me. Today is June 23rd if you must know. You've been out of it for two and a half weeks. I woke up about a week ago, but we've all been worried about you."
"Why?"
"Look at your hand." Hermione held up the hand that she had directed the lightning bolt with and saw, to her amazement, a thick scar along the palm of her hand as well as a few streaks along her fingers.
"It's a-"
"Yes. That was the same curse that gave me this." Harry said, pointing to the scar on his forehead, which had begun to wear away with age.
"And I. I stopped it alone?" Harry nodded in reply. There was a pause and a rather still silence. "Where is everyone?"
"Out. Errands, shopping, what-not."
"Why didn't you go with them?"
"I promised I would stay by your side until you woke up."
Hermione took Harry's hand. "We should start being honest and open with each other about things, Harry." she said, looking at his hand as she held it.
"I know."
"And I must admit that I have been keeping some things from you."
"Me too."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Like what?"
"Well." Harry paused, as he was not too keen on opening himself up to people. "I've never been very good at expressing myself, but I think I can say that I." he looked up into her eyes as they met, "that I want to marry you someday."
Hermione smiled. He reached for his pocket and pulled out a thin, gold ring. It was decorated simply with an engraved ivy vine twisting along the exterior of the band. "Hermione," Harry asked, "one day, when we grow up, have jobs and have enough money to support one another, would you marry me?"
Hermione laughed tiredly with her eyes beginning to roll out of consciousness. "Oh Harry, I love you." Her eyes closed and she faded into sleep, but not before adding, "But I will."
She woke up again. This time, it was near dusk and she felt someone behind her on her bed. He was on her side and looked over to see Harry, sound asleep, next to her, his arm wrapped over her waist and under her neck. He took the hand closest to the top of her body and put it on his cheek gently. Kissing him lightly on the other cheek, she smelled his neck and it reminisced of lilacs. Taking hold of Harry's limp arms, she wrapped both around her shoulders like a blanket and settled her head between his neck and head. 'I really do love you,' she thought. And she was happy.
Closing her eyes, she felt something around her neck. Taking it in one hand, she felt a tiny ring engraved with the ivy and she smiled again. "Hermione."
"Hm?" she asked, knowing that Harry was awake. He pulled her closer and she felt the steady beating of his heart on her back.
"Did you mean what you said when you said that you would marry me?" "Of course I did, Harry." He kissed her lightly on the cheek and she giggled. The two of them together lying there, not caring about anything but each other gave Hermione a feeling way deep down in the depths of her soul, that she was strong and could do anything. Hermione sighed contently, and fell asleep again in Harry's arms.
The End
She leaned back and rocked the hammock with her foot as she put her headphones to her ears. Closing her eyes and inhaling the fresh air, Hermione was glad that it was summer. 'America is so beautiful,' she thought as the hammock rocked back and forth.
Without opening her eyes, she felt someone come up and sit in an empty chair next to her hammock. She had prayed that it was Harry, but she knew that it wasn't. "Hi," she said softly.
"You deserve this break, don't you? After all that studying you did."
Hermione opened her eyes and saw the open green canopy above her, the sun playing light tricks on the many layers of green leaves. Smiling tiredly, she said, "Only if you think so Ron." She turned to look at him. "Do you?"
"Stop acting like you don't know what I'm talking about."
"Ron, I'm happy for you that you're getting married, and to a wonderful and intelligent witch, but its not what you think. about me." Suddenly, the screen door to the house opened and a thin brunette with dark eyes came out with three glasses of lemonade hovering over her hand as if she was holding an invisible tray.
"Hi guys." With her free hand, she handed a glass to Hermione and Ron and then sat on Ron's lap with her own.
"Hi Antigone," Hermione said looking back up at the sky and sipping her lemonade. Antigone could instantly see what was wrong with Hermione for she was the only one Hermione had ever confided in about this new secret. It wasn't that new though, but it was the newest dilemma in Hermione's life.
"You're sad about school ending, aren't you?" Ron asked.
"Partially." She said, still looking up to the sky, Discman still playing.
"And yet somehow you find the courage to go on living. You've got guts."
Antigone said. Though her words playfully tossed Hermione's emotions around like a piece of meat, Hermione knew that in her friend's eyes she was deeply sorry and only saying that because Ron was there.
Antigone began to finger a ring on her right hand. Hermione closed her eyes again as she felt, but not saw, Antigone fitting perfectly into Ron's arms and putting her head gently on his shoulder. Hermione began to listen to the next song.
' She'd do anything to sparkle in his eye, She would suffer, she would fight and compromise. She's been wishing on the stars that shine so bright For answers to questions that will haunt her tonight... '
Hermione suddenly jolted and fell out of the hammock and landed on the hard, brick floor. Her Discman fell next to her and stopped playing.
"Hermione! Are you-" Antigone quickly covered Ron's mouth to keep him from asking further.
"Fine?" Hermione finished for him.
"Yes."
She pushed herself up on her hands and looked at them to see that they had been scraped from her hard fall.
"I'll just go and clean up. And don't bother getting up, I can mange alone."
Leaving the Discman on the floor, she got up and walked through the screen door into the house. It was a small farmhouse and it belonged to Antigone's parents. She, Ron, Harry and Antigone were all spending the first month of summer here until they could get over the fact that their final year at Hogwarts was over.
Hermione mounted Beau, the horse she liked the most, and walked out of the stable on her back. She turned to see Harry right behind her and just as he left the stable she gently kicked her heels into Beau's sides and she took off leaving Harry behind. It didn't take him long to catch on that it was a simple game of tag and he took off as well. They both galloped over the open plains of the farmland outlined by the woods. Both horses, both near the prime of their life, galloped hard and fast in a game of play. Hermione led Beau into the woods and Harry followed. A path had been worn by a truck with sand on both sides of a grassy median between them. Trees rose on both sides and hung over like a bridge causing dark shadows on the path. A tree had recently fallen on the path and with one mighty leap Beau cleared it, followed closely by Harry's horse.
After a while, the forest began to thin out and Harry had caught up (secretly, Hermione had been making Beau slow down a little bit every few seconds so he could catch up). While both horses were still galloping, Harry pulled up beside her, grabbed her around the waist with one arm and pulled her over onto his horse. Once she was firmly seated in front of him, he gently pulled his horse to a halt, and Beau stopped as soon as Hermione left her back.
Harry dismounted, and then took Hermione by the waist with both hands and helped her down. Whether he had meant to do it or not, Hermione never knew, but just as he was at the point setting her on the ground, his arms gave way and she fell, colliding with his body. They both paused for a minute, staring into the obvious closeness of the other's eyes.
Harry cleared his throat and pushed her back up to her feet. "There you go then, sorry about that."
"Oh, no trouble." She said, rather awkwardly. Her inner emotions went screaming at herself for letting him let go, but she also knew that she would be pushing it if she had let herself.
' Why can't you hold me and never let go? When you touch me it is me that you own Pretty baby, oh the place that you hold in my heart Would you break it apart, again?... '
Lyrics to the songs she heard went echoing through her mind as an explanation to her true emotions. "Hermione.?"
"Yes?"
"Do, do you remember. when we first met?"
Hermione feebly managed a laugh. "That was over seven years ago, and yet I remember it like it was yesterday, why?"
"Oh, cause don't you think it's a little funny.?" he sounded nervous as he found sudden interest in his left shoe. She took his hand gently and held it as she looked at his eyes, which were still pointed at the ground.
Hermione sighed as she tried to get him to look at her without saying anything, but when he didn't she let his hand go. "So what do you plan on doing now that you're done with school?" she asked as she turned away and rested her shoulder on a tree, back facing him.
"Oh I don't know. I guess I might go and start a job in the Ministry of Magic somewhere or go open a shop in Diagon Alley." He paused as he came up behind her and she knew this only because she felt his breath on the back of her neck. "So, what do you plan to do?" "I don't know. I was so focused on school I didn't plan on what I would do once I got out." Harry stifled a laugh as she said this. She turned only her head to look at him. "Can I ask you just one simple question," she paused, "because I know we can both be totally honest with each other, right?" Harry nodded. "Harry. do you love me?"
Harry sort of choked. He couldn't speak, but at the same time he looked as if he wanted to. "Hermione." he managed to say. He sighed. "Yes."
' And as he spoke he spoke ordinary words though they did not feel For I felt what I had not felt before And you'd swear those words could heal. '
Her face suddenly lit up in a smile as she looked up at him. She put her hand up over his shoulder and drew his face so close to hers that their noses touched. "Because, Harry Potter, I love you too." His hand came up from under her chin and tilted her face up ever so slightly so their lips met in a soft touch. When they let go, they stared into each other's eyes. Hermione heard off in the distance a horse neighing and she turned to look and see behind Harry that Beau's reigns were caught in a giant shrubbery.
She took her arm off Harry as they both giggled like little children at their first kiss. She walked right behind Harry, but as soon as she passed him, she felt a giant pain in her stomach as if she had just been shot and bent over, unable to breathe. She quickly caught her breath as Harry caught her elbow and the small of her back. "Hermione?" he asked, panicked and concerned.
"I'm. I think I'm fine." She was unsure, but the pain had left as quickly as it had come and she stood up with some assistance on Harry's part.
"Are you sure?" he asked as he put her on Beau's back.
"I just feel a little dizzy right now. and tired, I feel tired too." She began to drift off as Harry hopped on behind her, using his chest to support her. With his horse's reins in one hand and Beau's in the other, he led the horses back to the house at a rather speedy trot, as fast as he was willing to go with Hermione acting like this.
Before they reached the house, Antigone saw them out of the huge front bay window and came running out to meet him halfway between the stable and the house. "Harry, what happened?" Antigone knew something was wrong when she saw the dazed expression Hermione wore.
"I don't know, she just sort of fell over."
Antigone took Hermione off the horse as Harry hopped off. "Alright then, you take Hermione into the house and my mom will know what to do. I'll put the horses away and get my dad because he is more experienced in this stuff." Antigone handed Hermione off to Harry as he ran into the house.
Mrs. Hall was calmly cutting potatoes with a knife over a boiling pot on the kitchen stove while Ron poured over paperwork about his wedding on the kitchen table. "Mrs. Hall." called Harry as he walked into the kitchen. She suddenly dropped her knife and potato as she ran over to them and took Hermione from Harry and took her to the back of the house. She lay Hermione over a bed as Ron and Harry watched impatiently from the foot of the bed. Mrs. Hall forced open her eyelids to look and checked her pulse and did things of this nature.
Suddenly, Mr. Hall ran in, closely followed by Antigone and the three teens waited at the foot of the bed while Mr. and Mrs. Hall inspected Hermione. After about five minutes, Mrs. Hall stood up and ushered the three out of the small room. "Alright everyone, out!"
"What!?" Demanded Harry.
"You'll have to wait outside. Antigone, please turn everything off on the stove and keep the gravy boiling at a low temperature." As soon as they were out of the door, she shut the door and they heard her lock it.
"What do you think is wrong with Hermione?" asked Ron, as they all sat on the bench outside.
"Harry, what did Hermione do exactly?" asked Antigone.
Harry, who was almost beside himself with panic and worry, took a deep breath and began. "Well, she was just walking and then suddenly she sort of bent over like she had been hit with a baseball bat in her stomach and she fell to the ground. She said she was fine and when I put her on the horse she said she felt tired and then sort of passed out."
"What happened before that?" asked Ron. Harry just sort of looked away. "Harry?" Antigone and Ron heard him sniff, as if he was trying to hold back tears, and then he abruptly stood up.
"Look, its not my fault you guys found true love so easily and that you can just express your love and have no other care in the world! Well there you have it Ron! You're finally better than the great Harry Potter because now you can have all the attention in the world from someone you love but it doesn't come so easily for someone who's parents died, does it?" Harry was just blowing up.
"Harry-"
"I hope you're happy Ron!" he screamed and ran off. Ron and Antigone stared at the point where he disappeared into the woods. Antigone felt Ron shiver next to her and she put her arm across his chest and put her nose into his red hair in an affectionate way.
"It's okay Ron." she said softly into his ear. He turned his whole body toward her and she held him in a hug (sort of like the reverse of a guy to a girl for Ron was the one being held). "Shh." Antigone rocked him back and forth on the swing as she let him heal the scars his friend's words had left.
Hermione was tormented. Her arms and legs refused to move and her mouth would not open though she tried very hard to scream. Mr. and Mrs. Hall stood over her giving her medicines and casting anti-spells over her but as much as she tried to talk to them, she couldn't. She remembered how when whatever it was had hit her, it felt like something was cast into her body. She couldn't breathe because it froze her diaphragm and her lungs. It them slowly worked its way up her back and down her legs, which was why Harry had to help her onto the horse. By the time she had reached the house, it had taken her over entirely and she couldn't speak.
'Where is Harry?' was the first priority thought. 'What happened to me?' was the second. In her mind, she shivered from the cold and wished that Harry would come and put his arm around her and she could crawl under the blanket with him and just be warm forever in his arms. Now, however, she was out in the rain, alone, cold and wet and totally miserable.
' As the sun shines through it pushes away and pushes ahead, It fills the warmth of blue and leaves a chill instead. I didn't know that I could be So blind to all that is so real and pushed ahead but as illusion dies, I see there is so much to be revealed. '
In her mind, she curled up into a ball and began to cry. Suddenly, there was a flash of white light and a rush of visions came flooding into her mind at once. As soon as it had come, it was over and Hermione looked up. Trying to remember a small image of one of the many she had seen, her mind raced back through what she had just seen. Another flash went by and a few of the faces looked familiar.
She could just make out her own face once or twice, and Harry's also. There was a dark figure, and then her being supported by Ron and Antigone. Questioning her unconscious self on what this meant, she had another flash, only this time, instead of being quick and of several images at once, it seemed to be a long video. She was watching Harry running through the forest when suddenly he collapsed. He looked up to see a dark figure descend upon him, but before it ended there was another flash and another video began to play.
It was of her running through the woods and she had tears in her eyes. She suddenly came upon a clearing with Harry's limp body on the ground and a dark figure standing above him. Its mouth was flowing with blood like it was a vampire, but its teeth were that of a regular man. It looked up at her when she entered the clearing, but right before she saw his face, the vision changed into one of her. It showed no picture, only feelings. It was great and searing pain running through her body but more so her hand. Her unconscious looked at her hand and saw that it was dripping badly with blood. It trickled down her arm and dripped profusely onto the gray material of ground she sat on in her mind.
When she could no longer take the pain, she saw herself back in this room, only it was calm and clear and everything seemed so serene. Ron was sitting next to her bed and Antigone was looming in the doorway, but Harry was nowhere to be seen. As suddenly as her flashed went, they left again and a voice, so softly speaking, began to peer through her dreary, gray world. 'Hermione.'
'Yes?'
'Hermione. he needs you.'
'Who is this?' she asked, a little nervous and a little unsure.
'This is Lily.'
'.Potter?'
'Yes. You need to go now.'
'What I saw, did you send it to me?'
'What I sent to you is the future. It may change now that you know what it is of, but it is the future.'
'Is Harry going to die?'
'Not if you don't do something.'
'What can I do?'
'The Rex Spell has hit you. It causes you to become paralyzed in a matter of minutes and the victim can almost never be recovered.'
'Am I going to be like this forever?'
'Not if you get up.'
'I can't! I can't move myself!'
"Yes you can! You know of a power so great that you feel alive whenever it is with you and so cold when you are without it. It is what causes me to be able to be in your mind.'
'My love?'
'For my son.' Lily finished. 'Now get up!'
'I can't!'
'Get up!' Hermione sighed and with every piece of power in her she lifted her arm and to her surprise she felt her body move. He opened her eyes and saw Mr. and Mrs. Hall looking at her raised arm like it was a sign from God. With little bits of her inner strength from Lily, she pushed herself off the bed and stood before Mr. and Mrs. Hall.
"Excuse me." She said flatly but not unkindly. Both of them hurried aside as if she were a ghost. She walked over to the closet and pulled out her long cloak and her wand (which she pocketed) and walked out of the door.
"Hermione, you can't just leave, like, now you are in great need of special- " Mrs. Hall stopped short of herself when Hermione stopped and shot her a dark look and continued on her way. She almost ran out of the house to the bench where Antigone sat holding Ron like he was her child.
"Antigone, is Beau saddled?" Both of them jumped, as Hermione was suddenly there when she wasn't before.
"Hermione! Are you-" Antigone began in a high-spirited tone.
"Is Beau saddled!?" she demanded rather harshly.
"Yes." She said in a very small voice. Without saying another word to her, Hermione ran off towards the stable leaving a very bewildered Antigone and Ron. Before she even checked to see if he was properly saddled and bridled, she hopped onto his back and took off out of the stable into the woods.
Harry had run into a clearing. He had run long and hard to get there, but he put his hand up to a tree and bent over to catch his breath. He looked up to realize that he had been here before. in fact earlier that day. with Hermione. Breathing heavily, he let that memory slide in and out of his consciousness as he relived their first kiss. Harry pushed his back to the tree (realizing that it was, in fact, the same tree he had relived the memory to) and thought about all those awful things he had said to Ron. He did feel bad about it, but what was he supposed to do now, go back and tell him that he was sorry?
Suddenly, there was a whoosh in Harry's mind and something jumped down upon him from up in the tree. It pinned him to the ground and stared at him in the face. 'Well well, it seems that my Master's role will be avenged, now after he is dead."
"You Dark Lord Followers are all the same!" Harry yelled as he pushed off the thing. He reached for his wand, but before he could recite the spell the 'thing' gave him a hard punch to the jaw. Harry found it rather difficult to move his jaw, but still tried to say the spell anyway. When nothing happened, the thing tripped him onto his back and kicked him in the stomach.
He stood atop Harry and pulled his face close by his shirt. "I would have had you earlier today, but that little witch stepped right in front of you as I cast my spell!" "That was you!?" Harry said with difficulty.
"No, it was the Easter Bunny." He let Harry go and he hit the ground hard and the thing kicked him again. It was obviously a man, and one not much older than Harry, but he was pale all over and spoke with a low rasping voice. He did, though, have a familiarity to him. "After all you put my master through and all we did to suffer for him and it was al because of you!" He kicked Harry again.
Harry felt himself cough and saw blood spill out onto the ground. The thing still continued to beat him up. "And now, Potter, you will see only a mere fraction of the pain you have inflicted upon our Master!" He rose his wand and a thick, gold, lightning bolt came forth and struck Harry and sent him into fits of electric shock. It lasted for about thirty seconds, but those thirty seconds seemed to last an eternity for Harry. "Some powerful wizard. you're pathetic." Harry felt the lightning hit him again and his body spasmed into convulsions.
He knew, now, that he only held on by a thread. Any more of his lightning games and he knew he'd be gone. He felt someone nagging at his sides, knowing the thing was kicking him but he didn't feel anything. At last the nagging stopped and he felt the thing lean over. 'Oh god.' Harry thought, 'please don't.'
Hermione rode hard and fast into the woods in an attempt to save Harry. She had no idea where she was going and only went on an impulse deep inside of her that was the voice of Lily. Suddenly, she heard a loud crack and Beau reared up and fell to the ground with her on top of her. She crawled from under the limp horse to see a crevice in the ground. 'Whatever it was set a booby trap for me.' She thought to herself. She looked over at Beau, but she wasn't dead, just knocked out.
She ran. Hermione never had been so determined to get to a place so fast other than now. She ran fast and hard, branches tearing at her cape and thorns ripping her pants. At last, she knew where she was and that she was at the clearing that Harry told her that he loved her. Hermione burst into the clearing and the sight laid out before her would stay with her for the rest of her mortal life.
Harry lay unconscious on the ground, bleeding badly and was deep in pools of his own blood. There was also a darkly robed figure with silver hair and skin and had blood dripping from its mouth. As she entered, it looked up and she could see his face in the moonlight.
"Malfoy?"
"Mudblood!" He raised his wand and pointed it at Hermione and giant vines came flowing out, pushing her roughly against the tree behind her and wrapped her tightly around it and all before she even thought of reaching for her wand. "Ha. You were just in time. I just got done drinking the blood of the enemy and now I would also eat his heart in the memory of my Master. but I think it would be more appropriate if I ate the heart of his lover!"
Malfoy raised his wand.
'Oh God, it can't end like this!' Hermione thought. 'I don't believe this! I will die unable to save Harry and then Malfoy will only gather more followers in Voldemort's name. Please don't let it end this way!'
' Well all she wants and all she needs are reasons to survive. A day in which the sun will take her artificial light. '
Things began to happen in slow motion. Malfoy's wand was raised high in the air when Hermione heard Lily speaking to her. 'Hermione. he needs you and you need to save yourselves. It doesn't end this way, remember?'
Her eyes, once shut, snapped open again. With a mighty thrust on her part the vines fell apart and shattered around her like glass.
Time was slowed down, because Hermione stepped forward as a thin, silver lightning bolt came forth from Malfoy's wand. Pieces of shattered vine came bursting all around her but never once striking her. The bolt was small and narrow, but moved very slowly in this time change and was aimed right for her. Just as it came within arm's reach, she reached out and grabbed it like she would the handle of a knife.
She felt an outrageous pain in her hand as blood trickled down her arm and also onto the ground as she continued to grip the bolt. Forcing the bolt to turn, the pain in her hand only grew though she tried not to let it show on her face. When the bolt was turned all the way around, she let it go and stepped back. Hermione had just enough time to see the surprised expression on Malfoy's face before time resumed to normal. The last pieces of vine hit the ground, Malfoy's wand dropped, and the lightning struck Malfoy. There was a giant explosion and Hermione only stood there, staring at the spot where Malfoy had last been.
Breathing heavily, she glanced sideways to where Harry lay and thought, 'He's safe. I'm safe. We're all safe and no more Dark Followers.' Hermione fell to her knees and felt extremely dizzy again. The world became fuzzy and began to grow dark around the edges. She knew it was not from the Rex Curse because she had woken up from that, but she wasn't quite sure what it was. Her slow and heavy breathing was all that she heard.
Hermione looked over at a rustling in the bushes and saw Antigone and Ron come bounding though to them. 'Oh God.' Hermione thought, and she let herself be taken. The last thing she remembered was seeing Antigone's face as she fell to the ground.
Hermione opened her eyes. Sitting next to her was Harry. "What?" She sat up, realizing that she was in her bed in Antigone's house, and that it seemed to be midmorning judging by the light effects on the walls.
"Good morning."
"What happened?"
"Lie down." It was a soft request and Hermione obeyed. "To be quite honest, I don't know. I was out of it before you came to help me. Today is June 23rd if you must know. You've been out of it for two and a half weeks. I woke up about a week ago, but we've all been worried about you."
"Why?"
"Look at your hand." Hermione held up the hand that she had directed the lightning bolt with and saw, to her amazement, a thick scar along the palm of her hand as well as a few streaks along her fingers.
"It's a-"
"Yes. That was the same curse that gave me this." Harry said, pointing to the scar on his forehead, which had begun to wear away with age.
"And I. I stopped it alone?" Harry nodded in reply. There was a pause and a rather still silence. "Where is everyone?"
"Out. Errands, shopping, what-not."
"Why didn't you go with them?"
"I promised I would stay by your side until you woke up."
Hermione took Harry's hand. "We should start being honest and open with each other about things, Harry." she said, looking at his hand as she held it.
"I know."
"And I must admit that I have been keeping some things from you."
"Me too."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Like what?"
"Well." Harry paused, as he was not too keen on opening himself up to people. "I've never been very good at expressing myself, but I think I can say that I." he looked up into her eyes as they met, "that I want to marry you someday."
Hermione smiled. He reached for his pocket and pulled out a thin, gold ring. It was decorated simply with an engraved ivy vine twisting along the exterior of the band. "Hermione," Harry asked, "one day, when we grow up, have jobs and have enough money to support one another, would you marry me?"
Hermione laughed tiredly with her eyes beginning to roll out of consciousness. "Oh Harry, I love you." Her eyes closed and she faded into sleep, but not before adding, "But I will."
She woke up again. This time, it was near dusk and she felt someone behind her on her bed. He was on her side and looked over to see Harry, sound asleep, next to her, his arm wrapped over her waist and under her neck. He took the hand closest to the top of her body and put it on his cheek gently. Kissing him lightly on the other cheek, she smelled his neck and it reminisced of lilacs. Taking hold of Harry's limp arms, she wrapped both around her shoulders like a blanket and settled her head between his neck and head. 'I really do love you,' she thought. And she was happy.
Closing her eyes, she felt something around her neck. Taking it in one hand, she felt a tiny ring engraved with the ivy and she smiled again. "Hermione."
"Hm?" she asked, knowing that Harry was awake. He pulled her closer and she felt the steady beating of his heart on her back.
"Did you mean what you said when you said that you would marry me?" "Of course I did, Harry." He kissed her lightly on the cheek and she giggled. The two of them together lying there, not caring about anything but each other gave Hermione a feeling way deep down in the depths of her soul, that she was strong and could do anything. Hermione sighed contently, and fell asleep again in Harry's arms.
The End